(3.) We can only barely allude to one remarkable prediction more, which fixes the time of the Messiah's advent, viz. Hag. ii, 7-9 : '• I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come : and I will fiU this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. Tlie glory of this latter house sliall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts." The glory here spoken of must be in reference to the Messiah, or on some other account. It could not have been said that the second Tenijile exceeded in glory the former one ; for in many particulars, according to the acknowledg- ment of the Jews themselves, it was far inferior, both as a building (Ezra iii, 3, 12) and in respect of the sym- bols and tokens of God's special favor being wanting (see Kimchi and R. Salomon on Hag. i, 8). The prom- ised glory, therefore, must refer to the coming and presence of him who was promised to the world before there was any nation of the Jews ; and who is aptly called the '^Desire of all nations." This view is amp- ly confirmed by the prophet Malachi (iii, 1). Since, then, the very Temple into which the Saviour was to enter has for ages been destroyed, He must, if the integ- rity of this prophecy be preserved, have come. Nor is tlie force of this passage for our present purpose greatly diminished if we take the interpretation of many, that iTl'Sn, "desire," here, being fern., cannot directly refer to the Messiah personally ; for in any case the prophecy refers to some glorification, at the time future, of the then existing Temple; and as that Temple has now ut- terly passed away, its fullilment cannot be looked for under any Messiah yet to come. See Desire.
That there was, at the time of our Lord's birth, a great expectation of the Messiah, both among Jews and Gentiles, may be seen from three celebrated historians, as well as from the sacred Scriptures. Tacitus {Hist. c. 13) says : " Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdo- tum literaris contineri, eo ipso tempore fore ut valesce- ret Oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur." Again, Suetonius (in Vespas. 4) says: " Percrebruerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis ut eo tempore Judaji profecti rerum potirentur." Josephus, not being able to find any calculation by which to protract the general expectation of the ^Messiah. a|>plies it in the fol- lowing words to Vespasian (ir((r,vii.ol) : "That which chiefly excited the Jews to war was an ambiguous prophecy, which was also found in the sacred books, that at that time some one within their country should
arise who would obtain the empire of the whole world." We are, moreover, informed again by Suetonius {Octav. 94), that, upon the conception of Augustus, it was gen- erally thought that Nature was then in labor to bring forth a king who would rule the Romans. Some sup- pose that the words of Virgil {Eclog. iv) point at our Saviour, but they were intended by him to apply to the son of PoUio. We may just add that as there was a general expectation of the Messiah at this time, so there were many impostors who drew after them many followers (Josephus, Ant. xx, 2, 6; War, Ivii, 31). See also a full account of the false Christs who appeared by John a Lent, Schediasm. c. 2 ; Maimonides, Ep. ad Ju- dceos MarsiHenses ; Christ prophesies of such persons (Matt, xxiv, 24, 29).
2. The limits of this article will admit of our oniy touching upon the proofs that Jesus of Nazareth, and none other, is the very Messiah that was to come. (1.) What was predicted of the Messiah was fulfilled in Je- sus. Was the Messiah to be of the seed of the woman (Gen. iii, 15), and this woman a virgin? (Isa. vii, 14). So we are told (Gal. iv, 4 ; Matt, i, 18, and 22, 23) that Jesus was made of a woman, and born of a virgin. Was it predicted that he (Messiah) should be of the tribe of Judah, of the family of Jesse, and of the house of David? (Mic. V, 2 ; Gen. xlix, 10 ; Isa. xi, 10 ; Jer. xxiii, 5). This was fulfiUed in Jesus (Luke i, 27, 69 ; Matt, i, 1). See Genealogy of Christ. (2.) If the Messiah was to be a prophet like unto Moses, so was Jesus also (Isa. xviii; John vi, 14). If the Messiah was to appear in the second Temjale, so did Jesus (Hag. ii, 7, 9 ; John xviii, 20). (3.) The Messiah was to work miracles (Isa. XXXV, 5, G; comp. Matt, xi, 4, 5). See Miracle. (4.) If the Messiah was to suffer and die (Isa. liii), we find that Jesus died in the same manner, at the very time, and under the identical circumstances, which were predicted of him. The very man who betrayed him, the price for which he was sold, the indignities he was to receive in his last moments, the parting of his gar- ments, and his last words, etc., were all foretold of the Messiali, and accomplished in Jesus! (5.) Was the Messiah to rise from the dead ? So did Jesus. H«w stupendous and adorable is the providence of God, who, through so many apparent contingencies, brought such things to pass ! See Kidder, Demonstration of the Mes- siah (Lond. 1726, fol.) ; Olearius, Jesus d. wahre Messias (Leips. 1714, 1737); WCau\, Messiahship of Jesus (War- burton Led. 1852); Black, Messiahs and anti-Messiahs (Lond. 1853) ; Browne, Messiah as foretold and expected (Lond. 1862) ; Higginson, Hebrew Messianic Hope and Christian Reality (Lond. 1871). Comp. also IVIalcolm's Theological Index, s. v. ; Volbeding's Index Programma- tum, p. 38 sq. ; Hase's Leben Jesu, p. 86 ; and Danz, Wurterhuch, p. 855 sq. See Christology.