Reconstructing Israel: Apostolic Foundation and the Gospel of the New Jerusalem

Jesus lays the foundation of the New Israel in calling the 12 Apostles in 6:12-16, and then he teaches the Apostles, the disciples and the multitudes about the Kingdom characteristics or ethics of what the New Jerusalem will look like as the humble people of God united to him by faith. In 6:20-26, Jesus preaches on the level place, or plain, and makes known four blessings of the Kingdom. These four Kingdom blessings are characteristic of his disciple-followers, and those who are identified with him in his Person and Work. In a parallelism that Dr. Luke gives to us from Jesus’ sermon, we see that each of the four blessings is also contrasted with four woes. Blessings are those characteristics of Kingdom People who are identified with Jesus and his Divine Messianic Mission; the woes are the characteristics of those who reject Jesus and his Kingdom, including many unbelievers in Israel such as the Pharisees and Teachers of Law who have already opposed him.