X The Prophecy of a Suffering Messiah
Isa. liii. 3-5.—John xix. 5.
There is a great deal said in the Old Testament about the Reign of Christ as King; but though the Jews read these Scriptures every Sabbath day, they did not notice that it was written in a number of places that before He was crowned King He was to suffer and die.
Why did He die? The reference quoted at the head of this page, written by Isaiah so long before, tells us why it was.
“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.”
Jesus Himself said: “I lay down My life for the sheep... No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This Commandment have I received of My Father.”
Isaiah tells us “He was despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” And when the council of the Jews had judged Him, and condemned Him to be worthy of death, they handed Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor, to execute the cruel death which they could not carry out themselves.
And so the soldiers mocked Him and platted that crown of thorns, and Pilate brought Him out wearing the royal robe that the soldiers had put upon Him in mockery. But not satisfied with the cruel death He was to die, Pilate ordered Him to be scourged, all the time protesting that he found no fault in Him.
Thus those words in Isaiah liii. 8 were fulfilled: “He was taken from prison and from judgment... for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken.”
And then He was taken to the Cross.
PROPHECIES OF THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH.
Dan. ix. 26.
—Acts ii. 23.
We read in Daniel that “The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.” And Zechariah says: “And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.”
THE THREE CROSSES.
As our Blessed Lord hung on that Cross “He was numbered with the transgressors,” for two thieves were crucified with Him.
In the twenty-second Psalm we learn to understand a little of the anguish which made Him cry on the Cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” It was because “He bore our sins in His own Body on the tree.”
“He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
But though all this came upon that beloved Son of God, in order that He might redeem the world, we have, in Isaiah liii. 10, a great and beautiful promise of the Resurrection, and of His afterwards reigning in glory as King:—
“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 made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.” This was fulfilled when rich Joseph of Arimathæa buried Him in beautiful fine linen in his own new grave in that garden near Calvary.
PROPHECY OF THE RESURRECTION.
Psalm xvi. 9, 10. Mark xvi. 6.
Jesus rose from the dead. It was impossible that the Son of God should be holden of death.
HE IS RISEN!
The angel came down and rolled away the stone, and then told the frightened women that Jesus was not there, but was risen, “as He said.”
All through the whole of the Bible it is “As He said.” As God has said—so it will surely be.
Jesus told the disciples that He would ascend to His Father; and He led them out to Bethany and went up to Heaven in their sight.
He told them that the Father would send the Holy Spirit down, and that they were to wait for Him.
They did wait, and at the appointed time the Holy Spirit came, and is with us still, though we cannot see Him; He is our Comforter and Guide.
All these things are very solemn realities.
We have been dwelling on some of the Prophecies that have been fulfilled. There are numbers more yet to be fulfilled hereafter.
PROPHECIES WHICH ARE NOT YET FULFILLED.
2 Peter i. 19.
—Matt. xxiv. 14.
The central one of all is, Jesus Christ is coming again to take His people to be for ever with Him. He says: “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me.”
In the fiftieth Psalm we have a wonderful Prophecy and the promise: “The mighty God... hath spoken... Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. Gather my saints together unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by Sacrifice.”
And the last Prophecies in the Bible tell us about Heaven and the future life.
We read in Revelation xxi. 1-4 these words—
“I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying—
“Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”