What signs had God’s providence prepared, so that people might recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior?
The Holy Scriptures contain many exact predictions of the circumstances of his birth and life on earth. The Prophet Isaiah foretold that the Savior would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14 LXX; see Q014, Q033). The Prophet Micah foretold that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, a prophecy the scribes of Israel understood even before they heard of its fulfillment, as their answer to Herod shows (Mic 5:2 [5:1 LXX]; Mat 2:4–6; see Q139, Q542). The Prophet Malachi, after the building of the second temple, foretold that the coming of the Savior was near, and that he would come to this very temple; he also prophesied that a forerunner in the spirit of the Prophet Elijah would be sent before the Lord, fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist (Mal 3:1; 4:5; cf. Mat 11:10, 14; Luk 1:17; see Q100).
The Prophet Zechariah foretold the Savior’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey (Zec 9:9; Mat 21:4–5; see Q542). The Prophet Isaiah, with wonderful clearness, foretold the sufferings of the Savior for the sake of his people: “he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities… and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa 53:5; see the reading of the Ethiopian eunuch, Act 8:32–35; see Q217).
The King and Prophet David, in the twenty-second Psalm, described the sufferings of the Anointed One with details that point unmistakably to death on a cross: “they have pierced my hands and my feet… they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (Psa 22:16–18 [21 LXX]; Mat 27:35; Joh 19:23–24; see Q042, Q058), the psalm whose opening words the Lord uttered from the Cross (Mat 27:46; see Q542).
Daniel, some 490 years beforehand, foretold the time of the Savior’s appearance, his death, and the subsequent destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, along with the abolition of the Old Testament sacrifices (Dan 9:24–27; see Q235, Q458).
Christians should know these prophecies well, for they formed an essential part of the catechism which the Lord himself gave to his apostles after the Resurrection: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: that everything written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures… “You are witnesses of these things!” (Luk 24:44–48; cf. the Emmaus road, Luk 24:25–27; see Q035, Q037).
