Messiahs Don't Die

An empty tomb

There was tremendous messianic expectation in Israel during the time of Jesus. The Jews had been living under foreign rule for the better part of five hundred years, and they were ready for deliverance. 

Their Temple, an institution designed to protect the oppressed, was now the chief proponent of oppression.

Those who scoured the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures, put together a list of attributes they expected the messiah to have, and for all intensive purposes, Jesus didn't fulfill any of them.

Sure he healed some people and had a couple picnics where he fed some large crowds,  but he didn't do one very important thing: expel the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel.

To make matters worse, he was killed, in a brutal and shameful public execution, by the very people he was supposed to magnificently overthrow. The tragedy at this point for his followers, was that once he died, he ceased being the messiah altogether (Lk 24.21).

New creation

But that's not where the story ends: Jesus resurrects, not just coming back to life, but coming back to new life (2 Cor 5.17).

Almost all Jews in Jesus' day believed in an event at the end of time, where all who had died would be resurrected and judged, and God would start a new creation (Jn 11.24).

But no one expected it would happen in the middle of history.

But it did, inaugurating an age where God's saving rule became the new reality, providing an opportunity for all people to partner with him as he reclaims, restores, and renews all of creation.