Before Jesus came to this earth, there were people who were expecting Him. People that had read the Old Testament prophecies and knew that God would send someone to save His people. In fact, some Jewish teachers taught there would be two Messiahs or Chosen Ones. One would give his life as a sacrifice for his people. The other would rule over His people as King.
When Jesus came, some people recognized Him because of the prophecies they had read. After His death, when His gospel was preached around the world, others came to believe because of these very prophecies.
For example, let’s read the story of the evangelist Philip and his encounter with the man from Ethiopia that is recorded in Acts 8:30-35.
Acts 8:30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Philip was able to take the prophecies of the Old Testament and preach the gospel to this Ethiopian.
Let’s look at some of the phrases in the gospels that refer to prophecy:
“It is written…”
“So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet…”
“God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets…”
The gospel writers used these and other words to alert their readers to some of the different prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus life. These prophecies come true were an essential sign to people in the first century.
As they are today.
Jesus fulfilled more than 300 Old Testament prophecies! What are the odds of a man even fulfilling just a few prophecies? Very slim indeed. What are the odds of fulfilling more than 300 prophecies? Astronomical.
To understand better who Jesus is, let’s take a look at some of the prophecies that were fulfilled when He came to earth.
1. Born in the time of the Roman empire
In the book of Daniel, chapter 2, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream in which he saw a giant statue that was smashed by a “rock that was cut out but not by human hands.” God helped Daniel interpret this dream, showing that after the Babylonians would come three kingdoms. History shows that these kingdoms were the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. Then Daniel interpreted the part of the dream about the rock:
Dan. 2:44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands — a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”
Daniel told of four kingdoms: the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. The eternal kingdom of God would be established in the time of the fourth kingdom, in the time of the Romans.
Jesus, in the time of the Romans, came to this earth and established his kingdom.
2. Born of a virgin
Isaiah spoke of a child that would be born to a virgin. Jesus fulfilled this when he was born to Mary while she was still a virgin.
3. Born in Bethlehem
Mic. 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The Jews who were waiting, who studied the Scriptures and searched for signs of the coming of the Messiah, knew that this passage taught that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Some have said that Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy was intentional, that he merely set out to do the things that were supposed to be done. Can a man decide where to be born? Did Jesus just do the things that the Messiah was supposed to? Or did the prophets truly foretell his coming? I think the answer is obvious.
4. Fled to Egypt as a child
When He was young, Jesus was taken to Egypt, then brought back, just as the prophet Hosea had prophesied.
5. Preached to the poor
Isaiah said that a telling part of the Messiah’s ministry would be the way that He preached to the poor. If we look at Jesus’ ministry, that is exactly what He did. He went not to the rich, but to the poor. And when Jesus’ was reminding John the Baptist of His identity, he said, "And tell him that the gospel is being preached to the poor."
6. Healed the sick, the blind, the deaf and the lame
Isaiah also taught that a key point of the Messiah’s ministry would be to heal. It was foretold that He would heal the sick, that the blind would see, that the deaf would hear and that the lame would walk. Jesus cured multitudes of people.
7. Zealously defended the house of God
Jesus zealously defended His Father’s house, just as the prophets had said. Not once but twice Jesus cleared the temple of the vendors and moneychangers that ruined the holy atmosphere of that house of prayer.
8. Made a triumphant entrance riding on a donkey
When Jesus made his entry into Jerusalem the week before His death, He could have come riding on a white horse like a great warrior or a majestic king. Instead, He came riding on a donkey, just as the prophets had said.
9. Hailed as king exactly 483 years after the order to rebuild Jerusalem
Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem came exactly 483 years after the order was given to rebuild Jerusalem. Daniel had prophesied that this would occur 69 weeks after that proclamation. However, the Jews sometimes referred to 7 years as a week. If we multiply 69 by 7, we get 483. This is a startlingly precise prophecy.
10. Betrayed by a close friend for 30 pieces of silver
The prophets foretold that Jesus would be betrayed by one of His closest friends. The price of this betrayal was to be thirty pieces of silver. This money was to be thrown into the temple “to the potter” and used to buy a field.
Judas, one of the 12 apostles, betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He later threw the money back into the temple and that money was used to buy a field that came to be known as “The Potter’s Field.”
Some of the most amazing and precise prophecies about Jesus concern His death. That’s because Jesus came to earth with a mission, and that mission was to give His life.
As an example, let’s look some at Isaiah 53:
Is. 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
1. Verse 3 says that Jesus would be despised and rejected. Jesus used those very words to describe what would happen to Him in Jerusalem. And so it did. The very crowd that sang “Hosanna to God” when Jesus entered riding the donkey, screamed “Crucify him, crucify him” when Jesus was before Pilate.
Is. 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
2. Verse 5 says that Jesus would be pierced and crushed. Psalm 22 adds the detail that they would pierce His hands and feet. If you’ve seen the movie The Passion, and even if you haven’t, surely you know how His hands and feet were nailed to the cross. And Jesus side was pierced by a Roman lance. Another prophecy fulfilled.
Is. 53:6 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. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
3. Verse 7 tells that Jesus would not open His mouth when oppressed and aflicted. At His trial before the Jewish high priest, the high priest asked, “You’ve heard all these witnesses; have you nothing to say?” Yet Jesus did not defend himself. Pilate asked him, “Do you refuse to speak to me?,” yet Jesus would not defend himself. Just as the prophet predicted.
Is. 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
4. Verse 9 tells us that Jesus would go to the grave with the wicked. The gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. Verse 9 also says that the Messiah would be with the rich in his death. Jesus was laid in the tomb of a rich man after being taken down from the cross.
Is. 53:10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
5. Verse 10 holds out a ray of hope, saying that the Messiah would have a long life, and verse 11 emphasizes that this would be AFTER laying down His life for His people. This was puzzling to the Jewish teachers who studied this passage, for they could not see how the Messiah could sacrifice Himself, yet still live a long life and see His offspring. Other passages said that the Messiah would reign forever. How can you reconcile these ideas? That’s why many Jews taught that there would be 2 Messiahs.
They weren’t counting on one thing: the resurrection. Jesus came back from the dead. He came back to life. That’s how He fulfilled these prophecies in a way that no one had even dreamed of.
As remarkable as these prophecies are, there is an even greater revelation to be found in this passage.
The most amazing thing that the prophecies tell us is the reason behind His death.
Let’s look at some of the key passages in Isaiah 53:
Verse 4: He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows
Verse 5: He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.
Verse 5: the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
Verse 8: For the transgression of my people He was stricken.
Verse 11: By His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.
Verse 12: For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The prophets plainly tell us who was responsible for putting Jesus on the cross.
Was it Pilate? Judas Iscariot? The Jews, their leaders, the howling mob, the Jewish people as a whole?
Did Satan put Jesus on the cross? It was he who put the idea into Judas’ heart.
Did God put Jesus on the cross?
Who put Jesus on the cross? That’s been the controversy around this movie "The Passion"-—who put Jesus on the cross?
I’ll tell you who put Jesus on the cross. I did. I put Him there. I shouted “Crucify him, crucify him.” I betrayed Him, I denied Him. I beat Him, I spat in His face. I nailed His hands and feet to the cross and crowned Him with a crown of thorns. I laughed at Him and mocked Him and stuck a spear in His side to make sure He was dead.
Who put Jesus on the cross? You did. Your sin. You did it. You’re the guilty one.
Who put Jesus on the cross? We did. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. We put Him on the cross, through our sin.
Just as the prophets foretold.
But there’s something the prophets didn’t foretell. There’s a part of the story that hasn’t been written yet. Jesus came and lived and died and rose again, just as it was written. He died for our sin, just as it was written. His story has been preached to the four corners of the globe, just as it was written.
Now it’s time to write our page in this wonderful history. What will our response be to all this? Pity? Jesus doesn’t need our pity. Sadness? If it’s sadness as the world feels sadness, it will do no good to us nor him. That only leads to death, according to Paul. He also says that godly sadness leads us to repentence.
So what does Jesus want in return? Us. Our lives. Our loyalty. He wants us to climb up on the altar as living sacrifices and give ourselves to Him. No Malt-o-meal Christianity, no weekend piety, no empty rituals. He wants whole-hearted unswervingly loyal disciples.
That’s the part that isn’t written yet. Will we content ourselves with being good church members? Or will we rise up and be Spirit-filled disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ? What will our response be?
