EXACTLY!! That is what I have been saying all along. They thought he was there to fulfill Messianic prophecy. Why did they think that?
I have to go out. I'll be back later.
“They thought he was there to fulfill Messianic prophecy. Why did they think that?”
They thought that because THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND the prophecies. If you look at the OT, throughout it you will see the prophets one after another being sent to Israel again and again with the word of God telling them to repent, turn back to Him, put away their idols. Their spiritual condition before Him was a deadness. They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. They became prideful in being “God’s chosen people” (this is still true today). So, God has reached out to the Gentiles (just as He said He would when He spoke to Abraham).
For one thing, they witnessed countless miracles that Jesus performed. They also thought that because they only knew what they had been taught, the scope of their thinking was quite limited by Jewish legalism and interpretation.
The disciples had to be taught by Christ that he was coming not to set up a powerful political kingdom, instead he was establishing God's eternal kingdom. Which was admittedly, a major shift in concept for them to understand. Which is the greatest reason for celebration of all, BTW.