DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
Jesus 1
A. INTRODUCTION
... My next writing project (oh, no, not another one!!) is about JESUS. Two thousand years of Christian teachings, creeds, art, wars, preaching, hymns, debates, novels, movies, and music have overtaken Jesus. What, or who, is Jesus to you? What does Jesus say about himself? What is the relevance of Jesus nowadays? I would love your thoughts.
C. SUMMARY.
God promised the Jews a Savior/Messiah/Christ for 750 years before Jesus was born. Much of what the Jewish people hoped for, and much of what Christians believe proves Jesus as Messiah, comes from the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah. As a result, much of Handel’s “Messiah” comes from the “Messianic” prophecies found in Isaiah. Today’s scriptures offer two contrasts. Isaiah 9 proclaims the Messiah in the most uplifting, grand, positive, victorious, manner. Isaiah 53 is nicknamed “the Suffering Servant” because it highlights the gruesome, horrific treatment of the Messiah by humanity; the awful sacrifice to pay for our sins. This isn’t a contradiction, but a paradox. The ultimate victory of God’s chosen one “the Christ” is by virtue of the willing sacrifices Christ makes. Forgive a modern analogy? No “Victory in Europe” without D-Day.
D. KEY POINTS
1.
ROYALTY. Americans don’t much like the images and trappings and assumptions (and history!) of royalty. That’s why we have July 4
th
!! But the Bible is thousands of years old, from ancient times and cultures. So it reaches for the loftiest terms possible to describe the very God who is supposed to be un-describable. Thus, God is King, Lord, Judge. The promised Messiah, in Isaiah 9, is in the same league: wonderful, almighty, everlasting, Prince, Father, God. Whatever is the greatest, best, most excellent, highest – that is the “Prince” (son of a King) who will be God’s Christ. Nothing second rate, hesitant.
2.
TWO LOSERS, some would say. To offer to the world a savior who is a suffering servant is not an easy sell. Two of the world’s largest religions, Hinduism and Islam, cannot grasp a God who would allow himself to be abused as Jesus was. Our Messiah would be “despised, rejected, a man of sorrows not esteemed, unattractive, stricken, smitten by God, afflicted, bruised, whipped, killed,” (Isaiah 53). Modern skeptics and theologians dismiss this “suffering” Christ as almost child abuse. I.e., if God did this to his Son, what kind of God the Father is that??! Yet in every other aspect of life we treasure “the ultimate sacrifice”: those D-Day soldiers, 9/11’s First Responders, police and fire-fighters who die in the line of duty. Nathan Hale who regretted that he “had but one life to give for my country”. We honor the idea that someone else’s life means something for us; that someone else’s death preserved life for us.
3.
Royal Suffering Servant. Jesus earns his royalty, his Messiah-ship precisely by his suffering and servant-hood. The hymn declares “Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul; my life, my all.” It is a tough concept. It is Christlikeness.
