Hi, Laura —

The proclamation preceded the writing, and both announced something completely new and surprising (something that fulfilled prophecy but it did not fulfill prophecy as expected).

If the literal events of Christ's life had fulfilled prophecy in an obvious and literal manner, everyone would have converted intellectually. It was the signs He performed and the signs that accompanied the proclamation of the Apostles, that invited faith in His Message, and which revealed the hidden depths of prophecy in the Old Testament. For this reason, Christ Himself, after the Resurrection, had to spend time opening the Apostles' hearts and minds to the Scriptures, to show how His suffering, death, and Resurrection were foretold.

If the Gospels had been written specifically to full prophecy as the people expected it to be fulfilled, the writers would have done a much different and better job of it.

Mary Ann