12 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
12 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
<p class="deck">Advent</p>
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<p class="text"><strong>By Jason Gile, </strong><em>Jason is Affiliate Professor of Old Testament and Dean of Program Development and Innovation at Northern Seminary</em>, <em>as well as Executive Director of </em><a href="http://www.seminarynow.com/" target="_blank" class=""><em>Seminary Now</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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<p class="text">It’s well known in popular Christianity that Christmas is about the birth of a king. But, in its biblical context, Christmas isn’t about just any king, nor some generic savior of the world.</p>
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<p class="text">Instead, the central claim of early Christianity is that Jesus was <em>the king of Israel</em>, the expected son of David who would deliver his people.</p>
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<p class="text">While it’s essential to affirm the universal scope of Jesus’ rule, what Christians often miss is his particular identity as king of Israel: Jesus rules over the whole world <em>as Israel’s messianic king</em>. The very definition of Messiah in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism is this: the coming Davidic king who will deliver Israel, bring God’s rule over the world, and in so doing the nations of the earth would come to know Israel’s God and become part of his people.</p>
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<p class="text">The New Testament follows this definition by identifying Jesus as king and savior of Israel. While the salvation of the nations and the universal rule of the Messiah are important, what takes priority is Jesus’ identity as, first, Messiah-king of Israel. In the Gospels, the central question surrounding his identity was: “can this be the son of David?” (Matt 12:23). The earliest Christians (and Jesus himself) understood his life and death to be for Israel first. He was named Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). His ministry was to the “lost sheep of Israel” (Matt 15:24) and he sent his disciples to the same (Matt 10:6). His message was for Israel to ...</p><p class="more"><a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/scot-mcknight/2021/december/born-is-king-of-israel.html">Continue reading</a>...</p>
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<p><br /><a href="https://rss.beaconads.com/click.php?z=1289806&k=c779018782158d93282944b4f7dd4d03&a=191501&c=62745805" target="_blank"><img src="https://rss.beaconads.com/img.php?z=1289806&k=c779018782158d93282944b4f7dd4d03&a=191501&c=62745805" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>
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