Search
In this lesson we will continue from the previous lesson to see Christ in His first coming as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. He is the child, the Son (Emmanuel); the King; the One coming forth from Bethlehem; the Desire of all the nations; and the Messenger of God and the Angel of the covenant. We will also see that at the birth of Jesus the aged Simeon prophesied that Christ would be the glory and consolation of Israel.
Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 are two of the greatest prophecies in the Bible concerning Christ. These prophecies speak of a child being born and a Son being given. The word child in these verses implies God, man, God becoming a man, and God and man mingled as one. Such a child was a God-man. This child born of the human nature by a human virgin was also the Son given in the divine nature by the Eternal Father.
This divine-human child was begotten in the virgin Mary of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20). The divine essence of the Holy Spirit was generated in Mary’s womb before the child Jesus was delivered out of her womb. God was born into Mary and remained in Mary’s womb for nine months. Then the One who was of the Holy Spirit in Mary was delivered out of her womb as a God-man with both divinity and humanity (v. 23). This God-man was named Jesus—Jehovah the Savior—by God (v. 21). Jesus is not only a man but also Jehovah. Furthermore, He is not only Jehovah; He is Jehovah becoming our salvation. Hence, He is our Savior. He was called Emmanuel—God with us—by the ones who experienced Him (v. 23b). The child born of Mary was a God-man child. Before His birth, there had never been such a human being, a man mingled with God. This God-man is Emmanuel. He is God coming from divinity and with divinity into humanity to be Jehovah the Savior. On the negative side, He saves us from sin, and on the positive side, He saves us to God. He brings us unto God from a fallen situation, a situation of having our back turned to God.
The child born of a human virgin is the Son given by the Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6a; John 3:16). The prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 concerning Emmanuel sees its fulfillment in Matthew 1:20-23. The prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 concerning Christ as the Wonderful One sees its fulfillment in John 3:16. Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us.” John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Therefore, John 3:16 is based upon Isaiah 9:6. The Son was given by a child being born. In the birth of this child there was a gift given by God—His Son, the One who became the God-man. His Son, the gift given to us, is also the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. This clearly reveals that the child born of a virgin is also the Son given by the Eternal Father; and this Son is the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. The Gospel of John also contains the same revelation. John 1:1 and 14 say that He was the Word, the very God, who became flesh. He was the Word, and then He became flesh. His becoming flesh was His coming with the fullness of grace and reality. His becoming flesh was God’s incarnation. Thus, the Son became God’s embodiment (Col. 2:9). By bringing us grace and reality, He becomes our portion and our reality so that we can receive and gain Him.
The child born of the virgin is Jesus, whom man called Emmanuel, and this child is also the Son, as the gift to us from God. This Son, this gift, is the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. When we received Christ, we received Him as so many marvelous items. He is Jehovah our Savior to save us from sin into Himself, and He is Emmanuel, God with us. We enjoy this One as grace, which is God Himself as our portion for our enjoyment. The issue of our enjoyment of Him as our portion is that He becomes our reality. What a blessing this is!
Isaiah 32:1-2 says, “Indeed a King will reign according to righteousness, / And the rulers will rule according to justice. / And a man will be like a refuge from the wind / And a covering from the tempest, / Like streams of water in a dry place, / Like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land.” Here Isaiah prophesies that Christ in His first coming would be a King as well as a man for supplying, caring, and covering His people. The Gospel of Matthew reveals that Christ is the King, as prophesied in the Old Testament, who brings the kingdom of God to earth. He is not only God but also a man. He is very human and even lowly in order to take care of all the needs of His people.
This man who is the King, Christ, is a refuge to us from the wind. When we face a storm, we can hide in Him to receive His protection. He is also a covering from the tempest. A tempest is much stronger, more troublesome, and much harder to face than wind. When we are facing a tempest, Christ covers us so that the tempest cannot bother or damage us. This God-man is also streams of water in a dry place to supply, comfort, and satisfy us so that we can be watered in a dry place. Christ is also the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land. A wasted land signifies a place damaged and wasted by man. This wonderful Christ is the shadow of a massive rock that becomes a sheltering shade as our covering. These items are various aspects of the care and supply rendered to us, the kingdom people, by Christ as the King in His kingship. The prophecy of Isaiah concerning Christ as the King has been fulfilled in Christ’s first coming. Ultimately, at Christ’s second coming, this prophecy will be consummately fulfilled. At that time, in the millennial kingdom, Christ will be the King to bring in the restoration of Israel.
Concerning Christ’s first coming, the prophet Micah prophesied, “You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, / So little to be among the thousands of Judah, / From you there will come forth to Me / He who is to be Ruler in Israel; / And His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity” (5:2). Based on Matthew 2:6, the birth of Jesus has fully fulfilled this prophecy. Micah’s prophecy concerning the goings forth of Christ is a great matter in God’s economy. This prophecy reveals to us that on the one hand, Christ as a man came out of Bethlehem, “David’s city” (Luke 2:4), but on the other hand, Christ as God came forth from the days of eternity.
In eternity past God chose us and predestinated us in Christ (Eph. 1:4-5). Through Christ’s coming forth, God’s choosing and predestinating were manifested in the believers. If God had only selected and predestinated us in eternity without coming forth out of eternity, that is, coming with His divinity into humanity, He could do nothing with us. Whatever He will do and can do for us depends on His coming forth. Christ’s incarnation, that is, His becoming the One who comes forth from Bethlehem, started from ancient times, from the days of eternity. Not only did He come forth from ancient times and from the days of eternity, but He was also incarnated and went through human living, death, resurrection, and ascension to become the consummated Spirit. In His goings forth, He is our Ruler, Shepherd, and peace (Micah 5:2-5). As our Ruler, He keeps us; as our Shepherd, He nourishes and cherishes us; and as our peace, He controls our environment so that we may enjoy Him. The prophecy in Micah concerning Christ as the One coming forth from Bethlehem, becoming the Ruler, Shepherd, and peace, will be further fulfilled at the time of the restoration. At that time Christ will save the Israelites from the invasion of the nations so that Israel, His elect, will receive comfort and enjoyment (vv. 4-6).
In Haggai 2:6-7 the prophet Haggai was charged by Jehovah to speak to the people: “Thus says Jehovah of hosts,... I will shake all the nations, and the Desire of all the nations will come.” This prophecy was initially fulfilled at Christ’s first coming, but it will not be until the second coming of Christ that this prophecy is completely fulfilled. This prophecy says that Christ is the Desire of all mankind. All people desire to have life, light, peace, goodness, and righteousness, but what they actually desire is Christ, because without Christ, there is no reality to these human virtues. Thus, to desire virtue is to desire Christ. All the nations, including the unbelievers, unconsciously desire Christ. This is what it means to say that Christ is the Desire of all the nations as prophesied by the prophet Haggai.
Malachi 3:1 says, “I am about to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me; and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, will come to His temple. And the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, He will come, says Jehovah of hosts.” This is a prophecy concerning Christ as the Messenger of God and the Angel of the covenant in His first coming. As the Messenger of God, Christ not only brings a word or a message from God to God’s people; He Himself is the living message. This is fully proved by the four Gospels, which are a complete and perfect record of Christ as the living message sent by God to His chosen people. While the Lord Jesus was living on earth, as He traveled through the cities, proclaiming God to the people and ministering Himself into them, He Himself was the message.
Christ was also the Angel of the covenant in His first coming. Before going to the cross, He established His table and enacted the new covenant with His blood (Matt. 26:26-30; Luke 22:20). For Him to be the Angel of the covenant means that He is a serving One, to serve God in forming the new testament. By the enacting of the new covenant, God is obligated to dispense Himself into our being to be our life, to be the law of life (Jer. 31:31-34), and to be everything to us. Christ not only enacted the new covenant through His death, but in resurrection He executes the new covenant as its surety (Heb. 7:22), making it real to us. By the new covenant that He enacted and by His being the surety, we have forgiveness of sins, and we also gain Him as our life and life supply. According to Acts 26 we receive forgiveness of sins and “an inheritance among those who have been sanctified” (v. 18b). This inheritance is the Triune God embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, to be “the allotted portion of the saints” as our inheritance (Col. 1:12).
Even though the Angel of the covenant has been sought and desired by the Israelites (Mal. 3:1; Hag. 2:7a), the Jewish people, generally speaking, have not benefited from the covenant. Instead, the covenant has gone to the Gentiles. However, when Christ comes back, He will come as the Angel of the covenant to execute His covenant over the repentant and believing Jews. At that time they will all become beneficiaries of the new covenant. The prophecy concerning Christ as the Angel of the covenant in Malachi 3 has been initially fulfilled at the first coming of Christ, and its fulfillment will be complete at the Lord’s second coming.
Luke 2:25 says that the righteous and devout Simeon was looking for the consolation of Israel. Not long after the birth of Jesus, when He was presented to God in the temple at Jerusalem, Simeon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, extolled Him, not only as the light of the Gentiles but also as the glory of God’s people, Israel (v. 32). In the Old Testament Jehovah is the glory of Israel (Jer. 2:11). In Christ’s incarnation, He was extolled by a Spirit-inspired man as the prophesied One. This indicates that the newborn Jesus, as the very Jehovah God, was expressed among the Israelites to be their glory. He is not only the glory of Israel outwardly; He is also their consolation inwardly. Without Him, God’s chosen people do not have outward glory or inward consolation. In the arrangement of God’s economy, the incarnated Christ in His first coming is the glory of Israel to uplift them, and He is their consolation that comforts them.
Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 are two of the greatest prophecies in the Bible concerning Christ. These prophecies speak of a child being born to us and a Son being given to us. This child of both divine and human natures born of a human virgin was also a Son given in the divine nature by the Eternal Father.
The child born of the virgin is Jesus, whom man called Emmanuel, and this child is also the Son, as the gift to us from God. This Son, this gift, is the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. When we received Christ, we received Him as so many marvelous items. He is Jehovah our Savior to save us from sins into Himself, and He is Emmanuel, God with us. We enjoy this One as grace, which is God Himself becoming our portion for our enjoyment, and the issue is that He becomes our reality.
Isaiah 32:1-2 prophesies that Christ in His first coming would be a King as well as a man, coming to be among men in a lowly way to be a refuge to us from the wind and a covering from the tempest. He is like streams of water in a dry place to supply, comfort, and satisfy us so that we can be watered in a dry place. He is also like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land to be our covering. His first coming was prophesied by the prophet Micah. Micah prophesied that, on the one hand, Christ would come out of “David’s city” and, on the other hand, He would come forth from the days of eternity. Haggai prophesied that Christ, in His first coming, would be the Desire of all the nations. All people desire to have life, light, peace, goodness, and righteousness. The reality of all these human virtues is Christ.
Malachi 3:1 prophesies that Christ in His first coming is the Messenger of God and the Angel of the covenant. As the Messenger of God, Christ not only brings a word or a message from God to God’s people; He Himself is the living message. He is also the Angel of the covenant, who enacted the new covenant with His blood before going to the cross. In the new covenant God is obligated to dispense Himself into our being to be our life, to be the law of life, and to be everything to us. Furthermore, He executes the new covenant in resurrection as its surety, making it real to us. Luke 2:25 says that the righteous and devout Simeon extolled Christ in prophecy as not only the glory of Israel outwardly but also their consolation inwardly. The incarnated Christ in His first coming is the glory of Israel to uplift them, and He is also their consolation that comforts them.
