The “Fulfilled Time”
The “Fulfilled Time”
Although Jesus himself does not refer to the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with its blessing for the nations was inherent in the prophetic message that Jesus announced as “fulfilled.” This point in particular is picked up by the Apostle Paul as the crucial element in his own understanding of the Gentile mission.157 But such “fulfillment” is already inherent in Jesus’ own proclamation. What was being fulfilled was the coming of the day of salvation that the prophets had announced; and included in their announcement, especially in Isaiah, was the coming of the Servant of the Lord, of whom Yahweh had said, “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6; cf. 42:6). This is the very theme that Simeon in particular enunciated as he held in his arms the child who was to be “the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:32). Jesus himself expresses the fulfillment of this theme in more indirect ways, but there can be little question that herein lies the foundation for our global mission.
One of the seldom noted motifs in the ministry of Jesus is his taking on himself the role of the Servant of Yahweh, as articulated in Isaiah 42-53 (which also extends to include Isaiah 61, even though “servant” language is not found expressly in that passage).158 In Isaiah the “servant” is alternatively Israel collectively understood and Israel represented by the one Spirit-anointed servant, who would redeem Israel and the nations. Surely it is no accident that Jesus also seems to fill both of these roles.
On the one hand, after his baptism in water, Jesus was tested forty days and nights in the desert. He overcame Satan, it should be noted, by citing passages from Deuteronomy, taken from the very places where Israel, after going through the water of the Red Sea, spent forty years in the desert and failed the test. Early on Jesus gathered twelve disciples about him, as one who consciously stepped into the role of Israel itself. Furthermore, in Luke’s version of the Transfiguration (9:31), Jesus is seen talking to Moses (= the Law) and Elijah (= the Prophets) about the exodus159 he would “fulfill” in Jerusalem. Even though he does not interpret it frequently, when he does, in Mark 10:45 (“the Son of Man ‘serves’ by giving his life as a ransom for the many”) and in the words of institution at the Last Supper (Luke 22:20), he consciously does so in the language both of Isaiah 53 (esp. w. 11-12) and of Jeremiah 31 (the new covenant). Thus God’s servant “Israel” in turn becomes the one servant for Israel, who will give his life for Israel and through his poured-out blood establish the new covenant with Israel. What is significant for our purposes is that deeply imbedded in the servant passages that Jesus sees as being fulfilled in himself is salvation for the Gentiles as well.
Thus his announcement of the kingdom as “the fulfilled time” means not simply that he ushered in the end of the present age — that he did indeed — but also that he brought to fulfillment the covenant with Abraham, as further reflected in the prophets, that God would bless the nations through him. This of course is exactly the point Paul makes, defending a law-free Gentile mission, when he argues as a Christian “rabbi” that the repeated phrase in the Abrahamic covenant, “and to his seed,” does not refer to many, but to one true “seed,” Jesus Christ himself, through whom the promise, the blessing of the nations, was fulfilled by the coming of the Spirit (Gal 3:1-4:7).
Our own global mission, therefore, is deeply woven into the biblical understanding of Jesus’ death and resurrection for all people (see esp. 1 Tim 2:4-6), as that understanding is rooted first of all in the teaching of Jesus himself. His giving his own life “for many” means “for the great and numberless many” (reflecting Isa 53 :11- 12), who will hear it as good news and respond with repentance. The proclamation of that good news, of course, is what the ongoing mission of the church is all about.