This concurs with what was before adduced from Isaiah; "He shall see of the travail of his soul, "and be satisfied." "He shall see his seed."1 With evident reference to this, the apostle applies to the Christian church many of those things, which were spoken of Israel by the Lord: "Ye “ are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a "holy nation, a peculiar people."2 And can it be said, that the words of the Psalmist, connected with the preceding verses, do not warrant this application?" They shall come, and shall declare "his righteousness, unto a people that shall be "born; that the Lord hath done this." 3 Thus the Psalm contains a regular prediction, which has received an exact accomplishment, even to minuteness, in "the sufferings of Christ, "and the glory which followed;" except that which remains to be fulfilled, when " the kingdoms "of this world shall become the kingdoms of our "Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for "ever and ever."4 If this most obvious and easy interpretation be rejected; let another be produced, not of a few expressions, but of the whole prophecy, which can stand a competition with it. Till this be done, our interpretation must be conceded to be the true one. A few extracts alone, from other productions, must now be adduced; which corroborate our interpretation of these scriptures, which have been more fully examined. The sixty-ninth Psalm 'Is. ix. 5. liii. 10-12. 3 Ps. xxii. 31. ว Rev. xi. 15. might be shewn to be throughout a prophecy of the Messiah; fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, and in the judgments which came upon the Jews, because they rejected and crucified him. But, as I mean only to call the attention of the reader to these prophecies, and not to write an exposition of them, I shall merely quote one passage: "Re 1 proach hath broken my heart, and I am full of "heaviness; and I looked for some to take pity, "but there was none; and for comforters, but I "found none. They gave me also gall to eat, " and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar "to drink." David was indeed often extremely ill-treated, both by Saul and his adherents, and in Absalom's rebellion: but when was he destitute of faithful adherents and affectionate comforters? When was this the case with any one of whom we read in scripture, except Job, who was a remarkable type of the Messiah? The literal fulfilment of the latter verse, in Jesus of Nazareth, is well known; and the persons concerned assuredly did not intend to fulfil the scriptures. ? 2 Again, in Isaiah, One says, "Wherefore when "I came, was there no man? when I called, was "there none to answer? Is my hand shortened, "that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to "deliver? I clothe the heavens with blackness; "I make sackcloth their covering. 3-The Lord "God hath given me the tongue of the learned, "that I should know how to speak a word in season "to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning 'Ps. lix. 20, 21. 2 Matt. xxvii. 34, 48. John xix. 28, 29. Matt. xxvii. 43. by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the "learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, 1 " and I was not rebellious, neither turned away "back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my "cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid "not my face from shame and spitting. For the "Lord God will help me.' Let the reader carefully observe, that the person who speaks throughout is the same, without the least intimation of a change: and who was this person, who united such divine dignity, authority, and power; so much meekness and condescension in teaching and comforting the weary; and such submission to the most contemptuous and cruel usage, with full confidence of victory and triumph? Who but he that "endured the cross, despising "the shame, and is set down at the right hand of "the throne of God?" In whom was this prediction ever fulfilled, but in Jesus of Nazareth? Let the fulfilment of it in any other person be adduced, if there ever was any. It is a prophecy of a divine Messiah, IMMANUEL; who was treated with indignity and opprobrium, and who triumphed over all. And the second verse shews the reason why the Jews have, during so many ages, been, as it were, divorced from the Lord. "Wherefore when I came, was there no man? "when I called, was there none to answer?" For according to the evangelist, "He came to his own, " and his own received him not."3 The prophecy of Daniel has already been considered, in another part of the general argument; 'Psalm xl. 6. 2 Is. 1. 1-9. 3 and I am persuaded that the Christian interpretation has been confirmed, not indeed beyond contradiction, but beyond all refutation.—I shall here only call the reader's attention to the language employed, in respect "of Messiah the Prince," who should be "cut off, but not for himself." Our argument does not rest on the words, "not "for himself." It is undeniable, that "Messiah "the Prince," there spoken of, would, according to the prophet," be cut off;" that is, die by violence, and not a natural death: while the language previously used, coinciding, as that expression does, with the words of Isaiah, shews that, while he died, in man's esteem, as a criminal, he suffered in reality, not as a martyr, but as an ATONING SACRIFICE for sin: "To make an end of sins," or of sin-offerings," and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousHow could this be verified in king Agrippa,' or in any other man, of whom the records of history make mention? ness." 1 Again, of whom does the prophet Zechariah speak, or rather JEHOVAH by him? "I will pour 66 upon the house of David, and upon the inhabi"tants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look on me, whom they "have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only Son." The Christian interpretation is known. It is Immanuel, who speaks of the Jews, whose ancestors "pierced his "hands and feet," his temples and his side, by the "Roman soldiers employed in mocking and cru ' 'Dan. ix. 24. Is. liii, 10-12. cifying him; whose blood the Jews imprecated upon them and their children;" and whose posterity have, in every age consented, with full approbation, to the deed of their fathers; thus "crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting. "him to open shame: "2 but who will ere long, by the "pouring out of the Spirit upon them," look to him with intensely penitent sorrow, and with obedient faith and love. May the Lord speedily vouchsafe this "pouring out of the "Spirit" on Israel; and thus, according to another prophecy, "take away the stony heart out of "their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh.”3 I shall close this part with another prediction from the same prophet. "Awake, O sword, "against my Shepherd, against the Man that is my Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the Shepherd." Who is this person, whom JEHOVAH owns as "his SHEPHERD?" not as one of his shepherds, much less an idol-shepherd, but exclusively his Shepherd? and "the Man," the only Man, who is "his FELLOW?" is it not Immanuel ? whose "name is Wonderful, Counsellor, the “ mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince "of Peace?"4. Is it not he of whom another prophet speaks, " I will set one Shepherd over them, " and he shall feed them, even my servant David; " he shall feed them, he shall be their Shepherd, " and I the Lord will be their God; and my servant "David, a Prince among them: I the Lord have 1 Matt. xxvii. 25. John xix. 37. Heb. vi. 6. 2 συνευδοκεῖτε, Luke xi. 48. Is. vii. 14. ix. 6, 7. 3 3 Ezek. xi. 19, 20. xxxvi. 25-27. |