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 Book. -H?7 
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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 
 

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 Copyrighted by 
 
 The Bethel Publishing Company 
 
 Dayton, Ohio 
 
 1909 
 
 ©Lf,.t. wi 
 
 "* .48255 
 SEP U 1909 
 
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 DEDICATORY 
 
 To All 
 who desire to come into possession of a 
 larger endowment of truth as it is 
 in Jesus Christ, this vol- 
 ume is humbly dedicated. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 |T^7C||J/jHEN the first pages of this little vol- 
 i^/S^/ii ume were prepared, it was not for the 
 purpose or putting into book rorm. 
 But as explorations were made in these 
 fertile fields, the author made what to 
 him appeared such happy discoveries, that his 
 own heart was caused to overflow with joy, and 
 was also made to feel that his joy would be in- 
 creased, if he might share it with his friends. 
 
 Consequently, this volume has been prepared, 
 and is sent forth amidst mingled feelings of grati- 
 tude and humility, with an earnest prayer and sin- 
 cere hope that it may as truly prove a blessing to 
 him who reads as to him who wrote. 
 
 It would be impossible for the author to ac- 
 knowledge in the fullest sense, his indebtedness. 
 Too many factors have entered into his volume to 
 enumerate. In every case, credit is given, when a 
 quotation is made. Among the many authors 
 to whom the author feels a special indebtedness, 
 
 5 
 
Preface 
 
 are W. G. Moorehead, C. H. Mcintosh, Joseph 
 A. Seiss, Philip Schaff, William Smith, A. A. 
 Hodge, Adam Clarke, Edwin Rice, Patrick Fair- 
 bairn, and James Orr in their respective works. 
 
 Also a few words about Scripture quotations 
 are befitting. Throughout this volume, the 
 Authorized Version is given the preference. In 
 some instances however, the American Version is 
 much clearer and distinct and is quoted; but such 
 quotations are indicated by the abbreviation A. V. 
 
 When for the sake of clearness and force, 
 independent translations are made by the author 
 from the original Hebrew and Greek texts, he has 
 sought absolute fairness to the original, and in 
 each case, indicates the translation as being inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 The illustrations used are from The Popular 
 and Critical Bible Encyclopoedia, and are used 
 by the courtesy of The Howard Severance Com- 
 pany. 
 
 Should the contents of this little volume prove 
 a blessing to you, dear reader ; will you please help 
 to speed it on its mission of love? 
 
 Yours until His Appearing, 
 
 The Author. 
 Dayton, Ohio, June 16, 09. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Chapters Pagb 
 
 I. The Christ of Eden, . - 9 
 
 II. Christ in the Sacrifice, - - - 23 
 
 III. Christ and the Law, - 48 
 
 IV. Christ in the Sanctuary, - - 62 
 
 V. The Christ of Prophecy, - - - 108 
 
 VI. The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of 
 
 Humanity, - - - - 115 
 
 VII. The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of 
 
 Royalty, 130 
 
 VIII. The Christ of Prophecy — The Man 
 
 of Sorrows, - - - - 159 
 
 IX. The Christ of Prophecy — The Man 
 
 of Triumph, - - - 170 
 
CHAPTER I 
 The Christ of Eden 
 
 HE earliest page of human history, with 
 the events which cluster about man as 
 the highest and most exalted of earthly 
 creatures, is introduced by the sublime 
 statement, "in the beginning God." 
 The declaration is that, in the beginning, a 
 time or condition prior to which there could be 
 nothing predicated, God created the heavens and 
 the earth. Inspiration also sings by the mouth of 
 the Psalmist: "Of old hast thou laid the founda- 
 tion of the earth : and the heavens are the work of 
 thy hands." Psa. 102:25. Again, the voice of 
 Jehovah silences Job's miserable comforters and 
 accusers, and exposes the ignorance of Job him- 
 self by propounding to him the question: "Where 
 wast thou when I laid the foundations of the 
 earth?" Job 38:4. 
 
 Creation not Arrangement. — The question of 
 how God created the heavens and the earth, is 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 not so important to men as the fact that he did it. 
 It is not processes which men need to know, so 
 much as results. 
 
 Evidently God did not simply arrange pre- 
 existing materials into a system, but brought into 
 existence the material itself, as is suggested from 
 the Hebrew verb, n *} 3 (bara) which we translate 
 "create." It is worthy of note that this highly 
 expressive Hebrew verb is used in connection with 
 the history of creation, when there is a distinct 
 bringing into existence, such as when matter, ani- 
 mal life and man appear. The more common 
 word is n frv (asah) which means "to make." 
 
 Here the mind may stagger and man in un- 
 aided shortsightedness may declare this to be im- 
 possible, but faith soars to the lofty summit, where 
 it beholds the omnipotence of God and understands 
 the mystery. Such was the conclusion of the 
 author of the book of Hebrews when he wrote: 
 "Through faith we understand that the worlds 
 were framed by the word of God, so that the things 
 which are seen were not made of things which do 
 appear." Heb. 11:3. 
 
 Such being true, Inspiration introduces man, in 
 the very beginning of the sacred records, into alti- 
 tudes to which the finite alone cannot go; and the 
 sacred word from its beginning to its close, is a 
 chain of mountain peaks with its intervening val- 
 
 10 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 leys of truth on the lower level. This Is what 
 stamps not only the work, but the word as well, 
 with Divinity and makes it the Book of Books. 
 
 If man could stand where Jehovah stands, and 
 see things as he sees them, all would be as clear as 
 day. But for us in this age, it is only given to 
 know in part: beyond revelation little is known. 
 For these centuries man has been figuring upon 
 God's acts and providences, and like the hiero- 
 glyphics of Egypt, occasionally one is read in its 
 intelligence, but the bulk is as yet among the un- 
 known. However the word of revelation is mar- 
 velous and contains all that man needs to know. . 
 
 Man God's Highest Purpose. — While this be- 
 ginning is no doubt hid in the depths of the ages, 
 and its remoteness none can tell: yet it is evident 
 that the Infinite had a purpose in view and that 
 purpose was man. 
 
 From the moment that the Holy Spirit moved 
 upon the face of the waters, and the chaotic con- 
 dition of the earth gave place to order, every 
 energy appears to have been directed to one end, 
 and that end was man, God's great master-piece 
 and crowning glory. His holiness, his happiness 
 and his immortality were carefully provided by 
 the Creator: His holiness was guaranteed by the 
 impartation from Jehovah himself, of his own 
 breath: His happiness was secured by his ideal 
 
 1 1 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 surroundings, and his immortality was arranged 
 for in the tree of life. 
 
 Philosophy reasons from effect to cause, and 
 frequently the belief in the personality of the Crea- 
 tor is reached from the personality of the creature, 
 but here opportunity is given to reason from Crea- 
 tor to creature for God purposed to make man in 
 his own image, hence personality is guaranteed to 
 him, because God has already been found to 
 possess every characteristic of personality. Hence 
 man possessed a dignity and worth, in the scale 
 of excellence, but a little lower than the angels. 
 Heb. 2 : 7-9. 
 
 In the light of divine revelation, it is indeed 
 lowering to the dignity of man, and dishonoring to 
 his Creator, to sympathize in any measure what- 
 ever, with the abominable imposition of science, 
 falsely so called, pretending to trace man, step by 
 step, to a primitive condition, as a member of the 
 ape family. Men of intelligence and sound judg- 
 ment should leave it to others, who are bent on 
 doing so, to formulate their own genealogy, trac- 
 ing their ancestry to the lower species. They 
 should disown any relationship to them, and waste 
 no energy but to pity, and if possible, to save. 
 
 The Command and Prohibition. — Man being 
 a creature, he was from the very nature of his 
 relationship, a subject. His Creator, however, 
 
 12 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 gave him none other restriction or commandment, 
 but such as was essential to his highest good. 
 
 The Creator gave to man only one command- 
 ment. That was: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and 
 replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have do- 
 minion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 
 of the air, and over every living thing that moveth 
 upon the earth." Gen. i : 28. 
 
 But man must have a prohibition as well as a 
 command, a negative law as well as a positive one. 
 There was only one negative command which man 
 was asked to keep. There was growing in the midst 
 of the garden a tree, called the tree of the knowl- 
 edge of good and evil. Of the fruit of this tree 
 he was commanded not to eat. It is not probable 
 that this tree was placed in the garden, simply to 
 give opportunity for a prohibition or restriction, 
 but was no doubt to fill a necessary place in the ar- 
 rangement. Its purpose was that of a blessing, 
 but by a misappropriation of its fruitage it became 
 a curse. 
 
 The holiness, happiness and immortality of 
 man, were conditioned upon a properly sustained 
 relation between him and his Creator: for, man 
 was dependent, and was evidently serving a pro- 
 bationary period. The proper relation was that 
 of complete submission and perfect obedience. 
 
 13 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 Man a Self-determining Creature. — That man 
 was a self determining creature, was necessary 
 and evident from the image and stamp of the 
 Divine person which he bore. Anything less than 
 this would have denied him personality, and given 
 him a place not more exalted than that of the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 Man's proper use of his free moral agency; 
 choosing for his portion, complete submission and 
 perfect obedience; would have sealed to him, a 
 never ending heritage of the blessings bestowed 
 upon him in his Eden birth. His probation 
 would have, in all probability, ceased at sometime 
 in his history, and the possibility of any calamity 
 or sorrow forever barred. 
 
 Eden's Glories Eclipsed. — How long earth, 
 with man as its lord, sustained its close and sub- 
 servient relation to heaven, is not stated. But 
 since long periods of time are passed over in sa- 
 cred history by a short sentence or two, or in ab- 
 solute silence; it may have been a longer period 
 of time than is usually thought. To say the least, 
 chronology is one of the most difficult things, in 
 connection with early history; and all scholars are 
 well aware of the fact that the best chronology 
 which we have, being that of Ussher, is far from 
 correct; and is simply used as a basis of uniform- 
 ity, and that, for want of a more correct one. 
 
 14 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 Be that as it may, it is evident to all, that the 
 glories of the Eden world have long ago gone into 
 eclipse. 
 
 Man, at the suggestion of Satan, who ap- 
 pears upon the scene at this time for the first in 
 the medium of the serpent, has disobeyed God, 
 and his disobedience has reversed every enjoy- 
 ment and prospect, broken his fellowship with his 
 Creator, robbed him of his moral likeness to 
 God and set to work in his body the process of 
 mortality; for God has said: "In the day that 
 thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Gen. 
 2: 17. It takes all the sufferings, sorrows, pain, 
 wretchedness, poverty, heartaches, tears and mor- 
 tality, which humanity has suffered or ever will 
 suffer, to spell out the meaning of this single 
 event, in the history of the progenitors of our 
 race. 
 
 The first man and woman, being the federal 
 head of the entire human race; the whole of their 
 posterity was involved in the fall and the glories 
 of Eden had as truly and completely gone into 
 eclipse, for the last one who should be born, as 
 for the first one who had sinned. What is to be 
 done? Man, God's highest creature and the 
 crowning glory of creation, has allied himself 
 with Satan against God, and the dark cloud of 
 eternal vengeance is hanging over the head of 
 
 15 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 every son and daughter of Adam's race. Does 
 man return? He cannot. He has allied himself 
 with Satan; is under Satan's authority; and is 
 enslaved. Can he escape death? Not so. Di- 
 vine justice must be executed. Can he be happy? 
 By no means. No soul can be happy in such for- 
 eign and broken relations, whose only guarantee 
 of happiness was complete and perfect obedience. 
 Can he replace the stamp of divine nature? No, 
 for Satan's stamp is already there. Man has 
 fallen into wretchedness and despair, in which he 
 lies totally helpless. 
 
 Who can imagine the billows of anguish, 
 which rolled across the souls of the first pair, as 
 they resorted to the flimsy device of a fig leaf 
 apron, to cover their nakedness; and hid them- 
 selves among the trees of the garden, to con- 
 ceal themselves from the eyes of an all search- 
 ing Omniscience. 
 
 The Heavenly Council. — While these events 
 are transpiring in the lower world, unchronicled 
 events are occurring in the council chambers of 
 heaven. 
 
 God, with the Son, together with the Holy 
 Spirit, constituting the Trinity — the cabinet of 
 heaven, who sat together in counsel, when the cre- 
 ation of man was contemplated, and to whom God 
 said: "Let us make man in our image, after our 
 
 16 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 likeness;" again sat in counsel as to the condition 
 of man in his wretched, dying state. 
 
 The Decree. — If the reasonings of this divine 
 counsel could be translated into language other 
 than that which belongs to the celestial world, 
 alone, this would probably be its burden: "My jus- 
 tice and righteousness must be preserved; my sen- 
 tence must be executed. But my mercy demands, 
 that, these creatures who have been created to re- 
 flect my glory and bear our image, and to enjoy my 
 blessings, should not be allowed to remain help- 
 less, in the grasp of the fallen arch angel, and 
 with him be cast into the lake of burning, which 
 I have prepared for him, and for those who have 
 followed him in his apostasy." To this the Son 
 replies : "Father, let it be agreed to give man one 
 more probation — one more opportunity to choose 
 for happiness. I volunteer to robe myself in the 
 vesture of humanity, and become one of them. 
 I will take a place as the second head of the 
 human race, and meet Satan upon the open bat- 
 tlefield. I will take upon myself, all the sins and 
 sorrows of humanity ; allow myself to suffer death, 
 thus paying the penalty of their disobedience, and 
 preserving divine justice; but, to the surprise of 
 angels, Satan and men, I will break the powers 
 of death, and bring the possibility of eternal life 
 2 I 7 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and happiness within the reach of every fallen 
 one who will accept." 
 
 With a smile of his approval, The Father 
 declares: "My Son so let it be." 
 
 Mingled and Unmingled Justice. — Other de- 
 tails of the great plan to be set into ■ operation, 
 being completed, God descends to call man 
 and his enemy, Satan, to judgment. Every an- 
 nouncement to sin ruined man is readily seen to 
 be a mingling of justice and mercy; but mercy 
 predominating to an over-flowing extent. The 
 ground must bring forth thorns and thistles to 
 man. He must eat his bread by the sweat of his 
 face ; his hands must know hard labor. To woman 
 must be added multiplied conceptions and sor- 
 sows; child-bearing, the function assigned to her 
 in sinless Eden, must be carried out with much dis- 
 tress and pain. These, all these, can be joyously 
 borne in the light of the succeeding revelation. 
 God having addressed himself to Satan, repre- 
 sented by the serpent, dealt to him a sentence of 
 divine judgment, unmingled with mercy, saying: 
 "Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou 
 above all cattle and above every beast of the field ; 
 upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou 
 eat all the days of thy life ; and I will put enmity 
 between thee and the woman, and between thy 
 
 18 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and 
 thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. 3: 14, 15. 
 
 Satan's Boundary Set. — This is the first an- 
 nouncement, of a Redeemer. In it, Satan has his 
 boundary set for him by Omnipotence. He will 
 be allowed to afflict humanity temporarily, bruis- 
 ing his heel, even the heel of the Redeemer; but 
 his own head shall be crushed, thus permanently 
 bruising and destroying his power and authority, 
 over all who desire to be delivered from his king- 
 dom. 
 
 A Circuitous Route for Immortality.- — Again, 
 God displayed his mercy to man in driving him 
 from the garden, and guarding the entrance 
 with cherubim and a many edged flaming sword, 
 thus guarding the way to the tree of life. The 
 tree of life was, evidently, a provision made for 
 man's immortality, and its fruits, if eaten even 
 by fallen man, might have rendered him immortal. 
 
 For man to blunder into an immortality of 
 existence, in his wretched, miserable condition, 
 would have been a second calamity, equal to the 
 first. Consequently, the Lord in mercy, barred 
 him from this possible calamity and started him 
 out in a more circuitous route, for immortality, 
 during which journey, he should be delivered by 
 the promised Redeemer, from the things which 
 would make immortality of existence undesirable, 
 
 19 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and have restored to him the blessings and excel- 
 lences which were his in Eden. It is a most de- 
 lightful and interesting thing to note that when 
 man's circuitous pilgrimage is ended, cherubim 
 and flaming swords will have disappeared from 
 our future Eden's gate and the tree of life which 
 is still growing by the river of life, ever yielding 
 its fruits, will be accessible to redeemed men. 
 Hence, as in the man of Eden, the Edenic glories 
 had been eclipsed for every man; even so in the 
 Christ of Eden, the blessings of complete re- 
 demption are brought within the reach of all. 
 
 A Progressive Unfolding of Divine Purposes. — 
 It is not to be understood that either man, or 
 Satan, understood in full, the decree of the heav- 
 enly counsel. Through these centuries God's pur- 
 poses have been progressively unfolding, and his 
 powers have been working wonders in the inter- 
 ests of mankind. In this knowledge, we are the 
 "heirs of all the ages," and we may well rest as- 
 sured, that in the fulness of time, in God's own 
 order ; the purpose of Heaven's own planning will 
 be fully realized. 
 
 The promise of the Redeemer, although not 
 in detail understood, kindled a lively hope, in 
 the saddened hearts of the first transgressors. It 
 painted a picture of life, upon a background of 
 death. In the face of imminent death and mor- 
 
 20 
 
The Christ of Eden 
 
 taiity, anticipation and expectation rose so high 
 in the bosom of the first man, Adam, that he 
 called his wife, Eve, for she was the mother of 
 all living. This fact stands out in greater beauty, 
 when it is understood that the Hebrew name for 
 Eve, was rnn (hhav-vaw) which means life, or 
 life-giver. This event, occurring at such a dark 
 period in human history, is a remarkable testi- 
 mony to the effect, the promise of the Christ 
 made in Eden, had upon despairing hearts. Here 
 life begins to spring up out of the very ruins of 
 death like a more beautiful city out of its own 
 ashes. 
 
 A Keen Disappointment. — We also have an 
 intimation, that the woman expected an immediate 
 fulfillment of the promise of a seed who should 
 bruise the serpent's head; for when she gave birth 
 to her first son, she called his name | ? p (kah-yin) 
 Cain, meaning possession, saying: "I have gotten 
 a man from the Lord." Gen. 4:1. So keen was 
 her disappointment in not realizing the fulfillment 
 of the promise, that upon the birth of her second 
 son, she named him h 3 ft (heh-bel) Abel, which 
 meant disappointment. 
 
 The Christ of Eden, the Savior of the World. — 
 While the details of the plan of redemption 
 were not known from the beginning, there was 
 no uncertainty as to the facts. The Christ, prom- 
 
 21 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ised in Eden, from that moment was the Savior 
 of the world; making it possible that the first 
 woman who yielded to the temptation of disobe- 
 dience, might through a living faith in the prom- 
 ised Redeemer, become a subject of his redemp- 
 tive grace. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER II 
 Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 UST why, in the great plan of redemp- 
 tion, the expectation of early man was 
 allowed to be disappointed, and the 
 coming of Christ was placed so many 
 years in the future, is a question which 
 may be asked, but which infinite wisdom alone 
 could answer. The interrogations, "how" and 
 "why," are not always the language of a skeptic, 
 but many times that of an honest, intelligent in- 
 quirer. But since the Lord has not deemed it 
 necessary or expedient, to disclose the secrets of 
 his plans, we must not demand, upon the threat 
 of unbelief, a positive answer to every question 
 which may arise in our minds ; but remember that 
 his ways are higher than our ways, and his 
 thoughts are above our thoughts. Isa. 55:9. 
 
 While the coming of the Redeemer, who 
 should by his own death and sufferings bruise for- 
 ever the head of the serpent, was placed many 
 years in the future, a system was instituted which 
 
 23 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 should in a measure substitute and, in every par- 
 ticular, point forward to the great redemptive 
 work of Christ. It was the sacrificial system. 
 Every drop of blood which flowed from the ani- 
 mal of sacrifice was a message to man, telling him 
 of his own guilt, Divine justice, God's mercy, and 
 of the work which should be accomplished when 
 their real and effectual sacrifice should be made, 
 which should be none other than the Lamb of God„ 
 
 Origin of the Sacrifice 
 
 Concerning the origin of the sacrificial system, 
 not a little has been written: some of value and 
 worth, much of but little merit. There are some 
 who would make religion a matter of evolution. 
 They would teach that monotheism, or the belief 
 in one God, which is set forth in the earliest pages 
 of history, is an evolution of or advancement from 
 earlier heathenism with its multiplicity of gods. 
 This would have a tendency to stamp the sacri- 
 ficial system as a refined continuance of a heathen 
 practice, and not a divine institution. This is in- 
 deed a very unworthy doctrine and should find a 
 place along side of the wretched doctrine of the 
 evolution of man. It is plainly indicated that man's 
 primitive belief was that of one God and Cre- 
 ator; and that heathenism with its various forms 
 is a corruption and "wayward offspring" of prim- 
 
 24 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 itive and pure religion, and is not its "ignorant 
 parent." 
 
 The sacrificial system is a divine institution, 
 and dates back almost to Eden, and has in it vol- 
 umes of messages concerning the sacrifice to be 
 offered once and for all. 
 
 It is not our purpose to teach that, while par- 
 ticipating in the sacrifices, men were always con- 
 scious of the full importance which Jehovah at- 
 tached to them, and he may never have under- 
 stood as it is possible to understand them to day, 
 as the light of centuries is thrown back upon them, 
 and the perfect sacrifice, of which they were but 
 the imperfect foreshadowings, has become a mat- 
 ter of history; but Jehovah whose institution they 
 were, fully understood them; and we have abun- 
 dance of reason to believe that their significance 
 was understood, in a distinct manner, by at least, 
 some of those who participated in them. 
 
 The First Sacrifice- 
 
 The first cases of sacrifice, are related in con- 
 nection with the early history of the first family. 
 Cain and Abel brought their offerings unto the 
 Lord; one was accepted and the other rejected. 
 The questions might be asked: why was Abel's 
 offering accepted and Cain's rejected? Was it 
 
 25 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 because of the kind of offering which he brought? 
 Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the fourth 
 verse teaches that it was "by faith" that Abel's 
 offering was "more excellent," or acceptable, and 
 that it was through this "more excellent" sacrifice 
 that he obtained witness that he was righteous. 
 Now Abel was evidently conscious of the fact of 
 sin, and also of the fact of God's mercy; and the 
 offering which he brought was of such a nature 
 that Jehovah accepted it, and gave him witness 
 of the same. Cain must have been in a position 
 to have the same knowledge of sin and mercy; 
 but the offering which he brought was rejected. 
 In what did the two offerings differ? One offer- 
 ing, that of Abel, was of such a nature that it 
 required the shedding of blood: the other was 
 bloodless. Evidently, the principle of truth sug- 
 gested in Hebrews 9: 22, "Without shedding of 
 blood is no remission," was in force at this early 
 date. 
 
 It will not only be interesting, but profitable, 
 at this point, to note that when Jehovah later 
 formally commanded the Israelites to keep the 
 blood covenant or sacrifice, he favored them with 
 an explanation of this demand, by saying: "For 
 the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have 
 given it to you upon the altar to make an atone- 
 ment for your souls: for it is the blood that 
 
 26 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 maketh an atonement for the soul." Lev. 17 : 11. 
 The truth then is this, that life is in the blood. 
 Through sin man has forfeited his life; conse- 
 qently, it is only through the shedding of blood, 
 or giving of life, that atonement can be made 
 for sin. This doubtless answers the question, as 
 to the offerings of Cain and Abel. It was, in- 
 deed, an act of mercy upon the part of Divine 
 justice, to accept as a substitute, the life of a 
 beast for the life of a human transgressor. 
 
 These considerations would suggest that, 
 even in this particular case, at such a very early 
 date, sacrifice was of the nature of an atonement 
 or expiation. Hence the shedding of blood was 
 necessary. The atonement made however, by any 
 animal sacrifice, was only temporary, and required 
 frequent repetition. It was but little more than a 
 message, oft repeated, of man's guilt, Divine jus- 
 tice and God's mercy. 
 
 Now, the faith possessed by Abel, that his 
 sacrifice was in keeping with divine requirement, 
 must have had a base upon which to rest. Either 
 one or all, of three things may have constituted 
 this assurance. 
 
 I. It may have been a positive command, 
 from God, that the sacrifice must be that 
 of blood. 
 
 27 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 2. It may have been, simply, an inward im- 
 pulse, arising from his knowledge, of the 
 nature of sin and of God's justice and 
 mercy. 
 
 3. It may have been a result, of a precedent 
 established, or example given, by God him- 
 self. 
 
 Either one of these three things, would have been 
 sufficient to form a ground, for the faith of Abel ; 
 and assure him that the sacrifice, such as he was 
 making, was a divine institution, hence acceptable. 
 He may however, have had all three of these as 
 a ground of faith. It is quite evident, that we 
 have an intimation, at least, in the sacred records, 
 that the sacrifice in its earliest history, was insti- 
 tuted by God himself, either by example or imme- 
 diate command. 
 
 The Fig Leaf Aprons and Their Better 
 Substitute 
 
 When our foreparents, in Eden, found them- 
 selves sinful and naked, immediately they sewed 
 fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. 
 Sin has always sought a covering. This one was 
 insufficient. We are then told by the sacred his- 
 torian, that, "Unto Adam also and to his wife 
 did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed 
 
 28 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 them." Gen. 3:21. By this we are informed, 
 that, the price of the covering for man's naked- 
 ness and sin, was the life of the animal. It is 
 hardly necessary for us to understand that the 
 animal was slain by the hand of God, himself; 
 but, rather, that it was in direct execution of his 
 command. Sacred history often speaks of God 
 as doing a thing; not taking note of the instru- 
 ment or person, used in its accomplishment. ~~ Con- 
 cerning these aprons, the Hebrew literally trans- 
 lated, reads: "And God caused them to put on 
 tunics of skins." Thus it would appear, that the 
 Lord permitted those who had been victims of 
 the fall, and upon whom death had been pro- 
 nounced, as a sign or pledge of their deliverance, 
 to take the first life, and shed the first blood, as 
 a type of him who was himself the seed of the 
 woman; but who should conquer Satan, destroy 
 his power over man, deliver from the curse, and 
 prepare man for eternal blessedness and a youth- 
 ful immortality. What a wonderful message of 
 salvation in this early shedding of blood. 
 
 This earliest shedding of blood with its sig- 
 nificance is so fundamental to a proper concep- 
 tion of the origin of sacrifice and its later practice 
 that, it must not be passed lightly by. Fairbairn 
 in his "Typology of Scripture" gives a delightful 
 paragraph to these earliest incidents of sacrificing, 
 
 29 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 saying: "The conclusion seems inevitable, that 
 the institution of sacrifice must have been essen- 
 tially of divine origin; for though we cannot ap- 
 peal to any record of its direct appointment by 
 God, yet there are notices concerning sacrificial 
 worship which cannot be satisfactorily explained 
 on the supposition, in any form, of its merely 
 human origin. There is a recorded fact, how- 
 ever, which touches the very borders of the sub- 
 ject, and which, we may readily perceive, fur- 
 nished a divine foundation on which a sacrificial 
 worship, such as is mentioned in Scripture, might 
 be built. It is the fact noticed at the close of 
 God's interview with our first parents after the 
 fall: 'And unto Adam also, and to his wife, did 
 the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed 
 them.' The painful sense of nakedness that op- 
 pressed them after their transgression, was the 
 natural offspring of a consciousness of sin — an 
 instinctive fear lest the unveiled body should give 
 indication of the evil thoughts and dispositions 
 which now lodged within. Hence, to get relief 
 to this uneasy feeling, they made coverings for 
 themselves of such things as seemed best adapted 
 to the purpose, out of that vegetable world which 
 had been freely granted for their use. They 
 girded themselves about with fig-leaves. But they 
 soon found that this covering proved of little 
 
 30 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 avail to hide their shame, where most of all they 
 needed to have it hidden; it left them miserably 
 exposed to the just condemnation of their offended 
 God. If a real and valid covering should be ob- 
 tained, sufficient to relieve them of all uneasiness, 
 God himself must provide it. And so he actu- 
 ally did. As soon as the promise of mercy had 
 been disclosed to the offenders, and the constitu- 
 tion of mingled goodness and severity brought in, 
 he made coats to clothe them with, and these 
 coats of skin. But clothing so obtained argued 
 the sacrifice of life in the animal that furnished 
 them; and thus, through the death of an inferior 
 yet innocent living creature, was the needed re- 
 lief brought to their disquieted and fearful bos- 
 oms. The outward and corporeal here manifestly 
 had respect to the inward and spiritual. The cov- 
 ering of their nakedness was a gracious token 
 from the hand of God, that the sin which had 
 alienated them from him, and made them con- 
 scious of uneasiness, was henceforth to be in his 
 sight as if it were not; so that in covering their 
 flesh, he at the same time covered their con- 
 sciences. If viewed apart from this higher sym- 
 bolical aim, the outward act will naturally ap- 
 pear small and unworthy of God; but so to view 
 it were to dissever it from the very reason of its 
 performance. It was done purposely to denote 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 the covering of guilt from the eye of Heaven — 
 an act which God alone could have done. But 
 he did it, as we have seen, by a medium of death, 
 by a sacrifice of life in those creatures which men 
 were not yet permitted to kill for purposes of 
 food, and in connection with a constitution of 
 grace which laid open the prospect of recovered 
 life and blessing to the fallen. Surely it is not 
 attributing to the venerable heads of the human 
 family, persons who had so recently walked with 
 God in paradise, an incredible power of spiritual 
 discernment, or supposing them to stretch un- 
 duly the spiritual import of this particular action 
 of God, if we should conceive them turning the 
 divine act into a ground of obligation and privi- 
 lege for themselves, and saying : 'Here is Heaven's 
 own finger pointing out the way for obtaining re- 
 lief to our guilty consciences : the covering of our 
 shame is to be found by means of the skins of ir- 
 rational creatures, slain in our behalf; their life 
 for our lives, their clothing of innocence for our 
 shame ; and we cannot err, we shall but show our 
 faith in the mercy and forgiveness we have ex- 
 perienced, if, as often as the sense of shame and 
 guilt returns upon our consciences, we follow the 
 footsteps of the Lord, and, by a renewed sacri- 
 fice of life, clothe ourselves anew with his own 
 appointed badge of acquittal and acceptance.' ' 
 
 32 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 The Edenic Sacrifice 
 
 It is suggested by Alfred Cave, in his book 
 entitled, "The Scriptural Doctrine of the Sacri- 
 fice," that it is not improbable that, prior to the 
 institution of the atoning sacrifice, that of blood; 
 a system of offering was practiced in unfallen 
 Eden. This practice may have been kept from 
 the creation of man. Says Sartorius; "I doubt 
 not that our first parents in Paradise, invested 
 with sway over the earth, brought not simply 
 prayers, but out of the thankfulness of their hearts, 
 sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, by consecrat- 
 ing to God the firstlings of the flowers and fruits 
 of Eden." Neither did the offerings of primitive 
 man stop with this, for, as said Augustine: "Pure 
 and untainted by any spot or blemish of sin, they 
 gave their very selves to God, as the cleanliest of 
 offerings." To this another adds: "That excep- 
 tional life of fearless intercourse, was, in itself, 
 an oblation (or. offering) of the saintliest and 
 most expressive kind, — a kind, indeed, which it 
 was the problem of all succeeding phases of sac- 
 rificial worship to restore." All offerings prior 
 to the fall, must have been of the nature of 
 thanksgiving, and did not in any sense, partake 
 of the nature of atonement or expiation. 
 
 As to the designed perpetuation of the sac- 
 
 3 33 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 rificial system, instituted by God after the fall, 
 there is no question. The shedding of the blood 
 of the sacrifice, and the yielding up of its life, 
 must repeat continuously, to stupid, fallen hu- 
 manity of every generation, the message of man's 
 guilt, of divine justice and God's mercy, until the 
 promise made in Eden should be fulfilled. 
 
 The Noahacic Sacrifice 
 
 As an illustration of this fact, the case of 
 Noah, and God's dealings with him, stands out 
 in a living picture. 
 
 When the world became so wicked that only 
 a few righteous persons could be found, as an 
 act of mercy, God found it necessary to destroy 
 the impenitent, rebellious ante-diluvians ; lest not 
 even a godly seed should remain upon the earth. 
 
 At this time Jehovah gave to the human race 
 practically a new beginning. He even pronounced 
 upon Noah and his family, the same blessings 
 which he had pronounced upon Adam and his 
 wife, in the garden. He gave them dominion 
 over the animal kingdom, the fish of the sea and 
 the fowls of the air. He also gave to them the 
 identical command; "Be fruitful, and multiply, 
 and replenish the earth." Gen. 9:1. Many 
 things were left behind, but one thing was car- 
 ried into the new condition. God commanded 
 
 34 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 Noah to take, of the unclean beasts, two of a kind 
 into the ark; but of the clean beasts and fowls, 
 such as were fit for food and sacrifice, seven of 
 each. He was not only to take three pairs of 
 each, of the clean kind; so as to quickly and plen- 
 tifully replenish the clean kind, but an extra one 
 of each, for immediate emergency, for sacrifice, 
 before the clean kind could have replenished it- 
 self. Consequently, we find Noah, immediately 
 upon coming forth from the ark, after the wa- 
 ters had subsided, building an altar, and offering 
 one of each of the clean beasts and fowls upon it. 
 This declares in unmistakable language that, 
 while the flood was effectual in destroying wicked 
 men ; yet the necessity of the promised Christ was 
 not left behind. Man was still the same de- 
 praved, fallen creature. Hence, the shedding of 
 blood was necessary in the new order. Here, as 
 before, the sacrifice was the message of the Christ, 
 to sinful humanity. 
 
 In a very short time, this fact was proven. 
 Man was found to be the same sinful creature, 
 very needy of a Redeemer. Noah, himself, who 
 had been so marvelously preserved by the Lord, 
 and in whom the greatest hope of the future lay, 
 and also upon whom God's special blessings rested, 
 became a helpless victim of intemperance, which 
 brought upon him great disgrace. Also his own 
 
 35 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 descendants sought to find safety from the punish- 
 ments of their own many sins by building a tower 
 into the heavens. 
 
 The Abrahamic Sacrifice 
 
 When, because of man's weakness and sin, 
 God's purpose in behalf of the human family, in 
 the person of Noah and his posterity proved a 
 disappointment; he still purposed to preserve 
 righteousness upon the earth. By calling out an 
 individual, in the person of Abraham, as the head 
 and representative of the chosen people, God prac- 
 tically inaugurated new methods, for the preser- 
 vation of righteousness; making this chosen fam- 
 ily, which later became a nation, the special con- 
 servators of pure religion. 
 
 This people, Inspiration is pleased to call The 
 Hebrew nation. It was after Abraham had left 
 his native land of Mesopotamia, crossing over 
 the Euphrates River, in obedience to God, not 
 knowing whither he was going, that he was called 
 an ' 13 J? (ibree), literally meaning a crosser- 
 over, a wanderer or a pilgrim. Gen. 14: 13. 
 This word is translated in our English versions 
 as Hebrew. It is interesting to recount the origin 
 of the name of the Hebrew nation and to note 
 that God's chosen people of all ages have par- 
 taken of the pilgrim life. The Church of Jesus 
 
 36 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 Christ, the Divine Ecclesia, whose name is de- 
 rived from the Greek ck, out of, and KaXkw, to 
 call, represents the same attitude to God and 
 broken relations with the world, as did the He- 
 brews of the Old Dispensation. 
 
 After having called Abraham out of Meso- 
 potamia, into the land of Canaan, in the quiet of 
 the night, God invited him to his tent's door, 
 to count, if possible, the stars of the heavens. It 
 was then that the Lord declared to him that, as 
 the innumerable host of the firmament, so should 
 his seed be; also that they should inherit the 
 goodly land of Canaan. This covenant was sealed 
 in the life blood of an heifer, a goat, a ram, 
 a turtle dove and a pigeon. So deep was the 
 sin of humanity, and so determined were the pur- 
 poses of God, that even the covenant made be- 
 tween man and his Creator, for the elevation of 
 man, and exaltation of God, had to be made at 
 the price of blood. 
 
 One of the most important lessons, which 
 Abraham needed to learn; and which was taught 
 him, as the representative of the chosen people, 
 in such a way that it could, apparently, never be 
 forgotten, was the same lesson; that of man's 
 guilt, Divine justice and God's mercy. This les- 
 son God taught him, by demanding of him a 
 sacrifice. This sacrifice was not to be an animal, 
 
 37 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 as was usually offered, but his own son. While 
 some would still criticise Abraham for this act, 
 charging that it was only a fanatical notion, of 
 his, that God desired his son as a sacrifice; in 
 the light of the foregoing, it is not difficult to un- 
 derstand why God asked for his son Isaac, as a sac- 
 rifice. This is frequently spoken of, as a trial of 
 Abraham's faith. It was that, but it was also more 
 than that. Isaac, who was the child of promise, 
 was also the representative or head, of the new 
 order — the chosen race. Hence, he was a rep- 
 resentative of their guilt and sin. Consequently, 
 if his life should have been required, it would 
 have been only justice. 
 
 No doubt but, that as Abraham ascended 
 Moriah, in company with his only son, who was 
 bearing the kindling for the sacrifice; he had a 
 keen sense of man's guilt, and God's justice. He 
 must have felt in his own heart, that God's de- 
 mands were only right and just, and that he dare 
 not murmur. Heart touching is the scene, when 
 the son on whose shoulders the kindling had been 
 laid, innocently says: "Behold the fire and the 
 wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offer- 
 ing?", and Abraham answered in a way, as 
 though he would ward off all fears on the part 
 of his son by saying: "My son, God will provide 
 himself a lamb for a burnt offering;" but at the 
 
 38 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 same time uttered a prophecy, highly significant; 
 although possibly not understood by himself, at 
 that moment. Gen. 22:7-8. 
 
 When the altar of stones was completed, and 
 the wood arranged, Abraham laid upon it, bound 
 hands and feet, his son, the representative of the 
 guilt of the nation. He was about to suffer jus- 
 tice upon the head of his son, when the angel 
 of the Lord interfered by saying: "Lay not thine 
 hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto 
 him : for now I know that thou f earest God, see- 
 ing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son 
 from me." Gen. 22: 12. Looking around Abra- 
 ham saw a ram, with his horns caught in the 
 bushes: and as he laid his hand upon it, and pre- 
 sented it upon the altar as a sacrifice, his heart 
 must have leaped for joy, as he received a mar- 
 velous revelation of God's mercy. This ram, 
 which here became a substitute for a guilty, con- 
 demned nation was a significant type of Jesus 
 Christ, who was to become the substitute offering 
 for the world. In this case, Isaac was not the 
 type of Christ, but the representative of the guilt 
 of the nation, of which he was the head. By be- 
 coming the substitute of Isaac and his nation, the 
 ram became the type of Christ. In some ways, 
 however, Isaac is a beautiful type of Christ, be- 
 ing a child of promise. 
 
 39 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 Should any one object to this teaching, saying 
 that Abraham, as well as other Old Testament 
 saints, had but a faint knowledge of the future 
 work of the Christ, to them there appears but one 
 answer. It is doubtless true that, while the people 
 on the whole, were not fully aware of the signifi- 
 cance of the sacrifices in which they engaged from 
 time to time; yet, it is plainly indicated, in the 
 New Testament scriptures, that Abraham as well 
 as others, had a bright vision of the Christ, and 
 of his sacrificial work, for says Christ, speaking 
 to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to 
 see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." John 
 8:56. This statement from the lips of Christ, is 
 as confusing to men to day as it was to the Jews ; 
 but in the light of our present investigation, is not 
 at all difficult. Nowhere did Abraham have a 
 clearer vision of Christ, and his atoning work, 
 than when God provided the substitute offering. 
 
 Of the wonderful faith brigade, mentioned in 
 Hebrews, the eleventh chapter, the writer says: 
 "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 con- 
 fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on 
 the earth." Heb. 11 : 13. Hence the Old Testa- 
 ment worthies must have had a remarkable vision 
 of the Christ. 
 
 40 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 The Enfolding of the New; the Unfolding the 
 Old. — These New Testament interpretations, con- 
 cerning Old Testament subjects, illustrate the re- 
 lation of the New Testament to the Old. The 
 Old Testament cannot be understood without the 
 New ; and the New Testament cannot be properly 
 appreciated and valued without the Old. There 
 is not a flower of truth blooming in the New 
 Testament whose seed was not sown in the soil 
 of the Old; and there was not a seed of truth 
 planted in the Old Testament which does not 
 come to full fruitage in the New. St. Augustine 
 long ago said: "The Old Testament is the en- 
 folding of the New, and the New Testament is 
 the unfolding of the Old." Dr. Samuel Harris, 
 says, in his book entitled "Self Revelation:" "The 
 Old Testament contains the New as the bud con- 
 tains the flower. In Christ, the bud of prophecy 
 opens into the flower of history." Henry Ward 
 Beecher says: "The very breath of the Old Testa- 
 ment is the same breath that prayed, dying, on 
 Calvary." Yale Lectures Vol. 3. 
 
 The Levitical Sacrifices 
 
 Now as we arrive at the sacrificial system, out- 
 lined by God at the time of Moses, we do not 
 find a new institution at all, but simply the sys- 
 
 4i 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 tematizing of a practice, which dates back almost 
 to the fall of man. The sacrifices were arranged 
 so as to meet the various phases of man's need, 
 and to correspond to Christ's provision for that 
 need. 
 
 The Whole Burnt Offering. — The sacrifice 
 which represented, in the fullest measure, Christ 
 in his work of expiation and atonement, was the 
 particularly great offering of the Levitical system. 
 Whether from the herd of cattle, the flock of 
 sheep or goats, or the clean fowl, it was the one 
 without blemish, and excepting the fowls, in which 
 no distinction was made, a male which was to be 
 brought; and having been slain, was to be wholly 
 consumed by fire, on the altar of burnt offerings. 
 This represents Christ, the choice one of heaven, 
 the unblemished one, whose whole life was sacri- 
 ficed, and consumed as it were, upon the altar of 
 divine justice, in behalf of sinful men. 
 
 The Meat Offering, — which is next arranged in 
 the catalogue of the system, is altogether of a 
 different nature. It is a bloodless offering. It 
 was an offering of flour or corn, and oil and in- 
 cense, laid by the priest upon the altar where it 
 was consumed. The meat offering was in a sense, 
 a distinct offering, but dependent upon the whole 
 burnt offering. Preceding the whole burnt offer- 
 ing, it had no significance ; and it was not proper, 
 
 42 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 if indeed at all lawful, to offer the whole burnt 
 offering without an accompanying meat offering. 
 
 The whole burnt offering, represents the aton- 
 ing, sacrificial work of Christ; while the meat 
 offering represents the grateful acceptance, of the 
 provisions of the atoning sacrifice, on the human 
 side. Hence, it can be readily seen, that in its 
 relation to the whole burnt offering, it is subse- 
 quent to, and dependent upon it. Man could 
 not accept the atoning or sacrificial work of Christ 
 if none had been made; consequently, there could 
 be no meat offering without the whole burnt offer- 
 ing. The meat offering, in its application, is the 
 subjective side of the sacrificial arrangement, re- 
 generating and sanctifying man, making him holy, 
 and offering back again to God, in a complete 
 consecration, all that the soul is, with the benefits 
 received by the atoning work of Christ. It was 
 only because of the fact that it represented the 
 human side, and its close relation to the bloody 
 offering, that it was instituted a bloodless one. 
 
 The Peace Offering, — is next in arrangement. 
 Inasmuch as every thing pertaining to the life and 
 salvation of man, is dependent upon the blood of 
 the sacrifice ; this offering again was a bloody one. 
 It resembled in a certain sense, the whole burnt 
 offering. Whether the selection was made from 
 herd or flock, it was to be without blemish; but 
 
 43 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 male and female might be offered indiscriminately. 
 Instead however, of placing the whole sacrifice 
 upon the altar, to be consumed, only the kidneys 
 and their fat, and the fat upon the inwards, and 
 upon the flanks, and the caul or fatty lining about 
 and above the liver, and in certain cases other 
 fatty parts, were to be offered by the priests upon 
 the altar, of burnt offerings. Hence, the richest, 
 and most tender and fattiest part of the offering; 
 that part which according to oriental taste, would 
 constitute the most delicate part of the beast, was 
 wholly consumed. The remaining part of the 
 offering, provided a feast for the offerer; from 
 which he partook joyously. It was a sacrifice of 
 thanksgiving and praise. It was instituted in 
 commemoration of the great blessings, brought to 
 man through the whole burnt offering; and by the 
 devout Jew, "was associated with every act of 
 God's special grace and mercy." It could not 
 occupy any place previous to the whole burnt of- 
 fering and the meat offering; for peace and right 
 relation to God, which is typified by this offer- 
 ing, cannot be attained until the whole burnt 
 offering, viz. the merit of the death of Jesus 
 Christ, is appropriated to the heart; and the meat 
 offering gives back in full consecration, that re- 
 deemed or ransomed life. It is then only that 
 peace, like a river, majestic and undisturbed in its 
 
 44 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 course, is the experience of the soul, and a peace 
 banquet can be held. 
 
 The Sin Offering, — was instituted as a sacrifice 
 for the sins committed through ignorance, or un- 
 wittingly by either priest, congregation, ruler or 
 individual; and partook of an expiatory nature. 
 
 While all the former offerings were complete 
 in themselves, there remained yet a need for a sin 
 offering. For the Jew, who had appropriated 
 every provision of the former offerings to his need, 
 was still far from perfect in knowledge and judg- 
 ment, and was liable to sin through ignorance. 
 The sin for which this offering stood, was not that 
 which was committed intentionally, or willingly 
 or even knowingly, but innocently through igno- 
 rance. 
 
 Man of to-day is very much like the Hebrew 
 for whom this offering was instituted. The mo- 
 tive of the heart may be right; and yet the judg- 
 ment wofully wrong. Even after he has attained 
 to what is termed Christian perfection, there is 
 yet the need of the sin offering for violations or 
 transgressions made ignorantly and innocently. 
 According to the demand given by God to Moses, 
 this offering was not to be made until the indi- 
 vidual, ruler, congregation, or priest became aware 
 of that sin. It was a bloody sacrifice, and the 
 whole offering was burned, a part upon the altar, 
 
 45 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and a part without the camp. So Jesus Christ is 
 our great sin offering; and when we find ourselves 
 repeatedly, yet innocently, committing the sin of 
 ignorance, we can appropriate him with his merit. 
 
 This offering was by no means provided for 
 the willful transgressor; neither is this a license 
 or apology for those who would excuse themselves 
 for willful sins. It is simply a means of grace, 
 provided for those who are doing their best to 
 obey the Lord ; but who, because of imperfections 
 of judgment and knowledge, unwittingly trans- 
 gress. 
 
 The Trespass Offering, — for sins which were 
 committed knowingly, yet in haste or rashness, is 
 not clearly defined from the sin offering. The 
 guilty person is looked upon as, regretting his dis- 
 obedience; but yet, is held guilty. For this sac- 
 rifice, an unblemished lamb was required; and the 
 offering partook of the expiatory nature. The 
 New Testament conception of the Christian is one 
 who lives above willful sin; and it is also indi- 
 cated, that the same person has a right to appro- 
 priate to himself the merit of the sin offering 
 above mentioned for sins unwittingly committed. 
 A sinless life, in the scriptural sense, is the privi- 
 lege and possibility of every Christian, and while 
 it is the commandment, that we sin not; yet, "if 
 any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
 
 46 
 
Christ in the Sacrifice 
 
 Jesus Christ the righteous." i John 2:1. Jesus 
 Christ, in this event, becomes even our trespass 
 offering. 
 
 Wonderful, indeed, are the provisions made 
 by God, in Jesus Christ, to meet man's need; 
 which are typified by the ancient sacrifices. The 
 various sacrifices may be repeated over and over 
 again; but every time the guilty one laid his hand 
 upon the head of his offering, as if to transfer to 
 it his sin, and it was slain, it was only a repeti- 
 tion of the great lessons of truth, bespeaking 
 man's guilt, Divine justice and God's mercy. In 
 reference to this, the author of Hebrews says; 
 "For the law having a shadow of good things to 
 come, and not the very image of the things, can 
 never with those sacrifices which they offered year 
 by year continually make the comers thereunto 
 perfect. For then would they not have ceased to 
 be offered? Because that the worshippers once 
 purged should have had no more conscience of 
 sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remem- 
 brance again made of sins every year. For it is 
 not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats 
 should take away sins." Heb. 10: 1-4. 
 
 In fact, every sacrifice of the Old Testament 
 Dispensation, was a promissory note, acknowledg- 
 ing the debt incurred upon man, because of sin; 
 but which pledged a full payment, in the sum of 
 Christ's sufferings upon the cross. 
 
 47 
 
CHAPTER III 
 Christ and the Law 
 
 Yft HEN it is stated that every institution 
 of the Old Dispensation bears a close 
 relation to, or represents some phase 
 of the new, the giving of the law is 
 no exception. A careful study of its 
 nature and purpose will disclose the fact that it 
 is in itself a finger-board, pointing to the Christ. 
 The thunderings and lightnings of Mt. Sinai 
 were not without occasion; and the message of 
 the law by which they were accompanied, daily 
 preaches powerful sermons of righteousness and 
 judgment, portraying in life-like pictures, Man's 
 guilt and Divine justice. 
 
 Two Copies of God's Law. — The law given to 
 Moses, however, was not the first one. God has 
 written two copies of his law, and each of these 
 copies, were exact transcripts of his own nature, 
 and consequently, identical. The first and orig- 
 inal copy, was written upon the heart of man, in 
 his creation. Had the heart of man remained in 
 a sinless, and perfect condition, retaining that 
 
 4 8 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 original copy of God's law; there would have 
 been no occasion, for the giving of the second. 
 The original copy had, however, become so ef- 
 faced by sin that a second copy became necessary. 
 This one was written by the finger of God, not 
 this time, upon the tables of the heart, but, upon 
 tables of stone. These laws have been copied, 
 and have been handed down to each successive 
 generation. This copy was not handed down to 
 succeeding generations, subjectively, upon the 
 heart, as the first copy would have been, had it 
 remained, but objectively, on later provided tab- 
 lets, those of stone and parchment. 
 
 Broken items of God's law can still be read 
 from the original copy — the conscience of man; 
 but imperfectly, and on the whole with unsafety. 
 That which remains of the original copy, is but 
 a fragment; and had it not been for the second 
 copy, written upon tables of stone, God's law 
 would to-day be practically unknown to the world. 
 Using for its copy the Law of Sinai, grace is at 
 work, again re-chiseling upon the hearts of men 
 the original transcript of God's nature; and when 
 this work is fully accomplished, the tables of 
 stone will no longer be necessary. 
 
 Necessity of a Second Copy. — It is readily 
 seen that the occasion of the giving of the law, 
 upon tables of stone, was the fall of man. Had 
 4 49 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 man retained the Divine image, there would have 
 been no need of a single commandment, found in 
 the decalogue or outside of it, involving any moral 
 question. 
 
 Had man continued in that holy relationship 
 to God in which he was created, in which he lived 
 before sin touched him, and from which he fell, 
 the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no 
 other gods before me," would have been abso- 
 lutely uncalled for. Man in that sinless condition 
 could not have approached any ways near the con- 
 ception of another object of worship. 
 
 The second commandment, "Thou shalt not 
 make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness 
 of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in 
 the earth beneath, or that is in the water under 
 the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to 
 them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God 
 am a jealous God," etc., would have been as far 
 from necessary as the first; for it sustains a close 
 relation to the first, and could not be violated 
 without the violation of the first. 
 
 The third commandment, "Thou shalt not 
 take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for 
 the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 
 his name in vain," would have been more super- 
 fluous to man, in his original, holy state, had he 
 remained in it, than it is to the saintliest man who 
 
 5° 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 lives to-day and has probably, in all his life, never 
 violated it. 
 
 The fourth commandment, "Remember the 
 Sabbath day, to keep it holy," was not once hinted 
 at in unfallen Eden ; for every day was a holy day, 
 then. Man being not only God's great master- 
 piece, but his last creative act, his first dawn of 
 morning, was the ushering in of God's great day 
 of rest. This Sabbath would possibly have con- 
 tinued, had sin not interrupted. The advent of 
 sin, accompanied by its curses, introduced the day 
 of toil and labor; consequently, any day, less than 
 an holy day, is necessitated by the fall. In God's 
 mercy, amidst the days of toil and hardship, a 
 Sabbath day of rest was arranged. But inasmuch 
 as man's first morning introduced a holy day, 
 which has been interrupted by sin; his last morn- 
 ing will introduce a holy day when redemption's 
 work will be complete, and the necessity of any 
 thing short of a Sabbath day will forever be re- 
 moved. 
 
 The decalogue was written by God, for man, 
 upon two tables of stone. In view of the fact 
 that the first four commandments look toward the 
 regulating of man, in his relation to and conduct 
 toward God, they may have constituted the whole 
 number, found on the first table of stone. These 
 are seen to have been necessary, because of, the 
 
 51 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 loss of the divine stamp or image, from the heart 
 of man. Even so, the remaining six, which look 
 especially, toward the regulation of man, in his 
 relation and conduct to his fellows, would have 
 been unnecessary had it not been for the fall. 
 
 The fifth commandment, "Honor thy father 
 and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon 
 the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;" 
 would have been as certainly, and as easily fulfilled 
 to the letter, without a commandment to that ef- 
 fect, as an object tossed skyward is brought to the 
 earth, by the law of gravitation. Also the fol- 
 lowing five commandments, "Thou shalt not kill," 
 "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt 
 not steal," "Thou shalt not bear false witness 
 against thy neighbor," "Thou shalt not covet thy 
 neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neigh- 
 bor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid- 
 servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that 
 is thy neighbor's;" which are all negative com- 
 mandments; would have been as foreign to man, 
 in his holy state, as to God himself. For, his 
 nature stamped upon man, would have demanded 
 as high a standard of purity and morals, as his 
 own nature demanded, when he took occasion to 
 express himself, upon tables of stone. 
 
 No Moral Standard of Measurement. — Inas- 
 much then, as the divine nature and impress of 
 
 52 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 God, was lost from the heart of man ; and though 
 a Redeemer was promised who should espouse 
 the cause of fallen humanity, and purchase back 
 for him his heritage; yet, after the fall, there re- 
 mained for man no objective standard of morals 
 and purity by which he could measure himself. 
 Hence, he could not know how far he came from 
 measuring up to divine requirement; and conse- 
 quently was not capable of realizing, in the truest 
 sense, his real danger, and his greatest need of 
 the promised Redeemer. 
 
 The Second, a Substantial Copy. — It was an 
 act of mercy, on the part of heaven, when a second 
 copy of the law was given. This time, it was 
 not amidst the quiet scenes of creative work, but 
 amidst the flashing of fierce lightnings, deafening 
 peals of thunder and trembling of the earth, that 
 the great God of the Universe, proceeded to write 
 with his own hand a second copy of his law. 
 Man's attention must be arrested when God him- 
 self ministers : He must be made to feel that God 
 is speaking to him. From the very nature of the 
 case, the law had to be written objectively, where 
 man could read and upon such material as would 
 not admit of erasement. Tables of stone were 
 chosen, upon which, God wrote the second copy 
 of his law with his own hand. 
 
 The giving of the law was by no means an 
 53 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 insignificant thing in the estimation of heaven it- 
 self — possibly but little less significant, than crea- 
 tion ; for angels who have always exhibited a great 
 interest in the affairs of men, who are said to 
 have shouted for joy when the foundations of the 
 earth were laid (Job 38: 7), were also in attend- 
 ance, in an innumerable company upon the occa- 
 sion of the giving of the law. Acts 7: 53. 
 
 A Safe Standard. — Since the giving of the law, 
 man possesses a safe standard of measurement. 
 As he looks at the demands of the law, appro- 
 priating each item to his own heart and life, he 
 may comprehend with certainty, his estrangement 
 from God, and his need of help. As he beholds 
 the lightning's flashing about the summit of the 
 mount of the law; and hears the rolling thunder 
 until it makes the earth beneath him tremble; he 
 realizes as he otherwise never would have done, 
 his own guilt and the justice of God. If this is 
 the moral standard required by God, can man 
 keep it ? Nay, the very first thing which happened 
 to the tables of the law, even before being brought 
 into the camp of Israel, was, they were broken. 
 The tables of stone were, however, not the first to 
 be broken; for the law which they contained was 
 evidently being broken, while yet the finger of God 
 was writing it out; for, when Moses came down 
 from the mount, bearing the tables of the law ; be- 
 
 54 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 hold, Israel was worshipping the golden calf. The 
 God of heaven was forgotten, and his law broken. 
 Appropriately did Moses cast the tables to the 
 ground, and brake them; for their very first com- 
 mandment was already broken. 
 
 The Purpose of Divine Law. — Did God expect 
 Israel to keep the law? If it was impossible to 
 keep the law, was God just in giving it? These 
 are questions which appear on the surface, some- 
 what difficult; but, let us hold aside the curtain, 
 and investigate a little further, God's purpose in 
 the giving of the law. 
 
 God did not only give the law, which Israel 
 could not keep, and which no man, alone, who was 
 merely man, has ever been able to keep; but, he 
 gave Jesus Christ, the Divine man who was the 
 first to keep the law; and who became the Re- 
 deemer of man-kind. His gift to the world in 
 Christ, however, could not be properly estimated 
 and valued until man possessed a positive standard 
 of measurement, by which he could ascertain his 
 true condition. Hence, as he saw flashing about 
 his own head the lightnings of justice; and felt 
 beneath his own feet the tremblings of judgment; 
 he awoke to his need of mercy and help, to the 
 measure that heaven alone could give. 
 
 Were the New Testament scriptures silent, in 
 reference to the relation of the law to Christ; to 
 
 55 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 us it would appear that the relationship is suffi- 
 ciently plain. But, New Testament writers, do 
 not leave us to speculate, concerning this relation, 
 whatever. 
 
 Law Arraigns the Whole Human Family. — 
 Paul says in Romans 3: 19, 20: "Now we know 
 that what things soever the law saith, it saith to 
 them who are under the law: that every mouth 
 may be stopped, and all the world may become 
 guilty before God." This is indeed a remarkable 
 and picturesque setting forth of the office of the 
 law. It is, evidently, that attribute of the infinite, 
 which we know as justice; which arraigns the 
 whole human family before the tribunal of Al- 
 mighty God. Here, as one by one, an assembled 
 universe stands before the court of judgment, and 
 is measured by the standard of that divine law, he 
 becomes speechless, every mouth becomes silent; 
 and in the very silence of that hour, is by the law, 
 pronounced guilty. Consequently, the law was 
 not intended as an instrument of justification, but 
 of conviction and guilt. It is the expression of 
 God's justice: Christ is the expression of his love 
 and mercy. They both proceed from the same 
 divine source, and bear an inseparable relation to 
 each other. 
 
 The same great exponent of divine truth, again 
 says: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the 
 
 56 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, 
 even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we 
 might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not 
 by the works of the law : for by the works of the 
 law shall no flesh be justified." Gal. 2:16. 
 Again, we read: "For the law made nothing per- 
 fect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by 
 the which we draw nigh unto God." Heb. 7: 19. 
 
 In the above scriptures, it is repeatedly stated ; 
 that, by the law, none shall be justified. This 
 would be impossible ; for, man in his fallen condi- 
 tion, could not keep the law. If he could have 
 done so, he might have been justified by it. 
 
 Law a Disciplinarian — Paul in Galatians 
 3 : 24-27, in a forceful manner, shows the relation 
 between the law and Christ, when he says: 
 "Wherefore the law was our school-master to 
 bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified 
 by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no 
 longer under a school-master. For ye are all the 
 children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." The 
 word used here, in the original Greek text, ?rai8- 
 aywyos, is scarcely translated strong enough in the 
 Authorized Version, as "school-master," nor in the 
 American Version, where it is translated "tutor." 
 It might better be translated, a child-leader, or a 
 disciplinarian. It does not mean an instructor or 
 teacher, simply; but a person, to whom is entrusted 
 
 57 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 the care of a child; and who by rigid discipline, 
 compels the child to attend to the means of in- 
 struction provided. So the law is a disciplinarian ; 
 who does by its rigid discipline compel men to 
 attend to the means of grace, provided in salvation 
 by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Again, we are told: "For what the law could 
 not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God 
 sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
 and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
 who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
 Rom. 8:3, 4. Christ fulfilled the law, by keeping 
 it to the letter; which no man had ever done; and 
 which he could not have done, if he had been mere 
 human. He is the end of the law, because, when 
 the individual is led to Christ, by the law, which 
 is his child-leader, the office of the law ceases. 
 Not that the moral standard of the law is put 
 aside; for it is only then that the moral standard 
 of the law can be kept, and that by means of an 
 appropriation of the merits of Christ, the Divine 
 man ; who had lived up to the letter of the law. 
 
 Law and Grace Operative in Both Dispensa- 
 tions. — The former dispensation, was that of law : 
 this dispensation is pre-eminently that of grace. 
 However, grace was not inoperative in the old 
 dispensation, neither is law inoperative in the new. 
 
 58 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 It is evident that grace was available in the old 
 dispensation, even from the moment of the prom- 
 ise of Christ in Eden, and the law is still that 
 under which the individual lives, who has not been 
 led to obtain divine merit, in the sacrificial work 
 of Jesus Christ; and that standard of righteous- 
 ness, to which the individual measures, who has 
 appropriated the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It 
 is a mistake to assume that we have nothing to do 
 with the law. The boundary between law and 
 grace is not marked by any objective, historical 
 event; but, by a subjective application of the blood 
 of Jesus Christ to the needs of the soul. Even 
 then, the law may be said to be the objective 
 standard of righteousness. Sinai's law should be 
 thundered forth in no uncertain tones until every 
 straying son of Adam has been made safe in the 
 arms of an all-sufficient Savior, or probation is 
 ended, and the blood avails no more. 
 
 A Third Copy Being Written. — The third copy 
 of God's law, is now being written. This time, 
 not on tables of stone; but, again as at the first, 
 upon the hearts of men. As before, it is an exact 
 transcript of God's own nature, consequently, 
 identical with the two former copies. The process 
 employed is not creation, but redemption; but, 
 when it is finished, the copy will be as perfect and 
 complete upon the heart of man as it was when 
 
 59 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 man first came from the creative hand of his 
 maker. 
 
 It is the second copy, which was graven upon 
 stone, with its corresponding likeness, in the per- 
 son of the Divine man, which disclosed what the 
 first copy contained, and what the third copy, now 
 being written, will contain. 
 
 The Most Exalted Requirement of the Law. — 
 Every item of the law, is wise and good; but, be- 
 yond question, the highest and most exalted re- 
 quirement of the law is contained in the following 
 words, which are not arbitrary or independent of 
 the decalogue; but in a certain very real sense, a 
 summary of it: "Be ye holy; for I am holy/' Lev. 
 ii : 44 and i Peter i : 16. 
 
 This most exalted requirement of the law is 
 provided for in the fullest measure by grace, for 
 it is written: "In whom we have redemption 
 through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, accord- 
 ing to the riches of his grace. " Eph. i : 7. Also, 
 "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify 
 (or make holy) the people with his own blood, 
 suffered without the gate." Heb. 13: 12. 
 
 Law and Grace not Rivals.— Remarkable re- 
 quirement of sinful, helpless man! One which 
 would forever remain beyond his own possibility. 
 Injustice for God to demand the impossible, of his 
 creatures. But when viewed in the light of revela- 
 
 60 
 
Christ and the Law 
 
 tion, law and grace, which may have appeared as 
 rival or antagonistic, are seen to be side compan- 
 ions; each playing well its part in the great plan 
 of human redemption. In other words: law re- 
 veals to man what he ought to be, but what he is 
 not: Grace reveals the possibility of being, in 
 Christ, that which is required by the most exalted 
 of heaven's demands — holiness of heart, and sin- 
 lessness of life. 
 
 This, then, is the true interpretation of the 
 law. It not only indicates what the first copy was; 
 but, what the third copy shall be. In the writing 
 of the third copy, heaven has bent low; and the 
 whole redemptive scheme is involved. Wonderful 
 as it may appear; this is only in keeping with the 
 divine promise, which says : "This is the covenant 
 that I will make with them after those days, saith 
 the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and 
 in their minds will I write them; and their sins 
 and iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 
 10: 16-17. 
 
 61 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 [N attempt to discuss Old Testament 
 symbolism in its completeness would be 
 a great task. To do justice to such an 
 undertaking would require a large vol- 
 ume, for the Old Testament abounds 
 in figures and symbols. Every one of these, points 
 to the Messiah and his atoning work. 
 
 Much time could be profitably spent in con- 
 sidering the Ark a symbol of Christ, Isaac a type 
 of Christ, Moses a type of Christ, Solomon a 
 type of Christ. We might stop and gaze at the 
 Psalmist's "Bright and Morning Star," and Mal- 
 achi's "Sun of Righteousness." We might ex- 
 amine Isaiah's "Root of Jesse" as it sprouts forth 
 in new life, or pause to behold the beauty and 
 breathe the fragrance of Solomon's "Rose of 
 Sharon and Lily of the Valley." These and many 
 others are symbolical expressions prefiguring va- 
 rious aspects of the work and character of the 
 Savior of Mankind. 
 
 62 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 We have chosen however, for our treatment 
 the highly expressive symbol relative to Christ and 
 his work, the Sanctuary. This is no doubt the 
 most comprehensive type in the Old Testament. 
 The Temple of Solomon might have been selected 
 with about the same propriety as it was built after, 
 the pattern of the Tabernacle except twice as large 
 in dimensions and more substantial and mag- 
 nificent, but since the Tabernacle was planned and 
 arranged by God himself, and possessed a sim- 
 plicity not found in the Temple, it constitutes the 
 most appropriate and expressive symbol. 
 
 There are not a few who are indifferent to 
 the Old Testament Scriptures, looking upon them 
 as a meaningless or at least mysterious affair with 
 which they need have little concern. This is a 
 mistake. Here are rich fields for exploration, deep 
 wells from which to draw living sparkling truths 
 and sublime heights of heavenly wisdom to be 
 scaled. Have you beheld the Christ of the New 
 Testament? Have you found the gushing foun- 
 tain head or have you been dizzied by that tower- 
 ing mount of wisdom? Has your heart been 
 crushed beneath his sufferings and made to rejoice 
 because of his love? Each of these sublime ex- 
 cellencies has been anticipated by the symbols of 
 the earlier scriptures. 
 
 As we approach the Sanctuary in our study, we 
 
 63 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 are made to feel that a special design is before us, 
 especially when we take into account the circum- 
 stances which gave birth to its existence. It was 
 during a forty days stay on Mount Sinai that 
 Moses received the specifications and plans for its 
 construction. They were given by God himself 
 in minutest detail; not only as to size and shape 
 but as to the material to be used in each part. The 
 Lord not only in the beginning insisted that Moses 
 should carefully adhere to the design that he 
 would show to him, but in the very midst of the 
 plans as though a slight variation might be pos- 
 sible, he again said to Moses: "And look thou 
 that thou make them after their pattern, which 
 was shewed thee in the mount." Exodus 25 : 40. 
 Observing the exactions which were made of 
 Moses by the Lord in reference to the Sanctuary, 
 it would be natural to expect something of special 
 significance. Our expectancy is exalted still more 
 when we discover that so strong was the purpose 
 of the Lord to have these designs and specifica- 
 tions minutely executed that when it came to their 
 execution he called and inspired with a special 
 wisdom, a chief workman for the task. Exodus 
 
 New Testament Authority for Spiritual Inter- 
 pretation. — In reference to the spiritual import of 
 our symbol we rest on New Testament authority 
 
 64 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 for our Interpretation. The Book of Hebrews 
 appears as a veritable commentary on the Sanc- 
 tuary of the Old Testament. In it the sacred 
 writer says, in reference to the Tabernacle: 
 "Which was a figure (TrapapoXr)) for the time 
 then present, in which were offered both gifts and 
 sacrifices, that could not make him that did the 
 service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 
 which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers 
 washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them 
 until the time of reformation. But Christ being 
 come an high priest of good things to come, by a 
 greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with 
 hands, that is to say, not of this building. Neither 
 by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own 
 blood he entered in once into the holy place, 
 having obtained eternal redemption for us." He- 
 brews 9 : 9-12. 
 
 The same writer speaking of the priestly 
 service of the Tabernacle says that it was a shadow 
 (o-Kta) of heavenly things. Heb. 8:5, and to 
 prove further that it stood for heavenly realities, 
 quotes the language of the Lord to Moses, re- 
 corded in Exodus 25 : 40, and given above — "See 
 that thou make all things according to the pattern, 
 (tuVos, type) shewed to thee in the mount." 
 
 Again we are told: "And almost all things are 
 by the law purged with blood; and without shed- 
 
 5 65 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ding of blood is no remission. It was therefore 
 necessary that the patterns ( woSety/mra ) of things 
 in the heavens should be purified with these; but 
 the heavenly things themselves with better sacri- 
 fices than these. For Christ is not entered into 
 the holy places made with hands, which are the 
 figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
 appear in the presence of God for us. Hebrews 
 9 : 22-24. 
 
 A summing up of the expressions made con- 
 cerning the Tabernacle, will assist in arriving at a 
 proper conclusion of its spiritual import and real 
 significance. 
 
 In the first scripture the sanctuary is called a 
 figure, 7ro.paf3o\r), parable. The Greek work used 
 here is defined as a thing serving as a figure for 
 something else. 
 
 In the second scripture both shadow, o-kul and 
 type, twos are used. Thayer defines o-Kta, shadow, 
 to be: an image cast by an object and representing 
 the form of that object. "A two?, type," says 
 Dr. Morehead, "is an image or representation of 
 something yet future." 
 
 In the last scripture the term woSety/xaTa, pat- 
 tern, is used. This term is defined as a figure or 
 a copy. 
 
 Now since the services of the Tabernacle were 
 a parable of the true sacrifice to be made in Christ, 
 
 66 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 an image cast by a real object, which was declared 
 to be of a heavenly nature, but which lay in the 
 future, and a copy of things in the heavens, we are 
 not lacking in evidence that the great redeeming 
 work of Christ was that for which the Sanctuary 
 stood, 
 
 A Twofold Manifestation of God. — To this 
 another unique evidence might be added: 
 
 Going back to the original purpose for which 
 God commanded the Sanctuary to be made, we find 
 that it was in order that he might dwell among 
 his people. Ex. 25: 8. This Sanctuary was not 
 only a symbol of God's presence but the place of 
 his real spiritual presence among his people, in 
 the Old Dispensation. In connection with this fact 
 let us note a prophecy relating to the new dis- 
 pensation: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and 
 bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." 
 Isa. 7: 14. When the angel appeared to Joseph 
 to relieve his perplexed and troubled mind, he 
 quoted this prophecy and further gave the inter- 
 pretation of the Hebrew compound, Immanuel, 
 declaring it to mean, God with us. Regardless 
 of the language which the angel spake, he must 
 have been familiar with this Hebrew word of 
 prophecy for he gave its exact interpretation. 
 Hence the Sanctuary was God with his people 
 in the Old Dispensation and Jesus Christ is God 
 
 67 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 with his people in this dispensation. The one 
 and great purpose of Christ in the world was that 
 of redemption. The Sanctuary was the largest 
 revelation that God saw best to give of himself 
 in that age, but in the "fulness of time," he gave 
 the greater manifestation of himself in the per- 
 son of his Son, whose coming ushered in the full 
 day after the dim twilight of the Old Dispensation. 
 Jesus is really God spelled out to the world. This 
 fact in itself makes a close connection between the 
 Sanctuary and the redeeming work of Christ. 
 
 Another Connecting Link Another connect- 
 ing link between the two dispensations is seen in 
 the transfiguration of Christ. Here Moses a rep- 
 resentative of the law and Elijah a representative 
 of the prophets appeared unto him and conversed 
 with him. St. Luke tells us that they spake with 
 him concerning the decease which he should ac- 
 complish at Jerusalem, (St. Luke 9:31) evidently 
 referring to his death, the means of man's re- 
 demption. This incident testifies to Old Testa- 
 ment interests in the redeeming work of the Son 
 of God. 
 
 A Significant Statement. — Furthermore Jesus 
 himself gave from his lips a significant statement 
 bearing directly upon this inquiry. To the Jews 
 who professed to be followers of Moses but were 
 denying him, he said: "There is one that ac- 
 
 68 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 cuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. For 
 had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed 
 me: for he wrote of me." St. John 5:45-46. 
 Thus Jesus put the stamp of authority upon the 
 messianic interpretation of the Pentateuch. Our 
 records of the Sanctuary are of Mosaic author- 
 ship, which Sanctuary grandly prefigures or typi- 
 fies Jesus Christ in his great work of redemp- 
 tion. It was but a pattern of the real tabernacle 
 which the Lord pitched and not man. Heb. 8 : 2. 
 As result of the foregoing study of the spir- 
 itual significance of the Sanctuary the natural con- 
 clusion would be that inasmuch as the command 
 for, and specifications of the Sanctuary were given 
 from heaven, The Lord must have intended that 
 each complete part should be expressive of some 
 great truth to be fully revealed in Christ. 
 
 A General View of the Tabernacle and 
 Its Court 
 
 Before entering these sacred walls we should 
 take a little general survey of the institution and 
 then proceed to the more specific. 
 
 The outer court of the Tabernacle was an 
 oblong roofless space one hundred cubits long and 
 fifty cubits wide, enclosed by pillars of brass five 
 cubits apart, upon which canvas screen was hung. 
 The cubit has had a variety of lengths and it is 
 
 69 ' 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 somewhat difficult to determine the exact meas- 
 urements in connection with the Sanctuary. Dr. 
 Smith in his Old Testament History uses the 
 eighteen inch cubit, and for convenience at least 
 we will adopt the same. This would make the 
 court of the Tabernacle about one hundred and 
 fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide. 
 
 To the rear of the court which stood with its 
 length East and West, with its opening to the 
 East, stood the Tabernacle. It was about forty- 
 five feet long, fifteen feet wide and fifteen feet 
 high, possibly to the square. It was made of 
 boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold, standing 
 upright. They stood edge to edge and had tenons 
 at the lower ends which were fitted into sockets of 
 silver. The corners were coupled with rings. The 
 roof was made of layers of rams' skins dyed red 
 and of badgers' skins. These were in all prob- 
 ability stretched across a ridge pole which gave it 
 the necessary shape and slope. 
 
 In the rear of the tabernacle whose first room 
 was called the Holy Place separated by a curtain 
 or veil, was a room ten cubits each way and ten 
 cubits high — a perfect cube about fifteen feet each 
 way. This was called The Most Holy Place or 
 The Holy of Holies, for here Jehovah's presence 
 dwelt. 
 
 Each of these three apartments will be found 
 70 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 to have their special significance when we consider 
 them separately and specifically. 
 
 The Outer Court 
 
 Having been assured that the institution which 
 we are studying a thing of heavenly planning, 
 and constructed according to specifications divinely 
 given and faithfully adhered to, let us enter in 
 and with a careful observation and prayerful heart, 
 hear the messages of truth that are spoken from 
 its sacred walls. 
 
 While it is no doubt true that few in the 
 day of the Sanctuary, had more than a faint idea 
 or limited conception of its spiritual significance, 
 it is also evident that to some it was given to 
 understand at least a part of the message which it 
 spoke. To us who stand upon the very mountain 
 peak of history and fulfilled prophecy, it appears 
 as a concrete object lesson — a message of the 
 Christ in the fulness of his love and redeeming 
 power. To us the real Tabernacle has been 
 pitched, the Great High Priest has come; the 
 offering has been made, and the Holy Place has 
 been made accessible. Because of these facts we 
 are in a better position to enjoy our proposed visit 
 in this most interesting of institutions. 
 
 The court was a complete enclosure excepting 
 to the East, where entrance must be gained if at 
 
 7i 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 all. This entrance was overhanged with "fine 
 twined linen" wrought with needle work and of 
 gorgeous colors. Fine twined linen was no doubt 
 as truly representative of the righteousness of 
 Christ as of saints. The colors were blue, purple 
 and scarlet. Says Mcintosh: Blue was significant 
 of the heavenly character of Christ, being the 
 etherial color, purple represented his royalty and 
 scarlet his sufferings. This single entrance with 
 its significant colors, was but an illustration of the 
 truth expressed by the words of Jesus: "I am the 
 door" St. John 10:9, and "I am the way, the 
 truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father 
 but by me." St. John 14: 6. 
 
 The Brazen Altar — As we push the curtain 
 aside and step in, the first object which meets the 
 eye is the brazen altar, for this was immediately 
 on the inside of the entrance to the court. It was 
 five cubits square and three cubits high; made of 
 acacia wood and overlaid with brass. A grate of 
 brass was fitted into it upon which the sacrifice was 
 laid to be consumed. At each corner of the altar a 
 horn was made of the same material. Ex. 38 : 1-4. 
 It is said that the animal of sacrifice was fastened 
 to one of these horns while it was being slain. It 
 was this altar to which penitents fled when in 
 danger of death at the hand of an enemy, hoping 
 that by catching hold of the horns of the altar, 
 
 72 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 mercy might be found. The horns of the altar 
 became among the Jews a symbolical expression 
 of mercy of which prophets spoke and psalmists 
 sang. 
 
 Having entered we are at once conscious that 
 we have come by the identical curtain which was 
 drawn aside to permit the ancient Israelite to enter 
 with his animal of sacrifice to offer unto the Lord. 
 He must be conscious of his sin for he lays his 
 hands upon the head of the animal and in this 
 way, his guilt is transferred to it and it is slain. 
 As he beholds the smoke of his offering arising 
 from the altar, there must steal over him a deep 
 sense of gratitude for mercies divinely given ; and 
 as he sees the flesh of his own sacrifice reduced to 
 ashes he must recognize it as a message of deepest 
 assurance that his sins have been cancelled at the 
 price of innocent blood. 
 
 How significant of the perfect sacrifice — Jesus 
 Christ, who was offered once and for all. With- 
 out the shedding of blood there is no remission 
 is the secret of human redemption. "Neither is 
 there salvation in any other: for there is none 
 other name under heaven given among men, 
 whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. The 
 sinner need not now lead to the altar of burnt 
 offerings an animal by whose blood he hopes for 
 absolution, but with empty hands he may pass 
 
 IS 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 beyond the curtain of gorgeous colors, and there 
 by faith behold his victim tied to the horns of the 
 altar, and having received upon himself, though 
 innocent and spotless, his sins, submit to the death 
 blow and be wholly consumed on the altar of Di- 
 vine Justice. Could the Israelite place trust in his 
 offering? How much more canst thou, whose 
 offering is a perfect one and of which his was but 
 the imperfect symbol? Let the penitent sinner 
 step within the curtain and behold what a message 
 of mercy. Without there is no assurance; within 
 there is no uncertainty. 
 
 The great mass of Jewish worshippers never 
 entered beyond the outer court but the chosen ones 
 — the priests passed beyond into the Tabernacle, — 
 the Holy Place. It was on the brazen altar that 
 all the sacrifices which were mentioned in the pre- 
 vious chapter were offered, and the common peo- 
 ple could go only so far as to the door of the 
 Tabernacle itself. It is true that many penitent 
 worshippers still stop at the altar of pardon and 
 proceed no further, but the Lord dwells in the 
 Holy Place and it is into his presence that we 
 would come. In the Old Dispensation it was only 
 the high priest who would dare to come into the 
 Holy of Holies where God then dwelt, and that 
 only once a year with the blood of offerings, but 
 there appeared one who was a High Priest of 
 
 7 6 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 heaven's own order who had received the anoint- 
 ing from above; who when he appeared at the 
 mercy seat, presented an offering so perfect, that 
 the very veil was rent which hid away the glory 
 of God and in a real sense the Holy of Holies was 
 brought into the Holy Place and the two became 
 one. So far at least as earth is concerned, the 
 high priesthood was abolished, and every priest 
 was made eligible to stand in the very presence of 
 God. But strange as it may appear this dispensa- 
 tion has no common people so far as the church is 
 concerned except those who are voluntarily such 
 by refusing to submit to the provisions of salva- 
 tion in a full sense, consequently are not permitted 
 to enter the Holy Place. To all such as are will- 
 ing to appropriate every merit of salvation, pro- 
 vided in Jesus Christ, the Holy Place is accessible. 
 Heaven appears to have manifested no disposition 
 to repair the broken veil and the church of Christ 
 has access to the very mercy seat, for every 
 member of it is a priest in the House of God. 
 Says St. Peter in addressing the church : "Ye are a 
 chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
 nation." I Peter 2:9. From the Book of Rev- 
 elation we read: "And hath made us kings and 
 priests unto God and his Father.'' Rev. 1 : 6, and 
 5: 10. Consequently there was not a ceremonial 
 privilege permitted to the priest of the Old Dis- 
 
 77 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 pensation, which the priests of God do not have 
 the privilege of enjoying in a real and spiritual 
 sense now. So taking advantage of her priestly 
 prerogative, the Church may dwell in the Holy 
 Place. 
 
 The Laver — As the priest approached the 
 Tabernacle proper, leaving the brazen altar, he 
 had to pass the brazen laver. This contained 
 water for the cleansing of the hands and feet of 
 the priests, which must not be neglected upon the 
 penalty of death. He dare not come into the 
 presence of the Lord without being ceremonially 
 clean. Again a very significant furnishing. They 
 of God's royal priesthood, will find between the 
 altar of pardon and the Holy Place, a laver which 
 dare not be passed by, upon the penalty of spir- 
 itual death, for "Without holiness no man shall 
 see the Lord." Heb. 12:14. He must not be only 
 ceremonially clean but effectually so: Not only 
 hands and feet but heart as well. Does that priest 
 pause at the laver? What doth he behold? He 
 finds that the laver contains for him a cleansing, 
 yea more than water for more than water is neces- 
 sary for a moral cleansing. It contains for him 
 blood, which flowed from the pierced side of him 
 who died as a sacrifice for the world. Is it effica- 
 cious? Yea, it is really blood. As he pauses by 
 the laver he hears a voice praying: "Father sane- 
 
 78 
 
THE LAYER. 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 tify them in thy truth: thy word is truth," and 
 "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they them- 
 selves also may be sanctified in truth. St. John 
 17: 17 and 19. A. V. He also hears another 
 say: "Jesus also that he might sanctify the people 
 with his own blood suffered without the gate." 
 Heb. 13 : 12. Neither does he look upon it as a 
 demand made unjustly but as a necessary, expen- 
 sive provision arising out of absolute necessity. 
 
 The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5 : 25-27, rep- 
 resents the church as a bride being made ready 
 for the coming of the bridegroom. The cere- 
 monial cleansing of a bride in Jewish customs is 
 also provided for the spiritual Bride — the church 
 but in a real and effectual manner. Here the laver 
 appears as the instrument of sanctification. A lit- 
 eral but picturesque rendering of these verses 
 would be: "Husbands love your wives just as 
 Christ also loved the church and gave himself for 
 the sake of her, in order that he might sanctify 
 her having cleansed her in the laver of water 
 in the word, in order that he might stand along- 
 side of himself a glorious church, not having spot 
 or wrinkle or any such thing, but in order that 
 she might be pure and without blame." 
 
 In Titus 3:5, we have the term: "washing 
 of regeneration," which literally translated is, 
 "laver of regeneration." In both of these cases 
 
 6 81 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 the laver of the Sanctuary is no doubt the figure 
 referred to. It represents the subjective side of 
 the divine work of grace which is wrought in the 
 heart, while the brazen altar represents the objec- 
 tive work of justification which makes just in the 
 sight of God. Consequently we make no mistake 
 in viewing the laver of the Sanctuary as a symbol 
 of cleansing or sanctification, for in a true sense, 
 sanctification is all that work of grace which is 
 wrought subjectively in man. Hence the laver 
 symbolizes the sanctification of the heart, wrought 
 by the agency of the Holy Spirit, using as the 
 means the atoning blood of Christ. 
 
 The foot of the laver was made of mirrors- 
 pieces of brass, which were polished into looking- 
 glasses and were used by the women. Into these 
 mirrors which constituted the foot of the laver the 
 priest could look and ascertain his uncleanness and 
 prove his cleansing, having applied the contents 
 of the laver. Even so the very vessel which con- 
 tains heaven's cleansing, is the word of truth. 
 This is beautifully set forth or expressed in the 
 correct rendering of the two previous scriptures, 
 St. John 17 : 17, 19 and Eph. 5 : 25-27, where the, 
 word in is correctly used instead of by and 
 through. 
 
 This word too, is not lacking in its mirror pro- 
 vision. In contrast to the mirror in which the 
 
 82 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 natural man beholds himself, and straightway 
 goeth his way and forgetteth what manner of man 
 he was, it is a perfect mirror into which if any 
 man looks; regardless of a rude countenance of 
 sin, self-painted cheeks or morality or heaven's pro- 
 vided heart purity, he will see himself, not as the 
 world sees him but as he is in the eyes of God. 
 The Priestly Anointing. — Important as the 
 sanctifying or cleansing side of the Holy Spirit's 
 work, symbolized by the laver, may be, there is 
 another aspect of his work symbolized by the 
 ceremonial consecration of the priest as well as 
 the high priest. Both were anointed with holy 
 oil before they were permitted to minister in the 
 Holy Place. Ex. 30 : 30 and Lev. 8 : 30. An- 
 ointing with oil is symbolical of the anointing of 
 the Holy Spirit. The cleansing represents the 
 putting off, the anointing the putting on. S. D. 
 Gordon says that "anointing" is the power word, 
 but the positive or anointing of the Spirit has its 
 corresponding negative in the cleansing. Both of 
 these aspects were inseparably united in the con- 
 secration of the priesthood. So the priesthood of 
 this dispensation will find combined in their con- 
 secration, a negative and a positive — an empty- 
 ing and a filling — a putting off and a putting on. 
 These together with the robing of righteousness 
 
 83 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 constitute the credential of the priesthood of today 
 as well as of that of the Old Dispensation. 
 
 Just a few words in this connection concerning 
 the messianic aspect of the high-priest and his 
 anointing will be in keeping. The anointing of 
 Aaron as high-priest was a copious one. The oil 
 ran down upon his beard even upon his garments. 
 Psalms 133:2. Jesus, the only high priest of 
 this dispensation was inducted into his office by a 
 copious out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon him 
 at his baptism, when the very heavens were 
 opened and the Father himself witnessed to his 
 Divine Sonship. To this anointing, he himself 
 witnessed, when at Nazareth, he delivered his 
 first sermon, having selected for his text Isa. 
 61 : 1-2. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 
 me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach 
 good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to 
 bind up the broken hearted, and to proclaim lib- 
 erty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound; to proclaim the accept- 
 able year of the Lord." Having read this text he 
 closed the book and sat down and declared to those 
 who were present: "This day is this scripture ful- 
 filled in your ears." Luke 4:21. 
 
 The Priestly Investiture. — The investiture of 
 the high priest is also significant. Two things 
 stand out conspicuously. The mitre constituted 
 
 84 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 the head covering. Across this mitre on the front 
 was a plate of pure gold with the inscription: 
 "Holiness to the Lord." Ex. 28 : 36. What 
 the high priest was symbolically, Jesus was in 
 reality. Holiness was his essential character. 
 
 Then there was the breast plate and the 
 shoulder pieces. Upon the breast plate were 
 placed twelve precious stones, each one bearing 
 the name of a tribe of Israel. The shoulder pieces 
 contained precious stones, one on each shoulder. 
 On each of these stones were engraven the names 
 of six tribes of Israel. Ex. 28:10 and 21. Hence 
 in his priestly functions the high priest bore upon 
 his breast and shoulders the whole nation of Is- 
 rael. Even so Jesus in his mediatorial work, has 
 borne every individual of his people upon his 
 own heart and shoulders into the very presence of 
 God. 
 
 The Holy Place. — Having made application 
 of the contents of the laver and having received 
 the anointing of holy oil, the priest may pass on 
 through the curtain of the Tabernacle into the 
 Holy Place. This curtain, as well as the one at 
 the entrance to the court, was made of fine twined 
 linen in colors blue, purple and scarlet; again 
 witnessing that Jesus Christ is the only door lead- 
 ing into the presence of God. He alone makes the 
 throne accessible. Dr. Smith understands that 
 
 85 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 the whole inside covering of the Tabernacle was of 
 these same colors. Having entered into the Holy 
 Place new furnishings are to be seen. It may 
 make but little difference which of the articles of 
 the furniture of the Holy Place engages our atten- 
 tion first. They are separated from the Holy of 
 Holies or the immediate presence of God by a veil 
 but are spoken of as being before the Lord. 
 
 It is observed by all who carefully study the 
 arrangement of the Sanctuary that when God gave 
 to Moses the designs of the furniture, he began 
 with the ark itself, and proceeded from the Most 
 Holy Place outward, until the last piece was de- 
 signed being that of the brazen altar. We have 
 noted however that the brazen altar was the first 
 to engage our attention. This speaks to us the 
 fact that the sinner could not approach into the 
 presence of God, but that God proceeded step by 
 step from the Most Holy Place until he had 
 reached the brazen altar of sacrifice. Here he 
 could proceed no further but his last step placed 
 him within access of the sinner, who meets him 
 at the altar. 
 
 The Golden Altar. — But we are contemplating 
 the furnishings of the Holy Place and as a matter 
 of convenience we will direct our attention to the 
 Golden Altar or Altar of Incense. It was made 
 of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold. It was a 
 
 86 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 cubit square and two cubits high, with horns cor- 
 responding somewhat to the horns of the brazen 
 altar. It stood possibly in the center of the Tab- 
 ernacle, immediately before the ark, separated 
 from it by the veil. Here night and morning, the 
 priest burns a sweet incense of the Lord's own 
 compounding. No fire save that taken from the 
 altar of burnt offerings dare be used. He becomes 
 an intercessor. It is in the Holy Place that the 
 priests of the Lord still offer, upon the golden 
 altar of prayer, sweet incense unto him. It is 
 here where he has access to the holy fire which is 
 constantly burning. Here his heart goes up in a 
 continuous devotion upon the wings of a heavenly 
 consuming. It is the sweet incense of true wor- 
 ship in whose aroma is mingled penitence, conse- 
 cration and trust. 
 
 Reconciliation at the altar of pardon is the 
 first essential step in the approach toward God. 
 Sanctification or cleansing is the next in the Divine 
 arrangement, but both are indispensable and ante- 
 cedent to an unbroken fellowship at the golden 
 altar of incense. Although the attitude assumed 
 at the golden altar was pre-eminently that of wor- 
 ship, it sustained a close relation to the altar of 
 burnt offerings for it was the fire taken from this 
 altar which sent heavenward the sweet incense and 
 furthermore the blood of the offering consumed 
 
 87 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 on the altar of burnt offerings, was occasionally 
 sprinkled upon the horns of the golden altar. 
 There could be no golden altar without a brazen 
 one. It is only by approaching the Divine Pres- 
 ence upon the merits of the atonement, that the 
 saintliest worshipper can offer an acceptable devo- 
 tion. How unlike much of the pretentious wor- 
 ship of our day, with its bloodless religion of 
 morality. No sacrifice, no blood, no atonement. 
 As we pause beside that golden altar and note its 
 coals of fire and blood-besprinkled horns, it speaks 
 to us an exhortation of great import: "Let a holy 
 fire be kept burning upon the altar of thine heart 
 and forget not the blood, the price of thy redemp- 
 tion." 
 
 The Candlestick. — To the left of the taber- 
 nacle stool the golden candlestick with its seven 
 arms made of pure beaten gold, very fine. At 
 least one of the candles was to be kept burning 
 continuously being replenished by pure olive oil 
 which was ever at hand. The significance of the 
 golden candlestick with its seven arms is not a diffi- 
 cult one to solve. 
 
 It is fortunate for the student of sacred things 
 that the Bible frequently serves as its own com- 
 mentator and is a most infallible one. 
 
 As truly as does the tree of life which stood 
 in Eden accessible to sinless man but guarded by 
 
 88 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 cherubim and flaming swords from sinful man, 
 appear again by the river of life in the heavenly 
 condition, (Rev. 22:2) so this symbolic candle- 
 stick appears again in its living reality. Rev. 
 1: 12. In this instance it is spoken of as seven 
 candlesticks, but beyond doubt it was this Jewish 
 imagery which was reviewed. A candlestick with 
 seven arms or light bearers is in a practical sense 
 identical with seven candlesticks. He who walked 
 among the candlesticks, who appeared like unto 
 "The Son of Man," himself gives the interpreta- 
 tion of the vision, which is this : The seven candle- 
 sticks are the seven churches. The number seven 
 is the perfect number; not numerically the whole 
 number of churches, but the symbolically perfect 
 number of the Divine Ecclesia. 
 
 In the first place the function or office of the 
 candlestick should be taken into account. It is 
 not a light but a light bearer. It is not a flame 
 but an instrument from which a flame issues. It 
 is not a source but a medium of light. So the 
 church in the truest sense of the word is not a light 
 but a light bearer. It is not a source of light but 
 a medium of light. It is composed of individuals 
 and its light can shine no brighter than that of 
 its individual members. No Christian however 
 consecrated shines by his own light. The best 
 that he can do is to serve as a candlestick or a 
 
 9i 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 medium for divine light to shine through. There 
 is a sense in which he may be said to be like the 
 moon simply a light reflector shining back a bor- 
 rowed light. When the bright rays of the "Sun 
 of Righteousness" fall upon him, he reflects light 
 to those of his universe, and in that secondary 
 sense, he becomes a light, but at any moment that 
 the rays of divine light are cut off there is an 
 eclipse. 
 
 Jesus said to his disciples : "Ye are the light 
 of the world" and "Let your light so shine before 
 men . . . etc." Matt. 5: 14 and 16. Paul ex- 
 horted the Philippian Church to "shine as lights in 
 the world" Phil. 2: 15. But Jesus also said: I 
 am the light of the World. St. John 8:12. He 
 is also declared to be "the true ( SXifiivbv, real) 
 light which ligheth every man that cometh into 
 the world." St. John 1:8. When the final con- 
 clusion is reached, the christian or the church is 
 no more than a candlestick, a medium by which 
 light is made to shine out to the world. 
 
 This truth is most beautifully represented in 
 the vision which Zechariah had of the candle- 
 stick. Not only was he permitted to see the light 
 which the candlestick held, but the secret of that 
 light was made plain to him. He saw a bowl 
 upon the top of the candlestick, with pipes leading 
 to the bowl from two living olive trees standing 
 
 92 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 on either side of it. The angel summed up the 
 meaning of the vision in these words: "Not by 
 might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the 
 Lord" Zechariah 4:6. This is the secret re- 
 vealed. There is indeed a living, divine, source 
 of grace — the grace of the Spirit, from which 
 every member of the candlestick may draw, by 
 which means he may become a flaming torch, so 
 that he may be said to be a light in the world. 
 The first question which should come to each of 
 us is : Am I a member of the true candlestick, and 
 the other not less important is : Am I keeping up a 
 vital connection with the source of true light. 
 
 Then too, the material of the candlestick is 
 highly significant. All of the furniture of the 
 Holy Place as well as of the Holy of Holies was 
 made either entirely of pure gold or overlaid with 
 pure gold. The candlestick was made of beaten 
 gold, very fine. The cost of the Sanctuary with 
 its furnishings is estimated at a sum equal to from 
 one and a quarter to one and a half million of 
 dollars in U. S. currency. The candlestick alone, 
 contained a talent of gold which is equal in value 
 to 26,280 dollars in our currency. Besides the 
 costly material used, a great amount of labor was 
 expended in its construction. Some might care- 
 lessly criticize this apparent needless expense of 
 wealth, but in view of the fact that the Sanctuary 
 
 93 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 as a whole stood for God's redeeming presence in 
 the world, the cost of the same is indeed a modest 
 appropriation considering the value and worth 
 which the institution symbolized. Also taking 
 into account its relation to the greater manifesta- 
 tion which God made of himself in the person of 
 his Son, no sum can be looked upon as too great 
 to have been expended in its construction. In the 
 first place the Lord simply collected together a 
 few handfuls of his earthly possessions to repre- 
 sent him and to constitute his dwelling, but in 
 the latter, the very resources of heaven were well 
 nigh taxed to furnish a medium for his dwelling, 
 sufficiently glorious. 
 
 But of the material itself, in the candlestick, 
 it may be said that it fittingly represents the true 
 church, the light of the world. 
 
 It was purified. So is the church of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 It was most precious or costly. The re- 
 demption of the Church was purchased at 
 an enormous, incalculable sum. 
 It was most durable, retaining its stand- 
 ard of purity and value. So the true 
 church of Christ has stood and will stand 
 all tests to which it may be submitted. 
 It was the rarest of precious metals. 
 
 94 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 Comparatively, very few appropriate 
 heaven's provisions and meet heaven's re- 
 quirements for a place in the candlestick 
 — the church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Having made application of the symbol, as 
 to its function and material we might simply again 
 remind ourselves of its location. It was in the 
 Holy Place that the candlestick stood, so every 
 candlestick in his sanctuary today. Let every 
 penitent hasten into the Holy Place. 
 
 The Table of Shew Bread. — To the right of 
 the Tabernacle stood the table of shew bread. It 
 was two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and 
 a half high. It was made of acacia wood and 
 overlaid with pure gold. It contained the shew 
 bread or "bread of presence" as Fairbairn and 
 others term it. Also the drink offering — unfer- 
 mented wine, pure grape juice. On this table were 
 also kept the golden vessels used in making liba- 
 tions, such as bowls, spoons, etc. The shew bread 
 was made of an unleavened mixture, and the 
 loaves or cakes numbered twelve, according to 
 the twelve tribes of Israel, who were sharers in 
 the covenant relation, and were to be eaten only 
 by the priests. 
 
 It is almost a surprising thing that we should 
 find in the Holy Place, a table spread with food, 
 but when we remember that true religion is not a 
 
 95 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 cloak to be worn or an outward thing to be put 
 on, but a living vital something which needs to 
 be fed, it is after all no great surprise. 
 
 In this connection we recall the discourse 
 which Jesus delivered to the anxious multitudes, 
 who thronged him daily on "the Bread of Life." 
 To them he said: "I am the living bread which 
 came down from heaven: if any man eat of this 
 bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I 
 will give is my flesh, which I will give for the 
 life of the world. St. John 6:51. Also : "Verily, 
 verily I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of 
 the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have 
 no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drink- 
 eth my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise 
 him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat 
 indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." St. John 
 6: 54-56. At this the Jews murmured and even 
 some of his disciples said: "This is a hard saying; 
 who can hear it" St. John 6 : 60. The body and 
 blood of Christ in its atoning efficacy is as truly 
 a means of life to the spiritual man, as bread and 
 water to the physical man. 
 
 Jesus well knew that this saying would always 
 be a "hard" one — difficult for stupid men to 
 understand, so before going away he embodied 
 this great spiritual truth in a concrete object les- 
 son for his disciples of all time. This he did 
 
 96 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 by the institution of the sacrament. Taking bread 
 and wine he blessed them and gave them to his 
 disciples to eat, and to drink, declaring them to 
 be his broken body and shed blood, thus giving 
 to them a memorial of his sufferings and death. 
 
 But here in the Sanctuary thousands of years 
 before the coming of Christ, we find the identical 
 articles of the sacrament upon the Lord's table. 
 This would indeed be a remarkable co-incidence 
 were it not true that the Sanctuary was, on the 
 whole, a concrete lesson of God's redeeming pres- 
 ence and power in the world. Consequently these 
 emblems of the sacrament held a significant place 
 in the Sanctuary, constituting the meat and drink 
 of the priesthood and prefiguring the same event 
 which was then in the future, which it now com- 
 memorates as a fact of history. This is a beau- 
 tiful lesson reminding us that with God, the fu- 
 ture as well as the past, is ever present. 
 
 The significance however, if another New 
 Testament witness may be called in, does not con- 
 fine itself to the death of Christ alone, for Paul 
 says: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
 this cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he 
 come" I. Cor. 1 1 : 26. Hence the memorial is 
 twofold in its nature. It points back to the suf- 
 ferings of Christ upon the cross and at the same 
 time, points forward to the time when he shall 
 
 7 97 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ride down on the clouds of the sky in great glory. 
 It bespeaks his rejection, his humility and his 
 sorrows, but also his kingship, his glory and his 
 victory as well. Thus a twofold message is 
 spoken to us by the bread and wine from within 
 the Holy Place. 
 
 It was within the Holy Place that the bread 
 and wine were to be eaten and drunken, and they 
 were to be the portion of the priesthood only. To 
 every member of the spiritual priesthood this table 
 is accessible. It is only in the Holy Place that it 
 becomes meat and drink to do the will of God, and 
 where the body and blood of Christ can be par- 
 taken in a deeply spiritual sense. It is also here 
 that the sacrament, which is the symbol of this 
 spiritual food, can be understood in its fullest 
 meaning, and the eye of faith can pierce the clouds 
 and behold the descending Lord as well as the ear 
 of faith can hear his dying groans. 
 
 The Most Holy Place. 
 
 Having examined each piece of furniture of 
 the Holy Place, we may now push aside the cur- 
 tain separating it from the Holy of Holies. This 
 curtain is of the same material and color as the 
 former ones only more sumptuous in its designs 
 and perhaps heavier. Our eyes at once fall upon 
 the furnishings of this most important chamber 
 
 9 8 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 for we are now in the very presence of the God 
 of the universe. The material of the furniture 
 does not differ from that of the furnishings of 
 the Holy Place just visited. Heaven itself could 
 not provide a more appropriate symbol than pure 
 gold, but it is the design and office of the fur- 
 nishings which must engage our study. 
 
 The Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat. — 
 Here was the ark of the covenant. It was two 
 cubits and a half long, one and a half wide and 
 high, made of acacia wood and overlaid with 
 pure gold. It originally contained the tables of 
 the law, and later in it were placed the pot of 
 manna and Aaron's rod that budded. 
 
 Over the ark was the mercy seat, a covering 
 just fitting the top, made of pure gold. From 
 either end of the mercy seat, as though made of 
 the same piece of material, arose a cherub. These 
 cherubim had wings outstretched, so that the wings 
 of the one touched the wings of the other cherub, 
 thus completely over-shadowing the mercy seat. 
 With bowed form they hovered above the mercy 
 seat, the very place where God dwelt and where 
 he could be met by his people in their represen- 
 tative, the high priest. 
 
 The ark was a receptacle for the tables of 
 the law which we have seen in a previous chapter, 
 to be but objective copies of God's own nature 
 
 : 99 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 written on cold tables of stone, so that man could 
 read them. Not only had this law been broken 
 in a literal sense when Moses threw down the 
 tables but in a moral way, from the very first of 
 their giving, yea in advance. Cherubim appear 
 to be an order or rank of the heavenly hierarchy, 
 who are sent by God on errands of justice. Per- 
 haps the only place where we have them men- 
 tioned in scripture, except in symbol as here, is 
 in connection with Eden. There we see them 
 stationed at the entrance, to guard it from sinful, 
 rebellious man who had been driven out but who 
 might attempt to return. Here hovering above 
 the mercy seat, with bowed form and piercing 
 eyes, they guard as jealously the law of God as 
 ever they did the entrance to Eden. Dr. Smith 
 says: "The attitude of the cherubim was signifi- 
 cant of the desire of angels to learn the Gospel 
 mysteries that were hidden in the law." (Old 
 Testament History, page 232). This would be- 
 speak a merciful attitude of the angels instead of 
 justice, but this is not contradictory, for in the 
 great plan of redemption, justice and mercy blend. 
 Even the office of the cherubim, guarding the en- 
 trance to Eden, in a previous chapter, has been 
 seen to be a mingling of mercy and justice. 
 
 But we must not forget that we are in the very 
 earthly habitation of the Lord: Our feet are 
 
 100 
 
ARK OF COVENANT AND MERCY 
 SEAT. 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 pressing places where only the high priest would 
 dare to stand, for into the Most Holy Place only 
 the high priest would dare to come and that only 
 "once a year" with the blood of offerings for him- 
 self and for the people. 
 
 The Day of Atonement. — A little investigation 
 of this "once-a-year" occurrence is necessary to a 
 clear understanding of the Most Holy Place and 
 its furniture, for the services of this particular 
 occasion, were held more especially in regard to 
 the mercy seat. It was called the "Day of Atone- 
 ment." 
 
 The day of atonement was the tenth day of 
 Tisri, which was the seventh month of the sacred 
 year. A number of sacrifices were made during 
 the year but only in relation to the outer court, 
 upon the brazen altar, or as in the evening and 
 morning the burning of incense, upon the golden 
 altar of the Holy Place. The blood of the im- 
 perfect offerings made during the year, not being 
 brought into the presence of Jehovah, it appears 
 that an annual offering was necessary, at which 
 time atonement was made in his very presence. 
 
 The Scape Goat. — Upon this day the high 
 priest brought for himself and his family, a young 
 bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt 
 offering. Having slain the bullock he took some 
 of its blood, also a censer full of live coals, from 
 
 103 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 off the altar and a handful of incense, and pro- 
 ceeded into the Most Holy Place. Immediately 
 upon entering he threw the incense upon the coals 
 of fire, and while the Most Holy Place was filled 
 with sweet odor and smoke, he sprinkled the blood 
 of his offering seven times upon and before the 
 mercy seat. He then withdrew to the door of 
 the tabernacle where two goats were waiting. 
 The one was slain and again the high priest en- 
 tered the Most Holy Place and sprinkled the 
 blood upon the mercy seat. Returning to the 
 door of the tabernacle where the other goat was 
 waiting, the high priest placed both hands firmly 
 upon its head and confessed over it the sins and 
 iniquities of the people, and then sent it away into 
 the wilderness laden with its awful burden, the 
 sins of the people. 
 
 How significant : In the ark was the law which 
 had been broken by Israel, but God out of justice 
 must preserve his law unbroken. These were 
 the second tables which he made, Moses having 
 broken the first. Here was a righteous law mor* 
 ally broken, with a God of justice dwelling above. 
 How may man's guilt be hid away from the all- 
 searching, all-piercing gaze of Omniscience? 
 Symbolically there was only one way. The blood 
 of the sacrifice was sprinkled upon the mercy seat, 
 thus hiding away the broken law from the gaze 
 
 104 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary 
 
 of a righteous God. Effectually there is only 
 one way: Jesus Christ the great High Priest en- 
 tered into the Holy of Holies, and there sprin- 
 kled his own blood as the blood of a perfect sac- 
 rifice, upon the mercy seat, forever hiding away 
 the broken law from the face of a righteous Law- 
 giver. 
 
 The New Testament Conception of the Scape 
 Goat. — This figure is carried into the New Testa- 
 ment conception of Christ. St, Paul says: 
 "Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his right- 
 eousness for the remission of sins that are past, 
 through the forbearance of God." Romans 3:25. 
 The word propitiation, as will be seen from the 
 margin of the American Version might be read, 
 Propitiatory, or place of propitiation. Retaining 
 the figure referred to, the Greek word IXaa-Trjpiov is 
 correctly rendered u mercy seat." So Christ was 
 symbolized in a striking manner by the mercy 
 seat, and by his own blood he has hid away the 
 broken law from the face of God. 
 
 Sometimes the question arises: why two goats 
 as an offering? The same reason holds here as 
 well as in the multiplicity of offerings in connec- 
 tion with the brazen altar. No one imperfect 
 offering could symbolize all the aspects of the re- 
 deeming work of Christ: It required a great num- 
 
 105 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ber of them. So here the two goats were but dif- 
 ferent aspects of the same sacrifice, not two sacri- 
 fices. Not only was the sin covered by the blood 
 of the slain goat, but the high priest came imme- 
 diately out from the very presence of God and 
 sent away Israel's sin upon the scape goat, none 
 knew where, into a rocky wilderness; from which 
 they would never be returned. Here is a twofold 
 aspect of the pardoning work of Christ. Not only 
 was his blood shed that there might be remission 
 of sins, for without the shedding of blood there 
 is no remission; but his sacrifice is at once a cov- 
 ering for our sins and at the same time he is our 
 scape-goat bearing them away into everlasting 
 oblivion. 
 
 To the student of the Greek Testament the 
 idea of forgiveness always recalls the scene of the 
 scape-goat for his Greek word a^jxi translated 
 forgiveness is from Irj/u to send and d™ away 
 and means to send away, and always carries with 
 it the imagery of this ceremony connected with the 
 day of atonement. 
 
 That the mercy seat of the Most Holy Place 
 sustained a close relation to the atoning work of 
 Christ is evidenced by the historical fact that when 
 Jesus died upon the cross, the veil or curtain sep- 
 arating it from the Holy Place in the Temple, 
 was rent from top to bottom, signifying that the 
 
 106 
 
Christ in the Sanctuary- 
 way into the very presence of God was made 
 accessible to all. In a deeply spiritual sense, the 
 priests of God are now permitted to live in his 
 very presence, and behold his glory, being as- 
 sured that the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ 
 avails for them. That which hid away the face 
 of God was the veil, but Jesus having forever 
 reconciled God to man, heaven and earth have 
 met in the rending of the veil. 
 
 To those who have been consecrated to the 
 spiritual priesthood the invitation comes: "Hav- 
 ing therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living 
 way, which he hath consecrated for us, through 
 the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an 
 high priest over the house of God; Let us draw 
 near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 
 having our hearts sprinkled from an evil con- 
 science, and our bodies washed with pure water." 
 Heb. 10: 19-22. 
 
 107 
 
CHAPTER V 
 The Christ of Prophecy 
 
 RESENT day rationalistic thinking and 
 liberal interpretation would possibly 
 brand the subject of this chapter, with 
 those of most of the chapters of the 
 book, as entirely antiquated, and the 
 author as belonging to the old school of inter- 
 preters. To this criticism of the author, he cheer- 
 fully confesses, with a keen sense of satisfaction; 
 but he is not willing, that his subject should be 
 placed in the museum of antiquity. In fact it has 
 taken on new life and energy, as the result of an 
 effort on the part of its enemies, for its burial. 
 There is at this time, a strong tendency toward 
 eliminating everything supernatual and messianic 
 from the Old Testament Scriptures, and to explain 
 the New Testament entirely upon the basis of the 
 natural. This tendency is manifested with a great 
 degree of boldness, in the periodicals of the day. 
 Scarcely a page can be read without coming in 
 touch with it. Even the daily papers with eager- 
 
 108 
 
The Christ of Prophecy 
 
 ness catch up the announcement, when some 
 small, notoriety seeking preacher announces him- 
 self to have abandoned the former ways of ortho- 
 dox believing. By so doing, his name is seen to 
 appear in bold head lines, and his photograph is 
 given a place on the cheap secular page. These 
 very things demand that the gospel trumpet have 
 no uncertain sound, lest many be deceived. 
 
 The Bible Still God's Message. — The Bible 
 has stood the test of the ages, and still stands as 
 God's great message to man. Although its 
 authors have lived in many different centuries, and 
 its last message was given almost two thousand 
 years ago ; it is still more up to date than the latest 
 magazine, or even the daily newspapers. The 
 demand for it is increasing; and a competent 
 writer not long since, said: "All the best selling 
 books in the world put together, would not equal 
 the yearly distribution of the Bible, and probably 
 never will." Hence it is but the verdict of all 
 the ages that the Bible is true; and any effort to 
 dispute it, is but an exhibition of folly. What we 
 desire in our investigation, is the testimony of 
 the Word; and by it every problem shall find its 
 final solution, and every question its indisputable 
 answer. 
 
 Messianic Revelation Progressive. — In our 
 former chapters, we have found Christ in Eden, 
 
 109 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 in the sacrificial system, bearing an inseparable 
 relation to the law, and being fully pre-figured in 
 his nature and redemptive work in the sanctuary. 
 In this chapter we expect to find the Old Testa- 
 ment prophecies abounding so fully with Messi- 
 anic conceptions and announcements that the life 
 of Christ can practically be read from the Old 
 Testament itself. 
 
 The messianic revelation which God gave to 
 the world, as well as the revelation of himself, 
 was progressive. From the single Eden promise 
 with its intimation of the sacrifice in the slaying 
 of the animal to provide a coat for man, which 
 was the largest endowment God saw fit to give 
 to the world of the knowledge of the Messiah for 
 at least two thousand years, there developed a 
 complete system of sacrifices. In connection with 
 this, there was developed the priestly office, fore- 
 shadowing in a concrete way the redeeming work 
 of Christ. In the later period of the Old Testa- 
 ment, the revelation became so much greater that 
 the person and work of the Messiah found beau- 
 tiful and minute portrayal in the word-pictures of 
 the various prophets. The messianic hope which 
 had glimmered but faintly in Eden, and had be- 
 come the morning star to Israel, now appears as 
 the "Son of Righteousness," (Mai. 4:2) spread- 
 ing its beams on high, until the eastern sky is be- 
 
 110 
 
The Christ of Prophecy 
 
 ginning to redden with the glorious dawn of a 
 new and better day. 
 
 It is not a question whether every one under- 
 stood the messianic utterances of his day. If 
 some one should insist that even the prophets 
 spake "Better than they knew," this would not 
 set aside the fact that the Christ of the New Tes- 
 tament was photographed in detail by the camera 
 of Old Testament prophecy. Having beheld his 
 face and features, and having witnessed his life, 
 sufferings, death and resurrection, all that New 
 Testament history can do, is to give us a more 
 perfect, life-sized likeness, which but convinces us 
 beyond a doubt that He of whom psalmists sang, 
 and prophets spake, was indeed the Saviour of 
 mankind. The New Testament abounds in mes- 
 sianic interpretations, of Old Testament prophe- 
 cies. Almost every event of note in the life of 
 Christ, was fore-seen and foretold from the an- 
 cient watch tower of prophecy. 
 
 A Two-fold Application of Prophecy. — It is 
 not intended that the following chapters should 
 deal with every statement of Old Testament Scrip- 
 tures which has a messianic aspect. This would 
 be a difficult undertaking, for many of these far 
 reaching prophecies, have a two-fold application. 
 One of these applications is an immediate one, 
 pertaining to the conditions of their day: The 
 
 in 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 other a distant one, only reaching its largest ful- 
 fillment, in the coming and work of the long- 
 promised Messiah. These two applications some- 
 times blend so gradually into each other that it 
 is difficult in many instances to determine where 
 the one ceases and the other begins. If this task 
 could be accomplished, it would require a large 
 volume. It is our present purpose to review the 
 outstanding prophecies, whose fulfillments mark 
 epochs, or at least important events, in the life 
 of the historic Christ. 
 
 Two View-points of Prophecy. — Prophecy and 
 its fulfillment are so closely linked that, it is some- 
 times forgotten which is the cause and which the 
 effect. There are two ways of looking at the 
 remarkable fact of prophecy and its fulfillment. 
 The one is a forward look, and the other a back- 
 ward look. The forward look, is the one neces- 
 sary from the Old Testament standpoint, or from 
 the pinnacle of prophecy itself. Its natural ex- 
 pression would be: "These things are foreseen, be- 
 cause in the Providence of God, they are coming 
 to pass." The backward look is the one necessary 
 from the point of fulfillment, and its natural lan- 
 guage is: "These things are coming to pass, be- 
 cause they have been prophesied." This is the 
 frequent language of the New Testament, rela- 
 tive to the fulfillment of prophecy. In fact neither 
 
 I 12 
 
The Christ of Prophecy 
 
 is the cause. Prophecy and its fulfillment are in- 
 separable and concomitant effects; while the cause 
 itself lies back in the wisdom and power of God. 
 Lack of Correspondence between Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures and New Testament Quotations. 
 — Before proceeding to take up these prophecies, 
 a* word in reference to texts will be profitable. All 
 intelligent students of prophecy have noticed that 
 when a quotation is made in the New Testament 
 from Old Testament Scriptures, in so many in- 
 stances there is lacking an exact literal correspond- 
 ence. This is due in most instances to the fact 
 that the version of Old Testament Scripture in 
 most common use in the time of Christ was the 
 Septuagint. The Septuagint is rather a free Greek 
 rendering of the Old Testament Scriptures, trans- 
 lated about 285 B. C. It was no uncommon thing 
 for New Testament writers to quote from this, 
 rather than from the Hebrew Scriptures them- 
 selves. This fact in itself accounts for the lack 
 of literal correspondence, in many quotations. 
 There are a few instances however, where neither 
 the Septuagint nor the Hebrew Scriptures are fol- 
 lowed exactly. An example of this is found in 
 Eph. 4:8, which says: "When he ascended upon 
 high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto 
 men." The Hebrew Scriptures which are quite 
 closely followed by the Septuagint and by our 
 8 113 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 English versions of the Old Testament, says: "He 
 received gifts among men." The principal differ- 
 ence between the Old Testament and New Testa- 
 ment quotations, lies in the difference between the 
 words give and receive, which upon the surface 
 seemed quite contradictory. Perhaps the best ex- 
 planation which could be given of this passage 
 would be that New Testament writers were un- 
 der divine inspiration, and were permitted to ren- 
 der a New Testament version of a great truth, 
 just as those of the Old Dispensation were permit- 
 ted to render an Old Testament version of the 
 same truth. Whatever may be meant by receiv- 
 ing gifts from among men; it is evident that all 
 His receiving was with a view to giving out; hence 
 they are but two aspects of one great truth. This 
 one great truth was the conquest of our Christ, 
 in which both dispensations share, but view from 
 different grounds. These suggestions should re- 
 lieve our minds of any anxiety which might arise 
 in our comparisons of Old and New Testament 
 Scriptures. 
 
 114 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of 
 Humanity 
 
 ROM Old Testament prophecy It will 
 be seen that the Messiah who was 
 promised, and who should come, was 
 not to be out of all relation to the 
 world which he was coming to save. 
 He was to be a member of the race in the meas- 
 ure indicated in the Eden promise, being the 
 "seed" of the woman. Not only was he to be a 
 member of the human family, but according to 
 the prophet in that great messianic prophecy of 
 Isaiah, the nth Chapter, which is so unmistakable 
 in its application; he was to belong to the He- 
 brew nation, which in Abraham, was chosen the 
 special conservators of pure religion. Verses i 
 and 10 read thus: "And there shall come forth 
 a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall 
 grow out of his roots. And in that day there 
 shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an 
 
 ii5 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: 
 and his rest shall be glorious." According to 
 these plain statements of prophecy, if we would 
 find the living branch sprouting from decaying 
 roots, or behold the standard raised far above the 
 low standards of the kingdoms; we must search 
 among the people of the Hebrew nation. Long 
 before this prophecy was uttered, it was declared 
 that the lawgiver should arise out of the tribe of 
 Judah. Gen. 49 : 10. 
 
 The Messiah was not only to be a member 
 of the Hebrew nation, of the tribe of Judah and 
 a descendant of David, but it would be rather a 
 difficult thing to be conversant with prophecy 
 without having some knowledge as to the place 
 where his advent should be made, for it was dis- 
 tinctly foretold. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 though thou be little among the thousands of 
 Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me 
 that is to be ruler in Israel.' , Micah 5 : 2. 
 
 True enough, when he came, who proved him- 
 self the Saviour of men, he was not let down from 
 heaven in the form of a celestial being; but came 
 as a child born of a woman, having a birth-time 
 and place. He was so distinctively known to be 
 of Hebrew descent that St. Luke traces his gene- 
 alogy in a continuous line from Mary to Judah and 
 Abraham. Also the line of Joseph is traced in 
 
 116 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 a more abridged manner, by Matthew from Abra- 
 ham to Joseph. This line too, is traced through 
 Judah, the head of the tribe which bears his name. 
 Both of these lines were so correct that the Jewish 
 people of their day could not dispute them. In 
 the genealogy as given by St. Luke, Joseph's name 
 is inserted instead of Mary's. This was due to 
 the fact that in Jewish genealogies, no woman's 
 name entered; but the legal son or son-in-law was 
 mentioned in her stead. In this particular the 
 Christ of history is found identical with the Christ 
 of prophecy. 
 
 A Son of Deity and Virgin Birth 
 
 While the promised Messiah was to be man, 
 a member of the Jewish nation, and of the tribe 
 of Judah; yet according to prophecy, there was 
 to be something remarkable and supernatural 
 about his birth. Inasmuch as he was to be truly 
 man as well as truly God, a linking up of the 
 human with the divine; it would be only natural 
 for us to expect something remarkable and ex- 
 traordinary in his advent. Back of the person and 
 work of the Messiah, we must expect causes 
 hitherto unknown, for results must be in keeping 
 with their relative causes; and now we stand as 
 in breathless silence, awaiting results which will 
 
 117 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 doubtless stagger the intellect of men, devils and 
 angels. He, to whom causes and effects are but 
 obedient servants, announces by the mouth of his 
 prophet, a plan which when once understood, 
 must be recognized as a cause sufficient for the 
 expected results. 
 
 From the lips of Isaiah we have a prophecy 
 very remarkable and unique. Here are the words 
 of the prophecy: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive 
 and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." 
 Isa. 7: 14. A supernatural thing indeed, that a 
 son should be born of a virgin; but he who was 
 to come as the special or great one in Israel, must 
 be expected in this manner, if he is to be the child 
 of prophecy. Since a remarkable person was 
 promised to Israel, who was to be the Messiah, 
 and a supernatural birth was prophesied for one 
 of her sons; it would only be reasonable that both 
 prophecies should relate to the same person. 
 
 Let us see. Seven hundred and more years 
 passed, but none came answering to such a re- 
 markable description. Finally, to a young virgin 
 of Nazareth, whose name was Mary, who was 
 espoused to one Joseph; the angel of the Lord 
 came and announced that, she should bring forth 
 a son, and should call his name Jesus. Luke 
 1:31. This, according to New Testament his- 
 tory, being fulfilled; it is at once evident that the 
 
 118 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 Christ of sacred history is identical with the Vir- 
 gin Child of prophecy. 
 
 The Doctrine of the Virgin Birth, always an 
 Article of Faith. — The doctrine of the virgin birth 
 has always been accepted by the Christian church. 
 It has been a written or unwritten faith from 
 apostolic times to this. Only now and then an 
 objection has been raised. The criticism of late 
 years, has sought to undermine the Christian be- 
 lief in the virgin birth and deity of Christ. This 
 it never has, and never will accomplish. The one 
 thing which it is doing, is to cause the church to 
 examine her foundation a little more carefully, 
 only to find in a more satisfactory manner that 
 her faith in a divine Saviour of supernatural birth 
 is entirely secure. 
 
 An examination of the foundation stones of 
 the Christian hope is not only pleasant but profit- 
 able. In this time of liberal interpretation, it is 
 necessary that each Christian should have an in- 
 telligent understanding, and clearly defined ideas 
 of Christian doctrine, as a fortification against the 
 skepticism of the day. With this he is sure to 
 come in contact; and it does not always appear as 
 a roaring lion, but many times as an angel of light. 
 
 The Hebrew Conception. — The virgin birth 
 prophecy quoted above is submitted to every con- 
 ceivable criticism. Few dare venture to dispute 
 
 119 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 its messianic application, but this is occasionally 
 attempted. Failing at this point, attack is made 
 at another. The critic would argue that the He- 
 brew word n o b $, Almah, translated virgin does 
 not mean a maiden, but a newly married woman. 
 This is a prevarication. The word is from the 
 Hebrew verb, d S J£. Alam, which means to con- 
 ceal; consequently, the Hebrew conception of a 
 virgin was, one who had never known a man, so 
 far as sexual relations were concerned hence was 
 concealed in that sense. 
 
 Despite the fact that Gesenius says that the 
 word does not primarily signify the * unmarried 
 state or unspotted virginity, but a young maiden 
 of marriageable age; hence should not be trans- 
 lated into the Greek as impQcvos, parthenos, which 
 primarily means a virgin; The angel who an- 
 nounced the fulfillment of the prophecy, to Joseph 
 (Matt. 1:23,) according to St. Matthew, used 
 -jrapOevos, parthenos, the very word which our critic 
 says should not be used. Thus while short sighted 
 men would even venture to criticise the very lan- 
 guage of an arch-angel; it is reasonable to believe 
 that God's prophets and angelic messengers un- 
 derstood what they spake and spake what they 
 meant, without consulting critics as to permissible 
 words. Further, the author has carefully exam- 
 ined the six only passages of the Old Testament 
 
 120 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 in which nnb : y, Almah, is used; and in none of 
 the instances would the context require, or scarcely 
 permit any other translation than that of virgin. 
 Dr. James Orr in his great book "The Virgin 
 Birth," quotes Luther as having made the follow- 
 ing challenge : "If a Jew or Christian can prove 
 to me that in any passage of scripture (npSy\ 
 Almah means a 'married woman,' I will give him 
 one hundred florins although God alone knows 
 where I may find them." While it is not mine 
 to dispute that, the word may mean a young 
 woman of marriageable age; yet the fact of her 
 being of a marriageable age, would not set aside 
 her virginity, for there have no doubt always been 
 and always will be, virgins of marriageable age. 
 Hence it can be readily seen that, this is by no 
 means conclusive evidence against the word n o b %, 
 Almah, being translated virgin. It is the word 
 used when the familiar story is told of Rebecca 
 going out to draw water, when she is met by 
 Eleazar, the servant of Abraham, who is in search 
 of a wife for his son Isaac. Gen. 24th Chapter. 
 It is also used in the incident of Pharaoh's daugh- 
 ter finding Moses; and the maiden or virgin be- 
 ing the sister of Moses, makes haste to secure a 
 nurse. Ex. 2:8. 
 
 Intimation of Virgin Birth in the Eden Prom- 
 ise. — It would not be doing violence to the Eden 
 
 121 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 promise of the Savior, to read from it at least 
 an intimation of the virgin birth; for it was said 
 of him that he was to be the seed of the woman. 
 Woman is not the generic term used to represent 
 the race. The term always used to represent the 
 human family is man. Concerning this fact, the 
 author has found in "Kidder's Messias," a book 
 published in 1726, almost two hundred years ago, 
 a paragraph so fresh and expressive, that it de- 
 serves quotation in this connection. "Thus as sin 
 entered by a woman, so did salvation also. And 
 God made a woman the instrument of greatest 
 good, as the first woman was the occasion of 
 greatest evil. The woman was then first in the 
 transgression, and now she is also made of God 
 an instrument of the greatest blessing to man- 
 kind: We are saved by the fruit of the woman's 
 womb as we were made miserable at first by a 
 woman's rebellion." Page 24. 
 
 When such an accumulation of testimony is 
 given its proper estimate, it is evident to all that, 
 the child of prophecy is the child of virgin birth. 
 
 In identifying the Christ of the New Testa- 
 ment as the virgin son of prophecy, there is no 
 difficulty; for both St. Matthew and St. Luke are 
 explicit in their accounts of his miraculous birth. 
 
 The Virgin Birth a Mystery. — The virgin 
 birth has been, and always will continue to be, a 
 
 122 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 mystery; but even this does not militate against 
 the fact, for almost everything pertaining to hu- 
 man life is a mystery. Our genesis, our life, our 
 death are mysteries; nevertheless we recognize 
 them to be facts. 
 
 To the virgin as well, this announcement ap- 
 peared as a mystery; such a mystery that she in- 
 quired of the angel Gabriel; "How shall this be, 
 seeing I know not a man?" St. Luke i : 34. It 
 was not until he had explained the mystery by 
 saying: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, 
 and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow 
 thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall 
 be born of thee shall be called the Son of God," 
 that Mary replied; "Behold the handmaid of the 
 Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." 
 Luke 1 : 35 and 38. 
 
 To Joseph, the espoused of Mary, it was a 
 mystery so profound that his betrothed should be 
 with child, before their coming together that, the 
 angel found it necessary, at least in a measure, to 
 solve the mystery for him. He assured him that 
 he need not fear to take unto himself Mary, for 
 that which was conceived in her was of the Holy 
 Ghost. Matt. 1 : 20. 
 
 The question of "how," with a readiness to 
 accept the answer, is perfectly legitimate at the 
 beginning of such a remarkable life. But after 
 
 123 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 so many years of history with its long catalogue of 
 unanswered "hows," but with its infallible proofs 
 of the Deity of our Lord, the persistent question 
 of "how" can scarcely be any other than the lan- 
 guage of the skeptic. 
 
 The Virgin Birth not Contrary to Nature. — 
 But there are those who still deny the possibility 
 of the virgin birth, declaring it to be contrary to 
 nature. Short sighted indeed they must be, who 
 have never discovered that what we call "nature" 
 is simply another way of expressing God's ordi- 
 nary way of doing things. If God should choose 
 to step aside from his customary way of doing 
 things, and do a thing just a little differently, that 
 is his prerogative. It would be a strange God, 
 who could at one time speak into existence a man 
 without the aid of man or woman, and then should 
 not be able at another time, to bring another man 
 into the world, by the exercise of his divine power, 
 through the agency of the woman only. 
 
 This very fact may be said to account for a 
 twofold nature in Christ, and makes him indeed 
 the Son of God. He who was the Son of God, 
 which he claimed to be (St. John 9:33-37, 10: 
 24-25, 10:36-38 and Matt. 26:63-64), who 
 had a pre-existence with God, had no need of a 
 human Father. The humanity in Christ was but 
 the natural gift of his human motherhood; while 
 
 124 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 his Deity was a direct result of his divine father- 
 hood. The two statements found in the Apostles' 
 Creed, "conceived by the Holy Ghost" and "born 
 of the Virgin Mary," which modern critics are 
 determined upon eliminating, are alike essential, 
 and neither can ever be set aside without an in- 
 calculable loss to the church. 
 
 There are those who deny the possibility of a 
 miracle on the physical plane, or in the humanity 
 of Christ, but admit of a miracle on the moral 
 or spiritual plane. But to admit a miracle on 
 the one plane, is to open the way for a belief in 
 a miracle on the other; for as says Prof. Bruce: 
 A sinless man is as much a miracle in the moral 
 world as a virgin birth is in the physical world.' 
 The Virgin Birth, page 191. 
 
 Wrong Conception of a Miracle.— Many have 
 a wrong conception of a miracle. It is not as 
 some maintain, a thing contrary to nature. It is 
 simply nature's God stepping aside from, or a 
 little in advance of, his customary manner of do- 
 ing things and doing them just a little differently. 
 
 The first miracle performed by our Lord dur- 
 ing his earthly ministry, that of turning. water to 
 wine at the marriage feast of Cana, was not the 
 first time he accomplished the same results. Every 
 year since creation, he has sent dew-drops and rain 
 which combining with the other essential elements, 
 
 125 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 have been absorbed by the grape vine; and by a 
 mysterious process, has been transformed into 
 sweet, sparkling grape-juice, such as Cana's wed- 
 ding guests pronounced the "best wine." The 
 only difference between these two incidents is that 
 Creation's Lord took a shorter process to accom- 
 plish the desired result in the one than in the 
 other; simply doing it in a little different man- 
 ner. It was only the difference in the manner 
 of his procedure, which won for the one act the 
 title of a miracle. 
 
 His Sinlessness an Evidence of Deity. — The 
 sinlessness of Christ, is in itself a miracle, which 
 neither philosophy nor theology can explain ex- 
 cept upon the fact of his Deity. To his sinless- 
 ness, not only his apostles, but his enemies testify. 
 Pilate three times declared his innocency. St. 
 Luke 23:4, 23:14 and 23:22. Pilate's wife 
 said: "Have thou nothing to do with that just 
 man: for I have suffered many things this day 
 in a dream because of him." Matt. 27:19. 
 Judas said: "I have sinned in that I have betrayed 
 the innocent blood." Matt. 27: 4; and went out 
 and hanged himself. The Roman centurion who 
 stood at the cross of the dying Savior exclaimed: 
 "Truly this was the Son of God." Matt. 27 : 54. 
 
 Concerning the sinlessness of Christ, Dr. 
 Schaff says: "In vain do we look through the en- 
 
 126 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 tire biography of Jesus for a single stain or the 
 slightest shadow on his moral character. There 
 never lived a more harmless being on earth. He 
 injured nobody, he took advantage of nobody. 
 He never spoke an improper word, he never com- 
 mitted a wrong action. He exhibited a uniform 
 elevation above the objects, opinions, pleasures, 
 and passions of this world, and disregard to riches, 
 displays, fame, and favor of men. 'No vice 
 that has a name can be thought of in connection 
 with Jesus Christ. Ingenious malignity looks in 
 vain for the faintest trace of self-seeking in his 
 motives; sensuality shrinks abashed from his ce- 
 lestial purity; falsehood can leave no stain on 
 Him who is incarnate truth; injustice is forgotten 
 beside his errorless equity; the very possibility of 
 avarice is swallowed up in his benignity and love; 
 the very idea of ambition is lost in his divine wis- 
 dom and divine self-abnegation.' " 
 
 His Influence upon the World's History. — 
 Perhaps one of the strongest testimonies to the 
 Deity of our Lord is the influence which his life 
 has wielded and is still wielding upon the hearts 
 and lives of men. This unique personality has 
 wielded an influence upon the world's history, beg- 
 garing the influences of all other forces combined. 
 He has set in motion the deepest currents of the 
 world's history. He has set more hearts to rapid 
 
 127 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 beating, more brains to thinking, and more pens 
 to writing than any other person. So far reaching, 
 and deep seated is his influence upon mankind; 
 that the great artist produces his master painting, 
 as he portrays to the world some incident con- 
 nected with the life of Jesus Christ. Even Japan, 
 a hitherto heathen nation, has recently begun to 
 reckon her calendar according to the years of our 
 Lord, the same as Christian nations. These, all 
 these are unwritten volumes of unanswerable evi- 
 dences of the Deity of Jesus Christ. Conse- 
 quently, the evidences of the Deity of our Lord 
 do not lie simply in prophecy and its fulfillment, 
 but also in his own personality. 
 
 Long-tested Proofs still Valid. — Adding to the 
 above evidences, the four marks which have long 
 stood as the proofs of his Deity are still conclusive. 
 They are these: 
 
 Divine titles were assigned to him. 
 Divine attributes were manifested in him. 
 Divine works were wrought by him. 
 Divine worship is conceded to him. 
 
 All these considerations combined with the 
 facts that he proved his lordship over nature by 
 calming the raging sea ; over the animal kingdom, 
 by giving permission to evil spirits to enter the 
 herd of swine; over man, by his healing and sav- 
 
 128 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Humanity 
 
 ing power; over Satan, by his hand to hand con- 
 flict, achieving a victory over temptation and 
 death; make it an easy matter to identify our Old 
 Testament Son of prophecy as the Christ of New 
 Testament history. 
 
 129 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Christ of Prophecy— A Son of 
 Royalty 
 
 b HIS unique Son of Prophecy was evi- 
 dently to combine remarkable charac- 
 teristics. He was not only to sanctify 
 humanity by assuming a human form; 
 but he was to bring the human and the 
 divine into closest relation. 
 
 By Isaiah, it was prophesied that he was to 
 be a king. "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 Won- 
 derful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The ever- 
 lasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isa. 9 : 6. 
 This prophecy is unmistakeable in its interpreta- 
 tion, for to none other than to the Son of God, 
 could such titles be applied. Though seven hun- 
 dred and more years distant, the words of the 
 prophecy are spoken with as much authority and 
 certainty as though they had already come to pass. 
 In our versions the prophecy is written in the pres- 
 
 130 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 ent tense; but in the Hebrew Scriptures it ap- 
 pears in the perfect (past) tense. 
 
 He was also to be a descendant of the house 
 of David; consequently of a royal line; for the 
 same prophet continues: "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 
 justice from henceforth even forever." Isa. 9: 7. 
 To this another prophet adds his testimony: "Be- 
 hold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will 
 raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King 
 shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice 
 and judgment in the earth." Jer. 23:5. 
 
 His kingdom was to be one of peace. His 
 name was to be called the "Prince of Peace," and 
 of the increase of his government and peace there 
 was to be no end. Isa. 9:6, 7. 
 
 The Psalmist, on whose every side had been 
 disturbance, unrest and war, was enabled to ex- 
 ult in a messianic hope and said: "But the meek 
 shall inherit the earth; and shall delight them- 
 selves in the abundance of peace." Psa. 37: 11. 
 
 After centuries of war, blood-shed and de- 
 feat, the prospect to ancient Israel of a King, 
 who was to be a Prince of Peace must have been 
 joyous. 
 
 Further, His kingdom zvas to be one whose 
 
 I3 1 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 policy was righteousness. In one of the Psalms 
 which is so distinctly messianic, it is declared: 
 "Thy throne, O God, is forever and forever: the 
 sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre." Psa. 
 45 : 6. How ideal such a kingdom must have 
 seemed to the Israelites, with their divided king- 
 doms and long line of kings from Saul to Zede- 
 kiah. Of many of this long line of Israel's 
 kings, sacred history says: "And he did that which 
 was evil in the sight of the Lord; He departed 
 not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, 
 who made Israel sin." Even Solomon the greatest 
 of kings, was so oppressive and exacting that, 
 when a new king came to the throne, a reversal 
 of policy was demanded by his subjects. 
 
 Israel's experience in captivity, Egyptian and 
 Babylonish, was a sad one. Sometimes the bur- 
 dens which they were compelled to carry, were 
 heavier than they could bear; and the yoke upon 
 their necks was well nigh intolerable. But a King 
 was expected who would rule in righteousness. 
 
 At least one more important characteristic was 
 to mark the coming kingdom. It was to be uni- 
 versal and abiding; "I have made a covenant with 
 my chosen, I have sworn unto David my serv- 
 ant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and 
 build up thy throne to all generations." Psa. 89: 
 3-4; also "his seed also will I make to endure 
 
 132 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 forever, and his throne as the days of heaven." 
 Psa. 89: 29. Again referring to the above quo- 
 tation, "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." Isa. 9:7. Also the 
 little stone which smote the great image, was 
 prophesied to fill the whole earth. Dan. 2:35. 
 Also: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
 holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
 sea." Isa. 11:9. 
 
 With the expectancy of a King, a descendant 
 of David, one whose policy was to be that of 
 righteousness, whose reign was to be one of peace, 
 and whose kingdom was to be forever; the prophe- 
 cies of the Old Testament were to be brought to 
 a close. 
 
 Israel's History between the Books. — After the 
 echo of the very last message of the last messenger 
 of the Old Dispensation had died away, there was 
 silence for the space of four hundred years. The 
 brightest hopes had gone into eclipse: God spake 
 no more to men. 
 
 To add to the silence of God, with its accom- 
 panying disappointments, the political condition 
 of Israel grew worse. The Assyrian captivity, 
 
 !33 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 which had carried away the northern tribes, and 
 during which the prophecy of Isaiah was written; 
 had given place to a more complete one, the Baby- 
 lonish captivity. Although not realized, Israel's 
 hope was not entirely gone; for out of the very 
 ruins of the Jewish nation, during this captivity 
 arose the messianic prophecies of Daniel, Jere- 
 miah, and Ezekiel. This captivity continued from 
 about 605 B. C. to 538 B. C, when the Baby- 
 lonish empire was destroyed by Cyrus the Great 
 of Persia. From this time on, for about two hun- 
 dred years, the destiny of the Hebrew people was 
 in the hands of the Persians. During this period 
 the books of Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther and Mal- 
 achi were written. In 536 B. C, the Israelites 
 were allowed to return and rebuild the temple at 
 Jerusalem. A part of them returned to build the 
 temple, while a larger part never again set foot 
 on Palestinian soil. They were granted a degree 
 of tolerance at times, but their national life had 
 not been regained. 
 
 A little later, about 332 B. C, a change took 
 place. Alexander the Great, not only destroyed 
 the Persian empire, but conquested together with 
 Egypt and adjacent countries, the land of Pales- 
 tine. The heart of this great general was won 
 by the submissive attitude of the Jews; which 
 caused him to show to them great favors. He 
 
 134 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 even exempted them from tribute, on their Sab- 
 batic years. 
 
 At the death of Alexander, a few years later, 
 323 B. C; one of his generals, Ptolemy, seized 
 Egypt as his share of the empire of Alexander. 
 Two years later, Ptolemy invaded Palestine and 
 occupied the city of Jerusalem; and for a little 
 more than a hundred years, the Jews were in sub- 
 jection to an Egyptian monarch. Then, as if the 
 Hebrews were to be the heritage of all nations; 
 Judea was conquered by Antiochus the Great ; and 
 for a time the Jews were under Syrian rule. 
 
 The chosen people bore up under political or 
 national crushings, though at times severe, with 
 considerable of courage and fortitude. But when 
 Antiochus IV, decided that the Jews would not 
 yield absolute obedience to him as long as they 
 retained their religion; and issued an edict that 
 they must conform to the customs of the religions 
 of the Greeks and forbade their sacrifices, plac- 
 ing the statue of Jupiter Olympus upon the altar 
 of the temple, a strong faction arose in open re- 
 volt about 167 B. C. 
 
 This insurrection was headed by Mattathias, 
 and later by his son Judas Maccabeus, who so 
 successfully headed the army of the loyal Jews, 
 against the generals who were sent against them 
 that the temple worship was restored. This vic- 
 
 135 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 torious campaign of Judas Maccabeus made the 
 Jews to begin to feel that, possibly he who had 
 been expected as the Messiah, had arisen in the 
 person of this general. This hope of the Jews 
 was augmented by the strange death of Antiochus, 
 who having heard of the victory achieved by 
 Judas Maccabeus, threatened to make Jerusalem 
 a grave for the Jews and mounting his chariot, 
 bade his driver to make speed, but fell from his 
 chariot and died. But this bright star in Israel's 
 national hope proved to be but a falling meteor; 
 and their leader was at length sacrificed to the 
 cause which he had championed. 
 
 Following Judas Maccabeus, each of his two 
 brethren, Jonathan and Simon and his nephew 
 John Hyrcanus, in their order, succeeded in stand- 
 ing at the head of a tottering Jewish state. But 
 this Jewish state was so dependent, that it was 
 but little more than a pretense. Almost continu- 
 ously a heavy tribute was paid to the Roman gov- 
 ernment. This dependence upon the Roman gov- 
 ernment increased until about 63 B. C. when 
 Judea became practically a Roman province. 
 Herod the Great, who was king of Judea, at the 
 time of the birth of Christ, and with whom 
 Bible readers are familiar; was placed in his posi- 
 tion by the Roman government, about 40 B. C. 
 
 Having reviewed the exalted hope of the Old 
 
 136 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 Testament, relative to the kingship of the Mes- 
 siah, and having traced the political condition of 
 Israel, from the Assyrian and Babylonian cap- 
 tivity, to Herod the Great; it will be our next in- 
 quiry, whether or not, this messianic hope found 
 its materialization in the Christ of the New Tes- 
 tament. 
 
 Kingly Titles 
 
 First of all, it will be in order to examine the 
 titles or names applied to Christ in the New Tes- 
 tament, and determine whether or not they bear 
 any relation to those applied to the Messiah of 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 The name, Messiah, Hebrew iV#n» maw-shee- 
 akh, which was the name applied to him in a 
 few passages of Old Testament Scripture, Psa. 
 2 : 2 and Daniel 9 : 26, but more frequently in 
 later Jewish writings; means the anointed. It is 
 the noun form of the Hebrew verb which means 
 to anoint. This anointing was the bestowing of 
 the holy unction or the anointing of kings, high- 
 priests and prophets, with holy oil; thus inducting 
 them into their sacred offices. Comparing the 
 New Testament history of the Christ, we find 
 that he was recognized by men as the Messiah, 
 St. John 1:41, He also professed to be the Mes- 
 siah who should come, when he said to the woman 
 at the well: "I that speak unto thee am he." St. 
 
 137 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 John 4:26. While this title was used in reference 
 to prophet, priest and king, it distinctly belonged 
 to Him who combined all these offices, and who 
 faithfully executed each of them. 
 
 The common New Testament name applied 
 to him is Christ, Greek xp 10 "™?? christos, which 
 also means the anointed. Consequently, whether 
 we speak of him as the Messiah or the Christ, 
 we mean u the Anointed." Under this title, the 
 Messiah of the Old Testament is identified as the 
 Christ of the New. 
 
 The name Immanuel given in the virgin 
 prophecy of Isaiah 7: 14, is also claimed by the 
 angel, for the virgin child; whom he declared to 
 be a fulfillment of this prophecy. Matt. 1 : 23. 
 The name Jesus which was but the human title 
 for Christ, is from the same Hebrew word, from 
 which Joshua is translated and means a deliverer. 
 Even his human title has a significance, for the 
 angel said; "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for 
 he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 
 1 : 21. 
 
 A Kingly Advent 
 
 When the time came for the fulfillment of 
 the Old Testament prophecy; there appeared in 
 the heavens a new star, which is called: "his 
 star." It is not necessarily in our province to dis- 
 cuss the nature or form of the star. Whether or 
 
 138 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 not any of the theories which have been offered 
 concerning the star, by Kepler and others are cor- 
 rect, may be left for consideration; but one thing- 
 is in evidence, and that is, that the new astronom- 
 ical appearance had a purpose. Further, it was 
 recognized as having a purpose. That purpose it 
 faithfully served by leading the magi from the 
 far east to the birthplace of the King. 
 
 Upon reaching Judea, they went immediately 
 to King Herod saying; "Where is he that is born 
 King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in 
 the east, and are come to worship him." The 
 significant inquiry concerning him who was the 
 "born King" of the Jews, brought an immediate 
 inquiry to the lips of Herod. Whether or not 
 he had ever heard of the hope which was enter- 
 tained by the Jews, that a king should arise 
 among them; he no doubt had a keen sense of 
 the fact that he possessed no inherited or moral 
 right to rule the people. At least for once, the 
 matter was not passed by indifferently. Calling 
 the chief priests and scribes to him, he inquired 
 of them where Christ should be born. To this 
 they replied: "In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus 
 it is written by the prophets, and thou Bethlehem, 
 in the land of Juda, art not the least among the 
 princes of Juda : for out of thee shall come a 
 Governor, that shall rule my people Israel." 
 
 139 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 Matt. 2 : 5-6. Here the identical prophecy which 
 had been spoken centuries before, promising a 
 ruler to Israel; served to guide the wise men to- 
 ward the kingly cradle, when the star ceased to 
 do so. Perhaps it would be better to say that it 
 served as a guide to point lost travelers to the 
 kingly star when they had turned aside from it. 
 The homage which the magi rendered to the 
 Bethlehem babe, also the gifts which they laid at 
 his feet; were such that were befitting to a royal 
 child. "Gold," says Rice: "has always been 
 esteemed as a proper gift to royalty." Frankin- 
 cense, an ingredient used in preparing the "holy 
 perfume," for the sanctuary, Ex. 30:34, and 
 myrrh, a spice used in compounding the "holy 
 anointing oil" (Ex. 30:31.) also constituted a 
 part of the gift, presented to the infant child. 
 These, though possibly bespeaking the priestly 
 office of this son of royalty, also became him as 
 a King; for as says the above mentioned commen- 
 tator, "These when mixed with cinnamon and 
 aloes, formed a valuable perfume, widely esteemed 
 in the houses of the great." Whether these "wise 
 men" were members of a priestly class, or mon- 
 archs from the far off Arabia or Persia is not cer- 
 tain. The incident however, is so remarkable that 
 it testifies to the kingship of the one for whom a 
 special star was arranged in the heavens, and for 
 
 140 
 
The Christ of Prophecy— A Son of Royalty 
 
 whose honor "wise men" traveled for weeks, and 
 possibly months, that they might lay a royal of- 
 fering at his feet. 
 
 Perplexed by the report of the star, the 
 prophecy and the failure of the wise men to re- 
 turn with the desired information, Herod at once 
 proceeded to send forth and slay all the male 
 children of Bethlehem and her coasts, of two years 
 old and under; thus assuring himself that the 
 king-child would not sit upon his throne. 
 
 This action upon the part of Herod, with 
 the miraculous escape of the child Jesus, by the 
 flight to Egypt, not only attests the divinity of 
 our Lord, but also speaks volumes in favor of 
 his kingship. 
 
 A Kingly Herald : 
 
 When a king or some other great man was 
 about to make a journey through the Eastern 
 country, where there were few highways, and 
 where the roads were neglected and in ill repair; 
 a messenger was send ahead, to ask the ruler and 
 his people to prepare the way. They were ex- 
 pected to fill up the washouts, to cut down the 
 hills, to straighten the crooked places and to re- 
 move the stones; so that the king and his escorts 
 might ride in safety. 
 
 When Jesus Christ the great king of heaven, 
 141 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and the Lord of the universe, was about to drive 
 his chariots of conquests through this sadly neg- 
 lected world; a messenger, in the person of John 
 the Baptist was sent ahead crying: "Make ye 
 ready the way of the Lord, make his paths 
 straight." Matt. 3 : 3 A. V. 
 
 A Kingly Recognition 
 
 A few years elapsed. The hidden years of 
 Nazareth are passed and the ministry of Jesus is 
 begun. Words of blessings flow from his lips; 
 virtue of healing proceeds from his touch, and 
 messages of salvation are spoken from his heart. 
 Men have mistaken the mission of the "anointed" 
 and follow him in multitudes. 
 
 It was along the north eastern coast of Galilee 
 that a great multitude thronged him. Having 
 had compassion upon them, teaching them and 
 healing them, he also fed them. Taking five 
 loaves and a few little fishes, he blessed them to 
 the measure of feeding a company of five thou- 
 sand men, besides women and children, and there 
 remained twelve basket fulls. St. John 6: 11-16. 
 When the people saw the great miracle which he 
 had performed, they determined to make him 
 King. Jesus knowing the purpose of the multi- 
 tude, withdrew to the mountain, leaving their 
 plans but to disappointment. 
 
 142 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 The earthly ministry is drawing to a close. 
 He who was King indeed, would not conceal his 
 kingship altogether. Having sent his disciples 
 into the city for a colt on which never man sat — 
 for a king's beast must not be rode upon by an- 
 other, he mounts the colt and starts on his tri- 
 umphal entry into the city. Great was the enthu- 
 siasm of the hour as he who had come in fulfill- 
 ment of prophecy, but who had as yet refused 
 the crown, came riding into the capital city upon 
 an ass, the Jews' national and royal beast. A 
 very great multitude thronged the way, many of 
 them casting down their garments for the beast 
 to tread upon. Others cut down branches from 
 the trees and strewed them in the way, and the 
 multitude cried: "Hosanna: blessed is the King 
 of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 This event has a still greater significance when it 
 is understood that the word Hosanna, with which 
 the multitude hailed Jesus, is derived from the 
 Hebrew verb yw\ Ya-shah, which means to save. 
 By the use of the word "Hosanna," the multi- 
 tude hailed Jesus as a Deliverer saying: "Save 
 we pray," or "deliver we pray." It is evident 
 from this that they looked upon him as the one 
 who should deliver Israel. 
 
 There are those who look upon this event, 
 not as a political expectation upon the part of 
 
 143 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 the people, but as a spiritual one. It is evident 
 however, that the people really hailed him as 
 king. Even his own disciples did not fully un- 
 derstand that his kingdom was not to be a literal 
 one, for at so late an hour as the betrayal, Peter 
 made an effort to defend his Lord by cutting off 
 the ear of the high priest's servant with his sword. 
 This event is but a fulfillment of two combined 
 prophecies, of Isa. 62: 11, which is an address to 
 the daughter of Zion, saying; "Say ye to the 
 daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh," 
 and, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, 
 O daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King 
 cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salva- 
 tion; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a 
 colt the foal of an ass. Zech. 9 : 9. 
 
 Bitter must have been the disappointment, 
 when upon reaching the city, Jesus began to turn 
 his attention toward temple cleansing, rather than 
 toward the administration of civil affairs. He 
 was a king refusing a crown. 
 
 A Kingly Testimony 
 
 It is worthy of note that the favorite title, and 
 the one which Jesus most frequently applied to 
 himself, was, "The Son of Man." This he truly 
 was, and it was because of this, that he could take 
 man's place and die for man, and thus become 
 
 144 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 the Saviour of men. But he was more than a 
 "Son of Man," He was as truly the Son of God 
 as the Son of Man; and being the Son of God, 
 he was King. Though he took his place as a 
 man, and paraded not his kingship; yet when the 
 time came, he did not hesitate to exhibit his 
 powers and reveal his dignity and identity. 
 
 But a short time previous to his betrayal, he 
 disclosed to his disciples his kingly rank by the 
 following words of prophecy relative to his com- 
 ing kingdom of glory. "When the Son of Man 
 shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
 with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of 
 his glory: and before him shall be gathered all 
 nations; and he shall separate them one from an- 
 other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
 the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right 
 hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the 
 King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
 pared for you from the foundation of the world. 
 Matt. 25:31-34. 
 
 Neither did Jesus hesitate to acknowledge 
 his kingship, to those who were not his friends, 
 even at the risk of his life, when it became neces- 
 sary for him to do so. When Pilate asked him 
 the question: "Art thou the King of the Jews?" 
 John 18:33, Jesus answered: "Thou sayest that 
 10 145 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 I am a King. To this end I was born, and for 
 this cause came I into the world, that I should 
 bear witness unto the truth." John 18:37. To 
 this testimony falling from the lips of Jesus him- 
 self, Pilate could make no reply of criticism, but 
 immediately turned, and went again unto the Jews 
 saying: "I find in him no fault at all." 
 
 A Kingly Inscription 
 
 It was with considerable hesitancy that Pilate 
 at last consented to the desire of the clamoring 
 Jews. This he did in disobedience of the ex- 
 pressed wish of his wife, who sent unto him say- 
 ing: "Have thou nothing to do with that just 
 man." Matt. 27: 19. By so doing he also vio- 
 lated his own conscience, for he pretentiously 
 washed his hands, saying: "I am innocent of the 
 blood of this just person." Matt. 27 : 24. 
 
 Wearing a purple robe and a crown of thorns, 
 Jesus was led into the judgment hall. Pilate look- 
 ing out over the multitude, said unto them: "Be- 
 hold the man." When the Jews continued to cry: 
 "Crucify him," Pilate became more troubled as 
 he listened to the gracious words which fell from 
 the lips of the Christ; and said to the Jews: 
 "Behold your King." "Shall I crucify your 
 King?" 
 
 When by continued demand of the Jews, Pi- 
 146 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 late was prevailed upon to allow Jesus to be cruci- 
 fied, he prepared for the cross a very significant 
 inscription. In Hebrew and Greek and Latin, so 
 that all might read, it was written: "This is the 
 King of the Jews." This displeased the chief 
 priest, who said to Pilate: "Write not, The King 
 of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the 
 Jews." St. John 19: 21. To this Pilate replied: 
 "What I have written, I have written." St. John 
 19: 22. And there remained upon the cross dur- 
 ing the crucifixion, sufferings and death of the 
 Christ, an inscription of official recognition; de- 
 claring Him to be The King of the Jews. 
 
 The Kingdom of Peace 
 
 Having received the testimony of prophecy 
 that, the Messiah was to be a "Prince of Peace," 
 consequently his kingdom one of peace; it will be 
 interesting to note whether or not, this charac- 
 teristic marks the kingdom of the Christ. 
 
 The Peace Anthem. — The shades of night had 
 fallen upon the Bethlehem hills. The shepherds 
 were quietly watching their flocks. Over in the 
 village not far away, an event had transpired, 
 which was of world-wide moment. Lying in a 
 manger was a babe, whose birth made the very 
 heavens rejoice. Suddenly there shined around 
 about the shepherds, the glory of the Lord, and an 
 
 147 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 angel stood in their midst, who said: "Fear not: 
 for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be to all people. For unto you is 
 born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, 
 which is Christ the Lord." St. Luke 2: 10-11. 
 Immediately there appeared with the angel, a 
 multitude of the heavenly host, who unitedly sang : 
 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 good-will toward men." It was not only peace in 
 heaven, but peace "on earth." Very befitting that 
 the Prince of Peace should be introduced into his 
 earthly conquest by a heavenly choir, who sang the 
 first peace anthem which earth had ever heard 
 since the peaceful reign in unfallen Eden had 
 given way to the reign of darkness. All earth 
 should welcome this announcement of peace and 
 join in the anthem of peace, after centuries of po- 
 litical disturbances and wars, which wiped one 
 by one the world powers from the face of the 
 globe. 
 
 He of whom the angel sang, was indeed the 
 Prince of Peace. His advent in the world marked 
 in a potential manner, the beginning of a reign of 
 peace. Whether before his earthly ministry, dur- 
 ing that time, or since, reaching back to humanity's 
 earliest history, or reaching forward to his ulti- 
 mate goal, every bit of peace is but an anticipa- 
 tion and a foretaste of the reign of peace, when 
 
 148 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 the prophetic peace anthem shall find its highest 
 fulfillment. It is only then that the peace reign 
 shall be full and universal. 
 
 Whether the Son of Man was forgiving the 
 sinner, healing the sick, or calming the stormy sea ; 
 it was a breathing of peace to a troubled heart, a 
 suffering body, or disturbed nature. 
 
 Neither is this a contradiction of the words of 
 Christ himself when he said: "Think not that I 
 am come to send peace on earth: I came not to 
 send peace, but a sword." Matt. 10:34. For 
 a conquest is on hand. The Son of God must de- 
 liver this old world out of the hand of the usurper 
 and destroyer. A sword is the symbol of con- 
 quest. In this as well, the sword and battle are 
 the forerunners of peace. These words of Jesus 
 constitute the war-cry; but peace is the inevitable 
 result. 
 
 Jesus said to his disciples, but a little time 
 previous to his going away: "Peace I leave with 
 you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world 
 giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be 
 troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14: 27. 
 Yet his disciples did not find it possible to meas- 
 ure this divine peace by a worldly standard; for 
 all of them excepting one died as martyrs for the 
 cause which they had espoused. 
 
 Not a few however, have false conceptions of 
 149 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 peace. Two artists were asked to draw pictures 
 illustrating peace. The one drew a quiet pond, 
 whose waters were without a wave or motion. 
 The other drew a picture of a little bird, sitting 
 upon the bough of a tree; which, while the wind 
 was blowing, and the rain was pouring upon it, 
 sat singing exultingly. So Christ came to bring 
 peace, and that peace will eventually be universal 
 and undisturbed. But the price of that peace is 
 severe conflict. The peace which reigns in the 
 bosoms of his disciples to-day, is that which sings 
 and exults amidst the fury of the storm. 
 
 The Sceptre of Righteousness 
 
 Closely related to, and forming an indispens- 
 able part of the reign of peace is the Sceptre of 
 Righteousness. Injustice, oppression, greed, ava- 
 rice and almost innumerable other sins had marked 
 the reigns of the Kings of Israel. These sins the 
 prophets of the Old Testament did not hesitate 
 to lay at the feet of the guilty ones. Of our Son 
 of Royalty, upon whose shoulders the government 
 should rest, and who is the Prince of Peace; it 
 has been declared that his sceptre shall be a right- 
 eous one. Psalms 45 : 6. Also His throne is to 
 be established with judgment and with justice. 
 Isaiah 9 : 7. 
 
 150 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 The writer of the book of Hebrews, in the 
 first chapter, quotes the language of this messi- 
 anic psalm; and declares it to have its fulfillment 
 in the Christ of the New Testament. If the ser- 
 mon on the mount be taken as the constitution of 
 his government, who would dare to dispute, that 
 a righteous policy is the policy of his reign. 
 
 The two elements, peace and righteousness, 
 go together. It is the combined realization of 
 these, in the person and reign of Christ, of which 
 the Psalmist prophetically sang: "Mercy and 
 truth are met together; righteousness and peace 
 have kissed each other." Psa. 85: 10. 
 
 As a result of this sceptre of righteousness, 
 which will continue to destroy wickedness and ex- 
 alt the good, the time is coming, when the triumph 
 of right will be complete. This final triumph, the 
 prophet saw far in advance and said: u And it 
 shall come to pass in the last days, that the moun- 
 tain of the Lord's house shall be established in 
 the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted 
 above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. 
 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and 
 let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the 
 house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us 
 of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for 
 out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word 
 of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge 
 
 151 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 among the nations, and shall rebuke many people : 
 and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, 
 and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall 
 not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
 learn war any more. Isa. 2 : 2-4. 
 
 In this final triumph both Old and New Tes- 
 taments join in great exultation. 
 
 The Kingdom Universal and Abiding 
 Adding to the elements of peace and right- 
 eousness, which constitute this reign, there are two 
 other characteristic elements which combine to 
 make this kingdom the ideal one. It is to be uni- 
 versal and abiding. It is true that any New Tes- 
 tament statement as well as those of the Old Tes- 
 tament concerning this point, would of necessity 
 partake of a prophetic nature, as the time for the 
 ultimate consummation of the kingdom has not 
 fully come. To these Old Testament expectations 
 of the messianic kingdom, the New Testament 
 kingdom of the Christ perfectly harmonizes. 
 
 Jesus professed to his hearers that when an 
 assembled universe is brought to judgment, he 
 himself shall sit upon the throne, swaying the 
 righteous sceptre of judgment; and will appoint 
 to the redeemed their inheritance in the kingdom, 
 but confirm the choice of the impenitent for the 
 region of outer darkness. This kingdom, of 
 
 152 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 which Jesus declares himself King, and into which 
 the faithful are welcomed, in duration of time, is 
 expressed by the Greek word cuwvios, aionios, 
 which means never ending. Matt. 25 : 46. 
 
 To the universality and abiding elements, of 
 the kingdom of our Christ, the apostle Paul, in 
 his ministerial charge to Timothy, adds a very 
 significant testimony. He says: "I give thee 
 charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all 
 things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pon- 
 tius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou 
 keep this commandment without spot, unrebuk- 
 able, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
 which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed 
 and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord 
 of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in 
 the light which no man can approach unto ; whom 
 no man hath seen, nor can see ; to whom be honor 
 and power everlasting." I Tim. 6: 13-16. 
 
 The book of Revelation, which is looked upon 
 as being a sealed book, but whose very title indi- 
 cates a revealing, or bringing to light, contains the 
 advance history of the consummation of all things. 
 Here Jesus Christ is spoken of as the Prince of 
 the kings of the earth. Rev. 1:5. He is also 
 declared to be "Lord of lords, and King of kings." 
 Rev. 17: 14. Again the writer says: "And I 
 heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, 
 
 153 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice 
 of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia: for the 
 Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 
 
 Consequently the spirit of the whole New 
 Testament, in relation to the kingdom of its 
 Christ, or Anointed One, is in perfect harmony 
 with the plain statements of the Old Testament, 
 relative to the universal and abiding kingdom of 
 its Royal Child. Thus when all other thrones 
 will have crumbled, and all other crowns will have 
 faded, and all other dynasties will have ceased to 
 be; our Royal Son of Prophecy shall sit upon the 
 throne which is eternal, and again enjoy the honor 
 and dignity which he had at the right hand of 
 the Father before his princely robes were laid 
 aside for earthly condescension, and will be 
 crowned as King of kings. 
 
 The Threefold Aspect of the Kingdom 
 
 While Jesus Christ is pre-eminently the King 
 of kings and Lord of lords, and his kingdom 
 universal and abiding; there are three distinctive 
 phases of his kingdom which should be noted, 
 and which may be classified, as : 
 
 I St. His kingdom of power. 
 
 2d. His kingdom of grace. 
 
 3d. His kingdom of glory. 
 
 154 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 These three are not different and separate 
 spheres of operation, but rather three aspects of 
 his administration. They may be said to be dif- 
 ferent methods of working. 
 
 His Kingdom of Power. — This kingdom em- 
 braces all created universe, animate and inani- 
 mate. It includes all plant, animal and human 
 life. A significant statement bearing upon this 
 aspect is found in St. John i: n, which reads, 
 according to the King James version : "He came 
 unto his own, and his own received him not." 
 But when rendered accurately, from the Greek 
 text, reads: "He came unto his own things and 
 they who were his own received him not." This 
 difference is indicated in part, by the American Re- 
 vised Version, and reveals the fact that, Christ 
 came not only to man, but to his own things, his 
 creation; and among the objects to whom he 
 came, it was not his whole creation, but his own 
 people who received him not. In this text Jesus 
 Christ is declared to be, not only Lord of men 
 but Lord of creation. But no other part of 
 his great kingdom has been so slow to acknowl- 
 edge his royalty and kingship as man. 
 
 During his earthly ministry, this aspect of 
 his kingship was displayed in his manifested 
 lordship over everything that he met. Devils 
 and unclean spirits acknowledged his authority 
 
 155 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 and kingship, confessing him to be the Son of 
 God. The animal kingdom was seen to be under 
 his control, when he permitted the devils to en- 
 ter the herd of swine, and when as Mark observes, 
 that he was with the wild beasts. Mark 5 : 13 
 and 1 : 13. Nature acknowledged his lordship 
 when, in obedience to his commands, the angry 
 waves of the sea became calm, and the fig tree's 
 leaves were withered. The subjects then of his 
 kingdom of power are angels, devils, men, crea- 
 tures of other inhabited planets, and all other 
 forms of physical or spiritual existence. Nothing 
 can evade his lordship. In point of scope, this 
 aspect of his kingship covers the two following 
 aspects. 
 
 His Kingdom of Grace. — This kingdom is a 
 spiritual one, and relates only to men. It includes 
 only such as volunteer to become subjects of his 
 spiritual rule. None is barred from citizenship in 
 this kingdom except as he bars himself by the 
 wrong use of his free moral agency. It was con- 
 cerning this kingdom that Jesus said to his dis- 
 ciples: "The kingdom of God is within you." It 
 was also doubtless of this kingdom that Jesus said : 
 "My kingdom is not of this world." St. John 
 18 : 36. This aspect of Christ's kingdom is based 
 upon his mediatorial work and includes his re- 
 demptive operations. It was while in contempla- 
 
 156 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — A Son of Royalty 
 
 tion of this mediatorial work of Jesus Christ that 
 St. Paul denominated himself a "bond-servant, " 
 or 8ov\os, doulos, a purchased slave. 
 
 Christ reigns over his own people, the sub- 
 jects of his kingdom of grace; not only from 
 without, but also from within. Says Dr. A. A. 
 Hodge, in his Popular Lectures on Theological 
 Themes: "From without he subdues his and their 
 enemies, restraining Satan, his angels and wicked 
 men. He strengthens them in weakness, defends 
 them in danger, directs and co-operates with them 
 in action, and gives them ultimately the victory 
 in all their contests, and causes them always to 
 persevere to the end, that they may receive a 
 crown of life." From within he rules supremely. 
 His agent, the Holy Spirit, is recognized as the 
 Executive of the affairs of this spiritual adminis- 
 tration. His will and laws serve as the constitu- 
 tion and statutes for government. His rewards 
 which are spiritual, and far beyond anything 
 which this world could offer, are the prizes for 
 which spiritual contestants run in the stadium of 
 human life. 
 
 His Kingdom of Glory. — This kingdom dis- 
 tinctively belongs to the future, and will supersede 
 the kingdom of grace. The kingdom of grace is 
 a vestibule, leading into this glorious kingdom, 
 with its door of entrance among men. In the 
 
 157 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 kingdom of grace, Christ is occupied in media- 
 torial achievements. He is a captain leading a 
 host. He is conquesting and conquering. But 
 the time is coming when all this work will have 
 been completed, and Christ shall sit upon "the 
 throne of his glory." Matt. 25:31. Though 
 a millenial period may intervene his Kingdom 
 of Grace and his final Kingdom, it is only 
 preparatory and will give way to the perfect and 
 eternal Kingdom of Glory. He came to his 
 throne in the kingdom of grace as a humble, de- 
 spised, outcast, and suffering Saviour, he was 
 inaugurated into it, by a shameful, cruel death on 
 the cross. When he comes to his Kingdom of 
 Glory, it will be upon charioted clouds, amidst the 
 shouts of angels, and clarion notes of heaven's 
 trumpeteers. His inauguration will be complete, 
 when all other crowns have been cast at his feet, 
 and earth and heaven unitedly, 
 
 "Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown him Lord of all." 
 
 158 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Christ of Prophecy— The Man 
 of Sorrows 
 
 many and diverse are the aspects 
 which are presented to us of this Son 
 of Prophecy by Old Testament Scrip- 
 ture that unless careful account is taken 
 of their relations, one might mistake 
 and expect more than a single personality. 
 
 One of the most touching pictures thrown 
 upon the canvas by the camera of Old Testament 
 prophecy is the Man of Sorrows. This man of 
 sorrows is at once identified as our "Royal Son of 
 Prophecy;" and well can he be for he is also a 
 "Son of Humanity." There has never been a son 
 of humanity, who was not in some degree, a man 
 of sorrows; but among all men of sorrows, this 
 one is distinctively The Man of Sorrows. 
 
 Putting ourselves as nearly as possible into the 
 spirit of Old Testament prophecy, it would be 
 profitable to trace a few outstanding facts in con- 
 nection with this interesting personality. 
 
 159 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 i. He was to be an outcast among men. 
 Isa. 53:3. 
 
 2. He was to be betrayed by a familiar 
 friend. Psa. 41:9. And the price of the betrayal 
 was prophetically counted out by Zechariah, as be- 
 ing thirty pieces of silver. Zech. 11: 12. 
 
 3. Though sinless and innocent, he was to 
 be held as guilty. Isa. 53: 9, 12. 
 
 4. He was to be meek and defenceless in his 
 death. Isa. 53 : 7. 
 
 5. His sufferings and death were to be sub- 
 stitutional or vicarious. Isa. 53:4-5, also 53: 8. 
 
 Despite the fact that this remarkable descrip- 
 tion is given in such minute detail, not only Jews, 
 but also Gentiles, have made for themselves a diffi- 
 cult task of interpretation. They have searched 
 far and wide for a subject to whom the photo- 
 graph could be fitted. Every attempted retouch- 
 ing of the picture, purposing to fit it, if possible, 
 to some foreign subject has been in vain; and to- 
 day the Christian world falls before this Man of 
 Sorrows, recognizing him to be the historic 
 Christ of the New Testament. It is an increasing 
 delight to faithful students of prophecy that seven 
 hundred or more years previous to his coming; 
 the Saviour of mankind was so perfectly portrayed 
 that none need fail to recognize him, and no other 
 subject could answer to the form and feature of 
 that likeness. 160 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Sorrows 
 
 The Sorrow of the Outcast 
 One of the first pages of the life history of 
 The Man of Sorrows contains the following item: 
 "There was no room for them in the inn." Luke 
 2:7. This statement although referring to the 
 earliest instance in his life's career, may be looked 
 up as not only representing the few years of his 
 earthly stay; but may also admit of an applica- 
 tion to the present condition of the many hearts 
 who still have no room for the Saviour of the 
 world. 
 
 Scarcely had he made his advent into the 
 world, when a jealous, wicked, bloodthirsty king 
 sought his life ; and the foul plot had to be foiled 
 by a hurried flight into distant Egypt, in order 
 that his life might be saved. 
 
 Even his own people, the Jews, to whom and 
 of whom he came, rejected him. This in itself 
 seemed to send great sorrow to his tender heart; 
 for one day as he looked out upon the city of the 
 Jews, Jerusalem itself, and while doubtless tears 
 coursed his cheeks; there fell from his lips the 
 sorrowful declaration: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 which killest the prophets, and stonest them that 
 are sent unto thee; how often would I have gath- 
 ered thy children together, as a hen doth gather 
 her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" 
 Luke 13:34. 
 
 n 161 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 The homeless one, our Saviour may be called, 
 for he said of himself: u The foxes have holes, 
 and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son 
 of Man hath not where to lay his head." Matt. 
 8 : 20. Whether as a matter of choice or of 
 poverty, his head was many times wet with the 
 dews of heaven, as the result of an all night com- 
 munion with his Father, upon the mountain side. 
 
 It is true that there were times when his 
 fame and popularity were great, and vast multi- 
 tudes followed him. But it is also true that many 
 followed him, because of physical benefits which 
 they received, such as healing, and because he 
 fed them. There were times when he became so 
 forsaken^ that, he turned to his own little com- 
 pany of somewhat wavering disciples, and said: 
 "Will ye go away also?" Twice they sought to 
 make him king; but at the very moment of his 
 triumphal entry into the capital city, when men 
 were casting their garments into the way, and cry- 
 ing Hosanna ! he was riding upon a borrowed 
 colt. When he was found bruised and lifeless* 
 on the cross, by Joseph of Arimathea, it was dis- 
 covered that he had been too much occupied in 
 life to prepare a tomb, or too poor to possess one; 
 and was buried in the sepulchre of another. 
 
 162 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Sorrows 
 
 The Sorrow of Betrayal 
 
 It was upon a quiet evening, following a busy 
 day of toil, that Christ in company with his 
 twelve disciples had gathered into the upper 
 chamber, and was seated at the passover table. 
 After he had instituted the ordinance of the sac- 
 rament, and humbly, yet surprisingly, washed the 
 disciples' feet, by these acts, putting into a concrete 
 form, memorials of his service and sacrifice, he 
 sat down with his disciples at the table. 
 
 During the hours of the evening, he had car- 
 ried in his heart a secret. He knew that one 
 who had partaken of the passover meal, and had 
 doubtless hypocritically participated in the sacra- 
 ment, and had allowed the heavy hearted Lord to 
 humbly wash his feet, had even now in his pos- 
 session the bag which contained the betrayal price 
 of thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 John the beloved, who was reclining against 
 the bosom of the Christ, must have felt the heav- 
 ings of that breast, and heard the sighing of that 
 heart, as he was being troubled in spirit and burst 
 forth in the sad declaration: "Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." 
 St. John 13 : 21. 
 
 Sadly had he recounted the messianic psalm 
 which says: "Yea, my own familiar friend, in 
 whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath 
 
 163 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 lifted up his heel against me." Psa. 41:9, St. 
 John 13: 18. Having pointed out the betrayer, 
 he said to Judas: "That thou doest, do quickly." 
 
 A few hours elapsed. The Passover scene is 
 changed for that of the garden. Here the sor- 
 row of betrayal, occasioned by the treachery of 
 one, is augmented by the sorrow of neglect, occa- 
 sioned by the indifference of the rest. 
 
 Although he had tenderly asked his disciples, 
 to tarry and watch with him, telling them that 
 his soul was "exceedingly sorrowful, even unto 
 death;" yet while he was agonizing in prayer, 
 until great blood drops gathered upon his brow 
 and fell to the ground, the disciples were occupied 
 with slumber. 
 
 Having been sold for the price of a slave, and 
 forsaken in the hour of anguish by his own dis- 
 ciples, the Man of Sorrows now receives from the 
 false lips of Judas the kiss of betrayal, and is led 
 away to the high priest. 
 
 Then as though the catalogue of sorrows 
 which man could inflict, was not yet complete; 
 while standing before the high priest, there doubt- 
 less fell upon his ears the threefold denial of 
 Peter; who in his attempt to disown any knowl- 
 edge or acquaintance with his Lord, emphasized 
 his words by bitter curses. 
 
 164 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Sorrows 
 
 The Sorrow of Vicarious Death 
 The Old Testament prophecies before quoted, 
 setting forth that the sufferings of the Man of 
 Sorrows should be of a vicarious nature, have 
 echoed in spirit, from every page of the New 
 Testament history of the Christ. 
 
 It has long been argued by skeptics and critics 
 that if Jesus Christ had been Divine and sinless, 
 as he is claimed to have been, the approaching 
 hours of death would not have given him such 
 intense agony and suffering. In reply to such ridi- 
 cule and criticism, the church has not always given 
 a satisfactory reply. 
 
 Occasionally it is said concerning the intense 
 sufferings of Christ, that it was the human which 
 gave way, under the pressure of the hour, conse- 
 quently, his great agony. Not so, for many of 
 his followers since his day, have suffered most 
 cruel and inhuman torture and death. But despite 
 all this, they spent their last night upon earth in 
 peaceful slumber or victorious song. Great is 
 that multitude whose names are written upon the 
 martyr records of the skies. The crimson stream 
 of martyrs' blood began to flow just outside of 
 Eden's gate, and has been flowing through all 
 ages down to this present time. It is estimated 
 that two hundred millions of martyrs have sealed 
 their faith in Christ by their own blood ; and many 
 
 165 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 of them marched triumphantly to the stake or 
 place of execution. In view of these facts, the 
 suggestion of weak humanity, in the person of 
 Jesus Christ, is by no means a satisfactory solu- 
 tion of his anguish. 
 
 Again we hear it said, in explanation of the 
 language of Jesus on the cross: "My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me?"; that the Fa- 
 ther had not forsaken his Son; but, that this cry 
 of anguish was merely occasioned by a beclouding 
 of the consciousness of our Lord, as a result of 
 intense pain and physical suffering. This also is 
 a mistake. He was as truly Divine as human, as 
 truly the Son of God as the Son of Man. He who 
 had always beheld the face of the Father, and 
 had lived in constant communion with him, was 
 not in error as to the attitude of his Heavenly 
 Parent at this dark hour. 
 
 The solution is this: His sufferings and death 
 were substitutional and vicarious. His mission 
 was to save sinners by taking their place and can- 
 celling their indebtedness; hence the necessary 
 qualification would be that of innocency and sin- 
 lessness. He cannot pay another's debt, who him- 
 self has nothing to pay. He cannot transfer to 
 another who is guilty, an innocency which he does 
 not possess. He cannot atone for another, who is 
 in like manner guilty. But Jesus Christ, with 
 
 166 
 
The Christ of Prophecy— Man of Sorrows 
 
 every necessary qualification, was the waiting sub- 
 stitute for man's redemption. 
 
 Another point so frequently overlooked is 
 that Jesus Christ not only came that he might die 
 for men, and thus satisfy the eternal and inevitable 
 law of justice ; but that he actually did take man's 
 place of suffering under the death sentence of high 
 heaven, and suffer man's penalty. 
 
 Of the many references concerning the medi- 
 atorial work of the Christ, there are two which 
 serve as a key to the solution of the whole prob- 
 lem. They are these : u For he hath made him 
 to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might 
 be made the righteousness of God in him. 2nd 
 Cor. 5:21. and "Christ hath redeemed us from the 
 curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Gal. 
 3:13. In these two scritpures, Christ is de- 
 clared to have become "sin" and u a curse." 
 
 The very fact of his sinlessness and purity, 
 qualifying him to make a vicarious atonement for 
 sin, rendered him exceedingly sensitive to loath- 
 some, defiling sin. His pure and spotless nature 
 would recoil from sin, as a pure and delicate 
 maiden would shrink from the presence of a ven- 
 omous reptile. Consequently, when the sins of 
 the world were laid upon him, and he became 
 "sin" and "a curse," his soul experienced an an- 
 guish, unknown to sinful man. Here mathemat- 
 
 167 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 ical exactness should not be mentioned; but to say 
 that the anguish of Jesus in his vicarious suffer- 
 ings and death, represented the united soul-anguish 
 of ten thousand mortals, would not be an exagger- 
 ation. It represented the combined anguish of all 
 who shall be saved as a result of his death and 
 sufferings. It was this which caused him to 
 sweat great drops of blood; and thrice to pray for 
 a removal of the bitter cup if possible. It was 
 due to the fact that the Christ had actually taken 
 the sinner's place and that the infinite and just 
 God could not look upon sin with any greater 
 pleasure or allowance, as it rested upon his only 
 Son, than when it lay upon mortal man only; that 
 caused him really to hide away his face, and 
 Jesus to exclaim: "My God, my God, why hast 
 thou forsaken me?" 
 
 Jesus Drinks Man's Cup of Sorrow. — Jesus 
 Christ as man's substitute, has indeed drunk the 
 cup of man's sorrow to its bitter dregs. Recalling 
 the original curse which was pronounced upon 
 man, that of broken communion, being exiled from 
 Eden, his curse of sweat and toil, woman's curse 
 of multiplied sorrow, with inevitable death in the 
 end, it may be said: Man's broken communion 
 with his Heavenly Parent, in the garden of 
 Eden; became a bitter reality intensified a thou- 
 sand times in the life of Jesus Christ when he ex- 
 
 168 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Sorrows 
 
 claimed from the cross, "My God, my God, why 
 hast thou forsaken me?" The sweat of Man's 
 brow, by which he was to eat his bread, poured 
 out upon his brow but as great drops of blood as 
 he wrestled in the garden. Woman's multiplied 
 sorrow crushed down upon his own heart as the 
 sin and guilt of the whole world were resting upon 
 him, and he prayed: "Father if it be possible, 
 let this cup pass fom me." Thorns, the product 
 of the soil, cursed for man's sake, composed the 
 crown which he wore on his head. Death, which 
 was pronounced upon man as a direct consequence 
 of sin, was tasted by him, in multiplied measure, 
 when as he hanged upon the cross, the sun hid 
 his face in blackness, the earth trembled, and he 
 yielded up his spirit and died. 
 
 169 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Christ of Prophecy — The Man of 
 Triumph 
 
 HILE in our former chapter we beheld 
 in the prophetic portrait of our sub- 
 ject, a number of shadowy lines, which 
 were found to have their fulfillment in 
 the life of the historic Christ; it must 
 not be forgotten that there is a brighter aspect to 
 this apparent gloomy picture. It is the dark 
 which gives contrast to the light. It is the densest 
 darkness which immediately precedes the dawn. 
 It is the sword before peace. It is conquest be- 
 fore victory. It is the dark background, which 
 gives color to a most beautiful painting. So here, 
 the Man of Sorrows is the fore-runner of the Man 
 of Triumph. 
 
 Throughout the whole of Old Testament sym- 
 bolism and prophecy, every one which points to- 
 ward the Christ, as truly as does the needle of the 
 compass point toward the north star, there is a 
 distinct note of triumph. Here is the seed of the 
 woman, whose heel is to be bruised; but who shall 
 
 170 
 
The Christ of Prophecy— Man of Triumph 
 
 bruise the serpent's head. Here is the one, who 
 while being foreshadowed in his mediatorial sac- 
 rifice, is also prefigured in his coming glory by 
 the bread and wine of the priestly table. Here is 
 the King whose sceptre is a righteous one, whose 
 reign is one of peace, and whose throne is eternal. 
 Even in that minutest detail of his anguish and 
 sufferings, of Isa. the 53d chapter, the inspired 
 writer occasionally throws in a cheering statement : 
 "With his stripes we are healed," "He shall 
 see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the 
 pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," 
 "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall 
 be satisfied," "Therefore will I divide him a por- 
 tion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil 
 with the strong." 
 
 The Psalmist also in this connection, sings a 
 note of triumph: "I will declare the decree: the 
 Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this 
 day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall 
 give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion." Psa. 2:7, 8. 
 
 Turning our eyes toward the Christ of the 
 New Testament, it is again with pleasure, that we 
 anticipate happy results. Shall the real and in- 
 tense sufferings of our Lord for ever becloud his 
 triumph and glory? Where is there a heart so 
 
 171 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 stony as not to be broken by the story of his death? 
 But where is there a heart so stupid and insensi- 
 tive, as not to be affected by his triumph? 
 
 In the person of Jesus Christ we find a "second 
 Adam," a second man, — a second representative 
 of the human race. In him the race had a sec- 
 ond head, a new possibility. As a second repre- 
 sentative of the race, our Lord became a subject 
 of divine law. As "The second man," he stepped 
 into the ranks of humanity just where he found 
 them. It may be said of man, using the word man 
 in the generic sense, as standing for the race, that 
 he was a two-fold subject of divine law. In the 
 first place he was an active subject of the law, 
 which demanded obedience. This required obe- 
 dience was not kept, consequently man became a 
 passive subject of the law. The passive demand 
 of the law, as punishment for disobedience, is 
 stipulated in the following: "For in the day that 
 thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 
 2: 17, and "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 
 Ezek. 18:4. 
 
 If Jesus Christ is to be truly denominated 
 "The man of Triumph," in contrast to the first 
 man of failure; it is his to step into the place of 
 the man of failure, and triumphantly obey the 
 divine law, actively by obedience, and passively 
 by his death. 
 
 172 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Triumph 
 
 The Triumph of Service 
 No sooner had the Son of Man entered upon 
 his ministry, being inaugurated at his baptism, by 
 the anointing of the Holy Spirit, with a testimony 
 from heaven, as to his Divine Sonship, than he 
 was submitted to a most rigid test of his active 
 obedience and service to divine law. 
 
 This triumph of service was won by a hand- 
 to-hand conflict with Satan, man's powerful and 
 bitterest enemy, who had been watching our 
 Lord's earthly career with eagerness. He not be- 
 ing omniscient, may have like men, interpreted the 
 remarkable things connected with the birth of 
 Jesus, as the result of the purely natural. But 
 when the skies were rended, and God acknowl- 
 edged His Son, who was walking among men; it 
 was then that the suspicions of the fallen arch- 
 angel were thoroughly aroused; and a panic seized 
 the under world when it became evident that the 
 Son of God was treading with human footstep 
 upon grounds which had been conquested, and was 
 being claimed by Satan. 
 
 No sooner had the Savior entered upon his 
 office than he encountered the oppositions of the 
 evil one. Though perhaps certain of his Divine 
 Sonship, he finds him in the form of humanity; 
 and with diabolical skill, plans to seduce the "sec- 
 ond man," as he had the first at the beginning. 
 
 173 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 Neither was this forbidden by God, for the Holy 
 Spirit evidently delivered him into the hands of 
 Satan, to be tempted, knowing that he who came 
 as man's Redeemer could, and must meet Satan 
 on any and every battlefield, and overcome him. 
 Every advantage was allowed the tempter who, 
 after the body of Christ had become weak during 
 a period of forty days fasting, approaches him 
 with the temptation which would most naturally 
 appeal to one who is hungry. It was a challenge 
 to prove his Deity by making the stones of the 
 wilderness bread to satisfy his hunger. 
 
 It was a temptation appealing to the same 
 sense, that of the appetite, by which the first man 
 was overcome. "Jesus proves himself to be able 
 to resist the temptation, and not vainly desirous 
 of proving his Deity replies: 'It is written, man 
 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' " 
 
 Failing to obtain any fanatical evidence from 
 Jesus as to his Sonship, by appealing to the sense 
 of hunger, he proceeds to another temptation; 
 this time appealing to his supposed sense of pride. 
 Taking him to the temple, he seated him upon 
 a very high pinnacle. This pinnacle was possibly 
 the "king's gallery" which was built at the South 
 East corner of the temple, overlooking the steep 
 precipice, into the valley of the Kedron. The dis- 
 
 174 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Triumph 
 
 tance is said to have been so great that the bottom 
 below could not be seen from the gallery and 
 caused one to become dizzy. 
 
 "Here," said Satan, "is an opportunity for 
 you to display your abilities, and prove your Di- 
 vinity and Sonship ; More than that, it is written : 
 (reciting from Psalms 91:11-12). "He shall 
 give his angels charge concerning thee: And in 
 their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any 
 time thou dash thy foot against a stone." 
 Whether or not Satan purposely misquoted this 
 text, or being a poor Bible student, simply blun- 
 dered; leaving out the clause "to keep thee in all 
 thy ways," it is evident that its application to an 
 occasion of this kind, would be a presumption 
 upon God's goodness and help. Again Jesus met 
 him with another scripture saying: "Thou shalt 
 not tempt the Lord thy God." While refusing to 
 comply with Satan's request for a proof of his 
 Deity he does not hesitate to profess himself .as 
 Lord and God. 
 
 Finding no response in Christ to this tempta- 
 tion, Satan proposes another. This time he risks 
 all chances and outdoes himself in a third and 
 final effort, to overcome the Son of God. He 
 invites him to an exceedingly high mountain, and 
 shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and 
 the glory of them. Whether by a supernatural 
 
 175 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 vision, Christ beheld all the kingdoms of the 
 world, or whether the vision was a mental one, 
 matters but little. "All these" says Satan: "I will 
 give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
 He further more declares that they are all his, 
 and that he can give them to whomsoever he 
 chooses. For this claim many have charged Sa- 
 tan with falsehood, saying, that he possessed noth- 
 ing and had nothing to give. This is however a 
 false accusation as Satan truthfully said: "For 
 that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever 
 I will I give it;" and he still shares the king- 
 doms of the world with his subjects. Who are 
 they who sit on the thrones and wear crowns 
 and sway sceptres? In the majority of cases they 
 are not the Lord's people. Jesus recognized and 
 confessed him to be the "prince of this world;" 
 for he said as he neared his crucifixion, "The 
 prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in 
 me." St. John 14:30. And also, that he shall 
 be cast out. St. John 12 : 31. Consequently those 
 things which Satan offered Jesus were temporarily 
 his, possessing them as a usurper; and would 
 doubtless have given to the Christ the thrones of 
 the world, without his going by the way of the 
 cross to conquer them, if he would only have fallen 
 down and worshipped him. This would have 
 been honoring him as God, which was evidently 
 
 176 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Triumph 
 
 Satan's highest ambition. Vain, vain indeed, for 
 a usurper of the kingdoms of the world to offer 
 to the Lord of Heaven and Creator of all things, 
 these kingdoms at the price of homage. "No," 
 was the verdict from the council chamber of the 
 skies: "I will bring these kingdoms back to their 
 legal owners, those for whom they were created, 
 and to whom they were given, and annex them 
 again to heaven as at the first, before sin entered 
 the world; but they will be conquered gloriously, 
 though it be at the price of blood." Again Jesus 
 makes use of the sword of the Spirit, which is 
 the word of God, and says, quoting from Deut. 
 10:20. It is written: a Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
 In this he not only refused the offer of Satan, but 
 again boldly declared his Lordship. 
 
 Satan having exhausted his resources, he now 
 leaves Christ and angels come and minister unto 
 him. 
 
 It is interesting to note the peculiar corre- 
 spondence between the temptations of Jesus, and 
 those of the first man in Eden. St. John tells us 
 that all, that there is in the world, by the way of 
 sin, may be comprehended under the three follow- 
 ing heads : the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 
 and the vain glory of life. 1st John 2 : 16, A. V. 
 In other words, these are the three gateways by 
 12 177 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 which the citadel of a man's inner self or true char- 
 acter is reached, or they are three points of contact 
 between the outer world and the individual. In 
 both of these temptations, those of Christ and of 
 Adam, entrance was sought at each of these ways, 
 and inducements were offered at each point of con- 
 tact, proving that Satan, although not omniscient 
 is an apt student of human nature. The first was 
 "good for food" — "the lust of the flesh," second 
 "pleasant to the eyes" — "lust of the eyes," and 
 third "to be desired to make one wise" — and ap- 
 peal to the pride of "vain glory of life." Christ's 
 temptation was an exact parallel. The bread was 
 "good for food" — and appealed to the flesh; the 
 pinnacle scene was purposed as a temptation to 
 attract the eyes of the spectators in admiration — 
 "the lust of the eyes;" and the offering of the king- 
 doms, an attempt to gain entrance by the way of 
 "vain glory." But these being the only ways of 
 entrance, and Satan receiving no response at either 
 of these ways, by any of these temptation, finds 
 his resources exhausted and slank away as one who 
 suffers shameful defeat. 
 
 The importance of this triumph of Jesus over 
 Satan, cannot easily be overestimated. It was a 
 great crucial moment. Had Satan succeeded in 
 his last temptation, the crown which was wrested 
 from man at the beginning, would have been 
 
 i 7 8 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Triumph 
 
 placed upon his head by the Son of God himself. 
 The battle of all the ages between Satan and God, 
 would have been brought to an end; and the 
 wicked ambition of Satan, from the earliest, to 
 be equal with God, would have materialized. 
 
 The Eden pair, easily succumbed to the temp- 
 tation and sinned. The Son of God though 
 tempted in like manner, but with multiplied se- 
 verity, resisted and drove the enemy from the field. 
 
 Tested and triumphant in the hour of great 
 temptation, the steps of our Lord became the 
 tread of a conqueror. He being the incarnation 
 of divine truth, living in obedience to divine law, 
 was placed in a distinct rank of service, in contrast 
 to all others. Before his conquering tread dis- 
 eases departed, fevers fled, the lame leaped, evil 
 spirits cried, and the dead arose from silence. 
 Who dares to deny to this Son of Prophecy, the 
 title of the Man of Triumph? 
 
 The Triumph of Sacrifice 
 
 The triumphs of service seemed to be giving 
 place to the despair of dying. The conqueror 
 seems well nigh conquered. 
 
 Bloodthirsty Jews have succeeded in falsely 
 condemning him before the high-priest and Pi- 
 late; and amidst noise and tumult, we hear the 
 groanings of the suffering Saviour, and hear one 
 
 179 
 
Old Testament Messages of the Christ 
 
 deridingly exclaim: "He saved others; himself 
 he cannot save." Was this true? Unwittingly a 
 great truth of two-fold nature had been expressed. 
 He had saved others, and from the very nature 
 of the circumstances, he could not save himself. 
 Not that it was impossible for him to escape from 
 the cross, even at that late hour; but a passive 
 obedience to the justice of a divine but broken law, 
 was at stake ; and because of this he could not, he 
 would not save himself. 
 
 Deeper and deeper became the anguish and 
 sufferings of our Lord, until in a manner some- 
 thing like a penitent, repenting soul he casts him- 
 self upon the mercy of God. Amidst the trem- 
 blings of the earth and the blackness of the skies, 
 he exclaims: "Father, into thy hands I commend 
 my spirit," and died. Jews and wicked men 
 skulked homeward, with a feeling of mixed satis- 
 faction and fear. Satan and demons were doubtless 
 chuckling with hellish glee, assuring themselves, 
 that at last they had conquered the honored, 
 mighty, miracle worker. He had finally suc- 
 cumbed to death, and was lying in the grave. 
 Vainly did they suppose that the great plan of 
 human redemption was forever thwarted. 
 
 Swooping down from the highest Heaven, 
 came a mighty angel, who smiled at Roman dig- 
 nity, defied Roman law, smote to temporary dead- 
 
 180 
 
The Christ of Prophecy — Man of Triumph 
 
 ness, the Roman soldiers, ignored the Roman seal 
 and rolled away the stone from the door of the 
 sepulchre. Freed from grave clothes and death, 
 the Son of God stepped forth in resurrection life. 
 
 Shouts whose echoes will never cease, must 
 have arisen in the heavenly world when the Son 
 of God stepped from the grave, triumphant over 
 death, leading a procession of spirits of Old Tes- 
 tament saints, who had been retained in Paradise, 
 awaiting the full promised payment of their re- 
 demption price; and placed the resurrection life 
 within the possibility of every lost son of Adam's 
 race. 
 
 The Man Triumphant: Triumphant in Serv- 
 ice; Triumphant in Sacrifice. 
 
 181 
 
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