If we turn to inquire historically what were the elements in the Christian faith by virtue of which chiefly it worked and spread in the early days after the death of Jesus, we find one at least of the most important to have been the conviction among His followers that in Him the hope of a Messiah was fulfilled. Rather, I should say, this was the central belief round which others are grouped, either supporting it or belonging to it as consequences. Even a belief so fundamental and so influential as that in the resurrection of Jesus seems to have been viewed chiefly as proving or confirming His Messiahship. That was the aspect of the significance of the resurrection which especially struck men in the first age of the Church.
I. Many thoughtful men at the present day feel that it is impossible to find any sure basis for Theism itself, apart from belief in Christianity. And there is an unquestionable tendency now for doubters who are logical thinkers to assume purely an agnostic position. Hence the supreme importance of establishing the historical truth of the great facts of Christianity, even for the sake of belief in the existence of God. The agnostic is bound to face the question how he will account satisfactorily for the existence of Christianity. For if the gospel narrative is true, we have in this a direct proof of the existence of God and manifestation of His character.
II. What were the predominant characteristics in the conception of the Christ, which were seized upon in the faith that Jesus was the Christ, and retained still as the most essential features, even though by the fact of being applied to Jesus they were marvellously transformed? First, to say that Jesus was the Christ was to assert that in Him the heart's yearnings would find their final satisfaction. If He was the Christ, there was no need to look for another. The long vista of expectation was closed with His form. The conception of the Messiah and His reign took different shapes. Especially there is the important distinction between the representatives of portions of the Jewish Apocalyptic literature, in which He is invested with something of a supernatural glory, and the times of His coming connected more and more with a last judgment and the beginning of a new age, and on the other hand the simpler anticipations of a King who would restore the kingdom of Judah and Israel to more than the glory of the days of David and Solomon. Again, the Messiah would be in a sense altogether special, the God-appointed Saviour to deliver the nation from their enemies, their internal dissensions and sins; a King to rule over them in righteousness and peace. The stamp of God's authority would be visibly on Him, the favour of God would be manifestly with Him. Hence it was that the Jews called the Messiah "the Son of God." With this we must combine the thought of the kingdom over which He would rule. The restored and glorious kingdom of Israel and Judah was even a more universal object of hope than the Messiah. There were periods in Jewish history, such as that of the Maccabees, when there seems to have been no expectation of a personal Messiah; but even at such times the kingdom was looked for, though under another form of government. But when the expectation of a Messiah flourished, as in the time of our Lord's earthly life and before, His coming was necessarily connected with the setting up of the kingdom, and the expected character of the kingdom illustrates His character. The Kingdom of God it was called, and the Kingdom of Heaven. "The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." It would be the final dispensation of Him who rules all things, permanent, sure to prevail over all human opposition. Thus to say that the work of Jesus was the bringing in of the Kingdom of God was above all to say that His work was founded upon the will of God the Eternal, strong with the strength of heaven.
V. H. Stanton, Oxford and Cambridge Journal,Dec. 4th, 1879.
References: Acts 28:24. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ix., No. 516; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons,1st series, p. 146.