Fulfilling The Prophets

Fulfilling the Prophets

Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:

Matthew 5:9-12

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”

And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):

Romans 6:22-23

“Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Today we will be reading from Luke 4:14-30

Last week we took a look at first part of Matthew 5:17a where it says …

“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law … but to fulfill (it).”

And we saw that the Jews had taken the Law and turned it upside down. Instead of a natural obedience to the Law driven by a relationship of love for the Lord, they had inverted the Law and made it a “ladder” that needed to be ascended to get TO the Lord.

They had taken a relationship-driven passion for pleasing the Lord and turned it into a dry, bitter legalism with no true hope for eternal life.

But for today let’s look at the part of Matthew 5:17a where it says …

“Do not think I have come to abolish the … prophets … but to fulfill (them).”

As we prepare for this endeavor let’s read of Jesus Himself reading one of the prophecies about Himself and declaring that it had been fulfilled!

This great account is found in Luke 4:14-30

(Prayer for help)

Matthew 5:17a where it says …

“Do not think I have come to abolish the … (writings or teachings of the) prophets … but to fulfill (them).”

There are some prophecies fulfilled by Jesus that we take a look at every year. Some we look at during the Advent season and others we look at during the Easter season.

And then, there are still others we look at nearly every time we remember the Lord’s sacrifice with communion.

Here are the most common ones we see at Christmastime

Isaiah 7:14

“The LORD himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”

And we see the fulfillment of this prophecy in the very first chapter of the New Testament where it says in Matthew 1:18,

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”

Now, it seems that quite a few translations render the phrase, “before they came together” as “before they were married” or “before they lived together”. Both of those translations cloud the idea that Mary was still a virgin when she was found to be pregnant. All of the texts, however, do have say something like, “she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”

In spite of this, her virginity is confirmed in Matthew 1:25 where it says, “(Joseph) did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.”

Other prophecies that were fulfilled regarding Jesus’ arrival on earth are: That He,

- Would be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)

- Would come out of Egypt. (Hosea 11:1 / Matthew 2:13-21)

- Would be raised in Nazareth (Isaiah 11:1)

- That He would be divine “God with Us” (Isaiah 9:6)

And, of course, we know about the main prophecies of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin

- Isaiah 53

- Psalm 22

- The thirty pieces of silver for Judas (Zechariah 11:12)

- The Passover Lamb (Isaiah 53:7)

- Scourging and mocking (Isaiah 50:6)

- Jesus mutilated (Isaiah 52:14)

- Mocking – Psalm 22:8 – “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.”

- Etc.

OK. That has to do with Jesus’ arrival on earth and His great sacrifice for us. But, Jesus came for much more than to just fulfill prophecies. He had work to do and He accomplished it, or, most of it!

Why do I say most of it? Am I saying that there was something Jesus SHOULD have done but didn’t do? No, He accomplished everything He was supposed to do but there were some things He was to do later.

Let’s read again Luke 4:16-21