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Jesus - Matt Fulfillment
by A.J. Wilson

"This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, [this is] My Chosen One; I delight in Him. I have put My Spirit on Him; He will bring justice to the nations. “

Isaiah 42:1 HCSB

Matthew’s gospel being first in the New Testament, is no coincidence, his gospel serves as a superb bridge from the Hebrew/Jewish Old Testament to the New Testament in Jesus.  Matthew, like the other disciples, was a Jew, and his Gospel shows a heavy burden to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies for his fellow Jews.  He accomplishes his mission by quoting the Old Testament often and writes of “fulfillment” many times in his gospel.

As he starts his gospel with the genealogy back to Abraham and through David, Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is a Jew (family line of Abraham) and a descendent of King David.  God had promised Abraham that he would bless the earth through his ‘seed’.  Though there are many layers of fulfillment in this promise, Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment through his saving sacrifice.  The importance of being in the family of David, is that Jesus can rightfully be a fulfillment of God’s promise to David, that his throne would last forever (2 Sam 7:12-16). 

Matthew also assures his readers that God had placed his stamp of approval to his ‘Son’.  Matthew 3:16-17 and Mark 1:11 records the words which God spoke from Heaven after Jesus’ baptism, part of which is a quote from the verse above from Isaiah and the other portion from Psalm 2:7.  These words from Isaiah are quoted or referenced many other times throughout the New Testament.  Matthew also quotes Isaiah in recording the events of the transfiguration in chapter 17:5 (along with Luke 9:35 and 2 Pet 1:17).  The importance of Isaiah’s portrayal of the ‘Suffering Servant’ is shown by the many times this one verse from Isaiah is referenced in the New Testament.

God is always just, giving to each person what is deserved based on their actions/deeds.  (Job 34:10-15, Jer. 17:10, 32:19, Prov. 24:12, Rom 2:6, 14:10-13, 2 Cor 5:10, Rev 20:12)  We must be thankful that Jesus came to be our propitiation (covering for sin) (Rom 3:25, Heb 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 4:10).  The Jews knew that the Servant, Messiah was coming to save them from their sins and unleash justice on those who rejected him; Matthew tried to show that Jesus was that exact person.

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