“Everything Must Be Fulfilled”
[Luke 24:36-49]
April 26, 2009 Second Reformed Church
We continue from last week’s Scripture – it is still the early hours after midnight, after the resurrection. The eleven are together, with a number of the other disciples, along with Cleopas and his friend, who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They had just told the story of how they met Jesus – and that He is physically risen from the dead – He is alive. And Simon Peter recounted to them how he, also, had seen the risen Jesus.
Just then, Jesus appeared among them in the locked room and said, “Peace to you!” And they were shocked – they were frightened – they didn’t know what to make of His appearing, except to think that this must be His Spirit come among them.
But why would they think that? Hadn’t they just been rejoicing, discussing the physical visitations of Jesus that they had been part of? Why would they suddenly think – to use the old word – that Jesus’ Ghost had appeared?
We can imagine Jesus shaking His Head at them as He asks them why they are troubled. He asks them why doubts were arising in their hearts. Jesus had appeared to them before, why were they still doubting? Why didn’t they understand?
So Jesus told them to examine His Hands and Feet – to touch Him – to see that it is really Jesus. He has flesh and bones. He has risen in His Perfected, yet Physical Body. So, they examined His Body. They saw that it was Jesus and He was alive there in His Physical Body. But it was still too much for some of them – some of them were so filled with the joy of Jesus being alive, yet still carrying the knowledge of His Crucifixion and Death, that they still could not believe it was true. How could this be? They had seen Him die. They had buried Him. They wanted to believe, but they were in such shock that they marveled at Him and could not bring themselves to understand.
We can understand their joy and their difficulty in making sense of what was happening. If one of our loved ones died, and we saw him or her dead and buried, and then that loved one appeared in a locked room, alive, not a ghost, but having a physical body, we would likely be afraid, stunned, confused....
But our Lord is so merciful: after letting them touch and examine His Body, that they would see that He is flesh and bone, that He had the wounds of the scourging and the crucifixion, He condescended to give them another sign to prove that He was really, bodily there, and that He is really the same Jesus: He asked them for something to eat. And they gave Him some boiled fish, and He ate it.
And then He entered into the Bible study He had given to the men on the road to Emmaus: Jesus explained that what happened was exactly what He told them would happen, and that He had to fulfill everything that was written about Him in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Jesus said that what happened was all part of the prophecies made about Him – the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Son of God – so everything had to be fulfilled.
We can assume that Jesus began to explain to them, now, how all the Scriptures pointed to Him and the things He would have to endure to accomplish His Work as the Savior of Israel. And again, understand, when we read that Jesus interpreted the Scriptures, we’re only talking about the Old Testament – the New Testament didn’t exist yet – and when we read that He began with Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms, we are to understand that Jesus began with Genesis and explained how it showed Him to be the Savior, then Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And we’re told that Jesus opened their minds so they would be able to understand the Scriptures.
What Scriptures was Jesus talking about? We can’t possibly go through all the prophecies about Jesus that He fulfilled this morning, but let me just mention a few of them to you:
In the writings of Moses, when God cursed the serpent, He said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15, ESV). This is considered “the first Gospel” – that the day would come when the serpent’s offspring would bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring, but her offspring would bruise his head. In other words, that the devil would have Jesus put to death, but through the resurrection, the devil would be defeated.
John describes what happened in this way: “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and a half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea” (Revelation 12:13-17, ESV).
And Moses records for us the appearance of Melchizedek – the priest-king of Salem, “And Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed [Abram] and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High. Possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand ’” (Genesis 14:18-20, ESV).
The author of Hebrews explains that this is a pre-Incarnate appearance of Jesus, in which we see that He is the One and Only Human to hold the offices of Priest, King, and Prophet: “For this Melchizedek. King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also the king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever” (Hebrew 7:1-3. ESV).
In the Gospels, we have the record of prophecies of the Psalms being fulfilled:
“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 13:35; cf. Psalm 78:2, ESV).
“This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, ‘They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots’” (John 19:24b; cf. Psalm22:18, ESV).
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst’” (John 19:28; cf. Psalm 69:21, ESV).
“For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’ And again another Scripture says, ‘They will look on him whom they have pierced’” (John 19:36-37; cf. Psalm 34:20, ESV).
And also the words of the prophets themselves:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:22; cf. Isaiah 7:14, ESV).
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Micah 5:2, ESV).
“And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, ‘In the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and the shadow of death, on them a light has dawned’” (Matthew 4:13-16; cf. Isaiah 9:2; 42:7, ESV).
“Jesus, aware [that they wanted to kill him], withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope’” (Matthew 12:15-21; cf. Isaiah 42:1-4, ESV).
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, mounted on a donkey; and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden’” (Matthew 21:4-5; cf. Zechariah 9:9, ESV).
And there are many more.
So, according to the Scripture, according to the Word of God, did Jesus fulfill all of the prophecies concerning the Promised Savior? No.
“But wasn’t the whole point of the Scriptures you just went through to show us that Jesus did fulfill all those prophecies?” Someone is at least thinking.
Do you remember I have used the example of prophecy being like a series or range of mountains, which from a distance look like they are right on top of each other, but when you actually get a close look at them, you see that they are far apart? The same is true of prophecy, and that is something that many of the people in Jesus’ day missed. For example, many thought that after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He would overthrow the Roman government and bring God’s Kingdom to earth. Well, it is true, Jesus is bringing God’s Kingdom to earth, even now, but it will not fully come until Jesus returns to judge and restore the earth.
So, Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies about the Promised Savior that had to do with His First Coming, and we are confident, based on His fulfillment of all those prophecies, that He will fulfill all of the prophecies relating to His Second Coming. There are still prophecies in the Scripture to be fulfilled, and they will be fulfilled in God’s Time.
Thus, Jesus explained to the disciples that He had to suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day, because that was what was prophesied and necessary for Him to do to accomplish His Work and to fulfill the Scriptures.
Once they had some understanding of this, Jesus told them that it is the work of Jesus’ disciples to spread the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness for sins. They, and we, are witnesses to Jesus’ Salvation, beginning where we are and extending out to the whole world – every people, tribe, and nation. And Jesus promised them that they would receive power – in the form of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, after Jesus ascended, so He told them to wait in Jerusalem.
How, then, shall we live?
This morning’s Scripture reaffirms the fact the Jesus physically rose from the dead, and we hold on in hope and with sure confidence that on that last day, Jesus will also raise all of us who believe. So let us cling to that hope and never lose it. Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ shall come again, and all of His people can say, “I will die; I will rise, when He comes again.”
We also see, and we will see more clearly as we read our Bibles, that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies concerning Himself and His First Coming, thus proving Who He is. And we are confident that He will fulfill all the prophecies concerting His Second Coming.
And, Jesus has called every one of us to be witness to and for the Gospel. Now, every Christian immediately receives the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. Each one who believes has God inside him or her, leading, reminding, and helping him or her to understand.
So let us give thanks to our God and Savior. Let us know Him and believe Him. Let’s follow Him and show others Who He is through our words and deeds.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You that You have given us confidence through the witness of Jesus fulfilling all You called Him to fulfill in His First Coming. Inspire us to continue to comb the Scriptures to see Jesus in them. And may we be faithful and productive sons and daughters in the field of this world, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
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