The Sufferings and the Glory

.... When the Old Testament prophets received the revelation of Jesus, the Messiah who would one day come, the whole communication began as a perception of God’s own character and Divine nature felt very deeply within their own hearts (Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10). Essentially, they were shown how God's character would 'play out' into futuristic events as a living expression of His subjectivity in action (Revelation 19:10; see also Psalm 9:16). The prophets would refine their initial understanding of each message by 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual' in searching out the mystery of God's character further, usually through time spent in prayer and meditation with Him (Psalm 77:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:11).

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.... In the days before the Holy Spirit was given, Jesus, too, would teach by spiritual comparisons in the testimony of Himself, and He would do this by resorting to the same Old Testament prophecies (Luke 24:44-45). In particular, let’s focus on the testimony of His sufferings and glory:

.... "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow."

(1 Peter 1:10-11)

.... After Jesus was raised from the dead, He returned to the Old Testament perspective twice on the same day to help explain these recent events and their meaning:

.... "Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

(Luke 24:25-27)

.... We know that the prophets foretold the events of His passion, but how well did they capture His subjectivity in so doing? The truth is that they probably had a much better understanding than the apostles at the time. Think about it. Through most of His sufferings Jesus remained silent, and this was all that the apostles saw and recorded. But the prophets held a perspective from deeply within their hearts that had glimpsed His subjectivity as well. And through them, we find that Jesus was passionately musing throughout His silence:

.... "I said, ‘I will guard My ways, lest I sin with My tongue; I will restrain My mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before Me.’ I was mute with silence, I held My peace even from good; and My sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within Me; while I was musing, the fire burned . . ."

(Psalm 39:1-3)

.... And the same passage shows us something deeper. The revelatory nature of the prophetic message was so powerful that it actually reshaped the prophet’s own heart; it was so fluent and emotional, so transforming in affect that it was finally rendered in first person. The very heart of Jesus, His very thoughts, were formed within the prophets themselves as they grappled with the meaning in deepest prayer. In fact, most of the passion prophecy was rendered in this same first-person style. It is so extensive and detailed that it can actually be harmonized, like the stringing of pearls, to tell the same story from Jesus’ own point of view.

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.... In order to demonstrate that this is so, a special module has been prepared. In the right hand column, please find the break-out module entitled The Sufferings and the Glory, and take some time in exploring it. This module retells the entire passion, from Gethesemane to the ascension, in first person narrative, to show you what Jesus was thinking throughout this crucial period.

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Daily Bible Reading: Acts 16