Responsible Witnesses Series

Luke 24:44-49 ESV

44 Then he said to them, “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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Responsible Witnesses…

1. Listen to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)

2. Receive Open Minds to Understand Scripture (Lk 24:45-46, 1 Cor 2:14)

3. Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness (Lk 24:47-48, 2 Cor 7:10)

Law to the proud (Gal 3:24)

Grace to the humble (Eph 2:8)

(Ray Comfort, The Way of the Master)

4. Wait on the Lord (Lk 24:49)

1. Listen to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)

44 Then he said to them, “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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

As we come to these final words of Jesus, we should consider the special place of final instructions. These are the things Jesus wants His disciples to hold on to as the last memories they have of Him. In doing so he points not only to what he said, but to the prophecies He fulfilled and to the life he lived. In doing so, He is equipping them, and us, to be Responsible Witnesses.

Remember the opening of the Gospel of John, John writes concerning Jesus,

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus is the living word of God. Throughout his entire ministry, Jesus was speaking to the Disciples and challenging them concerning the word of God. Jesus confirms that all of His ministry and the events of the last week of His life are not random happenstance, but they are all part of God’s plan from the beginning of time. Note the absolute statements in this verse:

1. EVERYTHING written about me…

2. MUST be fulfilled

Jesus didn’t just fill some of the prophecies of the Messiah – He filled all of them.

There are over 300 prophecies of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus fulfilled them all. Some have calculated the chances of these prophecies being fulfilled

Notice that Jesus is talking about all of Scripture. He says the fulfillment comes from the Law, the prophets and the Psalms. These are the three parts of the Hebrew Scriptures:

1. The Law = the Torah

2. The Prophets = Neviimthe term often refers to everything except the law

3. The Psalms = Ketuvim (writings) which is a reference to the other writings of the OT that include the poetical books such as Proverbs and Job with Psalms being the chief among them.

a.k.a the Tanakh = the entire Hebrew Bible

John 5:39-40 39You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

1. Someone did some math to conclude that the odds of filling just 48 of these is something like 1 in1x10156 . Whether the math is precisely right or not – it clearly concludes that the odds of coincidental fulfillment of the prophecies are impossible and with over 300 prophecies, the only way for such fulfillment is they are part of the divine plan and Jesus is the messiah.

I took at least 3 passages from each of the three parts of the OT to illustrate this. I am going to go over them quickly and have the references on the screen so if you want to jot them down, you can. These are familiar to most of us, but considering them together points out just how much prophecy written hundreds of years before the events, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Older prophecies can be more general and those closer to the events become more specific

Law –

Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.

Gen 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples