Lesa A. Livingston
A Great Leader – The Messiah
Bachelor of Theology – Undergraduate Independent Research
24 June 2015
This research is presented to International Theological Seminary for Lesa A. Livingston to meet the requirement for Undergrad., Ind., Research.
Word count 5198
Lesa A. Livingston
International Theological Seminary
Undergraduate Independent Research
24 June 2015
A Great Leader – The Messiah
Old Testament texts that point to the coming of the Messiah are traditionally interpreted from either the viewpoint of their New Testament fulfillment (evangelicalism) or their linguistic and grammatical distinctiveness within the Hebrew Bible (non-conservative). The Messiah in the Old Testament considers another important theology. It approaches Israel’s concept of the Messiah as a developing theme and shows how a proper grasp of the textual meaning at each stage of Old Testament revelation is necessary for understanding messianic prophecy.
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people (Isiah 55:4) .
It can be cross-referenced with Ezekiel 34:24, “And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD has spoken it and Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. ” Here we have a “Great Leader – the Messiah.”
The
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold he is coming, says the Lord of hosts” ( Malachi 3:1, English Standard Version). Malachi 3:1 is a passage that often brings up dispute and conversation among interpreters and scholars on whether or not it is a key predictive messianic text. This passage has been cited in the New Testament by Jesus, and refers to undefined messengers of YHWH. Through the article “ Is the Messiah Announced in Malachi 3:1?”, Malone breaks down the text by clarifying the characters and evaluating the titles used to identify the messianic connection.
As we examine the heroes of the faith outlined for us in the Old Testament, we would be hard pressed to find a more faithful man that King David. After the death of King Saul, David became the King of the Hebrew people. David, who was meek and pious, steadfastly believed in the true God and tried to do His will. He had endured much persecution from Saul and other enemies but did not become bitter, did not lift his hand against Saul, as he was the Lord’s anointed, but placed all his hope in God, and the Lord delivered him from all his enemies.
"This team of servant-leaders will teach others to have fervent love for one another by using the precepts of the Gospel and by following the examples set by our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Love covers the multitude of sins and helps others discover God's plan and purpose in their lives." 1Peter 4:8
This first volume contains 39 books, and 929 chapters: almost identical to the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Interpretation of the scriptures are more about God ‘The Father’, himself, but lays the foundation for the second volume the New Testament. Originally written in Greek about 45 AD, this volume contains 27 books and 260 chapters. Its scriptures tell the story of the life of Jesus, believed by Christians to be the Messiah, Son of God in human form, and sent by God to fulfill the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament.
The early beginnings of the Common Era displayed several Jewish expectations of the Messiah that were complex. As compiled in the Dr. Peter Flint, some was expecting the return of Elijah (Mal 4:5-6, Mark 6:15), or even Moses (Deut 18:15-19, John 1:21) and many expected the Messiah to be a descendent of King David, one that would arrive in Bethlehem . Apart from the background of messianic expectations seen in modern Bibles, several sectarian scrolls shed light on such expectations. Four select texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave 4 helps shed some light into this area of messianic expectations and will aid help answering this question on who was the Messiah.
Jewish tradition passed down the oral and written story of Messianic prophecies for generations. To provide the correlation between the anticipated Messiah and the fulfillment through Jesus, Matthew affirmed prophecies throughout the birth story with two significant fulfillments—Abraham’s promised seed [offspring] and the virgin birth.
Before the gospels and Pauline epistles, early church Christians related to the Old Testament as Scripture and viewed their Christian walk as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel from the Old Testament, which foretold of the coming age of the Messiah. The first New Testament Christians understood the importance of the Old Testament; it was their “Bible” they preached from. Just as in the early church, Christians today need the Old Testament for preaching and in which to reference and understand Christ’s purpose for why he came.
The first misunderstanding between Jews and Christians is that Jews are still searching for a Messiah, Jeremiah 23:5 (“the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land). While Christians believe that the Messiah has arrived. The challenge here is that this formulation attributes to the expectation of a Messiah, a prominence and a centrality it has not usually had in Judaism. Christianity is a Messiah associated religion to an extent that Judaism is not. Although in Judaism the rate has varied from a different century to the other and from one branch to the other, the messianic age expectation, of a period of justice and peace, has always been more important (Fisher, 2010). In any case, the coming of messianic age and the Messiah appearance are connected together. When justice and peace arrive, then, will be the period to identify that the Messiah is. Until then everybody has the task
The nation of Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD. But they When the children of Israel demanded a king, they did so to be like the other nations. The first three kings were Saul, (outwardly tall, handsome and strong—a seemingly good choice for a king, but inwardly arrogant, proud and unrepentant—not God’s choice), David (a man after God’s own heart who repented of his sins and as such was God’s choice), and Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived, but because of covenant disobedience became the catalyst for the division and ultimate exile of Israel.
The message of my work is to try and highlight the importance of showing how a person’s faith can have a positive and life-changing impact on their lives. I have done this by looking into the lives of two early Christian missionaries and portray how they would 've felt about their journeys, who they met and what they were teaching others. In doing so, I try to portray, to the best of my ability and knowledge, the apostle 's thoughts and just how strong their conviction and faith in God was.
The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.
God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of
This paper will address these biblical passages in Isaiah 52 and 53, which describes a “suffering servant” to the Lord God. There has been a debate as to whether these passages where describing the Messiah who would come to restore Israel as God’s chosen people or if the passage was describing the nation of Israel as the “suffering servant”. Christian scholars and clergy view these passages as describing Jesus who they affirm as the Messiah. The text is written in a poetic form and flows from one subject to another, however, many view these passages as being extremely detailed prophecy about the Messiah to come. I will point out key passages and explain how these passages provide clarity about whom the writer was speaking. This paper will point out why Jesus is the “suffering servant”, who is mentioned in Isaiah and explain why the “suffering servant” is not the nation of Israel as others propose.
King David wrestled with sin, such as adultery, family disorder, and rebellion on a national level, however he also experienced great accomplishments as well. One great achievement was the unification of Israel. "Then all the tribes of Israel went to David at Hebron and told him, "We are all members of your family. For a long time, even while Saul was our King, you were the one who really led Israel. And the Lord has told you, "You will be the shepherd of my people Israel. You will be their leader" (2 Samuel 5:3). It is here that David makes a covenant with the leaders and becomes anointed as the
To speak of the Hebrew Scripture is to speak of story, a story stretching from the very beginning of time to only a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. It is to speak of richness of content, of purpose and of reality and to engross oneself in an overarching narrative that, depending on your personal convictions, continues to the present day. Within this richness is found a wide variety of different events and experience, told through a series of genre ranging from foundational myth to apocalypse, law giving to poetry, genealogy to wisdom and many more. Within this diversity however, three broad sections can be discerned that speak to a shared purpose and content, these are the sections of Law, Prophecy and Writings. It