Have you ever read the Gospels and wondered why Israel was an exile? Why they seem so bent on making Jesus, a righteous man, a king? Why Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for how they follow the Law? And most importantly, we've been saved by the blood of Christ, but what are we saved from? Why did Jesus have to die in order to atone for us? What did Jesus endure for our sake, apart from just the death on the cross?
Why did Jesus have to be a King?
Let's start with the first question posed, and often the most overlooked: Why did Jesus have to be a king in the first place? Why were the Jews so intent on putting him on a throne?
At the beginning of 1 Samuel, the Israelites are getting restless when comparing themselves to other neighboring countries, and when the prophet Samuel is at the end of his life, the people ask for a king. Now God's response is simple:
And the LORD told him, "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you." - 1 Samuel 8:7,8
So from early on in Israel's history, they looked for a king to lead them instead of God. Now the Jews of Jesus' time were only looking for another king to come in like David or Josiah and bring them back from exile.
Jesus, as God, became the king of Israel and returned things to the way they were meant to be. He also brought them back from their spiritual exile to sin, their true captor. But Jesus didn't do this for just Israel, but the whole world.
What's going on with the Law?
In the past, Israel was always exiled and crushed because of its disobedience. Israel always turned aside to false gods, oppressed the poor, and did everything God explicitly said not to do, with the exception being the reign of David. So with Israel always turning aside to false gods and idols, the Pharisees became the other side of the same coin.
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. - Isaiah 29:13
They used the Law as a means for exaltation and exploitation. Their sin wasn't being too mindful of the Law, it was abusing it and using it for dishonest gain, and thus were not keeping the Law. The same issue was happening in Israel again: they took the good things God had given them and turned them into means to exalt themselves, instead of giving glory to God. They no longer followed the Law of God, but their own manifestation of it.
Jesus is our salvation... from what?
"Judgement" and "salvation" held a much stronger connotation for first century Jews than it probably does for us today. For Israel, judgement had to do with punishing the people for their transgressions, and was also the means by which sin was atoned for when it reached a certain point.
I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you. Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper. - Isaiah 29:3,4
The difference from now is this: Judgement meant complete and utter destruction. God would pour out His wrath on every unrighteous person, completely wiping them off the face of the earth. It came via famine, war, and disease.
But everything changed when Jesus entered onto the scene. Jesus not only brought us out of our spiritual exile, where we were slaves to sin, but He delivers us from the wrath of God.
That being said, go read through the historical books. If there's anything that helped me gain a much more heartfelt appreciation for who God is and just exactly what He did, it was knowing his history through 1 & 2 Samuel, Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Read and and be blessed.
