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In the foregoing message we saw that in the fulfillment of certain Old Testament prophecies Christ is both God and man. Christ is the God-man for the purpose of bringing God into man. As the God-man, He has prepared the way for God to dispense Himself through humanity into His chosen people. If we have an inclusive view concerning Christ as the One who is both God and man, we shall see that He, the very God, became a man so that God may have a way to dispense Himself into us. For this dispensing it was necessary for Christ to carry out His ministry. Let us now consider some prophecies related to Christ’s ministry.
In His ministry Christ is the Lord before whom Elijah came to prepare His way. This is prophesied in Malachi 4:5 and 6: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” This word is fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3 and 17:10-13. Malachi 4:5 prophesied that Elijah would come. When John the Baptist was conceived, it was said that he would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Hence, John may be considered “Elijah, who is about to come” (Matt. 11:14).
According to Matthew 3:3, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, to make His paths straight. This was to change the mind of the people, to turn their mind to the Lord and to make their heart right, to cause every part and avenue of their heart to be straightened by the Lord through repentance for the kingdom (Luke 1:16-17). John the Baptist prepared the way so that Christ could come to dispense God into all those who would be called by Him.
In Matthew 17:10 some of the Lord’s disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” The matter of Elijah coming first is according to Malachi 4:5-6. In Matthew 17:11 the Lord replied, “Elijah indeed is coming and will restore all things.” This will be fulfilled at the time of the great tribulation, when Elijah will be one of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:3-4). In Matthew 17:12 the Lord continued, “But I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished.” This refers to John the Baptist (Matt. 17:13), who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:13-17) and was rejected (Matt. 11:18) and beheaded (Matt. 14:3-12). On the one hand, Elijah has come; on the other hand, he has not yet come in full. John the Baptist was Elijah, but he was not Elijah in full. The full coming of Elijah will take place in the future.
In the Bible the fulfillment of prophecy is often like this. First there is a partial fulfillment, then the complete fulfillment. In His ministry Christ was the One before whom Elijah came to prepare His way.
Isaiah 61:1-2a says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” This is a prophecy of Christ being the Lord’s Anointed to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim the Lord’s jubilee. This prophecy is fulfilled in Luke 4:18-19. The Lord came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. According to His custom, He entered on the Sabbath day into the synagogue and stood up to read. The book, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, was handed to Him. He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written concerning Him as the One anointed to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim the jubilee. After reading this portion, He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Then He declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21).
The Spirit of the Lord was upon Christ because God had anointed Him to bring good news to the poor. The Greek word rendered “bring good news” in Luke 4:18 is euaggelizo,which means to evangelize, to announce good news. To preach the gospel was the first commission of the Lord as God’s anointed One, the Messiah. The good news was to be preached to the poor, that is, to the poor in heavenly, spiritual, and divine things (Luke 12:21; Rev. 3:17 see Matt. 5:3).
Luke 4:18 speaks of captives, the blind, and those who are oppressed. The captives are prisoners of war, as exiles and prisoners under Satan’s bondage (Isa. 42:7). The blind include those who are physically and spiritually blind (Zeph. 1:17; John 9:39-41; 1 John 2:11; Rev. 3:17). Recovery of sight is related to release from the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). The Greek word translated “oppressed” comes from a verb meaning to break in pieces (Matt. 12:20). Those who are oppressed are those oppressed under Satan in sickness or in sin (Luke 13:11-13; John 8:34).
In Luke 4:19 we see that Christ was anointed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. This acceptable year is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), the time when God would accept the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin would enjoy the release of God’s salvation.
In Luke 4:18 and 19 Christ proclaims the jubilee of grace. The term “the acceptable year of the Lord” denotes the jubilee described in Leviticus 25. According to this chapter, the year of jubilee was a time when slaves were released and property was returned to the rightful owners. Hence, the year of jubilee was a year of release, freedom, and return of lost property. Those who had been sold into slavery were released during the year of jubilee.
Every Israelite was allotted a portion of the good land, which typifies Christ. Therefore, to lose one’s right to the good land is to lose the right to enjoy Christ. Every fallen human being has lost the right to enjoy God as the tree of life and the right to enjoy Christ as the good land. Furthermore, every fallen one has sold himself to sin, the world, and Satan. All fallen people, therefore, have lost their right to enjoy Christ and have sold themselves to negative things. But the year of jubilee indicates that we can be released from bondage and recover the right to enjoy Christ as our portion. At the start of His ministry Christ declared the jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord. This indicates that the entire New Testament age is actually a single year, the year of jubilee, the year for Jehovah to accept fallen human beings.
The proclamation of the jubilee is the real gospel, the rich and whole gospel. A partial gospel tells people that they are sinners destined for hell, but Jesus loved them and died on the cross for them, and that if they believe in Him they will have eternal life. This is only a part of the jubilee. The jubilee is a proclamation of release from slavery and of the recovery of our spiritual birthright. In the jubilee we are recovered to the enjoyment of the Triune God as our portion. Our birthright, which had been lost, has been recovered in the New Testament jubilee. In the jubilee we are also released from bondage. Once we were captives, but we have been released from slavery and brought back to the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
According to Leviticus 25, in the year of jubilee everyone was restored to his original condition. Since the New Testament age is the real year of jubilee, this means that God will restore us to our original condition. In Adam we became lost, and we sold ourselves to sin as slaves. But Christ has come and has brought in the acceptable year of the Lord. This acceptable year is, in the New Testament, the fulfillment of the Old Testament jubilee. In this year we are released, and our lost birthright is recovered, redeemed, and restored.
Isaiah 9:2 prophesies, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 4:15 and 16. When Christ came to people, He came as a great light. Peter, Andrew, James, and John did not realize that they were in darkness as they were working by the Sea of Galilee to make a living. They did not know that they were in the shadow of death. As Peter and Andrew were casting their nets into the sea, Christ as the great light shined upon them.
Christ’s ministry did not begin with earthly power — it began with heavenly light. This light is Christ Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death. When the Lord began His ministry as light, He made no display of power or authority. Rather, He walked by the seashore as a common person. But when He came to those four disciples by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them with a great light, shining in the darkness and in the region of the shadow of death. At that juncture, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were enlightened, attracted, and captured. Immediately they forsook their jobs and followed the Lord.
In Matthew 4 there is no record, as in Luke 5, of any miracle being done by the Lord when Peter was called. In Matthew 4 there is the great light that attracted the first disciples. This attraction did not come from what the Lord Jesus did; it came from what He was. He was a great light with the power to attract people and capture them. In this way He attracted and captured the first four disciples. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were attracted and captured at the seashore not by seeing what the Lord did, but by realizing what the Lord was. Because they had been attracted and captured, they became faithful followers of the Lord Jesus unto the end.
Psalm 69:9a says, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” This word was fulfilled at the time Christ cleansed the temple, the house of God (John 2:12-17). After the Lord cleansed the temple, “His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Your house shall devour Me” (John 2:17). Within the Lord Jesus there was a zeal for the house of God. This zeal devoured Him, ate Him up, consumed Him. He was absolutely for the Father’s house. The Father’s house was His heart’s desire.
When the Lord saw the corrupted situation in the temple, He could not tolerate it, but cleansed it, even with a whip. He was driven by zeal for His Father’s house to drive all the defilement out of it. His heart was pure for the Father. He could not bear to see that the temple, His Father’s house, was contaminated by the things of man’s greed. Therefore, in His zeal, He cleansed the temple.
In the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies Christ is also the Prophet raised up by God. The prophecy concerning this is in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19, and the fulfillment is in John 1:45 and Acts 3:22-23. Christ was not only the One who proclaimed God’s jubilee, and He was not merely a light shining in darkness. Furthermore, He was not only the One whose zeal for God’s house devoured Him. The Lord was also a Prophet to speak forth God and to predict many things concerning God’s economy. Some of Christ’s speaking recorded in the Gospels is the speaking forth of God. Some of His speaking in the Gospels includes predictions concerning God’s economy, especially concerning the fulfillment of God’s economy. In His ministry Christ surely was a great Prophet.
Isaiah 42:1-3 prophesies that in His ministry, His service, Christ would be Jehovah’s Servant, not striving nor crying out, not breaking a bruised reed nor quenching the smoking flax. This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 12:17-21. Matthew 12:19 says of Christ, “He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets.” In His ministry the Lord did not strive with others, and He did not promote Himself. He did not seek to make Himself known to people on the streets. He had no fame, and He made no name for Himself. In a sense He was very hidden. When the Lord Jesus was living on earth, He never made Himself great. Rather, He always kept Himself small. We should be hidden and concealed all the time as Christians. If we would enjoy Christ, we should remain small, concealed, and hidden.
Matthew 12:20 goes on to say, in fulfillment of Isaiah 42:3, “A bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench.” Not only did Christ make no noise in the streets; He did not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax. This indicates that He was full of mercy. The Jews often made flutes of reeds. When a reed was bruised and no longer useful as a musical instrument, they broke it. They also made torches of flax to burn with oil. The oil ran out, the flax smoked, and they quenched it. Some of the Lord’s people are like a bruised reed that cannot give a musical sound; others are like smoking flax that cannot give a shining light. Yet the Lord will not “break” the bruised ones who cannot give a musical sound, nor “quench” the ones like dimly burning flax that cannot give a shining light.
Christ was also a man of sorrows despised and rejected of men (Isa. 53:3; Psa. 22:6-7; Luke 22:28; 23:11; Matt. 27:39). He was not a man of enjoyment, happiness, or blessing. As we consider Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Luke 22, and Matthew 27, we see a portrait of Christ as a despised man of sorrows.
Isaiah 50:6 prophesies of Christ as the One willing to be humiliated: “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” This word is fulfilled in Matthew 26:67: “They spit in His face and beat Him with their fists, and they slapped Him.”
According to Psalm 69:9b, the reproaches of those who reproached God would fall upon Christ: “The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” Christ suffered not only for us but even for God. He suffered as God’s Substitute, for the reproaches of those who reproached God fell upon Christ. Hence, Christ was not only our Substitute bearing our problems, but was also God’s Substitute bearing God’s problems. In Romans 15:3 Paul quotes the prophecy in Psalm 69:9b in order to encourage the saints to bear the problems of others just as Christ bore God’s problems.
If you consider the matters we have covered thus far concerning the person of Christ in the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, you will see a portrait of who Christ is and what He is. All these matters are related to Christ’s coming to dispense God into His chosen people. Every aspect of Christ’s person prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New is for this purpose.
