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I remember sitting in Sunday school as a child, learning that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. I imagined these prophecies as something like a checklist. For instance, I would read Matthew 2:6—quoting Micah 5:2—“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” There it is, I’d think. Jesus was born in Bethlehem—another prophecy fulfilled. But as I grew older, my understanding of the function of prophecy expanded beyond a checklist of future events that would occur. Certainly, prophecy often foretells what’s to come, but it does far more: It calls God’s people to repentance, reminds them of His covenant faithfulness, and confronts them with the wonder of His Word. In fact, prophecy in Scripture often operates not only through spoken or written declarations but through vivid imagery and symbolic action—such as when Hosea marries Gomer, a prostitute, as a living parable of God’s steadfast love for His wayward people (Hos. 1). That act, and the prophecy that flowed from it, addressed Israel in its day, but also anticipated the gathering of God’s people from all nations, as the Apostle Paul later affirms (Rom. 9:25).
Looking back on the way I used to think about prophecy when I was a child, I understand that my mental checklists weren’t bad—they were just an incomplete understanding of all that prophecy entails. As we grow in Christ, we are called to move from milk to solid food, to mature in our understanding (1 Cor. 3:2). One mark of such maturity is the ability to see how prophecy reveals the character, purposes, and redemptive plan of God from Genesis to Revelation. Prophecy undergirds the entire biblical narrative. To study prophecy rightly is to feast on a meal prepared for those who are growing in their knowledge of God and all that He’s said in His Word. Grasping the full contours of prophecy opens the Scriptures to us in deeper ways.
We live in a time of seeming uncertainty, when many are searching for hope and longing for something sure beneath their feet. The future often feels foggy and unstable. But God’s Word is not. His promises are sure. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Jesus is not only the fulfillment of prophecy; He is the great Prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18, the One to whom we must listen. Searching out and meditating on the depths of biblical prophecy enables us to hear His voice more clearly. And in hearing, we find life (John 6:68).