Scriptures Fulfilled

Recently I received an email that originated from several people who would be considered “modern day prophets“. They were asking for prayer for the current U.S. financial crisis. They said that earlier this year someone had prophesied that the stock market would be running into trouble. They used a scripture verse from the Old Testament to say that the word of the Lord for today was linked to this OT scripture.

In the book of John, Jesus explains what the Scriptures were about. He was speaking to Jews who were looking to kill him. He said in chapter 5, verse 37... “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

Jesus was pointing out to these people that their search for eternal life in the scriptures wasn’t working. The scriptures testified of him. The Greek meaning of testify here means “to be a witness”. The scriptures were a testimony of Jesus and pointed to Him.

The eternal life for which they were looking was to be found in Jesus. Continuing in verse 40... “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?”

The Jews were “not willing to come to Me“(Jesus). To be clear, Jesus is talking to people who were still under the Old Covenant. They did not honor Jesus nor did they receive him because they did not have the love of God in them. However, it seems that they did receive and honor each other. And because of this Jesus said they couldn’t believe. They were more interested in scratching and patting each other’s backs. They wanted to hear what the next great preacher coming along had to say. But let’s not get sidetracked in that direction.

In verses 45-47 He says… “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Jesus said that Moses’ writings were about him. The Jews trusted in Moses but they didn’t believe his writings, therefore they weren’t able to believe Jesus’ words. They were more concerned in keeping the Old Covenant Law.

Transitioning to today, the modern day “prophecy movement” takes great liberty in using Old Testament scripture as if it was directly given to them from God for use. This is troubling. In II Peter 1:19-21 Peter spoke of being with Jesus and he wrote... “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Peter says that the prophecy spoken by these holy men was confirmed in Jesus. A New Testament search of the word “fulfilled” will produce a long list of verses quoted from the Old Testament and the words “that it might be fulfilled”. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. If Jesus fulfilled them, what more needs to be said or done? If Jesus finished the prophecies, and they all pointed to Him, why are there still prophecies spoken today by “prophets” predicting some future event? Is there something He failed to complete? Do we now need to help Jesus finish the work again? This makes no sense to me.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus explained the events that were happening to those present by saying in Matthew 26:56... “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

The topper is this. Jesus speaking to His disciples after His resurrection said in Luke 24:44-45... “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”

Most of Christianity today is still believing that the Law needs to be obeyed. I think this is incorrect thinking. The Law has been written on our hearts by what Jesus did on the cross (Jeremiah 31:33). Our stony hearts are now fleshly (II Corinthians 3:3). Jesus fulfilled the Law. If we are attempting to be justified in God’s sight by the keeping of the Law then grace will be of no effect. If we attempt to keep even one law, we have fallen from the grace of God. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:4... “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” By our attempts to please God in obeying His commandments, we actually alienate ourselves from God (fall from grace). We deny the Cross of Christ and the fulfillment of all things pertaining to our relationship with God. We have already been placed in right standing through Christ. His righteousness has made us perfect.

In the aforementioned email about the financial crisis, the writers’ intention was to bring relieve to the situation and solution for prosperity. Most of Christianity today is trying to pray away the trials of life that might just be designed by God for our good. We see troubles as negatives to be avoided and prayed out of our lives. This kind of thinking will not move us toward God. It might puff us up if our prayers are answered (and some will seem to be).We may find ourselves disappointed with God when prayers are not answered. We may become disillusioned with God if catastrophe comes upon us (when we thought He should and would keep these things from us). Romans 8:28 comes to mind here… “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Maybe, just maybe, all things means all things, good and bad.


I can do nothing to bring the Will of God to planet Earth. It’s already done. Jesus Christ is the Will of God. He came 2,000 years ago and accomplished what He came to do. So many of my previous beliefs and ideas about God and what He was going to do in the future have been massively replaced by the truth of the Gospel. This has brought such freedom to my soul. I pray that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened too.

“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:17-23)

“…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

Scripture

My dependence on other people to study the Bible and disseminate its message is probably one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my life. I know I’m not alone in this. This is what many have done since the organization of “the book”. Through the years religious systems that have employed the use of the Bible have set themselves in a position of either being the only ones having access to the material (such as the Catholic church during the “dark ages”) or as “experts” of the material (such as the clergy/laity separation since the Reformation).

With that said let me make it excruciatingly clear, I do not excuse my lack of diligence. As new believers we start out enthused and excited about our life in Christ. Changes develop in this zealous attitude as we become involved in learning what we should do and what we shouldn’t do in order to maintain this relationship with Christ. We end up doing things for God instead of enjoying what He‘s already done for us. Life in Christ, which is meant to be fulfilling and exciting, becomes routine and matter-of-fact living. Thus Bible reading follows suit. There are reasons for this pattern and the Bible spells them out. (I’ll write about this in a future post.)

I’ve begun to take more seriously the study of the Bible. I'm asking questions such as when and how was it put together, who put it together, what was the criteria for selecting certain writings over other writings, who “canonized” it and why was it canonized. This has become the norm. My initial searching for answers to questions like these has opened my eyes to ideas that I had never considered before.

For instance, what are the “scriptures” according to scripture? This was one of the first things I pondered. Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament all talked about scripture. What were the scriptures in their day?

In Matthew 26:56 in the garden it says, “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled...” Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection and it says in Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” And again after His resurrection in Luke 24:44-45 Jesus said... “‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”

Jesus said that the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms were the Scriptures. During the time that the apostles wrote about the scriptures, their own writings had not yet been included in a book called the Bible which consists today of Old and New Testament writings. Their scriptures had to be the same as Jesus'.

A second matter that I discovered was that the writings of Paul the apostle and the writings of the apostles of Jesus had different views about what the Gospel was. This definitely needs expounding.

Thirdly, reading the words of Jesus makes me ask questions like, Who was He talking to? Was it me? Was it the religious folk of his day? Was it the disciples following Him in that day? All of these are true. Each statement needs to be seen in its context though. The thing to remember is that He had not yet been crucified. He had not yet died for the sin of the world. He was living in the time when the Law was still in effect. The Law was fulfilled, however, when Jesus died on the Cross. Colossians 2:14 states… “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross…”

All of these things have caused me to see Scripture in a new light. It has created in me an interest to learn and an appreciation for what Father and Son conspired to do for us before creation began… a plan for the human race to be made whole again, successfully accomplished 2,000 years ago through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.