The great French scientist of the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal, was a devoted believer in Jesus the Messiah. He set about writing a work on Christian apologetics to refute the sceptics of his day, but never finished it, as he died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 39. All we have are his notes, known as the Pensées. But his unfinished notes are worth a hundred finished works, for their deep insights into the human condition and the claims of Christ. It was Pascal’s view that ‘The most weighty proofs of Jesus are the prophecies.’
In contrast to Christianity, Islam is full of claims about prophets – all 124,000 of them! – but is decidedly thin on the ground when it comes to verifiable prophecies. The centre of Christianity is that Christ Jesus came into the world to die for sinners and to rise from the dead, to defeat sin and death for His people (1 Cor.15:3-4).
Such a message did not drop out of the sky unprecedented. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament, and He prepared the ground for the coming of the Messiah. In the seventh century B.C. Micah prophesied where the coming King would be born: ‘But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me One who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days’ (Micah 5:2). Unlike the bustling city of nearby Jerusalem, Bethlehem was, as the old carol says, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’. It had few claims to fame. Ruth went there when her mother-in-law, Naomi, returned to Judah (Ruth 1:18-22). Her descendant, David, was born and raised there (1 Sam.16:1-13). In this rather unlikely place the King of kings would be born.
Not only does the Old Testament tell us where the Redeemer would be born, but also gave some idea of when. There are rather too many people who are confident they can tell us everything we need to know about Daniel when Daniel himself struggled to understand (Dan.12:8). Nevertheless, he did say that ‘seventy weeks’ or, more literally, ‘seventy sevens’ were decreed until iniquity would be atoned for and everlasting righteousness accomplished (Dan.9:24). This ‘seventy sevens’ would come in three parts – seven sevens; and 62 sevens; and half of the last seven. Whatever the exact nature of all this, we are presumably dealing with a total of roughly 500 years. Hence Simeon was in the temple waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25-26).
How could this come about? Isaiah 7:14 famously speaks of a virgin conceiving and bearing a son. Some see a short-term fulfilment in Hezekiah as Ahaz’s son, with the longer-term fulfilment in the coming of Jesus. Others see a more direct prophecy of Jesus as the Christ. As in so many places, the Old Testament bursts its bounds, as it were, to proclaim One who is prophet, priest and king.
Who can this be? He is described in such an exalted way, yet He is also one with us. He is Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’ (Isa.7:14), and in fact is called the Mighty God (Isa.9:6). Yet He is also a child and son (Isa.9:6). In the New Testament we have the ringing declaration that the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1) became flesh and ‘tabernacled’ among us (John 1:14). Here is the fulfilment of all that the tabernacle and temple promised. He and the Father are one (John 10:30), and yet He also shared in flesh and blood since we sinners are flesh and blood (Heb.2:14).
This leaves us with the question as to why the Messiah came into the world. He came to lead the sinless life that you and I should have led; He came to pay the dreadful death penalty for sinners; and He came to usher in everlasting life for all who received Him. The Old Testament prophesies that He would end sin, and bring in righteousness (Dan.9:24); bear the iniquity of many (Isa.53); and win a people from the ends of the earth (Ps.22:27).
We have looked at where, when, how, who and why – all from the Old Testament, hundreds of years before the Saviour appeared. What more could we need before we bowed the knee to the Coming One?
Peter Barnes