Psalm 69 and the Messiah of God (Modified Talk)

One way to identify a person is by obtaining his or her fingerprint--we even see this technology with phones. In a similar manner, we can identify God's Anointed One or Messiah by the unique way in which he fulfilled Bible prophecies: that Messiah is Jesus Christ.

While various texts in the Pentateuch, the prophets, and the Psalms bear witness about Christ, we're going to consider a few verses from Psalm 69 in order to see what they tell us about Jehovah's chosen Messiah (Luke 24:44).

1) Psalm 69:4-this verse initially applied to King David. His enemies wanted to kill him without cause. 

John 15:24-25-Christ was hated without cause, yet he showed courage to the point of putting his life on the line. Jesus riled up the religious leaders of his day by doing God's will. What an example that he set for us as Witnesses of Jehovah since we're often hated without cause too.

2) A second event foretold can be found in Psalm 69:9. 

"For jealousy for your house has eaten me up" (Byington)

Notice how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in John 2:13-17-(show picture)

Godly jealously or zeal consumed Jesus; it was like fire in his bones. Jesus could not tolerate people making a mockery of God's house. In his day, things had devolved to such a point that Israelites who offered sacrifices were being charged excessive prices by the religious leaders and exploitation took place with the money changers. Again, Jesus sets an example for us. Are we similarly jealous for Jehovah's interests?

3) The prophecies about Jesus were not vague but offered numerous specifics. We find one example of this point in Psalm 69:20-21. Jesus felt deep emotional agony/heartbreak and was offered wine mixed with gall. As we know, Jesus refused the poisonous drink because he evidently wanted to be alert while accomplishing Jehovah's will.

Insight Book: "In recording the fulfillment of this prophecy, Matthew (27:34) employed the Greek word kho·leʹ (gall), the same term found in the Greek Septuagint at Psalm 69:21. However, Mark’s Gospel account mentions myrrh (Mark 15:23), and this has given rise to the view that in this case the 'poisonous plant' or 'gall' was 'myrrh.' Another possibility is that the drugged drink contained both gall and myrrh."

These three points from Psalm 69 are a mere snapshot of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. However, they contain abundant meaning for us and strengthen our conviction that Jesus is the true Messiah by means of whom Jehovah's promises become yes (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Revelation As Prophecy and Epistolary Literature (Jurgen Roloff)

Thus a central characteristic feature of primitive Christian prophecy is found again in Revelation. It was incumbent on the prophets, who still played an important role in the life of the church in the first century, to announce to the churches the will of the exalted Lord, revealed to them by the Spirit, as a binding, shaping message for the life and conduct of believers. This announcement occurs in Revelation in written form-specifically, in the form of a letter, which since Paul bore a particular authoritative claim. In summary, Revelation is a prophetic writing that contains numerous apocalyptic motifs and elements of style, but whose form is chiefly characterized by the purpose of epistolary communication.

Jurgen Roloff. Revelation (Continental Commentary Series) (Kindle Locations 180-184). Kindle Edition.

Buist Fanning Examines Revelation 5:10

Revelation 5:10 (SBL Greek Text): καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερεῖς, καὶ βασιλεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

ESV: "and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

NWT 2013: "and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.”

Weymouth NT: "And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth."

Buist Fanning favors the rendering "will reign on the earth" for Rev. 5:10b. After citing Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21; 20:4, 6; 22:5, he then writes about Rev. 5:10:

"Here and in 20:4, 6 it seems clear that this anticipates a physical, geographical reign on earth, not one that is spiritual and otherworldly only (see Dan 7:27 'under all of heaven'; Jer 3:17, rule from Jerusalem)."

See Fanning, page 226.

He seems to reckon that the reign of Jesus with his co-regents will be "spiritual and earthly" not just  heavenly. In footnote 77, Fanning lays out texts that Witnesses often quote like Matt 5:5; 19:28; 2 Tim 2:12, etc.

Regarding ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, Fanning sets forth this position: he believes that ἐπὶ in this context not only signifies the exertion of "power, authority, control . . . over" (BDAG 365) but Fanning indicates ἐπὶ also represents "the sphere or location" of Christ's rule (i.e., the domain); hence, the renderings "on/over the earth." So the Lamb's rulership with his co-regents will consummate "God's intent for humans to exert delegated dominion over creation" in Fanning's estimation.

See Fanning, Buist M. Revelation. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020.

Compare https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/two-interesting-uses-of-epi-from.html 

https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/other-interesting-uses-of-epi-in-lxx.html

Theodoret of Cyrus on Daniel 4:13

So I continued looking in the vision of the night on my bed and, lo, a holy eir descended from heaven (v. 13). By eir he refers to the watcher, the meaning in Greek. By watcher he means an angel,110 thus bringing out its bodiless form: what is clad in a body is subject to sleeping, whereas what is rid of a body is superior to the need for sleeping. So he means, I saw an angel, bodiless in nature, who descended from heaven.

Footnote 110: It is not that Theodoret goes behind his text to cite the Hebrew form ir: he finds it thus in Theodotion. This is the only use of the word in the Old Testament in reference to an angel, though it is (according to Alexander Di Lella, “Daniel,” NJBC, 413) frequently so used in Jewish apocryphal works and at Qumran.