Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. Luke 18:31
In the 1870s, Senator George Howlan was campaigning to have a tunnel built to connect Prince Edward Island with the mainland. Ninety years later, in 1988, almost 60 percent of the people on Prince Edward Island voted in favour of a fixed link project to connect their province with the mainland. Over the next several years, various projects were proposed and debated, and by December of 1992, the decision was finalized to proceed with building a bridge to replace the ferry system that had served for many decades. Actual construction started in the fall of 1993, and continued until the great structure – named the Confederation Bridge – was finally completed in the spring of 1997. When all of the details were finalized, the opening ceremonies were set for May 31, and some 75,000 people took part in a bridge run and walk, making their way across the longest bridge in Canada by foot, before the first vehicles crossed it at 5 p.m. The elaborate ceremony came more than 100 years after the first talk of a link to the Island was first discussed by Senator Howlan and other Maritime politicians. But it came to pass. How much more impressive is it that the first promises of a Redeemer for ruined mankind came many thousands of years before the prophecy came to pass!
Our text tells us of the Lord Jesus preparing His disciples for the events surrounding His capture, crucifixion, and resurrection. Verse 34 tells us that they failed to grasp what he was telling them, despite His plain words. But He was reminding them that all these things had been foretold by the prophets, and, because they were the Word of God, they would come to pass. In the years to come, as they would guide the believers in the early days of Christianity, those disciples would recall the words of the Lord Jesus on this occasion. And they would direct the saints into the Old Testament prophecies, and point out the perfect fulfilment of the Scriptures concerning the Lord Jesus. Down through the centuries, and even today, we delight in uncovering the revelations of our Lord as presented in the words of the Old Testament. Note that the Lord Jesus in our text declares that everything that the prophets wrote concerning the Son of man would be accomplished. So far, they have been right! There are other things that those prophets wrote that are yet to come to pass.
The prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Redeemer, did not all end with His death, burial, and resurrection. No, there are many prophecies that have yet to come to pass. End time events that ancient seers foretold thousands of years ago include many exciting events for this earth, including the placement of the Lord Jesus on the throne of His father David, and the many acts of judgment on His enemies. If everything concerning His first appearance has been perfectly fulfilled, we have no reason to doubt that the remaining prophecies will also occur as foretold.
Do we wonder, as the years pass, whether the Rapture will actually occur? Do we wonder whether the end-time events as recorded by holy men of God such as Daniel, Ezekiel, and John are actually to occur? Doubt not. If the Scriptures were correct in foretelling the greatest events of history, they will surely be correct in foretelling the great follow-up events. – Jim MacIntosh