And Beginning With Moses

There are many passages that are supposed to be prophecies about Jesus that, when read in their context in the Old Testament, sure don’t seem to be about Jesus. Even the ones that kind of sound like Jesus, how do we know that’s what the prophecy was really about? It’s not just skeptics who ask these questions; believers do, too. It’s the latter I want to address. Skeptics will not be convinced by anything we can say, but to doubting believers we can offer one simple explanation.

What made the apostles think these passages applied to Jesus? Jesus.

The New Testament gets a lot of mileage out of Psalm 110:

The Lord says to my Lord:
  “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ...

The Lord has sworn
  and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
  after the order of Melchizedek.” (v1, 4)

Why would the apostles think this was talking about Jesus? The Lord said it was (Mark 12:35-37).

What about Isaiah 61?

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
  because the Lord has anointed me
  to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
  to proclaim freedom for the captives
  and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor...

If you just read the first verse, you could say maybe it’s about Jesus, but it continues and doesn’t sound so much like Jesus. Really, why would we think this passage is about him? Because Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Here are all the passages Jesus quotes as pointing to him:

Psalm 41:9 (Jn 13:18)
Psalm 69:4 (Jn 15:25)

Psalm 110:1 (Mk 12:35-37)

Isaiah 53:12 (Lk 22:37)
Isaiah 61:1-2 (Lk 4:16-21)
Daniel 7:13-14 (Mk 14:62)
Zechariah 13:7 (Mt 26:31)
Malachi 3:1 (Lk 7:27)
Psalm 22:1 (Mk 15:34) (OK, he doesn’t specifically say it’s about him, but he quotes it.)

These are the ones he’s recorded as quoting. Could there be more? Yes. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus held a Bible study. What would we give to sit through that class where “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27)? Later he did much the same thing for the apostles when “he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

We’ve already talked about how the apostles’ have a looser definition of “fulfilled prophecy” than we tend to use. They saw types and shadows throughout the Old Testament. Where did they get such a crazy idea? Jesus.

So when you read the scriptures and come across a passage that is supposed to prophesy about Jesus but you just don’t see it, take a deep breath and relax and remember that we have it on good authority that the Law and the Prophets testify about him.


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