The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - How Jesus Completes the Old Testament

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Jesus doesn’t discard the Old Testament—He fulfills it. Jeff walks us through Matthew chapters 3 and 4, explaining how Jesus intentionally retraces the story of Israel. From the Jordan River—the lowest place on earth—to the wilderness of testing, the Gospel of Matthew reveals an incredible pattern: Jesus relives the Exodus, succeeds where Israel failed, and fulfills the promises of the Old Testament. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 467. Jesus completes the Old Testament. Welcome back to the show. Good to have you again. Hope you've been enjoying the last three weeks, going through the very beginnings of Matthew's Gospel. Why? Well, it's the liturgical year A, right? And that studies literally all of Matthew. And so we're already into that liturgical year, but I thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to speed so that you could enjoy this year,

a little bit more, a little bit more insightful. And hopefully out of those insights, you gain some nuggets for living and glorifying God with your life. Hey, if you want the notes for today's show, which is going to be talking about Jesus completing the Old Testament, then all you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, to the number 3-3-777. We'll get you on board. It'll get you those notes, just like we did the last three weeks.

Good response, good feedback from people when they hear about the beginnings of Matthew. it sounds like a much more interesting book to study, doesn't it? And there's so much there. Of course, it was written to the Jewish people, but in the first century. But through teaching now, we can immerse ourselves in this and become familiar with that first century culture and what the message of Matthew must have been like, you know, and how they experienced it, given their background in the Old Testament. And so we can do that today. What a pleasure it is to be able to teach scripture. What a pleasure it is to hear it and to do it as well.

So today we're going to talk about Jesus completing the Old Testament. And of course, that's the whole gospel. But what I'm going to do today is give you just a sense of how he went about doing that by looking at chapters three and four in Matthew. And as I do this, I think you're going to be a little blown away at just how amazing this whole mosaic is Old Testament, New Testament. It's like a puzzle, too, of pieces fitting in the right place. But it takes study. It doesn't just come easy. You don't just get it. You really have to be taught not only how to read scripture as a narrative, which we do in the Bible timeline,

and we did in Bible in a year, but you also have to be taught the individual aspects of the truth and the revelation. Some of it, it seems pretty obvious, but much of it you have to be taught. And there's nothing wrong with that because the Bible was given to us with a community. We're not alone. It's not just me and Jesus in the Bible. Never meant to be that way. It's the community.

It's the Catholic Church. It's the Church fathers. It's the cumulative knowledge that we have since the beginning passed on to us through apostolic succession. Yay. This is good stuff. I wish everybody would come into the church and they would be able to gain such a amazing insight into what Jesus was teaching. And of course, we share in the root of the olive

tree, the Jewish community, our Jewish roots, and we are all spiritual semites. And we draw from that rich sap of the olive tree. Okay, so today what I want to do is I want to draw your attention to chapter three. This is going to be fun. You're going to enjoy this. Okay. In chapter three, we start the first of the five books. Remember three weeks ago, I mentioned that Matthew is divided into five books. Each book is made up of narrative and discourse. Narrative, that's the story, discourse Jesus reflects on and teaches. And this is the beginning of the first book. This is the very first chapter of the first of the five books. And when you read this, you have to ask yourself, do you stop and ask questions? Why this place? And this is going to start at the Jordan

River, just north of the Dead Sea. Why this place? Matthew is taking you to a particular location, the wilderness of Judea. He mentions this location because some things are going to happen at this location for a reason. And it just might echo back to the Old Testament. Now, the wilderness of Judea is located northwest of the dead sea. Northwest of the dead sea, there are two major bodies of water in the Bible. There's the Sea of Galilee and there's the Dead Sea. And then there is the tale of two seas. And also this place now in chapter three where John the Baptist, let me just read a couple things to you here. Verse one, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he, who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Okay? That's the quote. That's where we start off. So where is John the Baptist? Let's do a Bible study together, shall we?

Where is this located? Where Jesus was baptized? It's located just a few miles north of the Dead Sea, and that is in the beginning of the wilderness. It is very hot in the summer. I mean hot. They've been way over 100 many, many times trying to teach out there in the middle of this wilderness where the Jordan River meanders. Now, it's also an interesting place because it is the lowest place geographically on Earth. 1,200 feet below sea level.

Can you believe it? It's the lowest place on earth. Jesus starts his public ministry in book one of the Torah of the five books. He begins it, Genesis, remember genealogy, he begins his public ministry at the lowest place on earth. And then after he's baptized, he'll rise, he'll go out in the wilderness for 40 days in chapter 4 of Matthew, and then he will return to the north, and he'll begin his public ministry. Empowered, I might add. And after baptism and after confirmation, the Holy Spirit coming down

upon him. So he's doing this to fulfill all righteousness. Now here's the question. Why in the world would John the Baptist start there? And why does he choose Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord? Why does he do that? What is the that all about. It's a good question, you know. He's quoting from Isaiah 40 in verse 3. Now, why? Why there? Now, this is important to get. Remember, everything is connected to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, when Isaiah the prophet was prophesying, he was prophesying to the southern kingdom of Judah about going into Babylon, and he mentions to them that there's going to be a judgment on them for their behavior and their lack of faithfulness.

Isaiah, the book, is divided into two major areas. One is chapters 1 through 39, which is called the Book of Woes. You don't want to get caught up in that one, right? The Book of Woes. Remember Jesus? Whoa, are you, Copernum, Corazine? Betzida. But here's the deal. Starting in chapter 40 to 55, it's the book of consolation. It's good news. It's a new beginning. God's doing something fresh. Do you not see it? He's making a way in the desert. And Israel, at the time of Jesus, is desperately waiting on the book of consolation. They did have a very difficult time with the Babylonians coming down in 580s. and destroying Jerusalem.

They had a very difficult time with the temple being desecrated by the Greeks during the Maccabian revolt period. They had a very difficult time with the Romans coming into town and they're awaiting the consolation of Israel. And here's John the Baptist who goes to this place

and begins in chapter 40. It's a new beginning. And remember, this is the first book of the five books that are contained in Matthew. Go back to the, you know, three weeks ago, I talked about how Matthews divided up into five books. Each book has a narrative and discourse portion. Five books reminds the Jews of the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, and

Deuteronomy. Okay. This stuff's really good. I mean, if you want to go deeper into this, get into the Matthew study this year. If you've been going through Bible in a year, some people say, I'm in my third. third year. Get into a book of the Bible. Read, study, Matthew, the Bible timeline. The next step after Bible in a year is study. Go after it. This stuff is so good. It's addictive, actually. Okay, so he goes to the lowest place on earth. And then in verse four, it says, this guy is just a little bit

different? This is John the Baptist. It says he wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Wow. Who does that sound like, by the way? If you said, Elijah, you're right. Because that's the way Elijah dressed. Now, I will let me introduce you to something here that will set the rest of the year for you on fire. and that is this. Jesus doesn't show up to come up with everything new. He shows up and he doesn't go forward. He goes backward and relives the life of Israel. We call that, as Paul Benedict called it, recapitulate of history, recapitulation. He's going back. He's doing it again. So if he goes down to the Jordan River, the lowest place on earth, he meets a cousin who is dressed like Elijah.

What do we start asking ourselves? What else happened here? What else happened at this location? And who else is dressed like that? Well, number one, Elijah's dressed like that. Okay, let's look at Elijah. Where was the last place we saw Elijah? Answer, the last place we saw Elijah was in Second Kings chapter two, and guess where he was?

at that location. At that location. You can go back to 2nd King's chapter 2, verses 4 through 11. Verse 6 says the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. That's what Elijah said. Verse 9, ask what I shall do for you. Verse 11, he's taken away in a chariot fire. Where did it all happen? Right where John the Baptist is standing dressed like Elijah. So he is coming as a forerunner for Jesus. And of course, John is baptizing people and then suddenly the son of God shows up. Jesus, his cousin, shows up. And John is preaching repentance, metanoia.

In metanoia, this Greek idea of changing your heart, changing your mind. It speaks of a change of heart followed by a change of conduct. And he's saying, change your mind. change your conduct, prepare for the Messiah. The Hebrew word is shuv for that, by the way, it's S-H-U-B, but it's pronounced with a V. Now, this is really interesting because we see that John is fulfilling this role of Elijah, and here's another thing. Jesus is right there. He comes down and John looks at him and Jesus is submitting to baptism and John says,

I should be baptized by you. And what does Jesus say? Jesus says, and I love this, he says, we must do this. I must be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. And here's how it goes. It's in verse 13, chapter 3. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John and to be baptized by him, and John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, baptism. And behold, the heavens were open and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove confirmation and lighting upon him. And behold a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. This, my friend, is called recapitulation. Jesus is living the life of Israel. You say, what do you mean? Well, let's look on, shall we?

You move into chapter four. I'm going to show you how exactly how Jesus completed the Old Testament story of the Exodus. We'll do that in just a moment. you're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. I am Father Colomba, Jordan and Franciscan friar of the renewal living here in Ireland. This Lent, I'm partnering with Ascension to bring you Crooks, a set of daily challenges and videos in the Ascension app. Starting Ash Wednesday, we'll take on four challenges each day that remind us of the cross of Christ. One, reading scripture, two, praying the examined prayer, three, doing one workout or exercise in four,

and dietary fast of your choice. Nothing extreme. It's about stepping into small daily challenges that rub up against our weakness so we can learn to meet God in those moments and rely on Him alone. So here's the invitation. Join me every day this Lent in the Ascension app.

Get ready for a Lent that stretches you, challenges you, and draws you closer to God. Download and subscribe to the Ascension app to get started today. God bless you. I'll see you. Welcome back talking here about this first book of Matthew out of the five books of Matthew, five divisions of Matthew, narrative and discourse. This is the beginning one. This is starting with chapter three. And we see that there's a repetition of the Old Testament.

Elijah shows up with John. John is in the spirit of Elijah. He's not Elijah, not reincarnation, but it's the spirit of Elijah. He dresses. like him. He speaks and quotes Isaiah chapter 40 talking about a new beginning. And Jesus is at the Jordan and he's baptized and he fulfills all righteousness. What does that mean? It means he completes the story. And here's another uncanny thing. Where do you think Joshua after Moses died and was buried in Mount Nebo? Where do you think Joshua came across the Jordan to take Jericho? Right here. The Old Testament, Joshua, began his public ministry right here as he crossed the Jordan. Do you know that the name Joshua and Jesus is the same? The New Testament Joshua, God saves.

He's beginning his public ministry right here. But the first thing he does is in chapter four, it says Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. and he fasted 40 days and 40 nights and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Now, here's the question I got to ask you.

You've got to do some Winnie the Pooh theology here. Think, think, think, poo. You've got to think. in chapter four of Matthew, Jesus leaves the Jordan and goes up into the wilderness of Judea westward, okay? And it's there that he's going to be in the wilderness for how long? 40 days and 40 nights. The number 40 shows up a lot in the Bible, you know?

We have Noah raining 40 days, 40 nights. We have Elijah running for 40 days. days and scared. We have 40 years in the wilderness for Israel outlined in the end of Exodus and numbers. And so the church picks up on this, of course, too. We have lent, right? 40 days. 40 is the time of testing. It's a trial. And Jesus goes up into the wilderness for 40 days. Now, let me ask you this. you see a pattern Jesus goes into the water comes up out of the water

goes into the wilderness for 40 days and he's tested three times have we ever seen this before recapitulation remember recapitulative history you want to know more about that read Pope Benedict's trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth

okay so yes we have seen this before you got it in the Exodus and the Red Sea and Israel came out of the Red Sea. They came up and they went into the wilderness for a period of 40 years. And did they test God? Were they tested?

Yes, they did. Three times. And they failed. They failed three times. Now, just stay back with me in the Old Testament for a moment. The children of Israel failed in the wilderness. and as a result of not trusting God, they wandered in the wilderness one year, for every year,

they were spying out the land after the Exodus, and they said, we know, we can't trust God here. There's the giants up there. We're going to get beat up. And so God said, fine, for every day that you spied out the land, you're going to wander in the wilderness for a year. And it was during that period in the wilderness that that older generation died out.

But the younger generation that was born in the wilderness, God wanted them to learn from their parents. So watch this. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reviews the parents' failure in the wilderness. Get that. If you're jogging, stop. If you're driving, pull over. I'm kidding.

But seriously, get this. Moses is reviewing the history of Israel in Deuteronomy 6 through 8. he's reviewing that history for who for the younger generation that grew up what's he going to talk about your parents failure to trust god okay so here's jesus coming up out of the water red sea coming up out of the water going into the wilderness wilderness in the old testament for how many days 40 years back then 40 days now he's tested three times the first time the enemy what does he do in all three he goes after the identity of Jesus. You want to see the enemy bring you down?

He will crush your identity, who you are. You lose that. You lost the war. You're his son. You're a daughter of God. Get it, believe it, live it. So three times the enemy is going to question his identity. Listen to the first one, verse three.

And the tempter came and said, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But then Jesus answered, you know how he answered? He answered from the Word of God. And more specifically, get this now, where did I say? Moses reminded the younger generation about their parents' failure in the wilderness, Deuteronomy's chapter 6 through chapter 8. So on this first one, the enemy says,

command these stones to become loaves of bread. And Jesus said, it is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. where's that from? Deuteronomy 8 in verse 3. Whoa, you talk about digging up the past. Recapitulation. He is showing you that you can live by faith. You can live by the word of God and not just bread in the wilderness. Second one, the devil then took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written. He'll give his angels, charge of you, and on their hands they'll bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Oh, man, you know what? The devil loves to quote scripture, and that was Psalm 91. I wish he would have continued because it's said that the serpents will be trampled. But he's very selective, you know, and don't be a selective Bible student. Read it all, take it all, and live it all. So the second one, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, show off, show your power, demonstrate something. Go on YouTube and let them all know.

And Jesus said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Where's that from? Aha, Deuteronomy 6. And the third one says, the devil took him again to a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he said to him, all these I'll give you if you will fall down and worship me. And then Jesus said to him, be gone, or it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

Where's that from? You got it. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 13. So do you see the parallel there? Jesus goes to the water, the Jordan. Spirit of Elijah shows up in John the Baptist. Joshua used that place too to cross over. See all that? Geography. Geography is the fifth gospel here. And then chapter four, he goes up out of the water. Now he goes into the wilderness. He's tested three times and he is successful as he quotes, Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy 6, from the very place that Moses taught the young people in the wilderness about their parents' unbelief. Wow. There it is. Chuching, mic drop right there on the Jeff Gavon show. Now that is what we are getting into in Matthew. All the way through this book, don't you think it's a good year to do it? Don't you think it's a good year to study, Matthew? Get on board. Go to a Pensionpress.com. Get a hold of the Matthews study. You will not regret it. You will be encouraged. You will receive wisdom for daily living and this year will make a difference.

You've been through Bible in a year? I'll go through the Bible in a year and live it and study it. Begin to grow in your understanding of each book of the Bible. The Bible timeline goes through the entire Bible. I take 24 weeks to do that. brand new revised one. I've actually teaching from Mount Sinai. I'm teaching from Jerusalem. I'm teaching from Greece and Rome. We're teaching from Turkey and Ephesus. And I have a good group of scholars that are working with me on this one. It's a revision of the Bible timeline, the whole Bible, and then for this year, get into Matthew and go deep. I love you, my friend. God bless you. And let's pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus. Thank you. you so much for the life you've given us, you've given us your word. And as we now plow through

this year, the liturgical year A and Matthew, oh, Lord, open up our hearts and minds that we might see wonderful things from your word, wonderful things that tell us who you are and what is expected of us. May this be a blessed ear. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you. I love you.