Jesus Christ In Prophesy Series

Bob Marcaurelle homeorchurchbiblestudy.com

JESUS CHRIST IN PROPHECY

Luke 24:44

“Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44)

One foundation pillar of the Christian faith is that the Bible is the Word of God. Written by men, it is a divine human Book. This is a mystery we cannot explain but we rest on the claim of 2 Peter 1:21, “ ... no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

A second foundation pillar is that Jesus is God in human form. He is fully man and fully God, the divine human Savior. This too is a mystery we cannot explain but we rest on His claim, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9).

How do we know this is true? Be experience and by faith. We come by faith to the Bible and find that its truths feed our souls like sunshine feeds flowers. We come by faith to Jesus and find that He alone can do the works of God in and for us. He pays for our sins, pardons us and gives us power, peace and purpose. Our theme is:

“I know not how that Bethlehem’s Babe / Could in the God-head be / I only know that manger Child /Has brought God’s love to me.”

This however does not mean we exercise blind faith and leap into complete darkness when we embrace Christianity. The Bible says the resurrected Jesus “showed Himself with many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3).

How do we know the Book we love is the Word of God and the Jesus we love is the Son of God? We cannot prove it. Arguments for the skeptic are unconvincing and for the believer are unnecessary.

We can however put forth strong, valid arguments for the truth of Christianity. There are many such arguments.

The absence of obvious errors in the Bible; its impact upon man and the profundity of its content all point to a divine hand behind it.

Concerning our Lord there is His moral grandeur, His exalted wisdom, His impact on the world and His resurrection which produced His church.

One of the greatest arguments, one used repeatedly by the Bible writers is the proof of prophecy. Time after time the Bible writers prove that Jesus is the Messiah because He fulfilled prophecy. For 1500 years the Old Testament writers had been promising a Savior and giving numerous details about Him. Jesus claimed to be this Person and fulfilled the ancient prophecies.

We must remember that “Christ” is not a name but a title. It is the Greek form of the Hebrew word “Messiah” which means “anointed one.” The Hebrews looked for a Messiah who would be prophet, priest and king.

The New Testament echoes the words of Andrew, when he said to his brother Peter, “We have found the Christ.” The disciples followed Him because He was the Messiah. The Jews put Him to death because He claimed to be the Messiah.

There are an estimated 333 prophecies about the Messiah. In Matthew’s gospel alone Jesus is pictured as fulfilling 106 of these.

To convince the Jews, Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews and his main theme was “Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.”

Our Lord used the same approach. The phrase, “That the scripture might be fulfilled,” was a constant refrain from His lips. He said, “Search the scriptures for they testify of Me.” He said, “Moses wrote of Me.” He said, “The Son of man goes as it was written of Him.”

The evidential value of fulfilled prophecy was realized by the Apostles. They bore witness to the Christ of prophecy. Peter, preaching the gospel at Caesarea, said, “To Him all the prophets bear witness.”

When the learned, eloquent preacher Apollos preached at Ephesus, we read, “he mightily convinced the Jews ... showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 18:28). Paul said, ”Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ... was buried and the third day He rose again according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1,4).

Go back with me thousands of years to the Garden of Eden. When the human race fell into sin God promised One born of woman’s seed Who would do battle with the devil, received a wound and deal a death blow.

God promised Satan in gen. 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between her seed and your seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.”

This strange champion would be from the Tribe of Judah. Jacob, blessing his sons at his death, said, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes” (Gen. 49:10).