Servant of YHWH The stage has been set. The main characters identified. The wardrobes are ready and the script is superbly written and ready for each prophetic line to be delivered. One last “shocking exile and restoration” (Wright, 2006, p. 86) and “It [will be] finished” (John 19:30, NASB). The One is almost here bringing with Him a “new creation, of justice, spirituality, relationship, and beauty” (p. 86). His physical life is due to our spiritual death. His physical death will provide mankind a spiritual life. In a fantastical story of rebellion and redemption God will finally say “Enough is enough” and “act within Israel and the world to bring to its climax (p. 88) the greatest story ever told.
Jesus and the Coming of God’s Kingdom Since God first created Adam to Jesus’ final breath mankind has been desperately trying and failing miserably to please their Creator. From offering sacrifices that pleased God to following His laws mankind has, if nothing else, displayed through their actions that they are need of an intermediary to be close with God. Jesus is the “echo around the hearts and minds of the human race” (Wright, 2006, p. 92) whispered via the Father. No more will man have to follow strict ordinances and lawful dictates to appease God. After the coming of the Lord all one has to do is believe that He is “the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6, NASB).
What Can We Know About Jesus? Is not it wonderful that Christians as well as all
Jesus and the Disinherited begins the first chapter with the interpretation of Jesus. Dr. Thurman explained that Jesus was a poor Jew and was a minority in the midst of a dominate society. Dr. Thurman gives his analysis on the worldviews Jesus. People around the world have their own interpretation of Jesus; yet, people have an orthodox view of him being fully God and fully man. In chapter one, the author references the nonviolent resistance approach, which is a tactic Dr. Martin Luther King Jr used in the civil rights movements. He interprets Jesus as a black man who lived his life as an outsider in the world. Jesus was the disinherited and oppressed like African Americans.
Although the Bible’s description of Jesus and his crucifixion has not been changed, the perception of the people about Jesus has been changing throughout the ages. The poem “The Dream of the Rood” is good example of a unique view of Jesus and his crucifixion. The poem is referred as “one of the first and most successful treatments of the crucifixion” in Old English poetry (Burrow 123).
The book Simply Jesus concludes with N.T. Wright writing about the rule of God, how far God spreads that rule that he has over the world and how far God’s rule goes to his and into his people, his followers. N.T. Wright continues his conclusion of Simply Jesus by writing about Jesus followers, the followers that have displayed and prioritized the use of worship. Wright concludes with worship being the way, the new way, to be human to the everyone and the world as a whole.
John, the proclaimed author of the Book of Revelation, writes intricately about the events that will transpire when the end of the world has come. John expresses messages to seven churches, heaven’s activities, and the Lamb opening seven seals. He depicts the consequences following the sounding of seven trumpets and the pouring of seven bowls. John mentions numerous times that humans will be judged at the throne for their actions. He stresses the penalties of humans who will not proceed to heaven, but will instead die a second death. He describes heaven’s wondrous beauty, and how Jesus himself, promising he will return to Earth soon, verifies that these words are true.
In Chapter 3 of Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis says that if we do not really know what the gospel is then we will find ourselves having to explain Christianity. Instead of reaching out to people and showing Jesus, we put all our time and effort into defending our religion. It is like we are on teams and we try to get the most people on our side so we have the biggest team. Medearis put it like this, “In a way, we’re drawing a line in the sand and telling people, “You’re on that side, and you need to believe what I’m telling you in order to cross the line. Once you cross it, you’re saved.” (p.45).This is the kind of mentality of salvation that was also referenced in the introduction to the book. Christians tend to treat salvation like a check
Some scholars argue that evidence of Jesus of Nazareth 's existence can only be found within the writings of the New Testament. They believe that the New Testament is a biased and unreliable source for the existence of Jesus. They therefore claim that Jesus did not exist. The historical existence of Jesus is necessary to demonstrate the truth of Christianity. While Christian scholars do not discount the reliability of the New Testament as a historical document, they are also able to point to other historical documents and consider non-Christian writings which support the existence of Jesus. In this paper I will argue that Jesus the Nazarene was an actual, historical person and that this can be demonstrated through extra-Biblical resources.
The Christ figure is a recurring symbol in American literature. Throughout Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, various interactions and events portray McMurphy as a Christ figure. There are frequent visual and concrete references to Christ throughout the novel. Also, the reader discovers that the other patients view McMurphy as an inspiration and someone they wish to emulate. This cooperation enables him to oppose Nurse Ratched and do what he thinks is best for the patients.
Discuss how the title helped to explain some aspect of Jesus’ character or role and why that would be attractive to the audience of the writer.
Who is this man Jesus? Where was he from? What did he do for others and us? A great source of reference to answer this question would be someone who had direct contact with him in everyday life. Someone who saw the daily wonders he created would be the best source for information. Matthew, the apostle, is believed to have written the gospel of Matthew. He was able to experience firsthand all of the amazing miracles that Jesus performed. God inspired his words, and his gospel relates to the other three gospels in overall context. They were written in different formats and styles, but the overall message and story remains constant throughout all four gospels. This creates a strong
ideas of God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit in
“What if I told you, Jesus came to abolish religion?” asks Jefferson Bethke in the first line of his world famous spoken word, “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus”. Hoping to emphasize his views on religion, Bethke has published many spoken word videos that are reaching well into millions of views. His life motto is “I'm just a messed up guy trying to make Jesus famous”. Although the author is most famous for the piece “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus”, he has published other spoken word videos. While most of society finds Bethke's work inspiring and enlightening, others have a more harsh critique of the poets use of biblical references and word choice.
Yancey starts out with the image of Jesus. When he was young he had envisioned Jesus to have angelic features such as, young, handsome, and a compassionate face. It wasn’t until he entered into a Christian college, that he was introduced to the real image of Jesus. I had an immediate connection with Yancey. I too had an image of Christ in my head, which consisted of Hollywood portrayals and those in classical paintings. It wasn’t till I engaged myself at a Christian college, that I have now received a new and more accurate picture of Christ. His book, The Jesus I Never Knew, questions the reader with the thought, “How many Christians today are in the same position, not fully understanding
It can be said that in God's eyes, Christians are only dirty glasses which are stained inside and out with their own sin. These glasses were once clean, not plagued with stains. Now the glasses bear with them these ugly stains, the stains of sin and wrongdoing. The dirty glasses had to accept their punishment for becoming dirty, and the punishment was being destroyed by a hammer. The hammer is God's instrument against sinners. As the hammer made its decent on the glass, a pan covered the glass and took the blow of the hammer to save the glass. This pan represents Jesus because Jesus sacrificed himself to God so that God would forgive us for our sins.
Luke and Acts tells the story of what Jesus did and taught during his ministry, first in his earthly life and then as the exalted Christ and Lord through his disciples. This essay will outline the various titles Luke used to portray or described Jesus in his two-volume narrative, in doing this we hope to get a better understanding and a complete picture of who Jesus was. Luke in his two volume work described Jesus in numerous ways and I am only going to be discussing four which referred to him as Christ, Lord, Prophet and Savior. The main Christological themes that appear in Luke-Acts highlighted and emphasised on the concept of the “Lord 's Christ”, meaning the coming ruler of God 's people, who will serve as their Savior and performing prophetic work [2 pg. 123-143]. Moreover, Jesus’s role was not assumed on his own initiative, but rather it was the work of God. Thus we can say that God’s work and plans were at the center of the Book of Acts and Luke’s gospel [1 pg 22].
With the knowledge that the human form was fit for Jesus, now the focus can shift to the evidence that he was human and his human form was humanizing. Jesus lived a life on earth and suffered like every other person does. As mentioned previously, Jesus experienced temptation by the Devil as seen in Matthew 4. He experienced hunger as seen in Mark 11:12. He experienced weariness as seen in John 4:6, “So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well” (). He experienced sorrow many times as seen when Lazarus died in John 11 and several other places. He also experience pain and suffering on the cross and he died just as everyone on earth does as well. By every standard Jesus was a human being. He lived and died as everyone else on this planet does. His humanity was humanizing. He was a human being and demonstrated all the characteristics of being one. The only difference is that he was able to live a life without sin. So Jesus’ human nature was in no way dehumanizing; he exhibited every characteristic that humans face and conquered every struggle.