John 12: Hearing from God & Fulfilling Prophecy

Mathematician, Peter Stoner, calculated the odds of one man fulfilling eight prophecies with his college class, erroring on the conservative side of their estimates. The scriptures and the odds of a man fulfilling them agreed upon by his class are as follows:

• Micah 5:2 - Born in Bethlehem. 7,150/2,000,000,000 (2.8 x 105)

• Malachi 3:1 - Has a forerunner (John the Baptist) one in a thousand (1 in 103)

• Zechariah 9:9 - Comes riding on a donkey. 1 in 100 (102)

• Zechariah 13:6 - Hands wounded because of a “friend’s” betrayal. 1 in 103

• Zechariah 11:12 - Betrayed for exactly 30 pieces of silver. 1 in 103

• Zechariah 11:13 - All 30 pieces cast down and to potter. 1 in 105

• Isaiah 53:7 - after fulfilling the above prophecies, when He is oppressed and afflicted and is on trial for his life, though innocent, will make no defense for himself? 1 in 103

• Psalms 22:16 - have been crucified. 1 in 104

With a lot more math I don’t want to go into, the odds of a single man fulfilling all of these prophecies is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (1017). I like how Stoner helped visualize this huge number:

1. Suppose that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to 2022, providing they wrote using their own wisdom.

This is only eight of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled. Scholars agree that Jesus fulfilled over three hundred prophecies with His birth, life, death, and resurrection. How did Jesus fulfill so many scriptures? In the fifth chapter of John, Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father doing. He gave us half of the answer in the final verses of John Chapter Twelve:

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:48-50 ESV)

Jesus only said what He heard His Father saying. Prophets spoke only what God told them, and Jesus had to SAY and DO only what His Father told Him. This is how He was able to fulfill so many prophecies! In this chapter of John, we see that Jesus wasn’t the only one hearing from God as prophecies were fulfilled.

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3 ESV)

Mary used ointment or perfume, which is usually used only for the burial of kings, to anoint the Lord’s feet. The whole house had the same aroma that the home of a king would have when he died. This was a foreshadowing of what would occur. Jesus had been saying He would die, but the disciples were not taking this seriously.

Jewish women wore their hair covered as evidence of modesty before men. Mary, used her most treasured, private item, her hair, to wipe the oil from His feet. This was an exuberant show of affection, respect, and honor.

Was it right for her to use an expensive item in such a way? Judas insisted that it should have been sold so the money could be given to the poor. Jesus disagreed:

But Jesus said, “Let her alone. It was [intended] that she should keep it for the time of My preparation for burial. [She has kept it that she might have it for the time of My embalming.] You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” (John 12:7-8 AMPC)

Mary must have heard from God, for Jesus agreed with her actions. She was doing God’s will though not all saw it that way. When others heard Jesus had called Lazarus out of the grave and He was coming to Jerusalem, they too listened to God and fulfilled a prophecy:

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written… (John 12:13-14 ESV)

The crowd knew enough about God’s ways and the prophecy of Zachariah, that they rushed to greet the Man they believed would be King. Not only did Jesus fulfill a prophecy by Zachariah by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowd cheering Him was part of that prophecy!

The Pharisees were infuriated by this and sought to kill Lazarus, but other Jews who had come from Greece wanted to meet the man causing such a commotion. The Lord’s response shows how human He was:

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour: Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”(John 12:23-28 ESV)

It brings tears to my eyes to see that as the day approached, Jesus didn’t want to die, but He knew He had to. The moment He spoke in agreement with God, fully submitting to His fate, God spoke to all who were gathered there. By stating “I have glorified it,” God was saying, Son, you had done well. When He said, “I will glorify it again,” God was, in essence saying the life of Jesus showed His glory and the cross will show it again.

How did the crowd respond to hearing the audible voice of God?

 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. (John 12:29-30 ESV)

Some of those heard the words of God. Others only heard thunder. Why didn’t they all hear God speaking?

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear, they made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, (Zechariah 7:11-13 ESV)

When we continue in sin, our hearts become hard and we may not be able to hear from God. No matter how anointed a prophet is, we may reject their words, just as Israel rejected the words of the most powerful prophet: God’s very own Son!

This explains why the Pharisees wouldn't listen to or accept Jesus. He had done the miracles only the Messiah could do and instead of accepting what He was saying, they wanted to get rid of the miracles! Jesus continued to talk to the people, but they still didn’t believe Him. This had to be, God had said it would be so through His mouthpiece, Isaiah the prophet:

He has blinded their eyes and hardened and benumbed their [callous, degenerated] hearts [He has made their minds dull], to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their hearts and minds and repenting and turning to Me to heal them. (John 12:40 AMPC)

Many people need healing but feel like God just doesn’t do that anymore. Yet, these same Christians refuse to turn from sin. Even worse, they refuse to learn God’s ways so they can understand what sin is!

If we continue in sin, refusing to turn from it, then God will not heal us. It can cause our minds to be unable to grasp what God is saying so that we cannot see and understand what is wrong. Is your heart hardened toward God?

We must remember that God chose Israel as His people. He knew and referred to them as “stiff-necked,” so He knew they had difficulty changing direction. God needed a people who would reject Jesus so that the rest of the world could receive Him. The actions of Israel were prophesied: they had to happen!

Do you want to hear from God? Are you willing to do what He says? If you have continued in actions that you know are sins, you may have a hardened heart. What do you need to do to get rid of it?

And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:18-20 ESV)

God will remove a hardened heart, but He expects you to do three things:

1. To walk in God’s statutes (His ways) you must first know them: Learn God’s ways so that you know what is sin.

2. You must keep them, so you must turn from sin.

3. Ask God to give you a new heart because you are willing to do your part!

God has made it this easy. If you are willing to try, He is willing to help. God has provided a place for you to learn, it is online and on an app, and it is FREE. All classes, all materials are free. Are you ready to get a new heart? Start learning today!

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John 12: Hearing from God & Fulfilling ProphecyOnline Christian Church

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