Act 28:23, “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.”
More than a hundred prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled by Jesus as alluded to by Peter. 2 Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
By teaching out of the Law of Moses and out of the prophets Paul was using common ground to present the ministry of Jesus, His birth, death and resurrection in such a way that it couldn’t be refuted and would perhaps be more acceptable to the listeners.
CM often states “The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed; the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Does this Proverbs not apply to us, the Church, as we are referred to as priests and kings?
When Jesus walked the earth there was no New Testament. Jesus taught from either the Hebrew Bible or the Septuagint and most often from Deuteronomy. After the crucifixion and resurrection Jesus taught two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. “
The prophecy of the incarnation of God as the human Jesus was prophesied in the Garden. Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. A reference to the scarlet thread that would have its final culmination on the blood stained cross. Psalm 22:6, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” This harkens back to the Coccus ilicis, the scarlet worm. When she reproduces, the female attaches herself permanently to a tree and covers her eggs with her body. The worm gives her life to feed her baby worms resulting in a crimson liquid that leaves a red stain on the tree.
Luke 24:44, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
Still the doubt; John 5:46, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.”
According to CM, “on twelve different occasions Jesus was presented as the Messiah from the Hebrew Old Testament.” From morning till evening Paul carried that message to “the uttermost part of the earth.”
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