For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians, Ch 2:2, NKJV
Greetings my friends. It has been a long time since I have written. This season, marked by the Jewish feast of Passover and the Christian tradition of Easter seems to be a good time to reconnect. And what could be a better theme to write about than the one celebrated this weekend, the Resurrection of our Savior, the Messiah?
Many people believe that Jesus existed. Some believe that He was a good teacher. Many believe that He was one of many children of God. Others (Muslims) believe He (Isa) was a great man and prophet. Hindus believe that Jesus was a yogi guru that ministered to the Jews. Still others believe that He was an “ascended master”, living only in spirit, but not in the flesh. It seems that no other figure in history has so many divergent teachings regarding his life and mission.
With this in view, maybe the key question is, “Who did Jesus say that He was?” And what was His mission? This blog begins a series to answer this question – possibly in more depth than many of my readers have ever considered.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt 5:17-19, NKJV
He came to fulfill. To fulfill what? The Law and the Prophets. Every jot, and every tittle. What did Jesus mean when He said this? And what is a jot or tittle? Let’s quickly answer the last question first.
Tittle. You’ve seen it. In fact, you see two of them in this sentence. You probably didn’t notice them. But you’d notice if they were missing. Look at the top of this letter: “i”. What do you see? A little dot? Formally, this is called a “diacritical mark”. It’s also called a tittle. The tittle is the smallest of all punctuation marks. In the original Greek, Jesus used the word κεραία (keraia), which in Greek means “horn” or the apex of a letter. Again, the smallest part of a letter. Now, how about a jot?
Jot is an English transliteration of a Greek letter, ίώτα (i), or iota. The iota is the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet, which is a very small letter. But more importantly, the iota has origins back to the Hebrew letter yodh (י), which is the smallest letter in the Hebrew aleph-beth. Interestingly, this letter is the first letter in the Holy Name of God, יהוה.
So what was Jesus saying? Well, it’s an incredibly dramatic and encompassing statement that is as simple as this: Every single bit of the Law, and every piece of prophecy, down to the smallest letter and punctuation mark will come to pass. But not only will it come to pass, it will find its fulfillment in Christ!
Let’s take a look at some passages related to prophetic fulfillment through Christ. We will start with a few passages that Jesus, in his humanity could not have affected:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus , for He will save His people from their sins.”
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matt 1:18-23, NKJV
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Matt 2:13-15, NKJV
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”Matt 2:16-18, NKJV
Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matt 2:19-23, NKJV
These are but a few of the many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. But these share a special characteristic. It is extremely important to recognize that these prophetic fulfillments could not have been contrived or manipulated by Jesus in His human state, in that He was yet an infant or small child when they occurred. Regardless of His human inability, Jesus was still fulfilling prophecy.
Now let’s examine some passages related to prophetic fulfillment later in Christ’s life.
Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”Matt 4:12-16, NKJV
When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“He Himself took our infirmities
And bore our sicknesses.”Matt 8:15-17, NKJV
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
“I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”Matt 13:34-35, NKJV
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
“Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.'”
Matt 21:1-5, NKJV
Again, there are many, many more passages related to Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy. We will dig deeper into this in a later blog. But prophecy was not the only thing that that Jesus said He came to fulfill. Did you notice it? Let’s take another look:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt 5:17-19, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Yes, Jesus came to fulfill prophecy. In fact, there are over 300 prophecies relating to Jesus alone, and His role as the Messiah. But prophecy was only secondary to His real mission. His primary mission? To fulfill the Law. Fulfillment of prophecy is intuitive. For example; it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”Mic 5:2, NKJV
For someone to fulfill this prophecy, He would have to be born in Bethlehem:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
Matt 2:1-2, NKJV
This is intuitive. But what about fulfillment of “the Law”? What does that mean? Is it as intuitive as the fulfillment of prophecy? We will explore this thought in our next blog.
May God richly bless your study of God’s perfect Word!
YouJi