The 5 Representative Questions Regarding Jesus’ Status As Messiah
List and discuss the 5 representative questions regarding Jesus’ status as Messiah through John’s Gospel and show how John uses these to demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ. Describe some modern objections to the claim that Jesus is the Christ.
The 5-representative question about
Jesus being the Messiah are:
1.)
People thought that the coming
Messiah would be a political figure who would rescue them from Roman control.[1]
They wanted to make Jesus their king after his miracle that fed them. They thought
that Jesus was the prophet that Moses had spoken of. The Apostle John shows,
however, that Jesus withdrew from the people and told Pilate that his kingdom
was not of them world which let them know that their preconceived notions of Him
reigning as their earthly ruler was wrong.[2]
2.)
The Jews thought that they knew
where the Messiah was from. Their beliefs were that when the Messiah came, they
would not know where he was from. Therefore, there was the expectation that the
Messiah was of mysterious origin. Jesus did fulfill this for He is the
mysterious Son of Man and the Word who became flesh.[3]
3.)
People expected the Messiah to
perform signs and wonders. Kostenberger writes that the children were taught
about the miracles that Moses performed, and they expected the Messiah to do
greater ones.[4] They
asked Jesus about what sign would he show them. Jesus did do many miracles that
the Jews were amazed at.[5]
4.)
The Jews expected the Messiah to
have been born in Bethlehem. They thought that Jesus was from Galilee and
therefore, he could not be the Messiah because the Messiah was to be born in
Bethlehem and of David’s descent. Although they were correct in where the
Messiah was to be born, they were incorrect in their assumptions that Jesus was
born in Galilee. Jesus had indeed been born in Bethlehem, but he grew up in the
Galilee area and either Joseph and/or Mary were of Davidic descent.[6]
5.)
When Jesus spoke of being lifted up
from the earth, John describes it as symbolizing the way that Jesus would die
by being lifted up onto a cross. The Jews believed that the Messiah would dwell
with them forever. Jesus, however, did both by dying on the cross and residing
with those who accept Him in their hearts by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.[7]
No comments:
Post a Comment