“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him
by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”
(John 6:15, ESV)
Yesterday I included this verse in the consideration of the
events surrounding the feeding of 5,000. It was a reasonable thing to do
considering the context. But this morning I attended Sunday school where I was
blessed to be able to present the message at a church without a senior pastor.
The individual leading this study time started by bringing us to Isaiah 9:1-7
and a prophetic look at the end times. As I read along with him, and he got to
verses 6 and 7, I was immediately reminded of John 16:15 where we ended
yesterday.
Isaiah wrote, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of
the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne
of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah
9:6–7, ESV)
And as the teacher continued he took us to Isaiah 11 with the
picture of these Jews here in John who were anticipating a coming king continuing
to grow in my mind such that I knew I needed to revisit John 16:15.
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and
a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears
hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity
for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” (Isaiah
11:1–4, ESV)
I could not help but think as we read these verses of those
who were amazed that Jesus had fed so many of them with so little and their resulting
desire to take Him away and make Him king. Isaiah had spoken in such a glorious
way of Him coming, and many surely knew his words. We even know them today as
these words from Isaiah have become traditional ones that Christians read year
after year as we celebrate Christmas and the birth of our Savior. But for the
Jews these verses were mistakenly seen as a prophecy that spoke of a coming
king who would take up His reign right then and there. They were not seeing
that He would come for a time, leave, and then return. His leaving was not in
their concept of how He would come, and consequently many were looking forward
to being freed from foreign rule and once again having their own true king who
would bring peace and justice forevermore. This hope came from their
understanding of the words of Isaiah, and in thinking to take Jesus away they
were prepared to put Him in place as this anticipated king.
The hard part is that while the people were right about Him
being that king, they missed the prophecies that spoke of the suffering that He
must go through before He would establish this kingdom. While there are
numerous prophecies pointing to the coming of Christ, the Jews had missed or
misunderstood the others speaking of His death and resurrection, of which
Isaiah 53 is one of the most pointed and graphic. Including only a few verses
here, it is worthy of stopping to read the entire chapter.
“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has
the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry
ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty
that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He
was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our
iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His
wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every
one—to his own way; and the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:1–6, ESV)
What an incredible description of what Jesus would come to
do for us! Humbling Himself as a man He did not even take on a super-man form
but assumed a body and role that would not point to Him for who He really is.
But this is what He did for us, and the Scriptures foretold this hundreds of
years in advance. Though it is much, much easier to see after the fact, another
passage which accurately portrays what Christ would go through is Psalm 22.
Jesus even says the first words of this psalm while on the cross, “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1a, ESV) And we find other portions
of this psalm accurately being played out in passages like Luke 23:35 and
Matthew 27:35. While they may have missed it, Jesus death was prophesied in the
Old Testament Scriptures.
In addition to His death and crucifixion there are also
prophecies about His resurrection. David wrote in Psalm 16:8-10, “I have set
the Lord always before me; because
He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and
my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon
my soul to Sheol, or let Your Holy One see corruption.” (Psalm 16:8–10, ESV) Sure,
they may have seen this as David possibly referring to Himself, but again New
Testament quotes of this by Peter in Acts 2:29-32 point to the subject being
Christ.
Needless to say, to the Jews who were seeking to put Jesus
in place as their king, these Old Testament prophecies were a mystery to them
and subsequently they misunderstood the process which Jesus must go through
before finally establishing Himself as King. Jesus, on the other hand, had this
end clearly in mind and removed Himself so that the plan of the Father might
not be thwarted in any way. (Having said this it is helpful to be reminded that
this did not mean Jesus hid Himself from them, but that He was careful to do
what the Father had intended. Throughout all of His encounters we continue to
read of those who believed and received eternal life.)
Jesus knew that one day all of these things would truly be
completed and He would return for His people and on that day they would
recognize Him for who He truly is. In Revelation 19 we read a description of
Him mounted on a white horse ready to deliver Israel and to establish His millennial
(1,000 year) reign when He will sit on that throne in their midst which they
had been promised from ages past.
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The One
sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and
makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems,
and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a
robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God.
And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following
Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike
down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the
winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His
thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation
19:11–16, ESV)
After that thousand year reign we read of a further judgment
and the once and final casting of Satan into the lake of fire and sulfur to be
tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10). Following this the
scene shifts to Him sitting on a great white throne where He will sit in final
judgment as the books are opened to reveal the lives of men, with only one book
containing those who are granted eternal life (Revelation 20:11-15). Then in
Revelation 21 and 22 we get an incredible description of the new Jerusalem
where God and the Lamb reign forever. As the Revelation concludes Jesus states
several times that He indeed is coming soon to which the concluding words are, “Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus! …” (Revelation 22:20-21, ESV)
God will fulfill His promise to the Jews and He will
complete in all of us that which He starts. He is indeed faithful and He will
bring it all to pass in His perfect timing.
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