The Suffering Servant – The Coming King.
(Mashiach ben Joseph - Mashiach ben David)
Jesus came to the Jews. He came to His own. He was the Messiah of Israel. However generally the Jews rejected Him. They did not recognise Him.
John 1:11-13 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Whether they received Him or not, Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews.
If He is not, then neither is He the Messiah of the church.
For Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, He must fulfil all the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Christ.
Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
There is a misconception, mostly held by the Jew’s, that Jesus did not fulfil all the prophecies concerning the Messiah and therefore Jesus of Nazareth could not be the Christ.
Their expectations were not met in Jesus of Nazareth.
The main prophecies are found in: Isaiah 11:1-9, Isaiah 2:3-4, and Micah 4:2-3.
The first part of this prophecy:
Isaiah 11:1-9 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
Isa 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isa 11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
All this was fulfilled in His first coming.
The second half of this prophecy:
Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
The second part of this prophecy will be fulfilled in His second coming.
In this passage of scripture, we see prophecies about the coming Messiah, some of which were fulfilled in Jesus, at His first coming but some have not been fulfilled yet but will be fulfilled at His second coming.
We don’t yet see wolves lying down with lambs, nursing children playing at the cobra’s hole, or the earth full of the knowledge of the LORD.
The verses in Micah are also clear prophecies about the coming Messiah, and they tell of a universal peace that has not yet been manifested.
The following scripture also will only be fulfilled at Jesus second coming.
Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plow shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
The question that is being asked here is, if Jesus is the Christ, why is there not peace on the earth?
This is what the Jews were looking for and it did not happen at the first coming of Jesus.
The truth is, that Jesus did not set up the Millennium Kingdom at His first coming. We are not living in the Millennium now. We are not in a golden age.
This Millennium Kingdom will only be set up at His second coming.
There are numerous prophecies that show that indeed, Jesus is the Christ and also, fulfilled prophecies relating to His first coming.
Isaiah 53 speaks of the Messiah coming as a suffering servant, One who is led as lamb to the slaughter and who takes our sorrows, infirmities, and punishment on Himself. This suffering Messiah is prophesied to be pierced for our transgression. This is a clear depiction of Jesus and His crucifixion.
The suffering servant:
John1: 29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Here is a typical allegory that does not rob the text of its literal meaning.
Jesus was a real man but symbolically the Lamb that was to be sacrificed for sin.
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Quite clearly this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus first coming. Jesus was the Lamb of God.
Another significant prophecy concerning the Messiah is Daniel 9: 24 – 27.
This Old Testament prophecy says that Messiah, the Anointed One, will be “cut off,” or killed, before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which happened in 70 A.D. Clearly, Jesus death fits as fulfilling this prophecy. Bible prophecy contains portraits of both a suffering Messiah and a victorious
Messiah.
The suffering servant is pictured as a lamb, wounded, and cut off, but not for Himself. The triumphant Messiah comes to establish His rule of peace and righteousness over the earth.
These on the surface appear to be two different Messiah’s.
One they called Mashiach ben David, and He would be the Son of King David who would rule and reign. The other they called Mashiach ben Joseph, the Son of Joseph. This Messiah son of Joseph would suffer and be rejected by his own, like Joseph was rejected by his brothers. At the time of Yeshuah’s coming, Israel longed for the conquering Messiah. Because of Rome’s oppression and their expectation that God would send the Deliverer, they were looking for, Messiah ben David.
This is why, on Jesus entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) the people waved palm leaves and shouted, Hosanna to the son of David, when in fact He had come as the son of Joseph, (the suffering servant).
Matt 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
When Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem and read from the prophet Isaiah, we will notice that He did not read all of the verse. He only read what related to Him at that time.
The full verse reveals: Messiah would come as Saviour and King and Judge
Isaiah 61:2, To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
However when the scroll was handed to Jesus, we see in Luke’s Gospel exactly what He read.
Luk 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Notice: He closed the book.
Luk 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He only fulfilled the first half of the prophecy, relating to the Gospel of salvation.
The second half of this prophecy will only be fulfilled at His second coming.
Isaish 61: 2b “and the day of vengeance of our God;
When Jesus came at His first coming, He did not usher in the Millennial reign.
This age of grace is not the golden age, it is not the Millennium Kingdom that fits in with the scripture.
Not with Isaiah 11: 6 – 9 and not with Micah 4: 2,3.
The Millennium Kingdom will only be ushered in at Jesus second coming.
The Second Coming of Jesus to the earth.
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
V16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
The establishment of the Millennium.
Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Another scripture, that relates to the second coming of Jesus.
Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Jesus was rejected by His own at his first coming but will be accepted at His second coming.
This is seen in the Old Testament type in Joseph.
Joseph also was rejected by his own brothers but was accepted when he revealed himself to them in Egypt.
For Blog on how Joseph is a type of Christ. Read Blog 94. https://jeffreyunsworth.wixsite.com/teleiosbibleblogs/94-joseph-a-type-of-christ
This Zachariah verse is repeated in the New Testament in John’s Gospel and Revelation 1: 7.
Joh 19:37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindred’s of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Jesus has not fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Himself.
What is quite clear here is that when Jesus came at His first coming, He did not set up the Millennial Kingdom.
On His first appearing he came to bring salvation.
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
At His first coming He came as the son of Joseph, (the suffering servant). At His second coming He will come as the son of David, (the King of Kings and Lord of Lords) and shall rule in Jerusalem on the throne of David.
At the end of the thousand years:
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
What is the Millennium Reign of Christ?
The dictionary meaning of Millennium:
A period of 1,000 years, or the time when a period of 1,000 years ends:
The word Millennium does not mean a long period of time. It is literally 1000 years.
When the Bible speaks of a thousand, it means a 1000.
The word year (ete ἔτη) appears a total of 29 times in the New Testament. In
every occurrence the meaning of year (or years) is simply that of a real, literal period of a year whenever a number precedes it.
For example, we read in Mark 5:25, “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years.” The text treats this as a real number of real years — and why shouldn’t it? What else could years mean?
In Luke, we read of the prophetess Anna, “and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years…” (Luke 2:37).
In John 2:20, the Jewish leaders reply to Jesus’ claim, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
Furthermore, in Acts 13:20 we read, “After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”
In all of the examples, the word years (ete ἔτη) is referring to a real (specific) amount of time and is used in its literal sense.
The 450 years of the time of the judges is considered to be a real amount of time. The fact is that year, when preceded by a cardinal number, is never used in any other way. Years always refers to what we understand to be a year – that is, the completion of twelve months (with the exception of an occasional 13th month added every several years to balance out the Jewish calendar), once around the sun. Similarly to day in the Old Testament, which when preceded by a cardinal number means only a real day, (Genesis, in six days) so too when the words year and years are preceded by a cardinal number, they always and only signify a definite period of time.
Whilst the word “Millennium” does not appear in either the Old Testament or the New Testament the word “Chillioi” does.
The word Chillioi is the Greek word for 1000. The word in Greek for year is “Et os”. So the phrase” Chillioi et os” is literally 1000 years.
This is why the early church fathers, (the Anti Nicene fathers) were called “Chiliasts”, because they believed that the 1000 years spoken of in Revelation was a literal 1000 years.
Polycarp, a Bishop of Smyrna (c.70-160 AD), who was a disciple of the Apostle John, the writer of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and was bishop of one of the recipient churches of the seven letters from Revelation, must have an advantage over us in the fact that he knew the Apostle personally and would very likely have understood exactly what the Apostle John taught.
Likewise Papias (c.60- 130 AD), a bishop of Hierapolis; Clement (c.80-140 AD), a bishop of Rome; and Ignatius (c.98-117 AD), a bishop of Antioch, all lived at the time of the Apostle John.
Justin Martyr, a church father from the early second century A.D. declared emphatically in his Dialogue with Trypho,
"But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare". (The Fathers: Dialogue with Trypho (Chapter 80)
Clearly, Justin Martyr took the literal interpretation rather than a figurative or typological approach that Augustine took, and Augustine is regarded as the father of the amillennial position.
The amillennialists purport that the thousand years in Revelation should be taken figuratively and that, in fact, there will not be an actual, literal, physical reign of Christ, nor a binding of Satan for a literal, thousand years, ” Chillioi et os”.
This is a Patristic view and not an Apostolic view. This is the results of Helenistic ideas that came via the Gnostic schools of learning. The allegorizing and spiritualizing of scripture, that robs the text of its literal meaning.
The amillennial and post millennial view is base on what the church fathers wrote about scripture. It is not based on the actual scriptures themselves. These views only came about from the second century AD. This hermeneutic was perpetuated by Luther, Calvin and many other reformers.
The majority of the anti Nicene fathers were millennialists (Chilliasts) (Chiiioi et os – thousand years).
Amillennialism is a misnomer. “A Millennial” means “Non Millennium” and yet the amillennialist say we are in the millennium now. This is surely a contradiction in terms. If there is no Millennium, then we can’t be in it now.
Jesus came as Mashiach ben Joseph, the suffering servant, fulfilling all the prophecies concerning His first coming.
One day, only known to the Father, Mashiach ben David will come to set up His earthly Kingdom and will reign for a thousand years.
There are those that would claim that because the pre millennialst believe that Jesus will reign over His kingdom in the millennium, that they deny that Jesus is not reigning now.
Does the Pre millennial view, deny that Jesus is King now? The answer is an emphatic no.
Of course Jesus lives and reigns in the hearts of true believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. A spiritual temple.
When one is born again, he is raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.
We have experienced a spiritual resurrection.
However, we look forward to one day, having a physical resurrection of the body.
As Christians, Jesus is our High Priest and our King. He reigns over the Kingdom that is within us.
Before we can really take a good look at what the kingdom will be in the future, we need to understand what the kingdom is in the presence. Before we can understand the future reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to
understand the present reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can see this in Luke 17:20 and 21. "Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is.’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'"
There are two kingdoms. There is the material kingdom and there is the spiritual kingdom. That's the simplest way to understand it. When God created out of His sovereign will, He made things material and He made persons spiritual. He is King over both domains. The material and the spiritual.
Psalm 10:16: "The Lord is King forever."
Psalm 29:10: "Yes the Lord sits as King forever."
Psalm 103:19: "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all."
He's the King of everything that He has created; everything.
So God rules the Kingdom of the universe. God also rules the kingdom of the heart. He rules one by creation. He rules another by recreation.
As Christians, we are new creations in Christ Jesus and therefore, we are part of His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is within us, the body of Christ.
The first and obvious implication of this is Jesus Christ is Lord and King over His spiritual kingdom, as He is over His material kingdom. God rules the universe and God rules the internal, personal, spiritual kingdom by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He is sovereign in the universe and He is sovereign in His people.
Now the Jews expected a Messiah that would usher in a new Kingdom.
What was their eschatology?
Here is what they expected.
The coming of Messiah would be preceded by a time of tribulation or trouble, even like birth pangs. Then in the midst of this trouble and turmoil there would appear a prophet like Elijah, who would herald the coming of Messiah . Then, Messiah would establish His kingdom, age and glory and set His people free from the tyranny of its oppressors.
They believed that the nations would ally to fight the Messiah. They would literally join together and come and fight against Him. However, the Messiah will destroy all the opposing nations, subduing them all.
The restoration of Jerusalem would take place. It would be made new and magnificent. All the Jews that were scattered all over the world would return to Israel. A third temple would be built.
Israel would become the centre of the world and all nations would be subjected to the Messiah. The Messiah would establish the kingdom and the kingdom would be a time of eternal peace, righteousness and glory.
They believed that the Messiah would come and when He appeared, all this would take place immediately.
They only saw one coming.
They did not expect the Messiah coming to set up a spiritual Kingdom.
They weren’t looking for a Saviour from sin, because they did not need to be saved spiritually. This is why the Gospel was so offensive to them.
What they expected was the Messiah coming to establish an earthly Kingdom.
They did not recognise Mashiach ben Joseph, (the suffering servant) because they were pre occupied with looking for Mashiach ben David (the conquering King).
They even tried to force the issue by making Him King. "Hail, King of the Jews, Son of David."
Even the disciples did not get it. They asked, Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Jesus answer in v7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
In His first coming then, He establishes the internal, spiritual kingdom. And at His Second Coming, He takes that to its consummated end in the glory of the millennial kingdom.
At the end of this Millennial Kingdom, this whole universe as we know it is destroyed and He creates the new heaven and the new earth in which eternally and for the first time since the Fall both kingdoms are merged into one.
Do Pre millennialists deny that Christ is reigning over His Kingdom now.? Absolutely not.
He reigns in the hearts of His people, the church and one day He will come again to establish His earthly Kingdom and reign as Mashiach ben David.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
