Jesus is not random. He’s not an anybody who just happened to show up. Matthew makes it particularly clear, especially here in chapter 2, that Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, is particular. His particularity has been prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Matthew references “the prophet” specifically in verse 5, verse 15, verse 18, and verse 23. What Matthew is pointing to about Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy is that Jesus is someone who can be trusted, and ultimately that God’s word is true. The life of Jesus, as a fulfillment of prophecy suggests something about the nature and character of Jesus.
Jesus is to us the promise that God’s word is true, he shows us that the hope that is spoken of in the scriptures is a hope that truly does find fulfillment, that God’s word does not return void. In his birth, in his family’s flight to Egypt, and in their return to Nazareth… even in the way that people respond to his birth, Jesus becomes the truth of God unveiled and unleashed in the world.
Prayer
Jesus, truth of God and fulfillment of the prophecies. Be truth in my heart and life. May your seeds of truth me grow within me and bear the fruit of truth and of answered promises. For your glory. Amen.