The next selection (I Macc. 4:28—59) describes a great victory of Judas and hiis forces some three years later (vv. 28—35) which led to the recapture of the temple, its re-consecration to the worship of the God of Israel (36—58) and the institution of a permanent feast (called
"Hanukkah" in Hebrew) to celebrate the event (59).
Finally, a brief selection from II Maccabees (12:43—45) illustrates a significant addition to the religious creed of many in Israel which
resulted from the sufferings of the faithful in the Maccabean age: a new and firm belief in the resurrection of the dead and in the efficacy of prayers and sacrifices on their behalf. It was this which made possible and natural Martha’s unhesitating affirmation of faith in the resurrection in John 11:24.
The Book of Daniel in the canonical Old Testament is a product of this same period, as one can readily see from a reading of 11:20f and
28—32, which evidently contain a cryptic account of the conduct of Antiochus Epiphanes (the "contemptible person" of v. 21) and his erection of "the abomination that maketh desolate" (3m).
Chapter 7 is, theologically, the most important in the book. Later, in another connection, we shall have occasion to look at vv. 9—14. Here, for the moment, we are concerned only to note that in vv. 7f there is an even more cryptic picture of Antiochus (the "little horn" in v. 8), which is, however, interpreted in more intelligible terms in 23—25. It is of incidental interest to note that it is only in Daniel of all the books of the Old Testament that the doctrine of a resurrection from the dead is plainly taught (12:1—3). (Isa. 26:19 is a minor and unimportant exception to this statement.)
The terrible events of the Maccabean Age created a new spirit in Israel:
an expectation of future persecutions, a sense of glory in the possibility of martyrdom for the faith, and a sense of assurance in God’s victory over the forces of evil and His power to raise even the dead to share in His triumph. There was a tendency to see the final events of human history as following the pattern of events in the days of the Maccabees and to use the language and images of that age to describe them.
We see our Lord Himself using this now traditional language in such a passage as Matthew 24: 15—18 where he speaks of a future trial of the faithful and the erection of another "abomination of desolation" in the
holy place.
In John 10:22f we see Jesus in the temple, joining with his countrymen in celebrating the feast of Dedication, "Hanukkah." The reference to winter is a reminder that Hanukkah is observed at approximately the same time as our Christmas.
Finally, in Revelation 13:1--10 we have a picture of the future
tribulations of the Church ("the saints" of v. 7) in which the persecutor, one of the Roman Emperors, is described in terms which are borrowed wholesale from Daniel 7. The Book of Revelation belongs to the type of
"apocalyptic" literature which first became widely current in the Maccabean Age and of which Daniel is the first great example. The influence of this type of thinking can be traced in many other parts of the New Testament and is perhaps of more basic significance than is ordinarily supposed.
XVIII. JESUS AND THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM Isaiah 33:17—24; Mark 1:9—15; Luke 13:18—30; 18:15—30;
Acts 14:21—22; 19:8; Revelation 11:15
More than twelve centuries had passed since Moses heard the call of God and the people of Israel began their long spiritual pilgrimage. There had been many turnings in the road and, for many, it must have seemed to lead nowhere at all. From prosperity and power under David and Solomon they had descended to the impotence of the divided
monarchies and the final disaster of the Exile. As a narrative of human achievement one could easily think of Israel’s story as a tragic farce, a bitter commentary on the futility of human effort and time fatuity of human pride.
But we do not read the Old Testament simply as human history; it is not a story of man’s failure, but of God’s success. Underneath the
superficial crosscurrents of political success and failure one can feel the ground swell of God’s purpose moving tirelessly forward. He had intended Israel to be a prophetic and priestly nation dedicated to bringing the knowledge of God to all the families of the earth. The spiritual leaders of Israel, the creative minority, understood this and looked forward in eager confidence to the time when the divine intent
would be fulfilled and the earth would "be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). Few as they were, these men were the real Israel and knew that the destiny of their people was not to be realized in a future kingdom of Israel, but only in the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah 33:17—24, composed by some unknown prophet of postexilic times, is just one expression of this assurance of the Kingdom which kept the heart of Israel alive during long years of spiritual depression, but it is a singularly beautiful one. Although the language in some places is obscure, it is not difficult to trace the main outlines of the prophet’s picture. In the Kingdom of God, he says, there will be no oppression, no battleships, no sickness, but only beauty, peace, and the forgiveness of sins. Many different images are used in these late
passages of the Old Testament to describe the Kingdom, but all are merely various ways of making vivid the conviction that God had not failed, but would one day cause I-us will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
It is this faith which unites the Old and the New Testaments. The climax of the Old Testament story is not to be found in the Old Testament itself nor in the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, but in the first
chapter of Mark (the earliest of the gospels to be written).
In its dramatic account of the opening scene of our Lord’s ministry (Mark 1:9—15) it picks up the thread of the Old Testament story in a verse which tells that, when John was imprisoned, "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘Time time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel’ (meaning, ‘good news.’)" (Mark 1:14f).
To understand our Lord’s teaching, one must grasp first of all the centrality of the idea of the Kingdom. Jesus did not come primarily to teach a new doctrine of God or new moral principles. He came to declare that the reign of God was beginning to break in upon the world and that the powers of the Kingdom were already available to those who were prepared to use them. The final establishment of the Kingdom might be centuries in the future, but its foundations were laid and the energies necessary for its completion were already at work.
In Luke 3:18—30 we find several descriptions of the Kingdom. In one (vv. 18—21) it is compared to a grain of mustard seed or a bit of leaven,
both of which are so small as to be almost imperceptible at first and yet are capable of growing to prodigious dimensions. So the Kingdom as first seen in the fragile body of Jesus appears almost contemptible and yet is one day destined to cover the earth.
In vv. 24—30 Jesus pictures the universal scope of the Kingdom. It is intended not merely for the ancient people of God, but for all the world:
east, west, north and south (29). Though the gate is broad enough to admit men of all nations, it is too narrow to permit the passage of the careless and the arrogant. Citizenship in the Kingdom is for those of deep and humble faith (24—28). This was a rebuke to those who
rejected the teaching of their own prophets and thought that Jewish birth was sufficient to guarantee acceptance into time Kingdom. As we shall see later, membership in the Kingdom involves a certain quality of life.
If men will not live the life, they cannot hope to find the Kingdom.
The same note of warning is to be heard in Luke 18:15—30. God’s Kingdom has no room for the proud and self-satisfied, for those who are wise in their own conceits or are tied down to material possessions or merely worldly values. It is open only to those who, like little children, are humble, open-hearted, unsophisticated and teachable.
These were the things that Jesus said as he began his ministry in Galilee, inaugurating not only the New Testament story, but the last and final chapter in the history of a fallen race. These things were also the burden of the first Christian missionaries, as we see from Acts 14:21f; 19:8.
And despite the altered terminology of later times, the essential faith of the Church is still best expressed in such words as those of the little hymn of the Kingdom in Revelation 11:15.