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Christianity was supposed to be about becoming like Jesus. | |
We went in the wrong direction. |
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Chapter 4 - The Kingdom Expected There were two significant aspects to prophecy that were either disregarded or not understood. The first was that the Messiah would suffer. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. - Isaiah 53:2-5 Even Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would be 'cut off'. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. - Daniel 9:26 The second major element that was not fully understood was that just as the nation was initially founded by a covenant (testament or contract) with God at Mt. Sinai, the nation was in need of a new 'covenant'. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. - Jeremiah 31:31-34 The disciples were even expecting a kingdom in the mold of the historical grandeur ascribed to David and Solomon. This can be seen from the use of the word 'restore'. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? - Acts 1:6 At a meal one man (probably giving a familiar toast) declared what was commonly expected about the kingdom. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. - Luke 14:15 The response to this was for Jesus to tell about a man who gave a feast and after his friends reject the invitation, compelled strangers and wayfarers to come to his feast. The implication was that people should not expect automatic inclusion in the kingdom. It was to be offered as an invitation. |
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