By John Thiel, First Angel’s Message, study 13, mp3

The second person of the Godhead the facility of ‘The Word’ was provided for our salvation.  This enlarged to us that the work of Jesus as our ransom was of such a degree and that he actually had to become the very package of paying us out of our captivity.  He did this by becoming one with us and by dying the death that we have to die.  This beautiful ransom will not be effective for us unless we have entered into the experience of the Old Covenant leading on into the New Covenant.  This is a process whereby we actually need to make an agreement with God that we will promise to keep His law but then fail miserably in our sincere efforts to keep it.  It is only through this experience that we can actually come to understand what the ransom is really all about.  Our failure to keep the Old Covenant provides us with a deeper appreciation of our great need for Christ’s atoning work through the New Covenant and it is the depth of our appreciation of the atonement that determines its effectiveness in our lives.  In the scriptures the New Covenant is also referred to as the everlasting covenant or the everlasting gospel which is the very presentation of the first angel.  As we commence our study we will bring to mind the detail of the covenant as entailed in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

There is the covenant, the promise of God.  I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. In Hebrews Jesus was the one who actually administered that beautiful covenant of writing the law in the heart.

Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

We broke the Old Covenant so badly that it took the means of death, the death of Jesus for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament.  Jesus shed his blood because of our terrible failure to keep our covenant relationship with God.  It was for this purpose that Jesus specifically came to the earth to die and He became the mediator of the New Testament.  The application of the law in the heart was to be administered by the second person of the Godhead.  Jesus did this through His atonement with man and through His experience of suffering under the very sin and condemnation that we find ourselves under. By focusing on this activity that Jesus has engaged in for us we come to realize that the law of God that we have broken was in the very life of Jesus.  It is this contemplation, etched upon our conscience that keeps the law of God alive in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:3 [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.

3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;

This sufficiency to be able to do God’s law and to carry it out in the life after we have failed so miserably under the Old Covenant comes from God.  It is Jesus who writes the laws in our hearts.

How Can The Law Be Written In Our Hearts Through Jesus Christ?

Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me,

40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.

40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

This is a prophesy of Jesus ‘I come, it is written of me, thy law is within my heart.  I have preached righteousness in the congregation. Jesus has the law in his heart because he was the man who combined humanity with divinity and that divine character was in him, the divine law.  Not only was the law kept within his own heart, but it was imparted to all who believed in Him. “I have preached righteousness in the congregation.  I have not refrained my lips, I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.  This is the wonderful transferal of the law from the tables of stone into our hearts.  It is the transferal of Jesus into the human through the atonement.  Here is the introduction to this study – Messianic Prophecies.  As we study the prophecies we are going to discover what Jesus means when he says “lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me.” Even before Jesus came to this earth, the manner in which He would come was foretold.  God declares to us in Amos that God will do nothing unless it is first revealed to us through his prophets;

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

We want to search the degree of revelation given in the bible foretelling Christ’s life and ministry upon this earth prior to his first advent.  The disciples were perplexed and bitterly disappointed when Jesus gave himself up to crucified see Luke 24:25-27.  All along the disciples had expected that Jesus would become King of Israel.  The disappointment of Christ’s death is again recorded again in Luke with the conversation that takes place between Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus sadly mulling over the scenes of the day. The two disciples were heading home after the Sabbath and suddenly they found themselves in the company of a stranger and began recounting to him what had happened.  In unladeling their disappointments they had not suspected that it was Christ himself with whom they were communing.  Jesus responded to them with the following words;

Luke 24:35 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

You fools and slow of heart, the Old Testament prophesies testify of what I actually came here to do and of all the suffering that I would go through.

Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.

24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Through the scriptures Jesus opens up their understanding about His wonderful work of atonement and of His messiahship.  But which scriptures did Jesus point out to them to open up their understanding and what did He actually say to them to open up their meaning?  It is an amazing thing that we can read the Bible without understanding it as it is meant to be understood.  May we be granted the experience of having the true meaning of the scriptures opened up to our understanding.

Daniel

Daniel speaks of a prophecy of Jesus coming and being the messiah at a certain time;

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Here we have a prophecy explaining that after a prophetic time period of 70 weeks or 490 years in prophesy, the work of the messiahship would be complete.  The duration of the 490 years ends in 34AD. In prophesy, a day represents a year (See Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6).  70 weeks in the vision equals 490 days which in prophesy is 490 years.  This prophesy in Daniel 9:24 commences from the third decree by King Artaxerxes in 457BC to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 6:14; 7:12-26, vs7-9) and ends in 34AD (Daniel 9:25).

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:

After seven weeks and three score and two weeks (69 weeks which in prophesy = 483 years commencing from 457BC) the messiah would commence His ministration which according to this prophesy started in 27AD.  This prophecy actually pinpoints the year that Jesus would walk to the Jordan and become baptized by John the Baptist to commence His ministry in 27AD.  Here we have a new prophesy commencing in the last part of Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9:25 The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

In the last part of verse 25 there is another small prophesy that 49 years were allotted to the literal work of building the city of Jerusalem and arranging the affairs of the state.  This was complete in the last act of reformation by Nehemiah in the 15^th year of Darius Nothus BC408 exactly 49 years from the commencement of the work by Ezra BC457.  In Daniel 9:26 another 62 weeks or 434 years would continue on after this prophesy where it says that “after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off”.  This is a prophesy stating that some time after Jesus commenced His ministry in 27AD, He would be offered up to be crucified.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The prophesies of Daniel state that Jesus would commence his ministry in 27AD which He did at age 30. Then in the middle of the week (the middle of the seven years) the messiah would cause the animal oblations (sacrifices) required under the Old Covenant tradition to cease.  As we know this is exactly what happened because Christ offered himself up to be the sacrificial lamb in the middle of the week, in 31AD, 3 ½ years into his ministry.  The cessation date for the end of the seven year period in which the covenant shall be confirmed with many for one week ends in 34 AD.  .

The Meaning of Messiah

We now come to research the meaning of messiah and find that it actually interprets itself in the Bible;

John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

The word Messiah as denoted in the margin means – the anointed.  But what was he anointed to do?

Isaiah 61:1 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 brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound;

61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

The word anointed was actually another name used for the messiah.  He was the anointed one sent to preach good tidings to the meek, to proclaim liberty to the captives (remember he was the ransom), to open the prison house to them that are bound and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn.  This is what the word Messiah means.  He came to achieve what we studied in the subject of the ransom.  The scriptures open up before us a detailed account of what we can expect from Christ’s messiahship.  Isaiah not only identifies Christ’s coming but also the manner in which He would come.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Here is a representation of messiahship and how it was to come into being.  Jesus would be conceived of a virgin and he would be sustained on a simple diet to know the good from the evil.  Immanuel means “God with us”.

Bethlehem

Not only does the bible reveal that he was to be born of a virgin but in Micah the place of his birth is also mentioned;

Micah 5:2 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.

It is clearly represented that the one who comes from of old, from everlasting, was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.  In Mathew chapter two it is foretold that Mary and Joseph would flee to Egypt with Jesus as a baby in order to escape the wroth of King Herod.  In verse 15 it is written that upon the death of Herod, Mary and Joseph took Jesus out of Egypt.

Matthew 2:14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

A prophesy of the death decree issued by King Herod on Jewish male babies;

Matthew 2:17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

When Herod heard rumours that the messiah had been born, he ordered the killing of all Jewish male babies under the age of two so that He might be relieved of the fear of a messianic King in Israel rising up against him.

Matthew 2:23 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.

Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to pay their taxes and in Bethlehem Jesus was born.  After the birth Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Egypt to escape the child death decree of King Herod.  When Herod died Mary and Joseph returned to their home town of Nazareth and there we discover in Matthew 2:23 that Jesus was to be called a Nazarene.  This is a very interesting prophetical description of the messiah.  That was the identification of his coming.

Redeemer

Here is another prophesy of what we can expect from Christ’s life;

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.

50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

50:7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

Here in prophesy we look at the work of the anointed one to save us.  God would wake Jesus up morning by morning so that he would go and pray and hear as the learned.  Then with what he had gained in communion with God, he would speak under the unction of God, a word in due season to those who were weary.  God would speak into His ear and as He was not opposed to what God was saying to Him, He would be used of God.  The prophesy then takes us to the point where Jesus would be smitten; the hair plucked out of his cheeks; and spat upon (Matthew 27:30).  As we know from the gospel accounts, this is the suffering that the messiah would endure once Pilate handed Him over to the Roman soldiers.

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

42:4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Behold my servant whom I uphold.  This text is a prophecy foretelling the messiahship of Jesus, the anointed one, and his actual work of redeeming the people out of the prison house of sin.

Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

49:2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me.

This prophesy delineates the birth of Jesus and that God would make his mouth like a sharp sword.  A two edged sword comes out of Christ’s mouth in Revelation 1:16.

A Servant

Isaiah 49:3 And said unto me, Thou [art] my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: [yet] surely my judgment [is] with the LORD, and my work with my God.

When Jesus came to the cross it looked like His work to all appearances had been a failure but Jesus knew He had been called to this work and He did what the Father told Him to do.  The very experiences of the Father towards the Son and the Son towards the human family are all succinctly captured;

Isaiah 49:5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

God calls Jesus His servant because He is going to glorify the Father.

Isaiah 49:8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

49:9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

The Atonement

The prophesies in Isaiah record in detail the experiences pertaining to Christ’s messianic work and for greater detail we will now focus on prophesies that relate specifically to the experience of Christ’s atonement with humanity.  There are several prophesies in the Old Testament foretelling that Jesus would become one with us.  Interestingly this detail is not even chronicled in the New Testament.  It was the Old Testament Prophecies that spoke so strongly of Jesus and his mission.  In Luke 24:27 Jesus began to open up their understanding to the prophesies, He began with Moses and then the prophets.  David foretold under divine inspiration in the Psalms the experiences Jesus would make in His messiahship;

Psalm 69:1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

69:2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

69:3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

69:5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

69:6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

69:7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

69:10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

69:11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

69:12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

69:13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

69:15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

69:16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

69:17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

69:18 Draw nigh unto my soul, [and] redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

Here is the description of the sufferings of a person who is sinking in deep mire at the bottom of the pit where the floods overflow him.  He is crying, He is travailing in His soul, His throat is dried up.  He is being hated for no cause because in his work He actually restores that which He took not away.  He never had anything to repay but He did none the less.

Psalms 69:19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none.

69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Who is speaking here?  Can you identify this prophecy?  Who was the one who was given gall for His meat and vinegar to drink (Matthew 27:34)?  Who was the one who had his heart broken because of reproach and who was the one who was looking for comforters at Gethsemanie and found none?  Jesus had hoped that His disciples would watch and pray for Him but they all fell asleep and He was totally alone.  Who was this prophesy talking about?  It was none but Jesus Christ.  All that we have read from Psalm 69 delineates Christ’s atonement.

Psalm 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

22:2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

22:4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

22:5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

22:6 But I [am] a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,  (Matthew 27:39, 42, 43)

22:8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

22:9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.

22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.

22:11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

22:13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.  (John 20:20)

22:17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.  (Matthew 27:35)

22:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

22:21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

22:22  I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

In our knowledge of the scriptures we immediately identify the words of the one who cried “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?  We know these were the words of Jesus just before He died on the cross.  In this chapter His thoughts and His internal experiences are all laid out before us, “they pierced my hands and my feet, I will declare thy name unto thy brethren” (Hebrews 2:12). In the Old Testament prophesies Jesus revealed aforetime His inner most thoughts and feelings about the experiences of His messianic work that He would go through.

Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Very clearly we see from this prophesy that the sacrifice and offering of animals was not the atonement God was looking for.  He was looking for the sacrifice of His own son, the one who delights to do His will, whose law is written within His heart.

Psalm 40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

40:11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

40:12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

40:14  Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

This is writing about the one in whom the Law of God would be written in His heart and who would not withhold proclaiming the righteousness of God.  Yet this same person Jesus, cries out to God “Withhold not thy tender mercies from me Oh Lord, let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me for innumerable evils have compassed me about, iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of mine head therefore my heart faileth me.  Be pleased Oh Lord to deliver me, Oh Lord make haste to help me.” Here is recorded the atonement of Jesus receiving the sins of the world.  He speaks of His oppression under the sins that have been laid upon Him when He says; “innumerable evils compassed me about”. When Jesus went into Gethsemanie He was surrounded by these sins that were laid upon Him.  His words express very clearly that this burden of sin He is carrying feels as though it is His very own. This is the extent to which Jesus became one with us.  He took our sins upon Him that they might be destroyed in Him.  As he carries the sins of the entire human race, he can’t even look up because they overwhelm Him and they are more than the hairs of His head.  Why did Jesus die?  My heart faileth me it says in verse 12 and Jesus cries for deliverance from God.

Psalm 40:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

What did He do?

Psalms 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Is not that what happened to Jesus?  The angel called Jesus out of the grave.  God lifted Him up out of the pit, out of the place that He was cast because of our sins.

Psalms 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

40:4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

As we see Jesus making the Father his trust we are to follow His example.  This is the messiah at work. It says in verse three that many shall see it.  This was one of Christ’s sufferings – He questioned within Himself doesn’t anybody care what I’m going through?  We see anguish He was under to see if anyone was paying attention to His wonderful work for their salvation and to His experience it seemed as though nobody cared.

Lamentations 1:12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

Jesus cries out – Is it nothing to you all you that pass by, is it nothing to you, all this suffering that I am going through?  Here is the experience of the Jesus on the cross.

Lamentations 1:13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

Notice the messiahship in the atonement here in verse 14.

Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand:

He felt the transgressions as though they were His own. The transgressions that God laid upon Him are again spoken of in Isaiah 53:8. The Lord hath laid upon him the transgression of us all they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. Here is a marvelous statement of the prophecy of the messiah in His work of the atonement. Here is explained how Christ’s divine nature became wreathed with human sinful flesh in His human nature. When God placed the iniquities and transgressions of humanity upon Him, God’s hand bound the transgressions recorded in the heredity of the sinful flesh Jesus wore as a yoke upon Christ’s conscience. The whole prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53 is a full description of Jesus Christ suffering this terrible anguish as a messiah.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors

Here we have the description of Jesus, He was a man of sorrows. Nobody esteemed Him for what He was doing.  Surely He hath born our griefs. Jesus has born our griefs just as it is described in Psalms and Lamentations.  He carried our sorrows yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, but He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our piece was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to His own way and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He opened not his mouth.  He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep brought before the sheerers so he openeth not His mouth.  It goes on through to the point of the atonement prophecy verse 12.  He poured out His soul unto death and He was numbered with the transgressors and He bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.  This is in actual fact a whole prophecy of the messiahship work of Jesus Christ.  The Old Testament is full of the messianic prophecies and embodies the ultimate revelation of Christ’s sufferings for His people; a people who will one day stand in the earth made new.

The Earth Made New

Zechariah 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

In the earth made new, some people will not recognise why Jesus has wounds in His hands and His feet. This is because they knew very little of the experience of Christ’s death and resurrection.  They are a people who lived up to the light they had amongst the heathen but they will ask Jesus why He was pierced.  Here is another prophesy fortelling that Christ will be pierced in His hands and in His feet.The bible also describes how the shepherd is going to be smitten (killed) and how all His disciples will be scattered.  The command comes “Awake O sword against the man that is my fellow”.  God Himself declares that the one that is ‘my fellow’, the second person of the Godhead, will come to earth and suffer in this manner.  This prophesy presents a very accurate picture of how the disciples reacted when Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the Roman soldiers in Gethsemane.

Faith and Hope

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

What a comfort it is to read the prophecies and to know that these events were foretold in the Old Testament before they actually happened.  This is our surety to know that we can trust in Jesus the one who came to help us.  As we learn of the prophecies of Christ’s life and death we have this comfort that the Old and New Testament prophesies are real because what was written came to pass.  In Romans it says that these things were written aforetime for our learning so that we could see that it was God.  That through the patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.  We are saved by faith and hope.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We don’t see Jesus in a physical form nowadays; we go by what others have seen and recorded in the Bible.  But as we hear the report of what others have seen as recorded in the Old Testament, we discover the detail of what God has revealed from within His own Spirit and it is the fulfillment of these revelations that give us hope, a hope that can give us a faith to believe in the things that are not seen because we now see them by faith.  This is how the Word becomes living to us. We are saved by faith, and faith is the substance of things hoped for, and we by patience and comfort of the scriptures might have this hope because it was written before hand so that when it came about we can see it now too.

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

We have to rely totally on the revelations of the word because we can’t see it with our own bare eyes.

A Sure Anchor in the Word of God

Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

6:14  Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

6:15  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

6:16  For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

6:18  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

Here is the hope – God tells us what is going to happen aforetime and then it actually happens. This gives us an assurance and an anchor that God’s word is true.  Once we understand the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament the beauty of the messiah and his work shines through and illuminates our hearts to respond to Him in hope and the faith of things not yet seen. May God help us to hold on to this anchor and to build our faith upon a more sure word of prophesy that reveals the detail of the messianic work of what Jesus actually went through in the atonement.  May God grant us a devoted earnestness to meditate upon these truths, the principles of our faith, to make them our own.  Once we hear these truths it is not merely enough to have them in our intellect, we need to go over them time and time again to uncover the depth of all those beautiful representations in these living words. Our next study entitled The Sanctuary will unveil more of the messianic prophesies.  All the intricate details of the Messiah and His mission are prophesied aforetime through the ceremonies and priestly activities of the Old Testament sanctuary.  May we continue to in trust the Lord and in His Holy Word.

Amen.