How Jesus' Death Fulfilled Old Testament Prophecy

The moment Jesus died, something tore that no human strength could tear: the temple veil. That one detail pulls us straight into the heart of the gospel, because the veil didn’t just hang in a building, it marked a boundary between ordinary people and the Holy of Holies. When it rips from top to bottom, we hear a loud message: the barrier is gone, and direct access to God is open through the finished work of Christ.

We walk through the supernatural signs that surround the crucifixion: a targeted earthquake, tombs split open, and a hardened Roman centurion who goes from belittling Jesus to declaring, “Truly this was the Son of God.” We connect Calvary to Mount Sinai and talk about what it means for grace to supersede the law, for mercy to triumph over judgment, and for worship to be the right response when heaven confirms who Jesus is.

Then we slow down and trace the stunning precision of Old Testament prophecy fulfilled at Jesus’ death and burial: none of his bones broken like the Passover lamb, his side pierced as foretold, his body protected from decay, and his burial with the rich in a brand-new tomb through Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Along the way, we tell stories of gospel mission across cultures and challenge ourselves to share, give, and live like the veil really is torn.

If you’ve been carrying distance, shame, or doubt, come listen and lean in. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review telling us what truth you want to live out this week.

Transcript

The Veil Opens God’s Presence

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What if the moment Jesus died didn't just end a life but rip open access to God for everyone? At the exact moment Jesus breathed his last, the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom. This veil was sixty feet tall, thirty feet wide and four inches thick. The earth shook and tombs split open. The Roman centurion and his company of soldiers declare that surely he was the Son of God. Jesus' death and burial fulfill Old Testament prophecy in stunning, precise detail. In this episode, we will explore three powerful truths that these events reveal. First, Jesus' death tore down the barrier between mankind and God, making direct communion with him possible for all who believe. Second, the supernatural signs at the cross were divine confirmation that Jesus is the Son of God. Third, Jesus as the Messiah fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Stay with me as we analyze how in debt Jesus enabled all those who believe on his name to have fellowship with God. Imagine being at the foot of the cross and hearing Jesus cry out with a loud voice that the debt has been paid in full. Immediately afterwards, Jesus gives his spirit over into his Father's hands. Matthew 27.51 tells us that at that exact moment the veil of the temple was torn in two, starting from the top. This veil was a huge heavy curtain made of fine linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn and embroidered with gold cherubim. This veil was sixty feet tall, thirty feet wide and four inches thick. Let us reflect on the truth that no human hand could have done this. The room, known as the Holy of Holies, was the innermost and most sacred area of the ancient tabernacle of Moses and the temple in Jerusalem. This veil was used to seal the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. God said that he would appear in the Holy of Holies, hence the need for the veil, as no one can look on God's face and live. Once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to ask forgiveness for his sin, his family's sin, and Israel's sin. By eliminating the veil, God was signifying that the need for this annual sacrifice had come to an end. The spotless Lamb of God had been sacrificed once and for all for the sin of the world. From that moment on, God's grace and forgiveness is no longer limited just to the Israelites. People from every nation, tribe and tongue who confess Jesus as Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead, can now have communion with God. Have we asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives? The Book of Revelation confirms that Jesus died so that whosoever could have eternal life. The Apostle John, when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, saw the four and twenty elders proclaiming that Jesus had been slain and with his blood purchased people from every tribe and nation and tongue. Christian history tells us about those who have taken the message of Jesus all over the world. When Adaniram Judson went to Burma as a missionary, he struggled to teach the concept of a loving God. Most Burmese people were Buddhists and did not believe in an eternal God. For them, human life was an endless wheel of reincarnation, of being born and reborn from one life to the next. Buddhists were to follow the noble eightfold part and so be freed from this cycle. This is completely different from Christianity, where Jesus offers hope and promise of salvation from sin and a new life here and now and in heaven to come. It took a while, but finally in 1816, Adoniram and his wife produced a seven-page track that they felt explained the gospel in a way that Burmese people could understand. Adoniram sought to make Christianity relevant to the Burmese. His stated goal was to preach the gospel, not anti-Buddhism. Let us commit to telling others about the matchless love of Jesus. As Jesus' spirit left his body, a number of dramatic events took place. A targeted earthquake split open the tombs of certain dead, righteous people. The Roman centurion and his company of soldiers who had previously been belittling Jesus declared that truly Jesus is the Son of God. The detail of the earthquake that occurred at Jesus' death is only to be found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, 51 to 53. This earthquake did not impact any of the buildings in Jerusalem and did not affect Galgata where the crucifixion was taking place. In those days the Jews made their graves out of solid rocks or in caves of rocks. This earthquake split open the tombs of specific holy people. These righteous people walked free on Sunday morning when the resurrection power touched them. They had to have recently died, as when they came into the holy city, Jerusalem, they were recognized. The Bible scholar Kaufman declares that this earthquake was Calvary's answer to Mount Sinai. When the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai, there was a great earthquake. Moses' law was associated with sin and death. Moses' law was now being replaced by the gift of life in Jesus Christ, and once again God was shaking the earth to show his power. Mercy has triumphed over justice and grace has superseded the law. Let us reflect on how much God loves us. A Roman centurion was a commander of a fighting unit of 80 to 100 trained elite soldiers. Matthew declares that these military men who were assigned to God Jesus were terrified when they saw the stunning signs on display at the cross, the eclipse and the earthquake. Matthew 27.54 and Luke 23.47 state that the Roman centurion and his men then declared that truly Jesus was the Son of God. These Gentiles recognized that they were in the presence of God and began to worship. Let us also worship Jesus, King of kings and Lord of Lords. At Jesus' birth it was Gentiles, the Magi, wise men, who followed the star and came to worship at Jesus' feet. In about 586 BC, the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and took the Jews into exile. The Bible records that Daniel, who was one of those who was taken captive to Babylon, became the lead of these wise men, Magi. It is believed that due to Daniel's influence on these wise men, Jewish prophecies of a Savior King, the Messiah, were well known to the Magi. Hearing that, Gentiles are also to be found worshipping Jesus, the Messiah. Christian history records that many others have spread the good news of the Messiah in strange lands. Isabel Kuhn ministered among the Lizu in the mid-1900s. During the Second World War, while China was under threat by Japan, she opened a school for boys in the area to learn about Jesus and how to read and write. 76 boys showed up and stayed for a month. When it ended, many of them had committed to spreading the gospel to Little Land no matter what the cause. Are we telling others about Jesus? Imagine that centuries before Jesus was born, the Old Testament in precise detail informed everyone what would take place at his death and burial. John 19 31 to 42 and the other Gospels detail four specific prophecies that were fulfilled on that fateful Friday. A Jesus died with none of his bones being broken. B Jesus' side was pierced. C Jesus' body was not allowed to decay. D. Jesus was in tomb with the rich. Let's dwell into each of these prophecies. Moses' law clearly stated that if a man was put to death by hanging, the body was to be taken down that same day and not left overnight. According to Josephus, a Jewish historian, this law was interpreted in the first century to cover the bodies of those who had been crucified. Normally, the Romans simply left the crucified persons to die on the cross as a warning to would-be offenders. This might take five to six days, during which time the Roman soldiers simply ignore the crucified men. The high priests asked Pilate to speed up the death of the condemned men by breaking their legs so that their bodies could be removed before nightfall. The Romans, if they wanted to hasten the death of the crucified person, would smash their knees with a mallet, a huge hammer. This would deprive the body of the support he received from the feet and put all the weight on the hands. The crucified would then die shortly, as they would not be able to breathe. Pilate gave the order to expedite the death of the crucified ones as requested by the high priests. The soldiers went about breaking the legs of the two teeth, but when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead. Numbers 9 12 tells us that Moses' law stated that when observing Passover, the bones of the Passover lamb were not to be broken. Approximately 1,000 years before Jesus came, David prophesied in Psalms 34:20 that similarly none of the Messiah's bones would be broken. That Friday was the day when all those lambs that had been brought to Jerusalem to observe Passover would be sacrificed. Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb, was also being sacrificed for the sin of the world. In fulfillment of prophecy, just like those other Passover lambs, not one of Jesus' bones was broken. Seeing that Jesus appeared to be already dead, a Roman soldier decided to make sure of this truth by piercing Jesus' side with his spear. When he did so, blood and water flowed out from Jesus' body. Normally the body of a dead man will not bleed. It is believed that this spear pierced Jesus' heart. The sac that surrounds the heart is normally filled with a liquid that looks like water, and it was this that poured out of Jesus' side. Scholars also state that the point of the spear must have reached one of the ventricles of the heart, and the blood from the ventricle also rushed forth from the wound made by the spear. Significantly, blood and water were used together in the Old Testament for the purification of sin. Bible scholars have always attributed the water and the blood to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Some five hundred years before Jesus came, the prophets Zechariah and Zechariah 12 10 prophesied that they would look on him whom they had pierced. The Roman soldier, by thrusting his spear into Jesus' side, fulfilled this prophecy. The Romans did not bury the crucified bodies. Once they determined that the crucified person was dead, they would simply remove the body from the cross and let the dogs, vultures, and any other animals feast on their remains. However, the Romans were known to allow the friends and relatives of these crucified people to take the body away for a proper burial. Jesus' relatives are poor, and not only that they were Galileans and so did not possess a tomb in Jerusalem. Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy and came to the rescue. Joseph, having received the go-ahead from Pilate to collect Jesus' body, along with Nicodemus, took the body of Jesus from the cross. In those days it was a custom of the Jews to wrap the dead body in spices and ointment. Although less than one pound of the myrrh and aloe's mixture was normally used in Israelite funerary preparations, Nicodemus brought 75 pounds. These burial spices protected Jesus' holy body from experiencing any decay while he lay in the tomb. David prophesied almost 1,000 years before Jesus was born in Psalm 16 that Jesus would not remain with the dead and his body would not decompose. Scripture was being fulfilled here yet again. The tomb that Joseph of Arimathea gave to Jesus was a costly tomb. It was brand new. No one had ever been buried in it. It was very important to God's plan of salvation that Jesus be buried in a tomb where no one else had ever been buried. If Jesus' body had just been left out young Algata, skeptics might have been able to say there was not actually him that rose from the dead as there were so many other abandoned skeletons there. If anyone else had been in the tomb before Jesus, they could have said that it was that person that rose from the dead and not Jesus. These doubters could have also said that Elisha was able to restore someone to life when that dead person was placed in the same grave where Elisha lay. They would have tried to give the credit of resurrection power to the person that was there already. Jesus was buried like the rich in a tomb in a garden. Seven hundred years before Jesus was born in Isaiah 53:9, Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would occupy a tomb among the rich, and he did. Old Testament prophecy was once again fulfilled. Let us reflect on how God took time to implement redemption's plan so that you and I could live for him. The book of Revelation begins with the Apostle John stating that Jesus loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. As a result, we have become a kingdom and priest who serves Jesus' Father. Jesus will come again, and even those who pierce Jesus will see him. There are many who have chosen to finance the spreading of the good news of Jesus. David Green, the owner and founder of Hobby Lobby, is valued at$4.5 billion. He is the largest evangelical benefactor in the world. Forbes estimates that by the year 2012 he had donated$500 million to religious causes. May we also give of our funds to God's work. The earth shook violently, tombs split open. A hardened Roman centurion along with his soldiers cried out in awe, surely this man was the Son of God. In that single history changing moment, three powerful truths were forever established. First, the barrier between God and humanity was destroyed. The way into the very presence of God was flung wide open for every person puts their trust in Jesus. Second, the supernatural signs at the cross served as heaven's loud declaration, Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Third, every detail of Jesus' death and burial fulfilled Old Testament prophecy with stunning precision, proving beyond doubt that He is the promised Messiah. Due to His finished work on the cross, the spotless Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world. The veil is torn, the tomb is empty. Forgiveness, direct access to the Father, and eternal life are now freely offered to people. From every nation, tribe, and tongue. Before you go, if this message spoke to you, like this podcast and subscribe so you don't miss what God is doing here at Catch on Fire Podcasts. If you're ready for real change, take a moment right now to pray with me. Jesus, I give you my life. Lead me, forgive me, and make me new. If you pray that, welcome to the family. Follow along, stay connected, and let's walk this walk together. Please join me as we confess words of life over all of our lives. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are still holding on to God's unchanging hand. We are still in God's holy plan. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living holy lives as God requires. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, giving clothes to those in need, ministering to the sick and visiting those in prison, and we are doing so to the least of those among us, as when we do so we are ministering to Jesus. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we have received healing, as by his stripes we are healed. From the crown of our head to the soles of our feet, all of our bodily organs are working correctly. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that God is ordering our steps, that all weapons that are formed against us have been utterly and completely destroyed, and every tongue that is rising against us in judgment is condemned. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that all generational curses are cancelled. Anything that runs in our ancestral bloodline that is not of God has no power over us, our children and our grandchildren, and is eliminated forever right now. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that angels are watching over and keeping our family, our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones safe. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that every negative word that has been and is being spoken over our lives and that of our family, children, grandchildren, and loved ones is cancelled and sent back to the pit from whence it came. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are the head and not the tail. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are not and will never be ashamed. Our enemies have not and never will triumph over us. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that anything that is not of God that has been dispatched to hinder our blessings, our progress, and our well-being is immediately destroyed. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are financially in line with God's word, and as such we are lenders and not borrowers. As a result, all of our debts have been paid and are forgiven. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that the enemy of our souls has no authority over our finances and our funds, and that we are good stewards of the money that God has placed in our keeping. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus in the area of business and our carriers, that just as Isaac reaped a hundredfold, the blessings of Abraham are falling on us, and we are reaping a hundredfold from whatever we put our hands to. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living under an open heaven in every area of our lives. Blessings are falling on us, our family and our loved ones. These blessings are being manifested in our lives, in the spiritual and in the physical. Let's repeat the 23rd Psalm together. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea do I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runeth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen.