I have been arguing that during his lifetime Jesus had come to think that he was the messiah of God, the one who would be king when God intervened in history to overthrow the forces of evil and establish a good kingdom here on earth.   A number of readers have asked how or why he would come to that view about himself.  I’m afraid the answer is that I don’t know, and either does anyone else. There are, of course, lots of theories, some of which are no doubt held by different people on this blog, for example, Christians often say that it was because he really is the coming messiah and that God had told him this.  Others might say that he had some kind of visionary experience that led him to think this (at his baptism?  During his 40 days in the wilderness?  Some other time?).  Others might think that this is a rather exalted view to have of oneself as a lower class peasant in the remote backwaters of Galilee – that [...]