Right now, I’m doing a deep dive into “Christ in the Old Testament” (see here and here), and have already written on what the Books of Moses have to say on the subject (see here and here), doing so from a prophetic, types and shadows and christophany perspective.

I am currently “signed up” to give a series of talks on the subject of “Christ in the Old Testament” at my own church’s regular, mid-week Bible study, and this has provided an impetus for doing a deep dive when it comes to exploring this important subject. In this article, I move on from the Law, to the Prophets, with the Writings to follow.

I keep returning to the Emmaus Road, finding myself thinking about what took place when the just risen Jesus met with two confused, disappointed disciples, walking along that road, given the one they had put their hopes in had two days prior suffered an ignominious death. I think that of all the events referred to in the Bible this is one I would have loved to had eaves drop on. In this encounter and, in another extraordinary meeting Jesus had with his disciples on that first Easter Sunday, He explained how the OT (Law, Prophets and Writings – the three sections identified in the Hebrew Bible) all pointed to Him (read Luke 24:13-53) and foretold of these events. While the Jewish Messiah dying and rising again was not what these two had expected, believing “it had been he which should have redeemed Israel” (Luke 24:21), it was what had to happen. Many others after found this out when they too meet the risen Christ.

I am finding there are so many scriptures to delve into for the sake of completeness. It is a huge subject. It has been said that 27% of the Bible is prophecy and there are 2500 prophecies to do with future events. Of these, 2000 have been precisely fulfilled. Maybe up to 500 prophecies were fulfilled at Jesus’ First Coming, with 500 still yet to be fulfilled, many to do with His Second Coming. Of those prophecies that were fulfilled at Jesus’s First Coming, if there was any doubt that this was the case, many of the NT writers quoted from the OT predicting down to fine detail many of the events concerning the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

To what extent one takes the “prophetic scriptures” literally is a contentious issue for many Bible scholars. I take the view that unless there were good reason to think otherwise the aforementioned prophecies I identify as yet to be fulfilled will literally be so in the future. While we see some of these being fulfilled at this present time and signs that other’s will be soon, I am not prepared to give times and dates when Jesus returns to planet earth (as advised in the scriptures) and some of the events leading up to this, e.g. detailed in the Book of Revelation. One challenge is to distinguish prophecies to do with Christ’s First and Second Coming, noting that often the Hebrew prophets spoke about the two comings in a single prophecy and sometimes their prophecies had both a recognisable near immediate fulfillment as well as a futuristic one.

Besides Christ’s comings, there are other futuristic prophecies to do with end time events, including what the two Emmaus disciples referred to when it came to redeeming Israel and the question asked by Jesus’s disciples just prior to his ascending to heaven: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:8. This was also the concern of the godly Simeon and Anna as they looked forward to the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25) and the redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:38) and seeing this fulfilled when the baby Jesus was presented at the Temple. The place of Israel in future events is yet another controversial subject found among Bible scholars. My understanding is that many prophecies particularly apply to the nation of Israel, the Jewish people in contrast to the notion commonly accepted in Christendom that Israel and been replaced by the Church. The challenge in order to get a fuller understanding is that often all these aspects might be covered in a single prophecy. One needs to compare scripture and scripture to arrive at the truth but in doing so this will reap dividends that include a better appreciation of the Christ of the Bible (OT and NT).

So where do we go from here? I have already led one study at my church on “Christ in Isaiah” with another to follow along with blog summary of the pertinent points. Isaiah is particularly rich when it comes to messianic prophecies and I doubt I will take that same amount of time with the remaining three major and the twelve minor prophets. To find out more, please watch this space!