CHAPTER 4 JESUS AND THE ROLE OF THE PROPHET

Anna – a prophetess, proclaiming the Messiah’s arrival
“Emmanuel” meaning “God is with us”
The prophet Micah on Bethlehem
I have called my Son from Egypt
Screams of anguish come from Ramah
John the Baptist questioned
John the Baptist and the Prophet Isaiah
Be ready for the Lord’s arrival
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist
John the Baptist –who is this man?
Was John the Baptist sent by God?
These Scriptures came true today
Turn from sin and turn to God
We have seen the hand of God at work today
A Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well
Five Thousand fed
Division and Unbelief
He must be a prophet!
He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases
A prophet’s reward
A messenger to precede me
The Prophet Jonah’s sign
Talking in parables
A prophet’s honor
A prophet is honored everywhere except in his home town
No prophet is accepted in his own home town
A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country
What about John the Baptist?
King Herod would have killed John the Baptist
Proof given to the Prophet Jonah
Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee
John the Baptist a Prophet?
Jesus as a Prophet!
Daniel the Prophet
A new prophet like the great ones of the past?
A prophet of God killed in Jerusalem
The Prophet Isaiah’s prediction
Jesus on the Cross
Walking to the village of Emmaus

Anna – a prophetess, proclaiming the Messiah’s arrival
LUKE 2:36-38
Anna, a prophetess, was also in the Temple that day. She was the daughter of Phanuel, of the Jewish tribe of Asher, and was very old, for she had been a widow for eighty-four years following seven years of marriage. She never left the Temple but stayed there night and day, worshipping God by praying and often going without food.
She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she also began thanking God and publicly proclaiming the Messiah’s arrival to everyone in Jerusalem who had been awaiting (and looking for) the coming of the Savior.

“Emmanuel” meaning “God is with us”
MATTHEW 1:20-23
Joseph fell into a dream, and saw an angel standing beside him.
“Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “don’t hesitate to take Mary as your wife! For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you shall name him Jesus (meaning ‘Savior’) for he will save his people from their sins (their disobedience of God’s Laws). This will fulfill God’s message through his prophets, Listen! The virgin shall conceive a child! She shall give birth to a son, and he shall be called “Emmanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).

The prophet Micah on Bethlehem
MATTHEW 2:4-6
King Herod called a meeting of the Jewish religious leaders.
“Did the prophets tell us where the Messiah would be born?” he asked.
“Yes, in Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet Micah wrote: ‘O little town of Bethlehem, you are not just an unimportant Judean village, for a Governor shall rise from you to rule my people Israel’”

I have called my Son from Egypt
MATTHEW 2:13-15
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Get up and flee to Egypt with the baby and his mother,” the angel said, “and stay there until I tell you to return, for King Herod is going to try to kill the child.” That same night he left for Egypt with Mary and the baby, and stayed there until King Herod’s death. This fulfilled the prophet’s prediction, “I have called my Son from Egypt.”

Screams of anguish come from Ramah
MATTHEW 2:16-18
King Herod was furious when he learned that the astrologers had disobeyed him. Sending soldiers to Bethlehem, he ordered them to kill every baby boy two years old and under, both in the town and on the nearby farms, for the astrologers had told him the star first appeared to them two years before. This brutal action of King Herod’s fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, “Screams of anguish come from Ramah, weeping unrestrained; Rachel, weeping for her children, uncomforted – for they are dead.” (See - JEREMIAH 31:15)

John the Baptist questioned
JOHN 1:19-27
The Jewish leaders sent priests and assistant priests from Jerusalem to ask John whether he claimed to be the Messiah.
He denied it flatly. “I am not the Christ,” he said.
“Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”
“No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet?” “No.” “Then who are you? Tell us, so we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you have to say for yourself?”
He replied, “I am a voice from the barren wilderness, shouting as Isaiah prophesied, ‘Get ready for the coming of the Lord!’”
Then those who were sent by the Pharisees asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”
John told them, “I merely baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you have never met, who will soon begin his ministry among you, and I am not even fit to be his slave.”

John the Baptist and the Prophet Isaiah
MATTHEW 3:1-3
While they (Jesus, Joseph and Mary) were living in Nazareth, John the Baptist began preaching out in the Judean wilderness. His constant theme was, “Turn from your sins…turn to God…for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.” Isaiah the prophet had told about John’s ministry centuries before. He had written, “I hear a shout from the wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord – straighten out the path where he will walk.’” (See - ISAIAH 40)

Be ready for the Lord’s arrival
MARK 1:2-3
In the book written by the prophet Isaiah, God announced that he would send his Son to earth, and that a special messenger would arrive first to prepare the world for his coming.
“This messenger will live in the barren wilderness,” Isaiah said, “and will proclaim that everyone must straighten out his life to be ready for the Lord’s arrival.” (See – ISAIAH 40 and MALACHI 3:1)

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist
LUKE 1:76-80
“And you, my little son, shall be called the prophet of the glorious God, for you will prepare the way for the Messiah. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. All this will be because the mercy of our God is very tender, and heaven’s dawn is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, and to guide us to the path of peace.”
The little boy greatly loved God and when he grew up he lived out in the lonely wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.

John the Baptist – who is this man?
LUKE 7:24-28
Jesus talked to the crowd about John. “Who is this man you went out into the Judean wilderness to see?” Jesus asked.
“Did you find him weak as grass, moved by every breath of wind? Did you find him dressed in expensive clothes? No, Men who live in luxury are found in palaces, not out in the wilderness. But did you find a prophet? Yes! And more then a prophet. He is the one to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way before you.’ In all humanity there is no one greater than John. And yet the least citizen of the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Was John the Baptist sent by God?
LUKE 20:1-8
On one of those days when Jesus was teaching and preaching the Good News in the Temple, he was confronted by the chief priests and other religious leaders and councilors. They demanded to know by what authority he had driven out the merchants from the Temple.
“I’ll ask you a question before I answer,” Jesus replied. “Was John sent by God, or was he merely acting under his own authority?”
They talked it over among themselves, “If we say his message was from heaven, then we are trapped because he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say John was not sent from God, the people will mob us, for they are convinced that he was a prophet.”
Finally they replied, “We do not know.”
And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t answer your question either.”

These Scriptures came true today
LUKE 4:16-21
When Jesus came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”
He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. Then Jesus added, “These Scriptures came true today!”

Turn from sin and turn to God
MATTHEW 4:12-17
When Jesus heard that John (the Baptist) had been arrested, he left Judea and returned [home] to Nazareth in Galilee; but soon he moved to Capernaum, beside the Lake of Galilee, close to Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, beside the Lake, and the countryside beyond the river Jordan, and Upper Galilee where so many foreigners live – there the people who sat in darkness have seen a great Light; they sat in the land of death, and the Light broke through upon them.” From then on, Jesus began to preach, “Turn from sin (from disobedience of God’s Laws), and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

We have seen the hand of God at work today
LUKE 7:11-16
Not long afterwards Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with the usual crowd at his heels. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who had died was the only son of his widowed mother, and many mourners from the village were with her.
When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with sympathy, “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Son,” he said, “come back to life again.”
Then the boy sat up and began to talk to those around him. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
A great fear swept the crowd, and they exclaimed with praises to God, “A mighty prophet has arisen among us,” and, “We have seen the hand of God at work today.”

A Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well
JOHN 4:16-19
Jesus told her to “Go and get your husband.”
“But I’m not married,” the woman replied.
“All too true!” Jesus said. “For you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. [You couldn’t have spoken a truer word.]
“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet.”

Five Thousand fed
JOHN 6:12-15
“Now gather the scraps,” Jesus told his disciples, “so that nothing is wasted.” And twelve baskets were filled with the left-overs.
When the people realized what a great miracle had happened, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”

Division and Unbelief
JOHN 7:37-44
On the last day, the climax of the holidays, Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water shall flow from the inmost being of anyone who believes in me.”
(He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him; but the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet returned to his glory in heaven.)
When the crowds heard him say this some of them declared, “This man surely is the prophet who will come just before the Messiah.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? For the Scriptures clearly state the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where David was born.” So the crowd was divided about him. And some wanted him arrested, but no one touched him.

He must be a prophet!
JOHN 9:16-17
Some of them (the Pharisees) said, “This fellow Jesus is not from God, because he is working on the Sabbath.”
Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miracles?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
Then the Pharisees turned on the man who had been blind and demanded, “This man who opened your eyes – who do you say he is?”
“I think he must be a prophet sent from God,” the man replied.

He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases
MATTHEW 8:16-17
Several demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus; and when he spoke a single word, all the demons fled; and all the sick were healed. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, “He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases.”

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 even a cup of cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.”

A messenger to precede me
MATTHEW 11:7-10
When John the Baptist’s disciples had gone, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “When you went out into the barren wilderness to see John, what did you expect him to be like? Grass blowing in the wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed as a prince in a palace? Or a prophet of God? Yes, and he is more than just a prophet. For John is the man mentioned in the Scriptures – a messenger to precede me, to announce my coming, and prepare people to receive me.”

The Prophet Jonah’s sign
MATTHEW 12:38-45
One day some of the Jewish leaders, including some Pharisees, came to Jesus asking to see a miracle to prove that he was really the Messiah.
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, faithless nation would ask for further proof; and none will be given except what happened to Jonah the prophet! For as Jonah was in the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Son of Mankind, will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh shall arise against this nation at the judgment and condemn you. For when Jonah preached to them, they repented and turned to God from all their evil ways. And now a greater than Jonah is here – and you refuse to believe him. The Queen of Sheba shall rise against this nation in the judgment, and condemn it; for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and now a greater than Solomon is here – and you refuse to believe him.”
“This evil nation is like a man possessed by a demon. For if the demon leaves, it goes into the deserts for a while, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the man I came from.’ So it returns and finds the man’s heart clean but empty! Then the demon finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and all enter the man and live in him. And so he is worse off than before.”

Talking in parables
MATTHEW 13:34-35
Jesus constantly used these stories with a meaning when speaking to the crowds. In fact, because the prophets said that he would use so many, he never spoke to them without at least one story. For it had been prophesied, “I will talk in parables; I will explain mysteries hidden since the beginning of time.”

A prophet’s honor
MATTHEW 13:53-58
Jesus returned to his home town, Nazareth in Galilee, and taught there in the synagogue and astonished everyone with his wisdom and his miracles.
“How is this possible?” the people exclaimed. “He’s just a carpenter’s son, and we know Mary his mother and his brothers – James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. And his sisters – they all live here. How can he be so great?” And they became angry with him.
Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country, and among his own people!” And so he did only a few miracles there, because of their unbelief.

A prophet is honored everywhere except in his home town
MARK 6:4-5
Jesus said, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his home town and among his relatives and by his own family.” And because of their unbelief he couldn’t do any mighty miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He could hardly accept the fact that they wouldn’t believe in him.

No prophet is accepted in his own home town
LUKE 4:24-27
Jesus said, “I solemnly declare to you that no prophet is accepted in his own home town.
For example, remember how Elijah the prophet used a miracle to help the widow of Zarephath – a foreigner from the land of Sidon. There were many Jewish widows needing help in those days of famine, for there had been no rain for three and a half years, and hunger stalked the land; yet Elijah was not sent to them. Or think of the prophet Elisha, who healed Naaman, a Syrian, rather than the many Jewish lepers needing help.”

A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country
JOHN 4:43-45
At the end of two days’ stay (at a Samaritan village) Jesus went on into Galilee, for as Jesus put it, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own country!” But the Galileans welcomed him with open arms, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen some of his miracles.

What about John the Baptist?
MARK 11:26-33
As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came up to him demanding, “What’s going on here? Who gave you the authority to drive out he merchants?”
Jesus replied, “I’ll tell you if you answer one question. What about John the Baptist? Was he sent by God, or not? Answer me!”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we reply that God sent him, then he will say, ‘All right, why didn’t you accept him?’ But if we say God didn’t send him, then the people will start a riot.” (For the people all believed strongly that John [the Baptist] was a prophet.) So they said, “We can’t answer. We don’t know.”
To which Jesus replied, “Then I won’t answer your question either!”

King Herod would have killed John the Baptist
MATTHEW 14:5
King Herod would have killed John (the Baptist) but was afraid of a riot, for all the people believed John was a prophet.

Proof given to the Prophet Jonah
MATTHEW 16:1-4
One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah by asking him to show them some great demonstration in the skies.
Jesus replied, “You are good at reading the weather signs of the skies – red sky tonight means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day – but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times. This evil, unbelieving nation is asking for some strange sign in the heavens, but no further proof will be given except the kind given to Jonah.” Then Jesus walked out on them.

Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee
MATTHEW 21:10-13
The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as Jesus entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee.”
Jesus went into the Temple, drove out the merchants, and knocked over the money-changers’ tables and the stalls of those selling doves.
“The Scriptures say my Temple is a place of prayer,” he declared, “but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

John the Baptist a Prophet?
MATTHEW 21:23-27
When Jesus had returned to the Temple and was teaching, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came up to him and demanded to know by whose authority he had thrown out the merchants the day before.
“I’ll tell you if you answer one question first,” Jesus replied. “Was John the Baptist sent from God, or not?”
They talked it over among themselves. “If we say, ‘From God,’” they said, “then he will ask why we didn’t believe what John said. And if we deny that God sent him, we’ll be mobbed, for this crowd all think he was a prophet.” So they finally replied, “We don’t know!”
And Jesus said, “Then I won’t answer your question either.”

Jesus as a Prophet!
MATTHEW 21:45-46
When the chief priests and other Jewish leaders realized that Jesus was talking about them – that they were the farmers in his story – they wanted to get rid of him, but were afraid to try because of the crowds, for they accepted Jesus as a prophet.

Daniel the Prophet
MATTHEW 24:14-18
Jesus said, “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it, and then, finally, the end will come.”
“So, when you see the horrible thing (told about by Daniel the prophet) standing in a holy place (Note to the reader: You know what is meant!) then those in Judea must flee into the Judean hills, those on their verandahs must not even go inside to pack before they flee, those in the fields should not return to their homes for their clothes.”
(Note: “The Horrible Thing” – A pagan image set up in the Temple at Jerusalem by foreign conquerors – See Daniel 9:27)

A new prophet like the great ones of the past?
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.

A prophet of God killed in Jerusalem
LUKE 13:31-35
Some Pharisees said to Jesus, “Get out of here if you want to live, for King Herod is after you!”
Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow; and the third day I will reach my destination. Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day! For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!”
“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.’”

The Prophet Isaiah’s prediction
JOHN12:37-41
But despite all the miracles Jesus had done, most of the people would not believe he was the Messiah. This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who will believe us? Who will accept God’s mighty miracles as proof?” But they couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said: “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they can neither see nor understand nor turn to me to heal them.” Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he made this prediction, for he had seen a vision of the Messiah’s glory.

Jesus on the Cross
MATTHEW 27:46-49
At about three o’clock, Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a stick and held it up to him to drink. But the rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see whether Elijah will come and save him.”
MARK 15:34-37
Then Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”)
Some of the people standing there thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. So one man ran and got a sponge and filled it with sour wine and held it up to him on a stick.
“Let’s see if Elijah will come and take him down!” he said.
Then Jesus uttered another loud cry, and dismissed his spirit.

Walking to the village of Emmaus
LUKE 24:19
“What things?” Jesus asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a Prophet who did incredible miracles and was a mighty Teacher, highly regarded by both God and man.