Tuesday: Old Testament Prophecies of Jesus: Part I
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 19th of November 2024
In a discussion with the religious leaders about His identity, Jesus affirmed the authority of Scripture. At first glance, it would seem unnecessary for Him to do that because the religious leaders believed in Scripture. Nevertheless, even with them, Jesus would emphasize the authority of the Scriptures, and He did so in order to show them who He was—no matter how hard their hearts were, and no matter how much they tried to fight conviction.
Meanwhile, John records many direct quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament that point to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of a Messiah.
How are the following New Testament and Old Testament passages linked? That is, how does the New Testament use these texts to bear witness to Jesus?
John 1:23, Isaiah 40:3
John 2:16-17; Psalms 69:9
John 7:38, Jeremiah 2:13
John 19:36, Numbers 9:12
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Not just John, but Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and all the New Testament writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, time and again stress how Jesus of Nazareth’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the throne of God are all fulfillments of the Old Testament prophecies.
And although Jesus was continually pointing the disciples to the Scriptures, which foretold His ministry—when did the disciples finally understand that the Scriptures pointed to His death and resurrection? It was only after He died and was resurrected and appeared to them that they, finally, got it. “Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:22, NKJV; see also John 20:9).
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Foresight and hindsight are two very different views, but both are important. When driving a car you use foresight as you weave your way through pedestrians, dogs, other drivers, and the odd Kangaroo or two. You observe, trying to anticipate the actions of autonomous objects and take the appropriate path to avoid a collision. On the other hand, looking back after completing a task and analysing the results of your choices is often educative. The problem with foresight is that even the best of us read some of the signs wrong and make non-beneficial choices. Likewise, hindsight has the caveat that once the event has happened, there is not much you can do about the past.
The issue we have with the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament is that folk were not very good at reading the signs. Why? Well, you do not need to read much of the Old Testament to recognise the Hebrews had their vision clouded by the cataracts of self interest. They could read the good bits about the power and glory of the Messiah, and the promise of an overcoming Kingdom, but they overlooked the bits about changes of heart and their care for those in need.
When Jesus arrived on the scene, he encouraged their hindsight by showing them what the scriptures prophecied, not just in words but with actions. Jesus lived the prophecies. For those who followed Jesus, this was their "Aha!" moment. They connected the prophecies with the actions of Jesus, and in the aftermath of the cross and ascension, they acted on that connection.
The lesson for Seventh-day Adventists is that sometimes we get so interested in the foresight bit that we get involved in telling people what is going to happen to the extent that we forget the hindsight bit. It is probably more important to demonstrate that we have learned from our hindsight than to promote the idea that we have a handle on the immediate future.
For example, I have lived through several evangelistic programs that have relied heavily on interpreting current events. One of the consequences of being old is that you look back in hindsight and see how wrong some of those interpretations were.
The lesson that the early Christians learned from prophecy was that Jesus was the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God was very different to the kingdoms and empires they were familiar with. Do we need to relearn that lesson today?
This is a profound expression of this week's lesson. You've made it more clear. It is necessary that as we read in order to understand where we are, an open mind should be applied to allow us stick to the will of God that we may understand His will for us.
Mr. Ashton, there is a lot of wisdom in your comments. As Seventh-day Adventists, I believe we must be careful about how we interpret events around us in the context of future end-time prophecies. Overemphasizing this can lead us to live unwisely in the present, misjudge the actions of others, and raise alarms about "wolves" when there are none.
Bev there are wolves, they are hiding yet and/or you may not recognize them. I do agree some we may perceive as wolves may not really be wolves. I remember when wild dog attacked an Adventist woman in Australia, we prayed for her recovery along with thousands of Seventh-Day-Adventist. I'll let Maurice tell you the rest of the story.
Yes. Yes, we not only need to relearn, but in some cases, learn it for the first time. Thank you for clarifying.
John 19:36 is about how the Roman soldier who had been commanded to break the legs of the 3 men on the crosses did not break Jesus' legs, and thereby unknowingly fulfilled prophecy that no bones in the Messianic Lamb would be broken (Num. 9:12).
This led me to think about the purpose for this prophecy and symbolism? Why is it important that none of Jesus' bones would be broken? Why did the Father "guard" (soldier/guard) Jesus' skeleton?
Here's a possibility...
We know that Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). And in Jesus all of God's promises are Yes and Amen (2 Cor. 1:20). In other words, God's words never fail because of Jesus. GOD'S WORD (JESUS) CAN NEVER BE BROKEN.
Ps.34:20 is the other Old Testament place where we see this Messianic prophecy that not one bone (not one of God's Words/promises) will be broken. As I read the context, Ps. 34:15-22, it tells me that God is always there for the righteous. Those who walk with God do go through very difficult times, but God is with us in the midst of the trials and (spiritually) delivers us out of them all. Nothing separates us from the love and protection of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38-39). That's our bedrock, the skeleton of our faith life that will never collapse or shatter. There will be no real damage to our relationship with God because of our afflictions; in fact, our "faith bones" are strengthened by trials (James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-5; 8:17).* Our faith muscles are attached to God's faithfulness and that will never be broken. "Now abide faith, hope, love..." (1 Cor. 13:13).
* From AI about physical bones: "Bones are living tissue that are constantly being remodeled, or built up and broken down. Bone gets stronger when 'stressed' by physical activity, and can repair itself when injured. The building and tearing down of bone tissue is called remodeling. This process happens continuously throughout your entire life. Physical activity, like weight-bearing exercises and strength training, can stimulate bone remodeling and make bones stronger and denser. Stress from physical activity activates bone-forming cells."
As the Jews and the disciples,we too are not safe. We'd not believe even with the evidence of what is said right under our nose. This is the state of man. They had the scriptures, they heard what Jesus said and saw what He did but still had an excuse for not believing. To us, we even have the fulfilment of prophecies, still we too would look for an excuse.
Let's take the intent of studying history; that we may learn and change our ways.
Today, Tuesday lesson lines up for me a number of points to consider as Adventists,
1. Importance of analyzing world events and actions, as christians we have to be abrase with current affairs. It is from the world events that we can know more about the fulfilment of the prophecies
2. Importance of reading the bible, both the old and the new teatament and balance up our understanding.
3. Not to be rigid: What the Jews suffered most was the rigidness of their faith position, the coming of Jesus was shacking the foundation of their lives and they refused. As much as we cherish the old time religion we have to understand what the spirit says. If it is time for the cloud to move we should move
4. Tolerance and vigilism: When we differ in in understand and views we should not be quick to judge and disown. I know some people who the church disfellowshipped because of what the perceived as new light. We have to sit down and discuss
Do we have to follow Jesus's disciples' examples of faith? Although they were walking physically with the King of the Universe, they were blind to this fact because of their heart's limitations. May we be open today to a change of heart to see God's perfect will for us.
What puzzles me is that, before Jesus' resurrection, there's no recorded evidence in the Bible of anyone examining the Scriptures to determine if He was truly the Messiah, as He claimed. This is surprising, considering that Jesus frequently referred to the Old Testament to explain His identity and mission.
Let us learn from the mistake of the Jewish people at that time and strive to be like the Bereans, who diligently examined the Scriptures to verify if what they were being taught aligned with God's Word.
Even now , whatever is happening in the world today had been prophesied in the old testament.we need no other evidence that indeed there's truth in the scripture.May God help us to take Him by His word each day.Wishing you all a beautiful night,it's 3 minutes to 10 pm in Kenya.
His followers didn't have to examine if Jesus was truly the Messiah because they BELIEVED he was the Messiah. The lessons this quarter from the book of John calls His miracles "signs", and there were many. Many said "truly He is the Son of God".
Witnessing the miracles first hand increased their faith. His followers also heard the word from the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Unlike many of the Jews, who heard Him quote many scriptures that they knew, sadly they did not believe.
Lord, help us to believe, not by seeing, but by allowing the word to be hid in our heart.
Redemption happens always in the presence – now as it was then; no day should be wasted with doubt and unbelieve. If at all possible, I want to learn from the past that people will always be ‘people’ – self-reliant -, deserving of compassion. What changes a persons's trajectory is who they will listen to.
God chose Abraham’s offspring to become His special envoy to the world. But they did not know Him personally, could not hear Him; He needed to make Himself known by them, first. Moses and Aaron experienced Him as their faithful Provider in the Wilderness, but later generations knew Him only through Moses’ accounts of Him, His laws and ordinances.
God chose prophets, priests, judges, and kings to introduce Him to His people, but they, too, were only ‘people’. I try to put myself into their shoes. Could God's special calling of them as a nation to be a witness to their God automatically change the individual person? I do not think so. God worked diligently throughout millennia to impress them to trust Him as their God. But even now, people remain people – stubborn, slow to learn to change their ways.
Only this last generation of the old Hebrew nation would witness in person the appearance of their Messiah foretold by their Scriptures. But again, not even the religious leaders could ‘see Him’ as the Messiah coming to fulfill God’s promise to give all who believe a new heart and spirit – Jer. 36:25-27; only a few would accept His offer.
The Holy Spirit’s work takes always place in the presence; day by day He leads people into all Truth - the Love of His Truth. His approach today is the same as it was from the Beginning – nothing has changed. Learning to fully trust our God is still a slow process. Each person travels their own, individual road toward Salvation. God keeps all His promises revealed through prophecy as they give evidence of His existence.