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     God formed the nation of ancient Israel as His theocracy.  In other words God was its sovereign, its King.  Israel’s law code was the Mosaic Covenant given by God through Moses (10 commandments plus the 613 ordinances).  When Israel wanted a king, God told Samuel, “...Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:6, 7).

     According to God’s command, the prophet Samuel anointed Saul with oil, thus he was the king or “anointed one” (messiah).  The anointing was a ritual of making something official e.g., Aaron and sons were anointed, officially making Aaron’s family the priesthood of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 29:29; 40:15).  Israel’s kings were likewise anointed ones — messiahs.

     From the time of Judah’s removal from the promised land and following their return to the homeland (2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 39, 52; Ezra 1, 2), Israel had no king.  Daniel the prophet in Babylon during the destruction of Jerusalem, prophesied a future Messiah (Daniel 9:25, 26) which likely fostered the Jews’ expectancy of a God-given messiah (anointed king).

     When Gabriel informed Mary she would bear Jesus, he also said, “...the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.  And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33).  This must have been most quizzical to her.  Her son would be Israel’s anticipated king?

     As a nation, Israel enjoyed independence for about 70 years in the late second century and early first century BC until Rome took over Judah (63BC).  In Jesus day, the Jews being tired of decades of Roman rule, earnestly wanted a king (messiah [Hebrew]; christ [Greek]).  This anticipation was opportunity for the revolutionaries (zealots), who wanted a king, to expel the Romans from Palestine.  Within Jesus’ prophecy of Jerusalem’s coming destruction (AD 70), He said there would be many false christs (claims of divine appointment to the throne) through time (Matthew 24:4, 5, 23-25).

     As John the baptizer preached some six months before Jesus began His ministry, the Jews wondered if John was the expected anointed messiah (Luke 3:15).  Even after three years of witnessing Jesus teaching and miracles and until He ascended into heaven, His disciples still expected Jesus to reign as Israel’s earthly king (Acts 1:6).  Yet when Jesus began His ministry three years earlier, He mentioned “the mystery of the kingdom of God.” What did He mean by mystery?  And what was this kingdom?

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