March 2, 2020

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says “Do you think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” What exactly does fulfill refer to? It refers to the prophecies of the past made true by the events of the present. After the Babylonian Exile and the dominion of the Persians over the Israelites, prophets appear from among the population in despair in order to provide hope for God’s people. The prophecies of Old Testament books like Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Hosea gave hope that a Messiah would arrive to free them from their suffering and return Israel to its former glory. The prophets even went so far as to predict the conditions of the Messiah’s arrival, so that Israel could anticipate and prepare for this event. Therefore, when Christ began his ministry, it was important that he established his role was not to contradict these prophecies but to make them present.

Since Christ’s main significance as Messiah is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, any inconsistency with their predictions would contradict the legitimacy of his role. In Hosea 11:1, the prophet says “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This could be viewed as a point of contention because Christ was born in Bethlehem, not Egypt; however, Egypt has a significant role in Christ’s nativity story. Following his birth, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt in order to escape persecution by King Herod. This exodus to Egypt parallels Moses’s exodus in the Old Testament. When Joseph and Mary are called to return to Jerusalem, they do so and, thus, Christ is called out of Egypt. The New Testament pours careful detail into the genealogy and life in order to fulfill the conditions set for the Messiah by the prophets. In doing so, the Gospel narratives attempt to legitimize the role of Christ as Messiah.