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.
2. It was God’s plan for Jesus to come and take upon him all the sins of the world.
a. “He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!” (Is. 53:3-4)
b. In the Garden, we had one job, don’t eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden. And we blew it! But God had a plan.
c. God gave us everything we would ever need, but we had to have the one thing he said we couldn’t have, but God had a plan!
d. We rebelled against God who had given us paradise, but God had a plan!
e. That plan was to send his only Son to die for us.
f. That plan was to make his own Son to carry all our sins.
g. That plan was for his own Son to die on the cross for us.
h. Jesus fulfilled that plan!
Transition: Next, Luke shows us that it was…
II. Part of God’s Permission (32-33).
A. He Will Be Handed Over
1. Jesus continues what will happen to him in Jerusalem. In v. 32 he says, “He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon.”
a. The first time that Jesus talked about his upcoming death he focused on his rejection by the Jewish leaders.
b. The second time he focused on his betrayal by his friends.
c. This time his focus in on the involvement of the Romans in his crucifixion.
d. While he would be rejected by the Jewish authorities, they were powerless to kill him because they were subject to the Roman law.
e. The Jews could punish lesser crimes, but only the Roman governor could authorize capital punishment.
f. The phrase “will be handed over,” refers to the fact that this is done with God’s permission. God would allow the Jews to hand Jesus over to the Romans.
g. Once in the hands of the Romans, he would be mocked (made fun of and laughed at), he would be treated shamefully (insult, arrogantly, and injuriously), and spit upon.
h. This is the Son of Man, the Savior, the Christ, and he would be treated worse than a common criminal.
2. Jesus then continues what will happen to him in v. 33, “They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.”
a. Here Jesus gets into the serious part of the crucifixion.
b. He says he will be flogged with a whip. The Roman scourge was a deadly weapon. It was a leather whip attached to a wooden handle, plus it had pieces of metal attached to it in different places. It would literally rip the skin off your back. Many people did not survive the scourge.
c. He also says that the Romans would kill him. Although he doesn’t mention the cross, it’s a given that this is what’s in mind.
d. It was the Romans favorite form of capital punishment. However, Jesus leaves them with hope by saying that he would rise again on the third day.
B. But He Was Pierced
1. Illustration: Alexander Whyte "It is the picture of violence, yet the key to peace. It is a picture of suffering, yet the key to healing. It is a picture of utter weakness, yet the key to power. It is a picture of capital punishment, yet the key to mercy and forgiveness. It is a picture of supreme shame, yet the Christian's supreme boast. It is a picture of death, yet the key to life. It is a picture of vicious hatred, yet the key to love." What irresistible love.
2. God the Father loved us so much that he allowed Jesus to go to the cross.
a. “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.” (Is. 53:5)
b. Can you see the words of Jesus in this verse? Do you think Isaiah was speaking the words of God?
c. It says, “he was pierced,” and Jesus was pierced for us.
d. It says, “he was beaten,” and “he was whipped,” and Jesus was beaten and whipped for us.
e. He was beaten and crushed for our rebellion and crushed for our sins.
f. These words were spoken at least a thousand years before Jesus’ birth, and yet Jesus fulfilled these words.
g. The Father allowed Jesus to go through this, and Jesus willingly went through this, for me and for you.
h. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn. 3:16-17).
Transition: Luke also tells us that it is…
III. Part of the Reason (34).
A. But They Didn’t Understand
1. Even though Jesus laid it all out for them, we find out in v. 34, “But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.”
a. Even though Jesus laid it all out for them, they still didn’t get it.
b. Once again, the disciples were clueless when it came to the idea that Jesus mission was to die on the cross.
c. The text tells us that the significance of Jesus words was hidden from them.
d. Now we are not real sure what that means.
1) Does it mean that God kept them from understanding?
2) Does it mean that their upbringing kept them from understanding?
3) Or does it mean they were just ignorant?
e. We’re not sure. They would not come to grips with it until after the resurrection.
2. The disciples were not alone. There were others who did not understand that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he was to be a “Suffering Servant.”
a. The religious leaders did not recognize him.
b. Many common people did not recognize him.
c. Many of Jesus followers did not recognize him. (Disciples on the Road to Emmaus).
d. Jesus’ own family did not recognize him.
3. Not much has changed in our own day.
a. People in our own community do not recognize him.
b. Many of our political and civic leaders do not recognize him.
c. Members of the media do not recognize him.
4. Yet, Jesus died for all these people anyway!
B. The World Did Not Recognize Him
1. Illustration: Although there were hundreds of people who recognized Jesus as the Messiah on Palm Sunday, they were a small minority. By the end of the 1st Century, perhaps 20% of the Jewish population had accepted Christ, but the leaders and the majority did not.
2. Do you recognize Jesus for who he is?
a. “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” (Jn. 1:10-12).
b. Jesus came to the world that he created, but we did not recognize him.
c. He came to save us, to die for us, but we rejected him.
d. The world we live in, for a large part, rejects him.
e. We’ve asked him to leave our government, our schools, and our public life. And yet we are quick to blame him when things go wrong.
f. But, even now, if we will come and open the door for him, he will come in and love us.
g. Even now, if we will accept and believe him, he will save us and give us the right to become the children of God.
h. Have you accepted and believed in him?
Conclusion
1. 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.
2. Jesus going to the cross was…
a. Part of God’s Plan
b. Part of God’s Permission
c. Part of the Reason
3. What’s the point? The amount of evidence for Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the promised One, are astronomical. All of us must accept and believe the truth about Jesus.
