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(GOD’S PURPOSES BECOME CLEARER--PT 1)
A SURVEY OF GOD’S REVELATIONS IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT PORTION OF GOD’S HISTORY
Introduction
In the period of God’s history that the Old Testament
recorded the focus was on
The structure of this meditation
is first to set forth some background that reveals the intense religious
attitude that pervaded the culture and history God’s people in Old Testament
times, and then to focus on those verses of Scripture (those rays of truth in
the Old Testament) that pointed to the fulfillment of God’s purposes and
especially to the ‘coming deliverer’. Putting these ‘rays’ together shows a
little bit of why the appearance of Jesus in history was recognized as a
critical point in history, the coming of God into human history. Two of Jesus’
first disciples expressed the amazing truth: ”The first
thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon (Peter)
and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).”
A few
verses later Philip told Nathanael, ”We have
found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also
wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:41, 45)
Before focusing on a few of the individual rays of truth
that spoke either explicitly or by implication of a ‘Coming Deliverer’, an
‘Anointed one’ (in Hebrew the term which the English word ‘Messiah’ is a
transliteration of), let’s look at the overall picture of the “Jews” in the
portion of God’s history of which the Old Testament speaks.
The Overall Picture Of The Jews In Old Testament Times
The Jews Or Israelites Are God’s Chosen People
In Old Testament times God’s focus was on a particular people—the descendants of Abraham. Because of their unique privilege their concern to remain faithful to their God was uniquely intense. It permeated their culture—a culture which was colored by their religion at every turn. The daily life of many Jews consisted of both an intense affirmation and acknowledgement of their history and heritage, and a great awareness of the destiny God promised them.
· ”To Abraham God said, ‘ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.’” (Genesis 17:7-8)
· ” Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you (Moses) are to speak to the Israelites.” (Exodus 19:5-6)
· ” And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.” (Deuteronomy 26:18)
· ”And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.” (2 Samuel 7:23-24) (cf. Titus 2:13-14)
- ”I
will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know
that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of
the Egyptians.” (Exodus 6:7)
The way the Jews or Israelites thought of their special purity or holiness that distinguished them from all non-Jewish peoples is a viewpoint that permeates the Old Testament. It is perhaps best expressed in the words of Moses--
- ”What other nation is so
great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever
we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such
righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I (Moses) am
setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so
that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen (in
The prayer of a 6th century BC Jewish priest (Ezra) is another example that expresses this viewpoint.
- ”The people of Israel,
including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate
from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those
of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and
Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves
and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around
them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.
When I heard this, I tore my tunic and
cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled…. But now, O our God, what can we
say after this? For we have disregarded the commands you gave through your
servants the prophets when you said: ‘The land you are entering to possess
is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable
practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the
other. Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their
sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of
friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good
things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting
inheritance.” (Ezra
9:1-3,10-12)
The Old
Testament Is Full Of Rules And Practices Designed To Preserve
This Distinctiveness
And Purity Of God’s People
The daily sacrifice of a lamb (morning and evening) in the
The Sabbath, was a special day when many special rules had to be followed to keep that day pure and holy. This was a weekly occurrence, a weekly reminder.
- One
of the Ten Commandments declared, ”Remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)
- Later
in that book the Jews are told, "Observe the
Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put
to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his
people.” (Exodus 31:14)
Concern
about keeping the Sabbath as a specially holy day did not cease when Christ
came. The desire of Jewish people to obey the commands to keep the Sabbath holy
is recorded in the Gospels. (Mark 1:32; 16:1)
Another day which was especially holy was ‘Yom
Kippur’ or the Day of Atonement. On that one
day in the year only the high priest
was ‘holy’ enough to bring the sacrifice. ”Once
a year Aaron (the high priest) shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be
made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It
is most holy to the LORD.”
(Exodus
30:10; see also (Leviticus
”The Day of Atonement served as a reminder that the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices made at the altar of burnt offering were not sufficient to atone for sin. On this one day in the year, atoning blood was brought into the holy of holies, the divine throne-room, by the high priest as the representative of the people.” (New Bible Dictionary p.104)
Being
acceptable in God’s eyes was a theme that pervades the Old Testament (and New
Testament). Being holy as God wanted his people to be was a concept that Jews
grew up on. ”I am the LORD your God;
consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves
unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who
brought you up out of
It was not just a coincidence that the first book of the
Bible (of the ‘Old Testament’) that Jewish infants were exposed to was the book
of Leviticus—the book that contained detailed Instructions about sins and the
actions God requires (sacrifices) to remove the guilt/penalty for having
committed them, how to atone for them. Hence all the Sabbaths, the holy days,
the feasts, the rituals. That is what made the appearance and accomplishment of
Jesus in history such momentous event—He was the ultimate fulfillment of God’s
promises--–God himself providing what God’s law requires to remove the
guilt/penalty of all sins committed. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
Alfred Edersheim, born of Jewish parents, educated in the Talmud and Torah in a school attached to the synagogue in Vienna who became a Christian and wrote the extensive work, ‘The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah’, described the environment this way: "It was, indeed, no idle boast that the Jews `were from their swaddling-clothes... trained to recognise God as their Father, and as the Maker of the world;' (p.230)
As mentioned before the Jews were constantly being reminded by the God-ordained rituals that filled their lives of who they were in God’s eyes and how to keep their God-given heritage—how to remain pure, undefiled-acceptable in God’s eyes as God’s people should be. (Psalm 15)
In addition to the daily sacrifice at the Temple in
Jerusalem, in addition to the weekly special day called the Sabbath when no
work was to be performed, there were many annual feasts which besides being
festivals that marked particular events in the agricultural year were occasions
which commemorated important historical events that were part of the history
and God-given heritage of God's people.
The Passover commemorated the judgment that fell on the Egyptians but which `passed over' the homes of the Isrealites who had become slaves in that land.
- "The
blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when
I strike
The Feast Of Unleavened Bread commemorated the kind of
food the Israelites were commanded to eat preceding their hasty departure from
- ”The LORD's
Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On
the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast
of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without
yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For
seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the
seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'" (Leviticus 23:5-8)
Feast of Pentecost (or "Weeks). In
Centuries later in the history of Israel, after many Jews returned to the ‘Promised Land’ from their forced exile to Babylon other feasts commemorating events which had occurred in Babylon became part of the Jewish calendar--the Feast of Dedication and the Feast of Purim.
For centuries the Jews were repeatedly exposed to reminders of their history, heritage, and their position in God’s world.
The importance and reminding function of the rituals and
feasts continued in New Testament Times (and afterwards) in
In the Gospel
according to John we also read of the continuing concern for ceremonial purity--
- ”When
it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country
to
- After Jesus’ arrest ”the
Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of
the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace;
they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.” (John
18:28)
Not only did the attitude of Jews concerning
ceremonial purity continue but the attitude of the Jews that they were special also
continued in New Testament times and afterwards.
In the Gospel according to John we also read of
the continuing Jewish view of non-Jews and the continuing validity of ritual
purity:
- “The
Samaritan woman said to him (to Jesus), ‘You
are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’
(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)” (John
4:9)
In the Book of Acts (of the apostles) in the New
Testament we read about the continuing view that non-Jews are ‘impure’:
- ”Some
Jews from the province of
The unique position of the Jews or Israelites in God’s history was not a creation of the Jews’ imagination. On the contrary, the unique position of the Jews in God’s world was a fact, a choice of God. It was reality.That reality did not evaporate or become irrelevant as more and more of God’s promises and purposes were fulfilled by the coming of Jesus the Christ, his intended death on the on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and the writing down of the New Testament. The continuing relevance of God’s revelations recorded in the Old Testament is no where more clearly stated than in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:
- Jesus
said, "Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not
come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
- After Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to his disciples and said, ” ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44,45)
The apostle Paul also spoke of uniqueness of what God had given to the
Jews, saying,
- ”…the
people of
ZION
Some of the feelings and hopes that filled the hearts and
minds of Jews in Old Testament and New Testament times may be captured by a
survey of verses that speak about ‘
Remembering that throughout the period of the Old Testament
the term ‘
·
”For the LORD has chosen
·
"I
have installed my King on
·
”I have put my words in your mouth and
covered you with the shadow of my hand-- I who set the heavens in place, who
laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, `You are my people.' " (Isaiah 51:16)
·
In psalm 74 the
people are addressing God--”Remember
the people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you
redeemed-- Mount Zion, where you dwelt.” (Psalm 74:2)
·
”I am bringing my righteousness near, it is
not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to
- ”Then
you will know that I, the LORD your God, dwell in
·
”Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of
·
”From
- ”The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.” (Psalm 146:10)
·
”The LORD will roar from
·
”The LORD will extend your mighty scepter
from
·
”For out of
- ”This
is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to
- “The
sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you
will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD,
- “Many nations will come and
say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of
the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his
paths." The law will go out from
(With these declarations of God ringing in their ears and emerging from their memories how could the Jews not be extremely conscious of their unique position and heritage?)
The concept ‘
One
of the characteristics that sets the Jews apart from the amorphous world of
Christianity is their attention to their heritage—“Jewish tradition prescribes
that a section of the Law be read weekly in the synagogue. (New Bible
Dictionary, 3rd ed. 1996, p.893) In the New Testament we read, “For Moses
has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the
synagogues on every Sabbath." (Acts
This was the ‘world’ or environment that every Jew grew up in. This was the environment that surrounded every Jew or Israelite the way water is the environment that surrounds fish. The faith of the Jews (not every individual Jew) permeated their environment so deeply as to color all of life.
To quote again the words of that great Jew-Christian scholar of the 19th century (Alfred Edersheim) “It may be safely asserted, that the grand distinction, which divided all mankind into Jews and Gentiles, was not only religious, but also social….no one could have entered a Jewish town or village without feeling, so to speak, in quite another world….On every side there was evidence that religion here was not merely a creed, nor a set of observances, but that it pervaded every relationship, and dominated every phase of life.” (Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the days of Christ, p.86)
The view that everyone on earth falls into one of two categories –either the godly one (represented in Old Testament times by the Jews) or the ungodly one (represented in Old Testament times by ‘Gentiles’, that is, everyone else)--did not evaporate or become meaningless with the coming of the Christ, with his sacrificial death on the Cross, or with his resurrection from the dead. (This concept will be discussed more fully in PT II of this meditation.) But for now we are still looking at the God-planned environment of God’s people in Old Testament times which was the earlier stage of God’s unfolding plan.
Now that we have presented a faint picture of the intensity of God’s focus on the Jews/Israelites descended from Abraham in Old Testament times and the intensity of their response to God in Old Testament times let’s focus on a few of the individual rays of truth embedded in that history and heritage that gave rise to an unspoken hope God was going to send a deliverer to the Jews. There are verses in the Old Testament that speak either explicitly or by implication of a present or future ‘deliverer’, an ‘anointed one’ (in Hebrew a ‘messiah’). (Note: That Hebrew term ‘messiah’ does not appear in every prophecy or teaching in the Old Testament that points to ‘a coming deliverer’. Also that Hebrew term is sometimes applied to ‘individuals’ who are neither savory or Jewish. Perhaps one reason why the term ‘Messiah’ does not occur in English translations of the Old Testament is that Hebrew term often refers to individuals who are not spiritual saviors as the English term ‘messiah’ has come to mean.)
Specific Pointers To The ‘Coming Deliverer’, The ‘Anointed One’ In The Old Testament
The different rays of truth revealed in the period of time
recorded in the Old Testament are sometimes indistinct and/or scattered like
clues in a police mystery—their significance does not stand out until they are
put alongside of other clues (or rays of truth).
In this meditation only [ 7 ] of the more prominent
prophecies or rays of God’s revelation embedded in Israel’s history and
recorded in the Old Testament that point to ‘the coming one’ (Jesus, the
Christ) are considered. They are:
1 - The Prophet like Moses
2 - Shiloh & The Star out of Jacob
3 - The
4a - Promises Concerning King David and his ‘Dynasty’,
4b - The ‘Branch’
6- The Passover and the Lamb of God,
7- The Forerunner who comes before the ‘Messiah’
1-- The Prophet Like Moses
Back in Israel’s history when the Law was being spoken to the Israelites a second time Moses uttered this prophecy, He said,
·
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him… The LORD said to me:
“What they say is good. I will raise
up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my
words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15,17-18)
That this thread of truth
recorded in the Old Testament was known to the Jews living in New Testament
times was revealed in several
gospel accounts.
2-- Shiloh and The Star out of Jacob
All the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament were
uttered by individuals who were part of Israel’s history though not necessarily
Jews themselves. The prophecy about ‘Shiloh’ (which was also a place name where
the tabernacle was located for many years after the Jews first entered the
‘promised land’) was uttered by the patriarch Jacob (grandson of Abraham) when
he blessed his 12 sons (one of whom was Judah).
- “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the
ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." (Genesis
49:10--New American Standard Bible 1995 update)
The meaning of the Hebrew words translated in English as ‘until Shiloh comes’ in this verse are not clear so the translations of this verse both in modern times and ancient times vary widely. In some translations including the NIV the Hebrew words that are translated above as 'until Shiloh comes' is translated as “until he comes to whom it belongs” (c) and the word ‘Shiloh’ is not mentioned at all. But the NIV translators include a note next to the verse ‘c’ that mentions other acceptable translations of this verse that do include the word ‘Shiloh’.
Another prophecy embedded in the history of Israel was spoken by a diviner (a non-Jew) who was hired by a king hostile to the Jews.He was hired to say what he divined about the entire Israelite people who could be seen on their way from their deliverance out of Egypt to the promised land (Canaan). This is what the diviner said,
- "I see
him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of
Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
(Numbers 24:17)
“Without
question this is the most debated and the most important verse in the oracle
corpus. The theme is that Israel has a coming deliverer. In agreement with many
in the early church and in early Judaism, we believe this text speaks
unmistakably of the coming of the Messiah.” (NIV Bible
Commentary 1994)
3-- The Temple
What the Old Testament says about the
But now let’s look
at some of words of God in the Old Testament portion of his word which show why
the Jews or Israelites legitimately had a great reverence for the temple in
·
What does the Lord say about the
·
“…God's
temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, ‘In this temple
and in
·
To Solomon what does the Lord say? “Now devote
your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary
of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and
the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the
Name of the LORD." (1 Chronicles
The
·
“No one is to
enter the temple of the LORD except the priests and Levites on duty; they may
enter because they are consecrated, but all the other men are to guard what the
LORD has assigned to them.“ (2 Chronicles 23:6)
·
“Then Jehoiada
placed the oversight of the temple of the LORD in the hands of the priests, who
were Levites, to whom David had made assignments in the temple, to present the
burnt offerings of the LORD as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and
singing, as David had ordered 19 He also stationed doorkeepers at the gates
of the LORD's temple so that no one who was in any
way unclean might enter.“ (2 Chronicles 23:18-19)
·
“The duty of
the Levites was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the temple of the
LORD: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of
all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God.“ (1
Chronicles
·
“This was their
appointed order of ministering when they entered the temple of the LORD,
according to the regulations prescribed for them by their forefather Aaron, as
the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.“ (1 Chronicles 24:19)
·
“When they had
assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the
temple of the LORD, as the king had ordered, following the word of the
LORD. 16 The
priests went into the sanctuary of the LORD to purify it. They brought out to
the courtyard of the LORD's temple everything unclean
that they found in the temple of the LORD. The Levites took it and carried it
out to the
·
More than once the Jews’ attitude about the holiness of the
temple is revealed by statements of what non-Jewish invaders on different
occasions had done to their temple’, “O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled
your holy temple, they have reduced
- After
the Babylonians invaded
How
Jews looked upon the ‘function’ of the
·
“May your eyes
be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you
would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward
this place “ (2 Chronicles
·
"If
calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we
will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will
cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.” (2 Chronicles 20:9)
·
“One thing I
ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in
his temple.” (Psalm
27:4)
·
"Blessed
are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the
good things of your house, of your holy temple.” (Psalm 65:4)
There
are verses that speak of the role of the temple in the future--
·
"In the
last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be
established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it. (Isaiah 2:2) The
identical statement is found in Micah 4:1.
·
(God speaking) “to
them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better
than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be
cut off.” (Isaiah
56:5)
“The
There is progression
in the coming to pass of God’s purposes in the same way that a plant progresses
from the seed to the full plant. Having looked at just a few verses
‘describing’ the revered Temple in Old Testament times--the priceless seed--we
can better appreciate the new stage in the unfolding of God’s plan that had dawned
when Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God said “one
greater than the temple is
here” (Matthew 12:6).
4a-- Promises Concerning King David And His Dynasty
- “Now do it! For the LORD promised
David, `By my servant David I will rescue my people
- Incline your ear, and come unto
me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” (Isaiah 55:3)
- “The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:
"`I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.' “(Acts
- ”And now, as surely as the LORD lives-he who has established me securely on the throne
of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised…” (1 Kings
- "As
for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my
regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through
you the promise I gave to David your father.” (1 Kings
- "Now
LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises
you made to him when you said, `You shall never fail to have a man to sit
before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all
they do to walk before me as you have done.' “ (1 Kings
- ”I will establish your royal throne over
- “…the whole assembly made a covenant with the king at the
About the Davidic dynasty the (NIV BIBLE
COMMENTARY 1994) says, “The psalmist speaks of the promise of God
pertaining to David and his dynasty. The Davidic king is a theocratic ruler in
the sense that he rules over God's people under the Lord and yet is very close
to him, at his right hand. The Lord promises to extend his dominion by
subjugating the enemies. To make the enemies a "footstool" signifies
absolute control, as when a victorious king placed his feet on the necks of his
vanquished foes. The Lord will give strength to his king, symbolized by the "scepter
from
·
”You said, ‘I have made a
covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, `I will
establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.”
(Psalm 89:3–4)
·
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his
kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from
that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.“ (Isaiah
9:6-7)
Isn't it exciting
when 'pointers' fall into place!
4b—The Branch
- "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will raise up to David a a righteous
Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the
land. 6 In his days
- "`The days are coming,' declares the LORD, `when I will
fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of
- “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful
and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the
survivors in
- I“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his
roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the
Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD-- and he will delight
in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will
judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the
earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath
of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and
faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the
yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed
with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat
straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and
the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm
nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah
11:1-9)
What a day that will be!
- "`Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.” (Zechariah 3:8)
- “Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: `Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.' (Zechariah 6:12-13)
- "`Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the LORD Almighty, `and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day" In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the LORD Almighty." (Zechariah 3:8-10)
5-- The Passover And The Lamb Of God
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by
his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he
did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,and
as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8
…for the transgression of my people he was stricken…10 Yet it
was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to
suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering he will see
his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in
his hand.“ (Isaiah 53:5—8,10)
The Lamb of the Passover was to be without blemish. And so
was Christ. So are his people to be.
- What
did God say to the Israelites say about sacrifice right before the 1st
Passover occurred? “The animals you choose must be year-old males without
defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” (Exodus 12:5)
- Over
and over again we read about a characteristic of acceptable sacrifice: it
must be without defect or blemish:
20 Do not bring anything
with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.”
(Leviticus 22:20)
- “Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep
that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.” (Deuteronomy 17:1)
- “`If
the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or
the goats, he is to offer a male without defect.” (Leviticus 1:10)
- “Then say to the Israelites: `Take a male goat for a sin
offering, a calf and a lamb-both a year old and without defect-for a burnt
offering, (Leviticus 9:3)
A great deal of God’s rules in the Old Testament were
concerned with how the Jews should avoid defilement and how to cleanse
themselves after becoming defiled. And
here was the sacrifice
“The Day of Atonement served as a reminder that the daily, weekly and monthly sacrifices made at the altar of burnt offering were not sufficient to atone for sin…. On this one day in the year, atoning blood was brought into the holy of holies, the divine throne-room, by the high priest as the representative of the people. (New Bible Dictionary p.104) And of course the sacrifice of Jesus himself was the ultimate cleansing or atonement REF
6- The Forerunner Who Comes Before The ‘Messiah’
“See, I will send my
messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you
desire, will come,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi
3:1)
"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)
That
is what God had said in Old Testament times. And what was occurring around the
time Jesus appeared? John the Baptist came. In the Gospel according to
Luke we read, “And
he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
(Luke
1:17)
The
Gospel according to John even mentions that the religious leaders who came to
question John (the Baptist) even asked him if he were the Christ (The Messiah) (John
How many prophecies or rays of
truth were converging, were coming to pass…
Summarizing Thoughts
These are the rays of truth, the prophecies about which the Jews were being continually exposed to. Hence there was continual anticipation. And now the object toward which these rays had pointed were coming together—in the figure of Christ. Two of Jesus’ first disciples expressed the amazing truth: “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon (Peter) and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).” A few verses later Philip told Nathaneal, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:41, 45)
JESUS THE FULFILLER
Introduction
Now let’s look at
why the appearance of Jesus in
God Raising Up A Prophet Like Him
This is the moment in history when God has chosen to fulfill his promise. Remember the words of Moses when he spoke about God raising up a prophet like himself. Moses said,
·
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him…The LORD said to me: “What
they say is good. I will
raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will
put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” (Deuteronomy
18:15,17-18)
- JN
On another occasion the same Gospel records what many people
were thinking--”After
the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say,
"Surely this is the Prophet who
is to come into the world." (John 6:14) “On hearing his (Jesus’) words,
some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’ " (John
He Spoke With Authority, Not As Teachers Of The Law
While at times Jesus referred to the Law that God had
revealed to the Jews (perhaps only when he was being
questioned by others) but at other times his own words were the authoritative
standard. The people recognized the difference in his teaching from what they
were used to –hearing teachers who referred to an external and pre-existing
standard that was the authority. ”The people were amazed at his
teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers
of the law.” (Mark
One of the clearer and very familiar statements of Jesus teachings about the revealed will of God can be found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. A truth that Jesus teachings bring out over and over again is that he was the embodiment of authority. Over and over again he contrasted his teaching with their misunderstanding of God’s standards.
·
"You have
heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and
anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who
is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment… (Matthew 5:21-22)
In many
places the Law of God speaks of the consequence of disobeying God’s instructions
as being the judgment of God (implemented by men). What Jesus is doing here in
the Sermon on the Mount is expanding the kind of disobedience that brings God’s
judgment into play. He says, in effect, that it is not just physical murder
that brings God’s judgment into play. He says that just being angry is
sufficient to bring about this result.
· “You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)
·
“It
has been said, `Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of
divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces
his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an
adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” (Matthew
5:31-32)
·
“Again,
you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not break
your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I
tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or
by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by
·
“You
have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I
tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew
5:38-39)
- "You have
heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But
I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44)
Jesus
was not just a teacher of God’s previously revealed wisdom. His words not only
described truths but create or change reality as God did in the past. ”Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of
the world revere him. (Why?) For he spoke,
and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” (Psalm
33:8-9)
He spoke with authority, not as teachers of the law. Jesus’ disciples had seen his words
have their effect—One time such a severe squall came up when Jesus and his
disciples were crossing the
On other occasions he spoke with authority.
·
”All the people
were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority
and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" (Luke
4:36)
·
”But so that you
may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...."
Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home.” (Matthew 9:6)
·
“He called
his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits
and to heal every disease and sickness.” (Matthew
10:1)
What a moment that was when the deliverer
sent from God came!
The angel said to the mother of Jesus, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end… The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. “ (Luke 1:30-35)
The Temple
God’s history doesn’t stand still; it progresses. The coming of Jesus was an exciting time because it revealed that a new stage in God’s history had arrived. The truths that God revealed in Old Testament times were by comparison with their fulfillment just the seeds. With the coming of Jesus more of the mature plant was beginning to show.
One time when some religious leaders of the Jews were questioning Jesus’ defense of his disciples' act of plucking grain in a corn field on the Sabbath he even more explicitly related his own person to the revered temple. He said—“Haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here….For the Son of Man (a title Jesus used of himself frequently) is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:5,6)
On
another occasion after Jesus drove out the men he found men selling cattle,
sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money in the temple
courts (John
2:14-16) “the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can
you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them,
"Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken
forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three
days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body." (John 2:19-21)
That this was the case Jesus’ disciples only came to understand after
Jesus’ resurrection. "After he was raised
from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the
Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:22)
There are many statements recorded in the New Testament that bring out how great an event the coming-and-mission of the Christ (his sacrificial death and resurrection) was in the progression of God’s unfolding plan. Some of God’s statement which relate specifically to the dwelling of God with men are mentioned below:
· Speaking of Jesus we read in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
- In the 1st chapter of the
Gospel of Matthew the apostle says how the birth of Jesus came about. He
quotes from the Old Testament, saying, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to
a son, and they will call him Immanuel--which means, ‘God with us.’
" (Matthew 1:23)
· Years later the results of Jesus’ sacrificial death are described. The apostle Paul is addressing a group of believers. He says, “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:16)
·
In the apostle
Paul’s 1st letter to the believers at
· The apostle Peter in his letter addressed to the believers wherever they were in ‘Asia Minor’, says, ”As you come to him (Jesus), the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5)
- In the apostle Paul’s
letter to the believers in or around the city of
The Promise Regarding King David’s Dynasty
- “You
will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus. He will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the
throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;
his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:31-33)
It was to
demonstrate this fact—that Jesus is born in the line of David--that the
genealogies are included in the Gospel accounts.
That Jesus was more than descendant of any human (Matthew
Jesus said, “just
as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life
to whom he is pleased to give it.22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has
entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they
honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who
sent him.” (John 5:21-23}
Jesus said, "I
did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name
speak for me, … I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one
can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater
than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one." (John
10:25,28-30)
To his disciples Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.3 And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that
you also may be where I am…. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:2-3, 6)
“We know also that the
Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who
is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the
true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
Jesus said, “All
things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the
Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew
11:27)
Jesus was not limited by life on earth, by
death, by history or time.
“ ’I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered,
‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ “(John 8:58)
- The apostle Paul described
Jesus in these terms-- “who through the
Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his
resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:4)
- In the apostle Paul’s discussion of what the grace of God teaches us he says, ”while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. “ (Titus 2:13)
- “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
No mere human was
He!
To see a further
collection of verses which expressly or implicitly indicate that Jesus was more
than a human creation of God with great power see the file “0610Jesus, not just a powerful human being"
The temptations of Jesus by Satan recorded in the Word of God hinged on this point—who/what Jesus really was. “The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” And again, “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:3, 6)
The Passover And The ‘Lamb of God’ – God’s Perfect sacrifice
What was Jesus’ mission in history? To fulfill the requirement that God had revealed in the earlier portion of his revelation—to atone for sin. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17) To atone for sin meant sacrifice: “The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) For Jesus, this meant the sacrifice of his sinless self.
John
the Baptist recognized that the time of fulfillment had arrived. When he saw
Jesus coming toward him he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! “ (John 1:29)
- ”How
much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself unblemished to
God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may
serve the living God!“ (Hebrews
9:14)
- “For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are--yet was without sin.” (Hebrews
4:15)
·
”He committed no sin, and no deceit was
found in his mouth.” (1
Peter 2:22)
- “But
you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.“ (1 John 3:5)
- “Such
a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart
from sinners, exalted above the heavens.“
(Hebrews 7:26)
- Then we read the most
amazing fact of all--“God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.“ (2 Corinthians 5:21)
- “For
what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful
nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be
a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the
righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” (Romans
8:3-4)
- The apostle Peter
articulated what the death of Jesus accomplished because of Jesus’ unique qualification-sinlessness.
He says believers were redeemed from the consequences of their sins
because of “the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
(1
Peter 1:19)
- Addressing the
congregation of believers at Corinth the apostle Paul summed up the
significance of Jesus’ sacrificial death in these words—“Get
rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you
really are. For Christ, our Passover
lamb has been sacrificed.” (1
Corinthians 5:7)
The sacrifice of God’s perfect sacrifice accomplished its purpose—to bring about holiness or sinless perfection in his people
·
”But when
the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might
receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians
4:4-5)
·
“…our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself
a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:13-14)
·
In the apostle
Paul’s letter to the believers in or around the city of Ephesus he speaks about
the mission of Christ, saying, “as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water
through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without
stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians
5:25-27)
- The results of Jesus’
sacrifice showed that Jesus’ sacrifice met the requirements for a perfect
sacrifice. “And
they sang a new song: ‘You are
worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were
slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation.’“ (Revelation 5:9)
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! How exciting it must have been when God’s 'pointers' in the Old Testament portion of his own word were falling into place! No wonder at least two of John the Baptist’s disciples were so excited and became the first disciples of Jesus the Lamb of God!
Prophecies That Were Fulfilled In The Course Of Christ’s Ministry On Earth
Another way of understanding the significance of these prophecies is to see them as previously revealed truths of God that ‘dictated’ the course of Jesus’ life and death on earth.
Jesus’
birth was foretold in Isaiah 7:14. In the Gospel according to Matthew we read of
the angel’s words to Joseph about Mary, followed by the apostle Matthew’s
observations, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took
place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him
Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." (Matthew
1:21-23)
Where Jesus was born Matthew tells us was foretold in Micah
5:2. “But
you,
Matthew tells us that the response of the mothers in
The family of Jesus left
The appearance of John the Baptist was, according to
Matthew, the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3. “The voice
of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight.” (Matthew 3:3)
When
Jesus, at the beginning of his public ministry, went to
The location of Jesus’ ministry was foretold in Isaiah
9:1,2. -
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and upon those
who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.“ (Matthew
4:15-16)
A part of Jesus’ earthly ministry was the healing of all kinds of diseases. “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” The Gospel according to Matthew goes on to say, “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah (53:4): ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’ " (Matthew 8:16-17)
How did Jesus respond to the question John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?":4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see::5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Matthew 11:3-5) The miraculous healings that were predicted in Isaiah 35:5-6 were the answer.
At the beginning of this topic we spoke of another way to understand the significance of the prophecies that Jesus was the fulfillment of, namely, as previously revealed truths of God that ‘dictated’ the course of Jesus’ life on earth. Not only was the course of Jesus’ life ‘dictated’ by God’s revelations in the Old Testament but the character of the person and mission of Jesus was equally guided and controlled by God’s revelations in Old Testament times.
On many occasions
Jesus showed mercy for people by healing them even when doing so upset the leadership of the Jews. On one such occasion Jesus was in a
synagogue and a man with withered hand was present.
- Jesus “said to the man, ‘Stretch
out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored,
just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how
they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many
followed him, and he healed all their sick,…This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah
(ch.42:1-4)
‘Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one
will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and
a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to
victory. (Matthew 12:13-15,17-20)
That the character of Jesus was gentleness and the showing of mercy in contrast with the usual behavior of conquerors and new rulers—the imposition by force of new rules and standards-- was displayed even more conspicuously at the time of Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem. (see below-'approaching Jerusalem')
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He taught as Moses had done (Deuteronomy
The way Jesus spoke was described in the Old Testament in
Psalm 78:2. 'I
will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret
from the foundation of the world' (Matthew
When he called Matthew the tax collector to be a disciple and apostle Jesus revealed his mission did not exclude the kind of individual that the world of the Jews ‘looked down upon’—considered beneath contempt." (Matthew 9:9-13)
Jesus’ life From the time of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on ‘Palm Sunday' until his sacrificial death on the Cross was particularly full of fulfillments of prophecies made in Old Testament times.
Approaching
Matthew says that Jesus’ command to two of his disciples to fetch a donkey was the fulfillment of the words of Zechariah 9:9 - 'Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold your king is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey' (Matthew 21:5)
The words of the welcoming throng on that occasion were the words of Psalm 118:26. 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' (Matthew 21:9)
In the
The words which Jesus used when cleansing the temple courts at the last Passover included words taken from two separate Old Testament prophecies--Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, “It is written,” he said to them, `My house will be called a house of prayer,' / but you are making it a `den of robbers’.” (Matthew 21:13)
When Jesus addressed the Jewish religious leaders who questioned his authority to drive the money changers (needed by Jewish pilgrims with foreign currencies) and sellers of animals (needed for sacrifice) out of the temple courtyards Jesus’ answer included a quote from Psalm 118:22, 23, saying, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: `The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?' (Matthew 21:42)
Jesus deflected the attempt of the religious authorities, the Sadducees, to undermine Jesus’ authority with the people by quoting verses in the Old Testament. Jesus said to them, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.… about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, (Exodus 3:6) ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?“ (Matthew 22:30-32)
Jesus
even used a quote from Psalms 110.1 in his debates with the Pharisees in the
In the ‘Upper Room’ with His disciples
At the Last Supper when responding to the disciples’ question about who was going to betray him, Jesus answered by quoting the words of Psalm 41:9 which said, 'He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heal against me' “(John 13:18)
Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be
guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else
did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles,
and yet they have hated both me and my Father.” The author of the Gospel then adds, “But this
is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason” which is a quote from Psalm 69:4. (John
(On verse
On the night when
Jesus knew he was going to be arrested, when Jesus was ‘preparing’ his
disciples for the near future when he would no longer be on earth with them he
quoted two verses from the Old Testament
(Zechariah 13:7 and Isaiah 53:12) to support his statements. “Then Jesus
told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is
written: "I will strike the shepherd, and
the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” ‘ “
(Matthew 26:31) `And he
was numbered with the transgressors'. To this latter
quote Jesus then added his own words, saying, “I tell you
that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching
its fulfillment." (Luke 22:37)
Around or from the Cross
In
John
In
the Gospel of John (John
How did Jesus express his feelings on the cross? In the language of the psalms (22:1 & 31:5) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) and “into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
In Luke
To be sure that Jesus was dead one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear. The Gospel of John mentions this fact (v.19:34) and a few verses later says, ”These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled.” (John 19:36) In the next verse he mentions another scripture which was also fulfilled, the scripture which says, ”They shall look on him whom they pierced.” (Zechariah 12:10)
God’s revelations recorded in the Old Testament reveal that God's 'dictates' continue...
Recognition Of Jesus’ Claim To Be The Christ, The Messiah
When the religious authorities asked the parents of
a man born blind (whom Jesus had cured) ‘how is it that now he can
see?’ they replied that their son was of age and could answer
that question himself. “His
parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews (the
religious leadership of the Jews) had decided that anyone who
acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ (the Messiah
the Jews were expecting) would be put out of the
synagogue.” (John 9:22)
Jesus declared the importance of recognizing who he was. Many times he declared the importance of recognizing what a momentous advancement in God’s unfolding plan had occurred when he came. In many ways Jesus made this point, saying,
- “I told you that you would
die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be,
you will indeed die in your sins."
(John 8:24)
- “And
you,
- "Woe
to you, Korazin! Woe to you,
- When Jesus
approached Jerusalem at the end of his ministry “and saw the city, he wept over it
and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now
it is hidden from your eyes. The
days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against
you (
The
apostles and other writers of the New Testament repeated the same truth in
their own words.
- “Whoever believes in him is
not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already
because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” (John 3:18)
- “Whoever believes in the Son
has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's
wrath remains on him." (John 3:36)
- The
apostle Peter put it this way, saying, “Salvation is found in no
one else, for there is no other name (than
Jesus’ name) under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts
- The writer of
the book of Hebrews puts the question to believers, “how shall we escape if we
ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced
by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” (Hebrews 2:3)
- Later in that
book the writer tells believers or wavering believers, “See
to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when
they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we
turn away from him (Jesus) who warns
us from heaven? “ (Hebrews 12:25)
- The writer
also compares (even ‘contrasts’) the refusal to obey what God revealed in
Old Testament times with refusal to believe what God did in sending Jesus
to be God’s own sacrifice by saying, “Anyone who rejected the law
of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has
trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the
blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit
of grace? (Hebrews
10:28-29)
"Christ — anointed, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered
“Messiah” (q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five hundred and
fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or
consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his
people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matt.
What an awesome
period of God’s history to live in it was--when many prophecies came to their
fulfillment, when a new stage of God’s plan began unfolding….
A New Stage in God’s Unfolding Plan Had Come
“John's (the Baptist's) disciples came and asked him (Jesus), "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:14-15)
The dimensions of God’s truth of the dawning age cannot be poured completely into the molds or frameworks which God’s revelations in Old Testament times had created. Jesus’ answer to the questions of John the Baptist’s disciples continued—“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:16-17)
Jesus “went to
Could there be a more awesome and exciting statement about the dawn of a new stage in God’s unfolding plan than Jesus’ declaration, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” ?
(If you appreciate what you read here please tell your friends about this URL and sign my guest book on the homepage. Also, if, as you read any of the meditations, you feel you know of a situation that beautifully illustrates any of the points made I would be delighted to learn of it. I might incorporate it.) mailto:camppp21355@comcast.net
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