Seven
Prophecies Fulfilled By Christ
Psalm 40:6
Here are seven prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the
Messiah, the Christ, which must be fulfilled by that One God had promised. All
seven were undeniably fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. Not only were these
prophecies fulfilled by our Savior, they cannot find their fulfillment in any
other man in history, past, present, or future.
1. The Place of His Birth ― The place where the Messiah was to be born
was precisely foretold in the prophets. The exact town was named by Micah
― "But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (5:2).
2. His Family ― The family from which messiah must come
was the house of David (Ps. 132:11; Isa. 11:1). The Jews raised questions about
many things. They challenged almost every claim our Redeemer made as the
Christ, the Son of God. They accused him of horrible evils. But they never
questioned the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. That was an indisputable record of
history.
3. His Miracles ― The miracles performed by the Lord Jesus
declare him to be the messiah, the Christ, the son of David (Isa. 29:18;
35:5-6; 42:6-7). He performed all those wondrous works that the Old Testament
prophets said Messiah would perform in his day (Matt. 11:2-4).
4. His Entrance ― The Messiah must be one who comes as a
King, but a King distinguished from all others by his humiliation, meekness,
and lowliness. It was written of this King that he would enter into Jerusalem
bringing salvation while “riding upon a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zech.
9:9; Matt. 21:1-9).
5. Cut Off ― It was prophesied that the Messiah must
suffer and die by the hands of wicked men.—"Messiah shall be cut off,
but not for himself" (Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:1-12). Our Lord's tormenters
used the very words and performed the very deeds he had predicted by his
prophets - (See Ps. 22). Those words which describe the betrayal, shame,
crucifixion, and death of Christ could find fulfillment only in the death of
Jesus of Nazareth.
6. His Resurrection ―
The Scriptures declared
plainly that Messiah would rise from the dead before his body had begun to
decay (Ps. 16:9-11; Isa. 53:10-12).
7. Gentiles Included
― And the
prophets plainly asserted that Messiah, the Christ, would set up his kingdom
among the gentiles by the outpouring of his Spirit upon them (Isa. 49:5-6; Joel
2:28-32; Gal. 3:13-14). It was always God’s purpose to save a people out of
every tribe and nation.