JESUS, THE FULFILLED PROPHECY OF MESSIAH
By Pastor Paulus Budiono Lemah Putro, Sunday, July 26, 2020
Shalom,
Our faith comes by hearing the word of God and as our faith grows, we are enabled to stand firm facing hard situations nowadays. His word is dwelling in us and He has even sacrificed Himself for our sake. And because of the faith we have in Him, we can still hear His Word virtually, wherever we are. We have the same faith in only one Word, which is God Himself who exists from the beginning to the end.
Let’s ponder on the Word of God in the gospel of John 12:12-19, “The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel!" Jesus found a donkey and rode on it, just as the scripture says, "Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Here comes your king, riding on a young donkey." His disciples did not understand this at the time; but when Jesus had been raised to glory, they remembered that the scripture said this about him and that they had done this for Him…”
The prophecy in the Old Testament in Zechariah 9:9 was truly fulfilled in Jesus of which the story was written by the Apostle John. The problem was that the disciples of Jesus did not understand this because Jesus hadn’t died yet at the time. They just followed the crowd to spread the clothes on the road, took the branches of palm trees (Mark 11:8) and shouted, “Hosanna!” Eventually, right after Jesus died and rose, they realized that the prophecy in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the very Person of Jesus.
Indeed, it is not easy to expound the prophecies in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. If we do not have the right understanding toward the prophetic word of God, it may cause us to give improper response – it might be either too soon or too late or emotional, etc. For example: because of pandemic Covid-19, many “prophecies” appear in social-media saying this and that and they are confusing the readers. Unfortunately, we do not realize that what is happening had actually been written in the Bible.
Do the prophecies go by just like the wind blows? The Apostle Peter reminds us not to interpret the prophecies in the Bible according to our own will because they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to His ambassadors (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Apostle John also asks us not to believe in every spirit. Instead, we should test whether it comes from God or not for there are many false prophets in all over the world (1 John 4:1). In addition, the Apostle Paul stresses on the importance of being alert in this end time because there will be many prophecies made up by men to fit the Bible verses and they will confuse us (2 Thessalonians 2).
Because the disciples didn’t understand the essence of the prophecy, they ran away when Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26:56), Peter disowned his Teacher (vv. 69-75) and even Judas Iscariot betrayed and sold Jesus (vv. 14-16) who had been planned by God and prophesied to save the sinners.
Actually, almost all books in the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, prophecy about Messiah – Jesus. Some prophecies in Old Testament had been fulfilled, and some not yet. It goes the same to the New Testament. The writings of the apostles also contain prophecies – some of them had been fulfilled, but some are kept for the future. Hence, we don’t need to take the explanation and the prophecy of any writer/preacher, no matter how great they are, as we must go back to the Bible as the only one book that has been inspired by the Holy Spirit (God’s breath). As long as the preaching and the prophecy are based on the Bible, we need to take heed, understand and believe that some prophecies had been fulfilled, some are being and will be fulfilled.
It is said, “Don’t be afraid, O daughter of Zion! Here comes your King riding on a donkey”. It sounds strange that a king sits on a donkey, not on a tall and strong horse. Is a young donkey able to bring the king to the battle field? The Apostle John quoted Zachariah 9:9 which spoke about a king who saved the daughter of Zion. The King was just, having salvation, and tender. He was prophesying about Jesus (the King of the Jews) who was tender, just and was going to save the daughter of Zion/Jerusalem/the Jews at the time.
The same Jesus who is tender, just, humble, and was even willing to die for the salvation of the sinners, will come again, riding a white horse instead of a young donkey, followed by the armies from Heaven riding white horses too (Revelation 19:11-13). He will defeat the beast (antichrist) and the false prophets, cast them alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (vv. 19-20). Finally, the devil will also be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10).
The disciples (including John) had followed Jesus for about 3½ years but they didn’t fathom the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the King who was coming and riding a donkey because Jesus hadn’t been glorified and the Holy Spirit hadn’t come yet. About 60 years later, the Holy Spirit moved the old Apostle John to write the gospel of John (± AD 85-90).
Application: We should pray for all the pulpit speakers, so that they will not deliver the Word of God in their own interpretation, or quote the philosophy of this world or the writings of great people only to please the ears. Otherwise, they must deliver the Word of God in the anointing of the Holy Spirit because the Bible is completely perfect.
God has His own time and nothing is too late for Him. When did John believe in that prophecy? After the Holy Spirit was poured down at the Pentecost day (Acts 2:1-11). Such was the case with Peter who, after being anointed by the Holy Spirit, boldly preached that the crucified Jesus was Lord and Messiah. The apostles had nerves to account the Word of God with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As the result, three thousand people repented (v. 41) and the number grew to about five thousand people (Acts 4:4).
The Apostle John also wrote about Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, who anointed Jesus’ feet with the oil of spikenard, causing its fragrance to fill the house. Jesus said that Mary’s deed was to prepare for the day of His burial (John 12:7). At that time, Jesus had not been glorified yet; so the apostle did not understand it.
Some Greeks were among those who had gone to Jerusalem to worship during the feast of Passover and said to Philip that they wanted to see Jesus. Philip told Andrew and the two of them went and told Jesus (John 12:20-22). What was Jesus response? “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory.” (v.23). Then, Jesus told them about His death by taking an example of a grain of wheat. To produce many grains, it should be dropped into the ground and dies (v.24). It is clear that the glory of Jesus was begun with His death – resurrection – ascension to Heaven. To be freed from the eternal punishment of sin, we must go through this process too.
At the night of Passover, Jesus said to His disciples that one of them would betray Him. Peter asked John, the one whom Jesus loved, to ask Him whom He was talking about. Jesus answered that he who received the bread after He dipped it (John 13:21-26), yet the disciples couldn’t understand. Judas Iscariot accepted the bread and went out at once, then Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man's glory is revealed; now God's glory is revealed through Him.” (vv.28-31)
On another occasion, Jesus prayed, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you.” (John 17:1). Furthermore, He prayed, “I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one.” (v.22). Obviously the purpose of the glory which God gives us is not to make us arrogant, thinking that our church is the greatest and has the purest teaching, etc. Instead, the glory we receive is to make us one and united. Be alert, the world nowadays is pursuing the vain glory and sadly but true, competitions over the acknowledgement of the best ministers or donators even happen in church.
When was Jesus glorified? When He ascended to Heaven and His disciples were filled by the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost day. Since then, the apostles and early churches kept glorifying Jesus; they returned the glory that they received to Jesus, the Giver of the glory. So, we receive the glory not out of our effort or diligence either in our ministry or giving the tithe and offering to God.
Jesus did know many of His disciples did not understand yet, but He comforted and promised them to send the Holy Spirit to remind them of whatever He had told them (John 14:26). Because of their misunderstanding, they all almost failed. Fortunately, they repented (except Judas Iscariot) and Jesus filled them with Holy Spirit. Be careful, if we make the Holy Spirit grieve, we will not be able to understand the Word of God. Therefore, live peacefully with Holy Spirit, hence we can remember God’s Word and put it into practice as well.
All those stories above (Mary anointed Jesus’ feet, Jesus was welcomed in Jerusalem, the Greeks wanted to see Jesus, and Judas Iscariot sold Jesus) happened before Jesus was glorified. Yet they took place on His way to His glory as He was obediently and devoutly walking toward Golgotha to become the eternal Author of Salvation for those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-10).
Actually, Jesus was powerful to give His life and also powerful to take it back (John 10:18) but as a good Shepherd, He gave His life willingly for the sake of His ‘naughty’ flock (the Jews) and another flock (gentiles). On the cross, He was glorified by the repented criminal who honored Him as King (Luke 23:40-43).
Now, we have Bible which aged more than two thousand years and Jesus has been glorified. Let’s put away the burden of sins that gets in the way, and let’s run with determination the race that lies before us and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who leads us in faith and bring it to the perfection (Hebrews 12:1- 4). Remember, to receive the glory, we must carry out all the process by bearing the cross obediently and never forsake Christ’s sacrifice. However, our struggle against sins doesn’t take a blood shed yet.
Indeed, the Book of Genesis has prophesied that the descendant of Eve (that is Jesus) will trample the head of the snake (Devil; Genesis 3 cf. Galatian 4) and the book of Revelation also writes that Jesus is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14) who will conquer the Devil and his followers (Revelation 19-20). Now, Jesus has been glorified by defeating death through His sacrifice on the cross. While waiting for His second coming, how do we serve Him? Is it the calvary or the the world’s splendor that entice us? Pay attention, our choice now determines our future. Amen.
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