Jesus performed miracles and signs
Jesus performed miracles
and signs. He healed the sick, raised the
dead, quelled storms of
nature, fed the multitudes and exercised
absolute authority over
the spirit world—yet He wasn’t accepted
as Israel’s
Messiah.
One might think that with
those credentials, He would be automatically proclaimed Messiah. We are told,
however, that “He came to
His own [people], and His
own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). After
a -year ministry, only
120 followers were there for the miraculous
beginning of His Church
(Acts 1:15).
One of the prophecies
about the Messiah foretold that He would be
“despised and rejected by
men” (Isaiah 53:3). The great works Jesus
did that brought about
His popularity in the country were not enough
to overcome the disfavor
He incurred from the religious authorities—
or enough to secure
loyalty from the fickle hearts of the common man.
His mission and His
teachings were at cross purposes to those who held
high positions in the
nation, and His purpose was also misunderstood by
most of those who saw and
heard Him.
What were the Jews looking for?
The Jews were acquainted
with many of the prophecies about the Messiah, the chosen or “anointed one” as the
word means in Hebrew. They
firmly believed that the
Messiah would be a strong and glorious earthly
king who would deliver
them from their Roman oppressors and form
once again a great and
independent Jewish kingdom. The wise men who
came from the east
seeking the newborn Jesus inquired at Jerusalem,
“Where is He who has been
born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:1-2).
King Herod, who ruled
Judea under the Romans, clearly understood
that the Messiah the Jews
expected was to be another king and thus a
rival to himself. He then
asked the chief priests and scribes “where the
Christ was to be born” so
he could eliminate the threat to his power
(Matthew 2:3-16).
In the Greek language in
which the New Testament was written,
Christos
(Christ in English) has
the same meaning as the Hebrew word Mashiach
(Messiah in
English)“anointed one,” signifying one who
was specially chosen by
God (see “What Do ‘Messiah’ and ‘Jesus Christ’
Mean?” beginning on page
68). Herod and the Jewish rulers considered
the title “Christ” as
synonymous with that of “King of the Jews” in accordance with the general
expectation of the time (compare verses 2 and 4).
The expectation that the
Christ would be a king fit with their understanding that He would also be a
descendant of David, the most famous
of all the kings of
Israel and the one by whom all other kings were measured. We see this
illustrated in Matthew 22:42, when Jesus asked the
Pharisees, “What do you
think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
Their response was, “The
Son of David” (Matthew 22:42).
Jesus was addressed as
“Son of David” by two blind men (Matthew
9:27), by the woman of
Canaan (Matthew 15:22) and by the blind men
at Jericho (Matthew
20:30). When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man
who was both blind and
mute, “all the multitudes were amazed and said,
‘Could this be the Son of
David?’” (Matthew 12:22-23). At His entry
into Jerusalem He was
greeted with shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of
David!” (Matthew 21:9).
The number and scope of the
miracles Jesus performed—miracles not
equaled in the history of
Israel even by the great prophets—led people
to the conclusion that He
had to be the prophesied Messiah. “And many
of the people believed in
Him, and said, ‘When the Christ [Messiah]
comes, will He do more
signs than these which this Man has done?’”
(John 7:31).
Time for a restored kingdom?
When the people desired
the appearance of “the Son of David,” they
were hoping for the
prophesied One who would restore the kingdom of
Israel under the Davidic
dynasty.
At one point when Jesus
miraculously fed a following of 5,000 men,
they were convinced that
He was “the Prophet who is to come into the
world” (John 6:14). This
is an allusion to Moses’ prophecy of “a Prophet
like me” in Deuteronomy
18:15-19. The disciples of Jesus identified Jesus
as this same Prophet,
“Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the
prophets, wrote—Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45).
What better king can you
have than one who will miraculously feed
you? This miracle caused
a groundswell of support to make Him king
then and there. But “when
Jesus perceived that they were about to come
and take Him by force to
make Him king, He departed again to the
mountain by Himself
alone” (John 6:14-15). He made Himself scarce.
To become a human king
over a powerful Israel was not a part of Jesus’
mission at that time.
Jesus Christ: The Real Story
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