LUKE CHAPTER 2
When the Zacharias' son John was born, he praised God for everybody around him to hear. During that praise he acknowledged that his son was going to be the forerunner of the one who would deliver Israel from their enemies so that Israel could serve God without fear. To the original audience that meant that Israel was about to find freedom from foreign oppression and it meant that the kingdom of David was about to be renewed with the rightful heir to the throne. With King David's throne established once again Israel could and would serve God without outside persecution or influence.
Zacharias also saw that his son John would prepare the way for this king through the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins.
If this prophecy was all we knew about John and Jesus we would say that Jesus' work was political insofar as he was to reestablish the monarchy of David, yet his work was also spiritual insofar as with David's throne once again inhabited, Israel could enter into a golden age where God could be served properly and fearlessly. In other words, at Jesus' birth, the way to spiritual salvation was deemed to be through the path of politics.
If this prophesy were all we had we would know that John's work was spiritual insofar as he would bring people to God for the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness was not just for personal salvation, but so that Israel would be ready for the golden age where godliness reigned. John's work was to get people ready for the day when they could serve God in a kingdom established by God's political power - the earthly kingdom of God.
Just because people of the Bible were saints / holy / godly or whatever did not mean that they saw clearly all that God was about to do. They were bound to their world views, to their culture and their limited understanding in all things relating to the prophecies and to the Word of God. We see more clearly because of the events that took place at Golgotha - events that shocked even Jesus' closest friends, disciples and his mother - events they did not expect - events they would need the Holy Spirit to help them understand years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment