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In this message we shall see more aspects of Christ’s person in His crucifixion and burial as revealed in the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Christ is the One on whom Jehovah laid our iniquity and the One who bore our iniquities. This is prophesied in Isaiah 53:6b, 11c, and 12d. On the cross Christ bore our sins. When Christ was on the cross, God took all our sins and put them upon Him as the Lamb of God. Three verses are very clear concerning this: 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:3, and Hebrews 9:28.
After God laid our sins upon the crucified Christ, God considered Him the unique sinner, even as sin itself. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. In fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, Christ died as our Substitute bearing our iniquities. As the One made sin on our behalf, Christ was judged by God once for all.
Psalm 22:1 prophesies concerning Christ as the One forsaken by God: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The fulfillment of this prophecy is in Matthew 27:46: “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The Lord was crucified at the third hour, and suffered on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours He was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours He was judged by God for the accomplishment of our redemption. It was during this time that God counted Him as our Substitute for sin. Because our sin and sins and all negative things were dealt with, darkness came upon all the land (Matt. 27:45), and God forsook Him because of our sin. God forsook Christ on the cross because He took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18), bearing our sins and being made sin for us. In the sight of God, Christ became a great sinner. Because Christ was our Substitute and was even made sin for us, God judged Him and forsook Him.
According to Matthew 1 and Luke 1, the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Later, for His ministry, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Him (Luke 3:22). Before the anointing Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus economically, He already had, essentially, the begetting Spirit as the divine essence within Him as one of the two essences of His being. The begetting Spirit as the divine essence never left Christ essentially. Even when He was crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He still had the begetting Spirit as the divine essence. Then who left Him? It was the anointing Spirit through whom He presented Himself to God (Heb. 9:14) who left Him economically. After God accepted Christ as the all-inclusive offering, the anointing Spirit left Him. But although the anointing Spirit left Him economically, He still had the begetting Spirit essentially. When the Lord Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross under God’s judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being. Nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and the judging God economically.
In Deuteronomy 21:23 there is the prophecy that Christ would be the cursed One hanging on a tree. In fulfillment of this word, Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is every one hanging on a tree.” Here the word “tree” denotes the cross made of wood. Elsewhere in the New Testament the cross is called a tree (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29). In particular, 1 Peter 2:24 says that Christ “carried up our sins in His body onto the tree.” As our Substitute on the tree, the cross, Christ not only bore the curse for us, but He also became a curse for us. The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse.
Adam brought us all under the curse. But the curse was not altogether official until the law was given. Now the law declares that all the descendants of Adam are under the curse. Therefore, the curse brought in by Adam has been made official by the law. Through His crucifixion Christ redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf.
Psalm 69:21 says, “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” This is a prophecy that Christ would be the One to whom gall and vinegar would be given. Matthew 27:34 says, “They gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall; and having tasted it, He would not drink.” The wine mingled with gall (and also with myrrh — Mark 15:23) was intended as a stupefying drought. But the Lord would not be stupefied; He would drink the bitter cup to the dregs.
Close to the end of His crucifixion, people continued to mock Him by giving Him vinegar to quench His thirst. John 19:28 and 29 say, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had now been accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. A vessel full of vinegar was lying there; so they put a sponge full of vinegar on hyssop and brought it to His mouth.” Thirst is a taste of death (Luke 16:24; Rev. 21:8), and the Lord Jesus suffered it for us on the cross (Heb. 2:9). The hyssop in John 19:29 should be the reed in Matthew 27:29 and Mark 15:19, which was a hyssop reed. At the beginning of His crucifixion, the wine mingled with gall and myrrh was offered to the Lord as a stupefying drought, which He would not drink. But at the end of His crucifixion, when He was thirsty, vinegar was offered to Him in a mocking way (Luke 23:36), and He took it. “When Jesus then had taken the vinegar, He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up the spirit” (John 19:30).
In Isaiah 53:12 we see that Christ would be the One who poured out His soul unto death. Philippians 2:8b says that Christ was “obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.” In His crucifixion Christ suffered to such an extent that He poured out His soul, His entire being, unto death.
In the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies related to His death, Christ is also the pierced One. Psalm 22:16 says, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” Zechariah 12:10 prophesies, “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” The New Testament fulfillment of these prophecies is found in John 19:34 and 37. Verse 37 is a quotation of Zechariah 12:10. Verse 34 says, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” Here we see that two substances came out of the Lord’s pierced side: blood and water. Blood is for redemption, dealing with sins (John 1:29; Heb. 9:22) for the purchase of the church (Acts 20:28); water is for imparting life, dealing with death (John 12:24; 3:14-15) for the producing of the church (Eph. 5:29-32). Christ’s death is, on the negative side, to take away our sins and, on the positive side, to impart life into us. Hence, it has two aspects: the redemptive aspect and the life-imparting aspect. The redemptive aspect is for the life-imparting aspect.
Christ is the One of whose bones not one was broken. This is typified in Exodus 12:46, prophesied in Psalm 34:20, and fulfilled in John 19:32-36. Exodus 12:46 says that the children of Israel were not to break any of the bones of the Passover lamb. Psalm 34:20 says, “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” When Christ was crucified as our Passover lamb, His legs were not broken (John 19:33, 36). The Jews, not wanting the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken. The soldiers then broke the legs of the two thieves who had been crucified with the Lord. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that He had already died. Because He had died, it was needless for them to break His bones. Therefore, under God’s sovereignty not one of the Lord’s bones was broken. Both the type in Exodus 12:46 and the prophecy in Psalm 34:20 were fulfilled in the Lord’s death on the cross.
The fact that Christ’s legs were not broken signifies that in Him there is something unbreakable and indestructible. This unbreakable and indestructible element is His eternal life. The Roman soldiers and the Jewish people could come together to put Christ on the cross, but they could not break His eternal life.
We can prove from the Scriptures that the bone signifies life. According to Genesis 2:21-22, the Lord took a bone, a rib, out of Adam and built it into a woman. The woman, Eve, was produced from a bone taken out of Adam. Hence, a bone signifies life that imparts life. The bone taken out of Adam imparted Adam’s life to Eve. In the same principle, Christ’s unbroken bone signifies His unbreakable and indestructible eternal life that imparts His life to us. In Christ as our Passover lamb there is such an unbreakable and indestructible life that can impart life to us.
Christ, the Messiah, was cut off, crucified, in the seventh year of the sixty-ninth week from the decree to restore and to build Jerusalem. This is prophesied in Daniel 9:25-26a and fulfilled in John 19:14-16. Daniel 9:25 says, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” In this verse a week equals seven years. Therefore, “seven weeks” denote forty-nine years. If you study the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, you will see that from the time that the king of Persia gave the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem unto the completion of this rebuilding was forty-nine years. Daniel 9:25 also speaks of a period of threescore and two weeks, or sixty-two weeks. This is equal to four hundred thirty-four years. The first seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks yield a total of four hundred eighty-three years. The first forty-nine years go from the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem to the completion of the building. The four hundred thirty-four years extend from the building of Jerusalem to Messiah, the Prince, that is, to the year in which Messiah was cut off.
Daniel 9:26a goes on to say, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” The words “cut off” refer to the crucifixion of Christ, the Messiah. Christ was cut off not for Himself but for us. At the time prophesied by Daniel, He was crucified for us.
Matthew 27:57-60 reveals that Christ was buried by a rich man. The Lord was wrapped in a clean linen cloth and laid in a new tomb (vv. 59-60). This kind of burial was for the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9.
While the Lord Jesus was dying on the cross, many evil things and sufferings came to Him. Some people treated Him evilly, and others mocked Him. Everything in His environment was dark. But however evil were the events and however much He suffered, He endured them all and passed through them victoriously. Immediately after His death, the environment changed. After the Lord accomplished His redemptive and life-imparting death, His situation of suffering immediately changed into an honorable one. Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man, and Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came with linen and very expensive spices, myrrh and aloes (John 19:38-40), to prepare His body for burial. It was not the poor but the noble who cared for His body, burying Him in a new tomb “with the rich” (John 19:41; Isa. 53:9). By this we see that the entire situation was changed into a rich condition, a noble state. The Lord was now dear to people, and they valued Him very highly. Hence, the Lord rested in human honor. Although He was put to death in shame, He was buried in honor. Then according to God’s sovereignty, in human honor of a high standard the Lord rested on the Sabbath day (John 19:42; Luke 23:55-56), waiting for the time to resurrect from among the dead. Because His work had been finished, He could rest and enjoy a proper Sabbath day. After this Sabbath, on the first day of the week, He would rise up from His resting place.
In Hosea 6:2 there is the prophecy that Christ would be raised from the dead on the third day. This prophecy is fulfilled in 1 Corinthians 15:4 where we are told that Christ “has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
In Psalm 16:8-11 we have the prophecy concerning Christ as the Holy One of Jehovah whose soul Jehovah would not leave in Hades and whom He would not permit to see corruption. Acts 2:24-31 is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Another verse related to this fulfillment is Acts 13:35. Acts 2:24 says, “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.” Christ is both God and resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Because He is such an ever-living One, death is not able to hold Him. He delivered Himself to death, but death had no way to detain Him; rather, death was defeated by Him, and He rose up from it.
Acts 2:25 says, “For David says in regard to Him, I saw the Lord continually before me, because He is on my right hand, that I should not be shaken.” The words “I saw” introduce a declaration of Christ in His resurrection. Here “Lord” refers to God. When Christ is held by God (as in Isa. 41:13; 42:6), God is on His right hand. But when He is exalted by God, He is sitting on the right hand of God (Acts 2:33; Psa. 110:1; Eph. 1:20-21).
Acts 2:26 continues, “Therefore my heart was made glad and my tongue exulted; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope.” This is a quotation from Psalm 16:9 in the Septuagint. But in the original Hebrew text the word for tongue is “glory,” which is a synonym of soul, according to Genesis 49:6 and Psalm 7:5. In His trust in God, Christ’s heart was made glad, and His soul exulted while He was in Hades (Acts 2:26-27).
The Greek word translated “rest” in Acts 2:26 may also be rendered dwell, reside, pitch its tent. After Christ died on the cross, while His soul exulted in Hades, His flesh (body) rested in the tomb in hope, trusting in God.
Acts 2:27 goes on to say, “Because You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You permit Your Holy One to see corruption.” Hades, like Sheol in the Old Testament (Gen. 37:35; Psa. 6:5), is the place where the souls and the spirits of the dead are kept (Luke 16:22-23). Here in Acts 2:27 “corruption” refers to the corruption of the body in the tomb.
Acts 2:28 says, “You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.” Here the ways of life are the ways to get out of death into resurrection. The Greek word for “presence” also means countenance. Christ was resurrected into God’s presence, especially in His ascension (Acts 2:34; Heb. 1:3).
Thus far we have covered forty-three aspects of Christ’s person in the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. We have seen that He is prophesied as the Creator, the very God, who remains unchanged. We have seen that He was born of a virgin and grew up in a poor family; that He carried out His ministry as a faithful Servant, not breaking the bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax; that He was betrayed, sold, and despised; that on the cross He bore our iniquities, was made sin for us, and suffered God’s forsaking of Him. After being cut off as was prophesied by Daniel, He was resurrected on the third day. How wonderful that all these aspects of Christ are prophesied in the Old Testament!
Although much of Christ is revealed in the Old Testament prophecies, our eyes need to be opened to see both these prophecies and their fulfillment. The Jews treasure the Old Testament as the Word of God, but because they are blinded by tradition they do not see anything concerning Christ. We thank the Lord that we have been enlightened and that our eyes have been opened to see these prophecies in the light of the New Testament revelation. Now we can understand the many aspects concerning Christ’s person prophesied in the Old Testament.
