Prophecy and its Fulfillment

In the Old Testament, we have many things about the prophets. There are tales of their lives, and accounts of their writings. We can see then how the prophets are an important part of the history of salvation, because they made God's message known to the people through what they said, what they did, and what they wrote. They were a sign of the fact that God was with his people, and that he desired to make himself know to his people, so that they might follow in his ways.

In the Advent season, we feast on the riches of the prophetic tradition. We have readings from the most famous prophetic book, the book of Isaiah. These reading speak of the coming of the messiah, and tell us that God will act decisively on behalf of his people, so that his kingdom might be established on earth. We also hear a lot about John the Baptist in Advent. He is, according to the Synoptic Gospels, the 'messenger... who shall prepare the way', the 'voice crying in the wilderness'. John is a kind of super prophet, because he is the last of his kind, the one who can directly identify the one that all the other prophets were speaking about.

Prophecy on its own is nothing - it needs to be fulfilled, otherwise all we have are empty words. But we know that all the prophecies find fulfillment in the coming of the Word, who is made flesh, and who dwelt among us. This wonderful truth means that when we hear the message of the prophets being read, it should touch us at our deepest level. What was foretold has taken place - God has fulfilled his promises, and has come to us to save us.