1)Lots of hyperlinks to Old Testament book of Exodus (Egypt, Moses, Pharoah is like Herod, etc4L17
2)Kingship language: King David, King Herod, Jesus message (4:17) is the Kingdom of God..
So we talked Kingdom today..noting it's crucial not to misinterpret the term politically or territorially
- reign and rule, not realm
- person and presence, not place
- love, not land, latitude, longitude
We noted the "direction" of the Kingdom seems to work both ways: "backwards" from the future,
and "forwards" from the Exodus ..
Q."Who is Jesus in Matthew?"
A. "The One who is King, and brings the Kingdom.":
>>How does the Kingdom "come" from the "future"?:
Many Jews of Jesus' day (and actually, the Greeks) thought of the Kingdom of God as largely a future identity/reality/location.
So when Jesus, in Matthew 4:17 announces that he, as King, is ALREADY bringing in the Kingdom,
The Jews talked often about "this age" (earth/now) and "the age to come." (heaven/future).
"Age to come" was used in a way that it was virtually synonymous with "The Kingdom."
Scripture suggests that:
The "age to come" (the Kingdom)
has in large part already come (from the future/heaven)
into "this age"
(in the present/on the earth
by means of the earthy ministry of Jesus: King of the Kingdom.
Thus, Hebrews 6:4-8 offers that disciples ("tamidim") of Jesus have
"already (in this age) tasted the powers of the age to come."
In Jesus, in large part, the age to come has come.
The Future has visited the present,
Here are some articles that may help:
>>How does the Kingdom "come" from the " past"?:
In light of (and in spite of ) everything we just said there also WAS a sense in which the Jews believed that --in a limited but vital way--- the Kingdom had begun on earth.. at a specific Old Testament time and place... and worked "forwards" from there.Thus today's video field trip..
Today's video on The Exodus and the "Dance Party on the Beach" is not online in any form (though you can buy it as episode 5 on this DVD). The points to remember are how this was the seminal/foundational/formative microcosmic event of (perhaps all) Scripture, in that:
1)It presents a pattern and prototype of any deliverance from bondage/slavery; and every "way out" (Ex-Odus)
from an old way/world to a new way/world. We had some good discussion about "in-between times" in our lives that we recognized (maybe only in
retrospect) as pivotal and formative. Crossing the sea is often meant to call to mind crossing a barrier (remember the Jordan River video from Week One) into a while new world, creation or order; from allegiance to forbidden gods to The One God. Jesus is seen in Matthew as the New Moses in that just as Moses led God's people out of bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Pharoah) and an empire that infected them (Egypt), so Jesus leads God;s people out of spiritual bondage to an oppressive ruler/"king" (Herod) and an empire that infected them (Rome). This is a classic intertexting/hyperlinking/parallelism.2)It is really the first time God's people are formed/forged into a community; they have "been through stuff together" and are inevitably bonded and changed through a corporate experience. Thus:
3)Also, remember (for the test) the Jewish tradition that the Kingdom of God functionally, and for all practical purposes began (or landed in a foundational way on earth) when God's people there on the beach danced and sang, "The Lord is reigning" ( Exodus 15:18 )...remembering that "reigning" could be translated "King" or "Reigner". Thus, God's Kingship "began" when God's people publicly recognized it after seeing God in action in dramatic way as King. Vander Laan: "The Kingdom begins when God acts"
...Exodus 15:18:
- "The Lord is reigning from this point onward."
- "The Lord is King from this point onward."
Read Hauer/Young, chapters 4 and 6
Read and take notes on Matt 3-4.
No comments:
Post a Comment