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Messianic Promise

Historical Background Recap

  • Royal Kingdom → Saul, David (unites 12 tribes), Solomon (builds the temple)
  • Divided Kingdon → Solomon dies, kingdom divides, Israel (North), Judah (South)
    • Babylon conquers Judah in 586/587 and destroys the temple
  • Davidic Covenant → Promise of a lasting dynasty (2 Sam 7:8-16)
    • God promises to a descendant of David and will establish his kingdom forever.
    • God will punish Israel when they commit iniquity but promises to never take away his merciful/covenantal (hesed) love.

Old Testament Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel)

  • Isaiah
  • Jeremiah
    • Called to be a prophet during the decline of Israel/Judah (627-586)
      • End of David’s house, end of the Temple, loss of the land → appears that God’s promises had failed.
    • Recalls the Sinai Covenant and promise made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob → explains that it has been broken because Israel failed to keep the commandments (i.e. Idolatry, lack of care for the poor and vulnerable)
    • Jeremiah 31:31-34 → promise of a new covenant, a message of hope and comfort
      • Like the old covenant, based on God’s law, but the law will be written on the human heart → greater intimacy with God, we will know him in our heart.
  • Ezekiel
    • A priest who was contemporary with Jeremiah, ministered in Babylonia from 593 to 573 BC.
    • Specifically points out the defiling of the Temple and profaning God’s holiness
    • The people’s heart of stone needed to be replaced with a new heart, a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:25-27)
    • Places emphasis on the theme of the king acting as a shepherd of his people (Moses/David).
    • Ezekiel 34/Ezekiel 37 → God will become a shepherd for his people and restore the divided kingdom.
  • Daniel
    • Events take place during the Babylonian Exile under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar
    • Interprets dreams (similar to Joseph)
    • Portrays three important themes: The Kingdom of God, the Son of Man, and the suffering of the Messiah.
    • Kingdom of God (Daniel 2:31-45)
      • Describes 5 kingdoms
        • Gold head (1st, Babylonian, 6th cent. BC)
        • Silver chest and arms (2nd, Medo-Persian, 5th cent. BC)
        • Bronze belly and thighs (3rd, Greek, 4th cent. BC)
        • Iron/clay legs and feet (4th, Roman, 1st cent. BC)
        • Stone → Mountain (5th, Kingdom of God, 1st cent. AD)
    • CCC 541 "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'' "To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth." Now the Father's will is "to raise up men to share in his own divine life". He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdom".
    • CCC 542 Christ stands at the heart of this gathering of men into the "family of God". By his word, through signs that manifest the reign of God, and by sending out his disciples, Jesus calls all people to come together around him. But above all in the great Paschal mystery - his death on the cross and his Resurrection - he would accomplish the coming of his kingdom. "and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Into this union with Christ all men are called.
    • CCC 543 Everyone is called to enter the kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations.
    • Son of Man (Daniel 7:2-14)
      • Title of a messianic figure → establishes the kingdom of God, all other kingdoms will serve him, an everlasting kingdom that will never be destroyed.
    • Death of the Messiah (Daniel 9: 24-27)
      • Seventy Weeks of Years → 490 years between the restoration of the city of Jerusalem (457 BC) and the coming of the messiah (33 AD)
      • The messiah will be “cut off”, meaning put to death. (33 AD)
      • Death of the messiah linked to the destruction of the temple, destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by Romans in 70 AD.
      • “Two thousand years ago. Jesus of Nazareth, proclaimer of the Kingdom of God and coming of the Son of Man, was “cut-off” by the Romans when he was crucified, some 490 years after the restoration of Jerusalem under King Artaxerxes.
      • Daniel’s prophecies point to fulfillment in the first century, giving the people at the time of Jesus some insight into the meaning of his words. (Son of Man, Kingdom of God)

Jesus as the New Moses and the New David (Matthew 1-7)

  • Genealogy (14 Generations, D V D, David) → Son of David
  • Matthew 1:18-25 → Joseph receives a dream from God → announces Mary will bear a son named Jesus (salvation/The Lord Saves), he will save the people from their sins → Isaiah 7:14 → a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel → God saves → this is the sign.
  • Mt 2:5 → visit of the Magi, reference to Micah 5:1 → ruler born in Bethlehem → also the place David was born.
  • Mt. 3 → the flight into Egypt → recalls Hosea 11:1 → “out of Egypt I have called my Son”
  • Massacre of the Infants → King Herod commands this, similar to pharaoh in Exodus
    • Return from Egypt, settling in Nazareth
    • This fulfills what the prophets say, that he shall be called a Nazarene → refers to Isaiah 11:1 → from his roots a nezer shall blossom → nezer = NZR = Nazarene

Jesus’ Baptism, Temptations, and Sermon on the Mount (Deuteronomy 34)

  • Matthew 3:13 → water, heavens, Spirit, “voice” → recalling Genesis 1 → Jesus is the new creation, prefigures his death, we are baptized into his death, cleansed from sin, dying to sin. (Romans 6:2)
  • Declared the Son of God the Father.
  • Matthew 4 → Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert for 40 days/nights. Tempted by the devil, tempted to commit idolatry/reject God → Jesus succeeds in rejecting the temptations.
  • Matthew 5-7 → Sermon on the Mount → Jesus returns from the desert and goes up a mountain, sits in the posture of a rabbi, and teaches the new law.
  • Jesus relives the experience of Israel. Water → 40 days in the desert → goes up a mountain, shares law
  • Jesus fulfills the law → ”you heard it said”... “But I say to you”. Quotes the Torah, the Old Law, then corrects it/adds to it. He places his own authority on the level of the Torah/the authority of God. 
  • Jesus is thus revealed as the New Moses and the New David. He is also the new creation, the new humanity, the new Adam.