Introductory Story
Mike had only recently been introduced to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. He grew up in a non-religious family but had a basic sense of morality and right from wrong. There was a Crucifix and his mother’s KJV Bible in the home, but not much else by way of religion. After a tragic accident in the family that brought some religious relatives into Mike’s life, he started to ask questions and read the Bible more often. His relatives would explain more about Jesus, and even talk with him about the Virgin Mary.
After receiving his own copy of the Bible, Mike began to read the Old and New Testaments. As he read from books like the Song of Songs and Wisdom, Mike couldn’t help but notice how they seemed to prophesy about Jesus and Mary. In fact, it was kind of an alarming experience for him. While reading, the passages almost seemed to “jump out” at him and speak softly to his mind about what they were saying.
One passage that stood out to Mike was Wisdom 2:12-24. Here, the sacred writer was talking about the thoughts of evil men against God’s righteous one, up to and including the plotting of his death. Mike saw clearly how it paralleled Christ’s Crucifixion and the events surrounding it. In Song of Songs 6:9-10, Mike read about the woman who rose as the singular perfect dove that appeared so beautiful to God. The passage spoke to Mike of the Blessed Virgin because of her dignity and beauty as the Mother of God.
As Mike continued to read, he found other passages that struck him similarly. He was discovering that the coming of Jesus Christ fulfills the Old Testament and all the prophecies and covenants therein. Knowing that there were differences of interpretation out there, He said to himself, “The Old Testament so clearly refers to Jesus and Mary. How can anyone not see that?”
Mike continued to study the Scriptures and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Eventually, he could come to no other conclusion than that the Catholic Church was the Church that Jesus founded. He presented himself to a local parish to be received as a catechumen. After being accepted and catechized, he was baptized at the Easter Vigil and also received the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion.
Mike remains a committed Catholic to this day. He went on in life to study Theology and even learned some of the ancient languages so as to read better the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. As his studies progressed, Mike was happily surprised to learn that the Church understands the same passages that he first read (and more) just as he understood them. Convinced that he was led by the Holy Spirit to the Church and the one true Faith, Mike continues to thank God for the grace of conversion and a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and with His Blessed Mother Mary.
“The Fullness of Time”: How Jesus Comes to Fulfill All the Covenants
Saint Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4 that “when the time had fully come, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.” That’s a summary of Christ’s ministry — what He came to do. Notice that Saint Paul mentions that Jesus was born under the law; that is a reference to the Mosaic Covenant that was covered in the previous course. Those who are “under the law” is a reference to the people of Israel who were under the Mosaic covenant. Many of those laws were penitential — they were imposed upon the people because of the sin of worshipping the golden calf. Saint Paul goes on to say that one may receive adoption as a son: that is covenantal language. The covenant forms a family — a covenant takes place by the swearing of an oath in which a person is adopted into the family of God.
Saint Paul is telling us that when everything was prepared, then God sent forth His Son. That’s a good introduction to examining the work of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenants. To explore this more, let’s focus on the very first verse of the New Testament.
The New Testament begins with Matthew 1:1, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham.” This brief sentence connects Jesus to three great covenant mediators of Salvation History.
The phrase “this is the book of the genealogy of” is only used in one other place in the Bible and that’s in Genesis 5:3 where the full phrase is, “The book of the genealogy of Adam.” When any good first century Jewish reader picked up the Gospel of Matthew and saw that it begins with “the book of the genealogy of,” they would be waiting for the name “Adam” to drop. What drops, though, is “Jesus.” What does this mean? Jesus is being presented as a New Adam figure, or a “Second Adam” — a new founder of the human race. He is someone to bring us back, as it were, to the perfect peace of the Garden where that covenantal relationship intended by God for humanity from the beginning can be enjoyed.
Then, Saint Matthew goes on to describe Jesus as “Son of David.” It’s employed as a title here and not meaning just any descendant of David. There were many descendants of the royal house in places like Nazareth and Bethlehem in first century Israel. Jesus wasn’t just any descendant of the house of David, He was the son of David, the heir, the one to fulfill the promises associated with that ancient covenant given to David. Jesus was the one to come and fulfill all those wonderful and even hyperbolic things that are said about the son of David in various Psalms and prophecies.[1]
Then, finally, Jesus is called the “Son of Abraham.” Again, this is not just any descendant of Abraham — all the Jews were descendants of Abraham. Even some other nationalities like the Edomites were descended from Abraham. Jesus is not just any son, He is the son of Abraham. It is a title. Jesus is the definitive son, He is the promised seed who would be the source of blessing to the whole world. As God said to Abraham in Genesis 22:18, “Through your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”
In the rest of the Gospel of Matthew and the other Gospels, Jesus is constantly fulfilling the types of the Old Testament mediators. For example, in Matthew 5:1, Jesus goes up on a mountain and begins to teach Divine Law to the people. That calls to mind Moses who likewise went up on Mount Sinai and gave the people the 10 Commandments.
In Matthew 12, Jesus casts a demon out of a man and the surrounding bystanders say, “Can this be the son of David?” Why do they say that? Because the only exorcist in the Old Testament was David. We read about the exorcism he performed in 1 Samuel 16 immediately after being anointed by the prophet Samuel and receiving the Holy Spirit. Earlier in the chapter, David then proceeds to go to the courts of Saul and through the playing and singing of his music, he is able to exorcise Saul and drive the evil spirits out of him. That’s why, when Jesus does likewise, people will recognize Him as the heir of this Davidic exorcist tradition.
In Matthew 14:17ff, Jesus is feeding a multitude of the people of Israel who are out in the wilderness. He feeds them with supernatural bread as He multiplies the five loaves. This is like Moses feeding the people of Israel with supernatural bread in the wilderness.
So much of the Gospels comes to life when one understands the Old Testament background. On virtually every page, Jesus is fulfilling and actualizing the types of the Old Testament. He is playing the roles and bringing to perfection the roles of those great mediators like Adam, Noah, Moses and David, just as the prophets said He would as they prophesied about the coming of the new covenant.
“All the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus].
That is why we utter the Amen through him to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 (RSV)
[1] Psalm 2:7 (Matthew 3:17); Psalm 41:9 (John 13:21-30); Psalm 118:25-26 (Luke 18:36-38).