Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

CHAPTER VII.

PREDICTIONS DELIVERED BY JESUS.

THE support of which we have hitherto spoken proceeds upon those prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, which were fulfilled by his appearing in the flesh. But a due attention to

the subject leads us much further, and we soon perceive that the birth of Christ, important and glorious as that event was, far from exhausting the significations given by the ancient prophets, only served to introduce other events most interesting to the human race, which were also foretold, which reach to the end of time, and which, as they arise in the order of Providence, are fitted to afford an increasing evidence of the truth of Christianity.

In entering upon this wide field of argument, which here opens to our view, I think it of importance to direct your attention to the admirable economy with which the prophecies of the Old Testament are disposed. They may be divided into two great classes, as they respect either the temporal condition of the Jews and their neighbours, or that future spiritual dispensation which was to arise in the latter days.

As the whole administration of the affairs of the Jews was for many ages conducted by prophecy, there are, in the Old Testament, numberless predictions concerning the temporal condition of themselves and their neighbours. Some of these predictions were to be fulfilled in a short time, so that the same persons who heard the prophecy saw the event. This near fulfilment of some predictions procured credit for others respecting more distant events. "Behold," said the Almighty to the nation of the Jews, "the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare. Before they spring up, I tell you of them."* There are prophecies of the temporal condition of nations, which are at this day fulfilling in the world. The present state of Babylon, of Tyre, of Egypt, of the descendants of Ishmael, and of the Jewish people themselves, have been shown by learned men, and particularly by Bishop Newton, to correspond exactly to the words of ancient prophets: and thus, as the experience of the Jewish nation taught them to expect every event which their prophets announced, so the visible continued accomplishment of what these prophets spoke two or three thousand years ago is to us a standing demonstration that they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But this whole system of prophecy was merely a vehicle for pre

Isaiah xlii. 9.

serving and conveying to the world the hopes of a future spiritual dispensation. It embraced indeed the temporal affairs of the Jews, and of the nations with whom they were particularly connected, because an intermediate preparatory dispensation was established till the better hope should be brought in. But all the prophecies of temporal good and evil were subservient to the promise of the Messiah, and the fulfilment of those prophecies cherished among the nation of the Jews the expectation of that future covenant which was the end of the law. The birth of the Messiah justified this expectation. It did not indeed accomplish all the words of the prophets, but it brought assurance that there should be, in due time, a complete accomplishment. Several great events happened soon after the birth of the Messiah, according to the ancient Scriptures. Other instances of fulfilment are at this day seen in the religious state of the world, and there are parts of the prophecy yet to be fulfilled. We are thus placed in the middle of a great scheme, of which we have seen the beginning and the progress. The conclusion remains to be unfolded. But the correspondence to the words of the prophets, both in the events which are past, and in the present state of things, may establish our hope that the mystery of God will be finished; and the succession of events, as they open in the course of Providence upon the generations of men, gradually explain those parts of the prophecy which were not understood.

The prophecies of the temporal state of Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, and other nations which are now fulfilling in the world, are so clear, that any one versant in history may compare the event with the prediction --and I do not know a more pleasing, satisfactory book for this purpose than Newton on the Prophecies. But the prophecies of those events in the spiritual state of the world, which were to happen after the birth of the Messiah, are in general short and obscure; and although any person who is capable of considering the scheme of ancient prophecy, may be satisfied of its looking forward to the end of all things, yet without some assistance it would be impossible for him to form a distinct conception of what was to follow the birth of the Messiah, and difficult even to refer events as they arise, to their place in the prediction. This kind of obscurity was allowed by God to remain upon the ancient predictions respecting the future fortunes of the Messiah's kingdom, because a remedy was to arise in due time by the advent of that great Prophet who, having fulfilled in his appearance one part of those predictions, became the interpreter of that which remains. The miracles by which he showed that he was a messenger of heaven, and the exact coincidence between the history of his life, and the characters of the Jewish Messiah, were sufficient to procure credit for his interpretation. He was worthy to take the book which Daniel had said was sealed till the time of the end, to open the seals of it, and to explain to the nations of the earth the words which were shut up therein. Thus Jesus stands forth not only as the personage whom ancient prophets had foretold, but as himself a Prophet. The same spirit which had moved them, but whose significations of future events had ceased with Malachi, speaks by that messenger of the covenant whom Malachi had announced, and upon whom Isaiah had said the spirit of the Lord should rest: and there is

opened in the discourses of Jesus and the writings of his apostles, a series of predictions explicatory of the dark parts of ancient prophecy, and extending to the consummation of all things.

It is not possible to conceive a more perfect unity of design than that which we have now traced in the system of prophecy; and every human scheme fades and dwindles when compared with the magnificence and extent of this plan-Jesus Christ the corner-stone which connects the old and the new dispensation; in whom one part of the ancient predictions received its accomplishment, and from whom the other received its interpretation. The spirit of prophecy thus ministers in two distinct methods to the evidence of Christianity. It enclosed in the words and actions of the Old Testament a proof that Jesus was that person whom the Father had sanctified, and sent into the world; and it holds forth, in the words uttered by Jesus and his apostles, that mark of a divine mission, which all impostors have assumed, and which mankind have often ascribed to those who did not possess it, but which, where it really exists, may be easily distinguished from all false pretensions, and is one of the evidences which the Almighty hath taught us to look for in every messenger of his. He claims it as his prerogative to declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that shall be; he challenges the gods of the nations to give this proof of their divinity; "Produce your cause, saith the Lord: bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods.' And he hath given this mark of his messengers: "When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him."+

[ocr errors]

As Jesus assumed this universal character of a divine messenger, so he was distinguished from other prophets by the clearness, the extent, and the importance of his predictions. And he showed that the spirit was given to him without measure, by exercising the gift of prophecy upon subjects very different from one another, both in their nature, and in their times. He foretold events which seem to be regulated by the caprice of men, and those which depend purely upon the will of God. He foretold some events so near, that we find in Scripture both the prophecy and the fulfilment; others which took place a few years after the canon of Scripture was closed, with regard to which we learn the complete fulfilment of the prophecy from contemporary historians; others which are now carrying forward in the world, with regard to which the fulfilment of the prophecy is a matter of daily observation; and others which reach to distant periods, and to the consummation of all things, which are still the objects of a Christian's hope, but with regard to which, hope rises in perfect assurance by the recollection of what is past.

This is a general view of the prophecies of Jesus and his apostles; and I recommend them to your particular attention and study, because, in my opinion, the evidence of Christianity derives two great advantages from the study of them. The first advantages arises from their appearing to be the explication and enlargement of

[blocks in formation]

the short obscure predictions contained in the Old Testament with regard to the same events; such an explication as no other person was qualified to give, and therefore as clear a demonstration of the prophetical spirit of Jesus as if he uttered a series of predictions perfectly new, yet such an explication as illustrates the intimate connection of the two dispensations. The prophecies of Jesus and his apostles, while they introduce many particulars that are not found in the writings of the ancient prophets, are always consistent with the words spoken by them, referring to their images, and unfolding their dark sayings. The highest honour is, in this way, reflected upon the extent of the scheme of ancient prophecy; and Jesus, by honouring this scheme, and carrying it forward, confirms his claim to the character of Jewish Messiah, because he speaks in a manner most becoming that great Prophet, who was to be raised up like unto Moses. The second advantage arising from a particular study of the predictions of Jesus, is this, that all the events, which constitute the history of his religion, thus appear to be the fulfilment of prophecy. Besides the support which every one of them in its place gives to the truth of Christianity, all together united as parts of a system, which had entered into the mind of the Author of our religion, and when they happen, they afford a demonstration that the God of knowledge had put words into his mouth.

To perceive distinctly the nature and the importance of this secondary advantage, the four Gospels should be read from beginning to end, with a special view to mark the prophecies of Jesus. In doing this, you will set down the many instances in which he discovers a knowledge of the human heart, of the intentions and thoughts of both his friends and his enemies, as of the same order with the gift of prophecy. You will find predictions of common occurrences, and near events, which must have made a deep impression upon those who lived with him; and, scattered through all his discourses, you will meet with predictions of remote events, for which the fulfilment of the predictions of near events was fitted to procure credit. Out of the many particulars which, upon such a review, may engage your attention, I select the following important objects, as affording a specimen of the variety of our Saviour's prophecies, and of the manner in which those events which constitute the history of his religion, may be considered as the fulfilment of his predictions; the prophecies of his death, of his resurrection, of the gift of the Holy Ghost, of the situation and behaviour of his disciples, of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the progress of his religion previous to that period, of the condition of the Jewish nation subsequent to it, and of the final discrimination of the righteous and the wicked.

1. The death of Jesus, that great event which, when considered in the Scripture view of it, is characteristical of the Gospel as the religion of sinners, is the subject of many of our Lord's prophecies. He marks, without hesitation, the time, the place, and the manner of it; the treachery of one disciple, the denial of another, the desertion of the rest, the sentence of condemnation which the supreme council of the Jewish nation, at a time when Jews were gathered from all corners of the land, was to pronounce in Jerusalem upon an innocent man, whom many of the people held to be a prophet, and the execu

tion of that sentence by the Gentiles, to whom the rulers of the Jews, jealous as they were of their own authority, and indignant under the Roman yoke, were to deliver the pannel. But of all kinds of death which might have been inflicted, the prophecy of Jesus selects one unknown in the land of Judea, and reserved by the Romans for slaves, who, having been distinguished from freemen in their life, were distinguished also in the manner of their death. It is not possible to conceive any events more contingent than those which this prophecy embraces. Yet it was literally fulfilled. When you examine it attentively, there are several particulars which you will be delighted with marking, because they constitute an indirect support to the truth of Christianity, arising out of the contexture of the prophecy. Thus, you will find that the prophecy applies to Jesus many minute circumstances in the Jewish types of the Messiah, and in this way shows us that as the death of the Messiah had been shadowed forth by the sacrifices of the law, and foretold by Isaiah and Daniel, so the manner of it had, from the beginning, been in the view of the spirit of prophecy, and was signified beforehand in various ways. You will admire the magnanimity of that man who came into the world that he might lay down his life, and who never courted the favour of the people, or shrunk from the discharge of any duty, although all the circumstances of barbarity that marked his death were fully before his eyes. You will admire the dignity, and the regard to the peace of his country, which restrained Jesus from raising the pity and the indignation of the multitude by publishing his future sufferings to them, and which led him to address all the clear minute predictions of his death to his disciples in private. You will admire the tenderness and wisdom with which he delayed any such communication even to them, till they had declared a conviction of his being the Messiah, and then gradually unfolded the dismal subject as they were able to bear it; and you will perceive the gracious purpose which was promoted by the growing particularity of his prophecy, as the event drew near. "Now," says he, " I tell you before it come, that when it come to pass, ye may believe, that I am he."*

2. The circumstances of his death, every one of which had been foretold by himself, thus served to procure credit for that prophecy of his resurrection, which was always conjoined with them. The ancient prophets had declared that the Messiah was to live for ever; and as both Isaiah and Daniel, who spoke of his everlasting kingdom, had spoken also of his being cut off out of the land of the living, their words implied that he was to rise from the dead. This implication of a resurrection was brought out by our Lord. Conscious of the divine power which dwelt in him, he said that on the third day he should rise again; and in the hearing of all the people, he held forth Jonas as a type of himself. The people recalled his words as soon as he was put to death, for "the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again :"t and they vainly employed precautions to prevent the fulfilment of his prophecy. The apostles have left a most natural picture of their own weakness and

[blocks in formation]
« VorigeDoorgaan »