Fanning the Flames

(6 of 8 in a series)

This framework of how Jesus did and did not fit the expectations of His first-century audience and how Jesus, the secret king, set up His secret kingdom brings so much depth to our own understanding of Jesus’ words, actions, and events of the Gospels.  And it explains the reaction to Him that sometimes puzzles us.  The Jews, including John the Baptist, tried to interpret the coming of Jesus with a distinctively Old Testament mindset.  Of course, this was entirely appropriate as this was the revelation they had.  And it was God’s revelation. 

Throughout the Scriptures, God’s revelation is always true, but not always complete.  We cringe at the idea of God’s revelation being progressive.  We don’t want to hear anything that may alter our understanding of our eternal God; the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Please understand the difference.  The character and attributes of God have never changed and will never change.  He is without beginning and without end, always the holy and unique God of creation.  There is nothing progressive about God’s character or attributes.  But His revelation is progressive and at the time of Christ, most Jews – scholars included – were totally unprepared for Who was coming and the manner in which He came.

This chart from the book, The Parables of Jesus by David Wenham, shows the Old Testament view that most Jews of Jesus’ day were operating under. The Jews, both scholarly and simple, expected the Messiah to arrive explosively and carry out His judgment and restoration immediately.  The arrival of the Messiah would be the clear demarcation between the old age and the new age.  Both a casual or detailed reading of the Old Testament fit this picture.  Given the advantage of hindsight regarding our Lord Jesus Christ and the explanation of the New Testament writers, Jesus’ coming to earth looked more like this (from The Parables of Jesus).The Old Testament was actually announcing two comings.  Sometimes even in the same verse (Isaiah 61:2).  At His first coming, Jesus came to usher in the kingdom of God through His death on a cross thus providing the way for us to be saved from our sins and to become citizens of God’s kingdom.  Judgment was not the goal of Jesus’ first coming which He made clear in both word and action.  Jesus’ second coming will fulfill all the Old Testament prophesies regarding vengeance, judgment, and His righteousness covering the earth.  That is why studying Revelation alongside the Old Testament enhances its understanding.  Satan’s kingdom will be brought to an end and God’s kingdom, currently underground if you will, will become public in dramatic fashion and will continue forever.  The secret king will be worshipped by all and take His rightful place on a public throne.

So, with all this in mind, it is no surprise that Jesus’ first coming brought mixed reactions from His audience and similarly the operation of His secret kingdom today can be confusing without careful study and spiritual understanding.  That is why it is so imperative that we understand what exactly Jesus said about His kingdom of which we are citizens.  We need to know.  How are we to live in the kingdom of God, in the here and now?  Understanding the principles of how the secret kingdom operates in the church age and how we are to live accordingly is what the next several posts are about.

(5 of 8 in a series)

With the exception of the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane, the passion week remained a public week for Jesus right up to His crucifixion.  His death was very public.  His trials bounced from leader to leader with stops before the crowds clamoring for His death.  He carried His cross through the public streets and died in a public place of execution.  His death made news throughout the entire city and beyond.  Remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus the next Sunday who, not suspecting their guest was Jesus said, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here these days … concerning Jesus the Nazarene?” (Lk 24 18-19).  Christ died a very public death.

So less than a week after Palm Sunday, the king was dead.  Now silence.  The dead king is buried.  In the world’s eyes, the very public figure, who less than a week earlier accepted the multitude’s praise as Messiah King, is dead.  But something is stirring in our minds.  What are we to make of Isaiah 61?  Jesus said it referred to Him.  What are we to make of His claim to be God’s Son?  And what about His own prediction that He would be “delivered up to the Gentiles to mock, scourge, and crucify Him, and on the third day He would be raised up.” (Mt 20:19)?  What are we to do with “the king is dead” but wait?

What happens next is dramatic in more ways than just the awesome miracle of the resurrection, as powerful and incredible as that was.  The miracle of the resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and without it we are of most men to be pitied (I Cor 15:19).  Its publicity, however, is the opposite of the Palm Sunday drama.  The drama of the resurrection is that it was witnessed by very few people.  It was basically a private event.  Have you ever thought about that?  We, including the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15, like to use eyewitness testimony to support our claim that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.  And Jesus did make enough public appearances to provide a foundation for our faith.  But think about the numbers.  The best Paul can come up with at one time is 500.  What?  500?  Where are the appearances before 5000?  Where is the appearance in the temple, a place where Jesus had regularly addressed the crowds just a week earlier?  Where are the appearances before the skeptics, the Pharisees, and the rulers?  For some reason, following His resurrection, Jesus took His kingdom almost completely underground.

So to summarize the timeline of events surrounding the announcement of the coming of the kingdom we have the following.

• Jesus’ early ministry:  announced the arrival of the kingdom of God.
• Jesus’ earthly ministry:  public, but downplayed the King title.
• Palm Sunday:  public, and embraced the King title.
• Death:  public place of execution, witnessed by many.
• Resurrection:  private, witnessed by very few people.
• Ascension:  Very private, by invitation only.  And poof, Jesus was gone, back to heaven.

And this is where we live today; citizens of a secret kingdom.  Identifying the kingdom of God as a secret kingdom was a large part of Jesus’ teaching here on earth, particularly in His parables.  Following His resurrection, the secret kingdom became home for us, His people.  Understanding the secret nature of God’s present kingdom and our place in it has tremendous implication for not only how we interpret the gospels, but also how we live as secret kingdom citizens.  It is my experience that all kinds of topics from the believer’s relationship to sin, the growth of the universal church, the presence and power of evil in today’s world to prayer, politics, wealth, church life, etc. all come into clearer focus when understood in light of the secret kingdom Jesus inaugurated during His first advent.

Fleshing out the details what that looks like for new covenant believers will be the topic of the next several posts.

(4 of 8 in a series)

In the gospel of John, Jesus’ proclamation at the feast, His attesting miracles, His identifying Himself as one with the Father, and His announcement that eternal life is found only in Him are all leading to the recognition that He could indeed be the promised Messiah.  This momentum builds toward the Sunday before the Jewish Passover.  In an event we now call “Palm Sunday,” Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey in fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s words from circa 500 BC.  “Now this took place (the triumphal entry into Jerusalem) that what was spoken through the prophet [Zechariah] might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” ‘ “ (Mt 21:4-5 quoting Zech 9:9)

Luke further describes the scene, “And they brought [the colt] to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it.  And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road.  And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’  And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’  And He answered and said, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’ “ (Lk 19:35-40).

In a complete one-eighty to after the feeding of the five thousand when Jesus fled the multitude’s attempt to make Him king, He now embraces their praise and recognition that He is the promised king.  The crowds cry out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Lk 19:38), ascribing this title to Jesus, the Nazarene.  In fact, this day was so ordained for Jesus’ kingdom to become public that if the crowd were silenced, as the Pharisees demanded Jesus do, the rocks themselves would cry out the proclamation.

Now we enter the tumultuous passion week of our Savior.  The week starts with Jesus staying in the public eye.  “And [Jesus] entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling , saying to them, ‘It is written, “And My house shall be a house of prayer,” but you have made it a robber’s den.’  And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on His words.” (Lk 19:45-48).  Jesus’ cleansing of the temple and daily teaching in the temple were very public aspects of His ministry during the passion week.

Of course, a dramatic turn of events as the passion week unfolds in our next post.

(3 of 8 in a series)

Based on the testimony of the Old Testament prophets, the promised coming of the Messiah was to have a distinctive King aspect to it.  The Messiah was to “destroy the world powers in an act of judgment, deliver Israel from her enemies, and restore her as a nation.”¹  Just as Jesus appeared to set aside the judgment aspect of the expected Messiah’s rule, He downplayed His king identity as well.  If He was a king at all, He appeared to keep it a secret.  Jesus often instructed those He had healed to keep it under wraps as if He didn’t want His popularity to get too big.  An odd instruction from a would-be king. 

As it was, Jesus’ fame did eventually reach king-like heights.  But when the people were ready to embrace Him as king, Jesus fled the scene.  Look at what happened just after the feeding of the five thousand.  “And so they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.  Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’  So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.” (Jn 6:13-15).  If Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of the prophesied Messiah King, why did Jesus refuse their coronation?

A similar story is recorded by John in the next chapter.  “Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Tabernacles, was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, ‘Depart from here, and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret, when he himself seeks to be known publicly.  If you do these things, show Yourself to the world.’  For not even His brothers were believing in Him.  Jesus therefore said to them, ‘My time is not yet at hand; but your time is always opportune.’ ” (Jn 7:2-6). 

Jesus brothers were essentially saying, “You are doing all these miracles here in the backwater of Galilee.  If publicity is what you are after, go to the big city, Jerusalem, and put on a show there in front of the big crowds.”  Of course, publicity was not what Jesus was after and He initially passed on their suggestion for the same reason He did not accept the crowd’s attempt to make Him king;  His time to be revealed was not yet at hand.  But it is coming.

Jesus did end up going to the feast in Jerusalem shortly after, and while there, announced Himself to the crowd.  “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” ‘  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, ‘This certainly is the Prophet.’  Others were saying, ‘This is the Christ (i.e. the Messiah).’ “ (Jn 7:37:41).

Something is stirring.  Could it be that the promised Messiah King has finally arrived?  Could Jesus of Nazareth fit the bill?  Is Jesus about to go public with His kingdom?  All questions for next time.

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¹ Tenney, M. C., ed.  The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary.  Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan Publishing House, 1967.

(2 of 8 in a series)

In the early chapters of the gospels, John the Baptist arrived on the scene and announced that the coming of the Messiah was imminent.  “As for me, I baptize you in water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not even fit to remove His sandals.  He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His threshing floor, and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Mt 3:11-12).

Notice the imagery used by John the Baptist.  The great day of salvation and judgment is just around the corner.  John the Baptist is clearly a prophet in the Old Testament mold and as such expects the coming of the Lord to include His judgment; “cleaning His threshing floor and burning the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  One of the proclamations John may have been familiar with referring to the coming Messiah is found in Isaiah 61:1-2.  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.”  In keeping with many of the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah, these verses contain both a rescue and judgment promise.

But a curious thing happened when Jesus of Nazareth, our proclaimed Messiah, showed up.  Jesus downplayed the political aspect, the king aspect, of His identity and the judgment thought to accompany His coming was left out altogether.  In fact, look at Jesus own reading of Isaiah 61 at the start of His earthly ministry.  “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.  And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him.  And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’  And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him.  And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ “ (Lk 4:16-21).

Remember the last phrase in our Isaiah 61 passage quoted previously:  “and the day of vengeance of our God”?  It is missing in Jesus’ reading in Luke 4.  Is this significant?  Did Jesus just randomly decide He had read enough?  Is it a New Testament typo?  I don’t think so.  It is significant because it fits the nature of the rest of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Jesus did not come, in His first advent, to fulfill the judgment aspect of the Messiah promise.

Jesus said as much in John 3:17, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.”  This concept, that Jesus first advent was not to involve the judgment, threw just about everyone off balance regarding His identity.  The Jews were looking for the Messiah King, judgment included.  Even John the Baptist was taken aback.  Remember his prophecy regarding the coming Savior; “cleaning house and burning up the chaff.”  Jesus’ failure to pick up that mantle even had John the Baptist raising questions.  Shortly before his death, John sent his disciples to Jesus to inquire, “Are you the Coming One, or shall we look for someone else?” (Mt 11:3).  This from the prophet who baptized Jesus and heard God’s voice from heaven, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased” (Mt 3:17).  Jesus paraphrased Isaiah 61 in His answer to John’s disciples, “Go and report to John the things which you hear and see:  the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Mt 11:4-5).  Jesus was saying, “You can assure John that I am the Anointed One, the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.”

What happens next will be the topic of our next post.