We began last week a new series, taking us through the New Testament. This is a 40,000 foot overview of the New Testament, so it’s not going to get down and see a lot of details, and we’re going to go fast. This is going to be a more “academic” type of series, but I guarantee you, if you’re reading through the Scriptures you will glean real insights into the New Testament.

So as we go, I want to give you a few helpful hints as we do this.

Don’t get frustrated by the pace.

It’s going to go fast as I said, and it can be easy to want to stop and say, wait, I want to know more about THIS. My hope is that as we fly over there will be a lot that you want to get to know better. Make note of it, write it down, and you can come back to it later.

2. Try and see the connections.

If you’ve ever flown across the country, and been where you could look out a window: you’ve seen how the landscape flows from bodies of water like Puget Sound, to mountains, to plains and farmland, to the industrial and urban complexes.

3. Enjoy your flight.

When you’re travelling by air, you typically don’t worry about all that you’re missing, you enjoy your flight and look forward to getting to your destination.

Our destination is an overview of the New Testament and an ability to make some connections with other history to help put it into context.

So with that, we’re going to look at the M, in our acronym E.M.P..T.Y. Last week we considered some of the expectations that Jewish people had - I say Jewish people because as we know the rest of the world wasn’t awaiting anything. They were caught up in their own separate cultish and pagan religious practices. That was the E here on our timeline.

And you’ll notice this blue line here on our timeline, the begins the line of promise way back in Genesis (if we had our previous banner up here you would see it with call of Abraham). “Then it turned blue with the promise of kingship to Jacob’s son, Judah (Gen. 49:10) and extends through the line of Judah, culminating in the promise given to King David (2Sam 7:14). The line seems to fade during the period of EXILE, yet God’s people are not without hope, for the line continues through King Jehoaiachin’s grandson, Zerubbabel. The line becomes visible again at the end of the Old Testament period pointing toward the coming MESSIAH. During the period of EXPECTATIONS, the line rises in the midst of great suffering; at moments it seems barely visible at all. At last, according to God’s redemptive plan “when the fullness of time had come,” God sends forth his Son (Gal. 4:4).”

Casket Empty: God’s Plan of Redemption Through History: New Testament Study Guide by David Palmer.

So, the M, is for Messiah.

Messiah (Part I)

There is a lot that goes into the being the expectation and then receiving of the Messiah.

When we think of the Messiah, of course we think of Jesus. Why Jesus? Well, we’ll see some of that as we make our flight over the Gospels today.

Gospel - means good news - we talked about that last week.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Gospel

A gospel is an announcement of good news. In particular, the gospel is the announcement that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have brought about salvation for Israel and the world.

And in our New Testament we talk about 4 Gospels

4 Gospels

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

What distinguishes these Gospels from one another? I’ve shared some information on the sheets as you came in.

Let’s look at some of the history that is going on around the time the Messiah enters the world.

HEROD

You cannot read the New Testament, especially the Gospels without understanding the context into which Jesus enters. Herod died in 4 BC. Though his reign included many public successes and a vast building program; as his reign progressed though there was a growing level of destruction. He was extremely paranoid over who would be his successor as can be noted in the frequent changes to his will. In 7BC he actually ordered the execution of his sons Alexander and Aristobulus.

It was in 6BC that he hears of the birth of the King of the Jews in Bethlehem by the magi. We know that he attempted to find out this “kings” location from the magi, but they don’t return to him and so he orders the slaughter of every male child 2 years and younger in Bethlehem. God sent an angel to warn Mary and Joseph and they flee to Egypt.

When Herod died, his son Archelaus assumed the kingship and executed 3,000 people during the celebration of Passover. The Roman regional governors came into Judea and plundered Herod’s estates.

Judea is reduced to a Roman province ruled by procurators. These procurators main role is to collect taxes, oversee building projects, administer justice and maintain peace, with the use of force using the Roman legions if necessary.

That was the political context, we also have four distinct religious responses to the world within Judaism.

Sadducees

Pharisees

Essenes

Zealots

Sadducees are represented on our timeline by the high priestly turban. They are conservative, religious and political drawn mainly from the upper classes’ priestly and aristocratic families. They control temple worship, and many are part of the Sanhedrin, the supreme legal council, which we will encounter at Jesus’ trial.

They accept as binding only the laws derived from the written text of the Torah (the first 5 books of our Old Testament). They denied the resurrection, which distinguishes them from the Pharisees.

Pharisees are represented on our timeline by the Torah scroll. They are an influential religious and political group. According to historian Josephus there were 6,000 Pharisees in Israel during the first century. They are a popular lay movement within Israel. Their name means separate, they are those who have separated themselves.

This groups sees their faithfulness to the Torah as the prerequisite for God’s visitation to Israel. During the gospels you often see Jesus in conflict with this group, they took offense at his claims for authority, they reject his interpretation and application of Scripture.

Essenes are represented on our timeline as a storage jar used for scrolls. They are known for their extreme devotion and piety. They reject personal property, share common meals, and practice strict observance of the Torah. The name Essene comes from the Hebrew participle ‘oseh which means “doer” of the law. Their ritual practices are similar to the Saduccees and more conservative than the Pharisees. Their beliefs and practices were revealed in modern times with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. They hid these scriptures in jars during the war in 66 - 70 AD. 40% of the manuscripts are copies of the Hebrew Bible. These are the earliest copies of the OT scriptures that we have today. The discovery of these scrolls has greatly increased our confidence in the reliability of the transmission of the Bible over thousands of years.

Zealots are represented on the NT timeline with the knife, they believed that armed resistance is the proper response to the Roman power in their land. Their rallying cry is “No king but God!” They would terrorize Jerusalem by assassinating those who did not support the war against Rome. Jesus openly preaches against this response in Matthew 5:39.

Paul - It’s also during this time that Saul, who we will come to know as the Apostle Paul is being educated under Gamaliel. Gamaliel is on of the leading sages of his generation and serves as president of the Sanhedrin and receives the honorific title of Rabban, which means “our Rabbi”.

Pontius Pilate - he serves as the 5th Roman governor from 26-36 AD. He directs all aspects of Roman administration from the governor’s residence in Caesarea. His encounter with Jesus is not the first time that he has come across as weak. Early in his reign he showed great disrespect for Israel’s customs and provoked conflict by bringing in Roman Military standards bearing the image of Caesar into Jerusalem at night. Great crowds surrounded his residence in Caesarea and he orders his soldiers to simply execute those that won’t accept the images. The people fall to the ground and expose their necks, claiming they would rather be killed than transgress God’s law. Astonished at the intensity of their devotion, Pilate relents and orders the removal of the standards.

In the midst of all of these competing forces, enter John the Baptist - not in the city but in the wilderness:

Luke 3:1–2 ESV

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

When he was born his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied over him,

Luke 1:76–79 ESV

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

John, prepared God’s people by proclaiming their need for repentance, symbolized in baptism:

Matthew 3:11–12 ESV

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus would be baptized by John and the Holy Spirit would come upon him. And thus the Messiah’s role would begin to come true. We’ll talk about that more next week.

In closing, I ask a couple questions:

Have you been baptized for repentance? Or do you see your baptism as just some ritual that doesn’t mean anything.

Are you living as a follower of the Messiah?

We’re going to see more of Jesus Messianic role next week as we look at Messiah (Part 2). I hope you’ll join us.