The Messiah Israel Deserved, but Not the One it Needed

When your husband is a Batman fan, this is the kind of title that pops into your mind. (Apropos, since many of my friends and family relate me to Wonder Woman.) Of course, he has his favorite Batman, as played by a certain actor and how he portrays the character. It made me think of times a new movie would be coming out and the trailers would build up the hype. The anticipation of what you expect from this flick would lead you to speculate what it would be like. When the day finally arrives that you take the time to view it, there would be two reactions.

1. With no pretense, it was everything you hoped it would be and you embrace the film.
2. It wasn’t what you thought it would be and you reject it as not being the fulfillment of the promise set by the trailers.

These are also the reactions we see from the people of Israel when Jesus came. In the approximately 500 years of silence after the last herald of God, many religious scholars took to reading into the messianic prophecies. When the Roman Empire took control of the Holy Land, these interpretations became more pressing. They began to believe the Messiah would be a mighty Earthly king who would break Rome’s hold over Israel and restore them to their glory years of kings David and Solomon. Many believed it would be an unbroken empire that would never again fall to war and political division. For them, hearing that the foretold Messiah was born in the manger of a stable (to a carpenter family from Nazareth no less) and witnessed by shepherds, sounded preposterous. That would be the biggest teaser trailer let down the scholars could imagine. The expectation of what they believed they needed the Messiah to be was not met, and so they rejected Him. However, in God’s plan for the messiah, as the unblemished Lamb of God, being born in a stable and watched over by shepherds was the proper way for Jesus Christ to enter the world. He was the Messiah Israel (and the world) deserved in that his birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection fulfilled every prophecy that foretold God’s plan of deliverance. Not the earthly release from bondage, that they thought they needed, but an eternal one from sin that cannot be revoked.

There may be some today that come to God with a predetermined sense of what this relationship holds; maybe even a deliverance from the trials of life. When they experience having prayers that go unanswered or don’t find the answers there were expecting, they become disillusioned. Like those who found the movie did not live up to what they thought it should be from previews, they reject their salvation and walk away with hearts closed.

Those who fully embrace God, and the Messiah Jesus Christ, are blessed with a peace “which exceeds anything we can understand.” (Philippians 4:7 NLT) For them there is no let down because the experience is unspoiled by personal expectations. It’s the premise of you cannot pour into a cup that is already full of itself. This is illustrated in Matthew 13, verses 14-17. “This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

Empty yourself, dear brothers and sisters, of your own understanding and expectations. Only then can you be ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit; that He might open your eyes. Then you can find the peace of Christmas (the coming of the Messiah) that you deserve and need.