1.1 a) Beliefs about the Messiah and the Messianic age/secret Flashcards
What is Messiah in Hebrew and what does it mean?
Maschiah - anointed/chosen one
- originally every king…later understood to be a specific person chosen by God for a great destiny!
What is Messiah in Greek?
Christ
John 1:41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Christ.”
What are the 4 key expectations of what the Messiah will be like?
King
Prophet
Priest
Suffering
How was the Messiah expected to be kingly and by who?
In the OT the Messiah is referred to as a king. Most Jews expected a great king who would RULE FAIRLY and WISELY.
Some hoped for occupying Romans to be driven out by a WARLORD Messiah. Zealots trained to support this kind of Messiah
Some hoped for a SUPERNATURAL KING or angelic ruler who’d defeat demons too!
How does Jesus fulfil the Messiah as kingly?
He is the King of Jews - this is the claim that gets Him crucified!
How was the Messiah expected to be prophetic?
Some hoped (although the Age of the Prophets had ended) a prophet would come to GUIDE their nation BACK to GOD.
A prophetic Messiah was promised by Moses…a prophet would TEACH people how to be good in troubled PAGAN times.
How does Jesus fulfil the Messiah as prophetic?
Jesus did crazy new things - ate with tax collectors, healed on the Sabbath, taught parables etc… to try guide people back to God
How was the Messiah expected to be priestly and by who?
Some hoped for a Messiah who would REFORM the CORRUPT PRIESTHOOD in the 1st century…perhaps this would look like ABOLISHING the TEMPLE and setting up a HOLIER form of WORSHIP that was ACCESSIBLE to everyone.
The Essenes in the desert monasteries rejected the whole Temple-cult and hoped for this sort of Messiah.
How does Jesus fulfil the Messiah as priestly?
He corrected the Temple and reformed the priesthood! He especially corrected the Pharisees lifestyles - called them hypocrites!
What is the messianic secret?
In Mark’s Gospel, William Wrede suggests Mark had Jesus trying to keep the fact he was the Messiah a secret. This reflects a tension between the belief held by the Church that Jesus was the Messiah and what people saw as non-messianic reconciled through secrecy.
