The Answer (John 19:28-42)
Five times in John 18&19 the apostle John makes it explicitly clear that what was happening to Jesus was all a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies and passages. This was true for Jesus’ whole life, but is especially true in these sections covering Jesus’ trial & death & resurrection.
The early church was acutely aware that Jesus was the One who made sense of all of the Old Testament. Jesus was the ‘lens’ as it were that allowed everything in the Old Testament to come into clear focus. Jesus was the promised Messiah and the answer to the unsolved riddles of the Old Testament.
Some have counted 351 Old Testament prophecies and Scriptures that Jesus fulfilled (http://www.newtestamentchristians.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/351-Old-Testament-Prophecies-Fulfilled-in-Jesus-Christ1.pdf).
I can just imagine the preaching of the first apostles week in week out in the early years of the church. Week after week, sermon after sermon preachers preaching with awe and wonder discovering more and more OT Scriptures, seeing them with fresh insight and seeing that Jesus was the answer, the One who made sense of it all, the One who was the fulfilment of it all!
Jesus started this journey of discovery and re-looking at the whole Old Testament with new eyes when on the Emmaus Road Jesus began; “…with Moses and all the Prophets, he (Jesus) interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27). Jesus showed those early disciples He was what the whole OT was about.
This revelation, seeing that Jesus was the answer, the fulfilment of everything they knew in the Scriptures, caused their hearts to burn within them – Luke says! Their minds staggered as they came see Jesus in all the OT Scriptures they knew so well, but were now seeing as it were for the first time with new clarity!
No wonder that John keeps telling us in his gospel things like; “these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 19:36)
Friend, Jesus is the answer. The answer to every question, every need in our lives and in our world. Jesus is who I need, whom you need. He alone has, He alone is the solution to our problems, fears, our shame, our dreams and hopes.
Friend, we have such good news for the world, and we can share this news with such confidence – because Jesus is the answer.
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20 in NIV)
Jesus fulfilled every promise and Jesus alone can fulfill our every and our deepest needs, only a life-giving relationship with Jesus can satisfy us completely.
So reach out to Him and trust Him completely! And, more than that, share the good news about Jesus’ life, death & resurrection with everyone you can so that He can step in and be their answer too. Amen.
Two words that matter 