less; as giving an explication of his person, office, or condition, who was but darkly described in the name of Shiloh. For this is the same character by which he was signified unto Abraham: In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be Gen. xxii. 18. blessed: by which he is deciphered in Isaiah; In that day Isai. xi. 10. there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious and in Micah, The mountain of the house of the Lord Mic. iv. 1. shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. And thus the blessing of Judah is plainly intelligible: Judah, Gen. xlix. 8. thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Thou shalt obtain the primogeniture of thy brother Reuben, and by virtue thereof shalt rule over the rest of the tribes the government shall be upon thy shoulders, and all thy brethren shall be subject unto thee. And that you may understand this blessing is not to expire until it make way for a greater, know that this government shall not fail, until there come a son out of your loins, who shall be far greater than yourself: for whereas your dominion reacheth only over your brethren, and so is confined unto the tribes of Israel; his kingdom shall be universal, and all nations of the earth shall serve him. Being then this Shiloh is so described in the text, and acknowledged by the ancient Jews to be the Messias: being God hath promised by Jacob the government of Israel should not fail until Shiloh came; being that government is visibly and undeniably already failed, it followeth inevitably that the Messias is already come. In the same manner the prophet Malachi hath given an express signification of the coming of the Messias while the Temple stood: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall Mal. iii. 1. 83 prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in1. And Haggai yet more clearly, Thus Hag. i. 6, 7, 9. saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the .Kimchi on the place האדון הוא מלך המשיח 1 glory of the former, saith the Lord of hosts. It is then most evident from these predictions, that the Messias was to come while the second Temple stood. It is as certain that the second Temple is not now standing. Therefore, except we contradict the veracity of God, it cannot be denied but the Messias is already come. Nothing can be objected to enervate this argument, but that these prophecies concern not the Messias; and yet the ancient Jews confessed they did, and that they do so cannot be denied. For, first, those titles, the angel of the covenant, the delight of the Israelites, the desire of all nations, are certain and known characters of the Christ to come. And, secondly, it cannot be conceived how the glory of the second Temple should be greater than the glory of the first, without the coming of the Messias to it. For the Jews themselves have observed that five signs of the divine glory were in the first Temple, which were wanting to the second: as the Urim and Thummim, by which the high-priest was miraculously instructed of the will of God; the ark of the covenant, from whence God gave his answers by a clear and audible voice; the fire upon the altar, which came down from heaven, and immediately consumed the sacrifice; the divine presence or habitation with them, represented by a visible appearance, or given, as it were, to the king and high-priest by anointing with the oil of unction; and, lastly, the spirit of prophecy, with which those especially who were called to the prophetical office were endued. And there was no comparison between the beauty and glory of the structure or building of it, as appeared by the tears dropped from those eyes which Ezra iii. 12. had beheld the former; for many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and by those words which God commanded Haggai to speak to the people for the introducing of this prophecy, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Being then the structure of the second Temple was so far inferior to the first, being all those signs of the divine glory were wanting in it with which the former was adorned; the glory of it can no other way be imagined greater, than by the coming of Him into it in whom all those signs of the divine glory were far Hag. ii. 3. more eminently contained: and this person alone is the Messias. For he was to be the glory of the people Israel, yea, even of the God of Israel; he the Urim and Thummim, by whom the will of God, as by a greater oracle, was revealed; he the true ark of the covenant, the only propitiatory by his blood; he which was to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire, the true fire which came down from heaven; he which was to take up his habitation in our flesh, and to dwell among us that we might behold his glory; he who received the Spirit without measure, and from whose fulness we do all receive. In him were all those signs of the divine glory united, which were thus divided in the first Temple; in him they were all more eminently contained than in those: therefore his coming to the second Temple was, as the sufficient, so the only means by which the glory of it could be greater than the glory of the first. If then the Messias was to come while the second Temple stood, as appeareth by God's prediction and promise; if that Temple many ages since hath ceased to be, there being not one stone left upon a stone; if it certainly were before the 84 destruction of it in greater glory than ever the former was; if no such glory could accrue unto it but by the coming of the Messias: then is that Messias already come. Having thus demonstrated out of the promises given to the Jews, that the Messias who was so promised unto them must be already come, because those events which were foretold to follow his coming are already past; we shall proceed unto the next particular, and prove that the man Jesus, in whom we believe, is that Messias who was promised. First, it is acknowledged, both by the Jew and Gentile, that this Jesus was born in Judæa, and lived and died there, before the commonwealth of Israel was dispersed, before the second Temple was destroyed; that is, at the very time when the prophets foretold the Messias should come. And there was no other beside him, that did with any show of probability pretend to be, or was accepted as, the Messias. Therefore we must confess he was, and only he could be, the Christ. Secondly, All other prophecies belonging to the Messias were fulfilled in Jesus, whether we look upon the family, the place, or the manner of his birth; neither were they ever fulfilled in any person beside him : he then is, and no other can be, the Messias. That he was to come out of the tribe of Rev. v. 5. Judah and family of David, is every where manifest. The Jews, which mention Messias as a son of Joseph or of Ephraim, do not deny, but rather dignify, the Son of David, or of Isa xi. 1, 2. Judah, whom they confess to be the greater Christ'. There shall come forth a rod2 out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest Isai. xi. 10. upon him, saith the prophet Isaiah. And again, In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious. Now who was it but Jesus of whom the elders spake, Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David? Rev. xxii. 16. Who but he said, I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star? The Jews did all acknowledge it, Mark xii. 35. as appears by the question of our Saviour, How say the scribes Matt. xxii. 42. that Christ is the Son of David? What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David: and that of the people, amazed at the seeing of the blind, and Matt. xii. 23. speaking of the dumb, Is not this the Son of David? The blind cried out unto him, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us; and the multitude cried, Hosanna to the Son of David. The genealogy of Jesus shews his family: the first words of the Gospel are, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. The prophecy therefore was certainly fulfilled Heb. vii. 14 in respect of his lineage; for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. Luke xviii. 38. Matt. xxi. 9. Matt. i. 1. Place Beside if we look upon the place where the Messias was to be born, we shall find that Jesus by a particular act of ProviMatt. ii. 4, 5. dence was born there. When Herod gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa. The people doubted whether Jesus was the Christ, because they thought he had been born in Galilee, 1 The Jews have invented a double Messias: to one they attribute all those places which mention his low estate and sufferings; to the other such as speak of his power and glory. The פריקין [דעתידין למפרקיד] משיח בר דוד -Two are thy Redeem ומשיח בר אפרים : ers [who are about to come to redeem 2 Which the Chaldee paraphrase the other משיח בן יוסף one they style king shall 4 ומשיחא מבני בנוהי יתרבי name also the son of Ephraim, and the come out of the sons of Jesse, and the 42. where Joseph and Mary lived; wherefore they said, Shall John vil 41, Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? That place of Scripture which they meant was cited by the scribes to Herod, according to the interpretation then current among the Jews, and still preserved in the Chaldee paraphrase'. For thus it is written Matt. ii. 5, 6. by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 85 art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. This prediction was most manifestly and remarkably fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, when by the providence of God it was so ordered, that Augustus should then tax the world, to which end every one should go up into his own city. Whereupon Joseph and Mary his espoused wife left Nazareth of Galilee, their habitation, and went unto Bethlehem of Judæa, the city of David, there to be taxed, because they were of the house and Luke ii. 4. lineage of David. And, while they were there, as the days of the Virgin Mary were accomplished, so the prophecy was fulfilled; for there she brought forth her first-born son; and so unto us was born that day in the city of David, a Saviour, Luke ii. 11. which is Christ the Lord. But if we add, unto the family and place, the manner of heimes. his birth also foretold, the argument must necessarily appear conclusive. The prophet Isaiah spake thus unto the house of 1 Which expressly translateth it exercise dominationin Israel. So Rab מנך קדמי יפוק משיחא למהוי עביד :thus ממך לי יצא משיח בן דוד ,bi Solomon Out of thee shall come שולטן על ישראל הוא המלך,So Kimchi and Abarbanel before me the Messias, that he may PEARSON. המשיח : 11 |