These are most illuminating and precise. How could writers, separated from each other by centuries, living in different countries, generally ignorant of what each other wrote, or would write, put on record prophecies, forming one complete whole, prophecy fitting into prophecy with the utmost precision? Thus is indicated a Divine power, controlling and guiding their pens, a Master Mind energizing each writer. The Bible is the one solitary Book in all the literature of the world presenting this unique and unanswerable testimony to Divine inspiration.
A most striking prophecy followed hard on the heels of man's sin in the Garden of Eden. Enmity was put between the serpent and the seed of the woman. That seed was Christ. Satan bruised His heel when he led men to crucify the Lord of Glory. Satan's apparent victory was in truth his utter defeat. That will be seen in the future day when Satan will meet his final doom in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)), thus fulfilling the prophecy, that Satan's head should be bruised (Gen. 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)).
A later prophecy sheds more light as to who Christ should be. We read, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and thou shalt call His name IMMANUEL." (Isa. 7:1414Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)), which being interpreted means, GOD with us. (Matt. 1:2323Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:23)). Here we are told that Christ should be the Child of a virgin, but should Himself be God. Here we have another name for God, that is IMMANUEL.
But Isaiah throws still more light on this subject, which historically did not come to pass for over seven long centuries. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor. THE MIGHTY GOD, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace." (Isa. 9:66For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)).
Would any uninspired writer in his wildest dreams pen this verse? It sounds apparently contradictory to speak of the same Person as a Child of days and the Father of eternity. How could both statements be true? And yet we know from Scripture that the Child of the virgin, begotten by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, as to His deity was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)), God as well as Man, yet one blessed Person, the Son of God, a mystery utterly beyond the creature's comprehension, our Lord Himself telling His disciples, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father " (Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)).
It is an inscrutable mystery to us. The following Scripture we quote on this subject falls in with what we have been saying. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, FROM EVERLASTING." (Mic. 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)). Here again is the apparent contradiction we noticed in Isa. 9:66For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6). Here is a Babe born in a defined place, Bethlehem, and yet we are told that the One so born, was from EVERLASTING. In taking up Manhood our Lord had a beginning at Bethlehem, but the One, who had that beginning, was God from everlasting, who never had a beginning.
Here is a last Scripture, "Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there AM I [the assertion of Deity]: and now [1] the Lord GOD, and [2] His Spirit, hath SENT [3] Me." (Isa. 48:1616Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. (Isaiah 48:16)).
We have here the Three Persons of the Godhead in fullest concert for the blessing of man. Marvelous truth! The word, SENT, stands in great prominence in this Scripture. Was this not wonderfully fulfilled when our Lord repeatedly, as recorded in the Gospel of John, announced that He was the SENT One of the Father. No less than fourteen times did our Lord claim that He was the Sent One.
To those in the Temple, who doubted that He was the Christ, He said, "Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of Myself, but He that SENT Me is true, whom ye know not. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He hath SENT Me." (John 7:28, 2928Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. (John 7:28‑29)).
This forms a suitable finish of our study of the names of God in the Old Testament, and affords a pleasing introduction to our study of Divine titles in the New Testament. It is in the Person of our Lord that the Old and New Testaments join hands.