That the Scriptures Might be Fulfilled*

      

Frontal View - The Shroud of Turin

     Today is Palm Sunday, and it is also Passover. Jesus observed the Passover Feast and celebrated it with His disciples just before His arrest and crucifixion. The Gospel of John relates that Jerusalem was full of people who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They took branches from palm trees and when to meet Him as He entered the city. The crowd cried out, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." In fulfilment of the scriptures, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass. It wasn't until later that His disciples realized that the things that were done to Jesus, down to the most minute detail, had been prophesied: "...then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him." (Jn. 12:12-16). The prophet Zechariah had written long before: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation (Jesus' Hebrew name, Yeshua, means 'Salvation of the LORD', or, 'The LORD of Salvation'); lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt the foal of an ass." (Zech. 9:9).

     The LORD gave Moses His commands regarding the blood of the Passover lamb that would protect the Israelites from the death plague and lead to their escape from Egypt and slavery: "...Your lamb should be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night...and unleavened bread; and the bitter herbs they shall eat it...And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt...and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall no9t be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be u7nto you a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever." (Ex. 12:1-14, excerpt).

     The exit from Egypt was to be a hasty one. When Jesus returns, He said that the peoples' flight would be hasty, as well, and He would return "suddenly". The whole congregation of Israelites in Egypt was to kill the lamb as stated above, just as the crowd gathered to cry out, "Crucify Him!", as they demanded the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, at Passover in Jerusalem.

     On the day that Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples from which He also gave us what we call "Communion", it was the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb must be killed. Jesus directed His disciples to seek out a man and arrange to have the Passover meal in a large upper room in the man's house. Once seated there with His disciples, knowing the suffering that He was about to experience, Jesus said: "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." (Lk. 22:7-16, excerpt). 

     He then began to share the Passover elements in the manner with which we are now familiar and practice: "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this and divided it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table." v. 17-21).

     The Passover Seder gives a picture throughout of Jesus. The fourth cup after dinner is the Cup of Redemption that Jesus said was the new testament in His blood. The bread of the Passover Seder is made up of three pieces of matzo joined together in the Unity bag, with the second or middle piece, broken. The matzo itself is both striped and pierced as was the body of Christ which He offered His disciples that night. His betrayer, Judas, whom He later called the son of perdition, was seated at the table with them, and he was the only one of the disciples who was "lost" in order to fulfill the scriptures, as Jesus revealed in Jn. 17:12. This betrayal of Judas, which occurred at that Passover table, was prophesied by David centuries before in Ps. 41:9.

     As we read the details of the crucifixion of Jesus from the Gospels, we can see the fulfilment of prophecy from the Old Testament or Tanakh:

     These are just some of the details relating to the crucifixion of Christ that were written of in the scriptures long before the event occurred, and which Jesus fulfilled. Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection: "These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." (Lk. 24:44).

     The prophets also mentioned the piercing of His body, even specifically of the hands and the feet, as happened later to Christ. (Ps. 22:16, Zech. 12:10). In fact, it is by those piercings that Jesus is recognizable to His disciples and to us and to the world after the resurrection (Lk. 24:37-40).

     The prophet Isaiah described the purpose and the physical injuries of the torturous death of the righteous Servant of God. (Isa. 52:13-15, which also prophesies the Shroud of Turin, and Isa. 53:1-11). This righteous Servant of whom Isaiah prophesied was not killed because of any wrong that He committed, but for the sins, transgressions and iniquities "of us all", and by doing so, shall justify many. Even the scourge stripes that marred His body were and are for our healing. The apostle Peter also wrote of this healing miracle. (1 Pet. 2:24). Isaiah wrote that all nations would see the evidence of this sacrificial act of Christ's and consider the meaning of it.

     Jesus not only observed the Feast of Passover, but He fulfilled it as our Passover Lamb to save us from sin and death. 

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 4/13/25 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at Kenneth Stevenson. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.

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