Predictions About Jesus

PREDICTIONS ABOUT JESUS

Text: Lk. 18:31-34

Introduction

1. Illustration: There was a time when skeptics claimed that the prophecies in Isaiah 53 were too detailed, too specific, too accurate to be mere coincidence. I agreed. But then the skeptics argued that the ONLY logical explanation was that Isaiah was written after the gospels and patterned the suffering Servant after what the gospels wrote about Jesus. Then a Bedouin shepherd left his sheep and goats to look for a stray. He found a cave in a crevice among the limestone cliffs. He tossed a rock in. Instead of hearing a “thud” when it hit, he heard something break. With a cousin and a friend, he entered the cave and found clay jars holding the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Prior to that day, the oldest known copy of Isaiah in your modern world was dated between 800 and 900 AD. The first handful of scrolls he brought out included a copy of Isaiah 900 - 1000 yrs older than previously found mss. Pieces of that scroll have been carbon 14 dated four times. The latest of those dates, the latest, is a century before, not centuries after, Jesus lived. Isaiah accurately prophesied.

2. Isaiah was only one of numerous prophets who predicted about the Messiah. Jesus met every one of these prophesies to the letter! In fact, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophesies in his lifetime. For one person to fulfill all those prophesies is next to impossible. But Jesus did.

3. Jesus going to the cross was…

a. Part of God’s Plan

b. Part of God’s Permission

c. Part of the Reason

4. Read Lk. 18:31-34

Proposition: The world needs to come to grips with the full extent of God’s love.

Transition: First, Jesus’ death and resurrection were a…

I. Part of God’s Plan (31).

A. Predictions of the Prophets

1. In our text, Jesus is nearing the end of his journey to the cross. He wants to warn his disciples ahead of time about what is to come.

2. Luke begins this section with “Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true.”

a. This is the third time that Jesus predicts his own death. However, this time it is specifically for his twelve disciples. He wanted to prepare them for what is coming.

b. He wanted them to know that what was about to happen to him had been planned for thousands of years.

c. He tells them that “all the predictions about the Son of Man will come true.” By “the prophets” he is referring to the entire OT.

d. Several years ago, I was honored to have lunch with one of my heroes in the faith, a scholar named Dr. Stanley Horton. He had taught Bible college for over 50 years. He told me his biggest thrill in his teaching ministry is when he saw the light come on in a student’s mind and they began to see that the Bible talks about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation! The predictions about Jesus began in Genesis and continued throughout the OT.

3. Many of these predictions concerned his passion, death, and resurrection.

a. He tells them they are going up to Jerusalem. This is a very appropriate way to refer to going to Jerusalem. It’s only 20 miles from Jericho, but it is 3,400 feet higher in elevation.

b. However, there is more to it than just geography, For Luke, Jerusalem is the place where the culmination of salvation history will take place.

c. It is the Holy City, the City of David, and the place where the Temple is located.

d. This is the place where Jesus would die for all of humanity.

e. God has a plan, which he will orchestrate regardless of what people do.

f. At center of the plan is the suffering of the Son of Man, the Christ, for the salvation of the world.

B. Our Weaknesses He Carried

1. Illustration: Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmon College, Peter Stoner, has calculated the probability of one man fulfilling the major prophecies made concerning the Messiah. The estimates were worked out by twelve different classes of 600 college students. The students carefully weighed all the factors, discussed each prophecy at length, and examined the various circumstances which might indicate that men had conspired together to fulfill a particular prophecy. They made their estimates conservative enough so that there was finally unanimous agreement even among the most skeptical students. But then Professor Stoner took their estimates and made them even more conservative. He also encouraged other skeptics or scientists to make their own estimates to see if his conclusions were fairer. Finally, he submitted his figures for review to a Committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate regarding the scientific material presented. After examining eight different prophecies, they conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies was one in 1017. That’s a 1 with 17 zeros after it! To help us understand how large the number 1017 is, Professor Stoner gave this illustration. Imagine covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars to a level of two feet deep. The total number of silver dollars needed to cover the whole state would be 1017. Now, choose just one of those silver dollars, mark it and drop it from an airplane. Then thoroughly stir all the silver dollars all over the state. When that has been done, blindfold one man, tell him he can travel wherever he wishes in the state of Texas. But sometimes he must stop, reach down into the two feet of silver dollars, and try to pull up that one specific silver dollar that has been marked. Now, the chance of his finding that one silver dollar in the state of Texas would be the chance the Old Testament prophets had for eight of their prophecies coming true in any one man’s life. But of course, there are many more than eight prophecies. There are over 300 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in the life of Christ.