What does the Old Testament say about the Messiah?

In the Old Testament, as in the New, the greatest variety of moral appeal accompanies prediction almost everywhere, and in volume commonly exceeds it, as being of the utmost importance. But specific predictions are given throughout to be fulfilled in due time. Apply this test to Christ's first advent, incomparably the most momentous of all facts here below, so declared to be by both the Old and the New Testaments; and what can be more decisive? From Moses to Malachi the grand testimony was to the coming Messiah. Even Genesis narrowed the limits down from the first woman to Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, successively; as the Psalms did to One Who should be David's son, yet David's Lord, sitting at Jehovah's right hand before He strike through kings in His wrath (Ps. 110) Who is set on the holy hill of Zion, and sways the universal sceptre as Son of man over all nations (Ps. 8; Dan. 7). The time was fixed by Daniel, the place by Micah, the birth from a virgin by Isaiah, even the strange land (where Israel was a bondman) to the Messiah a shelter from the Edomite king of Judæa, as the Spirit showed by Hosea. (Hosea 11:1-3). So we have in Isaiah and Malachi His herald, "A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah"; for indeed He was Immanuel and Jehovah. By the same prophet His servant-character, so hateful to man's pride and rebelliousness, was fully made known. It told the tale of the world's state, His utter rejection by man, though Jehovah's chosen, in Whom His soul delighted, Whom man despised, Whom the nation abhorred. There, too, the ministry of His life, the atonement of His death, are with equal clearness revealed. So long before, David wrote in Psalm 22. what was immeasurably beyond his own sufferings, and any kingly power of his — indeed, what He alone of all men knew. He is on the one hand the Holy One of God, abandoned by His God, as He must be to make expiation of sins, and on the other raised and glorified in virtue of it, so as to praise "in the midst of the congregation" or church (v. 22) now, as He will ere long "in the great congregation," i.e. "all Israel" then saved (v. 25); when all the ends of the earth shall remember, and all the kingdoms of the nations worship. So it is to be, when the kingdom becomes de facto, as it is de jure, Jehovah's, and He is the ruler over the nations.

Our point in part one was the wealth of typical instruction contained in the Old Testament concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. As the centre of the divine volume, He fills both Testaments but in the Old Testament it comes out necessarily in type, figure, symbol, promise and prophecy. Prophecy foretold what history records namely, that the march of events in this world, from Adam, for four millenniums, was towards the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. During much of this period, Messianic songs sounded out in strains of heavenly music, both from men and women, in ecstatic vision, as under the control of the Holy Spirit. This glorious event was foretold in a threefold way as answering to what we have already seen in the Divine-Human Person of our Lord. (1). God Himself was coming down to deliver. Ex. 3:8; Isa. 13:3, 5; Zech, 14:5; Mark 1:1, 3. (2). The seed of the woman; the Son of Abraham; the Son of David; the Prophet like unto Moses that would be heard. Gen. 3:15; Deut. 18:15; Matt. 1:1. (3). These two lines of Messianic prophecy run right through the Old Testament, but combine together in Isa. 6:9 and Micah 5, where the Babe of Bethlehem is described as the eternal God whose goings forth have been from eternity.

Ever since the day of Adam's transgression, men of faith had the hope shining before them that in God's good time One would undertake their cause who should be truly man, and yet infinitely more than man. He was to be the woman's Seed, the man having no place whatever in the prediction (Gen. 3:15). Later, He was foretold as the virgin's Son (Isa. 7:14), and by a contemporary prophet Bethlehem was designated as the spot where the mysterious event was to take place (Micah 5:2). The prophets speak as distinctly of the Deity as of the humanity of the heavenly Visitant. Those already cited, Isaiah and Micah (leaving other witnesses aside), testify to Him as the Mighty God, the Father of eternity, and as the Governor whose goings forth have been from everlasting.

Another thing, among many, that makes the Bible different from all other books is the prophecies of Scripture. If we confine ourselves to one theme alone — that of the promised Messiah — we find that 4,000 years before He was born it was prophesied that He would come. Micah foretold the place where He would be born (Micah 5:2). Daniel told of the time when He would appear, and named the very day when He would present Himself to the nation as their King, and also indicated how the nation would reject Him (Dan. 9:26). Isaiah portrays the remarkable way in which He would enter into this world (Isa. 7:14); then that He would be despised and rejected, and finally that His death would be the great propitiatory offering for the sin of the world.

His Forerunner "Behold I send My messenger before Thy face." (Mal. 3:1) "Saying prepare ye the way of the Lord." (Isa. 40:3; Matt. 3:3) The manner of His birth "The seed of the woman." (Gen. 3:15) "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call His name Emmanuel." (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23) The place of His birth "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth to Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from [the days of eternity — marg.]." (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:5) The slaughter of the children "Thus says the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." (Jer. 31:15; Matt. 2:18) The flight to Egypt "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15) His home at Nazareth "He shall be called a Nazarene." (a reproach) (Ps. 22; Isa. 53; Matt. 2:23) His Mission "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek." (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18) His character and entry into Jerusalem "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King comes to thee. He is just and having salvation lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5) His rejection by the people "The stone refused by the builders." (Ps. 118:22) "Despised and rejected of men." (Isa. 53:3) "Cut off." [and shall have nothing — marg.] (Dan. 9:25) The price of His betrayal "They weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver — a goodly price that I was prized at of them." (Zech. 11:12-13; Matt. 26:15) His death by crucifixion "And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." (Zech. 12:6) "And one shall say what are these wounds in Thy hands?" (Zech. 13:6; John 19:34) The object of His death "For the transgression of My people was He stricken." (Isa. 53:9) His glorious resurrection "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hades; neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life." (Ps. 16:10) His ascension to glory "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men." (Ps. 68:18)

The two lines of truth as to His Deity and Manhood had run in the prophetic word right through the Old Testament. He had been spoken of as the woman's Seed (Gen. 3), the seed of Abraham (Gen. 22), the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49), and the Prophet greater than Moses (Deut. 18:15), all of which found their fulfilment in this holy birth. But when we come to the prophets Isaiah and Micah we get not only the Man, but God and Man prophetically announced in one glorious Person. "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" (Isa. 9:6). "But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).

The prophecy of Isaiah is remarkable for the very direct prophecies it contains of the coming Messiah, of Hs virgin birth, of His Name, Immanuel (God with us), (Isa. 7:14). Again we are told of the Child born, the Son given, of His Names—Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6). These prophecies were made seven hundred years before our Lord was born in the stable at Bethlehem. Can we doubt divine inspiration here?

But to turn for a moment to the inspired account of the creation in Genesis, it is profoundly interesting to observe the plurality of persons in the Godhead there revealed. The first time God is mentioned, "In the beginning God created," the Divine title there used for God is not in the singular number, as if merely one was the thought to be expressed, nor yet in the dual number, meaning two of any thing, but in the Hebrew plural number meaning more than two. It is not here El, the singular number, meaning God in unity; but, "In the beginning Elohim (plural) created the heaven and the earth," thus embodying the thought of Trinity in unity. And so we afterwards read, "And God (Elohim plural) said let us make man in our image, etc.; so God (Elohim) created man … and God (Elohim) blessed them." (Gen. 1:1, 26-28.) And when man sinned, "The Lord God (Elohim) said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Gen. 3:22.) And in Isaiah's day, after thousands of years had passed, and when the prophet had a vision of the glory of the Son, he says, "I heard the voice of the Lord (plural) saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (See Isaiah 6:8; John 12:41; Acts 28:25.) All these statements show plurality of persons in the Godhead before the distinction of the persons is revealed. And further, a glance at the testimony of the ancient prophets is enough not only to show that the Messiah they foretold would be a sinless Man, the woman's Seed, the Seed of Abraham, and from the loins of David, but the same prophet gives us particulars also as to the eternally Divine person of the Messiah. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel" — Immanu (with us) El, God — "God with us." Is it possible that words could more forcibly set before us the Deity of the Messiah? And further, the prophet says, "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." (Isaiah 9:6-7.)

The wise man is not silent in the book of Proverbs on this foundation truth of divine revelation. Wisdom says, looking back before time began, "The Lord (Jehovah) possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was … while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields. … When He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men." Nor is this all; for in another chapter where the words of Agur are given, and some of the ways of God referred to, he inquires if any could tell His name or the name of His Son. "Who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if thou canst tell?" (Proverbs 8, 30.) Can any one, who receives these Scriptures as "given by inspiration of God," fail to see plurality of persons in the Godhead? and the Deity of the Son? And, in sweeetest harmony with the second psalm, where the Anointed or Messiah, the King set in Zion, is also said to be the Son of God, have we not seen most clearly brought out that the virgin's child is also Immanuel, GOD with us? (Compare Psalm 2 with Acts 13:23; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6.) We may look at another text which predicted the place of the Messiah's birth, where we find further testimony to His being eternal. "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2.) Who could go forth from everlasting but He who is Himself eternal? And as we have seen that Israel's King — Messiah — is the Son, could we possibly have more distinct testimonies than those we have been considering as to His eternal Sonship and Deity?

The Old Testament speaks often of this great event, the birth of the Saviour, and that He is to be divine and human in His person. He is called the Branch (Zemach). In Isaiah He is called, The branch of Jehovah, and in other prophets, The branch of David. "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, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:7). There is a very important and remarkable passage in Jeremiah, "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall encompass a man" (Jer. 31:22). This belongs to a Messianic prophecy as shown by the context. It is a new thing which is to take place, and a creation. This could never be said of the birth of a child in the natural way. Even one of the ancient rabbis acknowledges that Jer. 31:22 speaks of Messiah, and that by the woman a virgin is meant. In the Jewish writings, some of them of great antiquity, much is said on the origin and birth of the Christ. We quote but a few of the most important words of the rabbis. "Several state that Messiah is to have no earthly father." "The birth of the Messiah alone shall be without any defects." "His birth shall not be like that of other men." "The birth of the Messiah shall be like the dew of the Lord, as drops upon the grass without the action of man."