Lesson Eight
The Witness of Fulfilled Old Testament Prophecies

Jesus is referred to "as the Word". Scripture is also called "the Word".
The scriptures in the hands of the Jewish people were what we called, The Old Testament.

OT Scripture testifies of Jesus


It would have been awesome to be walking on that road to Emmaus listening to Jesus give that bible study to two travelers. But we can look in scriptures as well to see how they testify (witness) that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah!

Some of the most significant prophecies regarding our Savior:

The Birth of Jesus:
Isaiah 7: 14;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 18:32 I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
1 Tim. 1:2 Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Micah 5:2, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth
Matth. 2 :1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,

The Forerunner John the Baptist

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John 1:23 He said, I [am] the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

His Anointing:
Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him
John 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;

Temple cleansed
Psalms 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;
John 2:16-17 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Trouble with Family
Psalms 69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
Mark 3:31 There came then his brethren and his mother,[to try and persuade him to be more compliant] 3:33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
3:34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Triumphal Entry
Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
John 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed [is] the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
12:14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
12:15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

Judas at the Last Supper
Psalms 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
John 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

Thirty Pieces of Silver
Zechariah 11:12 And I said unto them, If you think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was priced at of them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Matth 26:15 And [Judas] said, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Matth. 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ...
27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself... 27:7 And they took counsel, and took the silver and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

Crucifixion
Psalms 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me.
22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
Psalms 34:20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

John 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
19:37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Matt. 27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

And the most read OT description of Jesus dying for our sins, is found in
Isaiah 53

Amen! This is The Greatest Miracle. The life you receive through this miracle is why you live a godly life. Ultimately, you will either bear fruit because you have life or be burned because you don't.

Jesus was a narcissist. He just would not stop lifting Himself up. Check out our full discussion of this topic at SSGG 11/23/24 - Themes in the Gospel of John: "Fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies" and share any comments, questions, or concerns.

Jesus was no more a narcissist than a are the life saving team risking their lives to save people on a sinking ship in the midst of a huge storm, shouting to drowning people to grab the lifeline and be pulled into safety.

What Jesus has done goes far beyond the heroic, self denying rescue personnel.
Jesus IS God, one with the Father. The only Savior (both the Father and the Son are said to be the only Savior) because they are one God, in two persons. That is who Jesus is.
The very One Who spoke and creation happened, the very One Who gave the law in the Old Testament, came to this earth as a human to save the transgressors of God's law,-- all who truly believe in Him.

People think the Old Testament God is different from Jesus. That's not correct. The Old Testament is all about Jesus. Jesus was the member of the Godhead who spoke and acted in the Old Testament. He was the One in the cloud of fire leading Israel, He was the Rock from which flowed life giving water. He was also the One Who routed Israel's enemies when they appealed to Him for help. He is the way, the truth and the life.

When Jesus tried to reveal this truth to critics in Jerusalem, He did NOT stand there thinking -- boy, I'm sure going to show these guys who I really am, I've got more ammunition than they ever bargained for-- I'm going to show them.
NO!
Jesus wept over stubborn Jerusalem "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," he said, "thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but ye would not." Again He weeps over the devoted city, exclaiming, "O that you would have known, even thou in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace." Then with tears in His eyes and quivering lips, He pronounced the irrevocable sentence, "But now they are hid from thine eye." {BTS, September 1, 1908 par. 5}

A narcissist is a "wanno be" who lifts himself up above everyone, but is NOT what he wants people to think he is. His behavior is usually very selfish and putting the other person to disadvantage.
That is NOT Jesus, not even remotely.

Jesus was willing to lay it all aside, in order to save us.
He IS God, one with the Father. They are one together in all of salvation. Perfect, unselfish love. Perfect holiness. To see Jesus, is to see the Father. It is reality. It is the ONLY way of salvation.

So why compare the awesome LOVE, the total unselfish love of Christ to a self serving narcissist?

The video addressed exactly that question. Was any of it unclear? Maybe watch it again. It?s less than 60 seconds.

So true. He was the express image of the Father.

Yes, far beyond. He came to give life to the dead.

Did you know that keeping the law doesn?t give life? Shocking to some, but true. If there was a law that could give life, then righteousness would have been by the law. Galatians 3:21 But the righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus, not by the law. Romans 3:21-22 If you want to hear more, check out our discussion here: SSGG 11/30/24 - Themes in the Gospel of John: "The Source of Life"

Jesus is not the way TO life because He is the way OF life. He is not the path to your destination because He IS your destination. When you get Him, you have arrived. He is where you want to go, and He is where you want to stay for eternity. Check out our full discussion here: SSGG 12/07/24 - Themes in the Gospel of John: "The Way, the Truth, and the Life"

Very true. A transgressed law can't save anyone, nor can it forgive anyone, we've all transgressed, so there's no way the law could save us, it can only point out that we are transgressors.
We need Jesus who alone has provided salvation.

But, as Paul emphatically says, this does NOT remove from the law, it's role in the saving process.
Jesus is called THE WORD in John's gospel. In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God.
Why is Jesus called the WORD? Because every word that comes from His mouth is life
Those WORDS are written in scripture for our benefit that we may eat them and have something reliable to base our experiences upon.

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4
Yes, we need the quickening power of the Holy Spirit for spiritual discernment. We need Jesus, the very source of life, yet Jesus says
the WORDS that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the WORDS of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. John 6:68-69

And Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the WORDS of the covenant, the ten commandments. Ex. 34:28

A transgressed law cannot forgive the transgressor, it cannot save. Even if we never transgress that particular sin again, we are still guilty. We need a Savior, to forgive us and to spiritually raise us to newness of life in Him.

The law has three basic purposes
1. It shows us we have sinned, it identifies sin, the law condemns us, alerting us, as the Holy Spirit convicts us, that we need a Savior. The law's role in our salvation is for the purpose to help us see our need for a Savior and respond to His saving grace. When we come to Christ He delivers us from the condemnation of the law forgiving our past sin, and breaking the strangle hold sin has upon us.

This is what Romans 7:6-7 is talking about: "Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Was the law the sin problem? God forbid. No, I would not have recognized sin, except by the law: for I would not have recognized lust, except the law said, Thou shalt not covet.

2. The second purpose of the law, , it is to teach all people right from wrong. It's principles, if accepted, restrain them from descending into corruption. They are principles not only of eternal value, but for a better life right here. The disregard for God's law, not only robs people of eternal life, it robs them of a safe and peaceful society right here in our temporal lives. This earth is like a theater, in which the righteousness of God's laws are shown against the terrible consequences that are the natural result of disregarding God's law.
Every person in tune with God will be convinced that God's ways are Not arbitrary or restrictive, but they are right, good, holy and the only way to live in a happy, safe, and peaceful society.

It's this concept of the law that we find in 1 Timothy 1:8-9 But we know that the law [is] good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
it's not made to restrain righteousness but to put a restraint on sinful society in general, from which God calls us to flee.


3. The third purpose of the law:
The moral life of the believer in Christ, is shaped by God?s WORD, moral law (the ten commandments). People claim many things as coming from the "spirit", but to know truth we need to know the WORDS of truth recorded in scripture for our benefit. The Holy Spirit does not work against the WORD of truth, He works through the WORD, He leads us into all truth glorifying Christ Who spoke the WORD.
Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
WORD, it is because there is no light in them.

The law cannot save transgressors, only Jesus can save us, but those who wilfully reject the law, the words Jesus spoke on Mt. Sinai, will not escape the condemnation of that law,

As born-again children of God, the law enlightens us about what pleases our Father.
Serving as a guide for living in Christ: It helps Christians understand how to live according to God's principles. The person in Christ, will love HIS law,.
Psalms 119:105 Thy WORD is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Psalms 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me

John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.