Life Of Christ – Part 1

By Jonathan | January 19, 2015

I love to learn about history. The records of the past tell us more than just dates, facts, and figures. It is a testament to the resolve of mankind to transverse the barriers of oceans, mountains, and even the heavens where moons stars and planets reside. These pale in comparison to how history reveals the goodness of God. Only by his grace and mercy are we allowed to continue to fill and subdue his creation. As we study scripture, I find it very important that we cast alongside our study of scripture the testament of history.

The Bible is rooted in history. In fact, many authors go to great lengths to pin point their location in the record of current world events. Among those authors is the historian Luke who wrote the gospel bearing his own name and the book of Acts. Chapter three of Luke reveals when Jesus began his ministry. Before we begin in the scriptures, it is important to point out the two most important events in Israel’s past. The first was slavery in Egypt and the second being exile in Babylon. These two events, above all others, give the Jews in Jesus’ day their identity. They are the people who were forgotten by their peers in Egypt and forced into slavery. But, YHWH their God did not forget and demonstrated his transcendent power. After the Israelites (northern Kingdom) and Jews (southern Kingdom) long abandoned their covenant faithfulness, this same God disciplined the people by sending them into exile in Assyria and Babylon. At the time of Jesus, the Jews were home in Palestine but still under the thumb of a foreign oppressor, Rome. They were in exile in their own land. They awaited the one God promised, a suffering servant, the new Moses, a deliverer who would throw off their political and religious persecution and once again establish the golden era of Israel – David’s throne.

Now, to the scriptures.

Luke 3:1 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.”

Perhaps more than identifying the date of Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s (JTB) ministry, Luke is reminding the reader of the social temperature simmering and ready to boil over. He mentions Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, and two high priests (a big no no). During this time, revolts were almost a cliché and along with these rabble rousers were messiahs who promised to throw off their foreign oppressors. Jesus’ time sits between two prominent false messiahs. The first was Judas Maccabee (who never claimed to be a messiah as far as I know but undoubtedly seen in this light) in 166BCE who would create a situation for the Hasmonean dynasty to come to power in 140 BCE. The other major revolt was in 132 CE and the false Messiah Bar Kochba. Then there is also the main Jewish revolt of 66 CE which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Also, in 4 BCE (right before Herod died) there was an incident in the temple that had to do with the Roman Golden Eagle being placed at the main entrance. “Two learned men” in the law were drawing the young men as they taught about patriotism and freedom. The historian Josephus records that the teachers were saying, “that if any danger should arise, it was a glorious thing to die for the Law of one’s country; for the souls of those who came to such an end attained immortality and an eternal enjoyment of happiness” (War 1.33.2).

Needless to say, Jesus lived in a very tumultuous time when people were nervous about upsetting the status quo. What we find in scripture is exactly what we would expect to find when also looking at history outside of the Bible. The local authorities and the ministerial class (Pharisees) would be very leery about someone drawing hundreds of followers outside of Jerusalem. So the Sanhedrin may see JTB drawing people to the desert, Jesus’ feeding the 5,000, and the cleansing of the temple by Christ as attempts to rebel against authority. Rumors will spread, plots devised, and fear of revolt among those in power afraid of losing their control over the people. Jesus was the messiah who came to deliver peace but not with Rome. Jesus was the deliverer, not from slave masters but from sin and death.

Once again, the world is entering a time when we are surprised by the terrors of the day to only be surprised once again in the morrow. When we think things just can’t get worse we hear of planes crashing into buildings, of shots fired on the innocent in schools, freedoms being revoked, and persecution on the rise. Our world reminds us every day of our sinfulness. Christians now enter the fray trying to balance living in the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. A tight rope walk for sure.

The world will continue to spiral into chaos and we will continue to be surprised by the decadence of man. Scripture assures us of this. But we have hope that the one who came to deliver Israel from exile will once again come to make all things new. And in that hope, we should bring as many people with us. Who do you know that needs to hear the gospel of Christ and the hope of deliverance from this retched state we are in?

Grace and Peace,