1. What exactly is the role of the Messiah according to Old Testament prophecy, and where does it say that?
2. Exactly which Old Testament prophecies has Jesus demonstrably already completely fulfilled?
Now, note that I said demonstrably. This saving of souls as hinted by Passover has not been proven, and won't be until you die and find yourself floating above the clouds and God is there, and you're looking around, and oh, look, my Grandma is here and my ex is not. It's all true! Until that day, it's just faith.
But if we could start with someone addressing one or both of my questions (rather than calling me a Tar-Baby behind my back) we'd get a lot farther.
>> “Exactly which Old Testament prophecies has Jesus demonstrably already completely fulfilled?” <<
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This has already been explained to you.
He fulfilled the three Spring Feasts, Passover, First Fruits, and Pentecost.
Of these Passover is the primary fulfillment, since it was the sacrifice of his own sinless life to pay our debt of sin. He was our own personal Passover lamb for all time.
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You mentioned 3 feast days/prophecies...Passover, First Fruits, and Pentecost(Shav’uot...The Giving of the Torah to the nation)...asking for simple explanations for how Christ fulfilled these prophecies...looking for a succinct explanation in a way that a child could understand it. Now you don’t say what age of child...concrete operations stage? Formal operations stage? Group identity stage? You are a teacher so I know you know exactly what I am getting at!
I would point out that there are a wealth of materials offering explanations of the various “tent poles” of the faith available for each of operational growth stages that children of various ages happen to be “growing thru”...as it were! Protestant and Catholic bookstores are full of such materials...that is if you are really interested?
Nevertheless I will give you one succinct answer for your challenge as to how those three prophecies connect to Jesus...in language that children of concrete and formal operations stages could understand.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son...that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
(and this verse comes from my wife, after we discussed the various aspects of each of the prophecies and how they relate to Jesus. My wife and I had 4 children together...you may teach children but she bore children and raised them )
The Larger discussion: How Christ may suffer a little child to come unto him:
A child would get lost in the mumbo jumbo, but a child is sure that there is a God...if only because she knows her parents believe in God. A child wants to know if God loves her and is happy to know that yes...God loves her. A child is often sad to learn that Jesus had to die for all of the bad things people do including the bad things the child has done(Passover) but is relieved when Father God raises Jesus from the dead(on the day of First Fruits...Christ being the first fruits of a new order of mankind that shall follow after him) . A child is happy to learn that God can save her from her sins and that God will some day raise her from the dead as well. The child may well express wonder at the thought of having a future body just like Jesus someday.
The child may wonder about how Jesus may live inside her and how she may become a better Christian everyday; she finds it hard to understand all those rules and ideas of the Bible. In sunday school she hears the story of the Holy Spirit coming down upon the disciples and is in awe reading about the flames of fire flickering around their heads without burning them...”you mean like the burning bush Moses saw?...that burned without hurting the bush? perhaps one little girl might ask (perhaps her name is “A_Perfect_Little_Girl”?)
Yes the child is assured...just like the burning bush. Now the child may ask...what will the Holy Spirit do to help me.. and may be amazed to find out that the Holy spirit creates a whole new person inside of her that will begin to grow thru out her life to help her and it makes it possible for her to begin to understand some of those hard passages of the Bible. She may be astonished to learn that as she reads the Bible she discovers a confirmation of some of the things she has learned about God without anyone telling her. She may ask her parent about this...she is told that oh that is just the Holy Spirit writing the laws of God right on her heart. She is told that the rules she is to follow become part of her person. She is told that once God gave Moses his laws written on Tablets...but people found it hard to follow them on their own.
It was at Pentecost that God sent a new kind of Torah that God writes on people’s hearts...that changes them from the inside out. Oh there still will be struggles and mistakes, she is told, as our new inner person has to live in our old imperfect bodies for a while...yet the child is told when God sees her, he doesn’t see just the old “her” he sees his son Jesus written and living inside of her. Her job was to simply believe and agree and ask for help when some of those stubborn areas of sin won’t go away right away. She is also told that she is given power to resist the devil who may try to tempt her to lie or cheat and she may feel guilty that she has indeed told a lie and even more guilty when the devil tries to say she isn’t a good Christian. She may find it reassuring to learn that even the best men of faith made some bad mistakes...but God still loved them and forgave them when they repented and asked. So the child learns that while she has a Bible to read, it is a mirror to the new Torah being written into her inner man.
As she grows and her maturity deepens, she may be astonished as she reads the first chapter of John...”IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD...and the word was with God and the WORD WAS GOD...” The child may wonder...does God put this “word” inside of me? She reads again...”AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH and dwelt amongst us!” She has heard of this difficult idea called a trinity where God the Father, God the son and God the Holy spirit are three persons yet one God. She learns that the Holy Spirit searches out the deep things of God and brings them into her attention as the need arises. Yes, she thinks...I do remember helping Johnny who was feeling sad but I don’t know where that thought came from but it sure helped him...now I see that same thought here in the Bible...and does this mean the WORD that Jesus is, is also in me? She is told that now she has begun to understand what happened at Shav’uot or Pentecost. So she has begun to understand that God thru his spirit makes her a kind of living Bible...her earthly mind might not remember all the verses and she won’t always be at her best...but God provides a kind of covering of righteousness for her and for the rest of her life people will increasingly see not just “A_Perfect_Little_Girl” but the Living Torah, Jesus the messiah, shining thru her!
So...after all that, one comes back to John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
There is your succinct childlike explanation to the feasts of Passover, First fruits, and Pentecost(Shav’uot) as they relate to Jesus. In that verse is contained all the explanation a child would need to understand these feasts. It is the first verse I would use with a 4 or 5 year old when she asks about God.
1. Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem —Micah 5?2
2. Messiah was to be born of a virgin — Isaiah 7:14
3.Messiah was to be a prophet like Moses— Deut 18:15,18,19
4. Messiah was to enter Jerusalem in triumph — Zech 9:9
5. Messiah was to be rejected by His own people — Isaiah 53:1,3, Psalm 118:22
6.Messiah would be betrayed by one of his followers—Psalm 41:9
7.Messiah was to be tried and condemned — Isaiah 53:8
8. Messiah was to be silent before his accusers —Isaiah 53:7
9.Messiah was to be struck and spat on — Isaiah 50:6
10. Messiah was to be mocked and insulted — Psalm 22:7,8
11. Messiah was to die by crucifixion — Psalm 22:14, 16,17
12. Messiah was to suffer with criminals and pray for his enemies — Isaiah 53:12
13. Messiah was to be given vinegar and gall — Psalm 69:21
14. Others were to cast lots of Messiah’s garment— Psalm 22:18
15. Messiah’s bones were not to be broken — Exodus 12:46
16. Messiah was to die as a sacrifice for sin — Isaiah 53: 5,6,8,10,11,12
17. Messiah was to be raised from the dead — Psalm 16:10
18. Messiah is now at God’s right Han — Psalm 110:1
Now, you can choose to be like poor Bill O’Reilly and cherry-pick which prophecies or verses suit your beliefs and which don’t, if you want. I believe that these have been fulfilled...all of them. If one is fulfilled, then they all are. (I believe I have correctly typed the verse references, if there are mistakes, they are typo’s)