We have made it through the Old Testament and learned so much over tha past months as we worked our way through Multiply, by Francis Chan. Those sessions provided great foundation for what the New Testament brings. If we did not get a strong understanding of the Old Testament, much of the Good News would not have much context. It would still be Good News, but context gives us the ability to understand and appreciate the Good News.
Between the Testaments
From the moment that Adam and Eve sinned, God has been working a plan of redemption. Even through Israel’s failures, God’s plan remained intact. In our last session on the Old Testament, we noted that God gave Israel two important promises: (1) God would send His Messiah, who would be a King from the line of David, and (2) God would establish a new covenant to restore His relationship with His people.
At the close of the Old Testament, most of the Israelites were still in exile. They were separated from the things that game them their identity. They had been removed from the Promised Land and pulled away from the temple, which was destroyed. When the people did return to the Promised Land, it was not the same. The Roman Empire now ruled the land. King Herod did build them a temple and allowed them to worship and offer sacrifices, but they were still subject to Roman rule, and the land of Israel looked nothing like a kingdom.
Many believe that God was going to restore the kingdom, but they were divided oh how this would happen. Groups formed around how they thought it would happen The
- Pharisees believed that radical obedience to the Law would cause the Messiah to come an remove the Gentiles from power.
- The Sadducees forged an alliance with the Romans so they could gain status and control the temple.
- The Zealots hoped for a revolutionary Messiah who would come as a warrior and defeat the pagans.
- The Essenes believed that the situation in Jerusalem had become so corrupt by both Romans and faithless Israelites that they retreated into the desert so they could please God in isolation.
It was into this mess of conflicting hopes and ideologies that Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem to humble Jewish parents, both from the little town of Nazareth and descended from the line of David. The connection between the two Testaments is clear. The last two verses of the Old Testament read:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” – Malachi 4:5-6 ESV
Then the New Testament picks up with Zechariah, a God-fearing priest….
he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. – Luke 1: 16-17 ESV
As we read the next section together, let’s consider what it must have been like to have seen Jesus say and do these things…
Read Mark 1
What stands out to you from this description of Jesus?
Jesus the Messiah
Jesus once asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:15–16). We are so used to the term Christ that it probably doesn’t stand out to you. Yet it was significant to Peter, and it should be significant to us as well.
Remember that Israel was waiting for the Messiah, the King who would come from the line of David. When Jesus was referred to as “the Christ,” He was being identified as that Messiah. “Christ” is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. So, to refer to Jesus as the Christ is huge because we are saying that He is the promised Messiah—the person through whom God would accomplish His plan of redemption. God’s ultimate solution to the problem of sin had arrived.
What are some of the answers people in our culture give to Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” Why are these answers inadequate?
A Man, but More than a Man
When Jesus began traveling the land of Israel, He created quite a stir. Imagine how interested you would be if you heard about a man going around restoring sight to the blind, healing the sick, and even raising the dead! Think about this for a minute. People who had spent their entire lives in complete darkness had an encounter with Jesus, and suddenly they could see. People who were irreversibly maimed or diseased suddenly became whole again. People who were mourning the death of a family member sobbed in disbelief as they held their son or daughter in their arms again. He was doing the impossible! It’s no surprise that Jesus attracted crowds wherever He went. But before we focus on the supernatural elements in Jesus’s life, it is important to acknowledge one obvious point: Jesus was a real man.
The books of Matthew and Luke open with the facts and give significance of Jesus’s genealogy. Tracing his ancestors back through the centuries through David and Luke even traces it back to Adam.
We know from scripture that Jesus was human because he got hungry (Matthew 4:2), grew tired (John 4:6) and wept (John 11:35). The most graphic form of Jesus’ humanity was His excruciatingly painful deeath on the cross.
The New Testament is equally clear that Jesus Christ was more than a mere man. Matthew and Luke spotlight the humanity, but the book of John is one of teachings that separate Christianity from the religions of the world. John’s gospel explains that Jesus did not begin His existence at His human birth. He was eternal. He has always existed. John tells us that He existed with God in the beginning and that He was God (John 1:1-3) This establishes the concept that Jesus lived in perfect relationship with God the Father before coming to earth.
Jesus Christ was much more than just a great teacher or a prophet of God. He was the only person ever to live in sinless obedience to the Father. He was the unique Son of God, both fully human and fully divine. These truths mean, among other things, that we cannot treat Jesus lightly. Nothing matters more than the way we respond to Jesus.
Why is it important to understand that Jesus was fully human? How should this reality shape the way we think and speak about Him?
Why is it important to understand that Jesus was more than a man, that he was in fact divine?
How should this reality shape the way we think and speak about Him?
Fulfillment of God’s Plan
Many people heard the teachings of Jesus, saw the unexplainable miracles, and understood that He was sent from God. However, many of Israel’s so-called religious experts opposed Him. The religious groups in Israel (the Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, etc.) emphatically rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Much of this was because as Jesus’s popularity rose, theirs declined. The Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus did not have spiritual eyes to see Jesus for who He really was. But before we get overly critical of the first-century religious leaders, remember that our own sin and ignorance often keep us from recognizing Jesus for who He is. As you continue studying, pray that Jesus would open your mind so that you can see Him for who He truly is. Jesus was clear in identifying Himself as the One who would fulfill God’s Old Testament promises. In Luke 24:44, Jesus said, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Did you catch that? The Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms (these three categories combined were a common way of referring to the entire Old Testament) all speak about Jesus. Jesus was saying that when the Old Testament writers wrote about God’s plan of redemption and the hope that God was promising to His people, they were actually writing about Him!
Why is it important to recognize that Jesus was fulfilling the promises and prophecies in the Old Testament?
The Kingdom of God
There is one central message that both John the Baptist and Jesus preached: The kingdom of God had arrived. In the Old Testament, there was an expectation that God would establish His kingdom in the future. This purpose included salvation and blessing for His people and the defeat of Israel’s enemies. This expectation must have added weight to Jesus’s announcement at the outset of His ministry: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Many Jews expected God’s kingdom to be established at some point, and Jesus claimed that the time was now. The Spirit’s power in Jesus’s life proved that God’s rule was present. The authority of God’s kingdom was clearly seen when Jesus cast out demons, healed the sick, ruled over nature, and even raised the dead (John 11:1–46)! Jesus’s teaching was also unprecedented, and those who heard it were often astonished at His wisdom. Understanding this kingdom context should prevent us from seeing Jesus’s life and teaching as merely a good source for moral instruction. He didn’t come just to establish a vague sense of peace in the world, but to reestablish the rule of God over His creation. While God’s kingdom was certainly present in the ministry of Jesus, Jesus also spoke of a fuller expression of the kingdom in the future. In the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. – Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth.
One day, at a time known only to God, Jesus Christ will return to save His people and bring judgment on those who have rejected Him. This is a painful reality as we think of those who have not yet submitted to Jesus. But the kingdom of God is open to all who will enter, and Jesus sends us out as His ambassadors to call the lost to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20). And for followers of Christ, God’s coming kingdom is everything we have been waiting for! The powers over which Jesus ruled during His ministry in the Gospels—Satan, sickness, death, and the curse that haunts creation—will finally be overcome forever. Believers will enjoy their salvation in its fullness with Christ, their King.
Based on what we now know about the kingdom of God in the Old Testament, why is Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God important?
How should the concept of the kingdom of God and the reality of Jesus as the King affect our daily life now?
Life through Death
Jesus is significant on so many levels. As we read through the Gospels, we are amazed at Jesus’s power, His compassion, His wisdom, etc. But ultimately, it was very difficult for the Jews to believe that this man was their promised Messiah for one very important reason: He was executed as a criminal. Israel’s history was filled with kings and judges who conquered their enemies, and the prophecies about the Messiah pointed to a victorious king. So it must have been confusing when Jesus began to speak about His death. And they didn’t know what to do about this would-be Messiah once He died.
Before Jesus was born, an angel declared that He would “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). John the Baptist referred to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
The problem of sin had threatened humanity’s relationship with God ever since Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden. In order for God’s people to be in a right relationship with Him, sin had to be atoned for. All of the sacrifices that God’s people made in the Old Testament pointed forward to the sacrifice that Jesus would offer on the cross (Heb. 9–10). Jesus was the true Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7)—He sacrificed Himself so that we can live.
In the last Old Testament sessions, we talked about the promise of a new covenant, and the reality that the death of Jesus established this covenant.
As we discuss Jesus’s death here, we cannot forget this connection with the new covenant. As Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, He held the cup and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Thus Jesus fulfilled both of the major promises that carry over from the Old Testament:
- He was the coming King from the line of David (the Messiah)
- through His death He established the new covenant that would heal and recreate His people.
Of course, the ultimate proof of the power of the cross is the resurrection. Many had claimed to be the Messiah, but only Jesus rose from the dead to prove it. After all, a conquering King cannot remain buried in a tomb. The resurrection is crucial to our faith and to the fulfillment of God’s saving purposes. Without it, we have no hope. The Gospels testify that Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to His disciples.
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
Real Colossians 2:13-15
What do these passages say about the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection?
According to these passges, hiow should we relate to Jesus?
“Follow Me”
It is critical that you understand the story of Jesus, but understanding the story is not enough. It is not enough to merely absorb the information—you must respond to it. The message of Jesus’s death and resurrection demands something of us. Jesus continues to call people—He calls you and me—to follow Him and live, even if it costs us everything. Christ’s death and resurrection should give us confidence in the salvation He offers. Listen carefully to the message proclaimed by Jesus’s earliest followers:
this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. – Acts 3:18-21 NIV
This week, take the truths you have been thinking through and use them to affect your heart. Spend some time in prayer with God, to work on who you are in relationship to who He is. Ask God to help you respond to Jesus appropriately, whether you have never considered Jesus’ call to follow Him or you have been walking with Jesus for many years. Evaluate and listen to how your relationship with God is today.
The scripture reading for this coming week as we begin the New Testament:
John 13 – 15
John 16 -17
John 18 – 19
John 20 – 21
Matthew 28
Luke 24
The Multiply video to lead us into the start of the New Testament:
Chan, Francis. Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples. David C Cook. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. The New International Version. (2011). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.