March 27 I Saturday

Judges 1-3

Luke 4:1-30

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.”   —Luke 24:27

The prophets of the Old Testament foresaw Christ as their ultimate vision. Many prophecies were written to give us precise details about Christ. Micah 5:2, written about 800 years before Christ was born, said that He will come from Bethlehem. Isaiah 7:14 prophesied how Christ would be born of a virgin. About His life, Hosea 11:1 tells us that Christ would be taken to Egypt and brought out of Egypt as a young boy. Isaiah 11:1 goes on to say that Christ would be called a “Nazarene;” a play on the Hebrew word netzer meaning “branch.” Zechariah 9:9 even records the King coming and riding on a donkey, which Jesus did on Palm Sunday. 

       When it comes to Jesus’s death, we have many graphic descriptions of it in Scripture. Isaiah 53 described Jesus and the afflictions He endured because of our sins. Psalm 22, written almost a thousand years before Christ, details the crucifixion. Verses 16-18 say, “…they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” The description of these verses perfectly conveys Jesus’s crucifixion, but crucifixion was not yet invented when David wrote the psalm. In fact, piercing a person’s hands and feet were not a common way to kill a person. 

       There were also prophecies about Jesus’s resurrection. For example, Psalm 16:10 tells us, “…You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will You let Your Faithful One see decay.” Somebody counted that there are about 333 prophecies about Jesus’s birth, life, death and resurrection in the Old Testament. The chance for every single one of these prophecies to be fulfilled is about one in 83 billion. Yet, the remarkable thing is that these prophecies were fulfilled in detail. It was not like Jesus, as a boy, decided, “When I grow up, I would like to be the Messiah. Let Me work out all the prophecies and make sure I fit them.” It would not be possible because some of these prophecies had to do with the place of the Messiah’s birth, the nature of His birth and the family line—there was no way He could control all that.

       We have a solid reason for believing Jesus is the Christ: born in Bethlehem, lived the life He lived, was crucified and raised again from the dead—because He fulfilled all the prophecies about Christ, some even written a thousand years in advance. May we understand that Jesus is the Christ and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

Prayer: Precious Jesus, You are the Christ who came to save the world. I am in utter amazement at how the Old Testament prophecies are all true about You. Praise You!