Monday, September 24, 2012

"their laying await was known of Saul" - Christ at the Right Time

Toward Tokyo Bay

Christ at the Right Time

When Christ Jesus was walking with His followers, what did he talk about?

 In His era, the world must have looked so simple.  Only Romans had power to govern the world around Jerusalem.  Egypt now belonged to Rome.  But the east of the Euphrates remained out of power of the Roman Empire.  And, Israelites had to live subject to Romans, though they could maintain their religion.  Great cities at the time must be Rome, Athens, and Alexandria.  Not so many mighty cities were there around the Mediterranean.

So, Christ Jesus did not tell much about international situations surrounding Palestine at the time.

Then, was it just domestic issues and problems that required the emergence of the Son of God among Israelites at the time point in history?

For example, should we consider that Jaudaists at the time degraded themselves so much that they needed Christ to save their society.  Or as their religion went astray, did they need Christ to save their souls?  Maybe, it might have been just domestic crises that requested the first coming of Christ Jesus in those specified years.

However, the timing of His emergence in ancient Israel must have been critical.  He should come in those years around AD 1.  Indeed, He might have come 100 years earlier or later, but He appeared in the very years.

If Jesus had come 100 years later, Jerusalem had been already destroyed by Roman troops.  If He had come 100 years earlier, the region called Galilee was just conquered and annexed to the territory of Judaists so that it could not be a good stage for early activities of Christ..


In c.135 BCE, John Hyrcanus, Simon's third son, assumed the leadership and ruled as high priest (Kohen Gadol) and took a Greek "regnal name" (see Hyrcania) in an acceptance of the Hellenistic culture of his Seleucid suzerains. Within a year of the death of Simon, Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes attacked Jerusalem. According to Josephus,[46] John Hyrcanus opened King David's sepulchre and removed three thousand talents which he paid as tribute to spare the city. He remained as governor as a Seleucid vassal. For the next two decades of his reign, Hyrcanus continued, like his father, to rule semi-autonomously from the Seleucids. 
The Seleucid empire had been disintegrating in the face of the Seleucid–Parthian wars and in 129 BCE Antiochus VII Sidetes was killed in Media by the forces of Phraates II of Parthia, permanently ending Seleucid rule east of the Euphrates. In 116 BCE, a civil war between Seleucid half-brothers Antiochus VIII Grypus and Antiochus IX Cyzicenus broke out, resulting in a further breakup of the already significantly reduced kingdom. 
This provided opportunity for semi-independent Seleucid client states such as Judea to revolt.[47][48][49] In 110 BCE John Hyrcanus carried out the first military conquests of the newly independent Hasmonean kingdom, raising a mercenary army to capture Madaba and Schechem, significantly increasing his regional influence[50][51] 
Hyrcanus conquered Transjordan, Samaria, Galilee, and Idumea (also known as Edom), and forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty


So, for Christ Jesus to encounter fully the Roman power, it must have been just around 1 A.D. when Galilee was cultivated fully by Judaists and the last remnants of Alexander the Great were wiped away from the east part of the Mediterranean.

In summary, it was probably not only domestic situations of Israelites but some diplomatic or neighboring situations for the nation of Judaists that set the timing for the First Coming of Christ among Israelites.

Today, some such situations also seem to be set in these days around Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine, the Middle East, and the world.

As I mentioned, the Second Coming of Christ Jesus  must have already started around 2010.


*** *** *** ***



Act 9:23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
Act 9:24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Act 9:25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Act 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.