Jesus the True Prophet and Substitute

Seeing the Future

Read the sermon’s main passage together:

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 'See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.' (Matthew 20:17-19)

What four specific things did Jesus say would happen to Him in Jerusalem? Why do you think He pulled the Twelve aside to tell them this privately?

True Prophet Test

The sermon said Jesus proves He is a true Prophet by accurately foretelling the future. Moses wrote:

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)

Jesus had already predicted His suffering twice before (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23). How does seeing Him get more specific in Matthew 20:17-19 strengthen your confidence that He is exactly who He claims to be?

From Rebuke to Silence

The sermon traced how the disciples responded to each passion prediction: - Peter rebuked Jesus: 'This shall never happen to you' (Matthew 16:22). - They were greatly distressed (Matthew 17:23). - In Matthew 20:17-19, there seems to be no recorded response.

Why do you think the disciples moved from openly arguing with Jesus to distress to silence? What does that tell you about how hard it was for them to accept that the Messiah had to suffer?

Wounded for Us

The sermon connected Jesus' death to Isaiah’s prophecy and Paul’s letters:

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

If Jesus was innocent and we are the ones who have gone astray, what does it mean that the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all? How is that different from saying Jesus was just a good example who died for a cause?

Love on Display

Paul wrote:

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

When you hear that Jesus saw every detail of His suffering ahead of time and still went to Jerusalem, how does that shape your view of God’s love? Is there a situation this week where believing you are loved like that could change how you respond?

Why the Cross?

Jesus could have predicted a quick or peaceful death, but He specifically foretold being mocked, flogged, crucified, and then raised. The sermon called this substitutionary atonement—Jesus absorbing the wrath we deserve.

Debate this in your group: If God is all-powerful, why did rescue have to come through such brutal suffering? Couldn’t He have forgiven sin some other way? What would be lost if Jesus had simply died in His sleep instead of dying as a condemned substitute?