Jesus is true representative of Israel. As king (and/or priest?), he sums up [represents] his people.Whaddaya think?
His crucifixion demonstrated victory of the powers over Israel (Judgment). This was turned around when he was raised from the dead (God vindicates him as true Lord of the world). For us to be justified before God [ie declared righteous at the coming judgment], we must be in Jesus Christ (death and resurrection) [thus baptism, like Israel going through Red Sea]. We know that we are in him when the Spirit (our guide in this wilderness and downpayment on the resurrected life) is within us [faith, as fruit of Spirit, confirms this]. This is the guarantee that our own resurrection will reflect his own.
The continuing Christian life is fed and strengthened by the act of remembering God's saving work via judgment [thus communion (or Eucharist), like Passover]. We see this as the Spirit's other fruits live within us [these confirm the fulfillment of God's law within our lives and our continuity with those who are in Christ] as we tromp towards the New Creation.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Gospel note
Today, I delved into a few of the drawers in my room, discovering a few jottings that I lost over time.
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In a Bible class in college we discussed the verses in Isaiah 53:4-6 and a Jew said that those verses referred to the suffering of the nation of Isreal, not Jesus. While I disagree with his thoughts, your thoughts bring to light the relationship of Jesus and Israel.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that the representative (or incorporative) aspect of the King (in this case, Jesus) is a fundamental characteristic that makes sense of many theological bits. When we see (as I think bears out in the OT) something happening to the king, the people feel it. When the people are in pain, the king feels it. I think that making sense of our life 'in Christ' correlates with the real incorporative role of the King (though this might connect with Jesus' role as chief priest...I'm really not sure).
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