The Nature of the Kingdom as it is Presented in Luke's Gospel
One of Luke's main interests in Jesus was his preaching on the Kingdom
of God. As Luke was arguably a gentile, he wanted to prove to all
people that the Kingdom was present and that everyone is welcome to
become a member. However what Luke wrote about the kingdom in some
areas did contradict the Jews expectations. For example, Jewish
understanding of the kingdom was that a divine rule would be the
counterpart of the earthly kingship. This goes back to Old Testament
when the prophet Samuel first anointed the first Jewish King Saul, as
so was King David. The anointing of a king meant that they would
represent God's rule and would be regarded as God-sent.
Jewish understanding of the kingdom increased significantly after
Israel lost her independence in C6 BCE. Concepts of King and Messiah
emerged during the inter-testamental era. The heavenly hosts of angels
would defeat the devil and his armies and heaven would literally be
created on earth. Essenes took particular interest in this belief as
they searched for liberation and the coming of the kingdom of God.
Another concept consists of no war. However gentiles would realise
that there is no other saviour than Israel's God, and would thus
worship 'God' and acquiesce to the Jews.
Jesus' concept however of the Kingdom differed to that of the Jews as
to them, the Kingdom of God would be much more earthly. As in Mark
1:15, 'the Kingdom of God has arrived'. Jesus thus believed the
kingdom to be a present reality in himself and his ministry 'the
kingdom of God is within you' (Luke 17:21). However there have been
three sugges...
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...on, Jewish understanding of the Kingdom of God slightly
differs to that of Jesus' teachings. Jews expected an earthly king to
come and liberate them from the occupation of the Romans, as Jesus
entered Jerusalem, they expected him to ride on a horse with armament
as a 'fighting' leader, on the contrary Jesus was humble and instead
rode on a donkey. In Luke's gospel as well as the other gospel
writers, the Kingdom is portrayed as a spiritual kingdom for all
people united as one. Jewish leaders of the day took this teaching as
an insult to the Jewish nation as they had been waiting centuries to
be set free and yet they didn't get their earthly response. However
one agreement between Christians and Jews alike, is that they still
await the Judgement Day in earnest and the coming of Christ in order
to consummate the kingdom.
The first search for a messiah started in the sixth century BC when the Jews of Babylonia were exiled, they called for an anointed one that would bring them back to their home. The second time was when Alexander the Great brought down the Achaemenid Empire and left it to his Macedonian generals. The Jews were peaceful and tried to fit in more with the Greeks to avoid confrontation through this time. Ultimately when the Greeks pushed it too far and destroyed the temple the Hasmonean family led a revolt that bought independence back to the Jews. This period is referred to as the Hasmonean Dynasty. In response to this change of priesthood, the Jewish people reorganized themselves into three major philosophies; the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. When the shift went to Roman, the Jews lost their sense of freedom. They were then ruled by King Herod the Great which didn’t improve. Herod the great was a powerful, brutal and ruthless leader, who accomplished a large amount, however under his rule Jewish people were extremely poor and highly taxe...
Luke was a Roman catholic before he converted over to Christianity. Luke was an eyewitness of the ministry, teaching, and life of Jesus. He made it his mission to teach the knowledge of Jesus and spread the religion Christianity. He wanted to reach the people in his communities and beyond. The Evangelist Luke wanted to tell the goods news that Jesus would return for his people. Luke’s concern was whether or not Christians could be good citizens of the Roman Empire, seeing that Jesus their founder had been killed for being a “political criminal”. Many people would have preceded them as revolutionaries (“From Jesus to Christ”). Christianity became a dominant way of life and worship in Europe many years after Luke wrote his gospel. In Medieval Europe, Luke’s gospel had greatly influenced the creators of many arts and dramas such as the Everyman play. Luke’s gospel opened many doors to help spread Christianity in Medieval Europe.
This fragment is taken from THE NEW TESTAMENT (King James version). More importantly, the fragment appears in THE GOSPAL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, which is the first gospel out of four. While there is no speaking character in the fragment, it is possible to witness several characters in it. First, there are the wise men who came to visit and see baby Jesus. Second, when they entered the house, they saw Jesus with “Mary, his mother.” In this fragment, one can notice the significance of the wise men (Magi). Seeing that, the wise men function as evidence to display Jesus’s godliness and his relation to God, by seeing him they “fell down, and worshiped him.” Due to God’s intervention in the wise men’s dreams, they have changed their actions, understanding
The three parables contained in chapter fifteen of the Gospel of Luke are a tightly woven trio anchored on either side by closely related teachings. The preceding chapter gives instruction on humility and hospitality, telling the reader to open the invitation to one’s meal table to all, including the poor, the sick, and the unclean. In the following chapter the reader finds instructions for how to use wealth to benefit those same people. In the middle of these we find chapter fifteen, containing the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal and his brother. As a part of the triplet, the parable of the lost sheep challenges the reader to not only invite the poor into one’s community, but to receive them as family with joy and celebration.
Luke Timothy Johnson uses Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church in order to make a strong point that when studying both Luke and Acts as a unit, rather than reading the canonical order in the Bible, gives us one of our best prophetic looks at the Church for all ages. By presenting this point Johnson hopes to light a fire in our churches of today by using the prophetic works of Luke, so that we as Christians will attend to the ways that Christ intended the church to be. In Johnson’s introduction he states that it is not wrong to study Luke and Acts separately as there are many ways to study the scripture, nevertheless it is wrong to look at Luke and see the prophetic ways of Jesus, and then looking at Acts as non-prophetic. Through seeing Luke’s
The Gospel of Matthew exhibits the plan of atonement and salvation for all people and the beginning of a new era. The Kingdom has come. Matthew’s Gospel is eschatological. Through the direct use of and allusions to the Hebrew scriptures, as well as fulfillment citations Matthew clearly connects Jesus’ life and ministry with Israel’s traditions and promised history.4...
The book of Luke, found after the books Matthew and Mark, focuses on the ministry of Jesus Christ but it also gives us a look into His birth and growth in totality. In this chapter we see a historical account of some of the journeys that Christ experienced. It is important to keep in mind that the Bible and all of its books do serve as historical accounts but each book is unique in the fact that they incorporate a theological timeline. The Bible is, conceivably, the most important book that has ever been written. It gives the world eyewitness accounts to historical events that helped not only shaped a region of the world but the whole entire world. It is nearly impossible to go through some formal societal education and have never once read a part of the bible or have heard a story that adapts from the stories within the bible. The bible has helped formed institutions, associations and so much more. By reading the Gospel of Luke we are truly reading what is meant for us to read as Christians. The principal plot in the book of Luke is the life of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, His ability to beat death and remain perfect as the son of GOD despite being human as well. Jesus is seen as the perfect savior for humans in the book of Luke. Luke not only gives multiple examples of the power of Jesus but also it gives us a look at The Lord’s triumph over temptation. Luke also depicts Jesus as a man/GOD who had a very deep concentration on people and relationships. The book of Luke gives Jesus a loving characteristic but doesn’t shy away from showing that at times Jesus got angry too. Jesus showed a great deal of compassion to the sick, those in pain, the poor, and unambiguously the sinful. Jesus had genuine love for everyone. Throughout this...
In 63 B.C. Roman power spread to Judea, the Jewish homeland. At the time King Herod was the ruler of Judea, he accepted Roman rule and angered many Jews by doing so. After the death of Herod many Jews revolted against Roman rule for 10 years. At this time there were two main factions of Jews, one group, the Zealots wanted to rid Judea of Roman influence. The other group was waiting for a messiah as scripture had prophetized. The Messiah, or Savior would restore the kingdom to the Jews.
Matthew writes his gospel account to give us the view of Jesus as the King:
The Kingdom of God defined by the Israelites as a physical place here on earth. The Kingdom of God is also called the “Kingdom of Heaven.” It means God’s rule in the lives of His chosen people and His Creation. In the Old Testament, the people in God’s kingdom were the Israelites. In the New Testament and now, the people in God’s kingdom are those who believe in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes again, then God’s kingdom will become visible to all people. The term “Kingdom” according to (Kingdom of God,2011) means the rank, quality, state, or attributes of a king; royal authority; sovereign power; rule; dominion; monarchy. It can also be used in the context of a divine kingdom, the term Kingdom appears 13 times in Matthews, 7 times in Luke and 2 times in John.
During this period, Satan will be bound and man’s responsibility will be to simply submit to Christ’s rule (Korver, 2015). At the completion of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed one final time to tempt others into a final upheaval against God (Pentecost, 1995). Satan, in addition to Satan’s aggregate kingdom, will be defeated and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), Christ will then judge all unbelievers throughout history, and finally, end sin and death (Korver, 2015). Key to the Millennial Kingdom is the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant that applies to all people (Genesis 12:3). The full provisions of the Abrahamic covenant are to make Abraham’s name great and to make Israel a great nation (Korver, 2015). Hence, God blessed Abraham, and therefore, Abraham was a blessing for the purpose of blessing others (Korver, 2015). Nations who choose to bless or curse Abraham, and the nation of Israel, are to be blessed or cursed by God (Korver, 2015). Lastly, all nations are to be blessed by and through Abraham and the nation of Israel (Korver, 2015). Upon Christ’s return, all provisions from the Abrahamic Covenant and each successive unconditional covenant, consisting of the Land, Davidic, and New Covenants, will receive complete fulfillment and be applied. Israel
God’s salvation is a common theme found in the gospels. Salvation in terms of being rescued from judgement because of our sins. Luke's gospel centers on God's plan to provide salvation to everyone. Luke emphasizes the Old Testament and its promises of a Messiah and clearly shows that it is Jesus. The gospel remains forever good news to anyone who realizes that he needs to be saved or he will eternally perish. It is believed that the world will not let you down if you give your life to it in faith because all other gospels will fail you in the end. This one saves you from the final wrath of God and leads you to the only true joy and fullness of His presence forever. John sums it up
Jesus teaches His disciples that prayer is not a show but genuinely addressing God, it is creates a relationship between God and man so when we pray the appreciation of this relationship should be existent. When you pray ‘your kingdom come’ you are praying for God’s kingdom of grace and for faith in the gospel, which inturn means a relationship with the Lord.
Jewish people expected that He would bring deliverance through the conquest but Jesus explained that deliverance can be achieved only through the cross. Jesus will achieve victory through suffering. It is the cross, not crown He will take up. Explaining His mission to the listeners he requires them to adjust and raise their expectations of Messiah . Jesus is much more than they had anticipated and God's mean of deliverance is through death. Jesus knew that He was misunderstood as Messiah and corrected their view in the gospel of Mark.
Back in Abraham’s day, God promised him that he would make a great nation for him. From that promise, two beginnings of messianic prophecy would take shape. One would emphasize the glorious future of the Kingdom of Israel, and the other would speak to the coming work of the Messiah, portraying him not as a reigning king but as a suffering servant who would be slain on behalf of his people.