Continuing our mini-Christology study, we are looking this week at prophecies about Jesus’ early life and ministry.
Psalm 2 is a Messianic Psalm about the future reign of God’s Son. In verse 7 is a prophecy about God declaring His Son to be His Son. This is fulfilled in Matthew 3:17 at Jesus’ Baptism. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him and the Father’s voice from Heaven says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Besides the fulfillment of Psalm 2:7, we have God’s testimony of who Jesus is and we also see the three members of the Godhead: Father, Son and Spirit.
In Isaiah 9:1-2 there is the prophecy of the Messiah’s ministry in Galilee. From the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry He spent much of His time in and around Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee. Isaiah 9:1-2 are quoted in Matthew 4:13-16 so we understand Jesus’ fulfillment of this prophecy. Remember back when we covered Micah 5:2’s prophecy about Messiah being born in Bethlehem? I noted then the difficulty that caused among the Jews of Jesus’ day (see John 7:40-44) because apparently none of them knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and Jesus didn’t tell them either. At the same time, Jesus growing up and ministering in Galilee was a problem to them too. Apparently they forgot Isaiah 9:1-2.
Then comes a prophecy that is particularly applicable to the Gospel of Luke, Psalm 78:2-4 says that Messiah will speak in parables. All four Gospels contain parables of Jesus, but Matthew 13:34-35 spells out that this is the fulfillment of Psalm 78. Luke contains more parables than any of the other three Gospels and that is part of the reason I named our sermon series, “We’ve a Message to Tell.”
