The Old Testament provides constant preparation, not only for the coming of Christ Jesus, but also for the whole dispensation which he founded, and which fulfilled the teachings and predictions of the early Hebrew leaders. Yet, even in the Master's own day, clearly there were some who assumed that he renounced the Old Testament, for he himself made this statement with regard to its importance: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matthew 5:17).
A careful study of the Old Testament shows that the leaders of that period realized, however dimly, that eventually there would arise a representative of their nation who would be prophet, priest, and king at one and the same time, thus uniting in himself the three outstanding types of leadership represented in the Hebrew Scriptures. "Moses . . . wrote of me," Jesus told his opponents (John 5:46), doubtless referring to the words of the great lawgiver as recorded in Deuteronomy 18:15: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee . . . like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." The author of Hebrews, in developing his central theme of the priesthood of the Messiah, appeals more than once to the prophetic words of Psalm 110:4: "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek" (compare Hebrews 5:6; 7:17,21); while the numerous Gospel references to Christ Jesus as "king of the Jews" and "son of David," were surely foreshadowed in the writings of the prophets.
Outstanding among predictions of this type is that of Isaiah: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: ... of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom" (Isaiah 9:61.); while Jeremiah also was among those who foretold that an ideal king should "reign and prosper" (Jeremiah 23:5).
