Sermon for April 26th

Recently, a couple of you commented on the Online Bible Study about how amazing it was that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the coming Messiah from the Old Testament. In John’s gospel, during the crucifixion of Jesus, the story keeps saying that things were taking place so that “scripture might be fulfilled.” In not just one but two of this week’s lessons, we hear about this fulfillment again, but this time, Jesus has risen from the dead.

In our first lesson, from the book of Acts, Peter says, “God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” In our gospel lesson from Luke, Jesus says, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”

But I got to thinking, how many of us know what Jesus, or Peter or John were talking about? What scriptures were being fulfilled? I admit that when I am reading a passage from Genesis or Daniel or Psalms in the Old Testament, I don’t fill in a table with all the prophecies I find in them. I just notice every once in awhile a promise from God that seems to have been fulfilled by Jesus and say, “Cool!” and move on. But the Jews would have heard these promises much differently.

For those of you who have children, or who have been with a late stage pregnant woman, soon to be mothers and fathers are always very much aware of what might be a sign of labor. Telling the story years later, parents might look back and laugh about how they should have seen it coming or remember how they knew what to look for, but those prophetic signs of labor don’t seem nearly as important today as they once were. When you read Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as a Christian, you might figure, “Hey, the Messiah has come, who cares”. But hearing how these scriptures have been fulfilled has always played an important role for faith in Jesus Christ.

Today, I’d like to take you on a short journey through some of these prophecies from the Old Testament, to show you what Peter, John and Jesus were talking about. What had the prophets foretold and why do they have anything to do with Jesus? Some of the prophecies might seem kind of vague or general, something many people would fulfill in their lifetimes; some of them will be quite specific to Jesus. But when you see them all lined up together, that’s when Jesus’ identity as Messiah becomes more clear. Some authors cite over three hundred prophecies about the coming Messiah, some only focus on forty, I’m only going through eleven this morning. Most of the prophecies could have been fulfilled by many different people, but the question becomes, could all of these prophecies, three hundred, forty or even eleven, all put together, possibly be talking about anyone else except for only Jesus? You’ll have to answer that for yourself.

The first group of prophecies are found in the book of Genesis. The Messiah will be a descendent of Abraham and a descendent of Judah. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham, “I will make of you [Abraham] a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” In Acts, 3, Peter tells some Jewish people that this blessing has a name and it is Jesus, “You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed. When God raised up his servant [Jesus], he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” The promise was that the Messiah would be a descendent of Abraham, not too difficult to be one of those. But in Jesus, the blessing would become clear: the blessing of forgiveness, life and salvation.

In Genesis 49, the prophecy reads, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.” In the gospel of Matthew 1:1-16 we can see that Jesus was indeed a descendent of this clan, “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, the father of Judah, the father of Perez . . .and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.” Jesus was from the clan of Judah just like MANY others, but not all others.

Going a little farther into the Old Testament to the prophet Micah, we find another interesting prophecy about God’s chosen Messiah, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, form you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” The Jews expected their chosen one to come from the town of Bethlehem. And in the gospel of Matthew, we hear this, “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?”

The Messiah would be born of a virgin. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, a virgin is will child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel [God with us].” The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The Messiah would be the Son of God. Psalm 2:7, “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you.” At Jesus’ baptism, “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

But the Messiah would be known for WHAT he did as well as what happened to him. The Messiah would be known for his miracles—bringing the reign of God to Earth. Isaiah promised, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” And again from Matthew’s gospel, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

And Isaiah not only talks about the Messiah bringing miracles, but being a suffering servant as well, “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.” Well, perhaps you remember this story, “They stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on him. They put a reed in his right hand and mocked him saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on he head.” The Psalms also speak of his suffering, “For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.” And we hear this fulfilled in the gospel of Luke, “When they came to the place that is called the Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals.”

One might think that, what with all these prophecies being fulfilled, at least Jesus’ disciples would have found the strength to stand by their promised Messiah. But, then again, that is not what God said would happen. The prophet Zechariah declared, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,’ Says the Lord of Hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.” Matthew 26, “At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords to arrest me as though I were a bandit? But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”

But wait! None of this means that ONLY Jesus could have been the Messiah, right? LOTS of people were crucified by all the records we have. And if your leader had been killed, wouldn’t you have run away too? There have been many stories of healings and miracles by more than one charismatic leader throughout history and scholars argue amongst themselves about exactly WHO Isaiah was referring to when he spoke of a “suffering servant”. But there can only be ONE Messiah. There must have been people would have fulfilled SOME of these prophecies, right? Right. But would they fulfill them all?

Isaiah has some more to say about God’s promised servant, “They made his grave with the wicked, and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Even in his death, Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb.”

Finally, the Messiah was expected reign forever and ever. Psalm 16, expresses this hope, “For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And in the second chapter of Acts we hear how even this promise was fulfilled by Jesus, “Forseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ’He was not given up to Sheol, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’ This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.” In his life, in his death, in his burial and even in his resurrection, Jesus fulfilled ALL of God’s promises.

You see, many people have been descendents of Abraham, or from the clan of Judah, or born in Bethlehem. Some were said to have been miracle workers. Some were considered divine. Some suffered and some died. A few may even have been buried in a graveyard with rich people. Though, no one else, that I know of, was ever raised from the dead.

But the interesting point to note is that while some people may have done some of these things, Jesus did everything. He may have tried to do miracles or, perhaps, found a way to get himself killed, but he didn’t have much choice over where he was born or where he would be buried. Jesus fulfilled everything God promised. ALL the prophecies. That’s why Peter, Paul and even Jesus pointed it out. You see, if Jesus was simply an amazing man who did amazing things, that would be, well, amazing! But Jesus was more than an amazing man. He was God’s chosen one sent to give you life eternal.

If God couldn’t keep his promises to the Israelites, we would have no reason to believe his promise to us. But God did keep his promises. All of them. You are witnesses to these things. What has God promised you? Life? Forgiveness? Resurrection? Can you trust him to fulfill these promises? In Jesus Christ every one of God’s promises is a Yes!”