Jeff Parrott
speaker
1,309 appearances
11 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 5d ago
Jeff Parrott’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 11 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 4.
Appearances
So what we have to ask is this, what is so special about Nazareth that it fulfills the prophets of the Old Testament?
What's so special about Nazareth?
Well, the answer is simple, nothing.
Nazareth was about as unimpressive and obscure as you could get in ancient Israel.
And that's exactly the point.
The unimportance and the obscurity of Nazareth fulfills key attributes of the Messiah that are foretold in the Old Testament.
We see this in places like Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapters 49 and 53.
Like the city of Nazareth, the Messiah would embody this sense of irrelevance and unimportance in the eyes of the world.
And we eventually see this at play in places like John 1, verse 46, when Nathaniel asks, can anything good come from Nazareth?
The assumed answer is, no way.
So when Matthew says that Jesus' residence in Nazareth fulfills what was spoken by the prophets, what he's doing is he's displaying this essential quality of the Messiah's humble origins, these aspects of the Messiah that were foretold in the Old Testament.
Jesus does not come from an obviously royal location like Bethlehem.
He comes from an intentionally obscure location, Nazareth.
This alone is enough to fuel our trust and our worship.
The reality that this feature of the Messiah is fulfilled in the hometown of Jesus.
But there's one more element that we should recognize to fully appreciate the importance of this fulfillment.
Let's remember the context of this passage is established in the terror of Herod, in a world undone by sin and death and evil.
In response to that tragedy, in that context, Matthew is highlighting Jesus as a Nazarene.
Is it possible that this context is setting the stage for one more layer of fulfillment of God's promises?
Many biblical scholars think so.
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