The New Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Student Workbook, SW13

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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 Opposed

Welcome in the strong name of Jesus Christ! After your reading, study, discussion, and application of the materials in this lesson, you will be able to: • Explain the historical context which surrounded Jesus at the time of his appearing in his public ministry, including the various details which defined Rome’s domination of the world and their relationship to Jesus’ contemporaries. • Describe the way in which the various groups in Israel at the time of Jesus reacted differently to the Roman occupation, and show how these reactions of the different Jewish sects and parties largely determined their response to Jesus. • Give a brief overview of the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, and Herodians, their response to the Roman occupation, and their corresponding reaction to the ministry of Jesus. • Detail the Jewish concept of the Kingdom of God at the time of Jesus, influenced as it was by their oppression from political powers, including their belief that the Kingdom of God would come in power, restoring the material universe and saving humankind from the control of Satan. • Defend the biblical evidence that supports the idea that Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom present, and demonstrated its reality in his person, and works of healings and exorcisms.

Lesson Objectives

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The Servant and His Lord

Devotion

Read John 15.18-26 . Can a disciple of Jesus maneuver through this world without experiencing the kind of rejection, persecution, and tribulation known and experienced by our Lord? Was our Lord’s experience sui generis (utterly unique) to him, or must all of his own also experience a level of the world’s hatred and rejection, even as he did? One of Jesus’ favorite sayings was the familiar word, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is a messenger greater than the one who