More Things 24
Notes
Transcript
Who Will Go for Us?
Who Will Go for Us?
The arrival of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, is the fulcrum upon which God’s plan for the restoration of Eden tilts toward realization. He is the center of the biblical epic. Even though someone reading the Bible straight through has to wade 3/4s of the way into it before encountering him, he has been in the shadows the whole time. No, Jesus was not an earthly man before he was born. Rather, Yahweh - the visible, second Yahweh — has been part of the biblical story in the form of a man since Eden.
It is this second personage, who would, four hundred years after the close of the Old Testament period, be born of the Virgin Mary as the human man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. He has to become man to ensure that humanity, God’s imager, is not erased from the Edenic vision due to his mortal weakness and invariable propensity to use his free will to attempt to gain autonomy from God.
An Edenic realization without human participation would mean that the nachash would then have won a victory — the abolition of humankind as God’s image. God need not change his plan in response to human weakness or the self-willed rebellion of a divine council member. He need not remove humanity or human freedom - and with it, his image - to accomplish what he wants. An omniscient, all-powerful being doesn’t need to cheat. He know how best to win —and how to misdirect his opponents.
We’ve already included Jesus in certain aspects of the supernatural Old Testament worldview and theology. We’ve seen that he ranks as unique among the divine .... We’ve talked about the Old Testament backdrop to Jesus as the Word and the One who comes on the clouds. But those items barely scratch the surface.
Today, we will fill in a few more pieces of the messianic mosaic by noting more connections between Jesus and the second Yahweh figure, and then take a brief look a the divine council backdrop at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus as the Name
Jesus as the Name
Earlier we learned that the Angel of Yahweh, in whom was the Name, another term for the essence or presence of God. The New Testament applies that concept to Jesus in several passages — for example:
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
When Jesus tells God the Father that he has revealed God’s name to the disciples, he isn’t talking about telling the disciples what God’s name was. They could read the OT and learn it. Revealing God’s name to them meant showing them who God was and what he was like. He did that by living among them as a man. Jesus was God among them. He was the incarnation of God.
The notion of making God known by revealing his name also takes us back to Yahweh’s Angel in the OT. Recall that God’s Angel was God in human form — God’s name or presence resided in that Angel (see Exodus 23: 20-23). John draws on that language in his presentation of Jesus as God. When Jesus says he has “kept them in your Name” he means he has those followers the Father gave to him by means of God’s own power and presence — the Name, now incarnated in Jesus.
In this regard it is worth noting that, just as “the Name” was another expression for God, so “the Name: was used to refer to Jesus. For example, in Romans 10 we read:
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
compare this: Joel 2:32
Joel 2:32 (ESV)
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
the Lord is Yahweh in the text, the apostle links confessing Jesus as calling on Yahweh. This happens a lot in Paul’s writing and the “the Lord” translation obscures it. The Name and Yahweh were interchanged in Israelite theology, so trusting in the Name meant trusting in God, and in the NT trusting in Jesus who is God.
Jesus as the Angel of Yahweh
Jesus as the Angel of Yahweh
this is made explicit in Jude 5
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
this refers to Ex 23: 20-23
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
“When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
the destruction could be the Egyptians but it is most likely post-Sinai -
The Council is in Session
The Council is in Session
We often think of the commencement of the ministry and mission of Jesus as something quiet and mundane. Not so. A day in the ministry of the incarnate Yahweh was a spiritual assault on the forces of darkness to reclaim what rightfully belonged to him, his Father the invisible God, and those human beings who were part of the divine council family. The Gospels are far more than a boring point to point travelogue.
We have all read of his baptism before, maybe dozens of times, but do we have the full context?
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
What is startling is the passage cited by John the Baptizer. He identifies himself with the anonymous voice of Isa 40:3 that heralded the coming of God. It is obscured in English translations.
Isaiah 40:1–5 (ESV)
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In this text we learn that God is the speaker. He issues four commands that I have put in bold face. ALL 4 are plural in Hebrew. That means God is commanding a group. The group cannot be Israelites or a collective Israel, since it is Israel that God is commanding the group to comfort, speak to, and call. This group is the divine council.
The context is a new beginning for Israel (humm). Judah had been in Babylonian captivity. God brought them back out of exile to the land — BUT the other 10 tribes never emerged from exile. They were lost, scattered among the disinherited nations. But the coming of the messiah will result in redemption for all the tribes. God will draw his children from every tribe and nation..a lone response comes to the commands in 40: 1-2 ...
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
It is this verse that constitutes John the Baptizer answer to the priests and Levites. In Isa the council member who responds is not Identified. Earlier in Isa 6:8
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Which is must earlier and cannot be connected here, but if we think broadly…and remember the council exchange in 1st Kings … a council member stepped up in Kings to deal with Ahab ...
So, with the arrival of the messiah, the apostle casts John the Baptizer in Isaiah’s role. Like the prophet of old, John the Baptist has stood in the council and answered the call. To a Jew familiar with the Old Testament, the pattern would not be lost. As had been the case at the time of Isaiah, the council had met and John the Baptist was called, commissioned and declared the coming of the kingdom of God with the incarnate God as its point man.
The Incarnate God leading a New Exodus
The Incarnate God leading a New Exodus
The description of the baptism of Jesus added the unfolding drama - for those who knew what they were reading. Mark’s account of the baptism provides some key insights that connect to the Old Testament worldview we have been tracking:
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Two points whose importance is missed in translation (bi-lingual church)
First, Mark’s note that the heavens were split apart is significant. The Greek word is the same the Septuagint uses to describe the parting of the sea in Exodus. Think back a few weeks (or more) to our discussion of this event. This was a victory over hostile gods. Remember “who is like Yahweh among the gods?” The answer is no one. This event was a release from exile. Mark wants his readers to see that a new exodus event is happening. The kingdom of God is back, and this time it is being led by the visible God, now incarnate. The imagery is even more startling when we connect Jude 5
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
We are being led out of bondage in Egypt.
Second
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
This is more than a sentimental proclamation or a verbal token of affection. It is far more than that. When God refers to Jesus as beloved he is affirming the kingship of Jesus as the legitimate heir to David’s throne.
The key is the term beloved. This is the term used of Solomon, the original heir of David. The problem is that it get translated as a name.
Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
Jedidiah is “beloved”
The term amounts to a title that marked Solomon as the legitimate heir to the throne of David. The same message is telegraphed with respect to Jesus. God’s own voice announces, this is the king, the legitimate heir to David’s throne.
The NT story, then, begins with a dramatic re visitation of God’s call to the divine council to send someone to announce the appearance of God in the man Jesus of Nazareth. That much will become evident to friend and foe, human and supernatural. The strategy behind the appearance of the king, however, is cloaked It had been over 500 years since the return of Judah from exile. The emergence of Jesus, born and raised in obscurity, from the water launches a battle of wits that entangles both the divine and human realms.