Consider these six prophecies:

• Matthew 1:23 – “Behold, the virgin shall be with child…” Perhaps the most monumental prophecy made about the coming of the Messiah was the nature of His birth. Isaiah prophesied that this Messiah would be born of a virgin. Why so amazing? It’s biologically impossible. We know that in the normal course of things, a woman cannot have a child by herself. A birth of this nature would have been truly miraculous because it required a divine suspension of natural laws to accomplish. Notice that Matthew 1:25 says that Joseph “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son.” This avoids any possibility that the child was biologically Joseph’s. However, while fulfillment of this prophecy would have been amazing, it is a difficult one to prove, as it depends on the subjective testimony of the mother (and any potential father) that there was no intercourse before the birth. Thus, God gives us more than just this to base our faith on.
• Matthew 2:6 – “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah…” The prophet Micah identified for us the place of the Messiah’s birth. It is interesting that later, the Pharisees would discount Jesus’ ability to be a Messiah or some other great figure because they thought Him from Nazareth (John 7:52). Of course, we see in this reading the reason why Jesus could be from Nazareth and still the Messiah: He was born in Bethlehem. There is an additional prophecy fulfilled concerning this at the end of chapter two, but the record of the original prophecy has been lost to history.
• Matthew 2:15 – “Out of Egypt I called My Son” This prophecy by Hosea foretold the journey by Jesus and His parents to Egypt, and their return from Egypt upon the death of Herod.
• Matthew 2:18 – “A voice was heard in Ramah…” Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a great weeping “in Ramah.” Ramah was the name of a town in the tribe of Benjamin, a few miles north of Jerusalem (Jerusalem was also technically in Benjamin, on the border between it and Judah). Benjamin was the youngest of Rachel’s sons. Thus, the children being slaughtered would be “Rachel’s children” in, at the very least, a metaphorical sense.
• Matthew 3:3 – “The voice of one crying in the wilderness…” Isaiah prophesied that there would be one to come before the Messiah. This individual was John. John was not the typical civilized man. He wore stereotypical “prophet’s attire.” Mark reported in his gospel that John preached in the wilderness (Mark 1:4). Malachi also foretold of such an individual, saying that the Lord would send Elijah. John was not Elijah, but he was, like Elijah, a prophet who called for the repentance of the people from their evil ways.
• Matthew 4:15-16 – “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali…” Isaiah foretold tha tthe begining of the Messiah’s ministry would be in the northern parts of the land of Israel. Jesus began preaching in Capernaum, a town on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, where this prophecy had foretold He would.

Notice in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, that He said. “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus’ coming was foretold by the Old Testament. This foretelling was not just in statements made by men like Isaiah and Jeremiah. The coming of the Messiah was foretold in things like the Passover, the offering of sacrifices and the giving of a law. The limitations of the Old Law required that a Messiah come. But more on that when we get to Hebrews.