Mark records at least nine different times in his gospel when Jesus forewarned His disciples that He would be arrested, abused, crucified and resurrected (8:31-33, 9:9-12, 30-32, 10:32-34, 45, 12:1- 11, 14:3-8, 22-25 & 26-28).

Matthew tells us that even as Jesus was being arrested He told those present at least twice that what was happening was in order to fulfill what the prophets had said (26:54-56). But what had the prophets said?

1,000 years before Jesus was crucified, David had written that His hands and feet would be pierced, Psalm 22:16. How could David have foreseen this hundreds of years before crucifixion was even used as a means of execution? How also could this patriarch have known that Jesus’ executioners would divide His garments and cast lots for them, Psalm 22:18?

700 years earlier Isaiah said that in the abuse Jesus suffered He would be marred beyond recognition, 52:13-15. Consider how this would have been fulfilled in being flogged, struck in the face, bearing the crown of thorns and spat upon. How did Isaiah know these things would happen?

Isaiah also said (among many other things) that Jesus would make His grave with a rich man in His death, 53:9. It was of course a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, who came for the body of Jesus and after he and Nicodemus had prepared it for burial, laid it in his own newly hewn tomb, John 19:38-42. How could Isaiah have known that?

Another of the Lord’s prophets, Amos, said that there would come a day when God would make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight, Amos 8:9. Of course one might argue whether the sun literally went down, but even secular historians tell of three hours of darkness that began at noon on the day that Jesus was crucified. What a “wild” claim to make 700 years before the fact! But it happened.

500 years earlier Zechariah said that Jesus would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, 11:12-13. Not only this, but the prophet also said that this money would be used to buy a potter’s field, a burial place for strangers. Matthew recorded that it happened just as Zechariah said and that the place was named the “Field of Blood” and was still being called that at the time he wrote his gospel, Matthew 27:3-10.

The prophet Zechariah also said that the shepherd would be struck down and the flock scattered, 13:7, which prophesy Jesus Himself specifically mentioned to the apostles just before His arrest.

Should I go on? My point? Since every prophecy made by the ancients was fulfilled in Jesus and since Jesus himself said that they would be, what does this tell us about His promise to return? You get it. Now, are you ready?