The Birth and Life of Jesus Christ - Term Paper Example

The Dominion, Glory and Kingship of Jesus Christ According to the Gospel of St. Mark Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor's Name 17 November 2008 Introduction The birth and life of Jesus Christ was well predicted by prophets in the Old Testament. Various prophets had ideas of how the birth of Jesus would occur and the domination that Jesus would have over the world during his lifetime. Among the great prophets who presaged the coming of Jesus were Isaiah and Daniel. The book of Daniel clearly foreshadows the birth and life of Jesus in the world as a king. Jesus is also foreshadowed to receive the glory of God and have dominion over the world. According to Daniel 7: 13, Daniel had a night vision in which he saw an image that resembled the Son of man in the clouds. Verse 14 of the same chapter says that dominion, glory and a kingdom were all given to the image he saw, people of all nations and languages should serve him (what resembled the son of man). Further, the son of man's dominion over the nations is everlasting and shall not pass away and his kingdom shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7: 14). Although what Daniel saw was just a vision, the description befits the character of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. Hundreds of years after Daniel' vision, the fulfillment came through the birth of Jesus. According to Mark 1: 2, the birth of Jesus came as a fulfillment of what was written by the prophets. Hence, God send a messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. After Jesus' birth, what transpired as recorded in the Gospel of Mark only supports the idea that Jesus was indeed the Son of man as predicted by Daniel and that he had in his power the ability to be the messiah and deliver the world from earthly sins. All the aspects of Jesus were unique, right from the time he was baptized to the time he died on the cross. This papers bases its discussion against a backdrop of the events that led to the birth of Jesus, right from the prophesies in the Old Testament to the fulfillment of all the anticipated occurrences. Hence, the paper will evaluate the significance of Daniel's visions as well as the relevance of the prophesies. In order to get concise ideas from the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark will be used to highlight the life of Jesus right from baptism and therefore show why Jesus was indeed the figure to receive dominion, glory and kingship to rule over the world. The birth of Jesus and commencement of his ministry There is every bit of evidence that the life Jesus would be no ordinary right from the time he was baptized. To begin with, he was baptized by a very special man, John the Baptist, who had been born just to prepare a way for him (Mark 1: 2). While John was used to baptizing people with water, he was categorical that Jesus would have powers to baptize people using the Holy Spirit. This portrays Jesus as a being that would possess supernatural powers that would rule over the people. Indeed when the time came for Jesus to be baptized, the service was provided by John the Baptist. That would seem ordinary since baptism was part of John's normal activities, but the amazing aspects of the baptism are the events that followed the baptism activity. As recorded in Mark 1: 9-10, after Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and Jesus saw the spirit of God descending upon him in the form of a dove. This was followed by a voice from heaven that said that Jesus is "my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased". This was probably the voice of God and the statement shows that Jesus was indeed being monitored at all times. In the early days of Jesus' ministry, he went to Galilee to preach, at a time when John the Baptist had been imprisoned (Mark 1: 14). The choice of words that Jesus used implied that he indeed had a right to the kingdom (of God). Jesus told the people that the time had been fulfilled, and that the kingdom of God was at hand, they only had to repent and believe the Gospel (verse 15). That the kingdom of God was at hand and the people had to repent was a fulfillment of a prophecy once made by Daniel. In Daniel 2: 44, the fulfillment is very clear: it was predicted that in the days of many kings God would set up a kingdom, a kingdom which would not be annihilated, it would not be left to other people but would break in pieces to consume the other kingdoms. In addition, it was predicted that this new kingdom would last forever (Daniel 2: 44). True, the leadership of Jesus would later perturb the leaderships of kings such as Herod and Pilate. Jesus' manifestation glory and kingship is shown in the book of Mark when Jesus called Simon and his brother and told them that he would make them fishers of men (Mark 1: 16-17). The fact that the two brothers never complained that Jesus was interfering with their pursuit of fish shows how loyal and obedient they were to Jesus. It also shows that Jesus had the powers to call people from their activities to join him. Under ordinary circumstances, Simon and Andrew would not have heeded Jesus' call- they were fishermen (of fish) and not fishers of men. They could have argued that fishing men was not in their interest and either way such an activity would not be beneficial to them in any way. But their acceptance reveals the power that Jesus had over men. In addition, many more people such as James son of Zebedee and his brother John were willing to leave their activities and follow Jesus (Mark 1: 19-20). In addition to pulling large crowds, Jesus was able to start preaching at a young age, he healed people and even cleansed a leper (Mark 1: 21-45). All these are manifestations on the glory of God, and a foreshadow that Jesus would be a king over the earth. Jesus' wisdom and popularity Although Jesus had the glory of God and was able to heal, many of the people who heard about his wisdom and powers were not pleased with the turn of events and accused him of portraying himself as God. According to the traditional law, there was only one God whom the people worshipped; hence, for Jesus to display God's characters was unusual. A good example of the situation where the people fell out with Jesus was in Capernaum. When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a large multitude followed him. In the room where he was delivering his message there was no more space for entry. Yet there were four men who carried a paralytic colleague and wanted Jesus' attention. This depicts how powerful Jesus had become just over a few days. When the four men lowered the paralytic man through an opening in the roof of the room where Jesus was preaching, the man was indeed healed (Mark 2:1-5). However, this did not augur well with the scribes, who accused Jesus of blasphemy (Mark 2:7). They asked why Jesus was speaking blasphemies since they believed that only God had the power to heal. They did not know that Jesus in himself was God. From what the scribes thought, it can be deduced that Jesus had acquired the powers of God and was therefore performing what had initially been performed only by God- healing. This indeed is a manifestation of the fact that Jesus had received dominion over the world, had acquired the glory of God and was destined to become a king. The glory of Jesus is further seen in his ability to perceive what the scribes were thinking even though they did not speak it out. For instance, he asked the scribes why they were thinking about him being blasphemous (Mark 2:8). The aspect of Jesus becoming a king is revealed in the fact that he was not accustomed to selecting the people with whom he mingled. Jesus was free with everyone and in fact mixed with sinners and tax collectors (Mark 2:15-16), who at that time were a disgust to the society. In addition, Jesus was able to pull even larger crowds whenever he visited a place. He became a man of the people as he said that whoever did the will of God was a brother, sister and mother (Mark 3:35). The parable of the sower and kingship Jesus wittily used the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-9) to illustrate the kind of people that exist to the earth. There are people who flourish in their endeavors and others who suffer like the seeds that fall on dry and thorny land. Jesus revealed in Mark 4: 11 that the people who understood the parable got to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. In Mark 4:26, Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a man who should scatter seeds on the ground. The revelation in this parable in relation to kingship is that Jesus clearly understood what the kingdom of God entailed for he himself was destined to be king. Jesus' kingship is also portrayed in verses that show him as a son of God and a son of man as prophesied by Daniel. For instance, in Mark 5:7, a man with an unclean spirit referred to Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. In Mark 6:3, Jesus was referred to as a carpenter and the son of Mary, a true fulfillment of Daniel's vision (Daniel 7: 13). More miracles of Jesus That Jesus was able to feed five thousand men by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish (Mark 6:30-44) is no ordinary thing, but a manifestation of the glory that that was conferred upon him. Additionally, given that Jesus was able to walk on the sea (Mark 6: 45-52), it is evident that he had power as a king over nature. Furthermore, Jesus became very popular among the people and they would always want to see him wherever he went. For instance, when he went to Gennes'aret, people came out in large numbers to see him, just as a king would be greeted by his subjects (Mark 6: 53-55). Worth noting too is the fact that whenever Jesus entered into villages, cities or a country, people sought to meet him- he was an epitome of kingship (Mark 6: 56). Jesus' ability to foretell future events Jesus was able to predict his death three times. For one to be to predict death it requires glory, which Jesus indeed had. The first prediction of the death is reported in Mark 8: 31-38 where Jesus said that the Son of man must suffer many things. This shows that Jesus was indeed a leader. Just as a leader has to endure many difficulties in order to lead his or her people in the right manner, Jesus was ready to suffer many things just for the sake of the people he was leading. In the second foreshadowing of his death, Jesus said that the Son of man would be arrested and handed to the hands of men (Mark 9:30). The significant aspect of both speeches is that Jesus referred to himself as the Son of man just as Daniel had seen in his vision. In the third prediction of his death, Jesus still used the phrase "Son of man" in reference to himself. In Mark 10:33 Jesus said that the Son of man would be delivered to the chief priests and to the scribes, who would condemn him to death and deliver him to the gentiles. This indicates that although Jesus had the glory of God and dominion over the world, he was a servant of humanity and was therefore ready to die at the hands of men to show his faithful service. During transfiguration, three tabernacles were made for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Then a voice was heard from heaven saying, "this is my beloved son" (Mark 9: 4-5). The voice heard during transfiguration indicates the love that God had for his son, Jesus. It also implies that Jesus had the glory of God at all times. A similar voice was heard during the time Jesus was baptized by John. Therefore, this shows that Jesus had dominion over the people of the world since God could talk directly to him without using angels. Additionally, the glory of Jesus was depicted when he told the disciples who were with him during transfiguration that they would only know the significance of the process after the Son of man had arisen from the dead (Mark 9: 9). Jesus' equal power with God Although Jesus is depicted in the Bible as the son of God, he had the powers to act as God as he was the representative of God on the earth. It can also be said that in himself, Jesus was God. In elucidation, Jesus told his followers that whoever believed in him (Jesus) also believed in him who sent him to the earth (God) (Mark 9: 37). Therefore, Jesus was wielding God's powers as he lived on earth. The major difference between God and Jesus could probably be that God was not directly in contact with humanity, but Jesus was on earth and could even be persecuted by men. Just as God was able to pronounce curses upon people and nature in the Old Testament, Jesus was also able to curses and other commands. As earlier discussed, Jesus was able to cast out evil spirits from men, an act that was beyond the ability of the ordinary man. Similarly, the ability of Jesus to command nature to conform to his will also depicted him as a being that had powers only equal to those of God. For instance, Jesus cursed a fig tree when he could not get fruit from it at a time when he was hungry (Mark 11:14). Jesus death, resurrection and ascension The death of Jesus may have made him an ordinary person, but what led to his death and what transpired after the death make Jesus a unique being. In a surprise turn of events, the people who had conspired to kill him suddenly realized that Jesus was indeed a king. For instance, Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews, but Jesus replied that Pilate had said so (Mark 15: 1-5). Jesus' death was by crucifixion, and the killers wrote a statement above his head on the cross which said that he was the King of the Jews (Mark 15: 26). Later they mocked him as the king of the Jews and asked him to come down the cross (Mark 15: 32). The events that occurred after crucifixion further depict the supremacy of Jesus: darkness was experienced for three hours and the temple veil was torn into two pieces (Mark 15: 33-38). Such events only serve to show the glory and power that Jesus had. After his death, Jesus still appeared to two of his disciples (Mark 16: 12-13), an exemplification of power over death. But what clearly shows the glory of Jesus is the fact that he ascended to heaven to sat at the right hand side of God (Mark 16: 19). Conclusion Jesus lived just as it had been predicted by prophets of the Old Testament such as Daniel. Daniel saw a son of man whose kingdom would not be destroyed, and indeed Jesus lived to fulfill the prophesy by resurrecting and ascending to heaven after death. Jesus had dominion over the world, glory and a strong kingdom with God, to which he went after his death. Jesus' miracles and powers also depict the glory he had while his promise of the kingdom of God shows that he lived as a king and remained a king even after death. Reference The King James Bible. 17 Nov 2008. http://www.bartleby.com/108/41/10.html Read More