The Whole Story of the God
Chapter 10
Title: The Kingdom of God is at Hand
Teaching Objectives:
1- Observe the partial return to the land and a second temple built.
2- Understand the intertestamental period.
3- Recognize the genealogical “seed” of the Genesis 3:15 promise in the person of Jesus.
4- Marvel at the inaugurated Kingdom through the Messiah.
Main Text: Mark 1:1-15
Outline:
I. Our Current Text
A. Out of Exile …
1. The partial return
a. Ezra, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the altar and temple (538BC)
i. A return to the law, covenant, altar, and priesthood (Ezra 1:1-4)
ii. Only 50,000 exiles returned
iii. Psalm 126:1-2; Haggai 1:14
b. Nehemiah and the wall rebuilt and city repopulated
i. 50 years after Ezra
c. The post-exilic prophets
i. Haggai, Zechariah (Ezra 5:1-2)
ii. Malachi (Nehemiah 5:1-13)
d. Not so triumphant
i. Only a remnant of the faithful repented and returned
ii. The diaspora of the Jews, and a Judaism never to be the same
iii. The cultural influence of Babyon
iv. The people’s lack of devotion (Haggai 1; Malachi 2:1-9)
e. But God was going to do a new thing (Isaiah 43:18-19)
i. The sign of the Spirit
- Like the rainbow to Noah, and circumcision to Abraham
- The New Covenant sign of the Spirit (Joel 2:28-29)
ii. All the nations
- all priests (Isaiah 61:6)
- the temple as a house of prayer for the nations (Isaiah
56:7)
2. The 400 years of silence
a. No canonical books, but not no movement
i. This era known as the 2nd temple period
b. A changing political landscape
i. Israel and the broader world’s influence
ii. The politics of the Persian province of Judea
iii. The Greek conquest and Hellenism under Alexander the Great
The Whole Story of the God
Chapter 10
iv. The Seleucids and the Ptolemies battled and Judea was caught
in the middle
v. Samaria now its own hostile neighbor to Judea
vi. Roman province (63BC)
c. The changing religious landscape
i. The separatist Jews – Essenes in Qumran, Pharisees, Sadducees
ii. The Septuagint (LXX) completed – Greek translation of the OT
iii. Syncretism of the Jewish faith with paganism
iv. Antiochus Ephiphanes and the desecration of the temple
(167BC) and the Maccabean revolt and cleaning of the temple
B. … And into the Kingdom (Mark 1:1-15)
1. The Old Testament promise [v1-3]
a. The genealogical connection (Matthew 1:1-16)
i. Abraham to David, David to the Exile, the Exile to Jesus
b. The prophetic connection
i. Malachi 3:1 – the one preparing the way
ii. Matthew 13:16-17 – the prophet’s longing
iii. John 5:39 – OT testifies about the Christ
2. The witness of John [v4-8]
a. Into a Jewish system
i. Both the forerunner sign, and the Spirit sign in the text
3. The divinity of Jesus [v9-11]
a. “in those days” – the Father’s silence, the cultural mix, etc
i. The Father speaks, the Son’s arrival, the Spirit’s sign
b. the declaration of divinity
4. The humanity of Jesus [v12-13]
a. How could He be the One to rescue mankind?
i. The OT expectation of an earthly king from the line of David
ii. Hebrews 4:14-15
II. This Chapter in the Whole Story
5. The Gospel of the Kingdom [Mark 1:14-15]
a. “Gospel of God” - The whole story …
b. “Time is fulfilled” - … about Jesus.
c. “Kingdom of God” - The whole prophetic hope …
d. “Repent and Believe” - … and the call to obedience …
e. “In the Gospel” - … in God’s glorious redemption.
III. The Gospel Point
A. Jesus is the ONE
- The story reaches it’s climax at the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
- What will you do with Jesus is, and always will be, the main question
B. The Kingdom is both NOW and Not Yet
- Greater than the “partial” fulfillment of the return of the exiles
- Not yet a “complete” fulfillment of the Eden paradise and perfect glory