Why Jesus – Part 2
Scriptures: Zechariah 9:9; Matt. 21:1-11; Psalm 41:9; 109:8; 118:26
Introduction
My message this morning is part two of my series “Why Jesus?”
When I last stood before you I told you that with five pieces of information I could mail a letter around the world to another single person. There are over seven billion people living on the earth today that would be eligible to receive my letter, but with five simple pieces of information placed on the front of an envelope all of them would be excluded except for the one person for who the letter was intended. Five pieces of information guarantees, with an almost certainty, that a letter will be delivered to the person for whom it was intended. What are the odds? The odds are 1 to 1. I shared with you previously that this term, “odds” is a numerical expression reflecting the likelihood that a particular event will or will not take place. I told you that a mathematician name Peter Stoner estimated that the chance of any one man fulfilling all eight prophecies pertaining to the Messiah was one in ten to the seventeenth power, or one in one hundred quadrillion. The odds are so high against one man fulfilling eight of the prophecies pertaining to the Messiah, let alone a hundred of them, that if one man did it we’d have to believe that he was the Messiah. Yet, we have Jesus who did fulfill the eight plus many more and yet many still do not believe.
Let me share with you what this unbelief would equate to in the world today. Let me go back to the five pieces of information on an envelope example. Whenever we move to a new address, we go through processes of updating our information so that we will continue to receive mail that is supposed to be sent to us. We go to the post office and have our mail forwarded until we can get all of our family, friends and creditors updated on our new address. We go to the utility companies and have all of the utilities turned on in our name. We go to the banks and have new checks printed with our name and address listed on them. We do all of these things to establish our identity as the owner/renter of the home in which we now live. We establish that we are truly the person who is supposed to be in that house. Now imagine this scenario: the postman has been delivering mail to that address for years when he notices someone else new living there. He/she greets you and gets to know you. After seeing you for weeks in the house and accepting the mail, he/she accepts the fact that you are now the new owner. When they see mail with your name and address on it they know it is going to the right person. Then one day you order something on line and it is delivered by UPS with a signature being required. They knock on the door and ask if you are the person the package is addressed to. You confirm your identity and show proof that you are the person the package is supposed to be delivered to – yet the UPS person does not accept the proof. You go in the house and get more proof to include your driver’s license with your picture, social security card, checks, mail, and the contract where you purchased the home and still the person refuses to give you the package because they want more proof. You show them your birth certificate, marriage license, insurance cards from your car and still they refuse to give you the package because they want more proof. Finally several of your neighbors come over and they tell the UPS person that you are the person for whom they are seeking and the person still refuses to give you the package. Not willing to accept any of the proof you have shown them, they turn around, take your package and drive off telling the company it could not be delivered because the person could not prove to them that he/she was in fact the person who had ordered the package. Sounds ridiculous? This is what people are doing when they choose to deny Jesus! He has provided all of the proof we could ever need and still some require more. Some choose to believe that the proof is not proof at all so therefore they continue to seek Him or believe that there is no God.
In part one I shared with you two prophecies pertaining to the birth of the Messiah. I told you about His virgin birth as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 and the town he would be born in, Bethlehem as was prophesied in Micah 5:2. This morning we will examine some prophecies pertaining to the last week of His life. Next week we will examine the prophecies pertaining to His death and resurrection. Please turn with me to Zechariah 9.
I. Jesus Triumphant Entry Into Jerusalem
Today is the Sunday that is traditional known as Palm Sunday. It is the Sunday before Easter and commemorates Jesus arriving into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. As He made His entrance, people would lay their garments down on the street for the donkey to walk on. Those who did not have garments, would lay palm branches in the street or just wave them as He passed by. What are the chances that hundreds of years before this event a prophet would speak of it? God shared this with Zechariah so that when it happened those in the know would know that truly this was the Messiah – and yet those “in the know” still refused to accept Him. Let’s read the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9.
“Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble and mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)
Now turn with me to Matthew chapter twenty-one and we will begin reading at verse one.
When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.” (Matthew 21:1-8)
Jesus entered Jerusalem the way it was prophesied by Zechariah. No other man had entered Jerusalem that way. But there was a second prophecy also aligned to His entry. Turn to Psalm 118:26.
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; we have blessed you from the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 118:26)
This prophecy says that the Blessed One would be presented to Israel while the Temple still stood. Now let’s go back to Matthew 21:9-11.
“The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest! When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:9-11)
Two different prophecies were given pertaining to Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem – and still people know knew the prophecies did not accept Him. So this makes four prophecies that we have covered. Let’s continue with another prophecy pertaining to Jesus’ last week on earth.
II. His Betrayal
We know that Jesus was betrayed by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. But did you also know that this incident was also prophesied about in the Old Testament? How is it possible that Judas and the Chief priests could agree on a price for Judas to betray Christ and the Chief priests did not consider the fact that they were fulfilling another prophecy? Don’t you find it interesting that they were so intent on killing Jesus even though they KNEW that He was in fact the Messiah? Let’s review a few prophecies pertaining to Judas’ betrayal. I do not have time to cover them all, but just building on the foundation. Turn to Psalm 41:9.
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” (Psalm 41:9)
“Let his days be few; let another take his place.” (Psalm 109:8)
“I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” (Zechariah 11:12-13)
In these verses we find that it was prophesied that Jesus would be betrayed by a friend (Judas) for thirty pieces of silver and that afterwards, Judas would be replaced among the disciples. Finally it is prophesied that the thirty pieces of silver would be used to purchase a field. These are three different prophecies pertaining to Judas acts. So did they all come to pass? Turn first to Matthew chapter 27 and we will begin reading at verse three
“ Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to that yourself!’ And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.’ And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, and the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.” (Matthew 27:3-10)
One note, the reference in verses nine and ten about what was prophesied by Jeremiah was actually recorded in Zechariah. This is not a mistake. During Jesus’ day the books of the prophets were headed by Jeremiah, not Isaiah as now, and the quotation is identified by the name of the first book of the group, rather than by the name of the specific book within the group. That being said, Judas fulfilled what was prophesied. He was a friend of Jesus and he betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. After his betrayal when he saw that Jesus had been condemned, he returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests who took the money and brought the Potter’s Field for the burial of strangers. All of these things had been prophesied in the Old Testament. So what about Judas being replaced among the disciples? Turn to Acts chapter one and we will begin reading at verse sixteen.
“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ‘For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.’ (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no one dwell in it;’ and ‘let another man take his office.’ Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us – beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.”
(Acts 1:16-23)
When the disciples gathered after Jesus’ ascension, Peter stood and replayed what had happened to Judas. He was so graphic in his description that you could almost feel today the distain that he had for Judas. His description of what happen to Judas does not contradict what was recorded in the gospel of Matthew. As we read, in the gospel of Matthew, Judas hung himself. Here Peter said he fell and burst open. That could have easily happened if he hung himself and the rope later broke as his body swelled in the heat. Regardless, Peter was very descriptive of what happened to him and confessed their need to fulfill Scripture by replacing him. He quoted what was recorded in the book Psalm.
What I want you to see this morning that not only were there prophecies pertaining to the Messiah’s birth and ministry, the prophecies also pinpointed with accuracy specific instances in His life and the life of some of those who were associated with Him, including the one who would betray Him. How is it possible that all of these prophecies could have been fulfilled in the life of Jesus proving that He is in fact the Messiah and we can continue to believe that He is not the one and only way through which salvation comes? For anything thing else having this much proof people would believe. Why can we not believe this about our Messiah? How is it we can come to the conclusion with all the proof and still not believe? How is it we can walk up to the address like the UPS person with the package in our, see proof of the homeowner’s identify and refuse to give them the package?
As I close this morning I want you leave you this this to chew on. To date we have reviewed seven different prophecies pertaining to the Messiah and events in His life. Each of these were fulfilled through Jesus. Eight different prophecies fulfilled in His life. This is equivalent to providing eight separate pieces of identity to prove who you are. Now please chew on this for the upcoming week:
What would your response be to the UPS man who came to your doorstep and asked for identification before allowing you to have the package. You show him not one, but eight different pieces of evidence that you are who you say you are. Once you have proved you are the one, he still refuses to give you the package because “he” needed more proof. He does not have the authority to make you prove anything, but he is holding your package hostage because he can. He wants more proof despite what you have shown him. Would you allow him to walk away with “your” package or would you forcibly take it from him? What would your response be?
Now consider what God’s response is to us when He has identified Jesus as the one and only way with eight separate pieces of evidence to date and we still do not believe? Why would He feel any different than how we would feel if the UPS driver refuses to accept our evidence? I will give you even more next week.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
