Bible prophecies about Christ

The Most Important Knowledge. Topic No. 5 “Prophecies about Christ”

Until now, you and I have been preparing the ground for the “Most Important Knowledge” plot. Today we will get acquainted with the seeds from which plants grow. And later the fruits. Many people have read and tried to understand what is written in the Bible. But not understanding it, they refuse to acknowledge its inspiration and leave it without understanding its spiritual meaning.

Biblical truth can be spiritually compared to a children's game in which children assemble pictures using small shaped colored cardboard pieces - “puzzles”. And whoever understands the Everlasting Gospel will be able to gather all the themes of the Bible together and see the beauty of God's truth! We have already noted with you that the Center of the Eternal Gospel will be the sacrifice of God, who gives the most precious thing that He has - His Only Begotten Son - as a sacrifice for the sins of people, the root of which is distrust of God.

And all this in order to restore trust and give to the rebel and dying creation what God Himself possesses - Eternal Life. That is, in God's Word, which reveals the plan of salvation, the central person will be the Son of God, Jesus. Which is what He Himself said. Search the Scriptures, for through them you think you have eternal life; and they testify of Me. (John 5:39)

We need to study biblical truth

The Jews, the Old Testament people of God, never saw what God said in Scripture. For centuries, reading the Word of God, they have never seen the beauty and harmony of the plan of salvation that God revealed through His Son. As a result, they crucified Him, for which they were rejected and punished by God! For the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders, not recognizing Him and condemning Him, fulfilled the prophetic words read every Saturday, and, not finding in Him any guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to kill Him. When they had fulfilled all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb (Acts 13:27-29).

If we do not see and understand the truth of God hidden in the Bible, then we too will suffer the consequences of our wrong step and lose Eternal Life! A visual model of the Bible is like a luminous object emitting rays of light in all directions! Christ is light, and all parts of the Bible speak about Him, that is, they carry His light! Then He said to them: O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Is this not how Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses, he explained to them from all the prophets what was said about Him in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:25-27).

And he said to them: This is what I spoke to you about while I was still with you, that everything that was written about Me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. (Luke 24:44-46).

For I taught you from the beginning what I also received, that is, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:3).

Joel

The name means "Yahweh is God." There is little information about his life. Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus has a legend that the prophet Joel lived beyond the Jordan. He was a prophet in Jerusalem. The time of his preaching is determined by the events described in his book: the Northern Kingdom of Israel has already been captured by the Assyrians and ceased to exist, but the Southern Kingdom, with its capital in Jerusalem, is still awaiting the invasion of the Babylonians. Joel is a contemporary of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other prophets. The book of Joel is apocalyptic. It talks about the coming day of the Lord after the Second Coming of Christ.

The place from which the Last Judgment will begin is indicated in this book as the Valley of Jehoshaphat - an area well known to the prophet outside the walls of Jerusalem near the Kidron stream, where, during his time, and hundreds of years before him, a cemetery extends to this day. In this valley Christ prayed before His suffering; there was the Garden of Gethsemane, from where He was led to trial and crucifixion. The Cross of Christ was also installed outside the city walls, above the place where the tomb was located, which was part of the cemetery. According to legend, the first person to live on earth, Adam, was buried in it. Because of the legend of the Last Judgment, the cemetery located in this valley is the most expensive in the world. Many people wish to be buried there. With its enormous size and rectangular white stone tombstones, it resembles a city from a distance.

Bible about Christ

Let us carefully and humbly, learning from Heavenly Father and constantly questioning Him, use the Word of God to piece together a holistic picture of the Eternal Gospel centered on God's Son Jesus Christ. We will look at just a few prophecies about Christ out of more than 300 Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the New Testament. This:

Origin.
Birth.
Arrival time.
Betrayal.
Crucifixion.
Burial.
Resurrection.

Prophecies about Christ - origin

The family tree or origin, the history of the family, is something that the person in question cannot arrange for himself.

From Abraham: ...and through your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. (Gen.22:18).

From Judah (one of the 12 sons of Jacob):. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until the Reconciler comes, and to Him is the submission of the nations. (Gen.49:10).

From King David: ...I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Samuel 7:13).

There are 75 people in the genealogy of Jesus from Adam. We are considering only a small part of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.

Fulfillment: Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham. Abraham gave birth to Isaac; Isaac gave birth to Jacob; Jacob gave birth to Judah and his brothers. (Matt.1:1,2).

Prophecies about Christ - birth

Place: And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be a ruler in Israel. And whose origin was from the beginning, from the days of eternity. (Mic. 5:2).

Fulfillment: Joseph also went from Galilee... to the city of David, called Bethlehem... to sign up with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for Her to give birth. (Luke 2:4-6).

From: So the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14).

Fulfillment: The Nativity of Jesus Christ was like this: after the betrothal of His Mother Mary to Joseph, before they were united, it turned out that She was pregnant with the Holy Spirit. …. And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Behold, a virgin is with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us. (Matt. 1:18-23).

Prophecies about Christ - the time of coming

Time of arrival: So know and understand: from the time the commandment goes out to restore Jerusalem until Christ the Lord there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks... And after the sixty-two weeks Christ will be put to death, and there will be no... (Dan.9:25,26).

Fulfillment: ...Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and saying that the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the Gospel. (Mark 1:14,15).

…but when the fullness of time had come, God sent His only begotten Son…. (Gal.4:4).

Prophecies about Christ are betrayal

Betrayal: Even the man who was at peace with me, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, lifted up his heel against me. (Ps. 40:10).

...they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver as payment to Me. And the Lord said to me: throw them into the church storehouse - the high price at which they valued Me! And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. (Zechariah 11:12,13).

Fulfillment: Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, and, repenting, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. They said to him: What is that to us? take a look yourself. And, throwing away the pieces of silver in the temple, he went out, went and hanged himself. The high priests, taking the pieces of silver, said: it is not permissible to put them in the church treasury, because this is the price of blood. Having held a meeting, they bought a potter's land with them for the burial of strangers. (Matt. 27:3-7).

Prophecies about Christ - the crucifixion

Crucifixion: For dogs have surrounded me, a crowd of evil ones has surrounded me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. One could count all my bones; and they look and make a spectacle out of me; They divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing. (Ps. 21:17-19).

Fulfillment: They led two villains with Him to death. And when they came to a place called Lobnoye, they crucified Him and the villains there, one on the right and the other on the left. (Luke 23:32,33)

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and a tunic; The tunic was not sewn, but entirely woven on top. So they said to each other: Let us not tear it apart, but let us cast lots for it, whose it will be, so that what is said in the Scripture may be fulfilled: They divided My garments among themselves, and cast lots for My clothing. This is what the warriors did. (John 19:23,24).

Prophecies about Christ - burial

Burial: He was assigned a coffin with evildoers, but He was buried with a rich man, because He committed no sin, and no lie was in His mouth. (Isa.53:9).

When evening came, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also studied with Jesus; He came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered the body to be given up; and Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean shroud, and laid it in his new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock; and, having rolled a large stone to the door of the tomb, he left. (Matt. 27:57-60).

Prophecies about Christ - resurrection

Resurrection: for You will not leave my soul in hell and You will not allow Your saint to see corruption. (Ps. 15:10).

He will look at the feat of His soul with contentment; through the knowledge of Him, He, the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many and bear their sins on Himself. Therefore, I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will share the spoils with the strong, because He gave His soul to death and was counted among the evildoers, while He bore the sin of many and became an intercessor for the criminals. (Isa.53:11,12).

Fulfillment: This, according to the definite advice and foreknowledge of God, you took him and, nailing him with the hands of the lawless, killed him; but God raised Him up, breaking the bonds of death, because it was impossible for it to hold Him. (Acts 2:23,24).

Prophecies about Christ about the end of a sinful world

In the prophecies about the end of this sinful world, Christ is also the central Person.

You saw him until the stone came off the mountain without the help of hands, struck the image, his iron and clay feet, and broke them. Then everything was crushed together: iron, clay, copper, silver and gold became like dust on the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, and no trace remained of them; and the stone that broke the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Dan.2:34,35).

Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I lay a stone for the foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he that believeth in it shall not be put to shame. (Isa.28:16).

...for you have tasted that the Lord is good. Approaching Him, a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious by God, you yourself, like living stones, build yourself into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it is written in the Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, chosen, precious; and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame. So He is a treasure to you who believe, but to those who do not believe, the stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the head of the corner, is a stone of stumbling and a stone of offense, over which they stumble, not obeying the word, to which they are left. (1 Peter 2:3-8).

Christ is the center of priestly rituals in the sanctuary

All sacrifices pointed to His Sacrifice: He was tortured, but He suffered voluntarily and did not open His mouth; like a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. (Isa.53:7).

The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29).

Christ was the center of all the ceremonies and rituals performed in the sanctuary: But by the sacrifices sins are annually reminded, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, Christ, entering the world, says: You did not desire sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for Me. (Heb. 10:3-5).

The ministry of the priests and high priests in the earthly sanctuary pointed to the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary: Now the main point of what we are talking about is this: we have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and is a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched , not a person. (Heb. 8:1,2).

From Genesis to Revelation, the Son of God is the focus of the Eternal Gospel:

Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the Last. (Rev. 22:12,13).

Isaiah

The holy prophet Isaiah preached in Jerusalem during the reign of the Jewish kings Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh (mid-8th - early 7th centuries BC). Isaiah's name means "Salvation of God." The prophet came from a priestly family. He was born around 765 BC. For fifty years, Isaiah called the Israelis to repentance and announced to them the imminent coming of the Messiah (Christ). For the accuracy of his prophecies about the Savior, he is called the fifth evangelist.

In addition to the message about Christ, the book of the prophet Isaiah also contains prophecies about the end of the world: the judgment of the earth and the triumph of the Kingdom of God. The prophet predicted to his compatriots the fall of Judea and the Babylonian captivity for the unrepentance of the people.

The Jewish king Hezekiah repented from the preaching of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah performed a miracle for the sick king: through the prayer of the prophet, the shadow on the steps of the palace returned. After repentance, the king was healed. The elderly prophet ended his life as a martyr - he was executed during the reign of the wicked king Manasseh.

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Isaiah:

Is. 2:1-4 About the exaltation of the mountain of the Lord - Golgotha, to which all nations will be gathered.

Is. 7 About the birth of Emmanuel from the Virgin.

Is. 9 About the rise of Galilee, which saw the Great Light.

Is. 11 About the Branch that will come from the root of Jesse and David, and about the gifts of the Spirit on Him.

Is. 40 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God in the desert” - about the voice of one crying in the wilderness - John the Forerunner of the Lord.

Is. 42; 49; 50 and 52-53; Chapter 61 About the Youth, the Servant of the Lord, the Son of God, His meekness and suffering. Chapter 53 of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is generally called the fifth Gospel - the events of the Passion of the Lord are so accurately described in it.

The Main Purpose of the Everlasting Gospel

But do not assume that the main purpose of the Everlasting Gospel is simply to tell everyone about the Son of God. About His Sacrifice, love for people, His service for us. The most important purpose of the Eternal Gospel is to achieve from a sinful person who has free choice a response of love and trust to the actions of God and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ! The Son of God, who revealed the character of God in human nature, really wants to awaken in sinful people the desire to know God and be reconciled with Him. Find the closest relationship based on mutual love with Him.

Since God is a spiritual Person, coming to Him is not a physical concept - from point A to point B; and spiritual, the transition from a sinful life to a holy life, free from sin. Sin separated man from God: Behold, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save, and His ear is not too heavy to hear. But your iniquities have created a separation between you and your God, and your sins have turned His face away from you, so as not to hear. (Isa.59:1,2).

To save a person from what destroys him, that is, from sin, this is the goal that stood before the Son of God: ... and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free. (John 8:32-36).

Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6).

Ezekiel

The name of the prophet means “The Lord will strengthen.” Like previous prophets, he was from a line of priests. Ezekiel was born around 622 B.C. This prophet was... mute. He composed his sermons on parchment scrolls. They were read by the prophet's disciples on the streets of the city. Researchers who have studied the book of the prophet Ezekiel in the original language conclude that his sermons are highly artistic, harmonious texts with a beginning, development of thought and ending, and poetic means, and not fragmentary fragments written down by someone from memory.

According to one of the legends, Ezekiel was initially a servant of the prophet Jeremiah (St. Gregory the Theologian, Homily 47). After the capture of Jerusalem, at the age of 25, he was taken into Babylonian captivity. Along the way, Ezekiel encouraged the Israelites with written sermons.

Ezekiel was married. His wife died after four years of living in a foreign land. In captivity, he continued his ministry, but not in Babylon itself (where the Lord appointed the prophet Daniel to preach), but in other villages. Saint Clement of Alexandria reports that Ezekiel was the teacher of Pythagoras, who came to Babylon to gain knowledge (Stromata, I, 304).

Like the two previous prophets, Ezekiel was killed by the prince of his people for denouncing idolatry. He was buried on the banks of the Euphrates near Baghdad, in the vicinity of the modern city of Kifl in Iraq. Muslims revere him very much.

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Ezekiel:

Ezek. 37 The vision of “dry bones” is a prophecy of the resurrection of the dead.

Ezek. 44 The vision of the new city and temple is an image of the Church of Christ; the vision of the closed gates of the temple is a prototype of the Mother of God.

Christ is the truth

Christ said that we need to know the truth and it will set us free. The Word of God also teaches that Christ is the truth. He tells us that it is He who can and wants to free us from sin. The root of sin is distrust of God and His words. This is how humanity was infected with a deadly disease called sin: The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God created. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: You shall not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent: We can eat the fruits of the trees, only the fruits of the tree, which is in the middle of paradise, God said, do not eat them and do not touch them, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you will not die, but God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. (Gen.3:1-5).

Without Christ we cannot solve the problem of sin. We can change something externally in our behavior, remove the visible part of the problem, but not eliminate the problem itself. Yes, outwardly it seems as if the problem has been solved, but it is not solved, but hidden away from view.

Hosea

The name means "salvation." The holy prophet Hosea lived in the Kingdom of Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II (835-753 BC), and survived the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 722 (it was conquered by the Assyrians). Presumably, he was also from a priestly family.

Hosea was married to the woman Gomer whom he mentions in his book. It also says that one of the prophet’s wife was a harlot who cheated on her first husband, and the other was a harlot, the prophet took them as wives on the condition that they would finish their sinful deeds. This story from the life of the prophet Hosea echoes the legend about St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, who saved the three daughters of a poor man from the life of harlots awaiting them by secretly throwing bags of gold into the house.

The leitmotif of the book of the prophet Hosea is “the sowing of God”: “Sow yourselves in righteousness, and you will reap mercy; Plow up your new field, for it is time to seek the Lord” (Hos. 10:12). The prophet announces that the Lord will call the pagans who believe in Him into His Kingdom. The phrase from his book “who sows the wind will reap the storm” has become a catchphrase.

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Hosea:

Os. 11:1 “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (see Matt. 2:15).

Os. 13:14 “I will redeem them from the power of hell, I will deliver them from death. Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? We always hear these words of the prophet Hosea on Easter night.

The Problem of Sin Has Two Parts

The problem of sin consists of two parts, hidden and ostentatious. The internal state (character, motives, spirit of a person) is the root of everything (for example, a tree). External behavior (appearance, facial expressions, gestures, words) is a picture drawn at our discretion. Moreover, the internal state is primary.

And here is an illustration: Apple tree, pear tree, cherry tree, peach tree. Each tree bears its own fruit. Why does an apple tree produce apples, a pear tree produces pears, a cherry tree produces cherries, and a peach tree produces peaches? Because the fruits of a tree are determined by the very essence of the tree. The fruit of a tree is a consequence of the essence of the tree itself. The Son of God wanted to convey this truth to sinful people: By their fruits you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matt. 7:16-18).

We are sinners. Our nature, our being, is sinful and rebels against God and His will. Without removing the root of sin (distrust of God), we will remain the same sinners and will never come to God, although outwardly we will seem pious. Double standards have always been popular among sinful people. They are manifesting themselves with special force now in this last time on the eve of the Second Coming of Christ. They will manifest themselves with particular force in religion.

Know that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfriendly, unforgiving, slanderers, intemperate, cruel, not loving what is good, traitors, insolent, pompous, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God who have a form of godliness, His strength has been denied. Get rid of such people. (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

Amos

Prophet Amos (name means “burden bearer”) is a native of the city of Tekoa, five kilometers south of Bethlehem. Before being called to prophetic ministry, he was a simple shepherd and fig gatherer. He goes to preach in the Northern Kingdom, to the city of Bethel - a pagan “mecca”, the center of the worship of golden calves. The time of his preaching falls on the reign of King Jeroboam II (782-740 BC).

With his denunciations, Amos aroused the wrath of the Bethel priestess Amaziah, who tried to accuse the prophet before Jeroboam of indignating the people and insulting the personality of the king. The king believed these false accusations and the prophet was banished. However, he returned to preach under Uzziah (733-722 BC) - the last king of the Northern Kingdom, after which Israel was taken into Assyrian captivity.

Spiritual illness can only be cured with spiritual medicine

The human brain is one of the most complex structures in the Universe! Can we say that the human mind itself is sin? No. The human mind can produce sinful thoughts. But he can also produce holy thoughts. And if the brain were a bad tree, then it would not be able to bear good fruit even sometimes, but if it does, then the problem is not in the human mind. Man, created in the image and likeness of God, is a very subtle structure, a spiritual structure. The same brain can be the source of opposing thoughts: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on carnal things, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on spiritual things. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom.8:5,6).

A person’s spirit, his personal “I”, which has freedom of choice, is affected by sin! Spiritual illness can only be cured with spiritual medicine. This is prayer, studying God's Word, charity. Well, the most important thing is about the source of the strength of your new life, this is to walk through life with Christ. Identify your actions and thoughts with His holy life. For you have been called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we would follow in His footsteps. (1 Peter 2:21).

The next topic will be on rebirth or being born again. This is a very important stage in a person’s life. Because if a person is not born again, then he cannot live a new life.

The Most Important Knowledge. Topic No. 5 “The Bible about Christ”

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Jeremiah

Jeremiah's name means "The Lord will magnify." Also from a priestly family, the prophet Jeremiah was born in 645 BC. in Judea. He preached during the reigns of the five kings of Judah—Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah—for a total of about fifty years. At the same time, other famous prophets preached: Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, Baruch. In turbulent times, under the threat of an invasion by the Babylonians, the prophets warned the people against sins and called on them to turn to the True God. Jeremiah's fiery sermon sounded in the Jerusalem temple, at the gates of the city, in the royal palace, in the squares and in private homes. Unfortunately, unbelieving compatriots perceived the prophet’s words about the imminent invasion of the Babylonians not as a warning from God, but as an expression of certain political views: Jeremiah was suspected of having relations with the Babylonians and betraying his homeland. He was reviled by his compatriots and abandoned by his relatives.

The Second Book of Maccabees says that before the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem, he, together with the Israelis loyal to him, managed to hide the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle and the altar in one of the caves of Mount Nebo (today the territory of Jordan) and blocked the entrance with stones. When some Jews tried to return to the site to remember it, they could not find the cave (2 Macc. 2:1-8). According to legend, the Ark of the Covenant, in which the tablets with the Ten Commandments were kept, a vessel with manna from heaven and the blossoming rod of Aaron, remains there to this day and will remain until the end of time.

The prophecies spoken by Jeremiah came true before his eyes. The prophet predicted that the king of Judah would be taken to Babylon. Less than three months had passed before King Jehoiachin was taken into Babylonian captivity. Residents of Jerusalem accused the prophet of having connections with the Babylonians - no one wanted to believe that God was revealing the future to the prophet. Jeremiah was put in prison - a ditch dug in the ground and partially filled with water.

During the siege of Jerusalem, the prophet tried to flee the city, but the guards mistook him for a defector and returned him. Jeremiah was released from arrest only by the Babylonians who entered the city. Paradoxically, the pagans showed more respect for the prophet Yahweh, who for the Babylonians was only one of the deities of the pantheon.

The head of the royal guard, Navunarzan, honored the prophet, did not take him captive and offered to choose a place where he would live - Jerusalem was destroyed to the ground. Jeremiah chose to remain in his homeland. He wept on the ruins of Jerusalem and, together with his disciple the prophet Baruch, preached to the few remaining compatriots. The poem “Lamentations of Jeremiah,” written in acrostic verse, one of the books of the Old Testament, is dedicated to a description of the destruction of the holy city.

Soon the Jews, who were allowed to remain in their land, rebelled against the Babylonian government. It was defeated, and the rebels were forced to flee to Egypt. Fleeing, they took with them the prophet Jeremiah so that he would not reveal to the Babylonians which direction they were heading.

There is an ancient Christian legend about the martyrdom of the prophet in Egypt. In the city of Tafnis, pagan Egyptians were converted by his preaching; through the prayer of the prophet, poisonous snakes and crocodiles left the houses of local residents. However, his compatriots stoned him. Alexandrian legend says that under Alexander the Great the remains of the prophet were transferred to Alexandria. The supposed tomb of Jeremiah in the vicinity of Cairo is still revered by the Egyptians.

After his death, the prophet Jeremiah appeared to Judah Maccabee during the liberation uprising in Judea and gave him a golden sword (2 Maccabees 15:10-16). Jeremiah, who appeared to one of the Maccabee brothers, is no longer a bent old man with scars from blows and shackles, but “a majestic man, adorned with gray hair and glory,” “a brotherly lover who prays a lot for the people and the holy city.” In addition to the book of prophecies and Lamentations, Jeremiah left behind a “Message” about the meaninglessness of idolatry, which was also included in the Old Testament.

Prophecies about Christ from Jeremiah:

Jerem. 31 “Rachel weeps for her children” - about the massacre of the Bethlehem infants.

Jerem. 31:31-34 Prophecy about the establishment of the New Testament (eternal, giving forgiveness of sins) through the death of the Savior on the Cross.

The Prophet also owns the books The Message of Jeremiah and the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Born of a Virgin

Nativity.
Fragment of an icon, Constantinople; XI century The Nativity of Jesus from the Virgin Mary is one of the most famous facts of the Gospel narrative.

Prophet Isaiah

in the 8th century BC says:

…Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel (Isa. 7:14).

The Beginning of Jesus' Preaching

And he returned to Galilee in strength of spirit. Vasily Polenov. 1890-1900s

After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus withdrew to the province of Galilee and settled in the city of Capernaum, within the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. It was from there that He began His preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 4

:12—17).

Prophet Isaiah

speaks:

But there will not always be darkness where it has now thickened. Formerly the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were belittled; but what follows will exalt the seaside route, the Transjordanian country, the pagan Galilee

(Is
8:22—9:1).

Malachi

The name means "messenger of God." Malachi is the last of the prophets. He preached in the 5th century BC. Born in the city of Sofa in northern Israel. He was from a priestly family. By the time of Malachi's prophetic ministry, the second Temple of Jerusalem (in which Christ would preach) had already been built. However, he was still a contemporary of the builders of this temple - the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah, thanks to which the book of the prophet Malachi was included in the first collected canon of the books of the Old Testament (Ezra and Nehemiah were involved in compiling the canon).

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Malachi:

Malachi 3:1-2 “Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before me, and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant, whom you desire, will come to his temple. Behold, He comes, says the Lord of hosts. And who will endure the day of His coming, and who will stand when He appears? For He is like a melting fire” - a prophecy about the coming of the Lord and His Forerunner.

Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I, when I come, will not strike the earth with a curse” - a prophecy about the appearance of John the Baptist and the prophet Elijah before the coming of Christ.

In addition to those listed, the prophetic books of the Old Testament include the books of the prophet Baruch and the 3rd book of Ezra.

...And due to the villains

Titian. Carrying the cross. 1565

Christ, who did nothing illegal, was condemned and crucified along with criminals (Mark 15

:27—28).

Prophet Isaiah

speaks:

... gave up His soul to death, and was numbered with the evildoers, while He bore the sin of many and became an intercessor for the criminals (Isa. 53:12).

Unbroken shins

The torment of those crucified on the cross could last for several days. To prevent this terrible spectacle from spoiling the upcoming Passover holiday, it was decided to speed up the execution process. Usually, for this purpose, the legs of the crucified were broken with a hammer, after which they could no longer lean on their legs nailed to the cross and quickly died from suffocation, hanging by their arms alone. They did the same this time. But when, having broken the legs of the robbers, the soldiers approached the crucified Jesus, they saw that he was already dead. Therefore, his bones remained intact (John 19

:31—33).

Prophet David

speaks:

He keeps all his bones; not one of them will be crushed (Ps. 33:21).

Thirty pieces of silver

Duccio. Betrayal of Judas. Fragment

After the traitor Judas learned that Christ had been condemned to death, he came to the high priests and threw on the floor in front of them the 30 pieces of silver that they had paid him for betraying Jesus. The high priests did not put this money into the church treasury and used it to buy a plot of land that belonged to a potter (Matt. 27

: 3—7).

Prophet Zechariah

speaks:

And I will say to them: if it pleases you, then give Me My wages; if not, don’t give it; and they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver as payment to Me. And the Lord said to me: throw them into the church storehouse - the high price at which they valued Me! And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13).

Zephaniah

The name means “The Lord covers” or “The Lord watches.” Lived and preached in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (639-608 BC). A fourth-generation descendant of King Hezekiah and a relative of Josiah. Under this pious king, under the influence of the preaching of the prophets, the people returned to the faith of their fathers, but the kingdom of Judah was already on the eve of its destruction. The prophet warns the people about the danger of apostasy from God and the possible future invasion of the Babylonians.

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Zephaniah:

About the reign of the Lord over the whole earth.

Habakkuk

The name means "beloved." He is mentioned in the non-canonical part of the book of the prophet Daniel. Habakkuk preached at the same time as this prophet. This is already the second prophet, whom some interpreters identify with the resurrected son of the Sarepta widow or Shunammite (her son was resurrected by the prophet Elisha). Habakkuk began his preaching in the Southern Kingdom even before the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, under the wicked king Manasseh.

The opening words of the 2nd chapter of his book “I stood on my watch” became the basis for the irmos of the 4th song of the Easter canon: “On the Divine guard, may the God-speaking Habakkuk stand with us and show the luminous Angel, clearly saying: this day is salvation for the world, for Christ is risen, for the Almighty "

The words of this book are also found in other liturgical irmos: “Lord, I heard Thy hearing and feared,” “Thou camest from the shadowy mountain thicket,” “Thy virtue covered the heavens, O Christ” - from chapter 3 of the book. This speaks of the poetry and prophetic significance of the book.

In the stichera to the prophet Habakkuk himself, we hear: “Standing on the Divine guard, honorable Habakkuk heard the mystery of Your Coming to us, O Christ, ineffable, and Your preaching prophesies most clearly, seeing the wise apostles like horses, the tongue of the multi-tribal disturbing the sea,” and in the troparion to him: “Having preached the Lord of Glory, and prophesied the coming from the Holy Virgin, which was manifested, and seeing what was shown, blessed Habakkuk rejoiced.”

Nahum

The name means "comforted". He preached in Judea under King Hezekiah (725-696 BC), and perhaps also under the wicked king Manasseh. His book also contains a prophecy about Nineveh. This time the city did not repent, as from the preaching of Jonah, and in 612 BC, after a two-month siege by the Babylonian king Nabopolassar, Nineveh fell. Although the defenders of Nineveh were superior in strength to the Babylonians, a plague suddenly broke out among them. The Babylonians entered the city, which was given to them by the wrath of God, almost without a fight.

Prophecies about Christ from the prophet Nahum:

The fate of Nineveh is an image of the final destruction of evil after the Second Coming of Christ.

Crucifixion

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Carrying the Cross

Jesus was crucified as was traditionally done in the Roman way: His hands and feet were nailed to the cross with thick nails holding up his body.

Prophet David

speaks:

...A crowd of evil ones surrounded me, they pierced my hands and my feet (Ps. 21:17).

“Come down from the cross!”

Looking at Jesus dying in terrible agony, the high priests, Pharisees, scribes and ordinary passers-by laughed at him and said: “Let him come down from the cross, then we will believe that he is the Son of God” (Matthew27

:40—43).

Prophet David

speaks:

...Everyone who sees me mocks me, saying with their lips, nodding their heads: “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him, let him save him, if he pleases him

(Ps
21:8—9).

Entering Jerusalem on a donkey

Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Giotto

On the eve of the Jewish Passover, Christ, joyfully greeted by the people, rode into Jerusalem not on a horse, as befitted a national leader, but on a young donkey (Lk 19

:30—35).

Prophet Zechariah

in the 6th century BC says:

Rejoice with joy, daughter of Zion, rejoice, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on a donkey and on the colt of an ass, the son of the yoke (Zech 9:9).

Savior of the world

Koshelev Nikolay. Head of Christ

Christ took upon Himself all the sins of the world (John 1

:29), in His incarnation took on human nature with all its vulnerability, susceptibility to suffering and death, in order to heal it in Himself through the Feat of the Cross, death and Resurrection.

Prophet Isaiah

speaks:

But He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our illnesses; and we thought that He was smitten, punished and humiliated by God (Isa. 53:4).

On the screen saver there is a fragment: Angel with the last trumpet. 17th century Artist Alonos Kano (1601-1667)

Burial of a rich man

Christ was to be buried along with the robbers executed next to Him. But after the execution, His body, with the permission of Pilate, was taken by a rich and noble member of the Sanhedrin named Joseph, who was a secret disciple of Jesus. He buried Christ with all honors in a cave specially prepared for this (Matt. 27

:57—60).

Prophet Isaiah

speaks:

He was assigned a grave with evildoers, but He was buried with a rich man, because He committed no sin, and no lie was found in His mouth (Isa. 53:9).

Christmas place

Bethlehem. Church of the Nativity. Photo by young shanahan/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

The God-man Christ, according to humanity, was born in Bethlehem, and according to Divinity, he is born from the Father before the beginning of time and the creation of the world.

Prophet Micah

in the 8th century BC says:

And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and whose origin was from the beginning, from the days of eternity (Mic 5 :2).

Haggai

The name means “The Lord will protect.” He came from a family of priests. The time of his preaching is the end of the era of Babylonian captivity, the beginning of the return of the Jews to the Promised Land. In his early youth, he came from Babylon to Judea, prophesied about the coming return of the people from captivity, saw part of the restoration of the temple and was the first to sing “hallelujah” there. The 1st book of Ezra speaks of the prophet’s joint appearance with the prophet Zechariah with a sermon-call to restore the Jerusalem Temple after the return of the first Jews to the Holy Land (this happened under King Darius in 538 BC). He died in Jerusalem and was buried there near the tombs of the priests.

And she

The name means "dove". An Israelite from Get-a-Kovera in the Northern Kingdom, a contemporary of the prophet Amos. Blessed Jerome cites the legend that Jonah is the same son of the widow from Zarephath of Sidon, whom the prophet Elijah resurrected. Jonah is also considered a disciple of the prophet Elisha. Preached to the Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam II. He was also sent to the pagans in Nineveh, but he resisted this command of God and tried to sail on a ship to the other side - the Spanish city of Tarshish. The Lord sends a storm to pacify it, the shipmen throw the “culprit” of the storm into the sea, where he is swallowed by a certain sea animal and three days later spits him out on the shore just opposite Nineveh.

Unlike other prophets, Jonah prophesies about Christ with his very life, described in his fascinating book. His prophecy and its fulfillment are indicated by Christ Himself :

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah; for as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:39-41).

After his death, Jonah was buried in Nineveh, whose inhabitants repented after his preaching. There Jonah lived until the end of his days.

Voluntariness of suffering

Matthias Stom. Crowning with a crown of thorns. Around 1633-1639

Christ knew that he would be arrested, tortured and sentenced to a terrible death on the Cross. He could easily have escaped from His enemies, but He accepted all the suffering voluntarily (John 12

:27) and did not say anything to the tormentors in His defense (Mark
14
:60—61).

Prophet Isaiah

speaks:

He was tortured, but He suffered voluntarily and did not open His mouth; He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7).

Baruch

The name means "blessed". Baruch was a scribe and companion of the prophet Jeremiah. Little is known about his life. A seal of “Berechiah the son of Neriah, the scribe” was found in Jerusalem, which is believed to have belonged to the prophet Baruch. The brother of the prophet Seraiah was in charge of collecting taxes under King Zedekiah. The prophet Baruch wrote down the words of Jeremiah and was thrown into prison with him, and then followed him to Egypt, where he began to preach on his own. The book of the prophet Baruch is classified as deuterocanonical, not included in the canon of Ezra and Nehemiah. Its original came to us not in Hebrew, but in Ancient Greek.

Ezra

Jewish priest. The name means "help (of God)." In 458 BC. he led the Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity, established the Sanhedrin, supervised the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem and compiled the first canon of Old Testament books, collecting scattered scrolls together. According to Josephus, Ezra was a personal friend of King Xerxes II and an authorized representative of the Persian king (after the collapse of the Babylonian kingdom, his lands went to Persia). The fact that the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity to Palestine was partly due to his merit.

Ezra sought to restore the spiritual traditions of the Old Testament Church among the generation of Jews who grew up in Babylonian captivity - the observance of Sabbaths and holidays, the support of the Temple by its parishioners. According to Josephus, the prophet Ezra died and was buried in Jerusalem. According to other sources, he returned to Babylon and died there.

The third book of Ezra is considered prophetic (the first two, like the book of his colleague the prophet Nehemiah, are historical). The third book of the prophet Ezra is also classified as deuterocanonical.