Wednesday, June 07, 2006
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN CHRIST
A reader asked why I am doing this. It's a faith-confirming exercise. When the chaos in our Church swirls all around us, we turn to something more substantial. The prophecies in the Old Testament were written long before a baby named Jesus was born. They are the reason the Israelites expected a Messiah. God made it clear in these Old Testament prophecies that a Savior was part of His plan. One can identify that chosen Savior by seeing these prophecies fulfilled in Christ as recounted in the New Testament. That is the reason they are significant, and that is the reason for this and subsequent blogs.
Jesus is the seed of Abraham. His human nature stands in Abraham's line of descent. In Genesis God promises to Abraham that he will father nations:
Gen. XVII:1-11 (Douay Rheims)
And after he began to be ninety and nine years old the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect. And I will make my covenent between me and thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly. Abram fell flat on his face. And God said to him: I am, and my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram: but thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations. And I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.
And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be their God. Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male-kind of you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.
Matthew spells out the line of descent from which Jesus came in the first chapter of his Gospel.
Matt. 1:1-25 (Douay Rheims)
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren. And Judas begon Phares and Zara, of Thamar. And Phares begon Esron. And Esron begot Aram. And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon....
And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
That is the geneaology of Joseph.
The geneaology of Mary is given in Luke.
Luke 3:23-38 (Douay Rheims)
And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years: being (as it was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was of Heli, who was of Mathat, who was of Levi, who was of Melchi....Who was of Henos, who was of Seth, who was of Adam, who was of God.
The Bible History online website discusses this geneaology of Jesus, indicating the line of descent in Luke was Mary's line.
Curiously, both Evangelists indicate they are talking about Joseph's line. Luke does not mention Mary, yet clearly the two lines of descent are different, and the footnote in the Douay Rheims indicates it is Mary's line given in Luke.
