WHY JESUS IS ALL-TRUSTWORTHY
“I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that
when it does take place you may believe that I am he.”
(John 13:19)
Jesus himself taught that all the prophecies about him
would be fulfilled. In other words, we have a testimony,
not only that the writers themselves saw Jesus’s life as fulfillment
of prophecy, but that Jesus did, too.
For example, in Luke 22:37, Jesus says, “I tell you that
this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered
with the transgressors.’ For what is written about
me has its fulfillment” (see Isaiah 53:12). Jesus saw that the
predictions of the Messiah and his sufferings would be
fulfilled in himself
Jesus took up the principle of John 13:19 and foretold
numerous details of what was going to happen to him so
that we might believe when they happened. “He began to
teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and
Wednesday
Love to the Uttermost 14
the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again”
(Mark 8:31). Jesus saw the predictions of the Messiah and
his sufferings being fulfilled in himself.
› He foresaw that his death would be by crucifixion
(John 3:14; 12:32).
› He predicted that the disciples would find an unridden
colt when they entered the town (Luke 19:30).
› When the disciples entered Jerusalem that last Thursday,
he predicted they would meet a man with the water
pitcher who would have a room for them to meet in
(Luke 22:10).
› After three years of waiting, he knew the
exact hour of his departure out of the world
(John 13:1).
› Jesus knew that he would be betrayed, and who would
betray him, and when it would happen (John 6:64; 13:1;
Matthew 26:2, 21).
› He knew and predicted the fact and the time of Peter’s
three denials (Matthew 26:34).
› Jesus predicted that the disciples would all fall away
and be scattered (Matthew 26:31; John 16:32; Zechariah
13:7).
› Jesus prophesied that he would be “lifted up from the
earth” (John 12:32). That is, he would not be stoned but
crucified—not by Jews but by Romans. So the decisions
of Pilate and the Jews of how to dispose of him were a
fulfillment of his prediction.
He makes all these predictions, according to John 13:19, so
that we would believe he is God, that what he says about
himself is true.
In other words, Jesus is saying, “If you are struggling to
believe that I am the promised Messiah, that I am the one
who was in the beginning with God and was God (John
1:1), that I am the divine Son of God, who can forgive all
your sins and give you eternal life and guide you on the
path to heaven, then I want to help you believe. And one of
the ways I am going to help you have well-grounded faith
is by telling you what is going to happen to me before it
happens, so that when it happens, you will have good reason
to believe in me.”
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