December 2024: The Man Who Fulfilled All Prophecies

Published on 12/01/2024 by Dr-Shirley-Cheng.

Who Fits the Glass Slipper?

"The maiden whose feet can fit into these glass slippers is the one!" This is the message that rang out throughout the kingdom in the all too-familiar fairy tale of Cinderella. We know her story: In her haste, Cinderella lost one glass slipper as she fled away from the palace before the magic ended. Determined to find her, the prince proclaimed that whomever whose feet can fit the glass slipper is the girl he's looking for, for her feet is the smallest and no one but she can fit her slipper. The glass slipper is therefore the criterion to determine the identity of the girl.

In like manner, Yahweh God the King of the universe had laid down criteria that identify His Messiah, the Anointed One to rule over the world with justice and righteousness. But whereas the story of Cinderella has only one criterion to identify the right maiden, God had many criteria to identify His Messiah. In effect, this makes it impossible for the wrong identification. The Old Testament prophesied the attributes and ministry of the Messiah in numerous prophecies. If one person fits all that was prophesied of him, then he is the Messiah by the logic of mathematics.

Among God's criteria to identify His Messiah are:
• He would be born in Bethlehem as a descendant of David but have a pre-existence from of old (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 11:1)
• He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, in its second and ultimate fulfillment)
• He would be sinless with the Spirit of God to fear God and to do righteousness (Isaiah 11:1-5; Isaiah 53:9)
• Despite his goodness, he would be despised and rejected by man (Isaiah 53:3)
• He would bear the sins of all sinners and be stricken for them in their place in order to atone for their sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, 10, 12)
• He would die yet live again (Isaiah 53:9-11)

In the history of humanity, who fits all these remarkable criteria? No one but Jesus Christ.

No one is sinless (Proverbs 20:9; 1 Kings 8:46) but Jesus alone. No one has pre-existed prior to birth but Jesus. And no one can make atonement for the sins of all people but Christ. The fact that Jesus met all of God's prophecies regarding the Messiah not only proves that he is God's Chosen One but that he is no ordinary human. Rather, he is the everlasting Son of God (Isaiah 9:6).

If you deny Jesus as the Messiah of Yahweh, you deny the Tanakh (Old Testament). If you deny the Tanakh, you deny the very One who authored it: Yahweh. As 1 John 2:23 says, "Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn't have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also."

But if you accept Jesus as the Messiah and God's appointed Shepherd over humanity and trust in him for your salvation, then you'll receive the forgiveness of all your sins and eternal fellowship with your Creator and His Son! As the Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16, WEB)

The Gospel writers are careful to note fulfilled prophesies of the Messiah as they narrated Jesus' account. Today, we'll see a few of them.

Early Fulfilled Prophecies of the Messiah

"Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.'" (Matthew 1:22-23, WEB)

After the virgin Mary conceived Jesus miraculously, Matthew cited it as the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14. There, Isaiah foretold, "Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Like many other prophecies in the Bible, this prophecy in Isaiah has a double fulfillment. In a double fulfillment, a prophecy was fulfilled in the near future, concerning people and events in that early time period. Then in the more distant future, it will be fulfilled in a greater extent, involving different people and events. The first fulfillment is a foreshadow of the latter fulfillment.

The Isaiah 7:14 prophecy speaks of the birth of a son by "the virgin." The original Hebrew text refers to a specific virgin, using "the virgin" rather than "a virgin." The word "virgin" is translated from the Hebrew word "alma," which refers to any young unmarried woman who was of marriageable age. It is expected that such young women were virgins, so "alma" carries the meaning of "virgin," but does not specifically mean "virgin," as Hebrew has a word that specifically means "virgin." But when the prophecy uses the ambiguous word "alma," it allows for two fulfillment's: one concerning a young unmarried woman who would get marry, conceive naturally, and give birth to a son; and the other one concerning a true virgin who was to give birth to a son miraculously, and the virgin birth of Jesus is this second and final fulfillment.

Note that the virgin birth was a sign from Yahweh. It was a sign to specifically the house of David. Both of its double fulfillment was a sign to the house of King David.

When this prophecy was given in around 733 BC, King Ahaz of Judah, a seed of David, was facing the formidable alliance between Pekah king of Israel/Ephraim and Rezin king of Syria, which allied with the aim to overthrow the Davidic dynasty. Though Ahaz was a wicked king, Yahweh assured him that He would rescue him and all of Judah and preserve the Davidic dynasty, and He invited the king to ask for a sign to confirm His promise. However, Ahaz did not want to trust in Yahweh for deliverance (as he had planned to call for Assyria for help instead) and refused to ask for a sign. Since Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, Yahweh gave a sign to the house of David, and this sign is recorded in Isaiah 7:14-16, which says:

"14Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken."

As with many other prophecies in the Bible, this prophetic sign has a double fulfillment, one fulfillment in the near future (in Ahaz's day) and one in the distant future (after Ahaz's day). In the initial fulfillment of the prophetic sign, the entire sign (all three verses) was fulfilled, whereas the second fulfillment concerns only verse Isaiah 7:14.

In the initial, immediate fulfillment, a virgin naturally conceived and gave birth to a son. In context, this son appears to be a son of Isaiah, so the "virgin" would be Isaiah's new wife, a prophetess (Isaiah 8:3). Isaiah approached her (had sexual relations with her) and she consequently bore a son, who was the son prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.

This son of Isaiah was Maher Shalal Hash Baz. It's his name that Yahweh ordered Isaiah to write on a large tablet to announce his birth. This was why Yahweh sent two witnesses, as this was an important event: the initial fulfillment of the sign.

"Maher Shalal Hash Baz" means "hastening to the spoil." This God-given name itself was to act as a sign against Ephraim and Syria. Yahweh prophesied that "before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria." (Isaiah 8:4) Earlier, Yahweh prophesied, "For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken." (Isaiah 7:16) Put together, what the prophecies mean is: Before the child was old enough to know between right and wrong and before he could say the simplest words such as "my mother," namely within one year after his birth, the lands of Syria and Ephraim which Ahaz feared would be forsaken by their kings because their kings would be killed, and the Assyrian emperor would by then have taken spoils from their capitals. The fulfillment of the sign of Maher Shalal Hash Baz would remind Ahaz of Yahweh's promised deliverance from these two enemies, headed by Rezin and Pekah.

By 730 BC, the threat from Syria and Ephraim against Judah vanished; Tiglath Pileser the Assyrian emperor had killed Rezin, while Pekah was assassinated by Hosea, the last king of Ephraim. Both the riches of Damascus and Samaria were taken by Tiglath Pileser, even though the emperor was not the one who killed Pekah. The Bible does not record Tiglath Pileser taking any spoils from Samaria, but archeological discoveries verified the fulfillment of the prophecy; the inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser claimed that he had taken riches from the kingdom of Ephraim. Therefore, Maher Shalal Hash Baz would have been born no sooner than 731 BC, and would have been conceived soon after the prophetic sign was given.

Additionally, it's prophesied that the child would eat curds and milk when he physically and spiritually mature to know between good and evil: " He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good." (Isaiah 7:15) In Isaiah 7:22, Isaiah spoke of people eating curds and honey during the food shortage caused by the Assyrian invasion of Judah. Therefore, what this seems to mean was that the Assyrian invasion of Judah would occur some unspecified time in the future in Maher Shalal Hash Baz's lifetime. This prophecy was fulfilled in 702 BC, when the Assyrians invaded Judah, and the child had grown to about twenty-eight years of age. He would be among those who lived on curds and honey during the invasion.

"Maher Shalal Hash Baz" was the child's actual name. But as prophesied, this child was also given a symbolic name by his mother: Immanuel, which means "God with us." This name signifies that Yahweh was with Judah to protect it from Rezin and Pekah. No enemy force can withstand a people who have God with them.

In the second and final fulfillment of the sign of Isaiah 7:14, "the virgin" refers to the virgin Mary, who miraculously conceived while remaining a virgin, and gave birth to the Son, Jesus Christ, whose symbolic name is "Immanuel," meaning that God is with His people in the spiritual unity with Jesus. Through Jesus, Yahweh has worked His salvation for His faithful remnant.

This ultimate fulfillment of Jesus' birth acts as a sign to prove the validity of Yahweh's promise: that the Davidic dynasty will not be destroyed. Its fulfillment continues to serve as the sign today, for Jesus is the seed of David's royal dynasty, and Jesus lives forever, so the Davidic dynasty will last forever--it will never be broken, not by Syria in the past, and not by any human government now, nor by Satan ever.

From studying Isaiah 7:1-16, we see that the virgin birth of Jesus Christ served a specific purpose. It was not simply to awe us. Without studying this passage, Christians wrongly believe that the virgin birth was simply a way for Yahweh to send His Son to Earth. Now we know it's much more than this.

Now, let us continue to other fulfilled prophecies that Matthew cited. When Joseph took Jesus to Egypt to escape the murderous Herod, Matthew cited their latter departure from Egypt as fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. Originally, Hosea 11:1 is speaking of Israel as the firstborn son of Yahweh, and it's out of Egypt that Yahweh called and redeemed Israel. Under divine inspiration, Matthew applied it to Jesus as well. Since Jesus is the true firstborn of Yahweh and an ideal Israelite, truly Hosea 11:1 has a second fulfillment in Jesus when Yahweh later called him out of Egypt to return him to Israel.

When Herod slaughtered all the boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and caused great anguish for the parents, Matthew cited it as a second fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15. Formerly, Jeremiah was prophesying the fact that the kingdom of Judah (represented by Rachel, the foremother of the tribe of Benjamin which was part of the kingdom of Judah) weeping due to the captivity of the Jews perpetrated by the Babylonians. Now, in Jesus' day, "Rachel" wept again and couldn't be consoled because her children were no more. Bethlehem had a connection with Rachel, who was buried on the way to Bethlehem many centuries ago after she died while giving birth to Benjamin. The town thus exuded an air of sadness; but with the birth of the Messiah in it, it has come down as the most honored town in Israel.

Finally, when Joseph brought Jesus to live in Nazareth, Matthew cited it as a fulfillment of the prophets' words, "He will be called a Nazarene." (Matthew 2:23) However, these words do not appear in the Tanakh, so Matthew's "quotation" is an application of the prophets' words. Prophets such as Isaiah and Zechariah called the Messiah the Branch (of Jesse and David), and Isaiah used the Hebrew word "netser" for "branch." Some scholars explain that "Nazareth" stems from the word "netser," so being a Nazarene (resident of Nazareth) fulfills what I dub the "branch prophecies."

Knowing that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah whom God raised up to save people from sins and eternal death, how will you respond to this fact? Will you embrace the Messiah as your Lord and Savior to be saved?


~*~ Q&A with Dr. Shirley ~*~

Question: How can I overcome peer pressure?

Answer: Peer pressure is experienced by anyone of any age group; it doesn't concern only kids and teens. Adults often feel the pressure to mold to societal standards or what people "expect" from them. For example, women are often pressured to look a certain way, to be slim and tall like models to feel beautiful, while men feel that they must not show emotions, such as by crying, less they are seen as less masculine. Stigma is one product of peer pressure.

To overcome peer pressure, here are some principles:

1) Peer pressure results in a person's desire to fit in, to please others, and fear of being rejected, mocked or harmed. So to overcome peer pressure, we must overcome the desire to be a people-pleaser and fear of people.

2) No one can please everyone. There's always someone who's not going to be content with you for whatever reason. So we cannot aim to be a people-pleaser. Not even God pleases everyone. In fact, many hate Him or do not accept Him. Some of His own people disobey Him and bring shame to His holy name. Even His Son was murdered for being perfectly righteous. He faced the worst stigma in the history of humanity. God's prophets also did.

3) The most important approval to get is God's approval. Even if the world loved you, you'd be lost if God didn't approve of you. It's God's love and acceptance of you that ultimately matters. The world is passing away, and any human disapproval will pass along with it.

4) Fearing people (being too concerned about what others think of you) is a snare. "The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe." (Proverbs 29:25, WEB) Some people want the approval of people so much that they commit all sorts of sins to get that approval, such as taking up smoking, using illegal drugs, or participating in a gang. In the very least, they do not speak out against sin for fear of being ridiculed, or losing a friend, etc. We should fear God, not people. Fearing people is a snare also because it keeps you from doing what you may want to (when that thing is not a sin). It keeps you from growing or being your genuine self. It hedges you in.

5) We should fear only the one who can destroy both body and soul, not those who only can hurt us physically but cannot do anything to our eternal life (Matthew 10:28). We'd lose eternal life if we sin to please people!

Some people allow stigma to hedge them in. For example, there's stigma surrounding mental illness, so some people who need mental health care don't ask for help, thus hurting themselves further. We need to overcome stigma and peer pressure in general for our own sakes, if nothing else.

Put God first in your life, and everything else will fall into place. If you love God first, then you'll love everyone else, including yourself, properly, so regardless of how people may think of you, you'd know you're alright because you're doing God's will, and that is what matters.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Then you may subscribe to Dr. Shirley's newsletter by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page.

Do you have Bible questions and want answers? Contact Dr. Shirley and she'll be happy to answer your questions by the grace of God.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Then you may subscribe to Dr. Shirley's newsletter by filling out the contact form at the bottom of this page.