A Covenant Gone Away
In order to understand the actual mission of
Jesus, we must go back before his time in history to find out why he was sent in
the first place.
Fed up with the idolatry among his people, Abraham left his country in
approximately 2000 B.C.E. in order to have freedom to worship God alone.
It was hard for him to leave his family
behind, however, so God blessed him with two sons;
He then comforted Abraham by saying that, of his youngest son Isaac, He would
make a great nation (Genesis 17: 16,19). Of Isaac was later born the Jewish
nation, God's "chosen" people.
(We look later on at God's promise to Abraham's other son, Ishmael.) Despite
this lofty position of
the designated "Chosen People" of God, the Jews continually slipped back into
idol worship and God sent prophet after prophet in order to warn the Jews of His
displeasure with their behavior.
When the warnings failed to change the situation, hostile neighboring countries
came in
and wreaked havoc upon the Jewish people.
Although God granted respite in many
instances upon hearing the Jews' cries for mercy,
His wrath was so kindled in 581 B.C.E. at their continued disobedience that He
allowed the Babylonians
to sweep into the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah, where King Nebuchadnezzar
and his armies proceeded to destroy Jerusalem and carry the Jews off into
captivity.
The upper Jewish kingdom of Israel had met a
similar fate in 721 B.C.E. at the hands of the Assyrians.
Scattered abroad with their Temple destroyed, the Jews turned their focus onto
the Law. Monotheism was once again lost, but this time in an ever -increasing
maze of elaborate rites and rituals.
It was this situation that was present in the world when Jesus received his
calling from God. |