THE SCRIPTURE MUST BE FULFILLED.

Joseph knew that the Old testament Scripture was the voice of God, particularly concerning Mary and the miraculously-conceived Child. ‘While Joseph thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’  Notice the angel’s purpose,  ‘All this was done that ‘It might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet,‘ saying, ’Behold a virgin shall be with Child, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ’God with us.’ God confirms Scripture. 

Our Lord was concerned for the town where His Son lived on earth. He is involved in your dwelling place also. Joseph, Mary and the young Child had fled into Egypt to escape the barbaric Herod. The Lord intervened. ’ Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Saying, ’Arise, take the young Child and His mother (observe the order of the pre-eminent Child even to His mother), and go to the land of Israel.  Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother and came unto the land of Israel. Being warned of God in a dream he turned aside in to the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets; He shall be called a Nazarene.’  Matthew 2:23.   Our Lord is omniscient- that is He is all-knowing.

Medically, I delight in the boundless healing of our dear Lord. Matthew 8:16 writes ‘When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. . And He cast out the spirits with a word, and miraculously, ‘He healed all that were sick.’ Why? ‘That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘He Himself took our infirmities and healed our sicknesses.’ Christ ruled the spirit world, commanding obedience. I stagger when I read that our dear Lord healed all that were sick. My East Java clinic brought several hundred patients each morning, who were briefly examined by my staff.  I personally examined the special group with more complex ailments. Oh, what a variety of disorders, yet Christ’s incomparable, awesome, healing fulfilled holy Scripture.

How important was it to find a donkey tied and a colt with her?  That unerring event must have boosted the faith of the disciples.  Our Lord commanded His disciples, to ’Go into the village opposite. You shall find precisely as I have stated.  ‘And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them.’ Immediately he will send them.  Why so significant? ‘All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, ‘Tell the daughter of Zion.  Behold, your king is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’  Zechariah 9:9 recorded this breath-taking prophecy, so meticulously fulfilled.  God completely controls life.  He delights in bringing His Scriptures to pass.  Our faith is stronger because the Old Testament foretold this event. 

Judas’ treachery and the cutting off the servant’s ear preceded the Lord’s statement, ‘Do you not think I can now pray to My father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels’.  He added, ‘How then could the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus.’ This demonstrates our Lord’s reverence for holy Scriptures. Thousands of angels were standing by to defend their Lord; but HE submitted to the Father, going to the cross as our sinbearer. (26:54)

Our Lord gently rebuked the people, “In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, ‘Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?’   He remonstrated, ‘I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.’  ‘All this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.  In His loneliest hour, He prepared to be made an offering for our sin.  Please observe how the scriptural performance comforted our Lord, to which He often referred.  Is the realization of God’s Word the inner strength to you and your loved ones, as God intended it to be?  (Matthew 26:56).   

When our Lord had risen from the dead, he vigorously taught that the scriptures must be accomplished.  In Luke 24, Christ stingingly rebuked Cleopas and his associate after our distinguished Lord accompanied them on the seven mile Emmaus walk.   ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart (bradycardia is a medical condition incidentally) to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things (Calvary and its shame) and to enter into His glory (sensational rising from the dead).  Then he gave the most illuminating bible study this world has ever heard, for ’He began at Moses and all the prophets, expounding to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.’ (24:25-27)

Our risen Lord’s study would include every type or picture of our Lord Jesus disguised in the Old Testament, from Moses’ first five books.  He recalled that the Holy Spirit gave the Old Testament, and New, to glorify the Lord.  Many precious truths were concealed in its pages.  Our Saviour needed no scroll as they walked, for His perfect memory recalled every one.  With heavenly ease, the Lord moved from one prophet to the next (especially featuring Isaiah and Jonah).  Those disciples marvelled at His infinite grasp of Holy Scripture.
The triumphant Lord ate ‘a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb.  He ate it in their presence.  Then another unique bible study. ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses , and the prophets and the psalms concerning Me.’ Christ was the centre of all scripture.    He miraculously ‘opened their understanding, that they might understand the scripture‘. (v44). No one else can.   He pressed on,, ‘Thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer  and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’ Then He promised to send the long-awaited Spirit of God. All accomplished.
We are convinced that ‘All scripture must be fulfilled.’  Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.