John In Israel Research Paper

The Gospel of Matthew presents the promised Messiah, the immaculate Savior and King of the Jews. Matthew’s Gospel has a clear purpose and is unique for its linkage of the New and Old Testament through Jesus Christ. Matthew shows ages of prophecy fulfilled through a single life span of one man’s life. The fulfillment of the law is found in Christ and he recapitulates Israel in a condensed manner perfectly. The Gospel, also goes on to show the Israelites rejection of Christ as their Savior, their King and depicts a new gathering of people to Christ.

While numerous scholars say that John is the Gospel to the world (and Matthew to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks), a Jewish scholar such as Israel Abrahams might very well believe that the Gospel of John is the most Jewish Gospel of the four by the way it reflects Jewish traditions and symbolisms. According to David Wenham[i], there is more attention given to Jesus as the Messiah in the Gospel of John than in any of other Gospels. In John, from chapter one onwards people are directly talking about Jesus as Messiah, and then there is intense public debate about whether Jesus is Messiah or not in John 7:25-31, 41-44[ii], which indicates that John is quite mindful of Jewish issues.

The post presents a clearly defined explanation of Jewish traditions and culture in the Book of John. Correctly stated, the use of the term “the Word” plainly displays an entity that is more than just mortal. Jewish scripture accurately predicts a messiah that was eternal. John’s explanation of “the Word” plainly lays out the fact that He was existent from all eternity. (TOWNES X). Furthermore, in John’s Gospel care is taken to provide chronological timeline by identifying Jewish holidays. Especially unique is John’s mention of the Feast of Tabernacles. Customs such as the wedding at Cana and the agrarian references to sheepherding assume the reader would be familiar with a particular way of life. Continuing, the notice of John’s

In Luke 1: 16,17 the angel of the Lord says that John will bring the Israelites back to their God, he will go before God in the spirit of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous. This will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” So this shows what John work was. It was to get the people ready for the Lord. He did this by many ways like baptism. He even baptized Jesus. This is the work that John was called to do.

The Word and John the Baptist

John starts his anecdote by introducing a straightforward conversation between Jews and Jesus regarding Abraham and freedom. This interaction extends for various paragraphs and shows a clear lack of exacerbated emotional response from the Jewish community. The Jews in this passage simply aspire to learn more about Jesus’s ideology and thoughts instead of threatening him with death. This short interaction is crucial to the humanization of the Jewish community in the reader’s eyes. Contrasting the emphasis on hate and anger that Matthew portrays on the Jew population, John depicts them as people who are simply obeying the law. When asked if they desire to crucify the King of Jews, the Jews answer with “We have no king but the emperor.” This small, yet powerful line, demonstrates that the Jewish community was not furious due to the claims performed by Jesus, but rather by the threat to the social status that had been established in the era. Many philosophers believe that Jews had strong connections to the head of the government and they might have believed that if Jesus was to become the new king, their advantages and benefits would suddenly

Jesus is portrayed as Israel’s Messiah, or king, of the Jews. “Matthew’s Gospel breaks the long silence that followed the ministry of Malachi the last of the Old Testament prophets. This silence extended for four hundred years, and during that time God was hid from Israel’s view. Throughout this period there were no angelic manifestations and, though the Chosen People were sorely pressed, yet were there no Divine interpositions on their behalf.” (Pink 11).

Jesus was a great teacher who came to help us live better lives. There are many accounts of this in the Gospels where Jesus’ teaches his people. We learn about Jesus in the Gospels from his birth, death, resurrection, and everything in between. Other than his teachings in the Gospels, we see miracles that he has done like healing a leper and a paralyzed man, or feeding 5,000 people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. We can learn a lot about Jesus from names he is given like Messiah for example. Messiah is used many times in the Bible and it means “anointed one.” The Jewish people expected God to send a Messiah to help them with their problems and this would be Jesus. By knowing the meaning of Messiah,

Meanwhile, in the book of Matthew the chosen messenger sent to prepare the way for Lord is revealed, “…John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness”. [7 Matthew 3:1] In chapter 3, John the Baptist unapologetically fulfills the prophecy over his life through his consecrated lifestyle and ministry. He’s found confronting sin through his message of repentance, and performing baptisms. [ 8 Mat 3: 4-7] John also prophesies about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

God spoke to his people through the prophets; he promised them that he would send a saviour who would fulfil their hopes and aspirations and redeem them from their sins. Jesus is the fulfilment of this promise made by God through the prophets, as prophesied in Isaiah (Chapter); “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way — a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

The first prophecy announced of John the Baptist is in the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 40:3 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The prophet Isaiah is announcing how John the Baptist will come, and how he will announce the coming of Christ. The second prophecy that is announced in the Old Testament is in Malachi chapter 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, will come, says the Lord Almighty.” John the Baptist was the messenger of God that proclaimed the coming of our Messiah.

The Christology of Mark: The Jesus of Mark has always been assumed to be the image of the suffering servant (Isaiah-trope). However, in recent studies, this image has expanded to suggest that the Markan Jesus is two-fold in terms of its Christology (Henderson: 2006). The Messiahship of Jesus is divided into a. the messiahship of purpose (passion; mission; miracles) and God’s dominion on earth Mark deals less with Christological status and more with Christological mission. The destiny of the messiah holds a central point within the gospel story. For Mark, the destiny is the passion, which begins to be the

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.” John 1:1-2 (RSV)

Jesus' ministry began with his baptism by John in the Jordan River. This is when it is told in the bible that ‘God’ spoke to him.

Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John primarily emphasized Jesus’ divinity instead of humanity. A verse that supports John’s focus of divinity