Tracing the brief record down to the tenth in descent from Noah, we have the call of Abraham, to whom the Lord said, “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Notwithstanding this promise to Abraham that he should possess the land, the Lord assured him that he would die. Paul says he went out into “a place which he should after receive for an inheritance.” This question of the fulfilment of the promise was undoubtedly made plain to Abraham in a vision from God, for he “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” In Rom. 4:13 it is stated that the promise was “that he should be the heir of the world;” not in its present state, but sooner or later, after he should live again.
From a human standpoint Abraham failed to see how the seed promised could be his own offspring. He therefore suggested the calling of Eliezer, his steward, the seed. The Lord said, Not so; but it will be one that “shall come forth out of thine own bowels.” Now the Lord begins to reveal to him that the final work of his seed is not to have an immediate accomplishment. He said to Abraham, “Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. . . . And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.”
Abraham’s wife proposed an unwise plan for hastening the fulfilment of the promise; but after Isaac was born, a real son of Abraham and Sarah, his lawful wife, the Lord said of Ishmael and his mother Hagar, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son.”
In the test of Abraham’s faith in the offering of Isaac upon the altar, he learned a lesson upon the subject of the resurrection of the dead. It is said of him, “Accounting that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
The Real Seed
Abraham was at one time instructed that the real Seed, through whom all the nations were to be blessed, though of his posterity after the flesh, would in reality be the Christ of God; for the Lord said not to him, “Seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ.” The apostle Paul said of this, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” The promise to Abraham was renewed to Isaac and his seed, and also to Jacob.
As Jacob had twelve sons, the question would now naturally arise, Through which is the lineage of the true Seed43to be traced? In the inspired testimony borne by Jacob respecting his sons, the case was settled: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” In fulfilment of this it is well to note here that the Israelites, although subject to the various nations, were permitted to have their Sanhedrin. Thus Judah—the tribe of the Jews so named from Judah—had some voice in their government until Shiloh (Christ) did actually come.
The Time Hidden
The patriarchs were in possession of some knowledge concerning the restoration and the promised Seed; but when or how long before he should come was still hidden from them. As the posterity of Jacob multiplied in Egypt, and the Assyrian—Pharaoh (Isa. 52: 4)—who “knew not Joseph,” oppressed them, their minds naturally reverted to the 400 (actually 430) years mentioned to Abraham as the period covering their afflictions and their sojourn as strangers, hoping that deliverance from these would usher in the promised inheritance.
When Moses was born, his parents saw that “he was a proper child.” Light must have been given them that he was to be, under God, Israel’s deliverer from their cruel bondage. Undoubtedly this knowledge was imparted to Moses; for when, at the age of forty years, he decided fully to go with the oppressed Israelites, and suffer affliction with them rather than to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and heir to the Egyptian throne, and when he began to plead the cause of his people, and in their defense slew an Egyptian, he marveled greatly that they failed to recognize his work; “for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.”
When the Lord’s time came for the Israelites to leave Egypt, they departed, and on the predicted time to a day. Ex. 12: 40, 41. They could not have considered Moses as their final ruler and the seed to whom the promise was made, for he was of the tribe of Levi, and had not Jacob in his inspired prediction declared that Judah should be their ruler until the Shiloh should come?
“I Shall See Him, but not Now.”
When the Israelites were on their way to Canaan, Balak, the king of Moab (a descendant of Lot), called Balaam to curse Israel. The Lord turned his curse into a blessing, through which they received additional light, calculated to dispel the thought that the final deliverance from Satan’s usurpation would be immediate on their entrance into Canaan. The Scripture account of it reads, Balaam, in a vision from God, said, “I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.”
This multitudinous seed that sprang from Abraham is spoken of by Paul on this wise: “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
The heart of Israel need not have fainted or been discouraged by the prediction of Balaam that the consummation of their hope is “not now,” nor “near;” for the Lord, not long before this prophecy, had pledged his own life that the glorious state should finally come. Through Moses he said, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” In the days of the prophet Habakkuk, 863 years later, the same truth was reiterated,45but spoken of as an event yet future: “for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
The Sanctuary Service a Type of the True
When the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, he proclaimed in the audience of all the camp his law of moral precepts, and gave them a copy of the same on stone, graven by his own finger, that they might continually be pointed forward to that Saviour who would finally make a sacrifice of himself for them; and that by virtue of his precious blood their sins might be cleansed away, he had a sanctuary erected in the wilderness. This tabernacle, or sanctuary, in all its construction, Moses was admonished to make exactly like the pattern which the Lord showed to him in the mount. The service in this sanctuary was a shadow of the real service of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. While the purpose of God in the offerings and sacrifices of the sanctuary was to keep before men a shadow of “good things to come,” Satan’s effort was to lead the people to regard the offering itself, instead of Christ and his actual service, of which this was only an example. Thus he sought to lead them to trust in their own works for salvation.
It was the Lord’s purpose to be the ruler of his people,—the Israelites,—to fight their battles and subdue the nations. He had his method of ruling, as is shown by the following text: “When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”
Israel Calls for a King
The Israelites evidently disliked the Lord’s manner of ruling them. It was, however, his purpose and his will that46they should be a peculiar people, distinct from all others around them. Had they strictly followed his instructions, the nations even would say of them, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?”
In their dissatisfaction they requested of Samuel that he appoint a king over them, and the Lord said to Samuel, “They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” Again they said to Samuel, and a little more imperatively, “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” Carefully did Samuel lay before them the oppression that would come upon them in case they had a king, but “nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”
So they had kings to rule them for about five hundred years, first, as one kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon; then as divided into the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. A very few of their kings were good and just, but most of them were wicked, leading the people into idolatry and gross iniquities. So the people were not only like the nations around them in having a king, but like them in wickedness, in forsaking the God of their fathers, and in worshiping idols and the hosts of heaven.
The Lord said of this kingly rule, by the mouth of the prophet Hosea, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king; where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.”
The Kingdom Overturned
This kingly rule continued until the Chaldeans burned Jerusalem, took the vessels of the temple, and carried Judah captive to Babylon, where they remained for seventy years, as predicted against them. At the cessation of this monarchical ruling, the Lord said by the prophet Ezekiel, to Zedekiah, their last king, “Thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low [the ruler of Babylon], and abase him that is high [this highly self-exalted ruler of the tribe of Judah]. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”
This rightful ruler, the true Seed, is Christ. Of him the prophet Micah wrote, “Thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion [dominion over the earth, restored in Christ]: the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”
When Israel lost the scepter, it passed into the hands of the king of Babylon. As they were successively under the rule of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, the kingdom was three times overturned. In the reign of Cæsar Augustus, emperor of Rome, Christ, the rightful heir to the throne of David,—the true Seed of the woman, of Abraham, and of David,—was born, and in the manner predicted.
That the people might know that the rightful Ruler, the true Seed, was more than an ordinary mortal man with a short-lived kingdom, the Lord moved the psalmist thus to write: “I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.” “His seed shall endure forever, and his throne48as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.”
In the prophecy of Isaiah we read further of this Ruler as follows: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
Translation of Enoch and Elijah
Instances are recorded of persons in ancient times being translated to heaven without tasting death. Of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, it is said, he “walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
Again, as Elijah and Elisha were walking together, “it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more.”
Enoch prophesied of Christ’s coming as the judge of all the earth, in these words: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Job Taught the Lord’s Coming
Job, who is supposed to have lived in Moses’ time, had some knowledge concerning the coming of Christ and the resurrection; for he said, “O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.”
The Throne of David the Lord’s Throne
The throne of David was called the throne of the Lord. “Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” The Lord had “sworn with an oath to him [David], that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne: he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” And it is further said of Christ’s future reign, He shall sit upon the throne of David. (See Isa. 9:7.) Again, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed. . . . Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” Again, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
The Jews Perplexed
These texts perplexed the Jews. Here was a problem they could not solve: if David called him Lord, how was he then his son? How could he be a child born of the seed50of David, and yet be Immanuel — God with us? Yet Isaiah, their own prophet, declared, “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Christ well knew the question that would put to silence the caviling Pharisees, hence he asked them, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?”
This subject is again alluded to in Ps. 45:6, 7: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” With these Scriptures before the mind, the Jewish people must have had exalted conceptions of the character of the future Ruler and Restorer. It could not have been otherwise.
The Seed of Divine Origin
Minute instruction was given concerning Christ and his birth, for the Lord by Micah the prophet designated his divine origin, and even the little village where he was to be born: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (margin, Heb., from “the days of eternity”).
God’s Presence Manifest in the Shekinah and the Cloud
Later in the history of the Israelites, when Solomon had finished the erection of the temple, which he said must be exceedingly “magnifical,” the shekinah of God’s glory took its position between the cherubim over the mercy-seat. The record says that at the dedication of the temple, as the priests51came out of the holy place, “the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” The presence of the Lord in this temple was manifest to the eyes of the people in the cloud of glory. The Lord responded to the prayer of Solomon on this occasion, and said unto him, “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.”
The people sinned,—went into idolatry,—and consequently their city and sanctuary were in ruins for seventy years. After the captivity, the temple was rebuilt under the hand of Zerubbabel. Although inferior in splendor to the one built by Solomon, yet the Lord said of it by his prophet, “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.” This house was beautified by Herod, and in its courts the Saviour taught. The former house had a cloud of glory representing the Lord, but into the second came the Saviour himself, the Maker of all things.
Glorious Reign of the Stem of Jesse
To the expectant, waiting ones in Isaiah’s day, the representations through his prophecy of the glorious things connected with the final redemption must have been a source of strength and encouragement. These prophecies again delineate most clearly the line whence this expected Deliverer should come, as follows: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and 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; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity,52for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.”
The Resurrection Taught by the Prophets
The prophet Isaiah also taught the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, in these comforting words: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
The Renewed-Earth Kingdom
The same prophet says that it is to be a renewed earth in which the final reign shall be established: “For, behold, I create new heavens [atmospheric heavens] and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind [margin, Heb., ‘come upon the heart,’ that is, to be desired again]. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence [from the time the new earth is created] an infant of days [a short-lived child], nor an old man that hath not filled his days [premature old age]: for the child shall die an hundred years old [in days when men attained to lives of nine hundred years children might be one hundred years old];53but the sinner being an hundred years old [in later years of an hundred-year life-time] shall be accursed. [Those dying at the time the new earth is brought in are those who perish in the “perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7.] And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree [the tree of life, Septuagint] are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”
Ezekiel looks down through the long vista of time to the resurrection of the dead. Through him the Lord says, “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.”
“He Hath Borne Our Sorrows”
To Isaiah, the gospel prophet, was revealed more fully the trial, sufferings, and death of the Saviour in behalf of men. “Who,” says the prophet, “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. He 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. 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.”
Are these events so wonderful to transpire in my day? the people, as well as the prophet, might have asked. The answer would have been, Not now will they happen; the54time has not yet arrived for the coming of this great Deliverer; but says the prophet, “Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off.”
Daniel’s Prophecies Reveal the Future
It was, however, through the prophet Daniel that the Lord began to instruct his people concerning consecutive kingdoms that should arise and bear rule down to the setting up of his everlasting kingdom; and to reveal a special period of time, from an event then yet to occur, to the actual appearing and the cutting off of the Messiah. The interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream revealed that the four kingdoms which were to rule the world would diminish in power and grandeur in the ratio of the diminishing value of gold, silver, brass, and iron; and that finally the broken, disunited state of the kingdoms would be comparable to the brittleness of iron mixed with miry clay. Then was to come the kingdom of heaven that should follow the reduction of those kingdoms that were to become like the chaff of the summer’s threshing floor, so that no place should be found for them, while God’s kingdom would fill the whole earth.
Then, in the vision of the seventh chapter, under symbols of the four great beasts, the same ground is again covered, and other features of these kingdoms presented. In this chapter is traced the career and work of the “little-horn” power that should arise, after the division of the fourth kingdom into ten parts, overthrowing or subduing three of them to establish itself as a spiritual ruler over them all. This papal power is to continue in the divided and brittle state of the fourth kingdom, even for 1260 years. Thus were revealed events reaching to the time when Christ receives the kingdom from his Father, and gives it to the saints of the Most High; a kingdom which shall finally bear rule over all the earth, and shall stand forever.
The Twenty-three Hundred Days
In the eighth chapter of Daniel, under the vision of the ram, the goat, and the “little horn that waxed exceeding great,” the prophet is again carried down to the end of time. In verses 13 and 14 his attention is called to a period of time—2300 days—extending to the judgment. A long stretch of time was this, and so the prophet understood it; for the angel informed him that the vision was yet for many days. As yet no date had been given for the beginning of the days, and so he closes the chapter by saying, “I was astonished at the vision; but none understood it.”
The Seventy Weeks to Messiah
The ninth chapter tells of the angel coming to Daniel, in response to his petition, to give him skill and understanding. He informed him of a period of seventy weeks. Sixty-nine of these weeks of years [that, we are told, is the meaning of the word shevooim, rendered “weeks”] would extend to the Messiah. The point from which the period was to begin, “the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem,” had not as yet been given. The question arises, How could Daniel know where the sixty-nine weeks would end? In the twelfth chapter the time question is again considered, and to his inquiry, “What shall be the end of these things?” he is told to go his way, for the words are “closed up and sealed to the time of the end,” when the “wise shall understand.”
Undoubtedly this time question is one of the instances the apostle Paul alludes to when he says, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”
Fate of the Ungodly
Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, leaves a thrilling description of the final destruction of the wicked: “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings: and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.”
With all these facts recorded in the Old Testament in the possession of the Israelites, unfolding to them so many features of the plan of salvation, how great must have been the interest of the diligent students of the word as they saw and realized that they were nearing the time when this promised Seed would come. While the masses, and even those who read the Scriptures in the synagogues every Sabbath, failed to understand the word (Acts 13:27), the devout, studious ones, who faithfully searched the Scriptures under the guidance of the Spirit, undoubtedly prayed earnestly, as did the apostle John in this dispensation, “Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly.”
CHAPTER III
THE COMING OF THE PROMISED SEED
WHEN the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, . . . made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.”
“By revelation he made known unto me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words, . . . which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. . . . Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”
It has been said that in the Old Testament the gospel lies concealed; in the New Testament it is revealed. As expressed by another, “As they departed from God, the Jews in a great degree lost sight of the teachings of the ritual service. That service had been instituted by Christ himself. In every part it was a symbol of him; and it had been full of vitality and spiritual beauty.58But the Jews lost the spiritual life from their ceremonies, and clung to the dead forms. They trusted to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of resting upon him to whom they pointed.
Looking for Temporal Rule
“While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no conception of his mission. They did not seek redemption from sin, but deliverance from the Romans. They looked for the Messiah to come as a conqueror, to break the oppressor’s power, and exalt Israel to universal dominion. Thus the way was prepared for them to reject the Saviour.”
“The people, in their darkness and oppression, and the rulers, thirsting for power, longed for the coming of one who would vanquish their enemies and restore the kingdom to Israel. They had studied the prophecies, but without spiritual insight. Thus they overlooked the scriptures that point to the humiliation of Christ’s first advent, and misapplied those that speak of the glory of his second coming. Pride obscured their vision; they interpreted prophecy in accordance with their selfish desires.
“For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had waited the Saviour’s coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined his name. And yet at his coming they knew him not. The Beloved of heaven was to them ‘as a root out of a dry ground;’ he had ‘no form nor comeliness;’ and they saw in him no beauty that they should desire him. ‘He came unto his own, and his own received him not.’”
Of the Lineage of David
As the time predicted by Daniel drew near, when “Messiah the Prince”—the anointed One—was to appear, the Jewish people could have reasoned, and undoubtedly did so, on this wise: The Messiah after the flesh is to be of the house and59lineage of David, therefore his birth must be in that line; and according to the regulations of the Jewish law and customs, he must be anointed for public service at the age of thirty years; and if he is to appear as the anointed at that age, then his birth must be thirty years before the termination of the sixty-nine weeks of years, which are to extend to the coming of the Messiah.
Predictions of Simeon and Anna
About this time all Israel was in expectation. The earnest, devoted students of the Scriptures were looking for the birth of him who was to be their Ruler and Governor. To the aged and pious Simeon it was revealed “by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”
When the infant Saviour was brought to the temple, Simeon knew that this child was the one referred to—the Christ. “Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. . . .
“And Simeon blessed them [Joseph and Mary], and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser. . . . And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
Angels Visit the Shepherds
Previous to this the glad news of the Saviour’s birth had been heralded by angels to the shepherds on the plains60of Bethlehem. Into the listening ear of the shepherds, angels chanted these melodious strains:—
“Glory to God in the highest:
On earth peace, good will to men.”
The Wise Men Visit Bethlehem
Then came the wise men of the East who had seen “the star arise,” as predicted by Balaam. Following its guidance they reached Jerusalem, where it became necessary to inquire for the new-born King. On being instructed that Bethlehem was to be the birthplace of the Desired One, they journeyed on; and guided thither by the star which again appeared, they were led to the humble place where the Saviour lay. Here they worshiped the holy Child, presenting him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and then took their long journey homeward.
The Saviour at Twelve Years of Age
From childhood to twelve years of age little is recorded of Christ the Saviour, except his increase in wisdom and stature, and his dutiful submission to his parents. But at the age of twelve, having accompanied Joseph and Mary up to Jerusalem to attend the annual feast, he there astonished the priests with the knowledge shown in his questions, and in the answers given to their knotty problems. From this time until he entered upon his public labors, the humble occupation of a carpenter was honored by him as he worked with Joseph, the husband of Mary.
The Mission of John the Baptist
For six months previous to his public ministry, Christ’s mission was heralded by John the Baptist. The people came in vast crowds to hear John, and to be baptized of him. As they “were in expectation [expecting the Messiah to come] and all men mused [“reasoned or debated,” margin] in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not; John answered,61saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
Jesus Baptized
As John was administering the rite of baptism, he saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. . . . And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
The Voice from Heaven
Not only was Christ’s Messiahship attested by the visible descent of the Holy Spirit in a bodily shape like a dove, but also by a voice from heaven. In Matthew’s Gospel we read, “Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Although “John did no miracle,” the people, when they saw the mighty power that attended Christ’s ministry, were constrained to say, “All things that John spake of this man were true.”
Christ Anointed According to Law
In connection with Luke’s record of the baptism and the same anointing by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove,62we read, “Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.”
After our Lord’s long fast of forty days, and the fierce temptations of the devil in the wilderness, which immediately followed his baptism, he “came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. . . . The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. . . . And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
The Time is Fulfilled
Mark, in recording the same occurrence, says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” The time predicted for the Anointed to appear had come. The anointing by the Holy Ghost had taken place at his baptism, and he was now entering upon his ministry, just in the time and manner predicted by the holy prophets of old.
Visible Proof of Christ’s Messiahship
The ministry of Christ was accompanied with a constant performing of miracles, which, to the people, even if they failed fully to comprehend his parables and words, were a visible proof that he was the Immanuel, or that “God was with him.” In these miracles Christ was giving to the world not only an evidence of the power of God in himself, but also a practical demonstration of the character of God and of his loving kindness. When Philip, after three years of continuous association with Christ, witnessing his mighty miracles, said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,” Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Show63us the Father? . . . Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”