Lesson for the Lord’s Day
And He began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. Luke 4:21
We have been watching the events involving the Ukraine invasion by Russia carefully, not just because of the sympathy with the Ukrainians and the Christians there. As the Russian bear rattles its sabres and bullies its neighbours, we are reminded of the prominent place that Russia has in the prophecies concerning end-time events. So when we see a mention of Russia in the news, the thought occurs that we might be seeing the start of some of the events that are contained in prophecy. The same thought also comes with every major event that occurs in connection with Israel, including the current war in Gaza. It would certainly be exciting to identify specifically an event that is foretold in the Scriptures. How much more exciting it should have been for the people in the synagogue in Nazareth to hear that the greatest prophecy they knew of was being fulfilled in their very presence!
We know that the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus, refusing to acknowledge Him as the fulfillment of prophecy. Most of them knew Him as the lad who had grown up in the town, the young man who had worked in the carpenter shop, the eager participant at all of the gatherings in the synagogue each sabbath. But they could not see beyond that young man they knew as a neighbour, and they rejected His claim to be their Messiah. But that does not destroy His claim, nor the fact that those people actually saw Scripture being fulfilled. It also does not negate all of the fulfillment of Scripture in the years and the centuries since that time. The disciples watched the unfolding of what the prophets wrote about as they viewed the life, death, and resurrection of their Lord. The early Christians declared their confirmation of Scripture’s fulfillment as a key component of the Gospel that they proclaimed. In the early centuries, Christians could read John’s recording of the letters to the Asian churches and see themselves within the program that God has laid out for this age of grace. Even today, we can recognize around us the evidence of the appearance of Laodicea, as apathy and worldliness grip the Lord’s people in a day of moral decay and rampant godlessness. It may not be as dramatic, but we are seeing the Scripture fulfilled around us.
Much of the Scriptures is taken up with prophecies and their fulfilment. The greatest of them all, of course, is the great program of prophecy throughout the Old Testament concerning the Lord Jesus, followed by the perfect fulfilment of all of those prophecies in the New Testament. Given the perfect record so far, how could we possibly doubt that God will continue to carry out His great programs in the ages to come? All that God has promised for us He will do. All that He has foretold will occur in this world He will perform. There will be no exceptions, alterations, or cancellations.
If we can’t actually see the Scriptures being fulfilled before us, we can be certain that they will be fulfilled. God says so. – Jim MacIntosh