A PASSOVER MESSAGE ABOUT JESUS, OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR
Sakkie Parsons
Some time ago, I wrote a devotional titled “Thoughts from the Word” about a number of prophecies from the Old Testament concerning Jesus, which were fulfilled in the New Testament. If you’d like to read it, I’d be happy to send it to you.
Today, I’d like to share some passages from the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the New Testament concerning Easter, which you can reflect on—especially during the Easter season.
Just for interest’s sake:
There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The oldest of these was made around 4,000 years before Jesus was born:
Genesis 3:15 (AMP)
“And I will put enmity (open hostility)
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed (offspring) and her Seed;
He shall [fatally] bruise your head,
And you shall [only] bruise His heel.”
Let me now share with you a few other Old Testament Scriptures that were fulfilled in the New Testament around the time of our Christian celebration of Passover. As you read them, remember that these prophecies were made hundreds—even thousands—of years before their fulfilment, by people who lived centuries apart.
Let’s begin with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. According to what I understand from the Word, this happened on a Monday, four days before His crucifixion.
Why do I mention this?
To help you see just how easily mass hysteria can be stirred up—and how dangerous it can be.
The crowd we’re about to read about is largely the same crowd that, only four days later, would cry out:
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
We read this prophecy in:
Zechariah 9:9
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King [comes to you];
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
Humble and unassuming [in submission to the will of the Father] and riding on a donkey,
Upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
This prophecy is fulfilled in all four Gospels:
- Matthew 21:1 onward
- Mark 11:1 onward
- Luke 19:29 onward
- John 12:12 onward
I quote from the latter:
John 12:12–16
12 The next day, when the large crowd who had come to the Passover feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 they took branches of palm trees [in homage to Him] and went out to meet Him, and began shouting and kept shouting: “Hosanna! BLESSED (celebrated, praised) IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel!”
14 And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; just as it is written [in Scripture],
15 “DO NOT FEAR, DAUGHTER OF ZION;
BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING,
SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”
16 His disciples did not understand [the meaning of] these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified and exalted, they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him.
In the next four days following this glorious moment—when the crowd praised and celebrated Him—many events would unfold. Keep that crowd in mind, because as I mentioned, most of them would soon gather again.
In this week, arguably the most important week in human history, the greatest injustice of all time would be committed against the completely innocent Jesus, in one of the cruelest ways imaginable. And once again, specific prophecies were fulfilled—some made hundreds, even more than a thousand years before.
Here are a few Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’ crucifixion that were fulfilled in the New Testament. For each prophecy, I’ll give only one example, although multiple fulfilments exist:
Psalm 22:16–17
16 For [like a pack of] dogs they have surrounded me;
A gang of evildoers has encircled me,
They pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
They look, they stare at me.
Fulfilled in:
Luke 23:32–33
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be executed with Him.
33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
Psalm 22:7–8
7 All who see me laugh at me and mock me;
They insultingly open their lips, they shake their head, saying,
8 “He trusted and committed himself to the LORD, let Him save him.
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
Fulfilled in:
Matthew 27:41–43
41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, mocked Him and said,
42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him [and acknowledge Him].
43 HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE HIM now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Psalm 22:18
They divide my clothing among them
And cast lots for my garment.
Fulfilled in:
Mark 15:24
And they crucified Him and divided His clothes among themselves, casting lots for them to see who should take what.
Isaiah 53:9
His grave was assigned with the wicked,
But He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
Fulfilled in:
Matthew 27:57–60
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.
58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth [burial wrapping],
60 and laid it in his own new tomb which he had cut in the rock; and he rolled a large stone over the entrance of the tomb and went away.
This horrific injustice against the completely innocent Jesus took place so that you and I could be reconciled to God—so that our terrible sins could be forgiven.
See how Isaiah, hundreds of years before the events of that Thursday night and Friday, already described them in vivid detail:
Isaiah 53:1–9
1 Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]?
And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majestic splendor
That we would look at Him,
Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;
And like One from whom men hide their faces,
He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
4 But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself];
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8 After oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation [His contemporaries], who [among them] concerned himself with the fact
That He was cut off from the land of the living [by His death]
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [of death] was due?
9 His grave was assigned with the wicked,
But He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
At Easter, we as Christians remember that just like the Jews had the Passover lamb, our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us:
1 Corinthians 5:7–8
7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are [still] unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and untainted truth.
Almost 2,000 years ago, Paul wrote:
Philippians 4:5
Let your gentle spirit [your graciousness, unselfishness, mercy, tolerance, and patience] be known to all people. The Lord is near.
Can you imagine how near He is now?
I honestly cannot think of a single prophecy that Jesus made about what would take place before His return that hasn’t already happened—or isn’t currently unfolding in our time.
Are you ready for His coming?
Remember: Only those who are truly ready will go with Him when He returns—before literal hell breaks loose on earth.
Or are you perhaps just giving lip service, like the five foolish virgins Jesus warned us about?
Matthew 25:10
But while they were going away to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were [ready] went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.
Let me ask you now, since you’ve read this far:
Are you ready?
Have you truly accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
If you’re unsure, then you likely haven’t really done so yet.
When a person makes an important decision—like getting married—they know it without a doubt.
Jesus will return.
All the prophecies about Him up to His ascension have been fulfilled.
So what are the odds that the next prophecy will not be fulfilled—especially since it wasn’t spoken by man, but by two heavenly beings?
Acts 1:6–11
6 So when they had come together, they asked Him repeatedly,
“Lord, are You at this time reestablishing the kingdom and restoring it to Israel?”
7 He said to them,
“It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.
8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you;
and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
9 And after He said these things, He was caught up [as they looked on], and a cloud took Him up out of their sight.
10 While they were looking intently into the sky as He was going, two men in white clothing suddenly stood beside them,
11 who said,
Here follows the prophesy by angels that I mentioned:
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in [just] the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
If you haven’t yet sincerely accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you can do so right now, wherever you are, just as you are—if you’re ready to be completely honest and sincere before Him.
Because Jesus says to you once more, and you can hear His voice in your heart:
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door [of the church and continually knock]. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me.
(You will experience a personal and intimate love relationship with Jesus that only continues to grow.)
If you’ve done that, then urgently seek out a church that accepts the whole Bible as the precious Word of our Lord. Attend a service and arrange to speak with the pastor for further guidance.
If you struggle to find such a church, feel free to contact me and I’ll try to help.
May the following verse become real in your heart from today onward:
Psalm 73:28
But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge and placed my trust in Him,
That I may tell of all Your works.
Greetings,
Sakkie