God Has Spoken By His Son

We are taking a look at prophecy in the Bible. The writer to the Hebrews starts his letter referencing the prophets. He writes,

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Again and again the Apostles referenced the prophets' writings, emphasizing that the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus was in fulfillment of the prophets' writings. For instance, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the holy family fled to Egypt and returned to Nazareth, John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, Jesus healed the diseased and cast out demonic spirits, Jesus taught in parables, Jerusalem was destroyed, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, Judas betrayed Jesus—all to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets (see Matthew 1:22; 2:5; 2:15-23; 3:3; 4:12-16; 12:10-21; 13:34-35; 21:1-11; 23:29-56; 27:3-9).

There are around a hundred Prophecies in the Old Testament that are commonly referred to as being fulfilled by Jesus. Hundreds of books have been written about these matters. In addition to the link listed above, you may also find helpful Rich Deem's side by side list, Prophecies of Jesus Christ as Messiah.

The writings of the prophets are all about the Messiah and His coming. As Jesus said in His confrontation with the Jews,

"You do not have his (the Father's) word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40).

In that sense the writings of the Prophets are what has been called self-authenticated. Here we may return to a prophetic verse from Moses' final discourse:

"But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my (the LORD) name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). 

If we turn the statement into a positive one, that means that when a prophet's word does come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has spoken. And so we return to the first words of Hebrews 1:1-2. What God spoke to the prophets about His Son has come true. So when these prophets speak of Jesus as the Son of God, very God of very God, Creator of the world, then we had best pay attention. Jesus is God's Word, His Living Word spoken in these last days. We await now with joy and hope for His glorious return.

But what about His return? What have those same prophets said? To that we shall return at a later time.