Article November 2, 1946 Issue

Prophecy and Fulfillment

W. STUART BOOTH

Even a casual reading of the four Gospels leaves a definite impression that Christ Jesus deemed of great importance the Scriptural prophecies relating to the long-foretold Messiah. Early in his ministry, according to Luke, he read in the synagogue certain prophetic words written by Isaiah, and then he declared to his incredulous listeners (Luke 4:21), "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." In fulfilling his mission the Master verified the words of the prophet, for he preached the gospel to the poor; he healed those who were brokenhearted and those who were broken in body; he brought sight to the blind, and he set at liberty those who were bruised, and also those who had been enslaved by sin and by the condemnation of custom.

It is related that in the Master's walk to Emmaus with two of his disciples shortly after his resurrection, material sense had so clouded the thought of the saddened disciples that they failed to recognize Jesus. Then he, beginning with Moses and continuing with all the prophets, explained to them the Scriptures which related to the Messiah. Evidently the recognition of the fulfillment of Scriptural prophecy was regarded by Christ Jesus as highly important, because thereby the hand of God in the affairs of men might be more clearly seen. Evidently this impressed the disciples later, for the writers of the Gospels make many references to the fulfillment of prophecies in the experiences of the Master.

Furthermore, Christ Jesus was himself a prophet, and he was so rated by many who heard his gracious words and observed his God-empowered works. Of paramount significance among the Master's prophecies is that one recorded by John in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of his Gospel, wherein the coming of the Comforter is promised and prophesied. Jesus, in foretelling his own personal disappearance, declared that this was expedient in order that the impersonal Christ, Truth, might come to humanity as the Comforter.

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