What are the most important prophecies about the Lord Christ’s last week on earth?

First : The Lord Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). The Lord Christ entered Jerusalem humbly, riding on a donkey, and a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Second : The conspiracy to give Him up to the Jewish leaders. “Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter” (Zech. 1:12–13). This is a prophecy of Judas’ conspiracy to betray the Lord Christ to the leaders of the Jews in return for thirty pieces of silver; and after that, his regret and attempt to return this small amount to the Jewish leaders. But the Jews refused to take the money, so Judas cast it into the sanctuary and went and hung himself. The Jews used this money to buy a potter’s field in which they could bury strangers, and named this field, “the field of blood” (Matt. 27:3–8).

Third : The suffering of the Lord Christ. “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting” (Isa. 50:6).

“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” (Ps. 22:6– 8).

“For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots” (Ps. 22:16–18).

“They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. 69:21).

Isaiah described Christ’s sufferings as though he were one of the eyewitnesses of His crucifixion, even though he preceded Christ by more than seven hundred years. For this reason some have called him “The Evangelist Prophet” …

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

“Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes 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.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:1–12).

In the first section of this passage, the prophet Isaiah describes the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” He then explains that all this was for our sakes, we the sinners: “He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.” The prophet also refers to the crucifixion of Christ between two thieves deserving of death, and how “He was numbered with the transgressors” and died on a cross in order to make us righteous: “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” His

burial in the new tomb of a wealthy man, that of Joseph of Arimathea, is prophesied thus: “But with the rich at His death.” Thus, did the prophet describe the sufferings of Christ and the details of the crucifixion as though he had seen them firsthand. He offers us profound insights into the meaning of the salvation to be found in the cross.