Friday, April 3, 2015

Already Seen, Engineered, Declared to Be So

Good morning!

This is the first Easter season that I have blogged through, and I'm finding it difficult to say anything remarkable.  The events of Passion Week are so stupendous, in and of themselves, and so much has been written by others about this critical week in human history.  Well, I just feel more inadequate than usual.

I was reading Erick Erickson's blog post for this morning and he made a point that I've also long-known, and felt so poignantly through the raising of my own two sons.  Those who want to find the truth will find it.  After all, there are more historical proofs of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of the Bible than of any other ancient event/book.  Those whose ears, eyes and hearts are closed to the truth won't be convinced by any "evidence" of the truth.  The theological study called "apologetics" is the study of Scripture and other historical documents in an effort to verify the truth of Jesus Christ.  I used to think that apologetics existed to convert the sinner.  No, only the Holy Spirit can do that. Apologetics is a useful tool if a person is genuinely, earnestly seeking the Truth.  Apologetics reveals the Truth of God.

So, this morning, I wanted to explore some Old Testament scripture passages/verses that Jesus fulfilled during Passion Week.  There are over 350 prophecies from the Old Testament that are recorded in the New as being fulfilled through the birth, life and finished work of Jesus in His first coming to earth.  There are many more yet unfulfilled, which He will fulfill in His second coming, His return.  But, that is another blog post!

Are your ears open? Marvel with me.

First of all, the largest repository of Old Testament prophecies about Passion Week is Isaiah 53, which reads almost like a news account of the scourging and crucifixion.  Consider:
53:3         despised and rejected by men
53:4         the sin curse laid on Him; "accursed" by God the Father
53:5         pierced and wounded for our sins
53:7         did not verbally defend Himself at trial
53:9         buried in a rich man's grave (Joseph of Arimathea)
53:11       foreshadows the resurrection ("will see the light of life")
In addition, Isaiah
50:6         foreshadows Jesus' back being beaten, his beard being plucked out, his face spit upon       amidst much mocking from his enemies

The Psalms are full of Messianic prophecies.  Psalm 22 particularly is predictive of Christ's final hours before His death.
22:1         Jesus quotes this verse from the cross at that moment God the Father turns his back on His sin-laden Son
22:2         predicts the full solar eclipse which occurred at Golgotha for 3 hours
22:7-8     the reviling from the onlookers at the cross, recorded as fulfilled in Matthew 27:39-44.
22:14      Jesus' side pierced, with fulfillment recorded by the eyewitness John in John 19:34
22:15      prediction that He would be thirsty
22:16-18 prediction that His hands and feet would be pierced, that His garments would be stripped from Him exposing "all his bones"  In John 19:23-24 we see the soldiers at the cross gambling for His outer garment in fulfillment of this prophecy
22:20-21 He gives His spirit over to God the Father
22:31      "He has done it!"  --- finished work declared

Here are some other Psalms pertaining to Passion Week:
16:9-11    promises that Jesus' body will not decay or "see corruption"
17:15       resurrection predicted
41:9        betrayed by a close friend (Judas - - see John 13:18)
129:3      the vicious extent of Christ's scourging, that they would "plow furrows in my back"

Here are just a few more:

Jonah 1:17   Compare Matthew 12:40.  Jesus testified he'd be in the grave "three days and three nights", as Jonah was in the belly of the whale the same amount of time

Zechariah 9:9   predicts Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Nisan 10, the day the Paschal Lamb was to be selected for slaughter on Nisan 14.  Jesus presented Himself as our Lamb that day, as He rode into the Holy City.  Even His arrival riding on a donkey was predicted!

Zechariah 11:10-13   the role of the 30 pieces of silver; Judas' actions and also those of the Jewish religious leaders predicted

Genesis 3:15   This is the very first prediction about Messiah Jesus, that He would bruise Satan's head (victory over sin and death) and that Satan would "bruise his heel" (via crucifixion methods)

Ok, I'll stop!  I just love the beauty of the unity of the Bible.  My pastor recently started preaching a sermon series called "Jesus in the Old Testament", where he is going to go through some of these, I'm sure.  I am just dumbfounded by the majesty of my God, how even in Genesis, immediately after the Fall of Man, He laid down the first prophecy about His plan to correct our sinful state.  He had the answer, even then.  He knows it all, from beginning to end.  He has no beginning and will have no end.  He is

"the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." 
(Revelation 22:13)

Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD--with the first of them and with the last--I am he."
Isaiah 41:4  (NIV)


Father, thank you for Your marvelous work, revealed to us in the Bible.  Even as my Savior's body laid in the grave, You had already seen His resurrection, had already engineered it, declared it to be so.  Your ways are perfect and I know that right well.  Help me in those times when I slip and forget. Lord, on this Good Friday, Christians around the world are being killed because they will not renounce their faith.  I am awed by their faith.  I pray for the persecuted Church this morning, not even knowing what to pray.  Help me, Holy Spirit!  May their ultimate sacrifice not be for nothing, Father.  May their lives and may mine bring You all the glory You are due.  You are HE.  In Jesus' name, amen. 

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