Read Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 24:44-49, The Prophets Fulfilled

Sprinkled generously through the Gospel of Matthew are “formulas” similar to what is found in Matt. 1:22: So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying.  Matthew, being the gospel written with the Jewish audience in mind, likes to call attention to events in Jesus’ life and ministry that fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. 

Statements like this draw attention to the inspiration of the OT.  God was speaking through His prophets.  Sometimes it was Jesus Himself who called attention to these things.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him … How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus? … All this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled (Mt. 26:24,54,56).  Jesus is using these fulfillments as confirmation that the Scriptures are to be believed, as well as confirmation that He is the One of whom they spoke!

Given these truths, it is no surprise that these fulfillments are often under attack.  One theory is that the story of Jesus was “spun” by His disciples, that they used various OT passages and twisted them to make them fit something about Jesus.  We are always concerned for the Body of Christ today, that people trust the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, as the words of the One and Only True God. 

Another fact is that many believers struggle with some of these connections between the Old and New.  It is not that they deny a fulfillment of prophecy; it is that they look at the OT passage and the NT fulfillment and have a hard time seeing the connection.  It may, in fact, seem that Matthew, for example, just pulled some words out of Scripture that sound like what Jesus did.  The fact is that most often the Apostles hadn’t seen the OT passage as applying to the Messiah until after the event occurred, or perhaps after Jesus Himself explained it to them, which He did between His resurrection and ascension (Luke 24:44-49).

Here is another thing to think about.  Some (not all, but some) of these fulfilled prophecies were not acknowledged by Jewish Rabbis leading up to the time of Christ.  Wouldn’t you expect at least one Rabbi, in the study of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament), to recognize the Messianic nature of each of the prophecies Matthew calls to our attention?  For some, that is a stumbling block.  If the OT audience (Israel) didn’t see it how can they be held accountable for rejecting Jesus as their Messiah?

What do you think?  Are Matthew’s claims of fulfilled Messianic prophesies to be believed?  Were he and the other apostles spin doctors?  Our primary purpose will be to examine the context and words of the OT passages to see if they fit the context of the fulfillment in the NT.  But we will also examine the Jewish teaching on a few of these prophecies.  We believe the end result will be stronger faith in the veracity of Scripture and the exaltation of Jesus Christ.