Did The Old Testament Authors Know Jesus? (100 Days Of Discipleship — Day 58) by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Matthew — Written to Prove a Point

When you read the book of Matthew carefully, one phrase keeps appearing: "that it might be fulfilled." The author intentionally wrote his gospel to establish that Jesus Christ was the Messiah the Old Testament had been prophesying about. He was not just telling a story — he was making a theological argument.

• Matthew 1:22-23 — the virgin birth fulfils Isaiah 7:14
• Matthew 2:5-6 — the birth in Bethlehem fulfils Micah 5:2
• Matthew 2:15 — the flight to Egypt fulfils Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I have called my son"
• Matthew 2:17-18 — Herod's massacre fulfils Jeremiah 31:15: "Rachel weeping for her children"

Put those four scriptures — Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, Jeremiah — in chronological order, and you can retell the story of Christ's birth from the Old Testament alone.

The Old Testament Is Full of Christ

Hebrews 1:1-2: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." The reason Christ is not obvious in the Old Testament is that the revelation was given "in various times and in various ways" — in fragments, types, and shadows scattered across centuries. Bible study is the jigsaw puzzle of assembling them.

This is what Jesus did for the disciples at Emmaus: Luke 24:27: "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." In all the scriptures. Not just a few prophecies — throughout.

Christology — The Master Key

Every lamb brought to the temple was a prophetic actor — pointing to what the real Lamb of God would do. John the Baptist understood this when he said: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." That statement is a piece of biblical interpretation — all those lambs were just a type of this one.

The rock Moses struck in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). The crossing of the Red Sea was a picture of salvation and baptism. Entering the promised land under Joshua — whose name is the same as Jesus, meaning Saviour — was a picture of entering into the fullness of God's inheritance in Christ.

If you read the Bible without a Christocentric lens, you are missing the point of the whole book.

The Hermeneutical Key

The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.

When the first disciples found Jesus, they ran to their friends and said: "We have found the one of whom Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets" (John 1:45). They were not surprised — they were confirming. The clues had been there all along. Jesus showed them how all of Scripture pointed to Him, and their hearts burned within them.

Read your Old Testament looking for Christ. He is everywhere. And the more you see Him there, the more the whole Bible will come alive.