THE REVOLUTIONARY NATURE OF THE GOSPELS PART 2
The Messianic Age may be the most under taught, under studied, Biblical discussion of our modern-American Churches. I think most people who have attended church have heard the word Messiah used and would assume that this word refers to Jesus; but what does an "age" mean and what would a "Messianic Age" look like? We will only hit the tip of the iceberg in this post, but hopefully you will see that the hints left for us throughout the early Christian writings are all pointing to a new present reality of life in the Messianic Age.
Those who read and were upset or confused by my last post on radical non-violence are going to be thrown a bone here, because we must clarify, at this time, just exactly why this radical non-violence was so important to the early Christian community.
The reason there was such a strong position for non-violence in the church for the first 200 to 300 years was because they believed a "new age" had begun. The Messianic age concept was introduced and developed around 800 years before Jesus walked the earth. One of the most famous passages in Jewish and Christian circles to explain the Messianic Age is found in the prophesy of Isaiah.
"He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
-Isaiah 2:4
Does this passage look familiar? If you read The Revolutionary Nature of the Gospel Part 1 you should still have this passage fresh in your mind. In addition, we discussed that the early church fathers believed that this time that Isaiah had prophesied had actually come.
“Christians have changed their swords and their lances into instruments of peace, and they know not now how to fight.”
-Irenaeus, approx. 180 A.D.
I want to take you deeper into the prophesies of Isaiah so we can gather some more information concerning this coming age; which went on to be discussed among Jewish rabbis as the Messianic Age. Chapter 11 of Isaiah is a key passage that we must confront and process when studying the Messianic Age. We will only go through half of it at this time.
Isaiah 11 ESV
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
God help me.... There is so much here to highlight. This passage is essential to understanding who Jesus is and what the earliest Christians believed about him.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Jesse is the father of the shepherd boy David, who fought Goliath, and who through a theatrical series of events became the second king of Israel. The reason the Gospel writers repeatedly refer to Jesus as the "Son of David" is because they want you to connect Jesus with this prophesy in Isaiah, (and the other prophetic messianic passages). The bearing fruit part is also used as powerful imagery throughout the gospels and early Church writings.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
When the Gospel writers describe the baptism of Jesus they recall the, "Spirit descending on him like a dove" (Luke 3:22), this is a clear reference to this point of the prophesy.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
With righteousness he shall judge, or bring justice to the poor. He stated that it was the "meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5) and it was the rod of his mouth, or his words alone, that were his weapon. Powerful stuff there my friends... but we must continue.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Here is where things get interesting, but not necessarily difficult. Jewish teachers in ancient times commonly used anthropomorphism. Anthro-what! Miriam Websters defines it for us:
an·thro·po·mor·phism
Definition of ANTHROPOMORPHISM: an interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or personal characteristics.
Simply speaking, its applying human characteristics onto anything non human. For example, think of Finding Nemo, Peter Rabbit, or other childhood stories in which an animal acts like a human. Got it? Good.
So in verse 6 and 7, as well as elsewhere in the scriptures (like Revelation) the writer is applying human personalities to these animals more specifically nations of peoples. If you were to read the Book of Enoch you would come across a very interesting story with bulls, donkeys, sheep, etc. The Story in Enoch uses anthropomorphism to tell the story of the nation of Israel. This imagery is used several times throughout the scriptures, but the passage in the Book of Enoch is the longest and most detailed use of anthropomorphism I have come across in ancient literature.
All that to say this: The prophesy here in Isaiah is describing a global disarmament. Nations that were previously at war with each other will lie down together in peace. Curiously enough in the middle of this passage is tucked a very powerful line that in a world of animals looks a little out of place. "and a little child shall lead them." Perhaps this is in part why Jesus says “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3).
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
Brace yourself for this one... This is the curse God placed upon the talking serpent in the garden.
"I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
(Genesis 3:15)
In the Messianic Age the curses of Genesis 3 have been removed. Please tell me you just got a little excited right there. How am I so sure that the followers of Jesus believed this Messianic Age had come? Check out what Jesus tells his disciples as part of the Great Commission.
"they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:18)
and again what the writer of Acts says happened to the Apostle Paul.
Acts 28 ESV
"3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."
Now lets take a moment to clarify something. I am not advocating or condoning those crazy snake handling churches. There are obviously serious risks involved when allowing your child to play in an adders den. I would not advise it. What I mean when I say that the Messianic Age has come with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah I am not saying that everything is peachy. We obviously do not live in an age of global disarmament, and yet we advocate for it. I am not saying that there is no curse, I am saying we are no longer under it.
We are advocating for the present reality of the Kingdom of God that intersects and overlays our currently broken planet because the Messianic Age has come, and has yet to come fully.
Lets finish the passage we read earlier from Isaiah.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
Again we see a time of world peace will be enacted, and the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is some interesting imagery, and an entire blog post could accompany this thought. However, at this point I have likely lost all but my boldest of readers due to an already lengthy post. I will say this however, curious minds would be fascinated to find that there is a parallel between these two verses and the book of Revelation.
What Jesus, his disciples, Paul, and the early church fathers are all trying to tell us is that the Messianic Age has come, and that the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God) has already collided with earth because of Jesus the Messiah. Once your eyes are opened to it, you will see that this new reality of the Messianic Age is the central theme of the New Testament scriptures.
Messianic Age
Kingdom of God
Kingdom of Heaven
New Creation
These are the new present realities that Jesus the Messiah has called us into as Christians.
Where there is a Part 2 there is sometimes a Part 3; So in my next blog I will highlight some of the radical teachings of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God/Heaven.