top of page
Robby Lashua

Jesus: Prophesied Savior

Updated: Apr 28

THE EXPECTATION OF THE PROMISED Jewish Messiah was growing intense during the first century. In fact, there were many people who were believed to be the Messiah prior to Jesus. Around the time of Jesus’ birth, a man named Judas of Galilee led a rebellion against the Roman and Herodian rule in Israel. Judas assembled a band of peasants and attacked the royal palace armory at Sepphoris, Galilee. Being heavily armed, Judas made an attempt to appoint himself king through guerrilla warfare. Many people followed Judas and he founded the Zealot party, of which was one of Jesus’ disciples Simon (Luke 6:15). In addition to Judas of Galilee, there were other revolutionaries who sought to fulfill the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Specifically, the prophecies that state the Messiah would sit on the throne of David and rule Israel (Gen. 49:10, 2 Samuel 7:16).

The agonizing wait for the true Messiah to appear had people people of Israel on edge. When would God send His anointed one to save Israel from the pagan dominion of the Roman Empire? When would the throne of David be established forever? How long must the Jewish people suffer the oppression of foreigners ruling their God-given land? You can imagine the prayers being lifted up, pleading with God for salvation, begging Him to send a savior. In fact, Jesus’ disciples often misunderstood Jesus’ mission. They were anticipating a revolution, a military overpowering of the Romans who occupied their land. The disciples were looking forward to Jesus establishing his kingdom. All of the signs were there. Jesus preached “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Surely this meant that He was going to execute judgment on Rome and take back the Davidic Kingdom. The Disciples often argued about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom, and at one point, Jesus was told by the mother of John and James, “Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on your right and one on your left.” This is political posturing at its best. Even a mother of some of Jesus’ disciples had the expectation that he would save Israel through military victory and establish a kingdom that her boys could help rule over. Additionally, Jesus even told his disciples to sell cloaks and buy swords.

It’s easy to fault the disciples with misunderstanding or even flat-out not listening to Jesus. However, we must understand that it was their expectation of what the prophesied Messiah would save them from that was incorrect. As bad as the oppression was from the Roman Empire, Jesus’ mission was not to come and enact judgment on the enemies of God. He was clear in what his mission was when he said, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Although the mission was clear, the expectation overshadowed it. Peter, even after proclaiming that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of God, then rebukes Jesus for teaching that he must suffer and die, and rise again. The Messiah couldn’t die, he must establish the kingdom. Dying implies utter failure. In fact, all the other supposed Messiahs were killed while trying to establish their kingdoms. Surely Jesus couldn’t save his people by dying. Peter, the disciples, and the general consensus at that time was expecting a revolutionary, warrior-savior who would liberate them from Rome as Moses had done with Egypt and David had done with the Philistines.

However, there were other prophecies about the Messiah that were being overlooked. Isaiah 53 depicts a suffering servant who would be afflicted, forsaken, pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, oppressed, and intereceding for our sins. It was for this mission that the Messiah had come. Not to save the Jewish people from the oppression of Rome, but to save all people from the oppression of sin and death. In fact, the manner in which Jesus entered Jerusalem should have been a clue to those around of what his true mission was.

Today is Palm Sunday and we are celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. As Jesus entered Jerusalem one week prior to his resurrection, he once again fulfilled prophecy that clearly stated what he came to save people from. Prior to entering Jerusalem, Jesus had instructed his disciples to go into a nearby village and fetch him a specific colt that had never been sat upon. They obeyed, and upon returning, placed their coats on the colt and Jesus sat on it and rode it into Jerusalem. Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9-10:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As he rode in, the crowds were shouting “Hosanna”, which was a shout of praise meaning “Save, I pray”. If only the crowd knew the extent to which Jesus was going to save them. The Zechariah prophecy tells us that the King is coming, righteous and having salvation. This the crowd understood. However, the second half of the prophecy was not understood.

God states he will cut off the chariot, the war horse and the battle bow. This means that the prophesied savior was not coming to wage war, but instead to speak peace to the nations.

Jesus, the prophesied savior, the prince of peace was coming to bring peace on earth, not merely to ignite an insurrection. The riding of the colt was a sign that peace, not war was coming. Peace with God, our penalty paid, our debt erased, our salvation secured.


QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

Have there been times in your life when you misunderstood what God was doing? How has Scripture helped to you to realign any false expectations you have had of God?

Take some time to pray, ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal any false expectations you may have of Him.


Robby Lashua, Apologist at Stand To Reason

To get to know Robby and see his speaking schedule go here: https://www.str.org/robby-lashua

Comments


bottom of page