The purpose of the “Bible 101” series is to introduce some of the core Old Testament subjects that are necessary for understanding God’s overall purpose and plan. Although God has operated through different dispensations at different points in history, the topics in “Bible 101” demonstrate the cohesive, focused plan of God throughout Scripture.
Previously we have considered the uniqueness of the Bible, the uniqueness of the nation of Israel, and start of the kingly line in Israel. Today’s topic is the Messiah King - Jesus Christ.
The Failure of the Kings of Israel
If we're going to understand the significance of the Messiah King, then we must first understand the failure of the human kings. As we saw in the previous post, God's intention was for Israel to be a theocracy - a nation ruled by God Himself. But as the nation became increasingly more wicked - due mostly to their partial obedience to God, which led to them being influenced by the wicked nations around them - they eventually desired a human king. In I Samuel 8:5 the nation of Israel says:
...make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
We saw the results of this demand in the previous post. Samuel anointed first Saul, and later David as king per God’s instruction. Both experienced incredible victories over the enemies of Israel, and both fell into terrible sin. And yet Saul’s consequences were much different from David’s: while David suffered terrible consequences for his sin, he did not have the kingdom taken from him like Saul did. The difference was how each many responded to his own sin. While Saul made excuses and shifted blame, David humbly owned his guilt, accepted the consequences, and sought the Lord.
The Messiah King from the Line of David
David was not a perfect man - far from it. But he was a man after God's own heart (I Samuel 13:14), and as a result God made David several incredible promises. The one that pertains to today's topic is found in II Samuel 7:16. God says:
…thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
In other words, David's family would be on the throne of Israel forever.
And so the story continues. David’s son Solomon becomes the wisest, richest, most powerful king in the history of the world. Israel experienced unprecedented peace and prosperity under his reign, and became the most wealthy, powerful nation on earth (secular history books will leave those details out, but God made sure it was recorded in His word). Solomon also built a magnificent temple to replace the tent-like tabernacle that had been God's dwelling among His people since the days of Moses. But, like his father before him, Solomon was not a perfect man. He gathered 1,000 wives and concubines, some of whom were pagans who turned his heart from the Lord. The end of Solomon's life is a sad shell of the glory he once enjoyed.
And so the story continues. The line of David continues on the throne thorough Solomon's son (under whom the nation split into Israel and Judah), his grandson, and so on. The line of Israeli kings deteriorates over time – there only a few are good kings. Fast forward, and eventually the nation's rampant sin brings consequences that God had long forewarned. They (both Israel and Judah) are subjugated and exiled into Babylon. Historically speaking, this should have been the end of story. What prevented this group of people from being assimilated and thereby erased from future history? The same thing that kept them from a similar fate when enslaved in Egypt: God keeps His promises. He said there would be a throne forever, didn't He?
And so, while they were in exile due to their sins, God continued to speak through His prophets, one of whom was Daniel. And it is through Daniel that God gave His people a timeline. In Daniel 9:24-25 the Lord says:
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
There is a lot packed into those two verses (and an additional two we need to consider in a moment), but let's stay focused on the topic at hand for right now. We're talking about the Messiah King. The "weeks" here are weeks of years - so instead of seven days as we would normally think, these weeks are seven years. If you do the math, that means this entire prophecy is taking about a 490 year time frame. 483 of those years would pass starting from the rebuilding of Jerusalem (which occurs in Ezra and Nehemiah) until the arrival of the Messiah.
The Messiah King
Throughout Israeli literature, there was talk of a Messiah, a promised King in the line of David who would finally establish the kingdom with every single purpose and promise of God fulfilled. Yes, God used men like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob to start the nation; He used men like Moses and Joshua to establish the nation; and He used men like David and Solomon as temporary stewards of that nation, however none of these men saw every promise fulfilled. The purpose and promises of God - THE PLAN OF GOD - can only be completely fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the Messiah! He is the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end (Revelation 1:8). He is the Creator (John 1:3), the Savior (Titus 1:4), the Conqueror (Revelation 19:15), the King (Revelation 19:16). Israel may have rejected the theocracy thousands of years ago, but in the end God will sit on the throne. Period.
The Jews knew He was coming. They were expecting Him! In John 4:25 the woman at the well says to Jesus:
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
But this woman's problem was the same problem experienced by most everyone: the promised King had arrived - He was standing right in front of them - but they did not recognize Him! John 1:10-12 says:
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name...
Let's be clear: God was not coy about what the Jews were supposed to be looking for. He had not given them riddles. For our purposes here it would be overwhelming to list it all, but if you've never looked at a list of the prophecies about the Messiah, I would encourage you to do that. Not only are they numerous, frequent, and throughout the nation of Israel's history, but they are also detailed (down to the time, as we saw above, and even the place in Micah 5:2). What's the deal? How could they miss something so obvious?
The Two Advents
The Jews problem was that they did not distinguish that there would be two different “comings” of the Messiah. Let's go back to Daniel 9. Previously we looked at verses 24 and 25, which spoke of 490 years of consequence for the Jews. But the Messiah was set to arrive 483 years into those 490 years, and He arrived right on time. But even if you are a rudimentary math student you can see that there are still seven years left on that 490 year clock. Daniel 9:26-27 explains the remaining seven years:
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
For generations Israel had been in shambles due to their sins – they had been exiled, enslaved, and persecuted by the Babylonians and the Persians. Yes, Jerusalem had been rebuilt, but the nation was a shadow of what it had been under David and Solomon. Worse yet, God had been silent for hundreds of years, and the nation was now oppressed under the Roman Empire. The Jews expected the Messiah to come as a conquering King, to stomp the Romans, to restore the kingdom to its glory, and to establish it forever as the head of the nations. Even His own disciples eagerly waited for Him to establish the kingdom. In Acts 1:6, after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, they ask:
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Nationally, Israel had no interest in a humble carpenter Who befriended fisherman and tax collectors, publicly corrected the religious leaders, and was brutally murdered on a Roman cross. They wanted a conquering King, not a suffering Savior! As such, many overlooked Daniel 9:26-27, which clearly states that the Messiah would be "cut off" and that something far worse than anything they had previously experienced was scheduled for the remaining seven years of their appointed 490 years of consequence. God keeps His promises - including the ones we would rather that He forget!
A moment ago, I encouraged you to look through the Messianic prophecies found throughout the Old Testament. When you do, you (with the benefit of hindsight and a little help from the influence Bible-believing men and women) will clearly be able to distinguish between the things that have already been fulfilled regarding Christ's life, and the things that have not yet happened. The things that have already been fulfilled are what we call the "first advent" and the ones yet to come are what we call the "second advent."
Between these two advents there is an unspecified amount of time - 2,000+ years - where the 490 year time frame established in Daniel is paused. There is a dispensational "detour" of sorts while the grace of God offers all - Jews and Gentiles - salvation simply by trusting that shed blood of Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for all their sins. At the end of that "detour" Jesus Christ will collect all those who trusted Him as Savior, and the remaining seven years on the 490 year clock will continue. That remaining seven years is known as "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7); we often refer to it simply as "the Tribulation." It will include the arrival of the Anti-Christ and terrors the likes of which the nation of Israel - and the world itself - has never seen. But that is a topic for another day. Today we are focused on the Messiah King. So let's close up with a brief comparison between the two advents (or "comings" of Jesus Christ:
The First Coming of Christ | The Second Coming of Christ |
For us it is a matter of HISTORY I John 4:2 | For us it is a matter of the FUTURE Acts 1:11 |
Christ came to die I Corinthians 15:3 | Christ is coming to rule and reign Revelation 19:15 |
Christ came to be the SAVIOR of Sinners Matthew 1:21 | Christ will come to be the KING Revelation 19:16 |
Christ came to be each person’s SAVIOR John 3:17 | Christ will come to be each person’s JUDGE Jude 14-15 |
He died on Mount Calvary Luke 23:33 | He “lands” on the Mount of Olives (and splits it in half ) Zechariah 14:4 |
He left in a cloud Acts 1:9 | He will return in the clouds Matthew 24:30, Revelation 1:7 |
People saw Him when He left Acts 1:9 | People will see Him when He returns Revelation 1:7 |
Jesus was a HISTORICAL FIGURE Acts 1:3 | It will be this SAME JESUS who comes again Acts 1:11 |
If a man or a woman does not trust Christ as Savior now, then they will answer to Him as King and Judge later. Have you trusted Him? If you haven't, are you prepared to face Him under less gracious circumstances? If you have trusted Him, have you made every effort to ensure the people around you have the opportunity to choose for themselves if they want to stand before Christ as their Savior or their Judge? We would all do well to remember what He said:
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