01.03. III. Prophetic Paradoxes in Prophecy

III. PROPHETIC PARADOXES IN PROPHECIES CONCERNING CHRIST The Old Testament presents a mysterious prophetic puzzle of strange combinations of prophecies concerning the coming Messiah that appear at times so conflicting they seem impossible of fulfillment. We call these prophecies that are seemingly contradictory and apparently irreconcilable "prophetic paradoxes." We define a "prophetic paradox" as two or more prophecies that contain a seeming contradiction, with no real absurdity involved, and presenting an enigma which, without the "clue" or fulfillment, seems impossible of solution. The Old Testament abounds with such prophetic paradoxes concerning Christ which were and still are absolute mysteries except as the New Testament solves them in Christ. These paradoxes in prophecy have an element of obscurity presenting as it were a LOCK for which only the New Testament has the KEY*-and that key is Jesus the Christ. (*Harry Houdini, perhaps the greatest magician that ever lived, once gave a demonstration in Paris of his ability to unlock locks. A local ma­gician claimed he could do all that Houdini did. And he publicly offered to extricate himself the next day from a cage, locked by Houdini’s special lock. The wily French magician had an accomplice, unknown to Houdini, who wormed the combination of the lock from the American magician. But Houdini suspected the trick-so that night he changed the combination. The next day the cocky French magician had himself locked in the cage. To his chagrin, he could not unlock the combination lock. He tried in vain to discover the new combination, midst the jeers of the crowd. Finally, he had to beg Houdini to release him, which he did after a little showmanship. Then Houdini showed him and the audience what the new five-letter combination was: F-R-A-U-D. The one who worked out the combination is the one who could unlock it. The One who gave these mysterious Old Testament prophecies, as a LOCK, knows the combination that unlocks the mysteries, and He alone knows them. Jesus had the "key" in His own Person and ministry that unlocks them! All counterfeit "Messiahs" are frauds!) This amazing feature of many Messianic predictions prevents both wicked men and over-zealous disciples from purposely fulfilling them-if they could. For the prophecies, in at least some instances, were not fully understood until the fulfillment explained and made them plain. (See 1 Peter 1:10-11). Such unique prophecies absolutely prove that the God of Prophecy who designed them and the God of Providence who fulfilled them are one.

Another astonishing feature about these prophetic paradoxes is the perfectly normal, artless way in which they were providentially, even miraculously, fulfilled in the life of Jesus the Christ in the New Testament. It is not necessary to strain or force either the facts or the predictions to make them match.

Consider for a few moments some of these "impossible" contrasts: God will come to earth-to be born as a child. Messiah will be begotten by God-yet He will be God. He will be a "Son" in time-yet He is "Father of Eternity" (Isaiah 9:6). Chosen by God, elect, precious-yet despised and rejected by men. He is a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Coming to the Jews, and rejected by them as a nation-He will be sought by the Gentiles and will be a "light to the Gentiles." He will be a man who is God-and God who is man. Sinless, and having a wholly benevolent ministry-He will eventually be forsaken by both God and man. He will be "abhorred"-yet extolled and exalted. "Cut off-yet His days will be prolonged." "Grief and glory, travail and triumph, humiliation and exaltation, cross and crown are so strongly inter­mingled that the ancient Jewish expositors could not reconcile these prophecies. The whole prophetic picture of the coming Messiah, with its fulfillment, is so wholly novel, so mysterious, so artless and yet so intricate, that it was and is and must for ever remain the wonder of all literature" (A. T. Pierson).

Let us examine in more detail a few of the many prophetic paradoxes in the predictions of the coming Messiah.

(1) Concerning His birth. Notice in the following predic­tions these striking irreconcilables: a virgin . . . shall bear a son: something unknown in human experience. And this man-child will be GOD-"God with us." God-begotten-yet God incarnate!

"The Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name EMMANUEL" (Isaiah 7:14).

"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 (Heb., miracle). Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). To fulfill these amazing prophecies God performed a "biological miracle" and Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) and born of the virgin Mary as recorded in Matthew 1:16-25. To fulfill these two predictions quoted above, given 700 years before their fulfillment, God in the person of His Son came to earth, and the incarnation became a reality: "the Son of the Highest" became Mary’s son: God manifest in the flesh (see 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-3-14; Luke 1:31-33)-and all this though Mary "knew not a man" (Luke 1:34). Not only was Messiah to be the GOD-MAN, born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6), He was in some mysterious way to be all of these: "the Seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15); "the Son of man" (Daniel 7:13); the "Son of God" Psalms 2:7); the "Seed of Abraham" (Genesis 22:18); and the "fruit" of David’s body (Psalms 132:11). But how can God be man and man be God and at the same time be a son of man and Son of God? And how can a person be God and yet be born of God? And how can one be a "son of man" and yet have no human father? And how can he be the "seed of the woman" when the woman "knew not a man?" How in the world-pardon the expression-could one person be ALL these? Wonder of wonders, Jesus was! The Lord Jesus was GOD (John 1:1); He was man (John 1:14); He was the "seed of the woman" (Galatians 4:4); He was the "Son of man"-the representative man (Luke 19:10); He was the "Son of God" (John 3:16); He was the "seed of Abra­ham and the seed of David" (Matthew 1:1). Behold, the Miracle of the ages: Christ Jesus, perfect man, yet very God; God begotten, yet God incarnate in one indivisible, loving, matchless personality! John the evangelist explains the supreme mystery (called the "mystery of God and of Christ," Colossians 2:2; Col :4:3) in these words:

"And the Word (who was God and was with God, in the bosom of the Father) was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (see John 1:1-2, John 1:18-24).

(2) The Place of His Origin: from whence did He come: Bethlehem? Egypt? Nazareth? Here is another involved series of predictions. Prophecy said, "Out of thee (Bethlehem) shall he come forth . . . who is to be ruler in Israel" (Micah 5:2). But another Scripture said. "I have called my Son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1 with Matthew 2:15). And there was a spoken prophecy commonly known among the people of Israel, as one of the predictions of the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:23), based possibly on Isaiah 11:1 where Messiah is called the Branch (Heb., neh-tzer), meaning the separated One, or "the Nazarene." Are these contradictory? Not at all when the Person came who unlocked the puzzle by the course of events in His divinely ordained life. He was born in Bethlehem, as Micah said; soon after, He was taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary, from whence God "called" Him back to the Holy Land after the death of wicked king Herod (Matthew 2:13-23). And when Joseph and Mary came back to Palestine with the child Jesus, they settled in Nazareth, the city where the Lord was reared.* Hence, in His ministry He was called "Jesus of Nazareth" (Luke 18:37; Acts 2:22; etc.). Isn’t it strange that, though He was born in Bethlehem, no one ever calls Him "Jesus of Bethlehem," and though He is called "Jesus of Nazareth," everyone knows He was born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth! (*There is an interesting historical sidelight that adds pungency to the understanding of the prediction and its fulfillment. When Joseph and Mary returned to the holy land, from Egypt, Joseph was apparently about to settle near Bethlehem, in Judea; "but when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: ... he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene" (Matthew 2:22-23). Humanly speaking, all hinged on this queer fact: In a peevish fret, before his death, King Herod changed his will and put Archelaus, the worst of his living sons, to rule instead of Antipas. It was this fear of Archelaus that led Joseph to look for another residence; then God led him to Nazareth! So God, who uses the wrath of man to praise Him permitted the wrath of a petulant king to bring to pass a fulfillment of His Word! (See Psalms 76:10). Being of the tribe of Judah, and born in Bethlehem, He was indeed a true "Nazarene," a "separated one," by living in Galilee instead of with his Judean brethren in Judah! Even as Joseph of old also was separated ("Nazared") from his brethren by his exile for so many years in Egypt (see Genesis 49:26, where the word "separate" comes from the Hebrew root (nazar). The historical record of the life of Jesus makes crystal clear these three apparently contradictory prophecies.

(3) How could Messiah be both David’s Son . . . yet David’s Lord? Christ Himself raised this interesting question with the Pharisees, when He asked them pointedly:

"What think ye of Christ? whose son is He? They say unto him. The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in Spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make thine enemies Thy footstool? If David then called Him Lord, how is He his Son?" (Matthew 22:41-45; Christ quoted from Psalms 110:1). Is it hard to see how Christ could be both David’s son and David’s Lord? Not at all when one has the key to the problem in the facts as presented in the New Testament. Christ was David’s son in that He was a descendant of David, after the flesh (Luke 1:32; Romans 1:3); and He was David’s Lord, for Messiah is God: King of kings and Lord of all (Revelation 19:16). Messiah is called LORD (Jehovah) in Jeremiah 23:6, and He is called GOD (Elohim) in Psalms 45:6 (cf. Hebrews 1:8), and He is called Lord (Adonai) in Malachi 3:1 and Psalms 110:1 -all three names and titles of Deity in the Old Testament. It is clear, Messiah is not only David’s Lord, but He is LORD OF ALL.

(4)    Christ’s Right to David’s Throne. Here is an intricate, involved puzzle: so involved it will take a little concentration on the part of the reader to follow the problem and its solution-but it will well repay the effort.

Christ, the Seed of David, must be Virgin-born and yet have a legal right to the throne of David despite the fact that one of Solomon’s descendants was a certain evil man named Jeconiah of whom it was written that none of his descendants would ever rule in Judah (see Jeremiah 22:29-30); and despite the fact that in Israel the right to the throne was trans­mitted only through the male line: and here Christ was born of a virgin!

It is perfectly clear that Messiah will inherit "the throne of David" (Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 33:15-17; Jeremiah 25:5; Psalms 132:11; 1 Chronicles 17:11-14). But, since He had to be born of a virgin, how can He get His legal right to the throne of David? And how can the roadblock erected by Jeconiah’s sin be circumvented? Who can untangle these apparently hopelessly confused predictions? Leave it to the Master Mind who both devised the strange prophecies and worked out their fulfillment. Remember, the prophet Isaiah said, "The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this" (Isaiah 9:7). Not only was the apparently impossible solved and resolved in JESUS THE CHRIST, but God has given us the complete record of how He did it in the genealogies of the New Testament. In Matthew’s genealogy the genealogy of Christ through Joseph is given. This genealogy shows Christ to be "the son of David"-so giving Him right to David’s throne-and also "the son of Abraham"-so giving Him right to the Land of Promise, the territorial possessions given to Abraham and his seed.* (*It is interesting to observe that in Luke 3:38 the genealogy of Christ is traced back through Heli (Mary’s father) to ADAM and to GOD-so giving Christ a title-deed to the whole earth, as "son of Adam" (see Genesis 1:27-30; Psalms 8:4-6; Hebrews 2:6-9; Revelation 5:1-10) and to "ALL THINGS" as "Son of God" (see Hebrews 1:2). In Matthew’s genealogy, Joseph is seen to be in the REGAL line of descent from King David, down through Solomon. But Joseph was also a descendant of David through Jeconiah (also called Coniah)-hence, succession to the throne for Joseph personally is barred. Matthew’s genealogical record is careful to show that Jesus was NOT, through Joseph, the "fruit of David’s body," i. e., a direct descendant of David through Joseph. In Luke 3:23-38 Christ’s genealogy is given through Mary. (Heli was obviously Mary’s father, Joseph’s father-in-law, v. Luke 3:23).** In the record Christ is shown to be the LITERAL "fruit of David’s body" through His mother Mary. But, and this is important: while Mary was in A ROYAL line from David, she was not in THE REGAL lineage, for she was a descendant of king David through Nathan, whereas the throne rights were to come through Solomon’s line (see 1 Chronicles 28:5-6). Therefore, Joseph’s marriage to Mary before Christ was born was an absolute necessity-and that is exactly what happened! (**It is interesting to note that in the genealogical record in Matthew, it is written that "Jacob begat Joseph" (Matthew 1:16); that is, Jacob was the actual father of Joseph. But in Luke it is written that "Joseph was the son of Heli" (Luke 3:23), and the word "son" is not in the original, but is supplied by the translators. In this verse (Luke 3:23) it should be "son-in-law" instead of son. Obviously, Joseph could not have two fathers-hence, he is the "son-in-law" of Heli, or the "son" in the sense that he is married to Heli’s daughter. This is in accordance with Jewish custom (see 1 Samuel 24:16).

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. . . . And behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou SON OF DAVID, fear not to take unto thee Mary THY WIFE: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:18-20).* (*It is a mistake to minimize the importance of the genealogical records of the Bible. They are of prime importance in proving that Jesus of Nazareth is MESSIAH and that He has the right to the throne of David. Incidentally, the presence of the genealogical records in the New Testament shows the importance God places on the PROOF that Jesus is David’s Son, and indirectly shows the importance of the whole argument from fulfilled prophecy.)

So, through Mary, Jesus the Christ obtained His literal descent from king David; and from Mary’s marriage to Joseph, who was also a "son of David." He obtained His legal right to David’s throne, for Mary was Joseph’s wife before Jesus was born, so making Joseph Jesus’ legal father, His foster father. And, withal, the prophecy concerning Jeconiah was fulfilled too, for Jesus the Christ is NOT the "seed"-a direct descendant-of Jeconiah. Can you think of anything more intricate and involved, and yet worked out with such precision?

Joseph and Mary had to be the parents (foster father and mother) of Jesus the Christ: they were the only two people of that generation who could be, and fulfill prophecy about Messiah. And Joseph had to be married to Mary before Jesus was born, so He could get His legal right to David’s throne through Joseph. At the same time, Christ could not be a child of Joseph because of the bar against a descendant of Jeconiah. And though Joseph had to be married to Mary, yet Joseph could not "know" Mary as his wife until after Jesus was born, for He had to be born of a virgin! And the Divinely ordered fulfillment was perfect in every detail!

(5) Messiah was to be Both the "Chief Corner Stone" and the "Rock of Offence."

"He shall be... for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel" (Isaiah 8:14).

"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the comer" (Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). The key that unlocks this mystery is a simple one: belief or unbelief in Christ. To those who disbelieve, Messiah would be a "Rock of Offence" and a "Stone of Stumbling." Peter explains the mystery by showing that all depends on one’s attitude toward Christ, whether of faith or unbelief:

"Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient" (1 Peter 2:6-8). See also Romans 9:32-33. As He did so often, the Lord Jesus called attention to the prophecy in the Old Testament, making Himself the New Testament fulfillment of it.

"Jesus saith unto them (the Pharisees), Did ye never read in the Scrip­tures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Matthew 21:42). The Lord also added this significant statement: "And who­soever shall fall on this stone"-seeking His mercy and grace-"shall be broken"-his hopes in himself completely crushed. "But on whomsoever it shall fall"-in judgment-"it will grind him to powder"-completely ruin him for time and eternity. (See Matthew 22:44). To the believer, Christ is the CHIEF CORNER STONE, and He is very precious. To the unbeliever, Christ is the STONE OF STUMBLING or ROCK OF OFFENCE. To the one, Christ the Rock brings eternal salvation; to the other. He brings judgment. Those who stumble in unbelief over Christ reject Him and fall to their eternal destruction.

(6) Rejected by Israel (Isaiah 53:3), Messiah would then become "a Light to the Gentiles" for "Salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:5-6).

Racially, Messiah would be a Jew (a "Branch" out of the stem of Jesse, Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10); and yet, the Gentiles will seek Him (Isaiah 11:10)-an unheard of thing, for there is and has been for ages a natural animosity between Jews and Gentiles. But this enmity is done away "in Christ" (Ephesians 2:14-15). The veil over the hearts of the Gentiles will be destroyed for multitudes of believing Gentiles (see Isaiah 25:7), and a veil of unbelief will form over the hearts of many (not all) Jews. Isaiah predicted this judicial blindness for Israel, because they "despised and rejected" their Messiah.

"Make the heart of this people (Israel) fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they. . . convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:10).

"It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My Servant ... to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6).

Nineteen centuries of history attest the truth of these words. When Israel crucified and rejected their Messiah, a veil of unbelief settled over the nation, and though some believe in the Lord Jesus and are saved, blindness is still over the hearts and minds of most Israelites (2 Corinthians 3:14-15). The Gospel was then given to the Gentiles (see Acts 28:28), and the glorious gospel in John 3:16 is now preached to the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike. That Gentiles should trust in a Jew for salvation is most unlikely, but true. That the very nation He came to bless turned from Him seems most unlikely, but it happened (John 1:11-12); and that the Gentiles who were not the people of God should become the people of God through faith in the Jewish Messiah seems preposterous-but that is the way God is working and that is the way it is happening.

(7) Messiah was to have a DOUBLE ANOINTING-A Ministry of Mercy as Saviour, and a Ministry of Judgment, as Coming King.

Since Christ at His first advent came to suffer for the sins of the people we now know (though the Jews of Jesus’ day found it hard to realize this) that His role as JUDGE and KING will be fulfilled at His second advent.

"Isaiah who describes with the eloquence worthy of a prophet the glories of Messiah’s coming kingdom, also characterizes with the accuracy of the historian the humiliation, the trials, the agony, which were to precede the triumph of the Redeemer of the world," says W. G. Moorehead, "presenting on the one hand a glorious King, Himself Deity, ’God with us, who has all power; yet, on the other hand, One whose visage was more marred than any man. His bones out of joint and dying of thirst (Ps. 22). How can He be both the great Davidic Monarch, restoring again the glory of Solomon’s House, and also be a Sacrifice bearing the sins of the people? Clearly, destinies so strongly contrasted could not be accomplished simultaneously. There is only one answer possible; ... in the Divine purpose the mighty drama is to be IN TWO ACTS (His first advent and His second advent)." The "suffering" Messiah (and His ministry of mercy) is often presented in the same Scripture with His work as Judge and King. In the Scripture we quote below we print in CAPS the phrase that describes His work of judging at His second advent. The rest applies to His first advent.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, AND THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD" (Isaiah 61:1-2). The same intermingling of prophecy describing Messiah’s work at both advents-to save and to judge; His humiliation and work as the Redeemer at His first advent, and His work to establish His righteous kingdom at His second advent-is seen in many other Scriptures, such as Zechariah 9:1-10; Micah 5:1-4; Daniel 9:24, etc. In studying Messianic prophecy, it is important to determine if the first or second advent, or both advents, are in view. When Christ in the synagogue at Capernaum applied this Scripture in Isaiah 61:1-2 to Himself (see Luke 4:17-21) He stopped His reading with the words, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Why? He will NOT proclaim the Day of vengeance of our God until His second advent. The ancient Rabbis, studying these and similar predictions about the coming Messiah, came to the conclusion there must be TWO MESSIAHS: One a suffering, the other a conquering, judging Messiah. They failed to see this great truth, even as most of Israel to this day has likewise failed, that there is only ONE MESSIAH, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has two distinct tasks to perform: One at His first advent, "to make reconciliation for iniquity" and the second when He returns to earth at His second advent as the mighty King: "to bring in everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9:24). In Christ, the scores of apparently contradictory Messianic prophecies that refer either to His first advent or to His second advent, with their different objectives, are fully harmonized. These two advents of Christ are in contrast in such passages as Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 11; Psalm 22 and Psalm 72; Psalm 69 and Psalm 89. This same truth is fully revealed in the New Testament in such passages as 1 Peter 1:11, which speaks of "the sufferings of Christ" at His first advent and "the glory that should follow" at His second advent. Contrast also John 3:16-17 with Revelation 19:11-21; Luke 9:56 with Jude 1:14-15 and Luke 19:10 with 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.

(8) Messiah will be a "Priest upon His Throne."

"Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying. Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH ... He shall build the temple of the Lord ... He shall be a priest upon His throne" (Zechariah 6:12-13). In Psalms 110:4 Messiah is called "a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." In Jeremiah 23:5 Messiah is called "the righteous Branch a King." In the history of Israel the chosen line of kings always came from the tribe of Judah (except among the Ten Tribes of Israel). Priests came from the tribe of Levi. Since Christ was from the Tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14) how could He also be a priest, since He could not come from two tribes (Judah and Levi)?

How was the puzzle solved? Christ is a King from the tribe of Judah; He will sit upon His throne on earth at His second advent. Christ also is a Priest whose priesthood is patterned after the Aronic priesthood in which the priests offered sacrifices for the sins of the people (and Christ offered Himself as the once-for-all Sacrifice for sin, Hebrews 9:26). But He was made a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6; Psalms 110:4) who was both a king and a priest (Hebrews 7:1-2). This whole intriguing subject of Christ’s priesthood is fully explained in Hebrews 7, 8, and 9. So, the mystery is solved in Christ!

(9) His Soul delighted" (Isaiah 42:1); yet this "Holy One" would be "abhorred" by the Nation Israel (Isaiah 49:7).

Isaiah 40:5 tells us that in Messiah, the Coming One, the "glory of the Lord" shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it. Then, in complete contrast, Messiah is spoken of as the One who would be "despised and rejected of men" in whom the nation will see "no beauty" that they should desire Him (Isaiah 53:1-3). In the history of Jesus the paradox is explained. The Father said of Jesus, His Beloved One, "this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 17:5). On the other hand, the people rejected Him; and no prophecies than those that tell of His rejection ever received a sadder fulfillment. The pathos of Messiah’s rejection is told by Jesus Himself:

"O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not" (Matthew 23:37).

They that "hated Him without a cause" were "more than the hairs of his head" (Psalms 69:4; John 16:25). The New Testament record tells us that "He came unto His own and His own received Him not" (John 1:11).

(10) "Thirty Pieces of Silver"-the Price of Christ or the Price of the Pottery Field?

"And I said unto them. If ye think good, give Me My price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto Me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord" (Zechariah 11:12-13)

Strange words indeed that one would have difficulty in understanding or reconciling with any specific event in history, were it not for the fulfillment as given in the New Testament, where we read that Judas covenanted with the chief priests to betray Christ and deliver Him to them: "and they cove­nanted with him for thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26:15). When the heinousness of his crime dawned on Judas, he

"brought the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders . . . and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple . . . and went out and hanged himself . . . And the chief priests took the silver pieces . . . and they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field. . . . Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying. And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued . . . and gave them for the potter’s field" (Matthew 27:3-10). Not only Judas, but the nation Israel sold Christ and woefully underestimated Him. They sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a dead slave (Exodus 21:32); and so the Jewish leaders expressed their hatred for and contempt of the Holy One. Here is the perfect example of "the certain degree of obscurity" in some prophecies that is "unveiled in the fulfillment."

"No one can suppose that the perfect agreement of the Old Testament prediction with its New Testament fulfillment, centering about the exact amount of the sum of money (30 pieces of silver) could be accidental. Still less can it be conceived that the appropriation of the money to the purchase of the Potter’s field could have taken place without an overruling design" (Book of Prophecy. pp. 343-344). In the fulfillment, all obscurity is removed and the perfect harmony of the ful­fillment with the prophecy is seen. "It was so exactly fulfilled that every one can see that the same God who spoke through the prophet had, by the secret operation of His omnipotent power, which extends even to the ungodly, so arranged matters that when Judas threw back their money and the chief priests purchased the potter’s field, they (not only fulfilled prophecy, but) perpetuated the memorial of their sin against their Messiah, and called forth the vengeance of God against their nation."* (*David Baron, in "Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah," p. 409)

(11)Prophecy presents the Messiah as not only rejected by Men, but forsaken by God too; horrible Sufferings and Death would come to the One who perfectly obeyed God at all times. In Psalms 22:1 Messiah prophetically ejaculates, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The desolate cry of the One forsaken by God as well as by man is repeated in the New Testament, while Jesus was being crucified.

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).

God "hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). This forsaking of the Righteous One in whom God delighted (Psalms 22:8), is all the more strange, for from the beginning of human history "the fathers (who) trusted in God ... where delivered" (Psalms 22:4-5)-but not so in THIS instance. The strange enigma is only fully understood by the explanation of the New Testament that in the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross, God turned away from Christ, for:

God "made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

(12)"Wounded" and "Pierced"-yet "not a Bone broken," is the amazing prophetic record of the Coming Messiah, He was to be "wounded in the house of His friends" (Zechariah 13:6). with both "hands and feet pierced" (Psalms 22:16)-yet in some miraculous way not a bone of the suffering Messiah was to be broken. In the Psalms Jehovah said of Messiah, "He keepeth all His bones: not one of them is broken" (Psalms 34:20; cf. Exodus 12:16). At the crucifixion, when the Jews feared that the three who were being crucified might linger on until death came too late to remove their bodies from the crosses before the Sabbath, they sought permission from Pilate that "their legs might be broken"-an act to hasten death, that they might be removed sooner from the crosses.

"Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and the other which was crucified with Him; but when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already they brake not His legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: for these things were done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of Him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced" (John 19:31-37).

Marvelous miracle of Divine Providence: they broke the legs of two of those who were crucified, but NOT of the third; for prophecy had said, "not a bone of Him shall be broken." They pierced His hands. His feet and His side, and each time the weapons went between the bones and did not break them.

(13)Messiah who was to be "cut off (Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:8 and who "poured out His Soul unto Death" (Psalms 53:12), was also to be "exalted and extolled and be very High" (Isaiah 52:13); and God shall "prolong His Days, and the Pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His Hand" (Isaiah 53:10), and God "shall divide Him a Portion with the Great" (Isaiah 53:12). And so the glorious facts of Messiah’s atoning death and resurrection are prophetically stated in language clear when fulfilled but obscure until fulfilled, one of the most thrilling prophetic paradoxes in the whole realm of Scripture. In the New Testament we read that Jesus

"humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father" (Php 2:9-11).

Man despised Him and set Him at nought (Isaiah 53:3); but in His time God will make Him "higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalms 89:27). Both Old Testament prophets and readers puzzled over this mystery (see 1 Peter 1:10-11), but all was made plain when Jesus the Christ in the New Testament died for our sins. and was raised from the dead on the third day.