(Just a note–if you have not read the five blogs leading up to this one, it would help to do so, because the context is essential.)
As I mentioned in the last blog, the recognition of Jesus as the Christ meant far more to the first-century followers than it does to many (most?) of us today. For them, it meant that Jesus was the Almighty King, and that carried with it at least three life-changing realities.
I’m going to quote from “Getting the Most From God” to explain these—we will consider the first implication today and cover the next two in subsequent blogs. In the book I have just introduced Peter’s recognition and declaration of Jesus as “the Christ” in Matthew 16:15 (this begins on page 59):
In Peter’s response on behalf of the other disciples, we find the heart of the whole issue. … Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
That phrase may mean very little to us today, but in the first century it was about as bold and insightful a statement as anyone could make. For Peter and the disciples to unhesitatingly identify Jesus this way was for them to declare their absolute allegiance and commitment to Jesus as King and Lord.
Let me explain.
Today, we treat the name Christ as if it were the second half of Jesus’ name—almost as if it were His last name. But for first-century Jews, the terms Christ, Messiah, and king were synonymous. From the Hebrew prophecies, they knew the Messiah—the Christ (which meant anointed one)—was to come and reign as king over not only Israel, but the whole earth. Peter was recognizing Jesus as the promised King who would reign over them.
Again, today in the United States we don’t appreciate all that was represented by the title king. As I have observed in another work, “For the most part we dismiss kings and kingdoms as the stuff of ancient history and children’s fairy tales.”1 Not so for those who lived in the first century. Their view of kings and kingdoms shaped their very existence.2
MAJESTY AND DEITY
In ancient cultures everyone understood that there was a divine link between the king and deity. In some cases, the people viewed the king as the divinely appointed ruler. In others, he was viewed as an extension of particular gods or even as a priest. Sometimes, the king was viewed as being a god himself.
In Jesus’ day, under the culture and beliefs of Rome, Caesar was worshipped as one of many gods.
Before the Romans ruled over Israel, the Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanies, which means “Antiochus the God is Manifest,” entered Jerusalem and sacrificed a pig on the temple altar. In doing this, he was not only elevating the worship of Zeus over the worship of Yahweh, he was also flexing his own divine muscle.
But think back to before the Greeks ruled—do you remember why Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den? It was because he refused to pray to King Darius. And why were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace? Because they refused to bow down in worship before the image of Nebuchadnezzar. These cultures all viewed the kings as deities.
But the Jews knew that all of these kings were fake deities and that when the promised Messiah arrived, he would be the ultimate King—because He was truly from God and was truly God.
When Peter made this declaration, he was affirming the disciples’ conviction that Jesus as Messiah/King was indeed Divine.
1. The Forgotten Command—Make Disciples; Rediscovering and Embracing the Heart of the Great Commission by John Revell, scheduled for release (hopefully) in 2009
2. The following comes from The Forgotten Command
Later in the chapter I point out the implications:
The first implication relates to each one of us in our relationship with the Lord. It is very easy to view Jesus as merely the One who rescues me—He rescued me from hell when He died on the cross and He rescues me whenever I have a crisis.
But Jesus did not come to earth merely as some heavenly life guard who jumps into the water to save us whenever we get in over our heads. The reality is that He is the Sovereign King of the universe, and we ought to view and revere Him as such.
That means at least three things: first, because He combines ultimate majesty and deity, we should treat Him with the highest respect, reverence, and honor. We don’t treat Him as our “buddy,” and we don’t address Him as a casual friend. He’s the KING! Yes, He is tender and loving in His dealings with us, and He calls those who follow Him His friends, but that does not mean we are to mistake this as an invitation to treat Him as an equal. He is not—as King He is worthy of all our honor, exaltation, adoration, and highest respect. We dare not try to reduce Him to our level—He’s the King.
An essential component of the disciples’ obsession—both in their lifestyles and in their evangelism—was that Jesus was the True King Who combined ultimate majesty and deity. He was the only true and perfect combination of God and King and the only one truly deserving of our truest worship.
And so it should be for us.
Again, for more biblical background on the Kingship of Jesus, feel free to download the chapters 2-6 from “The Forgotten Command—Make Disciples!”
