<i Isai. xlv. 24. r Ps. lxxxix. 19. s 1 Cor. i. 30.
1 Isai. xlv. 22. u 2 Pet. iii. 18.
Christ's future reign.
Isai. xlix. 7. Tims saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and. his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of 'rulers ; kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.
OF prophecy we may say, that it is by far the most satisfactory evidence which we have of the truth of our holy religion. Yet it is not altogether the num- ber of the things that have been foretold respecting our blessed Lord, no, nor even the minuteness of them, that carries the fullest conviction to our minds :
it is the strangeness of them, and the great improba- bility that such things should ever have combined in our Lord and Saviour : this, I say, it is which renders the prophecies so demonstrative of the Messiahship of Jesus. For, suppose that God had determined to send his only dear Son into the world for our redemption, and to inform us beforehand what an appearance he should make in the world, and what a reception he should find ; what should we expect to be declared concerning him ? Certainly we should expect that God would send him in a way suited to his august character ; so that by the very splendour of his appearance he should manifest his relation to God, and carry conviction to the minds of all who should behold him. We should expect that his re- ception should perfectly accord with this. In truth, we could conceive no other, than that, if God should manifest himself in human flesh, and more especially if he should, in proof of his divine mission, work innumerable miracles, which, whilst they could admit of no doubt, should shadow forth the salvation which he was come to impart, all of necessity must love him, and acknowledge him as their Lord, and give themselves up to him as his obedient followers. And if the general tenour of prophecy had accorded with these views, and represented him as to be so received, it would have precisely answered the expectations we had formed. But in proportion as the prophecies corresponded with our previous expectations, they would have been divested of their force. It is the contrariety of the prophecies to all human expecta- tions that gives them such weight : for the less the events predicted could be expected by men, the more, provided they were really accomplished, they would shew that they had proceeded from God ; who alone could foresee what should really occur, or think of accomplishing his purposes by such extraordinary means. Now the prophecy before us commends itself to us most highly in this particular view ; since its representations of the Messiah are such as no finite intelligence could ever have anticipated ; and
950.] ciirist's future reign. 249
its statements of events are such as could never have been expected to flow from the mission of such a person into the world. Let us consider,
I. The representation which is here given of the Messiah —
The words before us are an address of the Father to his own Son, under the character of the Messiah. And behold the description given of him !
Nothing can be conceived more humiliating —
[It is here predicted, that he should be an object of con- tempt and abhorrence to Ills whole nation, and, though in him- self the Creator of heaven and earth, be regarded by the Rulers as the meanest slave. But can it be of the Messiah that such things are foretold ? Yes, of the Messiah himself, who was to be known and distinguished by these very marks : so that, if any person, professing himself to be the appointed Messiah, should not answer to this character, it would be a sufficient proof that he was an impostor. If he be the Messiah indeed, he must be one " whom men despise, and the whole nation abhor," and who, by " the Rulers," is treated as a slave.]