The Monster Defeated

The Monster Defeated
Revelation 19.11-21

People used to write books and articles about ‘the messianic expectation’ in the time of Jesus. Ancient Jewish sources were combed and sifted to yield every fragment of information about what Jesus’ contemporaries were waiting for when they were waiting for a Messiah.

The more this exercise has gone on, the more complicated it has become. Many Jewish texts of the period say nothing about a Messiah. Some (like the Dead Sea Scrolls) seem to think there will be two Messiahs, a royal Messiah and a priestly Messiah. Others divide, and go in different directions: some with a wise king like Solomon, some with a warrior king like David, many with a Temple-cleansing king like Hezekiah or Josiah. Hardly ever do we find a single text that puts it all together...