Send mail to
crain@missouriwestern.edu with
questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2001 Jeanie C. Crain
Last modified: March, 2002
See Back to Galilee (2012)
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Send mail to
crain@missouriwestern.edu with
questions or comments about this web site. See Back to Galilee (2012)
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Revelation Not
content with status quo, Jesus of Galilee brought a revelation of what Judaism
could be, preaching with fire and genius there for two years before proceeding
by slow stages to Jerusalem where he was arrested by the Sanhedrin and turned
over to the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. The Gospel of John indicates
Jesus’ being in Jerusalem on several occasions. What was this revelation Jesus brought of what Judaism could be? It’s in His prayer: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Radical. God’s kingdom to be realized upon earth! Throughout the Old Testament God’s kingdom is about love and justice; God is pictured on one hand as redeeming while at the same time executing judgment. Luke 4:14,16-22 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, after John’s baptism… When he came to
Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath
day, as was his custom. He stood up
to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: Isaiah 61: 1-2 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… Imagine sitting there and hearing the words of Jesus: “he has sent me to bring good news.” The kingdom of God is being realized here and now upon this earth; the kingdom of God is already coming into being, universal history is culminating, and my personal action is bringing it about. Imagine the sense of God-self entering into and embracing your total being; imagine being fired to look upon the injustices of your world through the eyes of one totally committed to lifting up, healing, freeing, his actions matching his proclamation. See Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy.
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