Kingdom of Heaven Series #2
Different Beliefs about the Kingdom of Heaven
This
is the second of a series of blogs about the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven to Yeshua and his
followers. The Kingdom of Heaven was
a hot topic before and during the time of Yeshua. It was connected to two
beliefs that had grown in popularity – the
arrival of the Anointed One (Mashiach / Messiah) and the Son of Man. Since
the invasion of the Assyrians and the exile of members of Israel (the Northern
Kingdom) in the 8th century BCE, the prophets had been prophesying that
God would free the Jewish homeland from the yoke of foreign oppressors. After
the fall of the Southern Kingdom and the destruction of the First Temple in 586
BCE, the prophets continued to promise that at some point in the future God
would redeem the land and return it to his people.
There
have been a number of “foreign oppressors”
in the history of Israel, but at the time of Yeshua it was the Roman Empire
that was the problem. Fervor over claims about the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven and the end of Roman
oppressors was high.1 It should be remembered that the reason Jews
believed their land was dominated the foreigners in the first place was because
it God punishing them for their sins. They believed that if Israel obeyed the
words of the Torah, no foreign power would ever rule over them again.2
It was up to the people of Israel to make the decision to obey and when they
did the Kingdom of Heaven will be
revealed.3 However, different sects added their own twists to the
basic ideas above.
The
Pharisees taught that the Kingdom of
Heaven or rule of God meant that
the one and only God presently ruled de
jure, in spirit but not in fact. But in the future, when the Great Day of
Judgment comes and God judges the people, the “Kingdom of Heaven will be revealed to all the inhabitants of the
world” de facto -- in fact.4 They taught that Israel
was languishing under a foreign yoke because it is God’s will, but in the
future God alone will rule in Zion.5 For the Pharisees this was and
had been an unchanging reality.6
The
Essenes taught that in the very near divine future, the social outcasts and
oppressed would become the preferred, for “theirs
is the Kingdom of Heaven,” and “those
who mourn will be comforted.” The tree
of life itself is concealed — “the
seal of its mystery remains unobserved, unrecognized.” It is God himself that
guards this secret – “the outsider “sees
but does not recognize, and thinks but does not believe in the source of life.”
Yeshua taught some very similar parables.7 The Essenes also taught
that they were the only ones that had been predestined to be redeemed by God. They
viewed themselves as an exclusive New Israel separate from the other Jewish people.
Redemption had nothing to do with freewill.
The
Son of Man is a figure that appears
exclusively in Jewish apocalyptic writings, mostly in those that are close to
the Essene movement8 and belongs to an apocalyptic system of
thinking. The Son of Man will appear to
judge mankind. A key factor that appears in the teachings of the Essene and Pharisees
is that that the Kingdom of Heaven does
not appear before the Great Day of Judgment – it is always part of the future.9
John the Baptist was influenced by the teachings of the Pharisees and Essenes. However, he added a new twists – he saw himself as the prophet that had come at the end of time to announce the arrival of the Anointed One. Many people believed him to be the biblical prophet Elijah and the fulfillment of the words from Daniel 7:13 -- “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven.”10 John preached that “one mightier than he is coming whose winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and so gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”11 The Anointing One he was proclaiming would also fulfill the role of the Son of Man.
It
is in this apocalyptic environment that Yeshua appeared and proclaimed his
message about the Kingdom of Heaven, the Son of Man and his role as the
Anointed One. His views did not fit into the boxes of the Pharisees, Essenes or
John the Baptist. We will learn more about his message in the next blog. Sign
up and follow this blog so you won’t miss it!
______________________________________________________________________________
This
is the end of part two of the Real Yeshua
Project’s Kingdom of Heaven Series.
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1 Jesus by David Flusser © 1997 The Maness Press,
Jerusalem, Israel; p. 105.
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7 Jesus; p. 110.
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2 Jesus; p. 106.
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8 Jesus; p. 48.
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3 Jesus; p. 107.
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9 Jesus; p. 48.
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4 Jesus; p. 106.
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10 Jesus; p. 49.
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5 Jesus; p. 106.
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1[1]
Luke
3:16-17; Matt. 3:11-12
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6 Jesus; p. 110.
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