This series could go on almost endlessly, but I am going to conclude it with this article. I believe I have given enough examples to demonstrate to any honest heart that the Old Testament prophecies point to Jesus of Nazareth and His religion for their ultimate fulfillment. It started back in Genesis 3:15. The mind of God directed the whole thing.
I wish to examine two passages in this article, Jeremiah 31:31-33, and Isaiah 2:2-4. The first predicts the coming of the “new covenant”—the New Testament, the law of Christ, grace, the fulfillment of the Old Testament from Genesis 3:15. Isaiah 2:1-4 speaks of the church of Christ, as we shall see. Let’s look at them.
1. Jeremiah 31:31-33--“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
The new “Israel of God,” according to the apostle Paul, is the church of Jesus (Galatians 6:16). The promise of God was for all of mankind, not just the Jews; again, this goes back to Genesis 3:15, and was also part of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. So, “the house of Israel” in this passage in Jeremiah must be understood as the “new” people of God, Jew and Gentile alike, joined together in the Lord’s church.
The writer of the book of Hebrews quotes this passage from Jeremiah twice (Hebrews 8:8-10; 10:16), and applies it to the new covenant of Jesus Christ. It is a covenant of grace, not law (i.e., salvation cannot be earned, not that there are no “laws” in Christianity. Of course there are. James 1:25 calls the new covenant “the perfect law of liberty.”). So, the Holy Spirit settles for us what Jeremiah was talking about. And it perfectly fulfills the promises God had made in the Old Testament. The Law of Moses was never intended to be God’s final covenant with mankind. Its sacrifices could never fully take away sin. Only the blood of the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, can do that. Hence, a new covenant was needed, one that didn’t entail the use of bulls and goats. That is what Jeremiah was talking about, and it is fulfilled in Jesus and the New Testament.
2. Isaiah 2:2-4 (see also Micah 4:1-2)—“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
There are several indications that Isaiah (and Micah) are talking spiritually here, about the church, and not literally. Thus, this passage finds its fulfillment in the New Testament church. Note:
1. The “latter days”. Peter said in his sermon on the day of Pentecost that we are in the “last days” (Acts 2:17). John concurred in I John 2:18—“Little children, it is the last time.”
2. The “mountain of the Lord’s house.” Hebrews 12:18 and 22-23 tells us that “Mount Zion” is the “church of the firstborn.” Paul, in I Timothy 3:15, calls the house of God “the church of the living God.”
3. “Many people...” The gospel is for the whole world, not just the Jews (Mark 16:15).
4. “He will teach us His ways.” We are to be “taught of God” (John 6:45).
5. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The gospel was first preached in Jerusalem (Acts 2) where the Lord’s church was established.
6. “He shall judge...” Hebrews 12:23 calls God “the Judge of all.” Jesus said in John 12:48 that we will be judged by His words.
7. “Beat their swords...” etc. etc. Jesus’s kingdom, of course, is a kingdom of peace (Ephesians 2:14-15). It is mainly designed to bring peace between God and man (the fellowship lost in Genesis 3 when man sinned), but one of its offshoots would be nations would “learn war no more”—certainly no more war with God, but also a world of peace if all would follow the Prince of Peace. Physical warfare is entirely, 100%, man’s fault for refusing to submit to God and His teaching.
Thus, the new covenant and the church are also predicted in the Old Testament. We have no excuse, none, for rejecting the Word of God.
As noted in the opening paragraph of this article, this will be my final essay in this series. There are many other predictive prophecies in the Old Testament and reward further study. Only God can know the precise future. And He told us, in the Old Testament, what would happen in the New. Such is one of the greatest proofs of the inspiration of the Bible. Let us humbly submit to the Lord Jesus and enter His kingdom before it is too late.