Continued: Chapter XVI-Jesus in the Prophetic Mold of Moses

V. SOME DISTINGUISHING NAMES AND TITLES OF MESSIAH

OLD TESTAMENT

NEW TESTAMENT

A. Son of God

I will tell of the decree: Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son; This day have I begotten thee.
(Psalms 2:7)

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (Matt. 16:16)

She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God,
even he that cometh into the world.
(John 11:27)

B. Lord

Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
(Psalms 110:1)

Act 9:17

And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:10-11)

And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Act 9:17)

C. Immanuel (God with us)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
(Isaiah 7:14)

For 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, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.
(Matthew 1:23)

Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
(Titus 2:13)

Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
(John 20:28)

D. The First and the Last

Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
(Isaiah 44:6)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
(Revelation 22:13)

E. Servant of Jehovah

Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
(Isaiah 52:13)

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.
(Acts 3:13)

VI. OFFICES OF MESSIAH

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus is represented as the King of the Jews. To this end He was born into the world. But He will at His Second Coming reign as King, not only over Israel, but also over the entire world.

OLD TESTAMENT

NEW TESTAMENT

A. Prophet

Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
(Deuteronomy 18:15)

Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
(Acts 3:22-23)

B. Priest

Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek.
(Psalms 110:4)

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.
(Hebrews 3:1-2)

C. Judge

For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah is our lawgiver, Jehovah is our king; he will save us.
(Isaiah 33:22)¹

I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
(2 Timothy 4:1)

D. King

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.
(Zechariah 9:9)²

Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.
(Psalms 2:6)

Now this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, Meek, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did even as Jesus appointed them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their garments; and he sat thereon. And the most part of the multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way. And the multitudes that went before him, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
(Matthew 21:4-9)

VII. CREDENTIALS OF MESSIAH

OLD TESTAMENT

NEW TESTAMENT

A. Coming of Messiah Announced

The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God.
(Isaiah 40:3)

Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts.
(Malachi 3:1)³

This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall prepare thy way before thee.
(Matthew 11:10)

He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.
(John 1:23)

B. Miraculous Works of Messiah Foretold

According to Isaiah, chapter 35, and parallel passages, when Israel accepts Messiah, He will perform all kinds of miracles, lifting the curse from the creation. One sees, for instance, that Messiah will open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, heal the lame, restore the dumb, and raise the dead.

Opening Eyes of Blind

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the redeemed: the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein.
(Isaiah 35:5-8)

Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is
as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.
(Isaiah 26:19)4

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
(John 9:6-7)

Opening Ears of Deaf

And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
(Mark 7:33-35)

Healing at Pool

And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the sabbath on that day.
(John 5:5-9)

Casting out Demons

And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon. And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
(Matthew 9:32-33)

Raising Lazarus

And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11:43-44)




Footnotes:

¹ This passage becomes especially intelligible if one assumes that Jehovah becomes incarnate and functions in the various capacities mentioned in this prediction. This view is demanded by many predictions of Moses and the Prophets.

² In this prediction Jehovah, Israel's great future King, enters Jerusalem riding upon an ass. This prediction compels one to accept the scriptural teaching concerning the Son of God's entering the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth and thus becoming the God-man with a human physical body.

³ Malachi:3:1 speaks especially of the herald of Messiah at His Second Coming, who will be Elijah the Prophet (Ma1. 4:5,6). John the Baptist was the herald at Messiah's first coming (Matt. 3:1-12)

4 An examination of the facts of the contexts of these two passages, Isaiah 35:5-8 and Isaiah 26:19, shows that the prophet was speaking of what Messiah will do when He returns to earth and sets up His reign of righteousness. Since at His Second Coming He will lift the curse from creation and restore Edenic conditions (Acts 3:19-21), it is logical to suppose that, at His first coming, He performs such miracles as are mentioned in this prediction as proof of His ability to fulfill completely these prophecies when He returns. This supposition is lifted out of the realm of conjecture to the level of certainty by the instructions regarding the credentials of prophets whom God would send to Israel from time to time. The true prophet would be recognized as such if his predictions came to pass or if the miracle which he wrought was accompanied by exhortations to worship Jehovah (Deut. 13:1-5).

That this interpretation is correct is seen from Matthew 11:2-6: "2 Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples 3 and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me." On this occasion Jesus refers to His miracles and His preaching the gospel to the poor as proof of His Messiahship.




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