Throughout the Old Testament there are discernable patterns to which all lead to the culmination of God’s promises with the birth of Jesus. While they are instances where direct prophecies are announced, most of scripture shapes what is to come. They are open-ended templates for fulfillment. As with Matthew’s citation of prophet Hosea, “Out of Egypt I have called my son,” they are in anticipation of divine intervention. With the knowledge of the Old Testament intertwined throughout the New Testament, there is a sense of deferral. Read in the shadow of the Exodus out of Egypt, there is a build up to another Exodus: one from sin and death.
Just in the opening chapters of Luke and Matthew alone, allusions to the Old Testament support this new deliverance. Just as in the closing of Deuteronomy with the death of Moses, there is mention of another prophet who once again will know God. In Ezekiel 25 it is prophesied that idolatry will be eliminated as there will only be rule under God. As Jesus is born under the name Emmanuel meaning “God with us,” the promises of the past conclude within him- and stretch beyond him. As his genealogy is listed starting with Abraham, there is a sense of finality with Jesus as “there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah” (Mt 1:17). All of those prophets, and their corresponding declines, are ingrained in the son of God alone as he acts as the redeemer. Therefore as the birth of Christ is chronicled, we are forced to look back on the past as well as what is to come through his presence.
Kathleen's Theology Blog 