Pastor Greg and Annette were on vacation so Elder Doug Campbell filled in this week with a talk called “The Elephant In The Room.” He points out how the learned people of Jesus’ time should have instantly recognized Him as the Messiah but they seemed to have missed “The Elephant In The Room.” Doug pulls in a lot of information by one of his favorite authors, Chuck Missler to flesh out his message.
All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. ~ Proverbs 25:2
You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; ~ John 5:39
Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures. ~ Luke 24:27
Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. ~ Acts 17:11
“The New Testament is in the Old Testament CONCEALED and the Old Testament is in the New Testament REVEALED.” – Chuck Missler and Augustine
A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT DOES POINT TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
Genesis 5 – The Genealogy from Adam to Noah – Spans 10 generations.
Names have meanings.
Adam – Man
Seth – Appointed
Enosh – Mortal
Kenan – Sorrow
Mahalalel – Blessed God/Praise God
Jared – Shall come down
Enoch – Teaching or Commencement
Methuselah – To bring death
Lamech – Despair or lament
Noah – To bring relief or comfort
String them all together and it basically says:
Man is appointed mortal sorrow but the blessed God shall come down, teaching, that His death shall bring the despairing rest. – That’s the entire message of the New Testament right there in Genesis 5.
Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac.
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ~ Genesis 22:2
A vivid foreshadowing of Jesus on the cross but there is more here.
The account speaks of a three-day journey to sacrifice Isaac. Figuratively speaking, Isaac was a dead man to Abraham for three days, and then God said, rejoice, Isaac is going to live. Sound familiar? More foreshadowing of Jesus.
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba. ~ Genesis 22:19
Abraham seems to return without any mention of Isaac. Perhaps Isaac didn’t return with him.
It is not until Genesis 24 that Isaac appears again when the servant finally comes back with Rebekah who is going to be his bride. Again this foreshadows the return of Jesus to gather up his bride, the church.
Mount Moriah is a rising ridge between the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion. 777 meters above sea level.
This spot became known as Golgotha – Jesus’ point of crucifixion.
7 is the number of God – three sevens points to the Trinity.
SOME SCRIPTURES THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES IN JESUS’ DAY SHOULD HAVE REALIZED JESUS WAS FULFILLING
There may be as many as 500 references to Jesus/Messiah in the Old Testament. Here are just a few.
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” ~ Micah 5:2
Wisemen/Herod/New Star/Murder of Male Babies
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. ~ Isaiah 7:14
God will be born and walk among us.
The voice of one calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ~ Isaiah 40:3
John replied to the priests and the Levites.
He said, “I am the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Make the way of the Lord straight,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” ~ John 1:23
So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress. ~ Daniel 9:25
Weeks of Years – Decree to rebuild Jerusalem made by Artaxerxes.
Scholars believe that occurred on March 14th, 445 B.C.
Sir Robert Anderson calculated from that date, the weeks of years described by Daniel and arrived at April 6th, 32 A.D. which would have been Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry. The first time Jesus permitted Himself to be called King or Messiah.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord anointed me To bring good news to the humble; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, ~ Isaiah 61:1-2
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him. Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ~ Luke 4:16-21
Jesus stopped short of the vengeance part of the Scripture – that part had not yet been fulfilled – only the first part.
Jesus was telling them He was the Messiah.
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ~ Zechariah 9:9
We see this occurring on Palm Sunday as well.
And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. ~ Zechariah 11:12-13
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You shall see to it yourself!” And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and left; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them in the temple treasury, since it is money paid for blood.” And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; an they gave them for the Potter’s Field, just as the Lord directed me.” ~ Matthew 27:3-10
For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. ~ Psalm 22:16
A description of the Crucifixion.
They divide my garments among them, And they cast lots for my clothing. ~ Psalm 22:18
The soldiers did this at the foot of the Cross.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my help are the words of my groaning. ~ Psalm 22:1
Jesus said these very words on the Cross.
“Turn him over to the Lord; let Him save him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” ~ Psalm 22:8
In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “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. He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ~ Matthew 27:41-43
They said these very words!
Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth. ~ Psalm 31:5
Jesus said these words from the cross as well.
Surely the Scribes, Priests and Levites should have see the dots and connected them! How did they not see the elephant in the room? Instead of recognizing Him and accepting Him they chose to crucify Him! Although this was God’s intent to save us.
Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; ~ Isaiah 46:10
When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will put up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground, and throw down your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” ~ Luke 19:41-44
Judgment for not recognizing and receiving Jesus.
AD 70 Roman siege and conquering of the city of Jerusalem, leveling the city and destroying of the Temple.
For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ~ Romans 11:25
A reference to the end times.
and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” ~ Romans 11:26
God’s promises and covenant with Israel will ultimately be fulfilled.
POSSIBLE REASONS JESUS WAS NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE JEWISH AUTHORITIES
- Some men just don’t have the love of God in them. They love themselves rather than God.
- They love their sins more than they love their Savior. They didn’t want to give up their comfort.
- They were more interested in the approval of their fellow men than they were in God’s approval.
- Just plain old ego. They were top dogs in Israel and they wanted to stay that way.
- Hunger for power. They had religious control and didn’t want to give that up.
- Some leaders were placed in positions of authority by the Romans. They were not necessarily true Jewish believers but figureheads of Roman interests.
- The Jews of the day were expecting Messiah to appear as a Conquering King and not as a Suffering Servant.
We need to be aware of the mistakes of these people and not make the same mistakes ourselves. Don’t miss the elephant in the room!