12 FOUNDATION STONES - CLASS 6B PROPHETS AND PEOPLE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE, PART 2.1 Note After this class is the “Halfway-Through Self-Assessment Quiz”. Please complete the quiz and send it back to us. Thank you! ------------------------------------------ Section 1: Fulfilled Prophecy About Jesus ------------------------------------------ > Born of a virgin Nearly 750 years before Christ's birth, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied: Isaiah 7:14 - Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Fulfillment: Mary was a virgin engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, when the angel appeared to her saying, Luke 1:35 - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God." Immanuel means "God with us," and that's who Jesus is when we receive Him; God is with us! > Born in Bethlehem Micah, prophesying in the eighth century B.C., predicted: Micah 5:2 - But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Fulfillment: The Gospel says Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Matthew 2:1 - Now after Jesus waWs born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king … > Triumphal entry into Jerusalem Around 450 B.C., the prophet Zechariah commanded the people by the Spirit of the Lord to: Zechariah 9:9 - Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Fulfillment: Five days before his crucifixion, Jesus returned to Jerusalem and told His disciples, Matthew 21:2–10 - "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me." (6) So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. (7) They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. (9) Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" Besides the fact that Jesus, riding into Jerusalem on an ass, fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, another outstanding aspect of this passage is that the same people who were shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" when He rode in, were five days later going to demand His crucifixion. It was like riding into your enemy's stronghold and expecting a warm welcome! But that's what He did! He knew that the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the people were going to shout when He rode in. He even said to some of the religious hypocrites, who were trying to make the crowd keep quiet, Luke 19:40 - "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." > His betrayal In 450 B.C., Zechariah also prophesied: Zechariah 11:12–13 - Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. (13) And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter" - that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. Fulfillment: Matthew 26:14–15 - Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests (15) and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. Matthew 27:3–7 - Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. (5) Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. (6) But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." (7) And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. > His crucifixion About 1000 B.C., King David prophesied: Psalm 22:16–18 - For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; (17) I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. (18) They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. (See also Zechariah 12:10; 13:6.) Fulfillment: That was written by King David, who died a natural death (recorded in 1 Kings Chapter 1), so he wasn't talking about himself. But being a prophet, he predicted the type of death that Christ would die! It says in the New Testament: John 19:23–24 - Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus [pierced His hands and feet], took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. (24) They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be." Crucifixion was not practiced by the Jews of David's time (they used stoning), but David predicted this type of death for the Messiah, a method of execution unknown to the Jews of his time - foretold 1000 years before it happened! > His burial Isaiah 53:9 - And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death. Fulfillment: Jesus died as a criminal ("with the wicked") in the eyes of the world, as there were Matthew 27:38 - Two robbers were crucified with Him. And after His death - Matthew 27:57–60 - A rich man named Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. …When Joseph had taken the body, he … laid it in his new tomb. - a grave with the rich! > His resurrection Psalm 16:10 - For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. The Hebrew word here sheol is sometimes translated "hell" (the place of eternal punishment) and other times "grave" or the "unseen state." King David, who gave the prophecy, died and was buried and his flesh saw corruption, but Jesus was raised from the grave and Hell three days after His death. Acts 2:31 - His soul was not left in Hades [the underworld of the dead], nor did His flesh see corruption. As the angel said to the mourners who came to Jesus' tomb, Luke 24:6,5 - He is not here, but is risen! … Why do you seek the living among the dead? Jesus is alive! The Scriptures show that He walked the earth for 40 days after His resurrection and was seen by hundreds of followers! Acts 1:3 - To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 15:4–6 - He was buried ... He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) ... He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (6) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. He then ascended up to Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the throne of God, and from which He shall soon return to take over the earth and rule it for a thousand years! Mark 16:19 - So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. Now, of course, one of the arguments used against these prophecies is, "Well, the Church had almost total control of the old manuscripts from which the Bible is translated and they just doctored up the Old Testament prophecies so that they'd look like Jesus fulfilled them." This argument fell apart in 1947, when an Arab shepherd boy in Palestine stumbled across a cave containing ancient scrolls of the Old Testament, all dated before 68 A.D., and some as early as 200 B.C.! The scrolls agreed in almost every respect with the traditional Hebrew texts used in the translation of our Bible, containing the same prophecies word for word. (For more on this, see the section "Dead Sea Scrolls" in the previous class.) The other argument is that the New Testament was doctored up a little in order to make it appear that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. If that's so, how do you explain the following three prophecies and the now historical events they describe? ------------------------------------------ > Exact year of His crucifixion Daniel 9:25–26 - Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. (26) And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Summary of the prophecy, given by Daniel around 530 B.C., and its fulfillment: 1. There would be a decree to rebuild Jerusalem. 2. Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt. 3. Then an "anointed one" (Messiah) would arrive. 4. But the Messiah would be "cut off" (an idiom for rejected or killed; see Isaiah 53:8). 5. Then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed again. All of these historically recorded events later happened, in the same order in which they are described in Daniel 9:24–26: 1. The neo-Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persian empire about 2539 years ago. The Persians ruled a vast empire that included the Jewish homeland (Israel). The Persian king Cyrus gave permission to the captive Jews in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple. Then, about 2453 years ago (about 453 B.C.), the Persian king Artaxerxes gave permission to the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after having been destroyed earlier by the Babylonians. 2. The Jews rebuilt the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. 3. Then, about 2000 years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah that was promised by the Old Testament prophets. 4. But, many of the people rejected Jesus as the Messiah and He was crucified and killed. 5. Then, about 40 years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. (The Temple has not been rebuilt since then). Let's look at the details of this amazing prophecy. The commandment to "restore and build Jerusalem" - 453 B.C. In 453 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of the Persians, commanded the Jews who remained in other parts of the Persian Empire to return to the land of Israel "to restore and to build Jerusalem." 69 "weeks" or 69 x 7 = 483 years from the commandment to build Jerusalem until the "cutting off" of the Messiah The prophecy of Daniel predicted that from the time of this commandment unto the Messiah the Prince shall be - how long? - "seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks" - or 7 + 62 = 69 weeks. The word that's translated "weeks" here in the Bible is the Hebrew word shabua which means "seven." Therefore a little better, more literal translation would be "69 sevens," instead of "69 weeks." Taken literally, 69 "shabuas," or 69 sevens, would be 69 x 7, which equals 483. In the book of Genesis, a week was symbolically used to represent Jacob's seven-year service for his wife Rachel. His uncle told him, Genesis 29:27 - Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years. 453 B.C. until 30 A. D. - the year of Jesus' crucifixion = 483 years! 69 sevens of years, or 483 years, were to pass between the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem and the cutting off the Messiah. Modern historians now date the birth of Jesus at 4 B.C. and His crucifixion or "cutting off" in 30 A.D. (This is because of a miscalculation on the part of the Catholic monk, Dionysius ("Denis the Short"), who in the sixth century devised our present Christian-centered calendar system without the use of the more precise archaeological information we now have.) So Jesus actually began His ministry at 30 years of age (Luke 3:23), in the year 27 A.D., and was crucified three years later, in 30 A.D. We know from history that the commandment went forth in 453 B.C., and Jesus was "cut off" in 30 A.D. Therefore, if we add the 453 years B.C. to the 30 years A.D., it equals 483 years, the fulfillment of the 69 sevens or 483 years that Daniel predicted would transpire between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the death of the Messiah! - And this was prophesied in the year 538 B.C. - almost 600 years before Jesus the Messiah was crucified! Why the prophecy is divided into two parts Just as the prophecy divides the 69 weeks into two parts, one of seven weeks, and then 62 weeks, so there were two events that were fulfilled in these two time periods. 1) The wall and the city were built in the first seven weeks or 49 years. 2) After that, there were still 62 weeks, or 62 sevens (434 years), before the crucifixion of Christ. Daniel's prophecy continues with undeniable proof that this Messiah had to be Jesus... > Destruction of Jerusalem after His coming Daniel 9:26 - And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city [of Jerusalem] and the sanctuary [the temple]. This prophecy given in 540 B.C. shows that after the Messiah's death the city of Jerusalem and the Jews' temple would be destroyed. Fulfillment: After Jesus was cut off [crucified] in 30 A.D., not for Himself, but for the sins of the world, do you know what happened to Jerusalem and to the Jews' temple? In 70 A.D., the Roman legions marched in and burnt Jerusalem to the ground. (continued in part 2)