Many Christmas carols celebrate the birth of Jesus and the reasons he came to earth. Some, like Handel’s “For Unto Us a Child Is Born,” quote Old Testament prophecies about Jesus.
That’s a good thing.
When times are tough and news is distressing, it helps to look at the way Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Seeing the amazing ways God revealed the coming of Jesus sends faith soaring. That assures us God will manage the future well too.
God unfolded his plan in stages, beginning with a promise to Eve, the first woman.
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Years ago, I wanted to know more about Jesus in the Old Testament. So I bought a burgundy leather Thompson Chain-Reference Bible. It had all kinds of study helps, including cross-references—the verses listed in the margins that point you to related passages. I looked forward to finally looking up all those places in the New Testament where it said Jesus fulfilled something in the Old Testament.
But I quickly found out I didn’t have enough background to understand many of the connections. Indeed, one of the things that confused me was that not all the underlying passages were prophecies. It turns out that the New Testament finds Jesus in the Old Testament in multiple ways, not just prophecies.
Diving into the many Old Testament passages that reveal God’s plan of salvation through Jesus will strengthen your faith. So here, I’ll show three ways we find Jesus in the Old Testament. To demonstrate how the three ways work, I’ll use the most well-known fact that people know about Jesus in the Old Testament; namely, that the Old Testament predicted a messiah, and the New Testament says that Jesus is that Messiah.
What Does “Messiah” Mean?
First, let’s define messiah.Our English word messiah comes from the Hebrew word for “anointed one.” All the kings that ruled from Jerusalem in Israel were called anointed ones—messiahs. That’s because the kings were anointed for service to God when they were crowned.
In Old Testament times, it wasn’t only kings who were anointed for God’s service. Priests were as well, and so were some prophets. But by the time of Jesus’s birth, when people talked about their expectation that God would send a messiah—an anointed one—they were looking mainly for a king. They wanted a mighty warrior like David who could free them from Roman rule and sit upon David’s throne.
Messiah = Christ
The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written mostly in Greek. Our English word christ comes from the Greek word for “anointed one.”Christ and messiah are therefore interchangeable. So when John records that he wrote his Gospel “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31), he means that Jesus is the Messiah that the Old Testament talks about. That is also why the New Testament equates “Christ” with “King of Israel” (Mark 15:32).
Promises
The first way that the Old Testament reveals Jesus is through promises, and in particular, covenants. A covenant is a special kind of promise. It’s like a contract that governs relationships, such as marriage vows. The Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) and the histories (Joshua to Esther) contain a number of covenants between God and people which point to Jesus in some way.
For example, God made a promise to King David that’s known as the Davidic covenant. In the Davidic covenant, God promised David an offspring who would build God a temple and who would have a throne that lasted forever.
“King David” (Rembrandt, [public domain] via Wikimedia Commons)
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
2 Samuel 7:12-13
How the Davidic Covenant Portrays Jesus in the Old Testament
This promise about a temple-building messiah was initially fulfilled by Solomon. But the New Testament tells us that Solomon’s temple was only a copy of the holy places in heaven (Hebrews 9:24). Jesus is now fulfilling that portion of the Davidic covenant, but in the true holy places in heaven. In fact, he is building a temple made up of those who belong to him:
You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Ephesians 2:19–21
Moreover, Jesus said, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God” (Revelation 3:12).
Prophecies
The second way that the Old Testament reveals Jesus is through direct prophecy. Most are found in the prophetic books (Isaiah to Malachi), though some are in the Pentateuch and histories. Since a prophet delivered the Davidic covenant to David, it is both a promise and a prophecy. Indeed, many of the promises in the Old Testament are also prophecies.
Many Jews thought David’s son Solomon was the only fulfillment of God’s promise to David of a temple-building offspring. After all, he built the first temple, so why wouldn’t he also be the one whose throne would last forever through a line of never-ending descendants? But here’s what the Lord God told David about Solomon:
I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.
1 Chronicles 28:7
David warned Solomon, “If you seek him [God], he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9). Sadly, when he was old, Solomon worshiped other gods. That was a clue that Solomon might not be the only fulfillment of the Davidic covenant’s promise of a temple builder.
About 500 years after David, a king ascended the throne who abandoned God entirely. In fact, he shoved the altar to the Lord aside and put idols in the temple so he could worship them there.
How Isaiah Portrays Jesus in the Old Testament
During this time of apostasy, God sent the prophet Isaiah with messages of both judgment and hope. The message of judgment was that God would exile the people and end David’s dynasty.
But there was also a message of hope. Isaiah said that the exile would not be permanent. And eventually God would send another anointed ruler; that is, another messiah. Here is one of Isaiah’s prophecies about the future king.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7
Notice this descendant of David will rule forevermore. He would not have an unending line of descendants but would rule forever himself. This cast new light on the Davidic covenant.
Just as Isaiah prophesied, the people entered exile and David’s dynasty ended.
How Ezekiel Portrays Jesus in the Old Testament
But God gave more messages of hope through three prophets serving him during the monarchy’s fall. Here is one about a future shepherd, which is what God called the kings.
And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
Ezekiel 34:23-24 (emphasis mine)
Now, David was dead. So why did God say that this future ruler would be “my servant David”? There are two reasons. The first reason was to show that the shepherd would be a descendant of David. The second reason was to show that David was a type of this future King. In fact, this leads us to the third way that we find Jesus in the Old Testament.
Portents
The Crucifixion (Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
A portent is something that foreshadows something in the future. Many Old Testament people, events, and institutions foreshadowed something significant about Jesus. For example, the earthly temple that Solomon built foreshadowed the living temple Jesus is building. English Bible translations use a number of different words to describe portents, including portents, shadows, copies, patterns, and types. The New Testament describes many portents in the Pentateuch and the Psalms.
By calling the future shepherd David, God revealed that King David was a type of the future messiah who would rule forever. That is why the New Testament claims that Jesus fulfills Scripture that describes events in David’s life.
How Psalm 22 Portrays Jesus in the Old Testament
For example, in Psalm 22 David describes enemies who pierce his hands and feet (probably with a sword) and cast lots for his clothing:
For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Psalm 22:16–18
Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 on the cross, bringing attention to it: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). John 19 records Jesus’s crucifixion, which involved soldiers piercing with nails Jesus’s hands and feet:
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
John 19:23–24
Remarkably, just as enemies gambled for David’s clothing 1000 years earlier, so soldiers gambled for Jesus’s clothing. Psalm 22 is not direct prophecy, but rather John’s Gospel depicts David’s sufferings as portending Jesus’s sufferings. That is because King David is a type of King Jesus.
Conclusion
In summary, three ways we find Jesus in the Old Testament are in
Promises, such as the covenants found in the Pentateuch and histories
Prophecies found in the prophetic books and elsewhere
Portents found in the Pentateuch and the Psalms
This is a fabulous subject to pursue that can greatly grow your faith.
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For many years, the prophecy that confused me most was Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Every Christmas I heard pastors quote this, but none had ever explained its context. What confused me was that the next three verses say that the prophecy will be fulfilled within 14 years. If it was supposed to be fulfilled in the eighth century BC, how could it apply to Jesus?
Let’s go ahead and clear that up.
What Triggered “The Virgin Shall Conceive” Prophecy
First, here’s what brought on this prophecy.
King Ahaz’s dad had died, leaving him the sole king of Judah at age 20. Judah was a small kingdom south of Israel and Syria. Farther north and east, the kingdom of Assyria was growing rapidly by conquering one kingdom state after another. The kings of Israel and Syria knew they couldn’t stop the powerful Assyria alone, so they wanted to form a coalition along with Judah. But Ahaz refused to join them.
Ahaz’s refusal angered the kings of Israel and Syria, so they attacked. Unfortunately, Ahaz was not a godly king, and so the Lord allowed the two kings some victories. When Ahaz still wouldn’t join, the two kings decided to depose Ahaz and replace him with a puppet king who would do their bidding.
Assyrian relief depicting conquests from the British Museum, photograph by Jean E. Jones
The Lord’s Offer
The Lord God sent Isaiah with a message for this young, frightened king. He told Ahaz not to fear the two kings because they would not take the throne from him (Isaiah 7:3-7). Instead, Israel would cease to exist within 65 years (verse 8). He cautions Ahaz, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (verse 9). Then he makes this incredible offer:
Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
Isaiah 7:11
In other words, God tells the scared ruler to ask any sign he wants as proof that the Lord will be with him and will not allow his two enemies to remove him from the throne. He can request a miraculous sign that is as deep as hell or as high as heaven.
What did Ahaz do? He refused God’s offer! He told Isaiah, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test” (Isaiah 7:12). Why? Because he had already decided what he wanted to do and it didn’t involve submitting to or trusting the King of kings.
The Promise That the Virgin Shall Conceive
Isaiah was not fooled by Ahaz’s fake piety. If Ahaz would not request a sign, God would give him a sign nonetheless. Isaiah replied,
Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Isaiah 7:13-16
Isaiah no longer calls God “your God,” but rather “my God,” for Ahaz has rejected God as his King of kings.
“Virgin,” “Immanuel,” Curds, and the Child’s Age
According to John N. Oswalt in The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1–9, the Hebrew word translated virgin means “young woman of marriageable age.” Jews would assume she was a virgin, of course, so the Hebrew word can be translated either “maiden” or “virgin.” There’s another Hebrew word that can only be translated “virgin,” but that’s not what Isaiah uses here. We’ll come back to why later. For now, note that the prophecy in its immediate context refers to a young woman who is a virgin at the time of the prophecy. She’ll marry, conceive, and bear a child. The woman is not named, but it is not the mother of the crown prince Hezekiah, for he was born before Ahaz rose to sole king.
The name Immanuel means “God with us.” Therefore, the child would be a sign that God was with Judah even though the king was abandoning God. God’s presence is a comfort for the godly, but terror for the ungodly.
Curds (a milk product like ricotta cheese) and honey were wealthy fare. Yet, when the child knows right and wrong (age 12-13), he will eat curds and honey and both Israel and Syria will be deserted.
Ahaz Openly Rejects God
Ahaz sent messengers to the king of Assyria, saying “I am your servant and your son” (2 Kings 16:7). These are titles that show Ahaz has rejected his covenant duty to serve under God alone and has put Assyria’s fearsome king in God’s place.
Here’s what this means. A king who rules over other kings is called a suzerain, and the kings serving him are called vassals. In those days, the suzerain protected his vassals in exchange for money, soldiers, and submission. The suzerain called his vassals “sons,” and the vassals called their suzerain “father.” So when Ahaz said to Assyria’s king, “I am your servant and your son,” he was offering to be his vassal.
In other words, Assyria didn’t have wait to conquer Judah—Ahaz sought him and surrendered before Assyria came near. Ahaz did this so that this king of kings would rescue him from Israel and Syria.
The trouble was that in Judah, the kings were supposed to have the Lord God as Suzerain. Ahaz had switched teams. And he used the temple treasures which belonged to the Lord God as tribute to his new lord.
But Isaiah isn’t done with prophecies about a child. He recorded more in the next two chapters.
Prophecies about Isaiah’s Child
Here’s what introduces the next set of child prophecies:
And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son.
Isaiah 8:3
The Hebrew translated “went to” is a euphemism in the Old Testament that usually means the first time that a husband and wife come together for marital relationships. Because of this, some scholars think that Isaiah’s first wife may have passed away and he married a prophetess who bore him another child. Thus, Isaiah 7:14 might refer to this child.
Immanuel’s Land
Isaiah 8:4 prophesies that before Isaiah’s newborn reaches three, the two kings won’t threaten Ahaz anymore. Assyria would demolish Syria and subdue Israel. But Ahaz’s trust in Assyria instead of God would cost him dearly because Assyria wasn’t trustworthy. Assyria would sweep into Judah and wreak havoc in “your land, O Immanuel” (Isaiah 8:8).
By calling Judah “Immanuel’s land,” Isaiah links this prophecy about his son to the previous chapter’s prophecy about a child called Immanuel, God With Us. Now we have two prophecies about a child being born as a sign that God is with Judah. They’re also linked by the name Immanuel.
Isaiah then says this about his own children:
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Isaiah 8:18
Isaiah’s newborn is a sign of what’s to come within three years. But he and his children are not just signs; they portend (or foreshadow) future events. We’ll come back to this too.
For to Us a Child Is Born
Isaiah has another child prophecy in the ninth chapter:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7
The Adoration of the Shepherds, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – Museo Nacional del Prado (Public Domain)
Unlike the prophecies in the previous chapters, this prophecy of a child is about no ordinary child. It was obviously a prophecy about a future child, not a child in Isaiah’s day. This child would bring the righteousness that Ahaz abandoned, and he would rule forever.
The Initial Fulfillment of “The Virgin Shall Conceive”
So what happened next? Assyria attacked both Syria and Israel, just as Ahaz had requested. Within three years of Isaiah’s son’s birth, the two kings that threatened Ahaz were dead. A decade after Ahaz refused God’s offer, Assyria demolished Israel.
But the king of Assyria was untrustworthy and swept into Judah too, killing many. So many died that the remnant left could not use all the milk. They turned the milk into curds, and everyone ate curds and honey. So the child prophecies of Isaiah 7 and 8 were fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, but not the child prophecy of Isaiah 9.
Now that we have seen Isaiah 7:14 in its original context, let’s look at how the Gospels use it.
The Later Fulfillment of “The Virgin Shall Conceive”
By the time of Christ, most Jews were using the Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. The Septuagint translated “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 with a Greek word that meant virgin, not a young woman of marriageable age.
Matthew 1:18 records that Mary “was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” An angel confirmed this to her fiancé Joseph (verse 20). Matthew explained all this and wrote,
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew 1:23
Matthew knew that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, so why did he write this? Because he also understood how OT portents work. The Bible uses a number of words for portents, including type, shadow, foreshadow, figure, and picture.
Most people today are less familiar with portents, so I’ll explain with a story.
A Potato Portent
Adobe Stock, used by permission
Sometimes my husband calls me from the grocery store saying, “I found great looking salmon. Would you like some for dinner tonight?” I’ll reply, “Yes! Don’t forget to buy a potato.”
That night, I’ll sauté half the fish while Clay slices and boils the potato. I serve most of the fish and refrigerate the leftovers and the potato. The next night, I sauté the rest of the fish and refrigerate the leftovers.
Are you wondering about the cold, uneaten potato? Its presence foreshadows that something more will happen with the fish. And more will happen. On the third night, I’ll beat an egg, mash the potato into it, and stir in minced chives, salt, and pepper. Next, I’ll break up the leftover fish and fold it into the egg and potato mixture. Finally, I’ll form the mixture into fish cakes that I’ll sauté in butter and oil until they are browned and crispy and oh-so delicious.
Just as I made obvious links between the potato and fish before I told you how they were related, so Isaiah placed obvious links between the child prophecies in chapters 7, 8, and 9 without fully telling us how they were related. He linked the birth of a child, the name Immanuel, and the land of Judah. He also contrasted the current king’s wickedness with the future king’s righteousness, and Assyria’s king’s ruthlessness with Immanuel’s justice.
Just as the unused potato foreshadowed that something more was coming, so the unfulfilled chapter 9 prophecy foreshadowed that something more was coming as well.
Prophecies and Portents
As I noted above, Matthew knew that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day. But he also knew that Isaiah 9:6-7 had not been fulfilled prior to Jesus’s coming. Jesus alone fulfilled it. And he was familiar with Mary’s story of Jesus’s miraculous birth to her as a virgin.
As Matthew read the passages—especially in the Septuagint—he realized that Isaiah 7:14’s prophecy that the “virgin shall conceive” was no coincidence. There was more going on than what was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day.
He realized that Isaiah 7:14 is a direct prophecy that was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, but its fulfillment portended a future event. In other words, the woman and child in Isaiah’s day foreshadowed Mary and her son Jesus. The woman in Isaiah’s day was a virgin at the time of the prophecy, but Mary was a virgin at the time of conception. The child in Isaiah’s day was called Immanuel, or God With Us, as a sign that God was still with Judah. But that child foreshadowed Jesus, who was literally God with us.
And that is why Isaiah used an ambiguous Hebrew word for virgin. The first meaning was meant for the initial fulfillment, but the second for the ultimate fulfillment.
Fulfilled Prophecy as Portents
Here’s another analogy for understanding prophecies that have fulfillments that foreshadow a significant future event.
I live in sunny Southern California where it doesn’t snow. Most of the year, we see what looks like one brown mountain range to the north. But sometimes in the winter, we’ll see a massive, snow-covered mountain range in the distance and a smaller brown mountain range closer to us (see the photo).
Photo by Virginia Thompson
The nearer mountain range leads our eyes up to the mountain range that is farther off and obviously much bigger. In the same way, some prophecies have a nearer fulfillment that points to and leads our eyes to a greater, future fulfillment. The nearer fulfillment foreshadows the coming fulfillment.
Deep as Sheol or High as Heaven
Let’s look back at the Lord God’s generous offer to King Ahaz:
Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
Isaiah 7:11
Consider that the immediate fulfillment in Isaiah’s day wasn’t a sign that was as deep as Sheol (hell) or as high as heaven.
But the typological fulfillment in Jesus’s day certainly was.
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Christians often wonder why so many Jews didn’t recognize
that Jesus was the Messiah. As one gal put it, “How could they miss it when it’s
so obvious?”
There are a number of reasons, but one was that Jesus wasn’t what the Jews of his day expected. In fact, Jesus surprised even godly Jews like John the Baptist. Here are four ways Jesus differed from expectations, and why these differences are so much better.
1. Jesus’s kingdom was not of this world.
“Messiah” comes from the Hebrew for “anointed one.” It’s one
of the titles of the kings descended from David. “Christ” comes from the Greek
for “anointed one. “Christ” and “messiah” are synonymous.
God interrupted David’s dynasty when the kings stopped submitting
to God as the King of kings. But the prophets who announced the exile that
ended their reign also announced that God would bring the exiles back and would
send a new king descended from David. This king would rule forever:
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
Isaiah 9:7
The Jews expected an immediate reign on earth.
By Jesus’s day, the exiles had long ago returned, but the promised messiah hadn’t appeared. Instead, Rome ruled them. Because of this, most Jews expected a messiah to lead a revolt against Rome and establish an earthly kingdom at once. In fact, others had already declared themselves messiahs and had revolted in vain.
Jesus fulfilled some prophecies about the messiah in his first coming.
“Christ Preaching” (La Petite Tombe), by Rembrandt (public domain)
Jesus identified himself as the messiah (John 4:25-26). He
was descended from David and was born in Bethlehem. He also performed signs
that were expected in the age of the messiah’s rule, such as giving sight to
the blind and healing the lame, and he sent word to John the Baptist that this
was evidence he was the messiah (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 11:4-5; Luke 5:24;
18:42). He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey colt as the people welcomed him as messiah
in fulfillment of prophecy (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9).
Because of this, Jesus’s disciples expected him to establish
an earthly kingdom immediately. That’s why they asked him, “Lord, will you at
this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). It’s also why John the
Baptist was confused when Jesus didn’t rescue him from prison (Matthew 11:2-3).
Jesus did not fulfill all prophecies about the messiah in his first coming.
Jesus did not establish a kingdom on earth at his first
coming. Instead, he said, “My kingdom is not of this
world” (John 18:36). He also withdrew when people tried to force him to
be king. In addition, he explained that the kingdom of God was going to be a
different type of kingdom:
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Luke 17:20-21
Jesus will fulfill remaining prophecies in the future.
So then, how will Jesus fulfill the prophecies about ruling forever? First, Jesus rules at the Father’s right hand now (Ephesians 1:20-21). But there’s more to come. Jesus said he will return “on the clouds of heaven” and will gather his servants “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 24:30-31). God will make a new heaven and earth, and the new Jerusalem will descend on it (Revelation 21:1-2). The “throne of God and of the Lamb” will be there and Jesus’s servants will reign with him “forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).
2. Jesus was both messiah and the prophet like Moses.
“The Feeding of the Five Thousand” by Jacobo Bassano (public domain)
In the first century AD, Jews desired the fulfillment of
prophecies about both a messiah and a prophet like Moses. That is why when
Jesus began teaching and performing miraculous signs, “some of the people said,
‘This really is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ’” (John
7:40-41).
The expectation of a prophet like Moses comes from this
prophecy:
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen… And the LORD said to me, “… I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Deuteronomy 18:15,17-19
Jesus gave many signs that he was the prophet like Moses.
For example, Moses turned water to blood and Jesus turned water to wine. Like
Moses, Jesus commanded the sea and it obeyed. With Moses, the people ate manna that
miraculously appeared in the wilderness; with Jesus, the people ate bread and
fish that miraculously multiplied in the wilderness.
Some Jewish leaders desired neither a messiah nor a prophet.
“Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple” by Rembrandt (public domain)
The Jewish leadership consisted of members from two competing Jewish sects: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were aristocratic and wealthy priests who wanted good relations with Rome so they could stay in power. They hoped for neither a messiah nor a resurrection, partly because they held the five books of Moses in higher regard than other OT books, such as the writings of the prophets.
Jesus presented problems for priests. First, Moses had had authority over even the high priest. Therefore, if a prophet like Moses appeared, the Sadducees would have to give up their authority and status. This was apparent when Jesus drove money changers and sellers out of the temple, thus challenging the priests’ authority to run the temple as they they saw fit (Mark 11:15-18).
Second, they wanted to prevent anyone claiming to be a messiah (king) from gaining followers lest Rome quell not only the rebellion but also the Sadducees’ power.
Many Jewish leaders expected a messiah submissive to them in spiritual
matters.
The rest of the Jewish leaders were Pharisees. They wanted
a warrior king who would lead a revolt against Rome, but who also would be
submissive to them in spiritual matters. They taught that the messiah and
prophet were two different people.
Why was it important to Pharisees that the messiah and prophet be different?
The Pharisees had a set of rules that they used to interpret
how the law of Moses should be applied. For example, their rules described what
could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. The problem for them was that Moses
had been the ultimate authority for how to apply the law, so a prophet like
Moses might threaten their authority. Indeed, that’s what happened.
Jesus rejected the Pharisees’ authority to interpret the law of Moses.
False witnesses accuse Jesus before the ruling council (José Madrazo, 1803, public domain)
When Jesus healed people, the Pharisees told him to stop doing
so on the Sabbath. Jesus told them their reasoning was bad, and he continued
healing. He also pointed out that they rejected God’s commands in favor of
their rules, which he disparaged as mere “tradition of men” (Mark 7:8-13). That
Jesus rejected their traditions about how to apply the law incensed the Pharisees
and convinced most of them that he couldn’t be the messiah.
The crowds embraced Jesus as both messiah and prophet.
Unlike the Jewish leaders, the crowds were fine with the
messiah also being the prophet like Moses. That’s why they declared him “the Prophet
who is to come into the world” and then attempted to make him king (John
6:13-14). But ruling on earth wasn’t part of Jesus’s immediate plan.
Still, when large crowds started following Jesus because of
his miracles, the Jewish leaders feared they would lose their power:
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
John 11:47-48
The Sadducees didn’t care that Jesus rejected the Pharisees’
traditions—they did too. But they cared a lot about losing their waning
political power.
3. The messiah was the suffering servant.
Isaiah prophesied about a righteous, suffering servant. But no one thought the messiah and the suffering servant could be the same person. Why? Because the messiah was supposed to rule forever, while the suffering servant had to die:
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:9
“The Crucifixion” by Rembrandt (public domain)
See the problem? The Jews didn’t see how the messiah whom they thought would save Israel from Rome and establish an everlasting kingdom could also be the suffering servant who dies. That is why when Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised, Peter rebuked him and said this would never happen (Matthew 16:21-22).
That also is why when Jesus told the crowd he would be lifted up from the earth, they surmised that he was speaking of death and replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?” (John 12:34).
Isaiah gave clues that the suffering servant was the messiah.
Four Servant Songs proclaim the coming of a righteous,
suffering servant: Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-12; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12. They hint
of similarities between the suffering servant and the messiah, for both would
be anointed by God’s Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; 42:1);
bring justice (Isaiah 9:7; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5);
be righteous (Isaiah 42:6; 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5);
make others righteous (Isaiah 53:11; 61:3;
Jeremiah 33:15-16);
participate in bringing Israel back to God
(Isaiah 49:5; Jeremiah 23:3-5); and
be part of a new covenant (Isaiah 42:6; Ezekiel
34:24-25).
Jesus fulfilled prophecies about the suffering servant.
That Jesus was crucified with the wicked and buried in a
rich man’s tomb clearly fulfills prophecy about the suffering servant (Isaiah
53:8-9 cf. Luke 23:32-33,50-53). But the next two verses reveal something remarkable.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:10-11
This passage says that though the servant died, he shall
prolong his days! in other words, the suffering servant will come back to life.
Moreover, because Jesus conquered death as the suffering servant, he reigns as
Messiah forever.
4. The prophet was also the suffering servant.
“The Ascension of Christ” by Rembrandt (public domain)
Moses was a type of Jesus. Jesus was not merely a prophet speaking God’s words, he was the Word who was God (John 1:1).
Isaiah’s prophecies about the suffering servant show the servant had similarities to but was far superior to Moses. The Lord God gave the first covenant through Moses, but he gave the suffering servant as the new covenant (Isaiah 42:6-7). The suffering servant fulfilled everything the sacrificial system put in place by Moses could not fully do (Isaiah 53:5-6). He was the light for the nations that Israel failed to become under the law of Moses (Isaiah 49:6). And as suffering servant, Jesus died, arose, and atoned for people’s sin as Moses wanted to do but could not (Exodus 32:30; Isaiah 53:12).
Conclusion
The Jews expected the promised messiah to lead a revolt on earth, but Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. They thought that the messiah, the prophet like Moses, and the suffering servant were three different people, but Jesus demonstrated he is all three. Because he is the suffering servant who died and rose again, he is Messiah King who will reign forever in the new heaven and earth. As the suffering servant, Jesus fulfilled all to which Moses and the sacrificial system pointed. And because the suffering servant bore our iniquities, we can become God’s children and live in his kingdom with him eternally.
These affiliate links lead to books you might like.
Discovering Jesus in the Old Testamentby me, Pam Farrel, and Karla Dornacher: This Bible study shows how God revealed his plan of redemption in the OT. It combines Q&A, short devotionals, and gorgeous art.
Christ from Beginning to Endby Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum: An interesting, easy-to-read book that divides biblical history by God’s covenants.
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible edited by D.A. Carson: If you want a study Bible that traces God’s redemptive plan, this is for you! I’m currently reading this one and it’s my favorite study Bible yet.
Typos by Leonhard Goppelt, translated by Donald H. Madvig: For those who enjoy scholarly depth, this look at how the NT interprets the OT typologically is fantastic (the Greek title is pronounced “TWO-poss”).
https://i0.wp.com/www.jeanejones.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Rembrandt_The_Ascension_of_Christ.jpg?fit=512%2C704&ssl=1704512Jean E. Joneshttps://www.jeanejones.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Logo-340x340-1.gifJean E. Jones2020-03-11 08:48:002021-02-08 18:45:05Why Jews Thought the Messiah Would Be Different
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