As you may have seen on our instagram page (@theworduncut), we started a post series whereby we showed the prophetic messages of the Old Testament being fufilled in the coming of Jesus in the New Testament. It is critical we understand what the Old Testament says about the Coming Messiah so then we ourselves can see the manifestation of God himself on earth. Understably, at first, you may be skeptical about how God, our Holy God, can manifest on earth, and why he would do such a thing when he could do so from heaven. However, the wages of sin is death and he knew the only way to offer salvation to humanity is, if he himself, in human form died for the sins by shedding his blood and in turn conquered death by his resurrection. Below, are verses in the Old Testament that allude to the Coming Messiah and his role on earth and how this relates to God himself. Bear in mind, in this blog post, we will be focusing on only on the10 prophecies we mentioned on our instagram, which are primarily related to Jesus's coming and birth. However, there are many more verses that highlight our point.
Jesus/The Messiah will come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and will be celebrated as King.
Old Testament Scripture: Zechariah 9:9
'Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.'
New Testament Scripture: Matthew 21:7-9
'Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord ! Praise God in highest heaven!” Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.'
Explanation:
So the first verse we are looking at is the Old Testament verse of Zechariah 9:9 which speaks about a “righteous and victorious” “king” coming who will humbly ride on a donkey and will be praised and celebrated by the people of Jerusalem. At first look, this verse may seem absurd, and if it is unknown to you, you may not be familiar with the story of Jesus fulfilling this prophecy. Matthew 21:1-11, perfectly describes the events that take place that fulfil this prophecy, highlighting that Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey and the people of Jerusalem (just as the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 says) praised and celebrated him saying “Hosanna” (which is a Greek work for an exclamation of praise). The people further highlight his authority by calling him the “Son of David” negating the fact that he is from King David’s lineage, therefore calling Him royalty. This verse is not something that we just strung together but in fact the bible itself highlights that this did indeed fulfil the prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9 (Matthew 21:4-5).
There are two things we can see from this prophecy, that one, Jesus humbled himself on earth although he was king (and in fact we still know Him as King of all Kings - 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14) and we see the praise and worship he received in doing so - although he did not outwardly look like a king and didn’t carry out usual tasks of worldly kings - he was still regarded royalty and the King of all Kings.
2. The Messiah/Jesus' throne will be eternal and anointed.
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 45:6-7
'Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.'
Old Testament Scripture: Luke 1:22
'And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”'
Explanation:
The next verse we will be looking at is the claim of the Messiah’s (Jesus’) throne being anointed and eternal. This prophecy is taken from the book of Psalms. Psalms 45:1-8 alludes to the coming King, Messiah. Not only does this verse directly call the Messiah God (vs 6), it also emphasises that the Messiah’s throne will endure “forever and ever”. It shows that the Messiah’s rule will be eternal whilst also emphasising that the Messiah is anointed - holy and divine in nature. Paul uses Hebrews 1:5-13 to explain that the son (Jesus) is not a mere man and no way lesser than the angels in divinity. Paul shows in verse 8 and 9 that this is a direct application to Jesus. It emphasises that not only does these words say that Jesus is the eternally enthroned God, but also that God the father regards Him so. Luke 1:33 along with Revelation 11:5 and 2 Peter 1:11 are one of the many verses in the New Testament that speak about Christ’s eternal reign in his Kingdom. This we see, is fulfilled after his resurrection, Jesus is not stopped by death, but conquers death and promises eternal life for those who believe in him. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises his disciples (and us) that he will be with them always, even to the end of age. He is eternal and as the King of Kings, his reign is eternal as his reign cannot be taken over by anyone else.
3. The Messiah will spend a season in Egypt
Old Testament Scripture: Hosease 11:1
'“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.'
New Testament Scripture: Matthew 2:14-15
'That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”'
Explanation:
Now we look closely to the verse written in Hosea 11:1 which speaks about God calling “his son out of Egypt”. At first when reading the verse, we see that it speaks about Israel, and therefore we wonder what link there is between both. However, we realise that The OT often paints a picture and acts as an extension of the NT. This meaning, that often some story sentiments are repeated to share a message to us - the readers.
GOT questions summarises this perfectly saying: “Matthew uses Hosea’s statement to show that the coming of the Messiah is an extension of the Lord’s love to His people. Matthew does not say that Hosea had Jesus in mind when Hosea 11:1 was originally written. Instead, Matthew says that the experience of Jesus matched what Hosea had written about Israel. Jesus was God’s Son, and He made a trip from Egypt to the land of Israel. Matthew was showing that Jesus completed what began with the exodus, connecting Jesus with the promise of Abraham and the leadership of Moses. The “calling” of God’s “son” (Israel) began in ages past and found its completion in the coming of Christ to fulfil the Law and the Prophets.
In summary, Hosea 11:1is not a Messianic prophecy in the same way that prophecies such as Isaiah 9:6 are. Rather, it is a pictorial prophecy; that is, there are similarities in the Old Testament passage to a New Testament truth about Christ. This Old Testament “picture” of Christ is called a “type.” Matthew 2:15 can be seen as an analogy.”
4. The Messiah/Jesus will be declared the son of God
Old Testament Scripture: Psalms 2:7
'The king proclaims the Lord ’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.'
Old Testament Scripture: Matthew 3:16-17
'After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”'
Explanation:
When the words “Son of God” are applied to Jesus. The term “Son of God” primarily refers to the personal intimate relationship he has with the Father, who he himself referred as “Abba”(Mark 14:36), highlights his obedience to the Father and also his unique sonship - when Jesus speaks about God, the father, he refers to him as “My Father” in context to himself and “Your Father” in context to others, but never “Our father” - highlighting the difference in relationships.
Now, looking at Psalm 12 we see how prophetic and important this chapter is. We see plenty of verses indicating the power of God’s son and his role on earth. First of all, we get a hint about who God is speaking about in Psalm 2:2 where it speaks about the “kings'' on earth plotting against The Lord (God) and his “Anointed one”. It is important here to remember the name we give to Jesus - Jesus Christ or in Hebrew - Yeshuah Mashiach which means “The Anointed Saviour''. We then follow on to see that he goes on to call him the “chosen king” who he has placed on the throne in Jerusalem, and as this verse we chose for today says, he then says to this King “You are my son, and today I have become your Father” Psalms 2:7. This verse seems very specific to one person (The Messiah, Jesus), and it is not used loosely as it has been used to describe previously the nation of Israel and the Nephilim. Instead it is a direct affirmation and confirmation of this King’s sonship. Psalms 2:12 further goes on to say that we should “Submit to God’s royal son” again establishing his royalty with the sonship of the Messiah. Now with understanding the chapter seen in Psalms 2, we can now fully grasp and understand the gravity and importance of the words that are said during Jesus’ water baptism in Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11 and Luke 3:23.
“This is my dearly beloved son, who brings me great joy”
Again, we see the relationship here between the Son and the Father, which again is related specifically to Jesus - rather than a whole group of people. We see the word “my” used in both the OT and NT verse, highlighting the close and personal relationship between the Father and the Son and emphasising that the Son specifically belongs to the Father. The father was establishing and confirming that this was the long-awaited son he was talking about.
5. The Messiah will be the heir of King David's throne
Old Testament Scripture: Isaiah 9:7
'His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!'
New Testament Scripture: Matthew 21:9
'Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord ! Praise God in highest heaven!”'
Explanation:
Here is where it gets interesting and very specific to Jesus the Messiah. Isaiah 9:7 speaks about the Messiah being traced back to His ancestor King David - therefore establishing his royal lineage as king. It is important to note that this is one of many verses in the OT that speaks on The Messiah/Jesus being related to King David. In fact Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 13:10, Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5-6 (and other verses) all speak about the Messiah coming from the lineage of David and again, this is established in the NT when it explains the complete genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1 (Joseph’s genealogy) and Luke 3 (Mary’s genealogy). Further to this, we see in Matthew 21:9 as previously mentioned. the people of Jerusalem, on Jesus entering, worshipped Him and celebrated him by saying “Hosanna to the Son of David” - again showing us that even the people in Jerusalem knew who he was and his lineage. Again similarly to the OT, plenty of NT verses point towards the fact that Jesus was of David’s lineage - Hebrews 1:3, John 7:42, Luke 1:32-33, Revelation 22:16 (and more) which emphasises the absolute fact that Jesus was from the lineage of David.
The importance of this fact - Jesus being a descendant of King David - is the fulfilment of the promise/prophecy given to King David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 where he speaks about his “royal throne” being “secured forever” which we know that Jesus has done - as he reigns as Kings of Kings till the end of time (Revelation 11:15).
Check out the second part of our "Christmas Special: The prophecies of the Coming Christ".
Commenti