Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel's King
The authors provide a masterful synthesis of the teaching of the Messiah in the Old Testament, the context of Judaism, and in the New Testament. By intentionally addressing the contextual, canonical, messianic, and christological readings of all the key texts, and asserting how these grew and developed in their interpretation into the Christian era, these three scholars, each with expertise in expounding the message of the relevant texts, provide the reader with a clear path for understanding the fulfillment of the messianic expectation in Jesus Christ as more than just a collection of diverse prophecies. This is the most useful work to date on the subject.(Richard S. Hess, Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic LanguagesDenver Seminary)Resisting the impulse to impose later visions of the Messiah upon earlier texts, they have offered a fair and balanced picture of a gradually revealed but vibrant and persistent thread of biblical belief. Thoroughly researched, logically organized, and lavishly illustrated, this volume represents the finest full length treatment of the subject available.(Daniel Block, Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old TestamentWheaton College)I like the authors' distinction between a text's original, contextual meaning and the canonical significance ultimately given to it, and their progression from Old Testament to New via second temple Jewish literature.(Leslie C. Allen, Senior Professor of Old TestamentFuller Theological Seminary)Bateman, Bock, and Johnston have definitely filled a gaping hole in this crucial area with their new work and done so artfully while specializing in their respective fields Old Testament, second temple literature, and New Testament. It is about time we have a detailed discussion on this important area from evangelical scholars bridging this whole time period. Their discussions are nuanced and carefully worded, avoiding many pitfalls of either extremes and yet providing a very readable and clear work. Especially helpful is their progressive development in which they have highlighted crucial themes related to the Messiah throughout the biblical and non-canonical works. Whether one agrees or disagrees with all of their conclusions, there is no doubt that they have provided a workable, clear foundation in this area that will spawn many lively discussions into the future. --Paul D. Wegner, Professor of Old Testament , Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary