To fulfill the Scripture

John 19:23-42 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” ²⁵ Therefore the soldiers did these things.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. ³⁰ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

³¹ Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; ³³ but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

³⁸ After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. ³⁹ Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. ⁴⁰ So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴² Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

In today’s text, John points out three times that Jesus fulfilled Messianic scriptures. First it says: Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.      The second is:    Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.      And the third:    So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” These three and many more prophetic scriptures of the Messiah were fulfilled in the birth, life and death of Jesus. In fact Jesus fulfilled as many as 353 Messianic prophecies. A study was done which looked at the probability of one person fulfilling just 8 significant prophecies. The result says:   probability of all 8 prophecies being fulfilled accidently in the life of one person. That probability is 1in 10¹⁷ or 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. That’s one in one hundred quadrillion!  (Source – Applying the Science of Probability to the Scriptures an article by Dr. David R. Reagan  on Christ in Prophecy)  

Scripture, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, while it may be written by men, is inspired by God. Its purpose is to reveal the will and the character of God for and to man. John 1:1-5,14 says:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.     Jesus, who is one with God, came to earth as the Word made flesh. He came as the fulfillment of God’s plan and His will for man, that people would be redeemed from sin, reconciled to God and restored to all that God intended from the beginning, created in the image and likeness of God, for fellowship with God and dominion over creation. Jesus also is the living revelation of God’s character. He came to show us the character of God, a character that includes, love, grace, mercy, goodness, compassion, righteousness, justice and more. We fail to see the fullness of Christ and the fullness of the character of God when we look through a filtered lens which does not see all of what makes God who He is. We cannot separate love, mercy and grace from righteousness. We cannot separate compassion and justice. They all are part of the character of God and they all are revealed in the life, the death and the resurrection of Christ.

Many people fail to find Jesus in the Old Testament writings. Many people fail to find or believe God is to be found in all of scripture, including the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. God says:   You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you. (Jeremiah 29:13-14)    Jesus says:   “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)   The truth is, the only way that a person will not find Jesus and God’s character of love, mercy, grace, compassion, righteousness and justice in scripture is to view it with closed eyes, to hear it with closed ears and to discern it with a closed heart. Just as a person will not find a lost item in their house if they walk around with closed eyes, but will instead struggle, bumping into things along the way, so too many people struggle through life, running into obstacles along the way simply because they fail or refuse to look with open eyes, to hear with open ears and to discern with an open mind. The theories and philosophies of man are based on much lower odds of probability than the truth of God’s word and the revelation of His will and character, both the written word and the living word, Jesus Christ.   

In today’s text, when Jesus was on the cross, He said:  “It is finished!”  All that He had come to do to fulfill the plan of God to redeem man from sin, to reconcile people to full relationship with God and to restore people to what God intended from the beginning, was complete, fully accomplished, finished in the cross. So too was the revelation of the character of God. The cross was and is the full revelation of God’s character. Because of love, mercy and grace, Jesus went to the cross in our place to fulfill God’s justice and His righteous character. Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) Jesus has finished, fulfilled all that He came to do. All that is left is to seek, hear, find and know what has been revealed. Isaiah 55:6 says:  Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Now is the time!

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment and revelation of God and precious Holy Spirit through whose eyes I can see, through whose ears I can hear and who gives me understanding. I believe. It is finished in the cross and it is finished in my life.  Amen.