Apollos,
You said:
I am still hoping that you or some other will tell me what the content of Jesus' message was for the -3- years that He preached here on earth. I just would like to know what other people think Jesus was talking about. Hey, even tell me what John the baptizer was preaching just before Jesus arrived on the scene.
Before the Lord Jesus appeared on the scene John the Baptist was preaching that
”The kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Mt.3:2).
The Jews would have understood that if the kingdom was at hand,then the King also must be at hand.
The Baptist said:
"And I knew Him not,but that He should be made manifest to Israel,therefore am I come baptizing with water"(Jn.1:31).
The Baptist also proclaimed that the Lord Jesus is the “Son of God”:
”And I saw,and bore witness that this is the Son of God”(Jn.1:34).
The Jews would also knew that the words “Son of God” meant that the Lord Jesus was God,as witnessed by the words of the Jews themselves:
” Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God”(Jn.5:18).
After the Baptist was put in prision,the Lord Jesus took up the same message,preaching that the Kingdom of God is at hand.He also said that He was that Messiah:
"The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He"(Jn.4:25,26).
He also told the Jews that the Lord God had sent Him into the world,and that they should believe Him:
”This is the work of God,that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent”(Jn.6:29).He said that those who “believeth on Him” would receive eternal life:
” And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day”(Jn.6:40).
The Lord Jesus told the Jews that He was before Abraham:
”Before Abraham was,I am”(Jn.8:58).
By His words the Jews would have known that He was proclaiming Himself to be the Messiah,the Son of the Living God.Combine that with the fact that He was able to perform miracles so the Jews had no excuse whatsoever for their unbelief.
Every thing about the ministry of John the Baptist and of the Lord Jesus pointed to one thing,and that is the fact that it is the Lord Jesus Who is the promised Messiah,the Son of the Living God.
And those who believed this fact were “born of God” at the moment that they believed this fact (Jn.1:12,13—1Jn.5:1-5).They also received eternal life at the moment that they believed (Jn.5:24).
However,after the leaders of Israel plotted His death,He told His disciples not to make Him known (Mt.12:14-16).He then began to speak in parables.He knew that the Jews would be given a second chance to believe after His crucifixion and resurrection,and that is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost.
In His grace,--Jerry
”Dispensationalism Made Easy”
http://midacts.net/studies/shugart-dispensationalism_made_easy.html