The Promise was now held captive by those who believed it was a promise just for them. The Promise that God would use Israel to restore all of creation (the fulfillment of God's promise that Israel would be a blessing to the entire world) did not seem possible since Israel believed that the blessing was simply the restoration of their political independence. In other words the Promise was all about Israel and not the world. We can't blame Israel for losing sight of its larger purpose. In the midst of war, exile and poverty it is easy to lose the big picture and focus instead on immediate needs and desires. God however had not lost sight of the larger picture.
God's promises are eternal. God does not get sidetracked but constantly moves forward with God's plans to restore creation and remake the world. Thus, as our communion liturgy puts it, "when the time was right God sent his only son Jesus into the world." God was going to complete God's plan even when the people who were supposed to be helping to complete it were part of the problem.
The sending of Jesus into the world was not "plan B" for God. Some people have intimated that God had hoped that the restoration of the world would ultimately be accomplished by Israel's obedience to the Law (Plan A) and only when they were unable to accomplish the task did God decide to send Jesus. This view does not coincide with scripture. From the beginning of the Biblical story Israel was to be the incubator of the fulfillment of the Promise, not its completer. The final fulfillment was always to be an act of God. Humanity, because of its self-centeredness, would never be capable on its own of breaking the power of sin in the world. Only God could accomplish this and God would do so through Jesus.
The Bible looks at Jesus through many lenses. The scriptures describe him as a prophet, teacher, rabbi, messiah (Christ), Son of God, Son of Man and The Word. (Next week we will look at how Jesus defined himself and his mission). The Apostle Paul shines his own light on Jesus and Jesus' work here on earth referring to Jesus as "our peace" (Ephesians 2:14), one who was "in the form of God" (Philippians 2:6), "the first born of all creation" (Colossians 1:15), and "Lord" on multiple occasions. Each of these descriptions adds something to our understanding of the person and work of Jesus.
Ultimately our tradition (the Orthodox Christian tradition accepted by the vast majority of Christians over the past 1,500 years) affirmed above all other views of Jesus that in the person of Jesus we see the fullness of both God and humanity at work. This view was not always taken for granted but was arrived at through Bible study, prayer and debate. One of the reasons the church arrived at this conclusion, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to God, was the very fact that scripture makes it clear that human beings (as noted above) cannot fulfill the Promise themselves. And since Jesus' actions initiated the fulfillment of the Promise to save and restore the world then God must have been at work in Jesus in a way God is not and cannot be at work in and through other human beings.
Where this leaves us in terms of our own vision is that this Jesus whom we worship and follow shows us the very heart of God. By making Jesus Christ the center of our lives we are making God the center of our lives and our corporate vision. Thus the Promise can live through us.
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