The New Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG13

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T H E N E W T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

The Messiah Vindicated

Welcome to the Mentor’s Guide for Lesson 4, The Messiah Vindicated. This lesson centers on the vindication of Jesus’ claim of Messiahship, primarily based on the mystery and veracity (truthfulness) of the resurrection. One could make an argument that a mastery of the data regarding the resurrection of Jesus is essential for every person claiming to be a disciple of Christ, and an absolute necessity for those who represent him in ministry. In light of this importance, it will be key for you to spend the requisite amount of time mastering this material yourself. In other words, set as a personal goal to understand the appearances of Jesus, from the first appearance at the tomb till the morning beach meal with the Apostles at the Sea of Galilee. This is not done merely to impress others, or to demonstrate a mastery of mere facts. Rather, this learning is critical both for the defense of the Gospel, as well as a source of great encouragement in your own personal life. Here in this final lesson, note for the last time the objectives section below. Many ideas, facts, and assertions are mentioned in this lesson, and it will be important for you to know what you need to concentrate upon in your presentations and review with the students. The idea of vindication runs throughout this lesson, which is an idea of validation, of being proven right, or having your position verified. Jesus is in fact the Suffering Servant of God, the Messiah of Israel, and the overwhelmingly important supporting fact underwriting that claim is his resurrection from the dead. Make this simple but clear assertion the central claim and objective in this lesson. As you can tell, this devotional does a kind of running experiment to trace the possible inner thought reactions of the women at the tomb on the third day after our Lord’s sufferings. What this experiment is intended to do is simple: to challenge the students to empathize with the range of emotion, wonder, and astonishment that the apostolic party must have experienced in those three short days. To go from the pits of despair and fear to the untold heights of wonder and mystery with the resurrection of the Lord from the dead–what a remarkable experience that must have been for them, and now for us, through their word. What is truly astonishing today is how the pale fog of familiarity has caused us to lose sight of the wonder and mystery associated with our Lord’s resurrection. We

1 Page 117 Lesson Introduction

2 Page 117 Devotion