Thayer Thursday – Old Testament ‘Fulfillment’
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
Prophecy, fulfillment, future telling – these words have become virtual synonyms to many in 21st century American culture. Unfortunately, these words have also melded together in the subconscious of many Christians. This is evidenced by the way that the Gospel of Matthew is far too often misread.
One of Matthew’s primary themes in his Gospel is ‘fulfillment.’ In today’s passage of scripture (Matthew 2:7-23) the word fulfilled is used three times.
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with giftsof gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.“Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Because we are shaped by our culture (particularly Hollywood movies!) more than we often realize, many have taken these words to be references to Jesus fulfilling ‘predictions’ about Him that were given by prophets hundreds of years prior to His birth. This is then looked to as proof that the Bible is supernaturally inspired and true. After all, that’s what “fulfilled” means, right?
Not quite.
Instead, Matthew is pointing to something much grander than Jesus fulfilling a prediction.
Matthew was a first century Jew – and quite familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. A good rule of thumb for reading your Bible, and the New Testament in particular, is any time an author quotes something from the Old Testament, go back and read it AND its surrounding context.
For instance, let’s take the first instance of Matthew using the word fulfilled in today’s passage: “And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”
If you have a Bible that contains cross references (usually written in the middle or on one of the margins of the page), you’ll see that this is a quote from one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, Hosea. It is from Hosea 11:1. Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel before their ultimate demise by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Far from being a ‘future telling’ of the coming Messiah (Jesus), the words of Hosea 11:1 are in the midst of a scathing rebuke to the people of Israel for her unrepentant and adulterous heart even after God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Through Hosea God is lamenting the rebellion of His children (Israel) in the face of His kindness.
So why does Matthew use this verse as a reference to Jesus?
Because Matthew is concerned with portraying something far grander than a few scattered predictions coming to fruition. Matthew is showing that Jesus is becoming the embodiment of what Israel was to do and who she was supposed to be. Jesus is portrayed by Matthew as the one, true Israelite. The one in and through whom God’s grand plan of rescue and redemption would meet its ultimate fulfillment.
Jesus is ‘filling fully’ Israel’s history and transforming what looked to be broken into what has been God’s ultimate plan the entire time.
Through Jesus God would reconcile the world to Himself – a promise seen in God’s covenant with Abraham all the way through God’s call on the people of Israel to be a light to the nations.
The next time you see a quote from the Old Testament in the New Testament, go back and read the context of that quote. Let it challenge you and your assumptions about what it means.
Matthew knew that Hosea wasn’t referring directly to Jesus. However, he saw that God’s plan was bigger than people’s failings. He saw firsthand that through Jesus, God would fulfill His promise for His wonderful creation. He would rescue it. He would redeem it. All of this would be accomplished in and through Jesus.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Thayer Thursday
[…] are here: Home » Blog » Thayer Thursday – Old Testament ‘Fulfillment’ (part […]
by Disciple Dojo – JMSmith.org » Thayer Thursday – Old Testament ‘Fulfillment’ (part 2) on Dec 19, 2014 at 8:17 pm