Purpose Fulfilled

Prophecies fulfilled. Now the purpose fulfilled.

Why did Jesus come to earth? Bear witness to the Truth. Seek and save that which was lost (to sin).

Matthew 20:17–28 ESV

17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

To give His life as a ransom for many. He was born to die.

Deal with the text first.

Jesus said He was going to be mocked and flogged and crucified. He said He was going to be raised on the third day. And the reaction? NOTHING. Crickets. No gasp. No argument.

Was this a ‘here we go again’ moment? Hey, change the subject; He has started talking all crazy again.

And this idea that He included being raised on the third day with the flogging and crucifixion: as though it were just the next thing. And I guess it was.

James and John’s mother, Mrs Thunder, changes the subject. He says you dont know what you’re asking. Its not like that. I didnt come to set up a system of authority. (No need. He already had all authority.) He said He came to serve. And to die as a ransom for many.

Deal with what the text leads us to next.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God’s plan, which included separating the Father from the Son for the first time as far as we know, was that the Son would fulfill a very specific purpose. He would be the sacrifice that would pay for and defeat sin for all people for all time.

Romans 3:24–25 TEV

24 But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. 25 God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.

Romans 3:25 ESV

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Hebrews 9:11–28 ESV

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Blood and water: v.19 explains Moses took blood and water to sprinkle in the purification process. Well, blood for the atonement, justification and water for the purification, sanctification. Does that not remind us of when the soldier pierced His side? We know of pericardial effusion where the water collects around the heart. One of the things I read was at death the blood begins to separate solids from liquid so the ‘watery blood’ coming out was another proof of death. All of this points to how fully Christ filled up the law.

He re-entered heaven itself.

Only through His own death could He go there.

He took back with Him the spoils of victory - us.**

He offered Himself. It took His own shed blood to allow Him to return to heaven.

He had told the disciples ‘I lay down my life and take it up again’.

The high priest could only enter the holy of holies after a sacrifice had been made. Jesus’s sacrifice allowed Him to present Himself, both priest and sacrifice, to re-enter heaven. Not with but by His own blood.

**Alistair Begg says the sacrifice of Jesus made all those OT sacrifices ultimately acceptable. So those who lived before Jesus could be saved because He ratified the old system.

This act was a ransom for many. To redeem for Himself a people. Once for all. Unrepeatable. Unduplicatable.

Those who are ransomed, redeemed: those who love His appearing, looking forward to it, rejoice in that last verse. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for Him. Are you waiting for Him?