Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel's King

by Herbert W. Bateman IV, Darrell L. Bock, Gordon H. Johnston

Few books have sought to exhaustively trace the theme of Messiah through all of Scripture, but this book does so with the expert analysis of three leading evangelical scholars. For the Bible student and pastor, "Jesus the Messiah"presents a comprehensive picture of both scriptural and cultural expectations surrounding the Messiah, from an examination of the Old Testament promises to their unique and perfect fulfillment in Jesus' life. Students of the life of Christ will benefit from the authors' rich understanding of ancient biblical culture and pastors will find an indispensable help for understanding the unity and importance of the ancient promise of Messiah. This handsome volume will be a ready reference on Messiah for years to come.

Genres: Theology, New Testament, Old Testament

528 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2011

About the author

Born in Camden, New Jersey, Herb Bateman grew up in Pennsauken, a suburb of Camden. He attended and graduated from Pennsauken High School in 1974. During those years, he played the trombone in the school’s orchestra and marching Band as well as wrestled for their athletic department.

After graduating from high school, Bateman worked as manager of Kushner’s Hardware Store in Pennsauken. He spent five years developing skills in retail business before attending college. Although skeptical about his academic abilities, he graduated from Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU) in 1982. It was there that he met his wife, Cindy Ann (nee Ohner), and was married 1 September 1979. They celebrated their first anniversary in Jerusalem where Herb was completing a one-year study program at Jerusalem University College in Israel (1980-1981).

After graduating from PBU, Herb and Cindy moved to Dallas, Texas in 1983 to attend Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a four year masters degree and subsequent doctorate degree in New Testament Studies. After living in Dallas for twelve years, he accepted a teaching position in northern Indiana where he taught predominately at Grace Theological Seminary. In 2008, he accepted a position at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, left the Midwest, and returned to Texas where he currently resides.

Reviews

[Jason Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had the privilege of studying under both Gordon Johnston and Darrell Bock and both are truly gentleman and scholars. Naturally, when given the opportunity to review a book on which they (and Bateman) had collaborated, I jumped at it. I must say that this book met my expectations and will serve as the go-to guide for many when it comes to messianic expectation in Jewish and Christian literature.

Essentially this book covers three major literary corpora and how each demonstrates, in varying degrees, messianic expectation, promise, and fulfillment. Gordon Johnston tackles various texts from the Hebrew Bible, Herbert Bateman discusses the various messianic expectations recorded in intertestamental Jewish literature, and Darrell Bock tackles the NT teachings on Jesus as Messiah.

Though plenty of readers will find fault with interpretations presented throughout (a given for any book of this sort), I found the hermeneutical approach quite satisfying. There is a stereotype/stigma that attends books of this sort, i.e. that books about messianic issues written by evangelicals are predictable. Many may assume that the sections dealing with the Hebrew Bible and intertestamental literature will default to seeing Christ in every possible text so as to demonstrate the obvious presence of messianic expectation. I must say that such hyper-messianic readings of Jewish literature are off the mark, but you won’t find such a view here. While the authors obviously see messianic expectation in a number of texts in the Hebrew Bible and intertestamental literature, they don’t see it everywhere. They lay out their hermeneutical approach on pages 20-36, which I will not rehash here. The gist of the approach is that God revealed the Messiah via progressive revelation, even from the first of canonical literature. This is not to say that everything about the Messiah, particularly his identity, was revealed, but that there were glimpses that continually built over generations until the Jesus the Christ could be made known.

Permit me a lengthy quote by Bateman that describes the difference in their approach (pgs. 24-25).

Granted, our starting point is not unlike other approaches that acknowledge the value of Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) when discussing Messiah. Yet there is a difference. Many people today unfortunately fail to grapple with the human journey of discovery about “Messiah.” Many preachers who preach sermons about Jesus as the Messiah often over emphasize their theological system with limited or even no consideration of any progress of revelation in human history. Others may read the text historically, often looking exclusively to the long-term reality. But in their quest for a singular historical-contextual meaning throughout all of Scripture, they argue that what a First Testament human author said about Messiah equals that which is stated about Jesus the Messiah in the Second Testament. They tend to suggest that Jesus and the apostles assert that the Hebrew Scriptures testify directly and (or more importantly) exclusively about him. In their mind, the evangelists and epistolarists believe Moses foretold only the death of Jesus the Messiah; David foresaw only the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah; Isaiah predicted only Jesus’ ascension into glory; and that Abraham heard only the Gospel to the Gentiles preached to him. Thus, they stress the work of the divine author and thereby over emphasize an unambiguous continuity between the Testaments. The idea is that most or all of these texts need to be direct prophecies to work for Jesus being the messianic fulfillment in the way the Second Testament describes…We, however, will offer a slightly different approach. Granted, there is most certainly a link, but we will argue, just not a completely exclusive one. One of our goals is to argue that these texts do not need to be only direct prophecies for them to reveal a messianic connections and fulfillment in Jesus. Such an explicit-exclusive reading of the First Testament tends to ignore the complexities of Jewish history as well as God’s revelation and its progress. Such an explicit reading deprives us of historical information that ultimately helps us grasp what was going on in the lives of the Jewish people and what God’s revelation told them about their present and future. While a traditional approach argues for explicit predictions about Jesus, we suggest that while the wording is ultimately messianic, it is often more implicitly stated and becomes clearer only as the entirety of God’s portrait of messiah is eventually and fully disclosed, both by how the First Testament concludes and by what Jesus himself does to pull all the messianic pieces together.

I hate to quote things at such length, but this is the grid through which the texts in the book are read and it leads to a much more suitable interpretation than does a hyper-messianic reading mentioned earlier.

All in all, this is a superb book with little to fault. Again, as with any book (particularly those of an exegetical nature), there will be disagreements on this detail or that and I’ve chosen to leave that for others to discuss. Whatever disagreements you may find, I think most who read this, even those outside evangelical camps, will find a trove of exegetical treasure and plenty of food for thought.

[Craig Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the understanding that the term messiah simply means “anointed one” it can be rightly stated that there are many religions which have a messiah or messiahs. This being said, the messiah that has dominated the topic has been that of the Christian faith – Jesus Christ. Since the Jesus Seminar the discussion of Jesus as messiah has largely dominated the discipline of Christology with various understandings of the messiahship of Jesus.

Amidst the many approaches (both liberal and conservative) Herbert Bateman IV, Darrell Bock and Gordon Johnston have teamed up to add to the discussion with their newly published book Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel’s King with Kregel Publishers. While on the conservative side of the discussion and having approached the messiahship of Jesus from a unique angel, this book is not wedging itself against other conservative contributions.

The Approach

The approach of the authors is to offer a “contextual-canonical, messianic, and Christological developments of God’s promise of ‘messiah’ within the larger framework and unfolding of Jewish history in canonical and extra-biblical literature.” (p. 20) This threefold focus encapsulates the unique angle the authors wish to address the topic of messiah. The underlying theme that unifies the three sections together is to view, interpret and present the biblical discussion of messiah progressively throughout biblical and human history.

First, with the “contextual-canonical” focus Gordon Johnston addresses the Old Testament (or first testament as the authors term it) texts that deal directly with the promise of the Messiah. These chapters cover the relevant texts beginning in Genesis and ending in the prophets. Contextually the key passages are exegeted for their meaning and canonically they are placed with the overall trajectory of the OT concerning the nature of the Messiah. Since the progress of revelation underlies each section of the book, Johnston is careful not to import NT fulfillment understanding into the OT text.

Second, with the “messianic” focus Herbert Bateman addresses the expectations the Jews had during the Second Temple period concerning the nature of the Messiah. In setting the stage for evaluating second temple Judaism, Bateman first discusses three issues in dealing with the relevant material: (1) limited resources to deal with, (2) blurred vision in that we are overly familiar with second temple teaching and the early church had a desire to distance itself from Judaism and (3) a lack of historical and social sensitivities to the second temple period and the mindset of the Jews themselves.

Finally, with the “Christological” focus Darrell Bock looks at how the Second Testament and the early church understood Jesus to fulfill the First Testament expectations of the coming Messiah. Bock takes the unique approach of working backwards from Revelation to the Gospels teaching of the Messiah. The primary reason for doing so is that the overwhelming majority of NT uses of christos are in the non-narrative portions, over 72% being in the Pauline Epistles (p. 333-334).

Conclusion

Jesus the Messiah is a clear, thoughtful, exegetical, and intentionally nuanced defense of the biblical teaching both of the messiah figure and the fulfillment of it by Jesus Christ. Exegetically based and progressively driven are the two primary words that describe this book. All three contributors do the exegetical work to faithfully present each texts contribution to the biblical whole concerning the messiah. Accompanying this exegetical work is the historical-progressive nature of Scripture itself. Johnston and Bock especially are careful not to import later biblical messianic teaching into earlier texts (see esp. Johnston’s appendix on Gen. 3:15). While the book is mixed with some Christological considerations I would have liked to see more systematic/biblical theology discussion.

That being said, Jesus the Messiah is a great book for delving into the biblical discussion of Jesus as messiah. This is probably more suited for college level or higher and pastors, students, teachers and educated laymen will certainly benefit from the book.

NOTE: I received this book for free from Kregel in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and words are my own and I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.

[Lindsay John Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review is here: http://mydigitalseminary.com/jesus-me...

There are many positives to Jesus the Messiah, particularly in the authors' methodology and careful and fair treatment of individual texts. The proliferation of color maps and diagrams is very welcome and attractive. The authors are also to be commended for attempting to allow the texts to speak for themselves. There is much excellent exegetical work on display, particularly in Johnston’s OT chapters.

However, I note two weaknesses to Jesus the Messiah. First, the authors are not in complete alignment with their intended audience, methods or goals. The benefit of having three specialists devoted to their fields is sadly counterbalanced by the occasional whiplash one experiences when moving from one section to the next. The book would have been strengthened by better harmonizing the flow of the sections and allowing them to interact more with each other.

The second weakness is more foundational to their approach. The authors restrict themselves to “kingship and covenant texts” (p32), which I think is a misstep. First, by only looking at these texts, the authors are putting together the messianic puzzle with too few pieces. Second, despite the authors’ quote above, I see little to no impact of the covenants in their work. Attention to the covenants would have helped frame the puzzle, showing that messianic hope is not merely found in individual texts scattered throughout a long narrative, but rather in a faithful covenant mediator. He would be the second Adam, the Noahic bringer of new creation, the true seed of Abraham, the faithful Israel, and the greater David. The difference in this approach can be seen when we consider that Johnston begins his search of the messianic trajectories in the calling of Abraham. Not only does the promise that kings will come from Abraham (Gen 17:6) seem unexpected when we begin here, it also leads one to expect a small-scale king. But if Adam were recognized as a king (as he should be), then the story begins much earlier and promises for kings through Abraham suddenly have a vastly broader scope! In fact, Genesis 3:15 could be reclaimed from the appendix as a kingly messianic text. So while some of the individual commentary may remain the same, the entire picture would be in a different shade if situated within this covenantal frame.

Though I am ending my review on a critical note, Jesus the Messiah does have much to commend. I certainly recommend Jesus the Messiah as a helpful resource for someone who wants to wrestle with the question of Old Testament messianic prophecy and the intertestamental literature. It is also useful for tracing the origins of belief in Jesus as Christ.

Many thanks to Alban books for providing a review copy of Jesus the Messiah. Their generosity has not affected my opinion of this book.

[Clint Letterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

To begin, the authors of this study either presently teach at Dallas Theological Seminary (Bock, Johnston) and/or received their training there (Bateman IV). It is also critical for the reader to know that the introduction is crucial to understanding the hermeneutical approach of this work and therefore, it must be absorbed. What is the approach? Bateman defines it as a “three-fold” approach: 1) Contextual-canonical; 2) Messianic and 3) Christological. Furthermore, within this template there is a purposeful effort to show the element of progressive revelation. Understanding this approach and then tying in the thread of progressive revelation cannot be overstated.

The book is broken up into three parts, Part #1—Promise of the King; Part #2—Expectations of the King and Part #3—The coming of the King. Also, the reader must be aware that each part correlates to a key phase of biblical history (Part one—Johnston interacts with the Old (or first) Testament; Part two—Dr. Bateman examines the Second temple literature and Part three—Dr. Bock explores the New (or second) Testament). To this reviewer, the section on Second Temple Judaism was supremely fundamental to the overall conclusion of this work and brought clarity and color to my understanding of the New Testament.

One of the standout elements of the book was the author’s use of the charts. These visual helps are spread liberally throughout the book and provide moments of rest and clarity, especially for novice Christian reader. Concepts such as progressive revelation (p. 33); Kings of Israel and Judah (p.71); different genres of Second Temple literature (p.317) and the reigns and influence of Roman emperors (pgs. 337, 343) are brought to life with these charts.

A surprise to this reviewer was the absence of any explicit dispensational language, especially since all the authors (to my knowledge) hold to some form of dispensationalism. The closest reference was found on page 182 in dealing with the Messianic trajectories found in Ezekiel 44-48. Johnston states,

“According to a popular approach, Ezekiel provided an architectural blueprint for the construction of the future millennial temple, whose cultic worship will be directed by the glorious Messiah, who Himself will offer regular animal sacrifices in memorial of His once-for-all atoning sacrifices. Despite the widespread acceptance of this view, it is beset with obstacles, although there is a key element of truth in it.”

Notice there is no mention of dispensationalism (though this is an exclusive dispensational interpretation) and the author does not try to give another interpretation of Ezekiel 44-48 (since it is beyond the scope of this study). Even in Bock’s examination of the term “Messiah” in the book of Revelation, there is no discussion about chronological issues or the length of the Millennium. It seems to me that the authors are striving to produce a scholarly work, which is devoid of tribal association or preference.

Criticism

Though the section on Second Temple Judaism (515 B.C.—70 A.D.) is critical in explaining Jesus’ hesitation to publicly proclaim His Messianic office, I found the emphasis on the documents to be painfully thorough and thus boring to any non-scholar. This is not to say that certain aspects of this section are not noteworthy. The concept of a diarchy or binary Messianism (i.e. the idea of “two Messiahs”) is one of the many fascinating discoveries found within the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Conclusion

Bock, Bateman and Johnston are to be commended for this comprehensive work. The authors laid out their purpose and proceeded in 472 pages to nail their thesis to the wall. Undoubtedly, this will be a challenging read for the novice Christian or theological infant, but those with a rudimentary understanding of the Scriptures will find this work thought-provoking and a worthy addition to the genre of Testamental studies.

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The outline of Jesus the Messiah is straightforward but covers a large amount of ground. These authors are “tracing the promises, expectations, and coming of Israel’s King,” Jesus the Messiah, throughout the entire Bible and in inter-testamental literature. They describe their approach as contextual-canonical, messianic, and Christological.
With contextual-canonical, we express how the earliest testament in part and whole generated such promises in the context of the progress of revelation. By messianic, we conclude how these messianic options were being contemplated by Jews through messianic reflection as we enter the time of Jesus. . . . With christological, we consider how Jesus and the earliest church put all of this together into a coherent portrait that they also saw as revelatory about the promise as they entered into the debate over the various options, affirming some elements, rejecting others, and adding fresh emphases of their own. (p. 26)
This approach is the linchpin of this book and they do an excellent job of explaining the relevant messianic texts within this framework and in a way which is balanced.

The book separates into three sections. Section one examines the messianic texts found in the Old Testament (Bateman IV). Section two examines non-canonical texts from the Second Temple period (Johnston). Section three covers messianic texts in the New Testament (Bock).

Jesus the Messiah will ground you understanding of messianic prophecy in Scripture. The contextual-canonical emphasis grounds each passage in its immediate context and redemptive history while also pointing to the Christological trajectory. As a firm believer in a Christ-centered hermeneutic I gleaned much from their careful exegesis and counter-balance to some of the poor copy and paste techniques found in the Christ-centered hermeneutic camp.

On the other side, I was delighted to see how many times each of the authors brought a contextual point forwarded which in my opinion strengthened the position of covenant theology and could have been considered a weakness of dispensationalism (pp. 151, 363, 364). That is a sign of a good theologian.

Lastly, because of the prominence of Second Temple studies today, section two will prove indispensable. You can hardly involve yourself in any academic discussion of Christianity without knowing something about Second Temple Judaism. And even if you don’t involve yourself in any academic discussion N. T. Wright has popularized doctrines built on an understanding of Second Temple Judaism. Reading Jesus the Messiah will only help as you interact with those arguments.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can see myself referencing it frequently in the future. It’s written on a level slightly more academic than your average Christian book published today but is far more approachable than something written directly for academia. If you’re a studious reader this book is worth the effort.

[Prayson Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Classical exposition of messiahship” is my four words review of Herbert W. Bateman IV, Darrell L. Bock and Gordon H. Johnston’s 528-paged Kregel Publications coup d’état work, Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel’s King (2012)

Answering who Jesus, the Messiah is, Johnston broke dawn by trace messianic trajectories from the Old Testament, Bateman captured the anticipations of this messianic figure and Bock took captive the twilight of coming messiah, leaving no stone unturned.

Jesus the Messiah is divided into three parts. In part one, Johnston went in a great detail through the Old Testament tracing the royal dynasty of the Israel King. Part two, Bateman pick up the expectation of the of this Israel eschatological King. Part three, Bock contended how Jesus is the Israel eschatological King.

In addition, Johnston delves into Proto-Evangelion (The promise in Genesis 3:15) in appendix. Johnston exposited Genesis 3:15, as he answered what the author of Genesis intended his original audience to understand. Although he agree that Genesis 3:1 has messianic potential, Johnston argued: “The conscious object of the faith of ancient Israel was not the expectation of the coming “head-crusher,” but Yahweh alone as their Deliverer and Lord”(p. 460)

The authors’ main aim is "to help those who fail to see any connection between promise in the First Testament and fulfillment in the Second Testament about messiah, as well as to nudge others to consider moving beyond the notion that all First Testament readings about “messiah” were fixed and only spoke directly about Jesus."(p. 35)

Colored charts, maps, graphs, figures et cetera made Jesus the Messiah not only informative but humdinger. I will recommend this work to those who are fascinated by the character of Christ Jesus. It is a heavy book, but worth reading and turning to again and again when needed.

[Pam Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traces messianic prophecies through the Old Testament, Intertestamental Jewish literature, and into all New Testament uses of the term "Christ". 3 different authors:
Herbert W. Bateman IV, Darrell L. Bock, and Gordon H. Johnston.
Heavy but enlightening reading.