The Messianic Mission of Jesus (The Kingdom of God, part 5)

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This is the fifth installment of an article on the Kingdom of God.

Part 1 began with Jesus’s proclamation at the start of his ministry about the kingdom of God. Part 2 looked at Jesus’s sermon at Nazareth, in which he explained the nature of the kingdom he was inaugurating.

Part 3 shifted to the biblical backstory of the kingdom, beginning with the royal calling of humanity created to image God, including how we squandered our calling through sin and violence, culminating in the tower of Babel. Part 4 traced the story of Israel from Abraham to the Babylonian exile, with a focus on the theme of “rule” (power and agency).

Against the backdrop of the kingdom of God in the Old Testament, the current installment picks up the story with the ministry and mission of Jesus, leading to his confrontation with the powers in Jerusalem at Passover.

The Rise of Messianic Expectation

Israelite prophets during and after the Babylonian exile began to articulate an expectation of renewal for God’s people, which intensified as the first century approached. God was going to bring about a new age of righteousness and justice for Israel and for the entire world.

As the Isaiah passage Jesus quoted at Nazareth made clear (see part 2 of this multi-part blog post), the prophetic vision of social and personal healing that arose in the exile remained unfulfilled even after Israel was back in the land. Isaiah 58 and 61 both addressed the moral state of the people, which had not changed; they continued to be embroiled in sin and disobedience to God. So beyond the bare fact of return to the land, the rest of the prophets’ vision of restoration had not yet come to pass.

It was this lack of fulfillment that generated messianic hope in the centuries leading up to the New Testament. The term Messiah (lit. anointed one) is derived from the fact that the kings of Israel were anointed for their leadership role (1 Samuel 9:26–10:1; 1 Samuel 16:12–13). The hope for a Messiah (a royal leader, in the lineage of David) arose out of the obvious failure of the Israelite monarchy in combination with God’s promise that the people would once again have righteous leaders.

The dominant messianic expectation was of a new Davidic king who would unify the nation and cast off Roman oppression, yet ideas about the coming Messiah were actually quite varied: would there be one or two leaders (one royal, the other priestly); would the agent of God’s coming rule be human, angelic, or divine?

Despite this variety there was a consistent expectation that one day God would establish his righteous rule both in Israel and throughout the world. The coming of this kingdom would eradicate evil and restore justice for God’s people and among all the nations. Indeed, the entire cosmos would be renewed, such that this coming age could rightly be called “a new heaven and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17–25).

Jesus’s Confrontation with the Powers of Evil

It was this expectation for a radical reorientation of the world that set the stage for the ministry of Jesus, including his proclamation that the kingdom of God was at hand, his teaching about the kingdom (often in parables), and his embodying the kingdom in his healings, his exorcisms, and his forgiving of sins. Jesus both announced and demonstrated that the powers of evil were being overthrown, that God’s rule was coming.

But the powers of evil are never easily overthrown. Jesus encountered opposition throughout his ministry, which led to his crucifixion by a coalition of Roman and Jewish leaders, who considered him a threat to the status quo. Jesus was not, however, a passive victim of his opponents. His entire life and ministry were oriented towards this deathly confrontation.

The Messiah’s Destiny of Suffering

After three years of his public ministry, Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was. When Peter confessed that he was “the Messiah of God” (Luke 9:20), Jesus explained that his destiny (in contrast to most messianic expectation of the time) was not immediate victory over the powers of evil. His destiny was suffering and rejection at the hands of “the elders, chief priests, and scribes,” resulting in his death—followed by resurrection (Luke 9:22; this episode is recounted in Matthew 16:21–23; Mark 8:31–33; Luke 9:21–23).

Jesus understood that the Messiah’s destiny of the ultimate triumph over evil was grounded in his suffering on behalf of his people—a theme found in what are known as the servant songs of Isaiah. These prophetic poems, in that section of the book written during the Babylonian exile (Isaiah 40–55), affirm that Israel is God’s servant (Isaiah 41:8; 49:3), whose mission is to bring light to the nations and to establish justice throughout the earth (Isaiah 42:1, 4, 6). This understanding of Israel as God’s servant draws on God’s promise that through Abraham and his descendants blessing would come to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1–3).

Yet in Isaiah’s servant songs, Israel is said to be a blind and deaf servant who does not understand or obey God’s purposes (Isaiah 42:19–20), This leads to a distinction between the servant and Israel in some texts; there the mission of the servant of YHWH is to bring light not only to the nations, but also to Israel (Isaiah 49:5–6).

While Isaiah 50 mentions briefly that the servant will suffer before his vindication by God (Isa 50:5–8), this theme is explored in depth in Isaiah 52:13–53:12, the so-called Suffering Servant song. The New Testament understands this vivid portrayal of the servant’s suffering to be fulfilled in Jesus, understood as the representative of Israel (Matthew 8:14-17; Luke 22:35–38; John 12:37–41; Acts 8:26–35; Romans 10:11–21; 1 Peter 2:19–25).

Jesus Sets Out for Jerusalem

Soon after Jesus predicted his suffering and death, he set out to meet his destiny. Perhaps alluding to Isaiah’s servant who “set [his] face like flint” to endure opposition (Isa 50:7), Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

As he journeyed toward Jerusalem, stopping in other places on the way, he twice more reminded his disciples of his coming death (first in Matt 17:22–23; Mark 9:30–32; Luke 9:43–45; then in Matthew 20:17–19; Mark 10:32–34; Luke 18:31–34); this was clearly on his mind.

In each case, his disciples found this difficult to comprehend; wouldn’t this mean the defeat of the Messiah? Even after Jesus reached Jerusalem, he again reminded them of his destiny (Matthew 26:1–2).

Jesus and the New Exodus

Not only did Jesus intentionally embrace his destiny, he chose the timing of it to coincide with the festival of Passover, when pilgrims were flocking to Jerusalem to celebrate the exodus from Egyptian bondage. But no-one in Jerusalem would have focused simply on that event in the past. Isaiah 40–55 had already viewed Babylon as a new Egypt and the return from Babylonian exile as a new exodus. The city would have been rife with expectation: would God act again to free his people from the latest incarnation of Egypt and Babylon?

Some centuries before Jesus, the Persians had conquered the Babylon empire and allowed exiled Jews (inhabitants of Judah) to return to their homeland; so technically the exile was over. But after Babylon’s defeat, Judah (now known as Yehud) became a province of Persia, After that came the Greek empire, and finally the Romans—all of whom continued to subject the land and people of Israel to imperial domination. It would have been impossible for Jews in Jesus’s day to separate the message of the exodus of old from the need to be liberated from Roman oppression. A new exodus was called for.

Continuing Bondage and Exile

The idea that Israel was still in bondage—even after return to the land—is expressed in the anguished prayer of Ezra, the Jewish scribe and priest, during the early postexilic period:

“Here we are, slaves to this day, slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts. Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.” (Nehemiah 9:36–37; see also Ezra 9:8–9)

The Babylonian exile was over, but the bondage to foreign empires continued unabated.

The problem, however, was not simply the external oppression of empires. The internal problem of sin had to be dealt with. The prophets had declared that the Babylonian conquest and the ensuing exile was a consequence of Israel’s disobedience to God (Jeremiah 32:28–35; Isaiah 42:24–25; 43:27–28). This was a fundamental difference between Egyptian bondage (which was not attributed to Israel’s sin) and the Babylonian exile (which was).

Ezra himself combined recognition of continuing national bondage with the people’s ongoing sinfulness. “From the days of our ancestors to this day we have been deep in guilt, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as is now the case” (Ezra 9:7).

Now, even back in the land, the moral state of the people remained unchanged; their sin still had to be dealt with.

As we shall see in the next installment, the problem of Israel’s bondage was greater than either the external oppression by empires or the internal sinfulness of the people.

How My Rewrite of The Transforming Vision Will Vary from the Original

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I am currently doing a total rewrite of the book on a Christian worldview that Brian Walsh and I coauthored, called The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1984).

Original book cover
New book cover

The book has found a wide audience in both English and other languages (especially Korean, where it has just about outsold the English original). To date, it has been translated and published in Korean (1987), French (1988), Indonesian (2001), Spanish (2003), and Portuguese (2010); with new Korean (2013), French (2016), and Indonesian (2013, 2019) editions.

Over the years, many people who were using the book in teaching asked us for a second or revised edition, where we would update aspects of our analysis. Although the publisher did give the book a new cover, we were each too busy working on other projects to devote the time needed to a second edition.

Worldview Book and Worldview Courses

Brian and I wrote The Transforming Vision based on non-credit courses we were teaching through IVCF campus ministries at a number of Canadian universities. For a few years after the book was published, I continued teaching non-credit courses on a Christian worldview at universities in the USA and Canada as I moved around for graduate studies and university chaplaincy.

Since I began doctoral studies in 1990, and especially since I started a faculty position in the mid-nineties, I have been offering the course for credit to undergraduates and to graduate/ seminary students, while also giving papers and publishing as a biblical scholar—especially in the area of Old Testament.

Changes to the Course (and the Book)

The course has gradually changed over the years, in accordance with my expertise and context. The new version of the book will follow the content (and outline) of the course as I have been teaching it most recently (it’s a solo rewrite, since Brian hasn’t been teaching a comparable course).

Some changes have to do with Scripture, while others are aspects of what you might call contextualization, changes that reflect the cultural (and academic) contexts I have been living and teaching in.

An Expanded Exposition of the Biblical Story

First, I’ve expanded (and deepened) my understanding of biblical theology over the years, so the book will reflect that. Instead of three chapters on Scripture (in The Transforming Vision), I have eight chapters tracing the biblical story from creation to eschaton (the biblical worldview as a coherent story wasn’t explicitly addressed in the original book). Each chapter will be a theological dive into a biblical text (or set of texts) that advances the story (creation, imago Dei, fall, Israel, monarchy, prophets, Jesus, eschaton). I will draw out practical implications for Christian living from each of these “soundings” into Scripture.

An Analysis of “Postmodern” Tribalism

The second change is in my analysis of the history of western culture. I still find it helpful to begin with the otherworldly dualism that impacted the church (from the early middle ages onward) and trace the rise of the modern impulse to autonomy and conquest (over the last five hundred years). But my analysis of the crisis of modernity now includes our current “postmodern” tribalism—how modernity has devolved into the toxic “post-truth” culture we now experience.

The Contested Meaning of the “Christian/Biblical Worldview”

A third change is that I won’t start the book with much analysis of the nature of worldviews (which is how The Transforming Vision began). The new book will focus more on showing than telling. However, I plan to include an Appendix or Afterword on the problematic nature of worldview discourse among Christians. I’ll explain why I am reclaiming the terms “Christian worldview” and “biblical worldview” from those who use these terms to designate a pre-packaged absolutist system of so-called “truth,” which is often nothing more than an oppressive framework for control. In contrast, I think these terms are helpful markers for the Bible’s liberating vision, disclosed especially through its overarching narrative of God’s desire for creational flourishing and shalom.

Living between the Times

Also, I won’t have a section on the implications of Christian faith for academic disciplines. That section of The Transforming Vision came from the campus ministry context the course was developed in; that’s not been my present context. Instead, I’ll close with two chapters on “living between the times,” one addressing a Christian approach to suffering (drawing on the lament psalms) and one on the biblical pattern of discipleship (from the Gospels and Pauline epistles).

Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws

My plan is for a fourteen-chapter book (plus Appendix/ Afterword), tentatively titled Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws: The Bible’s Liberating Worldview. Those who know the music of Bruce Cockburn will recognize Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws as the title of one of his albums; it is also a line in a song on the album, describing Jesus’s victory over evil: “just beyond the range of normal sight / this glittering joker was dancing in the dragon’s Jaws.”

The title is meant to capture the sense of freedom and joy that being grounded in Scripture can bring, while realistically acknowledging that our joy comes in the face of personal brokenness and systemic evil, both of which are ultimately overcome only by God’s saving action in Christ.

I decided to keep the term Worldview in the subtitle, as a gesture towards reclaiming that term as valuable and helpful; indeed, I believe that the Bible discloses a Liberating Worldview!

The word Liberating is also a nod to my book on humanity as the image of God, called The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005). The human calling to image God is a key component in my exposition of the unfolding biblical story.

An Accessible Read

I plan to keep the reading level of the new book close to that of The Transforming Vision, so it is accessible to early undergraduates and Christian lay people (The Transforming Vision was even used in Christian high schools in Canada and the US).

If you have used The Transforming Vision in teaching or if the book has been important to you personally, please contact me. I am looking for a few key people to read portions of the draft of the new book and give me helpful feedback.

The Story of Israel from Abraham to the Exile (The Kingdom of God, part 4)

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This is the fourth installment of an article on the Kingdom of God.

Part 1 began with Jesus’s proclamation at the start of his ministry about the kingdom of God. Part 2 looked at Jesus’s sermon at Nazareth, in which he explained the nature of the kingdom he was inaugurating. Part 3 shifted to the biblical backstory of the kingdom, beginning with the royal calling of humanity created to image God, including how we squandered our calling through sin and violence, culminating in the tower of Babel.

The current installment traces the story of Israel from Abraham to the Babylonian exile, with a focus on the theme of “rule” (power and agency). This backstory is essential for understanding the kingdom of God in the New Testament.

The Call of Israel—Election and Covenant

God’s response to this imperial violence was to call one couple, Abraham and Sarah, out of the nations of the world, so that they would become the progenitors of an alternative nation, who would function as a model or microcosm of God’s purposes for humanity on earth. God promises to bless this chosen nation so that they would flourish as a people, with the long-term purpose that through them blessing would come to the other nations of the world (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14); this would, in effect, restore the human race to its original purpose of imaging God.

But this long-term blessing is delayed as Abraham’s descendants (named Israel, after one of his grandsons) are enslaved by the Egyptian empire, whose Pharaohs typically styled themselves as the living image (indeed, the incarnation) of the gods on earth, which justified their absolute power. But Israel’s God (the Creator of all peoples) intervened to deliver Abraham’s descendants from Egyptian oppression by the hand of Moses, to whom he revealed his distinctive name, YHWH (Exod 3:14). The name, probably pronounced Yahweh, is typically written without vowels, since in later centuries Jews (including those responsible for the text of the Bible) viewed the divine name as too sacred to be pronounced.

The central event in the Old Testament is the exodus from Egypt, which climaxed at the Red Sea, when the people were pursued by Pharaoh’s army. Initially trapped between Pharaoh’s chariots and the Sea, God made a path through the waters for his people to escape. The final line of the victory song that Moses and the Israelites sang when they escaped the reach of Pharaoh’s power was: “YHWH will reign for ever and ever!” (Exod 15:18). Under their breath they may have whispered, “and not Pharaoh”; they had become part of an alternative kingdom.

After delivering the Israelites from Pharaoh’s army through the Sea, YHWH led them to Mt. Sinai (Exod 14–19), where the Torah (divine instruction, including the Ten Commandments) was given as part of the covenant God made with them (Exod 20–24). At Sinai, God clarified the calling of this newly redeemed people: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exod 19:5–6a)

God’s elect people, chosen for a royal-priestly role, were intended to carry on the holy task, which had been distorted by human sin, of mediating God’s blessing and presence into the world by how they lived, including how they exercised power in the pursuit of justice. Since the human race was not fulfilling its created purpose, God calls Israel to be imago Dei—to reflect his purposes through their communal life. They are to model the sort of just and righteous life that God intended for all people, by embodying the values of the covenant God made with them at Sinai.

Monarchy and Exile

Although Israel originally came into being as a loose confederacy of twelve tribes, without a unifying monarchy, within a few centuries the people asked for a king so that they could be “like the other nations” (1 Sam 8:5). God graciously granted their request (1 Sam 8:7, 22), while providing normative standards for the king to follow (Deut 17:14–20). Given the typical practice of absolute power by ancient kings, these standards were intended to substantially limit the power of Israel’s rulers.

Most of Israel’s kings, however, ignored these standards and ended up no different from the kings of the other nations. Many tolerated, or even fostered, idolatry (compromising the worship of YHWH with allegiance to other gods) and this idolatry led to injustice, which was the consequence of ignoring the value system embedded in YHWH’s covenant.

Indeed, it was the idolatry of Solomon, Israel’s third king, combined with the oppressive practices of Rehoboam, his son and successor, that led to a split in the nation (1 Kgs 11:20–12:24). The ten northern tribes seceded from the unified kingdom in the tenth century BCE, forming their own nation (the Northern Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim), with Samaria as its capital, leaving the much smaller Southern Kingdom of Judah (the “house” or dynasty of David), with Jerusalem as its capital.

About two hundred years later (722 BCE), the Assyrian empire invaded and conquered the Northern Kingdom and deported much of the population. The inhabitants were resettled in a variety of nations that Assyria had conquered, while the Assyrians settled foreigners from conquered nations in Israel (this is the area that in New Testament times became Samaria and Galilee). Many refugees from the north also fled south and settled in Judah.

A little over a century after the Assyrian conquest of the North, the Babylonian empire (which had in the meantime conquered Assyria) invaded the Southern Kingdom of Judah and deported some of its inhabitants to Babylon (597 BCE); a second invasion followed ten years later (587/6 BCE), when Babylonian forces destroyed much of Jerusalem and demolished its temple, deporting even more inhabitants to Babylon.

At this point the line of Davidic kings (the only Israelite monarchy left) came to an end in massive failure. Although there are complex historical explanations for these imperial conquests of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms and the forcible exile of the people that followed, the Bible’s prophetic literature understands these events ultimately as consequences of the sins of God’s people, their disobedience to the covenant, especially through the leadership of unrighteous kings (2 Chr 36:20–21; with more detail in 2 Kgs 24–25).

Hope for the Future after the Exile

It was precisely in this time of national crisis—which included the ending of the monarchy, the destruction of the temple, and exile from the land—that hope for a new beginning arose, especially in Israel’s prophetic literature. Some of the prophets living on the edge of exile and others from within the exilic period began to articulate a vision of a hopeful future beyond exile.

The starting point of this vision was a return to the land, portrayed in Isaiah 40–55 as a new exodus; just as God liberated Israel from Egyptian bondage in ancient times, so God would release the Jews (the exiled Judeans) from their Babylonian captivity. Whereas at the exodus God’s people passed through the Sea to escape Pharaoh’s army, God was doing a “new thing”; this time the journey would be through the desert or wilderness, as the exiles traveled from Babylon back to their homeland (Isa 43:16–21).

But the return to the land was just the start; the prophets also envisioned the healing of the social order (such that justice and righteousness would prevail between people), the flourishing of the natural world (even the desert would bloom), a peaceful relationship with the nations (in place of war and oppression), the forgiveness of sins and a new heart (enabling obedience to God after a history of rebellion), the restoration of righteous leadership (in contrast to the corrupt kings of the past), and God’s intimate presence among the people in the renewed land.

In part 5 of this series, we will examine the rise of messianic expectation after the Babylonian exile and how this was fulfilled in Jesus’s mission.