The Focus of Prophecy
There are five things that the prophets understood about OT prophecies concerning Christ, according to Walter Kaiser, expounding 1 Peter 1:10-12:
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
- Messiah would come.
- Messiah would suffer.
- Messiah would be glorified.
- Messiah would suffer and be gl9rified in that order.
- Messianic prophecy, while applied to its original audiences, had as its primary, intended, audience the age of New Testament, full-light, faith.
Jesus, says Rydelnik:
Saw himself as the direct fulfilment of the Old Testament Messianic hope. He taught this to the apostles, who, in turn, declared their confidence in Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecy. Moreover, the apostles understood Jesus to be the primary object of the prophets' predictions and did not view his Messianic fulfilment is some secondary way. Therefore they proclaimed Jesus as the direct fulfilment of Messianic prophecies to Jewish audiences. The teachings and practices of Jesus and his disciples partially affected, in turn, the way the historic church understood Messianic prophecy and proclaimed the messiahship of Jesus to Jewish people.
May God grant us much light and heat to share the truth with all those outside Christ be they Jew or Greek.
