CHAPTER 3 JESUS AND THE ROLE OF THE PROPHETS

A mighty Savior
Jesus shall be called a Nazarene
The Ancient Prophets were persecuted too
They shall all be taught of God
A Prophet’s reward
The use of obscure stories
The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God
The Messiah –the Christ of God
You are the Messiah
A new Prophet?
What happiness there is!
How privileged you are!
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day
How shall you escape the judgment of hell?
This is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets
This generation will be held responsible
Will only a few be saved?
Your house is left desolate
Jesus again predicts his death
Predicted by the Prophets
A tree and its fruit
Many false prophets
Many false Messiahs and false prophets
Sadness is ahead

A Mighty Savior
LUKE 1:67-71
Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has come to visit his people and has redeemed (regained and purchased the freedom of) them. He is sending us a Mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago – someone to save us from our enemies, from all who hate us.”

Jesus shall be called a Nazarene
MATTHEW 2:19-23
When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and told him, “Get up and take the baby and his mother back to Israel, for those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” So Joseph returned immediately to Israel with Jesus and his mother. But on the way he was frightened to learn that the new king was Herod’s son, Archelaus. Then, in another dream, Joseph was warned not to go to Judea, so they went to Galilee instead, and lived in Nazareth. This fulfilled the prediction of the prophets concerning the Messiah, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

The Ancient Prophets were persecuted too
MATTHEW 5:10-12
Jesus said “Happy are those who are persecuted because they are good, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” “When you are reviled and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers – wonderful! Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a tremendous reward awaits you up in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too.”

They shall all be taught of God
JOHN 6:45-46
Jesus said, “As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Those the Father speaks to, who learn the truth from him, will be attracted to me (Jesus). (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen him.)”

A Prophet’s reward
MATTHEW 10:40-42
Jesus said, “Those who welcome you are welcoming me. And when they welcome me they are welcoming God who sent me. If you welcome a prophet because he is a man of God, you will be given the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly men because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if, as my representatives, you give a cup of cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.” (Note: God in his love and mercy confers his greatest blessings as rewards upon those who don’t really deserve them.)

The use of obscure stories
MATTHEW 13:10-17
Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Why do you always use these obscure stories?”
Then he explained to them that only they were permitted to understand about the Kingdom of Heaven, and others were not.
“For to him who has will more be given,” he told them, “and he will have great plenty; but from him who has not, even the little he has will be taken away. That is why I use these stories, so that people will hear and see but not understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah, ‘They hear, but don’t understand; they look, but don’t see! For their hearts are fat and heavy, and their ears are dull, and they have closed their eyes in sleep, so they won’t see and hear and understand and turn to God again, and let me heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. Many a prophet and godly man has longed to see what you have seen, and hear what you have heard, but couldn’t.”

The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God
MATTHEW 16:13-16
When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who are the people saying I am?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist; some Elijah; some, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Who do you think I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

The Messiah – the Christ of God
LUKE 9:18-20
One day as Jesus was alone, praying, with his disciples nearby, he came over and asked them, “Who are the people saying I am?”
“John the Baptist,” they told him, “or perhaps Elijah or one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Who do you think I am?”
Peter replied, “The Messiah – the Christ of God!”

You are the Messiah
MARK 8:27-30
Jesus and his disciples now left Galilee and went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along Jesus asked them, “Who do the people think I am? What are they saying about me?”
“Some of them think you are John the Baptist,” the disciples replied, “and others say you are Elijah or some other ancient prophet come back to life again.”
Then Jesus asked, “Who do you think I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.” But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone.

A new Prophet?
MARK 6:14-15
King Herod soon heard about Jesus, for his miracles were talked about everywhere. The king thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life again. So the people were saying, “No wonder he can do such miracles.” Others thought Jesus was Elijah the ancient prophet, now returned to life again; still others claimed he was a new prophet like the great ones of the past.

What happiness there is!
LUKE 6:20-23
Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “What happiness there is for you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours! What happiness there is for you who are now hungry, for you are going to be satisfied. What happiness there is for you who weep, for the time will come when you shall laugh with joy. What happiness it is when others hate you and exclude you and insult you and smear your name (damaging your reputation by false and unwarranted accusations) because you are mine! When that happens, rejoice! Yes, leap for joy! For you will have a great reward awaiting you in heaven. And you will be in good company – the ancient prophets were treated that way too.”

How privileged you are!
LUKE 10:23-24
Then, turning to the twelve disciples, Jesus said quietly, “How privileged you are to see what you have seen. Many a prophet and king of old has longed for these days, to see and hear what you have seen and heard.”

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day
JOHN 8:52-58
The leaders of the Jews said, “Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the mightiest prophets died, and yet you say that obeying you will keep a man from dying. So you are greater than our father Abraham, who died? And greater than the prophets, who died? Who do you think you are?”
Then Jesus told them this: “If I were merely boasting about myself, it would not count. But it is my Father – and you claim him as your God – who is saying these glorious things about me. But you do not even know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you. But it is true – I know him and fully obey him. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He knew I was coming and was glad.”
The Jewish leaders said: “You aren’t even fifty years old – and you’ve seen Abraham?”
Jesus replied: “The absolute truth is that I was in existence before Abraham was ever born!”

How shall you escape the judgment of hell?
MATTHEW 23:29-39
“Yes, woe (distress, sorrow and suffering) to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders – hypocrites! For you build monuments to the prophets killed by your fathers and lay flowers on the graves of godly men they destroyed, and say, ‘We certainly would never have acted as our fathers did.’”
“In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of the being sons of wicked men. And you are following in their steps, filling up the full measure of their evil. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?”
“I will send you prophets, and Spirit-filled men, and inspired writers, and you will kill some by crucifixion, and rip open the backs of others with whips in your synagogues, and hound them from city to city, so that you will become guilty of all the blood of murdered godly men from righteous Abel (son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain) to Zechariah (son of Barachiah), slain by you in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries shall break upon the heads of this very generation.”
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets, and stones all those God sends to her! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you are ready to welcome the one sent to you from God.”

This is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets
MATTHEW 26:55-56
Then Jesus spoke to the crowd. “Am I some dangerous criminal,” he asked, “that you had to arm yourselves with swords and clubs before you could arrest me? I was with you teaching daily in the Temple and you didn’t stop me then. But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.”
At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

This generation will be held responsible
LUKE 11:45-50
“Sir,” said an expert in religious law who was standing there, “you have insulted my profession, too, in what you just said.”
“Yes,” said Jesus, “the same horrors await you! For you crush men beneath impossible religious demands – demands that you yourselves would never think of trying to keep. Woe (distress, sorrow and suffering) to you! For you are exactly like your ancestors who killed the prophets long ago. Murderers! You agree with your fathers that what they did was right – you would have done the same yourselves.”
“This is what God says about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to you, and you will kill some of them and chase away the others.’”
“And you of this generation will be held responsible for the murder of God’s servants from the founding of the world.”

Will only a few be saved?
LUKE 13:23-30
Someone asked Jesus, “Will only a few be saved?”
And Jesus replied, “The door to heaven is narrow. Work hard to get in, for the truth is that many will try to enter but when the head of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. Then if you stand outside knocking, and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us,’ he will reply, ‘I do not know you.’”
“‘But we ate with you, and you taught in our streets,’ you will say.” “And he (the Lord) will reply, “‘I tell you, I don’t know you. You can’t come in here, guilty as you are. Go away.’”
“And there will be great weeping and gnashing (grinding) of teeth (and bitter disappointment) as you stand outside and see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets within the Kingdom of God – for people will come from all over the world to take their places there. And note this: some who are despised now will be greatly honored then; and some who are highly thought of now will be least important then.”

Your house is left desolate
LUKE 13:34-35
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her broods under her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now - now your house is left desolate. And you will never again see me until you say, ‘Welcome to him who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Jesus again predicts his death
LUKE 18:31-33
Gathering The Twelve around him he told them, “As you know we are going to Jerusalem. And when we get there, all the predictions of the ancient prophets concerning me will come true. I will be handed over to the Gentiles to be mocked and treated shamefully and spat upon, and lashed and killed. And the third day I will rise again.”

Predicted by the Prophets
LUKE 24:25-27
Then Jesus said to them, “You are such foolish, foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?”
Then Jesus quoted them passage after passage from the writings of the prophets, beginning with the Book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about himself.

A tree and its fruit
MATTHEW 7:15-21
Jesus said, “Beware of false teachers who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are wolves and will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You need never confuse grapevines with thorn bushes, or figs with thistles. Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. A variety that produces delicious fruit never produces an inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can’t produce what is good. So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown on the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit produced.”
“Not all who talk like godly people are godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord’ but still won’t get into heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father, in heaven.”

Many false prophets
MATTHEW 24:11-13
Jesus said, “Many false prophets will appear and lead many astray. Sin (disobedience of God’s Laws) will be rampant (uncontrollable and spreading unchecked) everywhere and will cool the love of many (making them unfriendly and unenthusiastic). But those enduring to the end shall be saved.”
MATTHEW 24:24-25
Jesus said, “False Christs will arise, and false prophets, and will do wonderful miracles, so that if it were possible, even God’s chosen ones would be deceived (mislead). See, I have warned you.”

Many false Messiahs and false prophets
MARK 13:21-23
Jesus said, “If anyone tells you, ‘This is the Messiah,’ or ‘That one is,’ don’t pay any attention. For there will be many false Messiahs and false prophets who will do wonderful miracles that would deceive (mislead), if possible, even God’s own children. Take care! I have warned you!”

Sadness is ahead
LUKE 6:26
Jesus said, “What sadness is ahead for those praised by the crowds – for false prophets have always been praised.”