Photo by Shane Hoving on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” Matthew 26:54
In the previous devotion Jesus asks if we had read the scripture about His rejection by the Jews (Psalm 118). Now we move on to the night of His betrayal in the Garden. In the previous devotion Jesus is taunting the Pharisees because he knows they have read the scripture, but in their unbelief, they refuse to believe. This night Jesus points out to His disciples that what is happening is another fulfillment of Old Testament scripture.
There are over 350 prophecies in the Old Testament pertaining to Jesus. He fulfilled all of them that pertained to His time on Earth. He will fulfil the rest when He returns. In this instance a friend is betraying Him. A mob comes to get Him at night. Peter slices off the ear of one of the temple servants. Jesus stops Peter, heals the man’s ear, and let’s himself be taken into custody. These actions fulfill prophecy in Psalm 31:11, Psalm 40:14, Psalm 41:9, Psalm 55:12-14, and Isaiah 53.
There are several other prophecies that pertain to Jesus and the passion week. This website lists many of the passion week prophecies; https://www.holydaycelebration.com/easter-2/old-testament-prophecies-fulfilled-during-the-passion-week/
God knew from the time he created Adam and Eve what would happen with humanity. How we would fall from grace and require a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for our sins. The blood of animals would not suffice. Only a sinless person sacrificed for the sins of everyone would defeat Satan, sin, and death. God foretells this with the first prophecy in the Bible – Genesis 3.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:14-15
This seed is Jesus, the sinless Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary. In this way, Jesus was born without sin and lived a sinless life as the Son of God and the Son of Man. We come back to Psalm 118 again. Another prophetic Psalm we discussed last week.
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. Psalm 118:22-23
God is in control. His plan is in place. We better be ready.
Contemplation: Since God is in control how should I live me life?
