Brief lesson on the promise of the coming savior in the 1st century A.D. Jesus' contemporaries under foreign oppression concentrated on the abundance of material blessing, not the spiritual awakening. Judea under Roman occupation envisioned the Messiah primarily as a military ruler.

Some, including Zealots, were intent on taking prophecy into their own hands, and believed they could force God's actions. Humankind can do nothing to facilitate the prophecy, which will occur in God's own time.

The teachings of the prophets concluded: -the kingdom would come with God's initiative -the kingdom would be brought by the Messiah -there would be great material blessings -there would be great political and military strength -there would be a great spiritual awakening -it will be an eschatological transition: the beginning of end of time.

Jesus concentrated on the spiritual, never material or political or military; always about kingdom of God, never of this world. He would not conform to contemporary assumptions about the Messiah's role.

We are living in the time between the coming of the Christ and the final coming of the kingdom of God to Earth. Our task is to accept the gift of God's love and show God's love, inviting others into the kingdom.

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