Isaiah 9:2 prophesies, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 4:15 and 16. When Christ came to people, He came as a great light. Peter, Andrew, James, and John did not realize that they were in darkness as they were working by the Sea of Galilee to make a living. They did not know that they were in the shadow of death. As Peter and Andrew were casting their nets into the sea, Christ as the great light shined upon them.
Christ’s ministry did not begin with earthly power—it began with heavenly light. This light is Christ Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death. When the Lord began His ministry as light, He made no display of power or authority. Rather, He walked by the seashore as a common person. But when He came to those four disciples by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them with a great light, shining in the darkness and in the region of the shadow of death. At that juncture, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were enlightened, attracted, and captured. Immediately they forsook their jobs and followed the Lord.
In Matthew 4 there is no record, as in Luke 5, of any miracle being done by the Lord when Peter was called. In Matthew 4 there is the great light that attracted the first disciples. This attraction did not come from what the Lord Jesus did; it came from what He was. He was a great light with the power to attract people and capture them. In this way He attracted and captured the first four disciples. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were attracted and captured at the seashore not by seeing what the Lord did, but by realizing what the Lord was. Because they had been attracted and captured, they became faithful followers of the Lord Jesus unto the end.
Psalm 69:9a says, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” This word was fulfilled at the time Christ cleansed the temple, the house of God (John 2:12-17). After the Lord cleansed the temple, “His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Your house shall devour Me” (John 2:17). Within the Lord Jesus there was a zeal for the house of God. This zeal devoured Him, ate Him up, consumed Him. He was absolutely for the Father’s house. The Father’s house was His heart’s desire.
When the Lord saw the corrupted situation in the temple, He could not tolerate it, but cleansed it, even with a whip. He was driven by zeal for His Father’s house to drive all the defilement out of it. His heart was pure for the Father. He could not bear to see that the temple, His Father’s house, was contaminated by the things of man’s greed. Therefore, in His zeal, He cleansed the temple.
In the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies Christ is also the Prophet raised up by God. The prophecy concerning this is in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19, and the fulfillment is in John 1:45 and Acts 3:22-23. Christ was not only the One who proclaimed God’s jubilee, and He was not merely a light shining in darkness. Furthermore, He was not only the One whose zeal for God’s house devoured Him. The Lord was also a Prophet to speak forth God and to predict many things concerning God’s economy. Some of Christ’s speaking recorded in the Gospels is the speaking forth of God. Some of His speaking in the Gospels includes predictions concerning God’s economy, especially concerning the fulfillment of God’s economy. In His ministry Christ surely was a great Prophet.
Isaiah 42:1-3 prophesies that in His ministry, His service, Christ would be Jehovah’s Servant, not striving nor crying out, not breaking a bruised reed nor quenching the smoking flax. This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 12:17-21. Matthew 12:19 says of Christ, “He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear His voice in the streets.” In His ministry the Lord did not strive with others, and He did not promote Himself. He did not seek to make Himself known to people on the streets. He had no fame, and He made no name for Himself. In a sense He was very hidden. When the Lord Jesus was living on earth, He never made Himself great. Rather, He always kept Himself small. We should be hidden and concealed all the time as Christians. If we would enjoy Christ, we should remain small, concealed, and hidden.
Matthew 12:20 goes on to say, in fulfillment of Isaiah 42:3, “A bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench.” Not only did Christ make no noise in the streets; He did not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax. This indicates that He was full of mercy. The Jews often made flutes of reeds. When a reed was bruised and no longer useful as a musical instrument, they broke it. They also made torches of flax to burn with oil. The oil ran out, the flax smoked, and they quenched it. Some of the Lord’s people are like a bruised reed that cannot give a musical sound; others are like smoking flax that cannot give a shining light. Yet the Lord will not “break” the bruised ones who cannot give a musical sound, nor “quench” the ones like dimly burning flax that cannot give a shining light.
Christ was also a man of sorrows despised and rejected of men (Isa. 53:3; Psa. 22:6-7; Luke 22:28; 23:11; Matt. 27:39). He was not a man of enjoyment, happiness, or blessing. As we consider Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Luke 22, and Matthew 27, we see a portrait of Christ as a despised man of sorrows.
Isaiah 50:6 prophesies of Christ as the One willing to be humiliated: “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” This word is fulfilled in Matthew 26:67: “They spit in His face and beat Him with their fists, and they slapped Him.”
According to Psalm 69:9b, the reproaches of those who reproached God would fall upon Christ: “The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” Christ suffered not only for us but even for God. He suffered as God’s Substitute, for the reproaches of those who reproached God fell upon Christ. Hence, Christ was not only our Substitute bearing our problems, but was also God’s Substitute bearing God’s problems. In Romans 15:3 Paul quotes the prophecy in Psalm 69:9b in order to encourage the saints to bear the problems of others just as Christ bore God’s problems.
If you consider the matters we have covered thus far concerning the person of Christ in the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, you will see a portrait of who Christ is and what He is. All these matters are related to Christ’s coming to dispense God into His chosen people. Every aspect of Christ’s person prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New is for this purpose.