THE Day Was Hot, but Not Oppressive, As We Took Our Seats in the Train for London. Roger and I Had Arranged to Make Our Long-Talked-of Excursion to the Great Metropolis, Some of Whose Treasures I Hoped to Explore Under Roger’s Guidance. on the Opposite Seat Were a Gentleman and a Lady, Who, It Was Soon Apparent, Were Father and Daughter. the Reticence All Too Common in Railway Traveling, Had Commenced to Thaw at the Outset Under the Genial Readiness With Which the Stranger Submitted to a Necessary Re-Arrangement of His Luggage; and It Soon Melted Entirely Away With Remarks on the Lovely Scenery and Glorious Weather.
It soon transpired that our fellow-travelers were Americans on a visit to Great Britain. Naturally, questions were asked regarding some of the towns through which we passed, and to these Roger replied with his customary courtesy. The conversation, once begun, soon turned to other matters. On one of these Roger made a statement which aroused our new friend’s special interest. He asked for details which Roger at the moment was unable to give, but which, he said, he would be pleased to obtain and forward. The American thanked him and handed him his card. I observed that Roger looked at it with some surprise. This was quite natural, as the surname was identical with that of a well-known religious teacher whose special doctrines had attracted widespread attention, the latest word being that he had entirely lost his former faith.
A question of Roger’s evoked the reply that our fellow-traveler was this famous man’s brother. “May I inquire,” said Roger, “whether he still repudiates his former beliefs?” “I do not think his position has changed at all lately,” replied our friend, whom I shall henceforth call Mr. Smith; “and I may say,” he continued, “that I share his present opinions. It is simply impossible in these swiftly advancing times to stand where our fathers stood.”
“I do not see,” said Roger, “that there is any necessity for such change. There are some beliefs that unite the ages, and those that are truly founded upon a Divine revelation can never be outgrown.”
“That is just where we differ,” said Mr. Smith, with some warmth. “I have no faith whatever either in the fact, or in the possibility, of a Divine revelation. Science has made it utterly impossible to believe in miracles. Crossing a street in New York one day a friend of mine, in whose company I was, seized my arm and exclaimed: ‘Behold, a miracle!’ I looked to where he pointed, and saw a Jew. I own that I was impressed at the time, but reflection showed me that the Jew’s case is not singular. The Gypsies are also widely scattered; they continue to exist; they are quite as separate from all the peoples among whom they sojourn; they have their own customs and language; and so the Jew-miracle vanished, as superstitions usually do when they are firmly faced.”
As our new acquaintance went on, it was amusing to note how Roger’s battle-look crept into his features. “I cannot say that I agree with you in thinking that the cases of the Jew and of the Gypsy are on all fours,” said Roger;” there is one point in which you will admit that they essentially differ. The scattering of the Jews among the nations; the cruel persecutions to which they have been subjected; their continued existence in spite of all these, and their separateness were all predicted.” Mr. Smith’s surprise told that the shot had gone home.” Those predictions,” Roger went on, “are certainly miracles. This one fact established by scientific investigation is quite sufficient to show that, notwithstanding all our advance, we are still with the miraculous.”
“What!” exclaimed Miss Smith, whose magazine had gradually descended to her knee; “really, this is extraordinary! You think that science proves that there are real miracles?” “Certainly,” rejoined Roger, with a smile; “and I venture to think that you will agree with me. There is one miracle, repeated every year in your country and in mine, which science has long ago noted, but which no scientific advance promises to explain away. I refer to the formation of ice. Dr. Whewell dealt with it long ago in his Bridgewater treatise, and it is marvelous that so little has been made of it. It is one of the best-known laws of nature that metals and other things expand in heat and contract in cold. That law, of course, affects water also. When the temperature falls the water on the surface contracts, and becoming in this way heavier than the water beneath, it sinks to the bottom. Now if this law went on, affecting water as it affects other matter, a terrible calamity would result. The water in freezing would descend to the bottom; and as the cold continued its deadly work a solid mass of ice would be built up, rising from the bottom to the surface of stream and liver, of pond and lake, and of northern and southern polar seas. All in them would perish. The face of nature would be changed, and the ministry of the waters would be arrested. For subsequent summers, however hot they may be, would melt a few feet on the surface of these ice-blocks, but could never restore to us again the waters that had been.
“Now, mark how all this has been averted. In the case of water there is a sudden arrest and reversal of this natural law. As the temperature approaches the freezing point, the water, which had previously contracted and grown heavier, expands and grows lighter. Therefore, instead of descending, it floats upon the surface of the water; and in freezing it expands still more, and spreads its glassy shield over the waters beneath, thus preserving their fluidity and all the animal and vegetable life which they contain. Let the cold be never so intense, it only thickens and strengthens that protecting shield. Such a reversal of a natural law is a miracle; its evident purpose is to preserve life; it proclaims the beneficence of the Creator.”
Miss Smith, who had followed with the deepest interest Roger’s little lecture, turned with an inquiring look to her father. “That is certainly striking,” said the latter, “but you are mistaken in imagining that water alone is affected in that way. It is well-known that cast-iron is similarly affected.” “Pardon my saying,” replied Roger, “that that notion about cast-iron is an entire mistake. The statement, indeed, has been made by scientific men.”
I know of one instance in which it was made by a certain professor, but he was speedily put right by some members of his class who had practical acquaintance with casting, and the professor frankly apologized. He had made the statement, as you have now done, in dependence upon an assumed authority. Cast-iron obeys the general law and contracts in cooling.”
“You surprise me, and I shall look into the matter,” said Mr. Smith. “But are you aware that the late Professor Tyndall denied that water is the only exception to this law?”
“Yes, “responded Roger,” he makes a great deal of the discovery that a rare element or two is similarly affected. I believe his jubilation was due to the impression which the ice-miracle had made upon him. But he has only emphasized the marvelousness of this fact. With all his knowledge of nature, and after that tireless energy of his had pondered and experimented, Tyndall has to confess that among all those things with which we are in daily contact, water, and water alone, is excepted from this great natural law; and that, just when life is threatened with extinction by the further action of the law, the law is suddenly reversed. That change is a miracle; and to me it speaks loudly of Him whose ‘tender mercy is over all His works.’”
The ice-miracle was a revelation to me. It showed how conviction may spring upon one from a most unexpected quarter. It was plain that our American friends were also impressed. Miss Smith had grown thoughtful and her father’s uneasiness had increased. I expected that the conversation would have stepped, or been turned to some loss trying topic, but Miss Smith was too deeply interested to suffer matters to rest where they now were. “You have scored there, I guess,” she said. “It shows how much there is in coml. things if one would only think. But you have nothing like that to show for your beliefs.”
“Excuse me,” rejoined Roger, “we have miracles to show that are quite as clear and as convincing.” “Miracles!” she repeated in amazement; “why, this is better than Dowie” “I have no desire to rival the Chicago preacher,” protested Roger, “but it is easy to show that there are miracles which place it beyond doubt that Christianity is of God.” “If you are really able to show that, “interjected Mr. Smith,” you will minister the greatest relief to a vast and rapidly increasing multitude of people.”
Miss Smith’s amused and incredulous smile was an eloquent commentary upon her father’s words. There was a challenge in the attitude of both father and daughter which I knew Roger’s devotion to the old faith would not leave without response. “If I can show you,” said he, “that a whole series of events, in themselves among the things most unlikely to happen, were fully and clearly foretold, you will acknowledge that such insight into the future shows a distinct Divine interposition.” “Ah!” ejaculated Mr. Smith, “the argument from prophecy is as dead as the Dodo. It used to be dismissed too cavalierly, I grant, as having been written after the events. A great deal of it was due to a rhetorical custom in the ancient East; and much was also the language of desire for a better condition of things. Put an ingenious mind to work in things of that sort, and what more do you want for an important branch of Christian Evidences?”
“Mr. Smith,” said Roger, “you are really helping my case! You contend that these are in reality no predictions at all. If the old explanation has to be given up, a new one, such as you have just ventured, must be found. Now, pray ask yourself what this means. Is it not that you are satisfied that a genuine prediction would be a miracle? There is, in fact, no possibility of resisting that conclusion. Everyone is aware how utterly beyond all human power it is to read the future. Neither of us can sketch the history of the next day; and every other man is just as incapable of it as ourselves. If, then, it is shown that the greatest events of history were foreseen, and that they were clearly and minutely described centuries before they happened, it is impossible to deny that here is the finger of God. In other words, we are witnesses to an actual Divine miracle.”
“I guess,” said Miss Smith, “that we shall be able to pronounce judgment upon your predictions when we know what they are.” “Thank you!” returned Roger.
“Let us get at once, then, to the heart of the matter, and run over a few of the Old Testament predictions about the Messiah. Here there is no doubt whatever as to the words having been written before the events happened. Our old friend, the Jew, who rejected and who still repudiates Jesus as the Christ, is the best of witnesses to that important fact. Our Old Testament is a faithful and wonderfully correct translation of the Jewish Bible, which the Jew possessed ages before our Lord was born; and the Jew was not at all likely to change anything in it to suit a faith which he abhors.
“You amaze me,” interposed Mr. Smith with a gesture of impatience. “Who believes now in your talking serpent, your flaming sword and the rest of that stuff? If we are to have an Old Testament lecture, let us at least have something sensible.”
“There is a quite sufficient answer to all that,” said Roger; “but let us have one thing at a time. What I want you to note is the broad fact that these words—no matter for the moment in what connection they appear—were placed upon the page of Scripture ages before Christ came. The serpent is here associated with the entrance of evil into human life. From him the suggestions come which tempt Eve to dissatisfaction with the Divine arrangements, and then to distinct disobedience to a Divine command. Thus, he broke the bond of perfect trust and chill-like obedience which bound man to God. He marred man’s life and caused his banishment from the presence of God. That is the setting; and here comes the promise, when that mighty wrong will be avenged, and when man’s loss will be repaired; the coming Avenger and Redeemer was to be the woman’s offspring. He was to enter into conflict with the tempter. The result would be, first the wounding of this coming antagonist: ‘Thou shalt bruise his heel.’ But the struggle in its final issue would be fatal to the tempter: ‘He shall bruise thy head.’ That such has been, and is, the mission of Jesus Christ is too evident to be denied. He has come for that purpose, manifestly—to put away sin and destroy Satan’s power. It distinguishes Him from every other man that has ever lived. Is it not marvelous that this first prediction of the Deliverer should go so straight to the heart of the matter and describe Him by this one great distinguishing attribute?”
In asking that question Roger had looked from Mr. to Miss Smith who sat opposite to her father. “As you have now put it,” she said, “it is certainly extraordinary. I never saw it just so before; but it looks right enough, doesn’t it?” Mr. Smith, to whom she had turned, kept silence, and Roger resumed. “Excuse my asking your attention also to the words which speak of Him as the offspring of the woman. It is striking that this first description of the Messiah should leave room for, and even suggest the doctrine of His virgin-birth. But let us take one or two more of these predictions which tell us what the Christ was to be. We have just seen that He was to be a member of the human family; that, however, is very wide as a prediction. But one prophecy was added after another, narrowing the circle in which Christ was to appear. A promise made through Noah apparently assigned the Christ to be a descendant of Shem. The words to which I refer are these: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem... God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem’ (Gen. 9:26, 2726And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. (Genesis 9:26‑27)). I should like you to note two things here. In that phrase, ‘The Lord God (Jehovah-Elohim) of Shem,’ Elohim is the name applied to the Deity as the maker and maintainer of the universe; and Jehovah, as we all know, is closely associated with God’s relation to Israel. ‘The Lord God of Shem’ consequently indicates that the full revelation of God, especially the Messiah-revelation, is to be the portion of Shem. That is one thing: the other is the promise of Japheth. God will enlarge him. Persia, Greece, and Rome, all of them representatives of the Japhetic race and successive possessors of the sovereignty of the world, tell how the promise was kept in ancient times. The vast extension of the race, both in numbers and in influence, as shown in the European nations, in America, North and South, the British and other European colonies, tells how the promise has been fulfilled. Japheth was to occupy Shem’s dwelling-place, and for well-nigh nineteen centuries the Japhethites have enjoyed and handed on the Christian revelation—a religion given in the first instance to the Jews, but rejected by that people, has been preserved by the Japhetic Gentiles. Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem.”
“Excuse me!” interrupted Mr. Smith, “I have hitherto been under the impression that the Jews have continued to possess their own religion. Have they not their synagogues everywhere? Shem, I imagine, still keeps his tabernacles, and Japheth, if he ever enters, has small desire to remain in them.”
“The Jew has still his synagogues,” said Roger, “and, so far, Shem retains his tabernacles; and there Japheth leaves him severely alone. But it is hardly exact to say that the Jew has still his old religion. What was ancient Judaism without sacrifice? Without the shedding of blood there was no remission of either national or individual sin. Other equally essential parts of that religion were the Aaronic priesthood and the ritual of the Temple. Now, for more than eighteen centuries the Jew has had neither Temple nor Temple-ritual, nor Aaronic priesthood, nor sacrifices. They have Lever presented during all these ages a single offering according to the Law, not even on the Day of Atonement; for they have had no Altar to sacrifice it at, nor priest to present it. All were swept away when Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 A. D.—forty years after the Crucifixion. Since that time Judaism has been a dead and withered thing. The light and power of Christian truth, on the other hand, have been the portion of the Church. Japheth has dwelt and is dwelling now, in the tents of Shem.”
Roger is never greater than when aroused by an objection, and his words told upon us all. Mr. Smith himself was evidently impressed.
“But the circle, from which the Messiah should come,” continued Roger, “was made narrower still. In the next great step, Abraham is selected from among the Semites, and the pledge is given to him: ‘In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed’ (Gen. 22:88And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8))—a most remarkable promise to be found in a Jewish book, and to be preserved as their dearest hope by the most exclusive of all nationalities. This Seed of Abraham is to be the hope of humanity. And note what He is to bring. All the nations are to be blessed ‘in Him.’ What blessing? It is the forgiveness of sins and the enjoyment of the favor of God. It covers more, no doubt, but these are in the forefront. Humanity, therefore, is to be endowed with these high blessings by One who will spring from Abraham. But this was still wide. The Ishmaelite Arabs are also descended from Abraham. And another selection is made. Ishmael is set aside and Isaac is chosen. From Isaac, again, two nations descend—the Edomites and the Israelites. A further selection consequently takes place. Esau is rejected, and Jacob is chosen. The covenant is made with him: ‘In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed’ (Gen. 28:1414And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 28:14)). As time went on still narrower lines were drawn. Of the twelve Israelite tribes one is taken—Judah, and in that tribe a special house—that of David. Note the distinct and repeated prediction that THE MESSIAH IS TO BE A JEW. He is to spring from one of the smallest of the nations; one from which the world expected least. Yet what promise has ever been more grandly fulfilled? Is it not undeniably true that in this Jew, men of every nationality have been blessed?”
“But what,” said Mr. Smith, “of Buddha, and Confucius, and Mahomet, and other founders of religion? Christ is not the only Savior or giver of supposed blessedness to men.”
“What reasonable person could compare these with Jesus Christ? or their teachings with those of Christianity?” replied Roger. “Christianity meets the human need which none other does. But I do not ask you to compare those that you have named with Christianity; I am now inviting your attention to the fact that Jesus Christ is the only Savior whose advent has been foretold. You have there the Christian Evidences in a nutshell. The testimony of genuine prediction is unanswerable.
This is a marvelous testimony. The prophecies so far have told us the Messiah is to be a Jew. But they also make it plain that He is more: that He is to be Divine! There are various passages which show this clearly; but one will be enough. Isaiah pictures Israel’s recognition of Him in the time of their final deliverance. ‘Unto us,’ he says, ‘a child is born, unto us a Son is given’—again, you will notice, the Deliverer is to be an Israelite. ‘And the government,’ the prophet proceeds, ‘shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’ (9:6).”
Mr. Smith, whom this last quotation had specially aroused, said with asperity: “You are surely not in ignorance, sir, that the sense in which you take these words has been repudiated by men of undoubted learning?” “I am quite aware of that,” Roger replied, with undisturbed serenity. “But it is quite impossible to saddle those extraordinary words with any other sense. Even the Revised Version, in spite of its well-known tendencies, has to render them in the same way as the Authorized. It gives them thus: ‘His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ It is a startling doctrine, I admit, and one attempt after another has been made to get rid of it. But every attempt has failed. It is the very heart of the Christian faith; for how could a mere Jew (no matter if he possessed all the abilities and virtues that men have ever had) save the world? A mere man could not have saved himself. But there is no need to argue the matter. Here is God’s testimony. Israel’s Redeemer, who is to be an Israelite, is also to be Divine.”
Miss Smith here asked with evident surprise: “Is it really so that other prophecies speak as plainly about the Deity of Christ?” “Yes, there are several, I may say many, “replied Roger.” In psalm 45 the Messiah is actually addressed as God. It begins: My heart is indicting a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men,’ etc. And then, in verse 6, we come upon the words: ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom,’ and so on. We meet the same representation in Jeremiah. In chap. 23:5, 6 we read: Beheld the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby He shall be called—THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ The word LORD in the original is Jehovah, the name of the living God—a Savior-God. In 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) also, the Messiah is also described as He ‘whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’ The doctrine, as I have said, is a startling one. It alone explains the unique personality of Jesus. He is indeed ‘Emmanuel, God with us.’ But the point with which we are dealing now is that the Deity of Christ was distinctly and repeatedly predicted.”
“Thank you, “said Miss Smith,” you quite amaze us with these things.” “You may well call them amazing, “said Roger;” but there are still stranger things in front of us. I want to show you how those miracles of foresight are multiplied in the case of the promised Savior. We have just seen how they described beforehand His nationality and His nature. Now take another, and certainly not less marvelous, fact. When was this Redeemer to appear? We have seen how selection from the nations were made long beforehand, and how the finger was at last laid upon the Jew. In the same way the time for His advent was marked out until the very year was fixed. 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), for example, makes it clear that, when Christ is born, the house of David will have ceased to occupy the throne. His words are: ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem (the stump) of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.’ A glance at the chapter is enough to show it is the Messiah who is spoken of. In verse 10, for instance, we are told that He shall stand for an ensign to the peoples, and to it shall the Gentiles seek.’ Notice that when the Messiah appears the house of David has been cut down from its royal state, his descendants reduced to private individuals; their status is that of Jesse, not that of royal David. The rod is to spring from the stock, or stump, of Jesse. The tree has been felled. After king Zedekiah, and the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 B. C., no descendant of David occupied the Jewish throne.”
“Well, “exclaimed Mr. Smith,” there does not seem to be very much in that. Jesus was born some six centuries later-six centuries wide of the mark can hardly be called wonderful.”
“Quite so, “assented Roger,” if prophecy had to be fulfilled at once; but the prophecy was concerning the Person, not the time. The house of David would lose its great pre-eminence, the tree be felled, and only a stump remain. That was literally fulfilled before the coming of the Lord. The house of David was then fallen. A second prediction sets a limit on the other side. The Messiah was to come before the Second Temple had passed away. Haggai was one of the prophets who counseled and cheered the returned Israelites. They had rebuilt the Temple: but when those who had seen its predecessor beheld this, they were overwhelmed with grief and realized that the glory of Israel had departed. Haggai then brings them comfort. He tells them that this house will have a glory which Solomon’s Temple never had. Here are his words: I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts: the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts (2:7-9).’ The mention of silver and gold seems to point to the lack of them in the second Temple. But this second Temple was to have a glory to surpass all the magnificence and splendor of the first. The promised One was to come to it. The Desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ But, rejected by the nation, forty years after the crucifixion that Temple was swept away.”
“If you will look into the Revised Version,” said Mr. Smith, with a gleam of triumph, “you will find that that has gone the way of a few other ‘proof passages.’ It is ‘The desirable things of all nations,’ which are much more to the taste of the Jew.”
“Yes, “said Roger,” that is one of the slips of the Revisers. It lacks common-sense. The desirable things’ might be brought, but they could hardly ‘come.’ Have you noticed that the Revisers state in the margin that the Hebrew is—not the desirable things’ but—’ the Desire.’ There is no possibility of disputing that.”
“The marginal note escaped me,” said Mr. Smith, with more grace than he had shown since the discussion begun.
“But the passage is not alone,” Roger went on. “I am only giving you samples. There is another in the book of Malachi, the very last of the Old Testament prophets: ‘Behold, I will send my messenger and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts’ (3:1). There we have the same prediction—only instead of ‘the Desire of all nations’ it is ‘the Lord of the Temple’—` He shall suddenly come to His temple.’ How Christ took possession of, and purged, that Temple we know, and it did not pass away till lie had come and been rejected.
“But there is one prophecy which I may call gigantic, for it fixed the very year of the Lord’s crucifixion more than five centuries before He appeared. I refer to the well-known passage in the ninth chapter of Daniel. In answer to his intercession for the Jews, then captives in Babylon, the prophet is told:
‘Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the 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. Know therefore and understand: from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; and the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself’ (vers. 24-26). forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; and the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself’ (vers. 24-26).
“Pardon me,” Mr. Smith broke in, “but what is the use of citing a book that has been given up by every man of sense? Daniel has been proved to be an errant forgery.”
“But that is now an old story,” said Roger. “The case against Daniel has broken down utterly. Recent discoveries in the East have shown that no bock ever belonged to a time and place more completely than Daniel does to those of which it speaks. Knowing this, Ebers and other archeologists quietly accepted Daniel as history, while their learned but less informed friends were tearing it to pieces. But this prediction will itself settle that question for you. The latest date assigned to the book of Daniel is 164 B. C. Now if this book fixed the date of Christ’s appearing more than a century and a half before He was born, can anything more be demanded to show that it is a Divine message and no forgery? You will notice, too, that the prediction does not confine itself to the date. It describes, for one thing, the purpose of Christ’s coming. It is ‘to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.’ There is a startling New Testament voice in that, is there not, for a Jewish book? Then, again, the Messiah’s work is to be done by His dying, and that not an ordinary death. He is to die by violence—`and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself.’ The words are surely remarkable in view of the tragedy of Calvary.
“But let us deal with the date. From the issue of the decree enjoining the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the time of Christ’s death there are to be seven weeks (literally, `seven sevens’) and sixty-two sevens—in all, sixty-nine times seven, or 483 years. But, as you know, there is a difference between the ancient Hebrew calendar and our own. The Jewish year, like the year in Egypt and in Babylonia, consisted of 360 days. Those 483 years are years then of 360 days each, while our calendar years (by which we reckon ancient and modem dates) contain each 365¼ days.
Excuse my going into these details. In a matter of this kind we must be as exact as possible. If we multiply 483 by 360 to find the number of days, and then divide by 365¼ so as to change them into calendar years, we get 476 years and 21 days.”
“But 365¼ days is not quite exact,” said Mr. Smith.
“That is true,” responded Roger.” I have followed a somewhat rough and ready method, but there is no mistake about the 476 years. Now when was the decree referred to issued? Before the time when Nehemiah left the Persian Court for Jerusalem the decrees of the Persian Sovereigns regarding the returned exiles had spoken only of the rebuilding of the Temple. The decree to restore and build Jerusalem was now issued at the request of Nehemiah and (as he tells us) ‘in the month Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes the King’ (2:1). That king began to reign in the year 465 B. C. This decree was issued in his 20th year, that is, after 19 years of his reign had been completed. Deducting these from 465, we have 446 B. C. as his 20th year.
“I trust,” continued Roger, “I am not exhausting your patience with this exercise in mental arithmetic. But here comes the amazing thing in this numerical prediction. The 476 years of the prophecy carry us on 30 years beyond the 446 B. C., the year in which the decree was issued. In other words, we are carried on to the year 30 after our Lord’s birth. This takes us exactly to the time when our Lord entered upon His ministry. Surely that is startling.”
“Everyone must own that,” said Mr. Smith. “But you must confess on your part that it is not exact; and in a statement that is really Divine there is no room for failure. You said a few minutes ago that the date was that of Christ’s death, and not that of His entrance upon His ministry.”
“I was coming to that,” rejoined Roger: “the date turns out to be absolutely exact. You know that, when the division between time before Christ and time after Christ was made in the sixth century of our era, a mistake was committed. The Lord’s birth was placed four years too late, so that the year 30 A. D. is really the year 34 A. D. The ministry of Jesus continued about four years, and He, therefore, died in His 34th year, and at the Feast of the Passover—that is, in the very month Nisan mentioned by Nehemiah as the month in which the decree was issued!”
We had listened with intense interest as Roger went on with his arithmetical demonstration, and the climax simply amazed us. Mr. Smith’s objection that there was a seeming error of four years made that last stroke fall with overwhelming force. And upon none of us did the effect seem more marked than upon Mr. Smith himself. It was with some reluctance he had allowed himself to be drawn into the argument from prophecy. The tone of his remarks, and still more his averted looks, had made it plain that few things could have been less to his liking. But he had followed each step in this discussion of the ‘weeks’ with the closest attention, and he now sat staring at Roger with all his eyes.
“I know,” said Roger, “how extraordinary this appears; but it is the finger of God; nor does it stand alone. There is quite a host of these predictions. If it is astonishing that it should be foretold when and where the Christ was to appear, it is not less marvelous that His history should be sketched beforehand, and that its incidents should be specified. Let me recall to you some of those predictions. First of all, He was to lack everything in external circumstances that could commend Him to the people of His time. His great life-work was to be done in the midst of poverty and contempt. We have already seen how that was indicated in the prediction about the rod springing from the stem of Jesse; but it was fully made known in those startling words of the 53rd of Isaiah:
‘Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed! For 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’ (vers. 1, 2).
“We know how the words found a complete fulfillment. Neither wealth, rank, social standing, political influence, nor alliance with a single tendency of the time contributed to commend the person or to speed the work of Jesus of Nazareth.
“Then His special aims, and the nature and manner of His work are described as minutely by the same Prophet, and in words which have never been excelled for truth and beauty. In the 42nd chapter we read:
“Behold my Servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my Spirit upon Him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. A bruised reed shall He not break and the smoking flax shall He not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till He has set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law’ (1-4).”
“That reference to the perseverance of Christ and to His work for the Gentile world is wonderful,” I ventured to remark;” but I do not quite understand what is meant by the bruised reed and the smoking flax.:
“These form a most important part of the description,” Roger explained. “They set forth what was an absolutely new feature in work for God—Christ’s gentleness and tender forbearance with the weak and the unworthy. A reed, as long as it is whole, is light and strong. But once it is crushed, it is fit for nothing, only to be cast away. But He will not break it. In that right hand of His there are miracles of healing. He will restore the bruised reed and find service for it. Then, when a lamp has burned so low that it only smolders and gives out offensive smoke instead of light, we haste to extinguish it. But He will not quench the smoking flax. He will give fresh grace: He will replenish the lamp with the needed oil with the breath of His lips. He will lift the smoldering wick once more to a flame. Was there ever so touching a picture of that which is the special glory of Christ’s work? And as to His place among the Gentiles, that is set forth still more clearly in the following verses:
‘I, the Lord, have called Thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep Thee, and will give Thee for a covenant of the peoples, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the Prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness from the prison house’ (6, 7).”
“I am with you there every time,” said Miss Smith, with much heartiness. “That is quite as astonishing to me as anything you have yet said. How could a Jewish book, Papa,” she said addressing her father,” have foretold that the Messiah, for whom the Jews were waiting, should become the Christ of the Gentiles? “Mr. Smith made no reply, but looked thoughtful. Matters were certainly advancing when the house of Smith was being divided against itself.
“I agree with you,” said Roger. “It is a marvelous fact that Christianity, though founded by a Jew, and spread abroad in the first instance by Jews, should become a Gentile religion, and should have been so clearly predicted in prophecies which have been religiously preserved by the Jews themselves. But the prophecies go farther. They actually explain how this great hope of the Jews was to become the consolation of the Gentiles. The Jews were to reject the Messiah. That is a most extraordinary feature in the case. Who might be expected to recognize the Messiah if not the Jews? For long ages they looked for His appearing. The prophecies which describe His origin, His character, His history, and His work were their daily study. How was it possible, then, that they should miss recognizing and acknowledging Him? Their rejection of Christ might be used against the claims of Christianity. It might have been argued that the Jewish people were experts thoroughly prepared to test the claims of Jesus, and that their rejection of Him left nothing more to be said. But that rejection has been turned into one of the weightiest testimonies to His being the Christ fore-announced. In Isa. 53 their rejection of the Messiah is distinctly predicted.
“But let us look at another prophecy in the 49th chapter. There the rejection is also foretold and God’s purpose in permitting it is fully explained. You will observe that in verse 7 the Messiah is described as He whom man despised and whom the nation abhorreth.’ But the words which I want you to mark specially are these:
‘And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to Him—though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And 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 to the ends of the earth’ (vers. 5, 6).
“Note the prophetic program. Christ’s mission to the Jews is at first to be a failure. But that leads Him to turn to the Gentiles, there to meet with glorious success. Is it not marvelous that all this should have been so clearly set forth 700 years before Christ came?”
“I am ashamed to say,” said I, “that I never noticed that before. It is certainly most remarkable.”
“It is only one, however, of many marvels,” said Roger.
“We have already seen that Messiah was to be ‘cut off.’ But what circumstances were to signalize the end of His earthly life? How was He to die?—through mob violence ; or war ; or was He to die from purely natural causes ? These questions are fully answered in the predictions. He was to die as a condemned criminal. He was taken from prison and from judgment,’ says Isaiah 53:88He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:8); that is to say, He was to be apprehended and condemned to die. But in what form was this supreme penalty to be inflicted: what kind of death was He to suffer? This, too, is shown us in the Calvary scene painted in the 22nd psalm. Christ is to be crucified. The psalm begins, you remember, with the cry from the cross: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ In verse 16 the Sufferer exclaims: They pierced my hands and my feet ‘—the physical torment of that cruel Roman punishment is thus indicated. The Sufferer cries: ‘I may tell all my bones; they look and stare upon Me’ (ver. 17). The next words describe even the parting of His garments: They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture’ (vers. 18). The very taunts of His foes which were to be flung at the Messiah are recorded: ‘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’ (vers. 7, 8),
“You assume,” interposed Mr. Smith,” that the psalm is a prophecy of the Christ; but may not all these be merely coincidences?”
“A serious consideration of this psalm,” answered Roger, “and other scriptures to which we are coming should dispel any doubt one may entertain. You will observe that this is no ordinary sufferer. His appeal is to God whom He glorifies in His sufferings. Then mark the New Testament ring in those words which sum up the outcome of His suffering: I will declare thy Name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee... all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee’ (vers. 22-27). These last words proclaim the fruit of this Sufferer’s anguish. In all the world’s history One alone has ever fulfilled these predictions: the piercing of hands and feet; the tortures of crucifixion; the taunts of His foes who pass to and fro before the cross; the parting of His garments, and casting lots for His vesture—only one conclusion is possible: The Sufferer is the Christ:
“But let me show you some things that are still stranger. We know how offensive the great doctrine of the Atonement has been to multitudes. On the cress as an altar, the Sufferer’s death was a propitiation for the world’s sins. But that doctrine was already in the prophecies! These explain that the Messiah dies in our stead. Nowhere is there a finer or more touching statement of the vicarious death of Christ than in that 53rd chapter of Isaiah:
“Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But 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” (vers. 4-6).
“The blotting out of sins by the blood of Christ is announced in the prophecies as the Divine program.
That is one thing. Here is another: The crucified Christ is to have a resurrection! For Him death is to be— not a defeat, nor even an arrest of effort, but—an introduction to wider activities and stupendous success.
That is a constant accompaniment of the predictions of the Messiah’s sufferings. It is so in psalm 22, and here again in Isaiah 53, we read:
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” (vers. 10, 11).
“To these predictions let me add a third, which is among the most striking in Scripture. The point in Messiah’s history at which this change from shame to glory should take place, was the subject of a special prophecy. You will find it in verse 9 of this 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Up to verse 9, the story is one of deepening humiliation.
From verse 9 it is one of increasing glory. Now what was to close the story of the degradation, and to commence that of the exaltation? Here is the reply: He made 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.’ In the Revised Version you will find: They made his grave with the wicked.’ (The verb is an impersonal one.) His grave was to be with the wicked, as appointed by those in authority who arranged the details of the execution. The Roman practice was to leave the crucified to decay upon the cross, but Jewish law forbade this, the land was not to be polluted. Arrangements were consequently made for the burial as well as for the execution of the condemned, and Christ was to have been buried with His fellow-sufferers in a dishonored grave. We know why this was altered. Two secret, but influential, followers of Jesus begged Pilate to give them the body of their Master. He consented, and the Lord was laid in Joseph’s own new tomb; thus, it was fulfilled, with the rich in his death.’ Although it had been part of Christ’s sentence that His dead body should be dishonored by burial with the wicked, God intervened, and when the time came for His burial, His body was laid with honor and reverence in the rich man’s tomb. And please note the significance of the reason that is assigned: Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.’ That is, He had offended neither in deed nor in word. When Christ had died, His atoning work—His suffering for sin—was completed. With the last breath all was finished. And as there was no reason why the sinless One should suffer on His own account, the humiliation must close sharply with His death, and the story of the Redeemer’s glory must begin. What hand drew that line so firmly and clearly centuries before that Calvary scene was enacted? Who declared that at this point the story of the Christ should enter upon a new phase? Who placed it on record that just there the degradation should cease and the exaltation should begin?
Mr. Smith had listened to Roger’s last argument with every sign of keen attention, and although Miss Smith and I had followed him with the greatest interest, we both turned, as with common consent, to Mr. Smith. It seemed as if Roger’s question had been intended specially for him, and that it was now his part to reply. After a pause of a second or two, Mr. Smith appeared to have arrived at a like conclusion. “I will not seek to hide from you,” he said,” that your way of putting these things has touched me. That last point, too, is new to me, and it is especially strong. I may also say that, if those quotations which you have made from the Old Testament stood alone, I do not see what answer could be made. But these Scriptures do not stand alone. What have you to say of Jesus ascending the throne of David; of His making the Jews the chief people of the world; and His assuming the sovereignty over the earth? If you argue as to the success of some prophecies, what about those I have mentioned and many others? If these failed of fulfillment, does it not prove conclusively that the others came from no infallible hand?”
Miss Smith and I now turned to Roger as we had previously turned to Mr. Smith. I saw how complete her father’s reply must appear to her. As for myself, I confess that, although my conviction was not shaken, I felt as if I were suddenly disarmed. “Mr. Smith,” said Roger, “I do not think that you put the matter quite fairly. The Scripture predictions which have been fulfilled are, all of them, remarkable as revelations of Omniscience. They show that what was afterward fulfilled in history was known to God even to the minutest particulars. On the face of them these could not be chance fulfillments. And one word more disposes of a seemingly strong argument. The prophecies which are still without fulfillment will all be accomplished in due time. Mankind has not seen the last of Jesus Christ. He will come again and complete in judgment the work begun in mercy. And please observe how the fulfilled prophecies support the unfulfilled. If someone were to assure you of a future; and if the person who foretold it had also mentioned three things, let us say, which in themselves were not at all likely to befall you, but which had nevertheless actually happened to you one after another, who could blame you if you confidently expected the promised future? So when we see how all the predictions about the Lord’s advent, His earthly life, and His sufferings were fulfilled with marvelous exactness, who shall blame us if we confidently expect that He will come again; that He will save His own people, the Jews, in their last dire distress; that He will judge the nations; that He will deliver the poor and break the oppressor in pieces; that He will make an end of sin and sorrow and sighing, and bring in the golden age of purity and peace and glad resting in God?”
My full assurance was restored. I was armed again with the sword and shield of God’s word. But Mr. Smith did not yield without a further struggle. “I was quite aware,” he replied, “of the theory that assigns all the unfilled prophecies to the future, and which maintains that the ceasing to fulfill is a mere pause and not a tragic end—a postponement and not a dismal failure. It is very ingenious. I do not know that there was ever a smarter way out of a difficulty. But it won’t work, my friend! You may shut yourself up in your fools’ paradise and look for all those things to happen, but you will find few indeed to follow you.
“But, Mr. Smith, that is an utter mistake,” Roger protested. “It is no theory of ours at all. On the contrary, the division was actually made by the Old Testament Scriptures centuries before Christ was born; for the pause in Christ’s earthly work, which has lasted now more than eighteen hundred years, was also predicted.” Mr. Smith looked sharply at Roger, and Miss Smith’s face and mine showed a like surprise. “Predicted!” echoed Mr. Smith: “what do you mean?” “I mean what I say,” replied Roger. “I know that the statement is astounding, but it is nevertheless absolutely true. The pause was predicted. See how the 110th psalm opens: ‘The LORD,’ that is, Jehovah, ‘said unto my Lord, SIT Thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.’ We shall see immediately who it is whom the Psalmist speaks of as his Lord;’ but let us first of all note what is here said. The person addressed—the Psalmist’s Lord, whoever He is—is to be transferred from earth to heaven. His personal presence and activity in the earth are to cease for a time, and He is to rest upon the throne of the universe at God’s right hand. I have said that the withdrawal is only for a time, and you will observe that the time is strictly defined. This Lord of the Psalmist has apparently numerous and mighty foes, and they seem to be triumphant. God now undertakes to deal with them, and the Psalmist’s Lord—I cannot call Him Christ as yet—is to rest at God’s right hand until Jehovah makes His enemies His footstool. The closing verses of this brief psalm describe what is to happen when the resting ends. This personage (addressed as Lord ‘) is to return, and then He will purge the earth and assume its sovereignty; then His enemies will be made His footstool.
“You will see,” continued Roger, “that, if this is the Christ, the pause of which we are now witnesses was distinctly prophesied. It is shown to have been in the Divine programme that the Christ should disappear for a time from human view, and come again to complete in judgment what He had begun in mercy. This necessarily, then, divides the prophecies. Some of them will be fulfilled at the first advent; and those which describe the Messiah’s glory and the earth’s deliverance from sin and wrong will be fulfilled at the Second Advent.”
“But, my dear sir,” said Mr. Smith,” you are assuming that the psalm speaks of Christ. There have been many guesses at the personage referred to; one, if I am not mistaken, is that he was one of the Ptolemies.”
“I was coming to that,” said Roger, “The many guesses of our rationalist friends, to which you allude, are attempts to escape a very evident conclusion. Which of the Ptolemies ever passed from earth to heaven to sit at God’s right hand on the throne of Omnipotence until Jehovah made his enemies his footstool? Which of them is expected to come back again and to sweep in fiery indignation over many countries and to take to him the empire of the world. And now face the question yourself and say to whom the Old Testament from first to last assigns the sword of final judgment and the world’s throne? Is not all this undeniably the Messiah’s right, and the right of the Messiah alone? That very title, too, ‘My Lord,’ given to this Personage in God’s own presence, suits the Messiah and the Messiah only, whom the prophecies plainly declared was to be God as well as man.”
I could not restrain myself from exclaiming, “Magnificent! I never saw the full importance of that psalm till now. It shows, as you have said, that this time of waiting was actually predicted.” I then turned to Mr. Smith with apology for having intervened between the two antagonists.
“Well,” said he to Roger, “You have gravelled me there. I see the strength of your position, the unfulfilled prophecies are as much in your favor as the fulfilled.” “Mr. Smith,” said Roger, “You have fought well, but facts are too strong for you, and it is well for us that they are so. A world of sinners needs a Divine Savior, and such we have in JESUS.”
We were now arriving at a station. Mr. Smith turned from the window with a startled look. “Why, Julia,” he cried,” here we are at Bedford! “Both sprang up; and Mr. Smith busied himself in handing out the luggage. Just before leaving the compartment, he stretched out his hand to Roger, saying with much heartiness: “You have given us something to think about. Goodbye! “And so father and daughter passed on their way, and we saw them again no more. But, doubtless, the memory of those present-day miracles, which our discussion had shown to be so real and so stupendous, remained with them as it remained with us.
“Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins”—Matt. 1:21.