The Kingly Movement

The fame of the wonder-worker of Nazareth in Galilee, reached Jerusalem, and through the mission of John the Baptist, the Jewish people became impressed with the belief that the long-looked-for Messiah finally had come. The scribes were pressed to decide whether the man of Galilee was the Messiah or not, and that placed them in a very dangerous position. If they had said, "It is he," the people would have embraced him, and then the Roman power, in fear of a rebellion, would have declared war against such a movement; hence the scribes turned aside the threatening tide by raising the question, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? "—a branch-town in Galilee. In order to quell the movement of the people, they declared the Nazarene to be a false Messiah. It was not in the purpose of God to call forth the Governor of Israel—one that should restore all the tribes into an independent and happy nation—from a place of no importance whatever, they reasoned.

Journeying on the other side of Jordan, the Nazarene gathered about him twelve disciples, who soon became convinced that he was the true Christ. The proclamation they all made that "the kingdom of God was at hand," corroborated the belief that he was the "Anointed," which belief constituted the hope of the nation. But again, the followers of the Nazarene, in the eyes of the learned and elevated class o were of too humble a station in life to be the bearers of such a message, and besides, the fear of the Romans barred them from embracing him.

The kingly movement in their midst pressed them on all sides, and finally it had to be settled definitely whether or not he was the true Messiah. The high priests and the scribes had to pass their judgment on the case, and it was that judgment they invited the Roman governor to sanction and establish according to the prevailing law.

Many of both Jews and Gentiles concluded that the Nazarene was riot the true Messiah because God suffered him to be put to death. But in reading the prophecies carefully concerning his offices, anyone can see that the plan of God required it. As we have already shown, the great Day of the Lord is divided into an evening and a morning movement which corresponds with the typical arrangement in Egypt; it therefore was foreordained that his first coming should end thus. His second coming, or the movement of the morning, starts in right where the evening movement ended, and it is that particular point that is of special interest to us.