Jesus the King

A King from the line of David. That’s what the Jews expected from their Messiah. They were expecting a deliverer from the lineage of David. Herod gave orders to kill all of the infant boys in Bethlehem, the City of David. Herod wanted to eliminate any chance of a rebellion. That’s why he acted so ruthlessly.

In the Genealogy of Jesus that we find in Matthew, we see his lineage traced back to Abraham. The list of descendants is grouped by sets of 14. Several scholars have noted that the name “David” is equal to 14 in you turn the letters into numbers. This is a foreign concept to us because we have a separate lettering and numbering system. The Hebrew language does not. “Aleph”, the first letter, also stands for “one”. “Dalet”make the “D” sound and is the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This makes it also the number 4. “Vav” is the sixth letter of the alphabet. In Hebrew, they dont have vowels. Therefore the name David would be DVD. So D(4) + V(6) + D(4) = 14.  Pretty cool, huh? Although you dont want ot go bible code on people, this is a remarkable link Matthew makes between Jesus and David.

There are dozens of these connection in the gospels, especially Matthew. His goal is to present Jesus as the king of the Jews, so this makes sense.

So maybe i havent sold you on the Bible code thing. In that case, read Matthew and see how many times Jesus is called the son of David, referred to as a shepherd (HELLO!!), or connected to David’s life.

BUT, here’s one that hit me today. We’ve already talked about the numerical symbology of DVD, or David. But what does his name mean? Maye there’s a way to connect him to David this way…

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

David’s name means Beloved. Jesus is called the Son of David and the Beloved Son of God. Jesus is the new David, the beloved of God and the King of the Jews.

Jesus, the Priest

So i was reading for my NT intro class and I saw something i have never thought of before.

Ok, so Herod’s temple and all of its granduer were a direct result of him being a “client” of Rome. A client’s main responsibility was to bridge the gap between the local culture and Rome. Herod refused to give his daughter to an uncircumcised ruler and was even rumored to abstain from Pork. But this was all a front to identify with the people, and win their loyalty so that they would trust him. Then he would have more leverage to assimilate them into the Roman culture. it was a kiss of betrayal.

What better example of this bridging is there than the Temple? Herod took the Jewish desire to honor their god and made and astonishing sight. But to someone devout to Yahweh, it would have been the ultimate picture of deception. To someone like Jesus, the temple represented the elevation of Roman/Hellenistic values over their covenantal values. It was outright apostasy, it was subtle assimilation.

When Jesus predicts its destruction in Mark 13:1-2, he is proclaiming his destiny as well as its ruin. He knows that his work will make the temple sacrifices obsolete. He also knows that his kingdom program and the obedience he requires is meant to the destroy what the Temple represents: mediocrity and assimilation.  But the literal temple will not be destroyed for another 40 years.

The death and resurrection of Jesus as well as the establishment of his church at Pentecost (where the people become the temple). Have already destroyed the temple. But, it will take time until the temple is actually physically destroyed. The presence of God and His indwelling spirit destroys our need for assimilation to this world. But, it may take a VERY long time for the Temple to be destroyed in a permanent way. Its an already/not yet! do you see? I almost flipped out when i saw it.

Jesus is the Great High Priest who eliminates the need for a temple. We can trust in him to relate to God. A relationship with God  to his people Israel was maintained by  annual sacrifices by the High Priest. The work has already been done. He eliminated the need for sacrifices by sacrificing himself.

In the same way, those who have trusted in Jesus have no need of the things of this world. The things that show that we used to be apart from him and a part of the world. These things are our temples. They are not acts of rebellion but rather places of mediocrity. Things we do that allow us to blend in, not stand apart. I know I have these areas and part of following Jesus is recognizing these areas and abandoning them. Take some time at the end of the day and ask yourself what your temples are. I know Jesus and I know they arent worth more than him.

Prophet Priest King

These are the three offices Jesus held. Calvin originated this idea in his institutes of the Christian Religion. All three offices were anointed. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah or Christ. He is the anointed one. But never has there been a man to hold more than one office. I believe Jesus held all three in perfect completion. He was the supreme anointed one. That became his last name.

Over the next howeverlongittakes, I want to examine these three offices and what they would imply, describe and proclaim about our great Saviour, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

This idea has been stuck in my mind since reading Mark Driscoll’s Vintage Jesus last spring. Thank you, John Heard.

So, Ill start this off with a challenge/experiment. Read some part of one of the gospels to day with an eye to these three offices. does one stand out? Does Jesus act as a prophet, a priest or a king in this story?

Im looking for participation here. I know at least two people read this. So, what do you see?

So it’s been awhile…

Since I’ve been solely on the consuming side of the blogging world, its kinda awkward to get back in the groove. BUT, I have some ideas that Ive been itching/needing/wanting to get nailed down. So, thanks to Josh Causey and Mr. Adam Zap for encouraging me to get back in that ole saddle.

but for now, you can do what I’ve been doing and listen to Fang Island. over and over and over.

over and out,

Drewski