Why the Messiah did not come first as a conqueror...

[christianwarrior]

(I originally posted this on Facebook shortly before Christmas)
"Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing,And heav’n and nature sing, And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains. Repeat the sounding joy,Repeat the sounding joy,Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy. No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,Far as the curse is found,Far as, far as, the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love." These are the lyrics that Isaac Watts wrote in Joy to the World in 1719. He wrote the lyrics based on Psalm 89 and the song is about Jesus' Second Coming not his birth. http://nicsrevelations.com/uncategorize ... mas-carol/ It was adapted has a Christmas song later and given a new melody by Handel.

Many people reject Jesus as Messiah because they had expected the Messiah to be a conquering king as described in Psalms 2 and Daniel 7. Instead he was crucified on a cross. There are many passages in the Old Testament that talk of the Messiah being a suffering servant and a conquering king. People had thought that the Messiah would only come once and fulfill all the Messianic prophecies. They did not know that there would be two advents of the Messiah. http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publication ... urningking Once as a suffering servant as prophecized by Isaiah 53. The next time he will come as the conquering king as prophecized by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:24-25). http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r004.html

Why is there a massive time gap between when the Messiah suffers and when he conquers? It is due to God's compassion and love. When Jesus comes to a synanogue in Nazareth
"And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,Because He has anointed Me. To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captives. And recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed;To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:17-19. Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61 however he stops midway through verse 2 where it says "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God;"
Jesus' first time on Earth is to bring the Good News, his second time here will be bring about the day of vengeance of our God and judgement on the Earth.
Mankind has been separated from God through our rebellion and sin against God. Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-" Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;"
Because Adam and Eve sinned death and evilness was brought to humanity. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-comfo ... nough.html Humanity is fallen. http://www.gotquestions.org/sin-nature.html We see the evidence all over us in war, corruption, murder, stealing, and mistreatment of people. This is why many of the revolutions did not improve the situation and caused an increase in violence. The new guy in charge gets corrupted and becomes just like the bad guy they replaced (Chinese Communist Revolution, Russian Revolution, French Revolution, etc.)http://www.cru.org/how-to-know-god/woul ... nally.html Jesus left his throne in heaven to come down to the Earth and to pay the penalty for our sins. Isaiah 53:5-6 :"But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,And by His stripes we are healed.All we like sheep have gone astray;We have turned, every one, to his own way;And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Because it was a man who had brought sin into the world, Jesus became a human being so that he could atone for humanity. The Messiah came to save all of humanity. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. The reason why Jesus is taking so doggone long to come back as a conquering Messiah is because when he wants people to come to repentance. He will not come back until the Gospel is preached onto all the nations and the Great Commission complete. Matthew 24:14. When Jesus comes back as a conquering Messiah "whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15) http://www.christiananswers.net/q-grace ... d-god.html http://carm.org/loving-god-would-never-send-anyone-hell When Jesus comes back it will be the day of vengeance. for all unrighteous, injustice, and evilness on the Earth. Any evildoer and sinner who has not turned to God will be permenantly cast out of God's presence. However before judgement there is the year of God's favor. Now is the time to turn to God before the day of vengeance. http://carm.org/what-gospel

[jlay]

The conquering aspect is in regard to restoring the Davidic Kingdom to Israel. Only one issue. Israel (corporately) rejected the Messiah and in doing so, the Davidic Kingdom. The initial rejection led to the crucifixion. However, the offer of Messiah was still the central apostolic message, post resurrection. See Peter's sermon in Acts 2 and subsequent messages in Acts 3, 4, and 5. This led to the persecution and arrest of the apostles, and ultimately to the stoning of Stephen.

It's at that time that there is a dramatic shift from the ministry of the apostles to the ministry of Paul.
The reason that the conquering King has not returned is because of a pause in the prophetic program. When the number of Gentiles is complete (Rom. 11:25) then Israel's program will be completed.