Tag Archives: Messiah

SHEPHERD IMAGERY IN THE BIBLE

OLD TESTAMENT

  • God is the Shepherd (Gen 49:24; Ps 23; 80:1).
  • God’s appointed leaders are undershepherds (Ezek 34).
  • Many people in the Old Testament were shepherds by trade, like Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Rachel, Jacob, Moses, and David.
  • Foreign leaders were sometimes called shepherds when their leadership impacted God’s people (Isa 44:28).
  • The prophets depicted the distress of Israel without leadership or bad leader in terms of a flock without a shepherd (Ezek 34:1-10; Zech 10:2; 13:7).
  • The prophets used shepherds imagery to point to the Messiah to come (Ezek 34:22-24; 37:24; Isa 40:11; Zech 13:7; see also Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27).
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SHAKING JESUS’ FAMILY TREE

The Jews from Matthew’s day would have disagreed. Tradition-minded Jews kept a record of their ancestors partly because certain rights and responsibilities were inherited. Priests descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses. Kings-and the coming Messiah-would descend from David, Israel’s most revered king.

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DEAD SAVIOR

One of the biggest surprises in the Bible is the kind of Messiah God sent to save Israel. Jews expected a warrior. Someone like King David, only better. A leader who would free them from oppressors. restore Israel’s lost glory, and even create heaven on earth.

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WHY DID JESUS USE MIRACLES?

Christ did miracles to authenticate His claims to be the Messiah. John called these supernatural acts “signs”-events intended to point people to God, to signal the presence of God with His people. Who but God has authority over nature, disease, death and evil? A carpenter from Nazareth calming a raging storm, giving sight to the blind, calling Lazarus from the tomb, and driving out demonic spirits, emphatically demonstrates that He is the Son of God.

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JOHN CONTINUES TO HONOR JESUS

After Jesus launched His public ministry, He began to preach and baptize in the same area where John the Baptist was working. Jesus invited at least two of John’s disciples to join His ministry team. One of these was Andrew, the fisherman and brother of Peter. The other is unknown, but many people think he was the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. If John the Baptist objected to these disciples leaving him to follow Jesus, we see no hint of such an objection in the biblical account (John 1:35-39).

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DEFINITION OF THE DAY (FALSE CHRISTS)

Imposters claiming to be the Messiah (Christ in Greek). Jesus associated the appearance of messianic pretenders with the fall of Jerusalem (Matt 24:23-26; Mark 13:21-22). Jesus warned His followers to be skeptical of those who point to signs and omens to authenticate their false messianic claims. Jesus also urged disbelief of those claiming the Messiah was waiting in the wilderness or was in “the inner rooms” (perhaps a reference to the inner chambers of the

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NAMES OF GOD (MESSIAH)

John 4:25-26: The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

These two verses are part of the account in John’s Gospel of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. He admitted openly to her that He was the Messiah, the deliverer whom God had been promising to send to His people for hundreds of years.

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MEN OF THE BIBLE (SIMON PETER “ORDINARY GUY, EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY”)

According to Matthew 4:18-20, “As [Jesus] was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. ‘Follow Me,’ He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”

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BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (GET REDY FOR THE KING)

Roads of Bible times were little more than paths, rough and crude by modern standards. When a king traveled, his servants would go ahead of him, removing stones, filling in low places, and straightening curves so the king’s journey would be more pleasant.

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BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (THE TERM FATHER)

In the ancient Middle East, the originator of a custom was frequently referred to as the “father” of that custom. Thus, Jubal was called” the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” because he invented those instruments.

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