תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

360

SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE OF SCRIPTURE.

For understanding the prophecies, we are in the first place to acquaint ourselves with the figurative language of the prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom, considered as a world politic.

Accordingly, the whole natural world, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic; consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is considered in the prophecies; and the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things thereon, the inferior people. Whence ascending towards heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and honour. A new dignity is signified by a new name; moral and civil qualifications by garments; honour and glory by splendid apparel; royal dignity by purple or scarlet, or by a crown; righteousness by white and clean robes; wickedness by spotted and filthy garments.

THE LEARNED ABBE TORNÉ ON DIVINE

REVELATION.

For four thousand years Jesus was the object of the promises of heaven, and the desires of the earth: he was figured by righteous men, and by the worship of the ancient law; he was proclaimed by a long train of prophets, and his way prepared by a long chain of political events. Jesus crucified throws the brighest light upon the Old Testament. Without him what can we comprehend in the multitude of ceremonies and sacrifices of the law? What images without him do the lives of the patriarchs offer? What can we find in the prophecies but impenetrable enigmas and gross contradictions? The law would be a sealed book; and Judaism a confused heap of precepts and ceremonies, piled up without meaning. On the contrary, how beautiful is the history of the people of God, and all their worship, when the cross is the key! What order! what design! what plan! what an admirable economy! It is one whole, the different parts of which relate to the same end. It is an edifice which God himself founded, and insensibly raised, with a design of placing it upon the top of the cross of his Son. It is a long allegory which divine wisdom contrived and conducted during many ages, and of which, at length, the cross has given the true sense.

OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES WHICH RELATE TO THE MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM.

1. It was foretold by many of the prophets, that the knowledge of the true God should be extended from Jerusalem over the whole earth; and that Pagan idolatry should be entirely, or in a great measure, suppressed by it. Ps. xxii. 27 : All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. do. lxxxvi. 9: All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O LORD; and shall glorify thy name. ISA. ii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 17, 18 : The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain 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 unto 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 among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. do. xi. 9: 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. do. xlv. 22, 23: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. JER. X. 11:

:

Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. ZEP. ii. 11: The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth and men shall worship him, every one from his place, ́even all the isles of the heathen. MAL. i. 11: For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

2. Immediately after the fall, as recorded by Moses, inti

mation was given of some person to descend from the woman, so as to be called her seed, who should triumph over the enemy that vanquished them, though he should himself receive some damage comparatively small. GEN. iii. 15: And

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

3. It was foretold to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that all nations should be blessed in their seed, which may naturally signify that a person to descend from them should be a blessing to mankind. GEN. xii. 3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. do. xxii. 18: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. do. xxvi. 4: And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. do. xxviii. 14: And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

4. Jacob on his dying bed speaks of some victorious person, unto whom the people should be gathered, whom he calls Shiloh, declaring that he should appear before Judah ceased to be a tribe. GEN. xlix. 10: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 5. Moses speaks of Christ. DEUT. Xviii. 18, 19: I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. This could not refer to a succession of prophets, since it is expressly said none of them were like Moses, DEUT. XXXIV. 10: And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

6. David foretells of a person who should be owned by God as his Son, to whom universal dominion should be given. Ps. ii. 6, 7, 8, 12: Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 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 possession. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

He speaks also of an illustrious and victorious person, whom he calls his Lord, that should likewise be a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. See Ps. cx.; see also do. xxii. 26-31; xlv. throughout; and lxxii. 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 17.

PROPHECIES OF CHRIST BY ISAIAH.

:

ISA. vii. 14: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. do. ix. 6, 7: 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 Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 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 for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. do. xi. 1: And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. do. xxviii. 16: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste. do. xxxv. 3-10: Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. do. xl. 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and

every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. do. xlii. 1-7: Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. See do. xlix. 1-11; do. liii. 1—12; and chapters lii. liii. liv. lv. lix. lx. lxi. and lxv. throughout.

BY JEREMIAH.

JER. xxiii. 5, 6: Behold, 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 judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. do. xxxiii. 14-16 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

« הקודםהמשך »