Sunday May 28
Jesus in the Old Testament
All through his epistles, Peter writes with a sense of certainty. He knows what he is talking about because he knows whom he is talking about. And one reason is that he knows that Jesus was the One to whom the Old Testament prophets pointed. It was Peter’s trust in the Written Word that helped him know the Word “made flesh” (John 1:14).
In 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter points his readers to the Hebrew Bible, to the prophets of old, and what they taught about Jesus.
1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you:
1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
According to Peter, the Holy Spirit revealed in the Old Testament two crucial truths about Jesus: the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories that would follow (1 Pet. 1:11). These two strands can be found throughout the Hebrew Bible.
It is interesting and sad to see that even today the Jews reject the verses that reveal the suffering of their Messiah.
What do these texts together teach about what the Old Testament predicted concerning Jesus? Psalm 22; Isa. 53:1-12; Zech. 12:10, 13:7; Jer. 33:14, 15; Dan. 7:13, 14.
22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring?
22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
22:3 But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
22:6 But I [am] a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying],
22:8 He trusted on the LORD [that] he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
22:9 But thou [art] he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope [when I was] upon my mother's breasts.
22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother's belly.
22:11 Be not far from me; for trouble [is] near; for [there is] none to help.
22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong [bulls] of Bashan have beset me round.
22:13 They gaped upon me [with] their mouths, [as] a ravening and a roaring lion.
22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me.
22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
22:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
22:21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
22:23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
22:24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
22:25 My praise [shall be] of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
22:26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
22:28 For the kingdom [is] the LORD'S: and he [is] the governor among the nations.
22:29 All [they that be] fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
22:30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
22:31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done [this].
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man [that is] my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
33:14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.
In 1 Peter 1:10-12, Peter assures his readers that they occupy a very special place in salvation history. To them had been revealed much more than what was revealed to the prophets of old. The prophets indeed spoke to their own times, but crucial parts of their messages would not be fulfilled until the coming of Christ.
Some of what the prophets had predicted had come true only in the time in which Peter’s readers were then living. These readers were able to hear from those “that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” truths that even the angels desired to know (1 Pet. 1:12). Having had the gospel preached to them, the people knew in much more detail than did the prophets of old the reality and nature of the Redeemer’s suffering and humiliation. Of course, they will have to wait, as will we, for “the glory that should follow” (1 Pet. 1:11). With the first part of those prophecies fulfilled, we can be certain about the last part, as well.
What biblical promises have you seen fulfilled in your life? Which ones are you still waiting for, what do they mean to you, and how can you learn to hold on to them, no matter what?
There are some wonderful promises to be fulfilled in our time. The one most wanted is the soon coming of Jesus. But, these promises are swallowed up in the one most important: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezekiel 36:25-27.
If these promises are not fulfilled in my life or our life, then the second coming of Jesus will be a terror, not a joy. Since they are God's promises, why are not all saved? Is there something I must do in order to claim them? If so, what must I do?