Merry Christmas
MERRY CHRISTMAS
What would it be like to be living in the time at the birth of Jesus???
Jesus was born during a time that historians call the 2nd temple period. This period was a time of recovery from great devastation and an almost completely lost identity of Israel.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been taken by the Assyrians and the Southern Kingdom had been exiled to Babylon and now allowed to return home.
Historians say only about 3% of the Jews returned to their homeland after the Babylonian exile. The rest of them found comfortability assimilating with the Babylonians.
The Israelites that returned to their promised land had obtained a new name called the Jews. And spoke a new language they obtained from Babylon called Aramaic. They had lost most of their identity as the kingdom of Israel.
They were able to muster up the strength to build another temple in Jerusalem to worship, (the 2nd temple). They had a temple back but they didn't have a government as they were still under Persian occupation.
So the Jewish people not having a theocracy (Government dictated by God), had developed a new religion called Judaism, which was Yahweh worship without an Israeli kingdom. As their previous religion Yahwehism needed a theocracy, (a kingdom) to be complete.
The Jewish people longed for the kingdom to be restored to Israel. They needed their theocracy back. They longed for the promises of the prophets to be true that Israel would be restored by a coming Messiah that would come from the family line of king David. Many had even given up hope and began to move on.
For the next several hundred years the Jews reminisced about the kingdom of peace and prosperity in which Israel was united under King David. They told stories to their children about the oracles of God that were given to Israel's Prophets about a son of David that would take the throne and restore the kingdom to Israel.
During the second temple period, the Jewish people strived to recover their identity. They couldn't universally decide what was the best way to keep their faith and how to politically organize the lost people of Israel. So they were split into multiple factions determined by "the way" they thought they should go.
Hellenists - gave up waiting on the promised Messiah-King & thought that assimilating with the Greeks would be the best way forward
Sadducees - aristocrats that did not believe in the resurrection or the final judgment, saw cooperation with Rome as the best way forward
Pharisees - an ultra conservative middle-class group that held strictly to the law of Moses and even created their own laws to try to help them follow the Mosaic law. They held closely to their Jewish traditions and an expectation for the coming Messiah and the restoration of Israel. Many of the Pharisees became followers of Jesus.
Zealots - an offshoot of the Pharisees that idealized the Maccabean Revolt and saw resisting foreign occupation by any means necessary even using swords to solve problems
Essenes - not much is known about this group but they are known to be the stewards of the Dead Sea scrolls
And probably many other groups that we don't know about striving to find a way to go forward.
And then all of a sudden an angel announces which way it is...
Luke 2:10-12
“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Could this be true? God has sent an angel from heaven to announce Israel's long awaited King has been born!! The angels have been speaking about him all over.
Luke 1:30-33
“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
The angels are telling us it's this Rabbi from Galilee. But why is he from Galilee, they have such a funny accent. Everybody knows the Galileans aren't like us real Jews in Jerusalem. And this Rabbi wasn't even professionally trained.
Matthew 12:23
The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”
Is it truly him? Is he the one that's going to restore the kingdom to Israel?
Is he the one that's going to come riding on the clouds and judge the living and the dead? Is he the one that's given the authority to judge the nations? Is he the one with the power to raise the righteous from the dead in the coming of his kingdom?
If he truly is the promised Messiah-King then when is he going to do it?
Acts 1:6
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
And we see that it was neither the Essenes, the Hellenists, the Sadducees, the Zealots, or the Pharisees that had the right way. It was a child born with the animals in Bethlehem who was THE WAY. God incarnate. Stripped of his glory and in the humility of a Galilean middle-class life.
His advent put a hope back in Israel, confirmed the promise of the resurrection of the righteous with his own body being the first fruits. He shall come back to the same mountain that he left and establish his kingdom throughout the whole Earth.
Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
And we must announce this Good News to all creation until his return!!!
I Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures
I Corinthians 15:22-24
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
Much love!
- Jeremy Gilbert
