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Saturday, December 14, 2013

P9/11 Discovering the Identity of Jesus - Seeing how Jesus' crucifixion fits within the Old Testament Prophecies

Matthew 16:15 "He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Note to the reader: These next several posts are designed to present a cultural, historical and theological study of Jesus Christ and the facts behind the crucifixion.  In yesterday's post we considered John's Gospel identity of Jesus as - "The Son of God who came to be Savior". I have chosen to present this material partly in response to the History Channel's recent series: "Bible Secrets Revealed" and partly to give the readers of this blog a chance to see what the Four Gospels truly say about Jesus Christ.  

This particular series of blogs are more concerned with explaining the contents and validity of the four Gospel accounts.  The reader is invited to visit my other blog site to read today about how history corroborates the four Gospel accounts at: http://biblicalexegete.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/ancient-sources-demonstrating-that-the-christ-of-faith-is-the-historical-jesus/




In today's post we will begin the third part of this blog series that is dedicated to explaining the identity of Jesus Christ in light of the historical and doctrinal reality of His crucifixion and resurrection.  To review the ground we have traveled far in this blog series, we have so far considered two general areas in our discovery of Jesus' identity:

1. PART ONE: OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUNDS LEADING TO A PROFILE THAT CAN AID IN IDENTIFYING JESUS
Lesson One: Telling the Old Testament story
Lesson Two: Significant Meetings between God and key people
Lesson Three: To what place does the Old Testament story lead us to?

2. PART TWO: CONCERNING THE RECORDS OF JESUS’ LIFE AS A MEANS OF TYING TOGETHER THE OLD TESTAMENT RECORD
Lesson One: Matthew’s Gospel identity of Jesus – King and Lord
Lesson Two: Mark’s Gospel’s identity of Jesus – The King who came serve as a Ransom for many
Lesson Three: Luke’s Gospel’s identity of Jesus – The Son of Man
Lesson Four: John’s Gospel’s identity of Jesus – The Son of God, The ultimate sacrifice for sin
Lesson Five: Summarizing the Picture of Jesus in the Gospels



My prayer is that through this series you are getting to know Jesus better.  And so now we will move to the first lesson in the final Part of this study: Seeing how the crucifixion fits with the Old Testament's Prophecies about Jesus Christ.

PART THREE: IDENTITY OF JESUS AND THE CRUCIFIXION
Lesson One: Seeing how the crucifixion fits within the Old Testament’s prophecies about Jesus Christ

Introduction
Although some clues about Jesus’ death within the Old Testament framework have been observed, it is here that we want to observe in more detail explicit proof about the appropriateness for claiming the reality and reasons for the crucifixion accounts in the Gospel records. 


Key Old Testament Texts explicitly prophesying the death of God’s agent of salvation

1. Psalm 22
a). Details are given about the death of God’s servant (The name given to this agent of salvation) that parallels exactly with that of crucifixion

b). Jesus quotes the beginning of this passage on the cross

c). The attitudes and actions of His accusers and executioners are explained in striking detail paralleling that of the Gospel records

d). The Servant’s hands and feet being pierced parallels that of the putting of nails through the hands and feet in crucifixion

e). This prophecy occurred 1000 years prior to Jesus crucifxion
2. Isaiah 53
a). The idea of one person representing the entire nation and world is a concept spoken of in passages such as Ezekiel 14.

b). The Servant spoken of in this passage received strips or deep gouges in His back, a practice described to the detail of the Roman practice of scourging of prisoners before crucifixion. The practice of crucifixion would not be invented until roughly 350 years after the writing of Isaiah, demonstrating the prophetic reality of the scriptures!

c). This prophecy occurred 700 years before Jesus’ crucifixion. By the days of Jesus, crucifixion was a practice that was 350 years old, having been first utilized by the Persians and perfected by the Romans.

3. Zechariah 12
a). This passage is referring to what will occur at the second coming of Jesus. Jesus, having been crucified, buried, raised and ascended some 2,000 years ago, will come again still retaining glorified resurrected body with nail prints in His hands and feet.

b). The fountain opened up on this day refers to the nation of Israel having access to the promise gained by His crucifixion on the cross

c). This prophecy of Zechariah occurred 600 years before Jesus’ crucifixion

Questions:

1. Do these passages allow there room for the death, burial, resurrection and ascnesion of Jesus Christ as an appropriate event in light of His perfect life and mission?

2. Do these passage indicate that such an event was God’s will?

More tomorrow........