"You have not chosen me. I have chosen you." |
The time of the Messiah's appearance in
the world, as predicted in the Old Testament, is defined, says Keith, by a
number of concurring circumstances, which fix it to the very date of the advent
of Christ,
Gen. 49: 10. "The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall
come and the obedience of the nations shall be his."
Mal. 3: 1. “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way
before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the
messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
Hag. 2: 7. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;"
Dan. 9: 24, 25. “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
Isa. 40: 3-11. A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Hag. 2: 7. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;"
Dan. 9: 24, 25. “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
Isa. 40: 3-11. A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
"and I appointed you to produce good fruit from the lives that you live, fruit that will last." John 15:16 |
The predictions contained in the Old Testament respecting both the family out of which the Messiah was to arise, and the place of his birth, are almost as circumstantial, and are equally applicable to Christ, as those which refer to the time of his appearance. He was to be an Israelite, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, and of the town of Bethlehem. That all these predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ; that he was of that country, tribe, and family, of the house and lineage of David, ad born in Bethlehem, we have the fullest evidence in the testimony of all the evangelists; in two distinct accounts of the genealogies, by natural and legal succession, which, according to the custom of the Jews, were carefully preserved; in the acquiescence of the enemies of Christ in the truth of the fact, against which there is not a single surmise in history; and in the appeal made by some of the earliest Christian writers to the unquestionable testimony of the records of the census, taken at the very time of our Savior's birth by order of Caesar. Here, indeed, it is impossible not to be struck with the exact fulfillment of prophecies which are apparently contradictory and irreconcilable, and with the manner in which they were providentially accomplished. The spot of Christ's nativity was distant from the place of the abode of his parents, and the region in which he began his ministry was remote from the place of his birth; and another prophecy respecting him was in this manner verified:
Isaiah 9:1.2."In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of
the sea beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations, the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined," Isaiah 9:1.2.
Matt. 4:16. "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Matt. 4:16. "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
Thus, the time at which the predicted Messiah was to appear;
the nation, the tribe, and the family from which he was to be descended; and
the place of his birth,--no populous city, but of itself an inconsiderable
place, --were all clearly foretold; and as clearly refer to Jesus Christ; and
all meet their completion in him.
But the facts of his life, and the
features of his character, are also drawn with a precision that cannot be
misunderstood. The obscurity, the meanness, and the poverty of his external
condition are represented,
Isa. 53: 2. "He grew up before him like a tender
shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."
Isa. 49: 7. "This is what the Lord says - the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
His riding in humble triumph into Jerusalem; his being betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and scourged, and buffeted, and spit upon; the piercing of his hands and of his feet; the last offered draught of vinegar and gall; the parting of his raiment, and the casting lots upon his vesture; the manner of his death and of his burial, and his rising again without seeing corruption, were all expressly predicted, and all these predictions were literally fulfilled,
Zech. 9:9. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. " and in 11:12. "I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord."
Isaiah 1:6. “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
Psalm 22: 16. " Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. and 69: 21. " They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst." and 22: 18. "They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment."
Isaiah 53: 9. "And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth."
Psalm 16: 10. "because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay."
Isa. 49: 7. "This is what the Lord says - the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
His riding in humble triumph into Jerusalem; his being betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and scourged, and buffeted, and spit upon; the piercing of his hands and of his feet; the last offered draught of vinegar and gall; the parting of his raiment, and the casting lots upon his vesture; the manner of his death and of his burial, and his rising again without seeing corruption, were all expressly predicted, and all these predictions were literally fulfilled,
Zech. 9:9. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. " and in 11:12. "I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord."
Isaiah 1:6. “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
Psalm 22: 16. " Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. and 69: 21. " They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst." and 22: 18. "They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment."
Isaiah 53: 9. "And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth."
Psalm 16: 10. "because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay."
If all these prophecies admit of any application to the
events of the life of any individual, it can only be to that of the Author of
Christianity. And what other religion can produce a single fact which was
actually foretold of its founder?
The death of Christ was as unparalleled
as his life; and the prophecies are as minutely descriptive of his sufferings
as of his virtues. Not only did the paschal lamb, which was to be killed every
year in all the families of Israel, which was to be taken out of the flock, to
be with out blemish, to be eaten with bitter herbs, to have its blood
sprinkled, and to be kept whole that not a bone of it should be broken; not
only did the offering up of Isaac, and the lifting up of the brazen serpent in
the wilderness, by looking upon which the people were healed, and many ritual
observances of the Jews, prefigure the manner of Christ's death, and the
sacrifice which was to be made for sin; but many express declarations abound in
the prophecies, that Christ was indeed to suffer. But Isaiah, who describes,
with eloquence worthy of a prophet, the glories of the kingdom that was to
come, characterizes, with the accuracy of an historian, and the humiliation,
the trials, and the agonies which were to precede the triumphs of the Redeemer
of a world; and the history of Christ forms, to the very letter, the commentary
and the completion of his every prediction. In a single passage, (Isaiah 53: 13,
&c. 53.) the connection of which is uninterrupted, its antiquity
indisputable, and its application obvious, the sufferings of the servant of God
(who, under
that same denomination, is previously described as he who was to be the light
of the Gentiles, the salvation of God to the ends of the earth, and the elect
of God in whom his soul delighted, Isaiah 42: 10. 49: 6.) are so
minutely foretold, that no illustration is requisite to show that they testify
of Jesus. The whole of this prophecy thus refers to the Messiah. It describes
both his debasement and his dignity; his rejection by the Jews; his humility,
his affliction, and his agony; his magnanimity and his charity; how his words
were disbelieved; how his state was lowly; how his sorrow was severe; how he
opened not his mouth but to make intercession for the transgressors. In diametrical
opposition to every dispensation of Providence which is registered in the
records of the Jews, it represents spotless innocence suffering by the
appointment of Heaven; death as the issue of perfect obedience; God's righteous
servant as forsaken of him; and one who was perfectly immaculate bearing the
chastisement of may guilty; sprinkling many nations from their iniquity, by
virtue of his sacrifice; justifying many by his knowledge; and dividing a
portion with the great and the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured
out his soul in death. This prophecy, therefore, simply as a prediction prior
to the event, renders the very unbelief of the Jews an evidence against them,
converts the scandal of the cross into an argument in favor of Christianity,
and presents us with an epitome of the truth, a miniature of the gospel in some
of its most striking features. The simple exposition of it sufficed at once for
the conversion of the eunuch of Ethiopia. To these prophecies may, in fact, be
added all those which relate to his spiritual kingdom, or the circumstances of
the promulgation, the opposition and the triumphs of his religion; the
accomplishment of which equally proves the divine mission of its Author, and
points him out as that great personage with whom they stand inseparably connected.
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