the tindog coffeehouse

Happy December! It’s officially the Christmas season and also the beginning of Advent.

As I mentioned in my last post, although I love Christmas, it seems odd that we put more emphasis on Jesus’ birth than on His death and resurrection. I guess it’s just more marketable that way. Everybody loves babies, but it’s not nearly as fun talking about Christ’s agonizing death on a Roman crucifix.

Anyway, as I’ve been reading my way through the Bible recently, I’ve been thinking more about how Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, as far back as Genesis and the Garden of Eden. As the Gospel of John points out, Jesus existed before the world was created. Before mankind set foot on Earth, God planned for His Son to die for us. Jesus wasn’t God’s Plan B, an audible called at the line of scrimmage after we humans dropped the ball. Jesus was planned from the very beginning.

I don’t pretend to be a Bible scholar or theologian, but it’s interesting to look at the Old Testament verses that prophesied Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. Here are some I’ve found from various sources. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.)

• Genesis 3:15 – “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Spoken by God to Satan, foretelling that he would be defeated (stricken) by Jesus.
• Genesis 49:10 – “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” The scepter (Jesus) was a descendant of Judah, one of the sons of Jacob.
• Numbers 24:17 – “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.” Again, Jesus (the “star”) was a descendant of Jacob.
• 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – Foretold that the Messiah would be descended from David, which Jesus was.
• Psalm 16:10 – “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.” Foretold Jesus’ resurrection.
• Psalm 22:1 – “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?” Quoted by Jesus on the cross.
• Psalm 22:6-18 – Fulfilled when Jesus was crucified.
• Psalm 34:20 – “For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!” Normally, a crucifixion victim’s bones would be broken to hasten his death before the Sabbath began, but Jesus died quickly so none of His bones were broken.
• Psalm 69:21 – “But instead, they give me poison for food; they offer me sour wine for my thirst.” Jesus was offered wine vinegar to quench His thirst when He was on the cross.
• Psalm 118:22 – “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” Jesus was rejected by Israel but became the cornerstone on which the Church was built.
• Isaiah 7:14 – “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
• Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
• Isaiah 11:10 – “In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.” Jesus was a descendant of David and therefore an heir to his throne.
• Isaiah 40:3 – “Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, ‘Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!’” Fulfilled by John the Baptist.
• Isaiah 50:6 – “I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.” Jesus was beaten, mocked, and spat on by Roman soldiers.
• Isaiah 53:1-12 – Foretold that Jesus would be rejected by the people and that He would be beaten and die for our sins.
• Jeremiah 23:5-6 – “‘For the time is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.’”
• Daniel 9:25-26 – Foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple after the death of Jesus (“the Anointed One”). Jesus was crucified in 33 A.D., and Jerusalem and the Jewish temple were destroyed around 70 A.D.
• Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah 9:9 – “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.” Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey in Matthew 21.
• Zechariah 11:12-13 – Foretold that Jesus would be betrayed by 30 pieces of silver, which was what Judas received for betraying Him.
• Zechariah 12:10 – “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.” Jesus’ hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and His body was pierced by a Roman soldier to make sure He was dead.
• Malachi 3:1 – “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Fulfilled by John the Baptist.
• Malachi 4:5 – “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.” Also fulfilled by John the Baptist.

Previously:
It was all because of love
‘My God, it’s full of stars’
‘His purpose in life was to go straight to the cross’
In the beginning…