There are some people that have seen the fulfillment of many prophecies through the life and death of Jesus but are not impressed. Or at least we can say, they are not changed by the gospel message. They might agree on the prophetic abilities of certain individuals but they do not see what this has to do their own life.
Let’s take one of the prophecies of John 19:24 which is quoted from Psalm 22. Psalm 22 graphically prophesied a number of events such as Christ’s piercing and the splitting up of the clothes and the casting lots for his clothes. In and of itself, we might question whether other people could have fulfilled these prophecies. But when added together with just a few others out of the many, we see that only Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. He alone was David’s descendant and yet born of a virgin.
Still there is doubt to all the relevance of these prophecies to our own age. So they were accurate. Other people make prophecies too. The point here is that because the prophets were ridiculously accurate, then we need to accept that they were from God. It was like the Pharisees recognized that the people considered John the Baptist was from God. If he is from God, then the people need to hear the message as if it is from God. This is the same.
The prophecies are inconsequential if this is all they did and said. The prophecies were significant in two ways. First of all, it helped us pinpoint the right and true Messiah. Only Jesus fulfilled these prophecies. This has been discussed.
Secondly, we must accept the message of the prophets. If their prophecies are correct, then their message from God is also accurate. If their message is one from God, then we had better listen to what the message is and see if any of it applies to our lives.
Gospel of John Brief Study on King
Below are the references that the Gospel of John has of the word ‘king.’ It is interesting to note that the majority of usages are in John 18 and 19 at the trial of Jesus.
Joh 1:49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”
Joh 6:15 Jesus therefore perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force, to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
Joh 12:13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him, and began to cry out, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”
Joh 12:15 “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”
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Joh 18:33 Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Joh 18:39 “But you have a custom, that I should release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”
Joh 19:3 and they began to come up to Him, and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him blows in the face.
Joh 19:12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”
Joh 19:14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”
Joh 19:15 They therefore cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
Joh 19:19 And Pilate wrote an inscription also, and put it on the cross. And it was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Joh 19:21 And so the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’”
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John 1:49 Nathaniel connects the two titles of Son of God and the King of Israel. It seems very clear that on the cross that Jesus’ claim to be the king of Jews was being challenged. In the end we see that through the Israelites response that they rather have the Romans over them than Jesus. It is odd, though. Jesus only did good. If Jesus was not a king, why would they criminalize Him as a person claiming to be king? Did they think He was crazy? Definitely not. They knew His claims were real with all His powers and descendants and yet they rejected Him. Jesus would come and judge Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
The other side of the crucifixion was that it was the beginning. The prophecies were not just about dying but about life. Something had to happen for others to share in the new life or kingdom? What is that? Why did Jesus need to die?
In the end it was crucial for us to understand why Jesus died. He really did die and it was with purpose, a purpose to change the world for good.