Christianity

CHRISTIANITY

The life of Jesus as messiah and how the people of Israel awaited his coming was described in Pentecost 's A Harmony of the Words and Works of Jesus Christ . The book delved into how Jesus came on earth and how he led His life here . The early parts of the book described how Jesus was as a child and how He dealt with the people around Him . On the other hand , the coming of Jesus as Messiah and the concept of being Messiah was highlighted in Walter Kaiser 's The Messiah

in the Old Testament Not only did the author present Jesus as the savior promised by God to his people , but he pointed out texts in the Old Testament to further elaborate on how God 's people awaiting the coming of their Messiah Kaiser enabled the readers of his book to picture the suffering and hardships that people went through . Hence , this strengthened their belief and hopes that a Messiah , as promised by God , will come and save them from their sins

The Messiah in the Old Testament ' showed how God valued his people as He gave them blessings in hope that they would further these gifts in His glory . As human as God 's people are , however , they committed sins that angered God . Instances in the Old Testament which led God to chastise the people were pointed out in to fully understand why the people of God were in need of a savior like Jesus Christ . One example of said instances was explained in the book thus

Just as Hosea could not overlook his wife 's time of sowing wild oats God cannot overlook the nation 's apostasy and idolatry . The disobedient nation of Israel will live for many days without the advantage or security of a king , queen , sacrifices or even the idolatrous forms of worship (Kaiser , 1995

Comparing what God felt to what Hosea felt towards the actions of his wife demonstrated how unhappy God was due to the actuations of His people , and hence , the need to discipline them

The book did not disregard God 's nature as a forgiving God . Despite the anger and frustration that he felt towards His people , the desire to save them from their sins did not falter . This is where the importance of Jesus ' role as messiah heightens . In The Messiah in the Old Testament , the fact that Jesus was a promise that God made was emphasized by Kaiser by stressing that God will remember his covenant with Eve , Shem , Abraham , Isaac , Jacob , and David `in the last days ' - a phrase repeatedly used to point to the eschatological times when Messiah arrives as King over all (Kaiser , 1995 . Thus , the concept of being a messiah was not limited to one sent by God to evangelize , but rather , it sent out a message that Jesus came on earth because he was a product of God 's covenant with His people , and that He came here not...