In Reading W. J. Heard's article on Revolutionary Movements in DJG, specifically Messianic Pretenders, I began to wonder what the people of Jesus's day really thought of him. Not too much before Jesus was born numerous upstart revolts began in which the leaders were considered to be the messiah, the kind of messiah that the Jewish people were looking for. All of these preceding and following messianic claims surrounding the life of Jesus were military based. The Jewish people believed that the Messiah would regain their freedom as a people out from under the oppression of the Romans and take his rightful place on the throne of Jesus and in their position I would have thought the same thing. I would have been hoping for the right guy, the perfect military mind that could topple an empire and restore Israel to its former glory. But then came Jesus, a peaceful but powerful teacher with authority, the true Messiah. He is different from all the others and therefore does not even seem to be a candidate for the job. I find it interesting when Jesus was arrested in Matthew 26:55, "At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Everyday I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me."
All of the other messianic canidates talked about in the article seem all to be apart of some group that is revolting and I just find that interesting because Jesus is the one that is completely peaceful and yet they come at him as if he is some sort of violent rebel.
Toby Shelton
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No wonder people did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he was one of a line of people who were claiming to be what he really was. If I was a NT Jew I would want a collection of “Messiah” T-shirts from all those claiming to be so.
Prince of Peace; I bet Jesus really threw people for a loop. I wonder what I would have thought if I lived then?
-Dixie
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