It is imperative that the student of the Holy Scriptures understands that the Man called Jesus of Nazareth did not suddenly come on the scene in the latter era of world history. JESUS CHRIST HAS BEEN THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT FROM THE BEGINNING (JN. 1:1-4,41). THERE SHOULD BE NO BREAK BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS IN THAT THEY BOTH HIGHLIGHT THE SAME DIVINE BEING–THE SPIRIT GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WHO BECAME THE FLESH AND BLOOD MAN CALLED JESUS OF NAZARETH. It is true that Jesus always exalted His heavenly Father over Himself. However, Old Testament prophecy, which dominates most of the Biblical narrative, is focused on the Son rather than the Father. All attention is directed toward the Word (Jesus Christ) Who then exalted the Father through His teachings. This is truly a mutual love affair which we all should have with our heavenly Father and His Son.

One of the many things that make Jesus Christ unique is that His biography was written long before He came on the scene as a human being. His New Testament life’s story is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament prophets presented a clear outline of His life long before He arrived to fulfil it. The New Testament apostles told the story of His human life as He lived it while living among them. The testimonies of the prophets and the apostles matched perfectly. Yet, so-called “Christianity” claims to be totally separate from the Law and the One Who proclaimed it from atop of Mount Sinai many centuries ago. As this series will prove, those who have “nailed the Law (the Old Testament) to the cross” do not know, nor are known by the One Who died on that Cross (Mat. 7:21-23; 15:8,9). Read The God of the Old Testament. Key word–Old.

The Old Testament was completed approximately 250 years before Christ’s birth. We know this because the Septuagint–the Greek translation of the Old Testament, was begun about that time. Because of this, Christ’s disciples/apostles noticed that the details in His life perfectly fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. A careful study of the Old Testament reveals that the prophets repeatedly mention the coming of the Lord’s Messiah. As early as the third chapter of Genesis we are told that Someone would one day rise up to defeat the devil (3:15). That Someone would be the Messiah. The Hebrew word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ” have the same meaning–“Anointed One.” John 1:41 and 4:25 make clear the fact that they are one and the same. Here we find Andrew and the woman at the well both coming to realize that the Man they had met was the anciently prophesied Messiah. The humble carpenter from Nazareth was the Savior of the world written about in the Old Testament. As this series will prove, THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENSTS MUST NOT BE SEPERATED, BUT MUST BE VIEWED AS ONE CONTINUOUS STORY LINE WHOSE FOCUS CENTERED ON ONE BEING.

The Old Testament prophets lived from five hundred to fifteen hundred years before Christ’s birth. Yet they made numerous specific predictions about Him and His life. Their prophecies involved such things as His name, the city of His birth, His life’s work, the details of His trial and the events surrounding His death. The prophets’ prophecies revealed beforehand that, at His future court appearance, He would offer no personal defense. They also noted some of the very words He would speak in His final hours. These Holy Spirit-directed men even foretold the exact number of days and nights the Messiah would remain in His tomb.

As soon as Jesus began His ministry people began to identify Him as the fulfillment of Old Testament references to the coming Messiah. In John 1:45 we find Philip declaring to Nathaniel: “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Jesus also pointed to Himself as the fulfillment of prophecy. After reading a passage from the Old Testament to those gathered in the Nazareth synagogue, He said: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21).

Not long after His resurrection Jesus spoke to two of His followers about His fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy: “He said to them: ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the (Old Testament) Scriptures concerning Himself” (Lk. 24:25-27).

Not only did Old Testament prophecy repeatedly proclaim Jesus to be the promised Messiah, every aspect of His life was the fulfillment of those prophecies. The following consists of a few examples of how the life of the man called Jesus written about in the New Testament perfectly fulfilled numerous Old Testament prophecies about promised Messiah.

HIS PLACE OF BIRTH: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah … out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler of Israel, whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea” (Mat. 2:1).

HIS VIRGIN BIRTH: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel (God with us)” (Isa. 7:14). “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus (the Lord saves)” (Mat. 1:20,21).

HIS LINEAGE FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAH: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between His feet, until He comes to whom it belongs” (Gen. 49:10). “For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah” (Heb. 7:14).

HIS REJECTION: “He was despised and rejected by men” (Isa. 53:3). “He came unto His own and His own did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:11).

HIS BETRAYAL AND THE PRICE RECEIVED FOR IT: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared My bread, has lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41:9). “Then, dipping the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot” (Jn. 13:26). “So they paid me thirty pieces of silver” (Zech. 11:12). “So they counted out for him thirty silver coins (Mat. 26:14,15).

HIS DEATH ON A CROSS: “They pierced My hands and My feet” (Ps. 22:16). “When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him” (Lk.23:33).

HIS LEAVING THE TOMB: “Because You will not abandon Me to the grave, nor will you let Your Holy One see decay” (Ps. 15:10). “Seeing what was ahead, He spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay” (Acts 2:31,32).

No one, having a desire for God’s Truth, can deny the importance of the Old Testament in the life of a New Testament Christian. The evidence is clear: THE LAW (OLD TESTAMENT) WAS NOT NAILED TO THE CROSS OF CHRIST. What was nailed to the cross was the sacrificial law in which animal blood was used to cover the sins of the people. Jesus proclaimed the end of that law during the Last Supper. Let us believe Him, not those who have replaced Him as the final arbiter of Truth. L.J.