Jesus made that truth become reality by fulfilling it. Accordingly, the apostle Paul wrote: “Let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath; for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.”—Colossians 2:16, 17.
One way in which the truth became reality was by Jesus’ foretold birth in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-11) The truth also became reality at the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophetic words about the Messiah’s appearance at the end of 69 ‘weeks of years.’ That took place when Jesus presented himself to God at baptism and was anointed with holy spirit, right on schedule, in 29 C.E. (Daniel 9:25; Luke 3:1, 21, 22) The truth further became reality by Jesus’ enlightening ministry as a Kingdom proclaimer. (Isaiah 9:1, 2, 6, 7; 61:1, 2; Matthew 4:13-17; Luke 4:18-21) It also became reality by his death and resurrection.—Psalm 16:8-11; Isaiah 53:5, 8, 11, 12; Matthew 20:28; John 1:29; Acts 2:25-31.
