THE CHARACTER OF JESUS TESTED BY THOSE
CHARACTERISTIC MARKS OF THE MESSIAH GIVEN BY
THE PROPHETS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Had Jesus of Nazareth come into the world merely as a person sent
with a revelation from God, he would have had a right to be
attended to, and tried upon that ground. And if his doctrines and
precepts were consistent with reason, consistent with one another,
and with prior revelations, really such, and all tending to the
honour of God, and the good of men; his miracles, with these
circumstances, ought to have determined men to believe in him.
But since he claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews, foretold by
their prophets, it is requisite, that that claim should be made out;
and it is reasonable in itself, and just to him, and necessary to all
those who will not take their religion upon trust, that ho should be
tried, by examining whether this claim can be made out, or not.
The argument from prophecy becomes necessary to establish the
claim of the Gospel: and as truth is consistent with itself, so this
claim must be true, or, it destroys all others.
Besides, what notions of common morality must he have, who
pretends to come from God, and declares (Jo. v. 37,) that the
Scriptures testify of him, if, in fact, the Scriptures do not testify of
him? What honesty, or sincerity could he have, who could begin
at Moses, and all the prophets, and expound unto his disciples in
all the Scriptures the things concerning himself, if neither Moses
nor the prophets ever spake a word about him? The prophets,
therefore, must decide this question, and the foundation of
Christianity must be laid upon them; or else, to avoid one
difficulty, Christians will be forced into such absurdities, as no
man can palliate, much less can extricate himself out of.
Furthermore, this claim must be made out to the satisfaction of the
Gentile, as well as the Jew. For since the fundamental article of
Christianity is, that Jesus is the Christ; (Jo. xx. 31) that is to say,
that he is the Messiah prophecied of in the Old Testament;
whoever comes into the world as such, must come as the Messiah
of the Jews, because no other nation did expect, or pretend to, the
promise of a Messiah. Moreover, whoever comes as this Messiah
of the Jews, must at least pretend to answer the character of their
Messiah plainly delivered in the writings of their prophets. And the
Jews themselves receiving those writings as divine, were not
bound to, neither could they consistently with their duty, receive,
any, who did not answer in all points to the description therein
given.
Let us now test the character of Jesus of Nazareth by the
description of the Messiah given by the Hebrew prophets. If his
character corresponds in all respects with that given by those
prophets, he is undoubtedly to be acknowledged as the king of
Israel foretold; but if they do not exactly correspond, if there be the
slightest incongruity, he certainly was not this Messiah. For it is
evident, that some of the characteristic marks given may belong to.
many illustrious individuals, but the whole can belong to, and be
found in, only one person.
The first characteristic of the Messiah, the reader will recollect,
was, according to the prophets, that he was to be the Prince of
Peace, in whose times righteousness was to flourish, and
mankind be made happy. That he was to sit upon the throne of
David judging right; and that to him, and their own land, was Israel
to be gathered, and all nations serve and obey him; and worship
one God, even Jehovah.
But of Jesus we read, that he asserted, that his kingdom was not
of this world. Instead of effecting peace among the nations, he
said, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I have
come to send a sword, I have come to put division between a son,
and his father; the mother, and the daughter; the daughter-in-law,
and her mother-in-law. Think ye, (said he to his disciples) that I
have come to put peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather
division. Again, I have come to put fire on the earth. These are
not the characteristics of the Messiah of the prophets of the Old
Testament. For of him Zechariah (ch. ix.) says, that He shall
speak peace to the nations; and of him Isaiah says, Nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. And so far from being the author of division, sword, and
fire; according to Malachi, in the times of the Messiah, the heart
of the parents was to be converted to the children, and the heart of
the children to their parents.
In the times of the Messiah, wars were to cease, righteousness was
to flourish, and mankind be happy. Whether this has yet taken
place, the experience of almost nineteen centuries, and the present
state of the world, can enable every one to determine for himself.
In the times of the Messiah, Israel was to be gathered, and planted
in their own land, in honour, and prosperity. But not many years
after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish nation underwent
the most dreadful calamities; and to this day, so far are they from
being gathered, they are scattered to the four quarters of the globe.
Instead of being in honour and prosperity, their history, since his
time, is one dreadful record of unparalleled sufferings, written in
letters of blood by the hands of murder, rapine, and cruelty.
Again; the true Messiah was, it seems, to be called DAVID, and
was to reign at Jerusalem, on the throne of David; but the name
Jesus is not the same as David, and Christians have assigned
him a spiritual kingdom, and a throne in heaven! But was the
throne of David in heaven? No! it was in Jerusalem, and no more
in Heaven, than that of the Caesars.
Lastly, it appears from the prophecies of Hosea, Micah, and
Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, quoted in the last chapter, that the
manifestation of their Messiah was to be contemporaneous with
the restoration of Israel, and from the quotations adduced from the
three first mentioned prophets, it should seem that his birth was not
to take place many years before that glorious event. But Jesus of
Nazareth was born almost two thousand years ago; and the
children of Israel yet expect a deliverer. And to conclude, it was
foretold by Malachi, and believed by the Jews then, and ever since,
that Elias the prophet, who did not die, but was removed from the
earth, should precede the coming of the Messiah, and prepare them
for his reception. But the prophet Elias certainly has not yet
appeared!
Indeed, nothing appears to be more dissimilar than the character of
the Messiah, as given by the Hebrew prophets, and that of Jesus of
Nazareth. It seems scarcely credible, that a man who, though
amiable and virtuous, yet lived in a low state, was poor, living
upon alms, without wealth, and without power; and who (though
by misfortune) died the death of a malefactor, crucified between
two robbers, (a death exactly parallel with being hanged at the
public gallows in the present day) should ever be taken for that
mighty prince, that universal potentate, and benefactor of the
human race, foretold in the splendid language of the prophets of
the Old Testament.