Prophecy Fulfilled
Isaiah 53:4-6
When you hear the word prophecy, what do you think of? Nostradamus? The thousands of people throughout history who have predicted the end of the world, only to see the date come and pass? Do you think of people who have told others they are going to be healed only to have nothing happen and their faith crushed? Do you think of the preachers on Bourbon Street? Or do you think of the Bible? 28% of the Bible is dedicated to prophetic pronouncements.
But what is prophecy? Prophecy, simply put, is history from God written in advance. Isaiah 46:9-11 says, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come….What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.” The fulfillment of historical prophecy is the very foundation of the Christian faith and our belief that Jesus’ is the Messiah. This is the connection between the Jewish and Christian faith, between the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament verses are the prophecy and the New Testament verses proclaim the fulfillment. For“Jesus said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’” Luke 24:44 (NIV)
But why is prophecy important for us today? First, prophecy acquaints us with God’s plan. If prophecy is history from God written in advance, then prophecy tells us what God plans to do. God wantst us to know his plans before he acts. This is the message of the parable of the ‘Ten Virgins’ (Mt. 25:1-13) where ten women are waiting for the arrival of the Bridegroom. Five were wise and had enough oil in their lamps and 5 were not. When they ran out of oil, they went to get more causing them to miss the bridegroom’s arrival. This parable teaches us the necessity of knowing God’s plan. God’s desire is for us to know His plan and we learn that through the prophecies in His word.
The parable of the ten virgins also teach us a second point: we need to be prepared. We not only need to know God’s plan but we need to be prepared for when His plan begins to be enacted. If not, then we will not be available or ready to participate in God’s work.
Third, prophecy is proof of God and His trustworthiness. God is the only being capable of predicting the true future. Many have tried and apart from God have failed. How can we know that a prophet is real and proclaiming Truth? Deuteronomy 18:22 “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” A true test of a prophet of God is that everything, not just some things, but that everything spoken by him comes to pass. And that can only come from God.
Fourth, prophecy offers hope in uncertain and difficult times. II Thessalonians 2:16 Hope is key to survival in this world. Without hope, there is no reason to live. In prophecy we have abundant hope: hope that in persecution we are protected (Romans 8:35-39); hope that this is not all there is to our existence (John 10:28) and hope that God will have the final victory.
Much of what the Gospels proclaim are prophecy fulfilled. Some of the phrases in the gospels that refer to prophecy fulfilled include: “It is written…” “So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet…” and “God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets…” The gospel writers used these to alert their readers to some of the different prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus life. Of all the religious leaders in the world, Jesus Christ is unique. Unlike any other religious leader, there were 100’s of prophecies written about Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and Second Coming before he ever came into the world. We have all those prophecies today, recorded in the Bible and through the New Testament, we have proof that those prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. That in fact, Jesus is prophecy fulfilled for He fulfilled almost 200 Old Testament prophecies!
What are the odds of a man even fulfilling just a few prophecies? Dr. Peter Stoner, Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College, authored a book entitled Science Speaks, (Moody Press, 1969, P.109) in which he wrote about the law of "compound probability" in reference to just 8 of these prophecies about Jesus coming true. He found that the odds of one man accidently fulfilling 8 of these detailed prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That’s 1 with 17 zero’s after it. In order for you to understand how incredible that number, he says “imagine you had that many silver dollars: 1 in 10 to the 17th power. Those silver dollars would cover all of Texas 2 feet deep. Now, let’s suppose you took one of those silver dollars and marked with a red dot and then dropped it from an airplane. Then, you thoroughly stirred up the entire mass. Now, you blind fold a friend and tell them they can go wherever they want in the state of Texas, stop, reach down and try to pull up that one specific coin marked with the red dot. What are the odds that they are going to select the red dotted coin? The same odds of 8 of these prophesies being fulfilled by Jesus, and yet he fulfilled almost 200!
Some of those prophecies include:
Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23)
A descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16)
Of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33; Hebrews 7:14)
Of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1)
Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7)
Taken to Egypt (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14-15)
Herod´s killing of the infants (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18)
Anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16-17)
Heralded by the messenger of the Lord (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3-5; Mal. 3:1; Matt. 3:1-3)
Would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 9:35)
Would preach good news (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:14-21)
Would minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:12-16)
Would cleanse the Temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12-13)
Would first present Himself as King 173,880 days from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25; Matthew 21:4-11)
Would enter Jerusalem as a king on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9)
Would be rejected by Jews (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7)
But that’s not all. Some of the most amazing and precise prophecies are about Jesus’ death. He would die a humiliating death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) involving:
rejection (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:10-11; 7:5,48)
betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:3-4; John 13:18)
sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:14-15)
silence before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-14)
being mocked (Psalm 22: 7-8; Matthew 27:31)
beaten (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:26)
casting lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24)
spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 27:30)
piercing His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16; Matthew 27:31)
being crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
praying for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
piercing His side (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
given gall and vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21, Matthew 27:34, Luke 23:36)
no broken bones (Psalm 34:20; John 19:32-36)
buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)
Would rise from the dead!! (Psalm 16:10; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:31)
Ascend into Heaven (Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9)
Would sit down at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3)
Today, I want to focus on the prophecy regarding the purpose of Jesus’ mission. Jesus came and “was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; his punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus not just to minister and call people back to God but to bear our sins. It was our sin for which Jesus was born to die. It was because of our sin that God gave his only son to die on the cross so that we might be forgiven and restored. I want us to see from God’s perspective the deadly nature of sin. That Jesus paid the price and took the punishment for our sin and bore that burden. When we talk about sin, we do two things: we either trivialize it or we put it in a religious box. We tend to say it’s not bad, it didn’t hurt anyone or we moralize sin by reducing faith to rules and regulations which are only for some people who choose to believe and follow them.
But sin affects everyone and it does so in three ways. First, it affects us spiritually. Sin is doing our will and following our desires rather than those of God. That causes a relational distance between God and us. It’s not that you don’t believe in God, it’s just that you don’t desire to be close to God by working with him and accomplishing His will in the world. Instead of being dependent upon God and serving God, you’re dependent on yourself and you serve yourself, thus pushing God away or to the fringes of your life.
Second, sin causes relational brokenness. Any time we do our will or pursue our desires at the expense of others, it hurts that relationship. The consequence of sin in our lives is that we have replaced God as the center of meaning and purpose in our lives with ourselves. If we are honest with ourselves, there is a brokeness in our relationships. We are created in the image of God. We have power to heal, and yet we continue to hurt those closest to us. Families can’t get along, neighborhoods can’t get along and nations can’t get along. We are broken relationally. Third, we are also broken physically. "Why do we get old and die?" The Bible tells us that death was not God’s intention, death is the consequence of sin.
Now sin brings an absence of peace, a gnawing sense of uneasiness or restlessness that is both personal and social. And God’s answer is the Prince of Peace. We are broken and our life is missing the mark, falling short of God’s intention for us, which is literally what sin means. We have to deal with our brokenness or our brokenness will deal with us. It will overflow into everything else in your life: every relationship, every job and every thing I do.
The gospel doesn’t allow us to rationalize our sin or deny our sin. The gospel names the sin and points the way to forgiveness and freedom and that’s through faith in Jesus Christ. For he came to bear the burden of your sins by dying on the cross and taking the punishment for you and me. The purpose of judgment is not your destruction; the purpose of God’s judgment in our lives is to bring us to a place of repentance so there can be healing and we can experience the blessing of living for God’s purposes in our life. The Prince of Peace will establish a people of peace who will live as a counter cultural expression of heaven on earth. This is God’s plan…not that we have these little religious clubs, but that we be a community of Shalom. It’s not that our communities or families will have an absence of conflict. Some people think if you accept Jesus all conflict and pain goes away, and you are not supposed to get cancer or suffer. No, all of that stuff happens to Christians too. “In this world you have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world.” Jesus said, "I have told you these things so that in me you have peace." It doesn’t say if you believe in me, it says "if you are in me." So what difference does that make in our lives?
Look at our marriages. We will have conflict in our marriage; we will have pain in our marriage. The definition in marriage is joy in suffering. Most people struggle in marriage because of two things: they’re not getting their needs met or they have irreconcilable difference. So that means we then need to get rid of some of our needs and accept we are going to have irreconcilable differences. We are two different individuals who are both sinners and that impacts our marriages. What difference does Christ’s peace make? When we have the peace and forgiveness of Christ, we will demonstrate the character of Christ in our marriages. We demonstrate the grace of Christ in our relationships and we have the quality of Christ-like love in our actions toward all people.
Here is the power: God frees us to live in Christ and exist for others. The greatest evidence in the world, for the claims of Jesus Christ and that He is the Messiah is the way he changes lives, the way you and I live and love others. It is amazing how he changes our focus from money, power and possessions to a life of mission, contribution and service. A lot of you are waiting for your circumstances to change. Guess what? In the world, any time you are dealing with another, you are going to have trouble. Circumstances aren’t going to change. But you can change how those circumstances impact you. You’re going to have peace not by trying harder, not by believing in Christ, but by being in Christ and living for Christ in every area of your life and that makes is all the difference in the world.
Jesus came that he might bear our sins, offer us forgiveness and free us to live a different way. In doing so, he fulfilled the prophecies regarding the Messiah and thus became Prophecy fulfilled. Dan Waite tells the story of a young minister who tried to quit the ministry in absolute disgust. He was tired of the immaturity of the people and disillusioned by the politics and lack of spirituality of the leadership. He reasoned if the church, God’s ambassadors, was that badly corrupted then Christianity was a lie. It was a very ugly time in his spiritual life filled with severe disappointment and raging anger. But one sleepless night he felt the strong urge to “read the Bible one more time” before he gave up completely. So he opened it to Genesis 1:1 and started to read for what he thought would be the last time. He thought he could reason away the miracles. He thought he could dismiss the stories as myth. The one thing that he could not ignore was the prophecy. How could people like Isaiah know so much about the life of Jesus some 700 years before Jesus was ever born? It was not possible, unless the Bible was true, God was God and Jesus was prophecy fulfilled.
