Fulfilled

For those who think the Old Testament irrelevant, remember what Christ told His disciples during His sermon on the mount:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

He knew the scriptures, especially the prophecies His life fulfilled:

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:21)

The scripture He read was:

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 brokenhearted, 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, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:1-2)

There are slight variations between Isaiah and Luke:

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:17-19)

That does not negate the message, nor the fulfillment of this prophecy. I won’t attempt to list them. There are too many books available that accomplish that purpose so much better, and many blogs. A favorite blog author of mine, Robert Lloyd Russell, did a series on those prophecies.

Beginning in Matthew 1:22, we can read them in the New Testament, but cannot understand them unless we read the Old. One fulfills, but the other completes – and those roles reverse every once in a while. We cannot understand Matthew 22:35-40 unless we know Exodus 20. We cannot understand Hebrews 11 without reading through Kings and Chronicles. One without the other is incomplete.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

That was written based on the Old Testament only. Obviously the New was still being written.  Those who wrote it walked with Jesus, heard His words, preached His good news and that was understood – as Peter tells us:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16)