Jesus as Fulfillment of Prophecy

by D.M. Murdock/Acharya S

Excerpted from Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ

“But all this has taken place, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. - Matthew 26:56

“Hide the prophecy, tell the narrative, and invent the history.” - Dr. John D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus (372)

In addition to various Old Testament characters serving to “prefigure” the person of Jesus Christ are the numerous Old Testament scriptures held up as “prophecies” of the messiah fulfilled in Christ. Over the centuries, in fact, since the story of Jesus began to be circulated, believers have appealed to these scriptures to demonstrate that Jesus was indeed the messiah. These prophetic scriptures number in the hundreds, depending on the apologetic text consulted, with upwards of 1,000 in some circles, the book of Psalms alone possessing almost 100 by some counts-all these have been cited as “fulfillment of prophecy” in the purported advent of Jesus Christ.

When these scriptures deemed prophetic of the coming messiah are placed side by side with the characteristics and sayings of Jesus, as well as the events of his life, a startling and convincing comparison is apparent. Many of these comparisons or “prophecies,” however, are highly tenuous and in reality have little if anything to do with the coming messiah; nor are they truly “prophecies.” Indeed, it is not just the Christian apologists but the gospel writers themselves, and perhaps interpolating later scribes, who have glommed onto OT scriptures that are not “prophecies,” trying to make them appear to be predicting Jesus’s advent. When the list is critically pared down, many fewer scriptures are possibly applicable.

It is important to note also that Jesus himself is reported to say that he did not come to “abolish the law or the prophets” but to fulfill them. (Mt 5:17) In Luke (24:25-27) the resurrected Jesus scolds the dimwitted disciples who are “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” He then reminds them that “the Christ” needs to endure “these things” in order to “enter into his glory,” and he proceeds to expound upon “Moses and all the prophets,” interpreting the characteristics found in these scriptures as applicable to himself. At Luke 24:44, Jesus states that “everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” At John 5:39, Christ mentions the scriptures about eternal life that “bear witness” to him, and at 5:46 he states that Moses wrote about him. Other books in the New Testament, such as Acts and certain of the epistles likewise testify to Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy.

The following chart highlights some of the better-known and more obvious scriptures illustrating the Old Testament “messianic prophecies” and their relationship to the New Testament gospel of Jesus. Many of these purportedly prophetic fulfillments are included because of the specific mention in the New Testament of “prophets,” “prophecy” or otherwise identified by such phrases as “in fulfillment of scripture” or “it is written.” Also included here are other verses utilized in the creation of the gospels, such as those appearing in the Sermon on the Mount, previously discussed as having been strung together from Old Testament scriptures.

Old Testament	New Testament
Jewish tradition based on scriptural interpretation held that there would be a messiah from the house of David, descended from Abraham. (Gen 12:3, 18:18; Is 9:7)The messiah would also be a “star out of Jacob” (Num 24:17) and a “branch of Jesse.” (Is 11:1).	In the genealogies of Matthew and Luke-which are not the same-Jesus is said to have descended from Abrahamand David. (Mt 1:1; Lk 1:32-33; 3:34)The genealogies also list Jacoband Jesseas Jesus’s ancestors. (Mt 1:2, 1:6; Lk 3:34, 3:32)
“Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Is 7:14; RSV)”Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virginshall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Is 7:14; KJV)	“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, a virginshall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.'” (Mt 1:18-23; Lk 1:27-31)

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Gen 49:10)”But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5:2)

Jesus is a descendant of Judah. (Mt 2:6; Lk 3:33)

After Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Herodasks the wise menwhere he is. They answer that he is in Bethlehem, “so it is written by the prophet:

‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel.'” (Mt 2:1-6)

“May the kings of Tarshishand of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Shebaand Seba bring gifts!” (Ps 72:10)

“…all those from Shebashall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense…” (Is 60:6)

“…behold, wise menfrom the East came to Jerusalem… (Mt 2:1)

“…they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Mt 2:11)

“…So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.” (Zech 11:13)

“And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” (Zech 11:13) (KJV)

“And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed…” (Mt 27:5)

“So they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.” (Mt 27:7)

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth…” (Is 53:7)

“But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer.” (Mt 27:12)

“And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see it shed. Forgive, O LORD, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel; but let the guilt of blood be forgiven them.’ So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.” (Deut 21:6-9)”I wash my hands in innocence…” (Ps 26:6)”If any one goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we shall be guiltless; but if a hand is laid upon any one who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.” (Josh 2:19)

“So when Pilatesaw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!'” (Mt 27:24-25)

These numerous correlations and many others between the Old and New Testaments may be found in the footnotes of the RSVand other versions, and need not be reproduced in full here. Suffice it to say that the writers of the New Testament were very familiar with the Old Testament-the only “scriptures” of the time to which they could possibly refer-and that many of these scriptures were adapted from the Greek OT or Septuagint. In fact, almost all the Old Testament scriptures common to Matthew, Mark and Luke come from the Septuagint, rather than the Hebrew OT. As today, pious Jewsat the time when the gospel story supposedly occurred studied the scriptures intensely and knew them very well-including and especially those interpreted to apply to the coming messiah, for whom they were desperately waiting.

On the surface of it, if taken literally the New Testament seems to record the advent of the messiah, as prophesied in the Old Testament. However, there may be a different reason for this appearance. In scrutinizing all of the Old Testament “prophecies” that purportedly relate to the coming messiah, it is evident that the gospels were deliberately designed to show that these scriptures had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. When these and other OT scriptures are studied and seriously considered, therefore, it is logical to ask if they constitute “prophecies” and “prefiguring” of the advent of a historical Jesus Christ-or if they were used as a blueprint in the creation of a fictional messiah.

The suggestion that the gospel story constitutes a patchwork of Old Testament scriptures used as a framework throws light upon some of the more illogical parts of the tale, such as at Matthew 27:12, when Jesus is being accused by the chief priests and elders yet says nothing. If we consider that this passage was written in order to “fulfill prophecy” at Isaiah 53:7, the pericope takes on greater sense.

The deliberate historicizing of “prophecies” by ancient writers is well known among biblical scholars, as reflected in the discussion by Dr. Crossan of a reconstructed text called the “Cross Gospel,” the author of which, Crossan states, “attempts to write, from prophetic allusions, a first ‘historical narrative’ about the passion of Jesus.” Concerning the Old Testamentscriptures purportedly prophesying Christ’s passion, Crossanremarks that “historicized narratives were created out of those prophetic complexes, stories so good that their prophetic origins were almost totally obliterated.”1 Hence, over the centuries stories have been created using “prophecies”; based on the evidence presented above, it is not unreasonable to aver that the gospel tale is one of them, with its prophetic origins obscured.

¹ Crossan, The Historical Jesus, 382.