We Believe In Jesus: The ProphetSample

Jesus Authenticated by Fulfillment: John 18:9

The Gospels often prove Jesus’ status as an authentic prophet by pointing out that his prophecies were fulfilled. Sometimes his words came true immediately, like when he successfully controlled nature, performed exorcisms, healed the sick, and raised the dead. In these cases, things like the weather, demons, illness, and even death itself immediately obeyed his authoritative, prophetic commands. At other times, his prophecies were fulfilled later, as when he predicted the future. 

For instance, in John 18:9, John provided this comment:

This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me” (John 18:9).

Here, John referred to something Jesus had said in his high priestly prayer in John 17:12, and he indicated that Jesus’ words had been fulfilled. 

And of course, the words Jesus spoke about his own impending death and resurrection were also fulfilled, as we see in places like Matthew 16:21 and 20:18-19, and John 18:32. Through fulfillments like these, Jesus was shown to be a true prophet of God. 

But not all of Jesus’ prophecies were fulfilled in his lifetime. Many of them had to do with the future, and often with the distant future. In some cases, the fulfillment of these prophecies is recorded elsewhere in history. For example, consider the prophecy Jesus gave in Luke 21:5-6:

Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down" (Luke 21:5-6).

Jesus said that the Jewish temple would be destroyed because the Jews refused to repent of their sin. But the temple was still standing when Jesus died. It was destroyed shortly afterwards, though, when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

Obviously, not all of Jesus’ prophecies have been fulfilled. For instance, he still hasn’t returned to consummate the kingdom of God. But he will. In fact, we can and should be utterly confident that Jesus will eventually fulfill all his promises. Because in every case where we can evaluate his prophecies against Scripture and the rest of history, his words have always been authenticated by their fulfillment. And since his words have always come true in the past, we should expect them to come true in the future, too.

I think the confidence that we have is that if we go back into Old Testament history we can see how God has fulfilled his promises in the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Step by step through all the way from his initial promise in Genesis 3:15 through the prophetic revelation we have, God has been anticipating the coming of his son, the Messiah. All of that took place. All of that was fulfilled now 2,000 years ago. And when Jesus then says, in light of his coming and his finished work, that he will return, that this will happen, we can be sure in light of God’s keeping his promises in the past that he will continue to do so in the future. – Dr. Stephen Wellum