TESTIMONY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES TO JESUS CHRIST AS THE MESSIAH.

We have thus endeavoured to point out in how comprehensive a sense Jesus fulfilled the Law, so that one jot or one tittle should not fail or be lost.

The Apostle Peter, in the third chapter of Acts, says, “Those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled” (ver. 18).

It was the beneficent design of our Heavenly Father that so many rays of light, passing through varied channels, and spread over all past time, should concentrate upon Jesus as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, that there might be no excuse for rejecting Him. Let us recall some of the principal passages in which the Old Testament Scriptures refer to our Lord and His kingdom.

1. His coming was prophesied from the fall of Adam and Eve, in the Lord’s address to the serpent, thus, “The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. iii. 15), a prophecy obscure at first, but abundantly explained by subsequent history and prophecy.

2. The promise was made to Abraham and renewed to Isaac and Jacob, that in their seed, all the families of the earth should be blessed (Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4).

3. The family of Jacob was chosen to be a peculiar people to the Lord. Laws, sacrifices, and institutions were given them to be as a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ, and it was declared the sceptre “shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come” (Gen. xlix. 10).

4. As time progressed the covenant was further confirmed and limited to the tribe of Judah, and the family of Jesse, and, again, of David.

5. The time of the Messiah’s advent was closely indicated by the prophecy of Daniel; seventy weeks of years, or 490 years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Dan. ix. 24, 25).

It was to be during the continuance of the second Temple, and when there should be a general expectation and desire in all nations for Him (Hag. ii. 6–9). He would be preceded by a forerunner, who would prepare His way (Mal. iii. 1).

6. The place of His birth was pointed out by Micah (v. 2) as Bethlehem of Judah. He was to be born of a virgin, and called Immanuel—“God with us” (Isa. vii. 14). He was to commence His teaching in Galilee (Isa. ix. 1, 2).7. The character of His mediatorial coming; His humble origin; His lowly, suffering life, and His cruel death—were described with singular accuracy by the Prophet Isaiah;—as well as the ultimate glory of His Kingdom and reign. And the Psalms abound in references to the sufferings of Christ, often spoken as of David, but having their full accomplishment in Him who was emphatically “the Son of David.”

It was natural that the worldly-minded Jews, in anticipating their Messiah, and looking for one greater than Solomon, should expect to see one exceeding him, not only in wisdom, but in that outward display of wealth and grandeur which the world so much admires, as indicating the royal power and pomp of kings. But it was not so to be: “He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” He would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows while He was “despised and rejected of men,” and numbered with the transgressors (Isa. liii.).

He should be the mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isa. ix. 6), whose goings forth have been from of old—from everlasting (Micah v. 2). “A prophet like unto Moses, him shall ye hear” (Deut. xviii. 15, 18).

8. Subsequent to the close of the Old Testament prophecy, some very remarkable incidents marked, to the believing Jews, the near approach and the actual coming of their Messiah.

The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias as he ministered in the priest’s office, to announce the approaching birth of John the Baptist, who should “go before, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke i. 17). This visitation was made on a very public occasion, on the great Day of Atonement, while “the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense” (Luke i. 10). The angel Gabriel appeared also to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she should be blessed among women in giving birth to the Messiah (ver. 28), and “all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea” (Luke i. 65).

The actual birth of our Lord was next announced by an angel to the shepherds, saying, “Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke ii. 11); “and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke ii. 14).

While God in His providence provides abundant evidence for the believing heart, yet it is not so redundant that none can reject it. It is the eye of faith which discerns God in prophecy, or providence, or nature, and the opening of that eye is the effect of grace in the heart, at first comparatively small and mixed with more or less of misgiving, as when Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John i. 46) but growing with the increase of Divine grace as when he was able afterwards to say, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (John i. 49).

Let us consider two examples illustrating this principle.

1. That of Simeon, a righteous and devout man, looking for the consolation of Israel, waiting for and expecting the fulfilment of prophecy, who finding the infant Jesus in the temple, received Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke ii. 29–31).

2. That of Herod, and the people of the Jews generally, when the wise men came to Jerusalem, saying they had seen the king’s star in the east, and were come to inquire where he was to be born. The chief priest and scribes, who with the people generally were also in expectation of the promised Messiah, said he should be born in Bethlehem, and referred to the prophetic declaration in that respect; but their unbelieving hearts were aroused, and all Jerusalem was in an uproar, prepared to say, as they did at last, “We will not have this man to rule over us.” Herod also, fearing a rival king, sent forth his soldiers to destroy the child, by killing with undistinguishing cruelty, all the children from two years old and younger.

In addition to the prophecies which marked the descent of our Lord, and the time and character of His coming, there are numerous references made in the Old Testament to circumstances of His personal history while He dwelt amongst men.

He should preach good tidings unto the meek, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, and comfort all that mourn (Isa. lxi. 1, 2).

He should open the blind eyes, unstop the deaf ears, make the lame to leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing (Isa. xxxv. 5, 6; xxix. 18).

He should feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. xl. 11); “I will set one shepherd over them, even My servant David” (Ezek. xxxiv. 23). “A king shall reign and prosper, and this is the name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness” (Jer. xxiii. 5, 6).

He was “to be a priest for ever, after the order of Melchesidec” (Ps. ex. 4). “He shall be a priest upon His throne” (Zech. vi. 13).

He should be for a “sanctuary” (Isa. viii. 14); a “rock and place of refuge” (Ps. xci. 1).

He should “enter Jerusalem riding on an ass’s colt” (Zech. ix. 9).

He should “be higher than the kings of the earth.” His throne should “endure as the sun” (Ps. lxxxix. 27, 36).

He should “open His mouth in a parable, and utter dark sayings of old” (Ps. lxxviii. 2; Isa. vi. 9, 10, compared with Matt. xiii. 14).

The rulers should “take counsel together against Him” (Ps. ii. 2).

His “own familiar friend, who did eat of His bread,” should “lift up his heel against Him” (Ps. xli. 9).

“They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of the Lord” (Zech. xi. 12, 13). “They gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps. lxix. 21).

“Not a bone of Him should be broken” (Ex. xii. 46; Ps. xxxiv. 20). “He should give His back to the smitters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” “He hid not His face from shame and spitting” (Isa. l. 6).

The assembly of the wicked should enclose Him—“they pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. xxii. 16). “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Ps. xxii. 18). “All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him” (Ps. xxii. 7, 8).

He should “make His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth” (Isa. liii. 9).

He should “make intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. liii. 12). “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”He should rise from the dead (Ps. xvi. 10), ascend into heaven, and receive gifts for men, even “for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps. lxviii. 18).

He should “pour out His Spirit on all flesh, so that their sons and daughters should prophesy,” &c. (Joel ii. 28).

To “one like unto the Son of Man” was to be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii. 13, 14).

With what justice could the Lord say, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life, and they are they which testify of Me?” (John v. 39). “And if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloke for their sin” (John xv. 24, 22) [66]

If such were the evidences furnished to the Jews, the Gentile who rests his hope on Christ as the Rock of Ages can equally enter into and appreciate these proofs of our Lord’s mission, and unite in the triumphant song of David, “Go round about Zion, tell the towers thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following; for this God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death” (Ps. xlviii. 13, 14). As Gentiles we can also look back to the fall of the peculiar institutions designed to point out the Messiah to mankind,—to the present state of His chosen people, scattered throughout the Gentile world in fulfilment of their own prophecies,—to the triumphs of the faith in Christ,—and to the multitudes who have already been admitted to realise the mansions in the heaven which He went to prepare for them.

As Christianity is itself built on the foundation of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, in fact upon whatever of Divine revelation had preceded it, and is the crowning development of the whole, we may not disregard or lightly esteem any portion of that outward work of Christ, of which our blessings are the direct result, and without which we could have no right or title to them.

The new Covenant of Grace was declared by Christ and His Apostles. The seal of that Covenant was the Blood of Jesus, the voluntary offering of Himself for the sins of men, as typified by the patriarchal and Mosaic institutions. It was the purchase of our redemption, and of all those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit which the Lord Jesus after His resurrection gave to men (Eph. iv. 8, 11; Rom. xii. 6, 8; 1 Cor. xii. 4; &c.). Thus He is the “foundation stone,” the “tried stone,” the “chief corner-stone,” and “only hope of glory.” By Himself He “purges our sins.” By His death He delivers “them who through fear of death, are all their life time subject to bondage” (Heb. ii. 14, 15). And does not the continual daily sacrifice, morning by morning, and evening by evening, prescribed by the Law, point to the constant bearing on our minds before God, of the sacrifice of Christ, as the foundation of all our hopes, and petitions for mercy and grace? the true propitiatory, or mercy seat, where God will meet with us and dwell with us (see page 16, and Ex. xxix. 42, 45).

“Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. xv. 4).

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17).

Nor need any be discouraged; the Bible is God’s revelation addressed alike to all men, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, intellectual or of small powers. God is no respecter of persons, and to every one alike who can read for themselves, or hear from others, the Bible, without note or comment, may prove under the influence of God’s Spirit, “a lamp unto their feet, a light to their path.” The less educated will escape some of the difficulties which beset the minds of others, and more easily fulfil the conditions imposed by our Lord, “Except ye receive the kingdom of God as little children, ye cannot enter therein;” and many are the instances in which persons of comparatively small intellectual power enjoy, appreciate, and bring forth the evident fruits of faith; so that, with the Bible in their hands and the Holy Spirit to apply it, none need despair of finding the way that leads to everlasting life.

The Psalmist asks, “Wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way?” and replies, “By taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Ps. cxix. 9), so that he may come to say, “O, how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day” (ver. 97). “Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me” (ver. 98).

“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; they are the rejoicing of my heart” (ver. 111).

“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple” (ver. 130).The 19th Psalm also says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. . . . By them is Thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps. xix. 7, 8, 9–11).

The Lord Jesus also said of the Father, “for I know that His commandment is life everlasting” (John xii. 50).