Thursday, June 08, 2006
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN CHRIST
According to the New American Standard (Protestant) edition of Scripture the commencing of the ministry of Jesus in Galilee was predicted. (Catholic bibles, however, begin the ninth chapter of Isaiah with "The people who walked in darness...", not mentioning Galilee in the text of Isaiah)
Isaiah 9:1-2 (New American Standard)
But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.
A similar passage does appear in Isaiah 8:23 in the Catholic New American Bible:
First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress.
The prophecy is fulfilled in Matt. 4:12-23 (New American Standard)
Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee: and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned." From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.
And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him. And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
The New American (Catholic) Bible gives nearly the same reading for Matthew 4:12-23.
