The evidence, with which we have hitherto been dealing, has been accumulating around one or two points. Whatever doubts we may have entertained regarding the existence of God and the authority of the Scriptures, we make bold to say that the study of the predictions discussed in these pages is calculated to result in deep and abiding conviction. No one can compare those forecasts, so minute and circumstantial, with their complete fulfillment so many ages afterward, and not feel assured that God is, and that His power is round us now, and that the Bible, wondrous in so many ways besides, finds its explanation in this alone—that it is His word to us.
This might have been enough to lead us to accept its testimony regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ. A piece of metal, said to be gold, is placed in the hands of a jeweler. He applies his tests here and there with satisfactory results, and then accepts the whole without the slightest misgiving that it is what it was declared to be. A messenger comes with important intelligence. If it is true, it ought to be acted upon at once. There may be no means at hand of directly testing its truth, but it may be possible to determine whether the messenger is trustworthy or not. His story may be sifted, or he may bear credentials, the production of which will banish every shadow of doubt. The Bible comes offering us in God’s name salvation through Christ. If that is indeed God’s offer, it calls for immediate and grateful acceptance. Now, for determining whether it is of God, we repeat that such evidence as we have already before us might have been enough. We have tested the Scripture and found it to be truth. The credentials of this messenger have been produced, and these have settled the question whether the message is from God.
But we are not compelled to rest upon that testimony. Direct evidence that this message of grace is indeed of God, has been given in ungrudged abundance, and the wonders of prophecy have been made to cluster round what is really the central truth of Scripture. Before touching, however, upon these predictions, it is needful to say a word or two regarding the age of the Old Testament Scriptures. We have hitherto been content with the admission that they are as old as the beginning of the Christian era. In dealing with predictions which were accomplished long after that period, and even in our own time, nothing more was required. But in taking up predictions, which were fulfilled at that very point in the world’s history, this admission is no longer sufficient. Can it be placed beyond the possibility of disproof or of doubt, that there was such an interval between the prophecy and the events it foretold, that no human foresight can account for its existence?
Fortunately, this point can be settled briefly and conclusively. There is no need for any prolonged discussion, or for any long array of proofs. The books of the Old Testament were translated into Greek, at least two hundred years before the birth of our Lord. The Septuagint version, so called because the work of translation was done by about seventy learned Jews, was everywhere in use among the Jews, who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire long before the Christian era began. Philo, who was born some thirty years before Christ, speaks of the translation as already ancient, and mentions that an annual festival was observed at Alexandria in commemoration of the work. “Even to this very day,” he says, “there is every year a solemn assembly held, and a festival celebrated, in the island of Pharos, to which not only the Jews but a great number of persons of other nations sail across, reverencing the place in which the first light of interpretation shone forth, and thanking God for that ancient piece of beneficence which was always young and fresh.”
There is no reason, then, to doubt that the translation was begun in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus about 280 B. C., and that it was completed not long after. We might, therefore, have insisted upon an earlier date than 200 B. C. for the origin of the Greek version. We might have argued also that, seeing the translation was then made, the books of the Old Testament must be admitted to be still older; for they must have been received and venerated as God’s word long before the necessity was felt for translating them from the Hebrew into that tongue, which the conquests of Alexander had made the universal language of the time. But it is enough for our purpose to take the smallest interval which can be assigned, and we content ourselves, therefore, with the admission that the prophecies were completed and in men’s hands two centuries before our Lord appeared. The admission is more than enough. Who can look down through the next fifty years, or even the next twenty, and describe the changes they will bring? And two centuries! Who could lift the veil made of those two hundred years, and paint as clearly and livingly as we see them now the things which were then to be?
The predictions with which we are now to deal, seem to me sufficient on the very face of them to prove the claims of the Old Testament Scriptures and of Christianity. Everyone admits that they are woven into the very fabric of the Old Testament. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.” All are aware that, though the light of the Old Testament was at first confined to Israel, it proclaimed from the very beginning a “larger hope.” The better time, for which Israel looked, was to be a time of blessing for all mankind. The blessing was to spring up in Israel, but it was not to be confined to Israel. Jew and Gentile were alike to rejoice. A new covenant was to be made with men, not like that which had been made with Israel at Sinai and which had never uprooted sin from the heart. The Spirit of God was to be poured out upon all flesh. The nations were to cast away their idols; for the light was to shine from Zion, and the law of the Lord was to go forth from Jerusalem.
We are so familiar with these and the like predictions that references are unnecessary. But familiarity may conceal their marvelousness. We are all aware that in those old times the knowledge of the true God was confined to the narrow territory of the Jews; that each people had its own gods; and that the idea of a nation exchanging its religion for another was quite foreign to the experience and to the thought of the ancient world. Is it not wonderful then to find the hope burning on in the Old Testament Scriptures, and brightening as the ages advance, that a day would come when the idolatries of the nations would be numbered with the things of the past, that the God of Israel would be worshipped and served in far-off lands, and that distant isles would wait for His law? That expectation is absolutely without parallel. There is nothing like it in any literature besides. Neither philosopher nor poet had ever dreamed of a brotherhood of man founded upon universal sonship to God. How then is it that we find this in the Old Testament Scriptures not only, as an aspiration, but as a clear and oft-repeated prediction, a confident and jubilant expectation? Whence was it that this idea, which never stirred in human heart besides, fell upon the soil of Jewish thought? How did it happen that it remained and flourished so that to pour this light upon the nations was regarded as the destiny of the Jewish people? But add to this that, as these Scriptures said it should be, so it has been. The idolatries of the nations have disappeared and are disappearing now. The knowledge of the true God has broken forth like a flood over the darkened earth. The far-off isles have received His law. And this light, which has enlightened the nations, has shone out from Zion, this law has gone forth from Jerusalem. Put the strange prediction and its wondrous accomplishment together, and shall we not say that both are from God? Can anyone fail to see that the Word and the Work, the Old Testament and Christianity, are here alike stamped with God’s seal?
But there is more to account for than this strange, confident outlook and its equally strange fulfillment. There was one central figure in Israel’s hope; the leading back of the nations to God was to be
THE WORK OF ONE MAN.
All know how this is stamped upon every promise of the world’s redemption. From first to last it is to be the work of the Messiah. It is He who is to bruise the serpent’s head. In Him all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. “All kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.... He shall have pity on the poor and needy, and the souls of the needy He shall save.... His name shall endure forever” (Psa. 72). The world’s salvation begins, is continued, and perfected in Him. So clearly is this taught in the Old Testament that the hope of the Jews became the hope of the Messiah. The following are some of the petitions in their ancient prayers: “O that Elias would come quickly with Messias the son of David;” “Send the Branch of David in our days;” “By the hand of Ben Issai (the son of Jesse) the Bethlehemite bring near the redemption; How long will He tarry;” “Let the memory of Messias, the son of David, thy servant, come before Thee.” Numerous as are the quotations from the Old Testament, which are applied to Jesus in the New, they are far outnumbered by the passages applied to the Messiah in the Rabbinical writers. They believed that it was the one purpose of the Scripture to testify of Him. “The Jewish doctors tell us ‘that all the prophets, none excepted, prophesied only of the years of the redemption, and the days of the Messiah.’ ‘All from Moses our Master,’ says Maimonides, ‘to Malachi of blessed memory.’ ‘They all,’ says Abarbanel, ‘moved by the Holy Ghost, testify and foretell the coming of the Messiah.’”
This, then, was the hope of the Old Testament. It was contained in books which we and the Jews alike revere to this day, and which were translated into the Greek tongue two centuries before Christ came. It was so clearly and emphatically announced, it was so frequently declared, that it filled the thought of the Jewish people with glowing anticipation. And it was an expectation which from first to last rested upon one man. It was not a blessing which was to come men knew not whence, nor how. They looked for the Messiah. The hope of Israel and of all peoples lay in Him. He alone would touch the world’s heart and roll away the world’s burden. And the work which He began, He should continue. His influence was pictured as going on broadening and deepening through all after time: “His name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call him blessed” (Psa. 72:1717His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. (Psalm 72:17)).
Now, it will be admitted that the hope was, in this aspect of it, quite as marvelous as in the other of which we have already spoken. The Jews were not ignorant of the limitations of human greatness. They had had great men who had left their impress upon the institutions and the life of their country; but none of them had ever done, or had ever dreamed of attempting, such a work as this. Their plans, like their activity, had been directed to the needs of their own people. Who among them had ever borne upon his heart the world’s burden, and dreamed of meeting the world’s need? Who had ever imagined that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed? Then their work had been limited by time as well as by ability. How often had Israel reason to ask: “the fathers—where are they? and the prophets—do they live forever?” The mightiest had had to succumb to death, and his place was taken and his work was carried on by some other servant whom God also honored and upheld. The ages had never before been chained to any one man. Whence then can the hope have sprung that one should be born who would be the source of an undying influence, who would dominate, and guide, and bless, men not only of His own generation but of all after time? And this is not the only marvel. The hope was as sure as it was strange. The Old Testament Scriptures looked forward with confident and glowing anticipation to the coming of One who should change the current of the world’s thought. And we have to testify that One man has appeared—the one Man of all time—by whom this has been, and is now being, done. The name of Jesus still lives upon our lips—His power rests upon our hearts. Call it fanaticism if you will; say, if you choose, that this faith in a living Christ, which has endured for eighteen centuries and is spreading among the tribes of the earth today, is a hallucination. Let such explanations be received with what favor they may, these theories themselves testify that this faith exists and that it is a power. That is to say, one man has arisen, whose surpassing excellence they admit, and through faith in whom the work, which is bringing nations to God, has been carried on through age after age and is being carried on now. His name has been “continued;” men, are “blessed in Him;” and many nations “call Him blessed.” Shall we say that it is a mere coincidence that this strange hope has been, and is still being, answered by this strange fact in the world’s story?
The predictions regarding the Messiah would have been wonderful had they never advanced beyond these points. But, on the other hand, if the fullness of knowledge which the Old Testament claimed was a reality, there was no reason why its revelation of the future should not be still more explicit. There was reason rather that miracles of prophecy should be gathered around this central hope of Scripture more fully than elsewhere. And this expectation has been fully realized. The nature of the Redeemer’s work, and even His character and history, are so minutely described that it is possible to compile a history of Christ and Christianity merely from the prophecies. For one thing the Saviour, for whom the world waited,
WAS TO BE A JEW.
It was recorded that it was said to Abraham, “in thy seed” shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. There are other, predictions which named the tribe, and even the family, from which he was to spring, and the very town in which he should be born. I mention these latter predictions merely to remind the reader how definite and clear the prediction was that the Saviour of the world was to be a Jew. He was to be born in a Jewish town, and to be a descendant of the noblest family in the leading tribe of Israel. Had there been no real foresight in these predictions, every step taken in the direction of increased definiteness multiplied the chances of exposure. It was going far to say that a time was coming when the nations would cast away their idols. It was going further to affirm that this revolution should be the work of one man. But to define the hope still more, and to say that he should spring from this race and no other, was to court defeat a thousandfold. What, then, is the result? The answer can be given in one word. There has been no defeat. The blessing for which the world waited—the blessing of light, and peace, and strength to seek a better way—has come through one man, and that man was a Jew.
We have to mark, however, still greater things than these. The readers of the Old Testament were not merely told that Christ should come: they were also told when He should appear.
THE VERY YEAR
when He should be manifested to Israel, and should enter upon His work, was fixed centuries before. We have already, in the previous chapter, proved the wonderful character of the book of Daniel. That book has also another claim upon our attention, for it contains one of the most marvelous predictions regarding the Messiah. In the ninth chapter it is recorded that the prophet was told that “seventy weeks (literally “seventy sevens”) are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy” (Dan. 9:2424Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Daniel 9:24)). This prolonged description is enough to assure us that the finger is here laid upon the advent and the work of Christ. It was His alone “to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity.” We are not, however, abandoned to the guidance of inference. Christ is distinctly named. The prophet was bid to mark that, “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah (the Anointed One), the Prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks” (ver. 25)—that is in all 69 weeks, or, more literally, 69 sevens.
To what point in the history of Jesus do these 69 sevens take us? That is a most important question, and it has a distinct answer in the prediction. We are told (verse 20) that after the second period, the “three score and two weeks,” “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself.” The sevens and the 62 sevens take us, therefore, to the Messiah’s death.
As to what these “sevens” are, there can be no difficulty. The same phrase occurs in Lev. 25:88And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. (Leviticus 25:8), where “seven Sabbaths (or sevens) of years” are spoken of as the period which is to elapse between each Jubilee. The Jews indeed were commanded to reckon time in this way. Every seventh year the land was to enjoy its Sabbath and to remain untilled. When seven sevens were completed, the Jubilee was proclaimed, and every Jewish slave was freed, and every poor man’s land which had been sold was restored to him or to his children. These had been to the Jews, largely mere ideal institutions. The laws stood upon the statute book, but they were not observed. By reckoning in this way, the years which stood between Israel and their hope, it may have been indicated that these observances were still demanded by God and that the hope was for those who feared and obeyed. At all events, the numbers are numbers of years. It seems to have been an occasional, if not a customary, mode of reckoning time. In Genesis 29:27, 2827Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. (Genesis 29:27‑28), we read that Laban said to Jacob: “Fulfill her week (her seven) and we will give thee this also for the service thou wilt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week (her seven).”
The 70 sevens are, then, 490 years, and the 69 sevens are 483 years.
But from what point was the reckoning to begin? For this the prophet is referred to an event which, when the words were spoken, was still future. It was the going forth of a commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, which at that time was deserted and in ashes. On referring to the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which give us the history of the period immediately following the captivity, we find that four decrees are recorded. The first, however, only grants permission to the Jews to return and to build the Temple (Ezra 1:1, 41Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, (Ezra 1:1)
4And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:4)). There is nothing said about the restoring and rebuilding of the city. The second decree is a mere reiteration of the first. It provides for the rebuilding of the Temple and for the supply of what is needful for the Temple service (Ezra 6:1212And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed. (Ezra 6:12)).
Under that edict of Darius Hystaspis, the building of the temple was completed, the priests were arranged in divisions, and the ancient temple service was again begun (verses 13-22). The third decree was issued more than half a century afterward when Ezra and his companions went up from Babylon to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus. “Now, this is a copy of the letter that the King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the scribe... I make a decree that all they, of the people of Israel and of the priests and Levites in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand; and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of the people and the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem” (7:11-16). The edict goes on to confer power upon Ezra, to dispose of the funds committed to his care for the temple service, and to call upon the local governors for additional help, etc. It concludes with these words: “And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people that are beyond the river, and all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment” (25-26).
That third edict has very generally been regarded as the decree “to restore and to build Jerusalem” —a view in which I formerly concurred. But a closer examination of the terms of the edict does not support that conclusion. Those terms are most explicit. Ezra is empowered to convey the treasure contributed by the king and his counselors, from Babylon to Jerusalem, to receive other voluntary offerings, to expend the funds, to call upon the “treasurers beyond the river” for additional funds, and to appoint magistrates and judges. But there is no mention whatever of building and restoring Jerusalem; and, if that task had been assigned to Ezra, it would be hard indeed to explain why, in an edict fully transcribed and elaborately minute in regard to everything else, no reference whatever is made to that important undertaking.
When we turn to the fourth decree, however, we meet for the first time, language which is in significant accord with the description of “the commandment” spoken of by Daniel. Nehemiah tells us that, when Artaxerxes asked “For what dost thou make request,” he replied: “If it please the king, and if thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may build it” (2:5). He also begged a letter to “Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me” (8). Here we have in explicit terms an authorization to Ezra to build the city of his fathers’ sepulchers; and the fourth decree is consequently “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.”
To apply these results, we have first of all to inquire what those 483 years are. Are they years in every respect like the years of our own calendar? There are clear indications in Scripture that the Hebrew month, like that of Babylonia and of Egypt, consisted of 30 days. The year consequently contained 360 days; multiplying those 483 years of the prophecy by 360 so as to find the entire number of days, we divide by 365¼ and so change them into calendar years. The result of this rough and ready, but sufficiently accurate, method is that the 483 prophetic years are found to be equivalent to 476 years of our ordinary chronology.
We have to ask next to what special point in the past we have to attach this immense measuring line, so that we may stretch it onward into the future. The narrative in Nehemiah furnishes a perfectly clear reply. We are told that the concession was made “in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the King” (2:1). He began to reign in the year 465 B. C. He was now in the twentieth year of his reign: in other words 19 years of his reign were completed and the loth year was in progress. Deducting these 19 years from 465, we are brought to 446 B. C.—the year in which the edict was issued “to restore and to build Jerusalem.”
A word or two will now complete our demonstration. Applying the 476 years of the prediction to this point (446 years before the birth of our Lord) we find that they bring us down to that event and leave 30 years over. That is, the year 30 A. D. is specified as that of the Saviour’s cutting off in His crucifixion. While everyone will feel how amazing it is that the year and the very month—the month Nisan—of our Lord’s death should have been fixed centuries beforehand, some may imagine that there is, nevertheless, a slight inaccuracy. We are told (Luke 3:2323And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, (Luke 3:23)) that Jesus entered upon this ministry when he was about 30 years of age. The year 30 A. D. would, therefore, be the year when His ministry began, and not the year of His crucifixion. But the Scripture is absolutely accurate. When the division between time B. C. and time A. D. was made in the 6th century of our era, a mistake of four years was made, the year 1 A. D. was really the year 5 A. D.; and the year 10 the year 14 A. D.; and the year 30 the year 34 A. D. Our Lord’s ministry extended about four years; and thus the year 30 A D. in our chronology was really the year of our Lord’s death. The chronology was in error, but there was no error in the Scripture; and that sacrifice, which will be remembered and celebrated throughout eternity, was offered at the appointed time.
Comment on these facts is needless. They tell their own tale and leave their own impress. I pass on to note how fully
THE HISTORY OF JESUS
was revealed in the mirror of prophecy. There are some predictions, such as those regarding the family from which He was to spring and the place where He was to be born, the accomplishment of which, however undeniable it might be to the men of the time, would now be hard to prove. These I pass over. But it was predicted that His condition should be one of
LOWLINESS AND POVERTY.
Though born of the royal house, that house was ere then to be shorn of its splendor. The tree was to be cut down to the level of the grass, which once grew under its shade. “There shall come forth a root out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit” (Isa. 11:11And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: (Isaiah 11:1)). His condition was to be one which men would regard with great contempt: the Scripture pointed “to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, a servant of rulers” (Isa. 49:77Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. (Isaiah 49:7)). There was to be nothing of superior station or worldly wealth to commend Him to Israel. He was to be as “a root out of a dry ground, He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa. 53:22For 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. (Isaiah 53:2)). How completely this was fulfilled we know. He was a carpenter’s son. He himself was called “the carpenter” He had no “advantages.” His knowledge seemed inexplicable to the men of His time. “How knoweth this man letters,” they asked, “having never learned?” He could offer no worldly inducement to his followers. “The foxes have holes,” He said to one, “and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” So low had the fortunes of the ancient royal house sunk that, in the times immediately preceding, they had not furnished a single claimant for the throne, and when Vespasian afterward made diligent search for the descendants of the hero-king, that he might crush every possible seed of rebellion, they were found to be so poor and abject that they were dismissed with contempt.
Then He was to be
REJECTED BY ISRAEL.
The coming of the Messiah had been the hope of Israel for well-nigh two thousand years. His advent was longed for, and prayed for daily, through all their generations. Had this hope been the offspring of enthusiasm, nourished by national vanity, it would be difficult to explain how, along with this anticipation, there should be the most distinct predictions that He would be rejected and abhorred by the very people who so intensely desired His appearing. And yet this is what we do find. The prophet, looking forward to the day of the Messiah, exclaims: “When we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isa. 53:33He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)). I have already quoted the words which speak of Him as one “whom man despiseth... whom the nation abhorreth” (Isa. 49:77Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. (Isaiah 49:7)). Those who doubt the full inspiration of Scripture have yet to give some rational explanation of this fact among others, how such a forecast as this came to find a place in the portraiture of the Messiah, and how it has happened that it has also been literally fulfilled. Not only was He rejected by the Jews of His own time: the rejection has been perpetuated to the present hour. No prediction could have seemed more improbable, and yet none ever received a sadder and more complete fulfillment.
The Messiah was also
TO SUFFER A VIOLENT DEATH.
JUDICIAL SENTENCE.
THE MANNER AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES
of His death were foretold. “I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and Thou has brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of evil-doers have enclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet” (Psa. 22:14, 1614I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. (Psalm 22:14)
16For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. (Psalm 22:16)). “I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to them who plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isa. 1:66From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (Isaiah 1:6)). “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 delighteth in Him.... They part My garments among them, and upon My vesture do they cast lots” (Psa. 22:7, 8, 187All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. (Psalm 22:7‑8)
18They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. (Psalm 22:18)). We do not read these words for the first time. We may have often thought of them as a marvelous description of the sufferings of Jesus; but have we ever pondered the fact that they are prophecy, and that they were written centuries before that life was lived? What does it mean? Is it not God’s summons to believe and accept His salvation?
The predictions also supply a full description of
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS.
They speak of His ardent devotion, His complete surrender to God. “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart” (Psa. 40:88I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)). They explain the fullness of wisdom and spiritual might which marked Him: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isa. 11:22And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; (Isaiah 11:2)). They speak of the patience of Jesus. There was to be no rude haste to snatch an early victory. He was to be no leader in tumultuous assault even upon wrong. “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (Isa. 42:22He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:2)). They tell of the lowliness of Jesus. The greatness of Christ was not to remove Him from us and shut Him up in a world of His own. There was to be might without its pride, wisdom without its haughty disdain, holiness without its blighting scorn of weakness and sin. “A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench” (Isa. 43:33For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. (Isaiah 43:3)). “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck” (Isa. 40:1111He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)). Can we see the Redeemer more clearly in the Gospels themselves than He is revealed here? And if not, is not this fact alone enough to prove that He is God’s gift to us? That life no man could have looked for, far less painted. It was an absolutely new experience for humanity. Its appearance caused a new departure in thought and morals. It revolutionized human ideas of greatness and excellence. And yet that life and spirit are not only indicated—they are gloriously displayed in what are held forth as announcements of One who is yet to come, and to bring back the earth to God. We are told, centuries before He appears, that this is to be His character. It was much to have heard of old the voice from heaven, and to have felt one’s spirit thrill in answer to the cry “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” But this is a fuller and surer testimony. One might have been mistaken as to whence, or from whom, the cry came. The thought might have fallen like a blight that the whole experience was a dream. But this is no dream, and here there is no possibility of mistake. When no other could, God showed us His Son, so to speak, that we might know Him when He came. And now that He has appeared, who can forbear exclaiming “this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world!”
The reader need hardly be reminded how fully
THE WORK OF JESUS
is described in prophecy. He was to give light; He Himself was to be light. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:22The 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 9:2)). He was to be given “for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isa. 42:6, 76I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. (Isaiah 42:6‑7)). “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:66And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)). He was to touch the whole earth and bless it with peace and power. “Like as many were astonished at thee... so shall he sprinkle many nations” (Isa. 52:14, 1514As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. (Isaiah 52:14‑15)). “He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till He had set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for His law” (Isa. 42:44He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:4)).
But this fullness of power and blessing was to be reached through suffering. We have seen that the Messiah was to die. That death had an explanation. It was written “thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin” (Isa. 53:1010Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)); and again, “Although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He hath put Him to grief” (vv. 9, 10). What all this meant for us the prophet has explained in the verse immediately preceding. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, AND THE LORD HATH LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” (vv. 4, 6). The work of Christ is described in similar terms in Dan. 9:2424Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Daniel 9:24). It was “to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” There is also a striking prediction to the same effect in Zech. 9:1111As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. (Zechariah 9:11). God is speaking concerning His Messiah who “shall speak peace unto the nations,” and whose “dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth,” and He continues: “As for Thee also, BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD OF THY COVENANT I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.” They are shut in with death; but they are His, and they are released on one ground alone— “the blood of Thy covenant.” Great difficulties have been felt by many in regard to the doctrine of substitution. It has been arraigned as the fruit of superstition, or of terrible misconception. The whole body of ordinary teaching on the subject has been named “the blood theology,” and been cast on one side as if that description were sufficient condemnation. It will be admitted that there may be aspects from which the question might be so viewed as greatly to alter our judgment of it. Far as our philosophy has reached, it is still true that there are things in heaven and earth not dreamed of in it. But we have to deal here with God’s thought, not man’s. The words are stamped as His, for they display clear and full knowledge of what no man, when the words were spoken, could foresee even dimly. They are, therefore, God’s statement of what the death of Christ means, and not man’s explanation of it. The prediction is an attestation, not to the Lord’s mission only, but also to the doctrine of “forgiveness through His blood.” It is the seal of God’s covenant with us in Christ. It is the Divine assurance that the wondrous tale of the cross is true. “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
I may notice in conclusion, a prophetic testimony of equally vital import, namely, that
JESUS LIVES AND SAVES.
We find in the predictions a strange conjunction of death and after-service—service which, notwithstanding death, is to be rendered in the midst of men, and by Him who died for them. In the 22nd Psalm, He, whose hands and feet were “pierced,” whose garments were divided, and upon whose raiment they cast lots, looks forward to work which He will nevertheless do for God on the earth. “I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee” (Psa. 22:2222I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. (Psalm 22:22)). In that prophetic hymn of the humiliation and death of Christ, which we have already referred to—the 53rd of Isaiah—this strange testimony is still clearer. After saying how it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and put Him to grief, the prophet proceeds: “When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:10-1210Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10‑12)).
Other predictions are equally emphatic as to the unceasing activity and undying influence of the Redeemer. But here the fullness of His triumph over death and the oblivion, which at the close of life’s brief day, falls in deepening darkness upon human work and fame, are put so clearly that we need no testimony besides. Death does not shut out from His view the scene of His earthly labors. “He shall see His seed,” “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Death does not even end His earthly activity. “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” He shall “justify many.” “He shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Next in point of difficulty to the doctrine of the Atonement stands this, that Jesus is a present Saviour—that today, as of old, He hears the cry of need, and will accept, and bless, and save. But here again difficulty is met by the Divine assurance. These words are God’s, for no other could have told of Christ’s advent, or pictured His character, or told the story of His suffering and work. If any other could, then put the words aside; pay no heed to this wondrous testimony about a living, present Christ, for the words may in that case be merely man’s. But, if they bear the stamp of a knowledge that is infinite, we know that they came from One who will not deceive, and who cannot err. To men of old the predictions spoke of one who said “I come.” To us now they tell of one whose word is: “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me.”