Jesus: the Fulfillment of the Old Testament

I've been a Christian for over twenty years. (Note: the definition of the word "Christian" is a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, not one who attends a church.) I've been the student of many good teachers in those twenty plus years. However, what I'm about to share, while seemingly fundamental and obvious to the most casual of observers, is something I only learned within this past year from my current Sunday School teacher, Mark Lanier, a self-confessed Bible Nerd.

In our first lesson from the New Testament, an overview of the book of Matthew, Mark told us that the main theme of Matthew was that Jesus is not a contradiction but a consistent fulfillment of the Old Testament. Matthew was primarily written to the Jewish people as an attempt to both confirm the faith of Jewish Christians and to refute Jewish opponents of their faith. His audience would be knowledgeable of Israel's journey from Egypt to the Promised Land and of the record of that journey, to wit, Matthew quotes both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek Septuagint in his gospel to show Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophesy.

Then (and this is where I had my "awe" moment) Mark showed us how the narrative of Matthew's gospel would be clearly seen by his Jewish audience as a reflection of the Torah. Mark shared the following parallels between events in the life of the nation of Israel from the Old Testament and events during Jesus' life and ministry from the New Testament.

Israel	Jesus
Comes out of Egypt	Comes out of Egypt - 2:21
Baptized by the Red Sea	Baptized in the Jordan River - 3:16
Wanders in the wilderness for 40 years	Tempted in the wilderness for 40 days - 4:1-11
Moses ascends Mt. Siani to receive the law	Jesus ascends a mountain and expounds on the law - 5:1-7:28
God feeds Israel with mana and quail	Jesus feeds the multitudes with loaves and fish - 15:29-38
Israel walks through the water	Jesus walks on the water - 14:22-32
5 books of the law	5 discourses: Sermon on the Mount - 5-7 Commissioning of the Apostles - 10 Parables of the Kingdom - 13 Life in the Kingdom - 18 Olivet Discourse - 24-25

At once I'm embarrassed for not knowing/seeing these things in all my previous years, but then I'm so thankful for the continued unfolding of the mystery of God's love for me. What a treasure it is to see the wonder of Almighty God in the intricate design of his Word and the events He orchestrates throughout history.

This is merely a sample of what I've learned from Mark. And, of great benefit to you, his lessons are on our Sunday School web site. They are well deserving of your attention.