0 Kenapa harus Yesus? (3) : Apakah Kekristenan Sebuah KEBENARAN?

Untuk menilai apakah kekristenan adalah benar dan Yesus adalah Anak Allah sebagaimana klaim-Nya, sangat penting  untuk memahami latar belakang, keyakinan dan bukti kekristenan.

Latar belakang Kekristenan

Perjanjian Lama

Kata kekristenan berasal dari kata Kristus. Kristus  adalah kata Yunani untuk Mashiyach (Messiah) yang berarti  diurapi atau yang diurapi. Walalu kata mesias biasa digunakan untuk imam-imam dan raja-raja, Perjanjian Lama merujuk  kepada kedatangan seorang Mesias yang utama, sesosok pribadi  yang akan datang untuk memulihkan dunia untuk kembali  kedalam kebenaran dan menghakimi dosa.


Kekristenan meyakini Yesus dari Nazareth  adalah Mesias  dari Israel sebagaimana yang diwahyukan oleh  para nabi Israel. Semua nabi tersebut menyampaikan berbagai peristiwa dan kualifikasi yang akan terjadi secara spesifik dan  hanya dapat digenapi oleh satu orang saja. Yesus Kristus menggenapi berbagai kualifikasi yang  ada didalam semua  nubuatan, mendemonstrasikan  diri-Nya sebagai Messias.

Kekristenan, oleh karena menyatakan dirinya sebagai penggenapan (bukan pengganti) Yudaisme, Yesus menjadi  Mesias  sebagaimana dikatakan oleh nabi-nabi bangsa Yahudi. Mesias  datang ke dunia untuk memulihkan hubungan manusia dengan Tuhan.

Ketika Israel menolak Yesus sebagai Mesias, Tuhan memperluas berkat Mesias kepada bangsa-bangsa non Yahudi. Penolakan bangsa Israel  kepada Yesus telah dinubuatkan sebelum Yesus datang ke dunia, demikian juga dengan masa depan bangsa Israel yang kelak akan menerima Yesus sebagai Mesias telah diwahyukan sebelumnya. Yesus diidentifikasikan sebagai "dia yang telah mereka tikam". datang untuk mengalami penderitaan dan mati bagi dosa-dosa dunia, Dia akan datang kembali- untuk kali kedua dalam kemuliaan dan kuasa untuk memerintah segala bangsa. Di akhir zaman, bangsa-bangsa akan datang melawan Israel, dan Israel akan berseru kepada Yesus Kristus sebagai Mesiasnya.

Zakaria 12:10
"Aku akan mencurahkan roh pengasihan dan roh permohonan atas keluarga Daud dan atas penduduk Yerusalem, dan mereka akan memandang kepada dia yang telah mereka tikam, dan akan meratapi dia seperti orang meratapi anak tunggal, dan akan menangisi dia dengan pedih seperti orang menangisi anak sulung.

Tuhan telah menyatakan firman-Nya  melalui Abraham, Ishak dan Yakub. Bapa-bapa ini dikenal sebagai Israel, penamaan yang mengikuti nama baru yang diberikan kepada Yakub yaitu Israel.  Yakub memiliki 12 anak laki-laki yang keturunan-keturunannya dikenal sebagai 12 suku Israel. Melalui Israel, Tuhan berkenan membuat rencana penebusan, melalui Mesias (Kristus) yang diperkenalkan kepada dunia.

	Summary of  The Old Testament (Tanach)
Creation to Noah’s Flood   Genesis 1-9	God created the heavens and the earth and mankind in 6-days and rested on the 7th day. God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve.  They had “Free Will” to obey or disobey God.  They choose to reject God’s command and listen to Satan, a fallen angel. By rejecting God’s command, mankind became fallen and corrupt.  God however promised a Messiah who would redeem man and restore him. (Genesis 3;15).  Man’s corrupt nature caused God to bring judgment on the whole human race, causing a flood to kill  human and animal life.  Noah, his family and all the living animals who entered the arc (the boat Noah built) were spared from God’s judgment. Everybody alive today is a descendent of Noah and his family.
From the Flood to Egyptian captivity   2500 B.C. To 1450 B.C Genesis 10-50	Following the flood, The arc landed in the mountains of Ararat (Armenia), from there, man as one tribe traveled to the lands of Babylon.  As one people, humanity again began to rebel against God, so God caused a confusion in language between Noah’s descendents.  This confusion caused  humanity to be dispersed over the earth forming the different nations.     Abraham left Ur, a city in Babylon, for Mt. Moriah (Jerusalem) at God’s instruction.  God promised to make a great nation out of Abraham. Isaac, Abraham’s son, had two sons Jacob and Esau.  Jacob had 12 sons, who would later become the nation of Israel.      Joseph, Jacob’s second youngest son was sold by his brothers into Egypt.  In Egypt, he became prime minister.  Famine struck the land of Canaan (Israel) forcing his brothers to come to Egypt for food. There, they met their brother who was sold as a slave years earlier.  Joseph forgave his brothers and they settled in the land of Egypt with Joseph. Over the next 400 years they multiplied to over 1,000,000 souls and subsequently became oppressed in the land of Egypt as slaves of a new Pharaoh. The cried out to God for rescue, and God sent them Moses, A Hebrew raised in Pharaoh  house.
From Egypt to Babylon   1450 B.C. To 539 B.C. Exodus to  II Kings Including Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel	Moses, representing God to Pharaoh, delivered plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh agreed to release Israel  from Egyptian slavery.  Moses led the descendents of Jacob (Israel) back to the land of Canaan. On the way, Israel rebelled against Moses and wanted to return to Egypt. They were forced to wander in the wilderness of Sinai under Moses’ leadership for the next 40 years, until the rebellious generation died.                 Joshua, would succeed Moses and lead Israel into Canaan.  Israel conquered and settled a portion of land and established a confederacy of tribes after the 12 sons of Jacob.  God ruled the tribes  through judges.  The people requested a king like the other nations, and God gave them Saul as their first king, followed by David.  David conquered the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites, making it the City of David. Through prophets, God established David’s throne as an eternal throne later to be ruled by his descendent, the Messiah, who would one day rule the world with Jerusalem as the capital city of the earth. Solomon, David’s son would build the Temple on Mt. Moriah, becoming known as Solomon’s Temple                 Eventually Israel tuned away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and started worshipping the idols in the land of Canaan, Baal, Ashtorah, Chemosh, etc.  God warned Israel through prophets, letting Israel know these practices would result in destruction.  The people rejected these messeages through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah and others, and continued their idol worship.                 God responded by sending the armies of Assyria in 722 B.C. to take the northern part of Israel captive to the lands of Assyria.  From 605-586 B.C. the Babylonians, destroyed  Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple taking those who were left into Babylon for a period of 70 years.  At the end of 70 years, the Persians defeated Babylon under Cyrus the Great, he allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel.
From Babylon to The Maccabees   539 B.C. To 4 B.C. Daniel to Malachi	In Babylon, Israel was humbled becoming servants of the Babylonians. However in Babylon, God raised up prophets like Daniel who became the prime minister of Babylon under king Nebuchadnezzar. Through Daniel, God revealed his future plans for Israel and the world, and the coming of His Messiah.  Giving the exact month, year and day of his death (Daniel 9;24-27)                 In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Great, head of a Persian-Median kingdom defeated Babylon.  He allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild their Temple.  In 516 B.C., seventy years after the Temple was destroyed, the Second Temple was completed.  During this period God spoke through the prophets, Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi to encourage Israel about the coming plan of redemption through the Messiah.                 Alexander the Great, as foretold in the book of Daniel, conquered the Persian kingdom in 331 B.C., the Greeks took control of Israel.  After Alexander death, his kingdom was divided between his 4 generals.  The generals Ptolemy and Seleucid became the progenitors of two kingdoms which fought for control of Israel, the Selucids and Ptolemies.                  Eventually in 165 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanies, a Seleucid, tried to destroy the Jewish identity by setting up an idol of Zeus and sacrificing a pig in the Second Temple on Mt. Moriah, he forced the Jews to adopt Greek customs.  This caused a revolt leading to independent Jewish state for about 100 years, the Maccabean Kingdom. Feuding between Jewish rulers caused them to invite Roman arbitration, General Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C., the Romans would later install Herod the Edomite as ruler over Palestine, this began Roman rule over Israel in the time of Jesus Christ.  Herod the Great died in the year 4 B.C.

bersambung
(truthnet | Martin Simamora)