Words of Jesus Podcast - Prophecy Fulfillment Is A Condition Of Our Actions

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

"Surely, they will reverence my Son." The people of Israel had prophecies regarding the coming Messiah, yet even as the people accepted by faith the obvious identity of Jesus - he (and His Father) were rejected by the church leaders. This rejection did not allow the fulfillment of the prophecies of Jesus ministry. We presume that "everything happened according to the will of God." The gospel and the ministry of Jesus Christ required the participation of his people. Prophecies' may be fulfilled in many ways. Jesus always obeyed His Father even if the result directly contradicted the expectation of the religious leaders. ***91: Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into JerusalemMatthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19As Jesus led his followers toward Jerusalem and drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he called two of his disciples to him and said to them:            “Go your way into the village over against you; and as soon as ye entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, ‘Why do ye this?’ say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.”            This was done, that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled:            “Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.”            At first his disciples did not understand these things but, when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that they had done those things that had been written by the prophet.            The two disciples went as directed by Jesus, and found the colt just as Jesus had told them. They began to untie the colt. The owners of it said to the disciples:            “Why loose ye the colt?”            The disciples replied as Jesus had instructed them, saying:            “The Lord hath need of him.”            Thereupon the owners permitted the disciples to take the ass. When the colt had been brought to Jesus, garments were thrown over and Jesus sat upon it.             Then, as Jesus descended the Mount of Olives, the great multitude spread their garments on the ground over which he would pass. Others cut branches from the trees and strewed the road with them to celebrate his entrance into Jerusalem.The multitude joyously shouted:            “Hosanna; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.”            Some of the Pharisees spoke to Jesus, complaining about the shouting. They said:            “Master, rebuke thy disciples.”            Jesus answered them, saying:            “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”            Then the Pharisees said among themselves:            “Perceive ye how ye prevail...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents The Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris Hello friends, Don Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries, your host on the Words of Jesus series. Glad to have you. I am approaching today's show with a heavy heart. It's really true. I've read through the Gospels innumerable times and I don't know if I'm ashamed to admit this but I'll be honest with you when I get toward the end of the Gospels I can hardly stand to read what we did to our Savior and I I really I do not look forward to talking about it now. I don't like reading it. I don't like hearing about it.

I think it's just a horrible thing. It was a horrible end to a plan that he came with good intentions to redeem us and and mankind just I guess we handled this as badly as any as any people could on the earth you know we we proved over the years that we were going to ignore would to God that had we just ignored, but ignore and kill his prophets. His intention was that, okay, they're having trouble with my prophets. Is it a matter of authority? I know what I'll do. I'll send my son.

Well, that didn't do much good either as we read just recently on the show, the attitude of his church on the earth, Israel at that time, was that we will not have this man to reign over us. And unfortunately, the rest of our journey here is going to be during, we've already pretty much discussed the years or the days or the months of opposition that Jesus encountered. There was a time when he was received and there was a time of opposition.

And this, there was a schism among the people at this particular point. They had polarized into two groups. And fortunately, there were many people who did indeed accept Jesus as king of Israel, if that's what his intention was, to accept him as high priest, if that's what his intention was, they were very, very receptive of Jesus Christ. The other end of the polarization, of course, was the church. The church was not interested, and when I say church,

I'm talking about Israel, the church of which we are a part today. That end of the polarization just intensified. And you're going to see here as we read today that it intensified on both ends. There were people who accepted Christ but were afraid to say so. You remember the parents of the blind man that didn't want to answer the Pharisees because they didn't want to be thrown out of the temple? They were still in that quandary. They were still in that valley of decision

where, you know, okay, if I acknowledge Jesus, I'm thrown out of the synagogue. This was difficult in these days. So there were people that were secret believers. But man, something happened toward the end of his career that people became very, very brave. And they spoke out. And here you're going to see this actually happen. You're actually seeing that polarizing effect that Jesus had on the earth. And I want you to notice where that line of demarcation was drawn. It was drawn between the average and the common man, perhaps even the man that never even considered the things of God as a major part of his life. And the other side of that line was the religious leadership. And unfortunately, I'm afraid that that line's never been erased. Most people who have trouble

with what Jesus said and how he told us to live are the religious people. The person out there that is hurting, the person out there that has trouble, they have turmoil in their mind, they want to do better, they want to do right, they want peace with God. They don't seem to have a problem with what Jesus taught. But religion, oh my goodness. And this all culminates in the end of Jesus' life by way of a torturous and violent murder. So here we go. Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as Jesus led his followers. By the way, this is chapter 91. You know, this is peculiar.

This particular story. You've heard of the synoptic gospels. The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke because their storylines follow so precisely and so closely. You know, there's certain textual criticisms made about this that you know, one person wrote something and another person copied what they wrote or added to it or took away from it. They believed that these three

gospel writers had access to particular documents the teachings of Jesus, the hypothetical Q document, several documents that of course we don't have, but they were all so similar that they just assumed that they were all not copying off each other's papers, mind you, but the storylines were so similar. We have labeled those first three Gospels as synoptic. John's gospel stands alone.

And as a matter of fact, you'll be hard pressed to find there's only, counting them in my mind right now, I think there's only three instances that appear in all four gospels. And this happens to be one of them. This particular account that we're about to read here comes from Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12. So this situation was universally known. The events leading up to this, as far as their chronology and as far as what goes where and who said what and those kind of things, these are essentially four different aspects

of the same life. However, this actually comes together. The resurrection is another that comes together in all four gospels. It's a part of all four gospels. All right. As we start here, Jesus led his followers toward Jerusalem and drew near to Bethphagy and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. He called two of his disciples to him and said to them, go your way into the village over against you. And as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a coat tied whereon never a man sat. Loose him and bring him. And if any man say to you why do ye this ye say that the lord hath need of him and straightway he will send him hither you know when the bible says the king james well i guess even the septuagint when it says lord Lord, I've always been curious as to what the original word was

because Jesus calls his Father Lord, calls himself Lord. The word Lord appears over and over and in many cases it is Adonai or in Greek it has a lordly sound to it, a king sound to it. And I really wonder, because our Bible has been stripped of the name of God, essentially stripped. It hardly has his name in it at all. And you have to

really study way back in many, many different documents to actually discover the name of God. He wanted us to know his name, but it took on the characteristic, at least among the Jews and some others, and actually the adjective ineffable name of God, which means you're not even allowed to say it. Well, that is foolishness that has been, the religious foolishness that has been added to it in order to revere that name.

I'm sure, you know, good intentions, whatever they're worth. But unfortunately, because it would not, the name was not said, it was not passed down from dad to son and dad to son and dad to son. And so because it was not said, there were many discriminating and even contradictory ways of saying his name. There are studies into this. If you want to contact thinkradink.com, we have some really good studies on the name of God.

And as best I can figure, don't want to argue about it. You know, I have studied this for years, and I've settled on the fact that his name in Hebrew is Yehovah. Pronounced in English, it's Jehovah. And it is the name that he gave Moses that day. He did not say his name was I Am, but he did say that it was Jehovah. And so you hear me refer to him as Yehovah or Jehovah, simply

because that's his name. you know contrary and you hear me talk about him and and in in a nominative sense use the word God I don't like that I don't like it I don't like it but I'm a King James Bible reader and the King James does it all the time and it becomes habitual and very difficult to break but where he says to tell this man that the Lord has need of him I really don't know what he was saying to this man did this man know Jesus was this a prearranged situation where our Lord Jesus said to him you know that that's a pretty little colt you've got there you know one day i'm going to need that um i'll send people for it and uh so he told his disciples just tell him that i need it is that the lord god jehovah needs this coat i don't know but whatever it was

they said to him uh it was sufficient for him to allow them to take it that's just an aside but uh an interesting one i i think i hope um so he said, if you tell him that, he will straightway send it. Also, it's interesting that Jesus says, if any man say to you, if any man say to you, like he didn't know how this was going to happen, just go get the colt. Perhaps a prearrangement, I don't know. But he said, if he says to you, then say this to him. This was done that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled. Now I happen to know that this particular verse comes from Matthew. And the reason I know that is, is Matthew did this constantly.

Matthew was a Jew, and he was intrigued with the fact that Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies. And you'll find, if you read the book of Matthew, many things Jesus said, he did, places he went, where he was born, all kinds of things about Jesus. You would find it followed by a sentence that said, this was done so that it might be fulfilled, and then he would give the prophecy. Matthew was real big on doing that, and it was very important to him. Matthew was indeed an evangelist of Christ to the Jews, but evidently not so effectively. But nevertheless he did have a burden for his own people that they would

understand who Jesus was. So here it says that he said that this was done, that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled. There is also an idea that is among many that um that because the bible says something this was done so that it would be fulfilled i think that lends itself to the idea that the Bible is some kind of a blueprint or a foretelling of the way things have to be instead of what they actually are, prophetic utterances that certainly will be fulfilled, but in some cases fulfilled if certain things are the way they should be. Not all the prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled.

I know people say that, but that's not so. He's had, as I've explained to you before, I happen to believe that his operation and plan of redemption was totally different in its conception and even at its beginning than it was at its end. And you'll find that, I mean, think about the angel that announced his birth. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. All of a sudden, when he gets here, there's no peace on earth. There's certainly no goodwill toward men. We don't even experience that now. Even have Jesus saying, I didn't come to bring peace.

I came to bring a sword. And so, you know, there are certain ideas that are contradictory, but not so if you don't take on the attitude that the bible is some infallible immutable unchangeable direction guardrails on both sides absolutely going to happen exactly the way the bible says that's just not true there's many prophecies it had Had Jesus come here and fulfilled his original plan, which was to be king of Israel, to be accepted by his people, to become the high priest of Israel, and to eventually give his life on the altar,

not on some wooden cross outside Jerusalem, but to give his life on the altar for the sins of the whole world. Well, actually for the sins of the whole world for well actually for the sins of of the nation that he loved and then eventually this would expand to the whole world you'll find that there are prophecies that would fulfill that would have fulfilled perfectly and so it's it's it doesn't do us any good to try to turn the Bible into a magic book. And I'm afraid that that idea began 3,500 years ago when we first started receiving from our religious leadership

writings that were known as the words of God that thus saith the Lord. And the Bible has just kind of turned into, well, in our day, because we play so many games with the Spirit of God and asking God for stuff and making things happen and praying in such a way that we make our Bible into a book of incantations. Or, you know, the Bible says, remember when Jesus said one time to the Jews,

he says, they were upset with him because he said it was the Son of God. And he says, well, what about where the scriptures say this they say this and if the scriptures cannot be broken now where did he get that idea well that was the common idea of the Jews of that day the scriptures cannot be broken they have to, everything has to happen just according to the scriptures. Well, if we understand that prophecies are given, and many times prophecies are given with contingencies, those contingencies have to be considered. They have to be.

I think of the prophet that came to the king and told him he says here take these arrows and smite the ground. And he took those arrows and he smote the ground and the prophet said oh you should have smitten the ground five or six times. I can just imagine the king saying well why didn't you tell me that? Well because there's contingencies built into this prophecy. And what I have to prophesy to you is contingent upon

something that evidently the Lord told him. That if he hits the ground so many times then they'll win over their enemies. If he doesn't then the enemies are going to overcome them. And so the prophet goes there with this understanding. The prophet understands contingencies. It's been long, for many, many centuries understood by the Jews that Jesus could come to the earth in two different ways. One as the peaceful child in a manger, and the other as a conquering king. And what would decide which is which? Our condition. The contingencies that are a part of prophecy cannot be ignored. So we have jesus saying if he says to you then say this to him

and and it's very consistent with with every prophecy and every foretelling so he says this was done that the words of the prophet might be fulfilled fear not daughter of zion behold thy king cometh sitting on an ass's colt at first his disciples did not understand these things, but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that he had done those things that had been written by the prophet. Let me take just a moment here. Our time's getting short,

but there's so many things that we should talk about. And one of them is that his disciples didn't understand what was being done here. And he said, but after he was glorified, then they understood. He says, I have to go away. And where I go, you can't come. And they didn't understand this kind of thing. But after the death those things were understood. Here's what I want you to know. I don't know, several shows back we talked about prophecy conferences and people wanting to understand prophecy. And I was saying what a futile exercise that is

because it does require that you have the attitude toward the Bible that I am trying to dispossess you of right now. That if the Bible says this, then that's what it means. Okay, so what does it mean? Well, I'm going to tell you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is a very vague prophecy here. This is very vague. This could be fulfilled in a hundred different ways.

And so usually in prophecy conferences and in teaching prophecy, they're glad to explain it all to you. And it has to happen just this way. But if you understand the way prophecy actually works, many times the prophecies are vague and broad and can be fulfilled in a lot of different ways. And should that be the case, you have the full understanding of a

prophecy coming at the fulfillment of that prophecy. And so, to know the Antichrist's name, you know, 100 years in advance, 50 years, 5 years, 5 minutes, to know the Antichrist's name and 5 years ahead of his appearance does you absolutely no good whatsoever. Chances are, if you have a revelation like that, it will turn out that he is not that. He is something else entirely. Remember that there's hardly anybody, especially in the Christian church,

as well-versed in the Old Testament as the Jews. They knew exactly who John the Baptist was, what he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be born. They knew everything about John the Baptist, but when he came, they missed him. You see, the Christian is to live in exactly the opposite situation. Sure, you should be familiar with the Scriptures. Absolutely, you should know the prophecies by heart.

But it is at their fulfillment that all these things come together. Then they understood. Then you'll understand. Jesus disappears. The road to Emmaus situation where he goes home with these people and all of a sudden, poof, he's gone. They realize, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, we know who this guy was. And it's when the prophecy takes place.

It's when the fulfillment, the culmination of what's been said and what's been anticipated all those years, it's when it happens that you realize this was prophesied this was prophesied so to know it in advance i don't know that you could do that i remember daniel you know he would he would sit there and scrub through the scriptures and try to figure things out and and did figure some things out by the way by math by counting he figured out well we don't want to get into into that because that's a lengthy discussion but there was a time when daniel was scrubbing through the scriptures trying to figure out

how something was supposed to happen and the lord finally had to say daniel you're gonna have to get get back to life. Get a life. Get up from there. That prophecy is not going to be revealed until the end time. You're wasting your time. And why was he wasting his time? Wouldn't it be good to know all those things? The Lord is trying to tell you you can't know these things you can't know them I can know them but you can't know them and and what is the key to prophecy it being revealed revealed it's the culmination it's the answer it's the manifestation of the prophecy that reveals it to us it can actually be a beautiful thing or it can just be a torturous exercise in uh you know piling through your scriptures compiling scriptures and laying them on the table and putting them in different orders and changing words and names and stuff and

you know all the kind of things that are what is the Bible say you know the the books they're a weariness of the flesh and and they really are but it's our fleshly desire started way back in the Garden of Eden to have knowledge that tree of knowledge has been a problem from that day until this. Everybody wants to know. And unfortunately the church has bought into this. They're over there singing everybody ought to know. All right. I'm I'm having fun with it now. But really it's not about knowing. It's just not about knowing. It's about living the life that you ought to live. So where does that leave us? Well, same place

every time. Hey, friend, keep God's commandments and don't disobey your conscience. Take time every day to hear the voice of God. You're going to hear that voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walkie in it. When you move to the right hand or when you move to the left, it's a wonderful way of living and it's living this day. Do you realize that if the Lord does speak to you, if he does have something to say to you, he's going to say it today. He's not going to have said it yesterday in a book or in a writing. It's not necessarily going to be in your future that you can figure out through prophecy.

If he speaks to us, he'll speak to us today. What a beautiful way to live. And it is the Christian life to live in the now, right now, today. What a beautiful way to live. And it is the Christian life to live in the now, right now, today. It's time is gone. We're going to take it up here next time. I appreciate you being a part of the broadcast. I'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to write to me, just write to Don at ThinkRedInc.com. All right, until I see you again, Think Red Ink, my friend. Bye-bye. You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com.

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