There is some doubt as to the precise date from which the calculation ought to commence. The greatest difference, however, is only ten years, and the most probable date causes the pro- phecy to coincide precisely with the history of Jesus Christ.
4. What prophecies, relating to the time, place, and circum- stances of the birth of the Messiah, have been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth ?
As to time, it was predicted that he should come before the sceptre departed from Judah, (G-en. xlix., 10,) at the end of four hundred and ninety years after the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem, and while the second temple was still stand- ing.— Hag. ii., 9 ; Mai. hi., 1.
As to place and circumstances, he was to be born in Beth- lehem, (Micah v., 2,) of the tribe of Judah, of the family of Da- vid, Jer. xxiii., 5-6. He was to be born of a virgin, Isa. vii., 14; and to be preceded by a forerunner, Mai. iii., 1. All these met in Jesus Christ, and can never again be fulfilled in another, since the genealogies of tribes and families have been lost.
5. What remarkable characteristics of the Messiah, as de- scribed in the Old Testament, were verified in our Saviour ?
He was to be a king and conqueror of universal empire, Ps. ii., 6, and Ps. xlv. ; Isa. ix , 6, 7 ; and yet despised and rejected, a man of sorrow, a prisoner, pouring forth his soul unto death, Isa. liii. He was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and under his administration the moral condition of the whole earth was to be changed, Isa. xlii., 6 ; xlix., 6 ; lx., 1-7. His death was to be
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vicarious, Isa. liii., 5, 9, 12. He was to enter the city riding upon an ass, Zech. ix., 9. He was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver, and his price purchase a potter's field, Zech. xi., 12, 13. His garments were to be parted by lot, Ps. xxii., 18. They were to give him vinegar to drink, Ps. lxix., 21. The very words he was to utter on the cross are predicted, Ps. xxii., 1 ; also that he should be pierced, Zech. xii., 10 ; and make his grave with the wicked and with the rich, Isa. liii., 9. — See Dr. Alexander's Evi- dences of Christianity.
6. What peculiar work was the Messiah to accomplish, which has been performed by Christ ?
All his mediatorial offices were predicted in substance. He was to do the work of a prophet, (Is. xlii., 6 ; lx., 3,) and that of a priest, (Is. liii., 10,) to make reconciliation for sin, (Dan. ix., 24.) As king, he was to administer the several dispensations of his kingdom, closing one and introducing another, sealing up the vision and prophecy, causing the sacrifice and oblation to cease (Dan. ix., 24), and setting up a kingdom that should never cease (Dan. ii., 44).
7. What are the three points involved in the true doctrine of the person of Christ as the incarnate Son of God ?
1st. The absolute divinity of Christ as the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. 2d. The perfect manhood of Christ ; the presence in his divine person of a true body and a reasonable soul, which, beginning to exist only in union with the Godhead, never had a distinct personal subsistence. 3d. The person, therefore, is the eternal Son of God, into which person- ality has been assumed, and in which is ever more sustained a perfect human nature ; so that he ever more continues one per- son, constituted of two entire and distinct natures.
8. How may it be proved that Christ is really a man ?
He is called man, 1 Tim., ii., 5. His most common title is Son of Man, Matt, xiii., 37, also seed of the woman, Gen. iii.; 15 ; the seed of Abraham, Acts iii., 25 ; Son of David, and fruit of his loins, Luke i., 32 ; made of a woman, Gal. iv., 4. He
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had a body, ate, drank, slept, and increased in stature, Luke ii., 52 ; and through a life of thirty-three years was recognized by all men as a true man. He died in agony on the cross, was buried, rose, and proved his identity by physical signs, Luke xxiv., 36-44. He had a reasonable soul, for he increased in wisdom. He exercised the common feelings of our nature, he groaned in spirit and was troubled, he wept, John xi., 33, 35. He loved Martha and Mary, and the disciple that Jesus loved leaned upon his bosom, John xiii., 23.
The absolute divinity of Christ has been proved above, Chap. VIII.
9. How may it be proved that both these natures constituted but one person ?
In many passages both natures are referred to, when it is evi- dent that only one person was intended (Phil, ii., 6-11). In many passages both natures are set forth as united. It is never affirmed that divinity abstractly, or a divine power, was united to, or manifested in a human nature, but of the divine nature concretely, that a divine being was united to a human being. — Heb. ii., 11-14 ; 1 Tim., iii., 16 ; Gal. iv., 4 ; Eom. viii., 3, and i., 3, 4 ; ix., 5 ; John i., 14 ; 1 John, iv., 3.