The Old Testament prophecies don't really point to Jesus; do they?

Many say that Old Testament prophecies about Messiah weren't all fulfilled by Jesus, and many of the Old Testament references used in the New Testament are taken out of context. Jesus couldn't possibly fit the bill.

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This concept is two-fold in nature and deserves a two-fold response.

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It's true that many Old Testament prophecies don't seem to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus. In regard to the idea that Jesus didn't fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies, it is rightly noted that this hasn't occurred yet. Christians and Jews both wait for the final fulfillment of several Old Testament prophecies from the restoration of Israel to lasting peace to the renewal of creation. Christians believe that Jesus is coming back, and the remaining prophecies will be fulfilled in that day.

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On the matter of the way New Testament writers lean on Old Testament references as a means of recognizing the Christ, it has been said that these passages are often taken out of context, and to be fair, the Old Testament writers often didn't always have the person of Jesus or even necessarily a Messiah in mind as they wrote.  That said, the New Testament writers weren't always suggesting this. Often, it seems clear that they wanted their audience to take the Old Testament context and realize the weight of it, with Jesus stepping into the fulfillment of redemptive history as a whole with those passages generally pointing the direction of the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises.

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Then, there is the idea that not all Old Testament prophecies were necessarily predictive in nature. Rather, many of the prophetic ideas of the Old Testament pressed on history the force of God's Truth, and Jesus stepped into the force as God Himself.

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Lastly, Christians don't only look at the unfulfilled prophecies in identifying Jesus as Messiah. Rather, the sheer quantity of prophecies that He did fulfill bears weight for the Christian.

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Reference Points:

1. In John 5:39, Jesus says "You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me." Jesus is the Word, and in Him, all life is found.