That Christ fulfills the Old Testament we certainly know. On the Emmaus Road, Jesus said to his dispirited disciples, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27). The Old Testament clearly testifies of Christ’s saving work.
Later in Luke 24:44-45, when Jesus met with his other disciples, he said, “‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” The Old Testament cannot be correctly comprehended apart from its constitutive center, Jesus.
But that leaves the question, how does Christ fulfill the Old Testament? Here are four specific ways:
1. Jesus fulfills the promises of Scripture. The Old Testament is filled with messianic promises. Genesis 3:15 speaks of the “seed of the woman” that the New Testament declares is Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4; Revelation 12). God promised Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12, 15, 17, 22). This promise recurs to Isaac and Jacob. The New Testament declares that Jesus is the messianic seed of Abraham (Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16) in whom the nations are blessed with salvation. Genesis 49:8-10 promised the Messiah to come from Judah’s line, and Christ was from the tribe of Judah, identified as the Lion (Revelation 5:5). In 2 Samuel 7:1-16, God promised David a continuing dynasty culminating in a glorious seed who would reign forever (c.f. Psalm 45, 72). This promise is reiterated in the prophets, and the New Testament tells us that Jesus has come to sit on David’s throne (Luke 1:32). There are many other promises that Jesus fulfills.
2. Jesus fulfills the positions of Scripture. In the Old Testament, there were three primary offices: 1) prophet 2) priest and 3) king. In the Old Testament, Moses holds prophetic primacy, being a prophet that God spoke with face-to-face. However, Moses himself says in Deuteronomy 18:14-16 that God would raise up another prophet like him from among the people, and he called the Israelites to listen to him in the future. Acts 3:22 identifies this prophet as Jesus. While priests in Israel were selected from the tribe of Levi, there is evidence that David knew of a coming priest who would be after a different order. In Psalm 110, David highlights a priest-king coming after the order of Melchizedek, and the New Testament testifies that this priest is Jesus (Hebrews 7:13-17). David was the quintessential Old Testament king, and the New Testament declares that Christ is the root and descendant of David (Revelation 22:16; c.f. Matthew 1:1). Jesus is the long-awaited messianic king! Jesus fulfills all the offices of the New Testament in himself.
3. Jesus fulfills the prefigurements/patterns of Scripture. There are various Old Testament prefigurements of Christ and the gospel. For example, the entire sacrificial system pointed to the coming of Messiah to shed his blood to atone for sin. The day of atonement in the Jewish Calendar (Leviticus 16) pointed forward to the true day of atonement, when Jesus would shed his blood for the sake of his people, opening up a new and living way into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:20; Isaiah 53). The Exodus was an event pointing forward to the spiritual liberation of God's people from their sin (Luke 9:31). Even down to the minutest events of Israel’s history, like the striking of the rock (Exodus 17) and the lifting up of the brazen serpent (Numbers 21:5-9), we find pictures and shadows of the gospel of Christ. In the victory of God over Dagon in 1 Samuel 4-6, we see a picture of seeming defeat and humiliation leading to victory and triumph—the same themes as the cross and resurrection of Christ. We also see that Adam prefigures Christ, since Christ is the covenant head of all the redeemed (Romans 5).
4. Jesus fulfills the predictions of the prophets. Direct prophecies are specific descriptions concerning the future Messiah and his work. Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 declare Christ’s ascension and establishment at God’s right hand on Zion. Isaiah is filled with predictions about the coming Messiah, including his virgin birth, eternal rule, and redemptive work (Isaiah 7:17; 9:1-7:11:1-5; 28:16; 42:1; 53). Micah 5:2 tells us the exact location of the future Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem, the city of David (Matthew 2:1-12). There are also indirect prophecies that Jesus fulfills. For example, Psalm 22 is a representation of Christ’s future suffering and subsequent glory. Jesus is also the explanation of the prophetic predictions for the future more broadly. He is the explanation for how God will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). He is the explanation for how everlasting righteousness would be brought in (Daniel 9:24). He is the explanation for how death will be removed from this creation (Isaiah 25, 65-66; 1 Corinthians 15; Revelation 21-22).
So many more examples could be included in each of these categories! But we are truly on firm and settled ground in acknowledging Jesus to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of God’s grand plan of redemption! All the promises of God are yes and amen in him (2 Corinthians 1:20)!
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