What constitutes a Messianic prophecy? At times it can be difficult to understand how an Old Testament passage, read within its context, is a Messianic prophecy; the New Testament reader only knows that it is, because the New Testament writers refer to that Old Testament passage as applying to Jesus. The disciples apparently had the same problem, and it was not until the resurrection of Jesus Christ when they were fully informed how the Old Testament spoke of Him, which they passed on when they penned the gospels.

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:27-32)

Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:44-49)

When Jesus starts His ministry with the cleansing of the Temple, His ardent actions demonstrated to the disciples how "the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44).

And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house will consume me." (John 2:14-17)

The Old Testament passage the disciples recalled is Psalms 69:9; however, this passage is something David was saying of himself and does not appear to be a Messianic prophecy.

For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. (Ps 69:9)

Psalms 69, the second most quoted psalm in the New Testament (after Psalms 22), is a psalm by David who is lamenting of his suffering to God. Obedient to God and following His word, David calls upon God's judgment for deliverance from his enemies. It is a psalm of a man, who God considers righteous, who is suffering for the sake of God.

But while David is speaking of himself, the New Testament authors refer to this psalm as though it is speaking of David's descendant Jesus; they see the suffering Jesus as the suffering David. Thus, the Psalms passages that the New Testament authors cite about David are considered Messianic prophecies when they are used to describe something about Jesus within the larger context of fulfilling the prophecy of the Promised Messiah.

The following tables provide a side by side comparison of the messianic prophecies in Psalms 69 with their corresponding New Testament quote. This is an example of how one may study so that one can understand their respective contexts and the continuity with the Old Testament.

The idea that Psalm 69 is Messianic is given considerable support when David's enemies are contemporaneously identified as Jesus' enemies - suffering the unrighteous and their consequences.

While David depicts the righteous sufferer, God uses Isaiah to develop the concept of the righteous sufferer further as the Suffering Servant.

After the gospel accounts, within the same theme of the suffering Servant, the apostles use Messianic prophecies that portray and associate Jesus as the unblemished sacrificial lamb of Passover.

There are significant reasons for Messianic prophecies identifying Jesus as the righteous, suffering Servant.

1. They emphasize the divine necessity of the Servant's voluntary sacrificial death juxtaposed with His vindication and glorification.

2. By associating Jesus Christ with the Passover lamb, the Suffering Servant's voluntary sacrificial death is understood in the context of atoning for sin. This was the good news Philip explained to the eunuch. The resulting atonement opens the way for repentance and forgiveness – the healing of one's relationship with God.

3. The Suffering Servant demonstrates the true nature of servanthood where one puts aside self-glorification and obediently follows God's word. They provide examples for how one serves and carries out His message of salvation to the world. God, who is faithful, vindicates one who is faithful.