He should rise from the dead (Ps. xvi. 10), ascend into heaven, and receive gifts for men, even “for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps. lxviii. 18).
He should “pour out His Spirit on all flesh, so that their sons and daughters should prophesy,” &c. (Joel ii. 28).
To “one like unto the Son of Man” was to be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. vii. 13, 14).
With what justice could the Lord say, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life, and they are they which testify of Me?” (John v. 39). “And if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloke for their sin” (John xv. 24, 22) [66]
If such were the evidences furnished to the Jews, the Gentile who rests his hope on Christ as the Rock of Ages can equally enter into and appreciate these proofs of our Lord’s mission, and unite in the triumphant song of David, “Go round about Zion, tell the towers thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following; for this God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death” (Ps. xlviii. 13, 14). As Gentiles we can also look back to the fall of the peculiar institutions designed to point out the Messiah to mankind,—to the present state of His chosen people, scattered throughout the Gentile world in fulfilment of their own prophecies,—to the triumphs of the faith in Christ,—and to the multitudes who have already been admitted to realise the mansions in the heaven which He went to prepare for them.
As Christianity is itself built on the foundation of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, in fact upon whatever of Divine revelation had preceded it, and is the crowning development of the whole, we may not disregard or lightly esteem any portion of that outward work of Christ, of which our blessings are the direct result, and without which we could have no right or title to them.
The new Covenant of Grace was declared by Christ and His Apostles. The seal of that Covenant was the Blood of Jesus, the voluntary offering of Himself for the sins of men, as typified by the patriarchal and Mosaic institutions. It was the purchase of our redemption, and of all those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit which the Lord Jesus after His resurrection gave to men (Eph. iv. 8, 11; Rom. xii. 6, 8; 1 Cor. xii. 4; &c.). Thus He is the “foundation stone,” the “tried stone,” the “chief corner-stone,” and “only hope of glory.” By Himself He “purges our sins.” By His death He delivers “them who through fear of death, are all their life time subject to bondage” (Heb. ii. 14, 15). And does not the continual daily sacrifice, morning by morning, and evening by evening, prescribed by the Law, point to the constant bearing on our minds before God, of the sacrifice of Christ, as the foundation of all our hopes, and petitions for mercy and grace? the true propitiatory, or mercy seat, where God will meet with us and dwell with us (see page 16, and Ex. xxix. 42, 45).
“Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. xv. 4).
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17).
Nor need any be discouraged; the Bible is God’s revelation addressed alike to all men, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, intellectual or of small powers. God is no respecter of persons, and to every one alike who can read for themselves, or hear from others, the Bible, without note or comment, may prove under the influence of God’s Spirit, “a lamp unto their feet, a light to their path.” The less educated will escape some of the difficulties which beset the minds of others, and more easily fulfil the conditions imposed by our Lord, “Except ye receive the kingdom of God as little children, ye cannot enter therein;” and many are the instances in which persons of comparatively small intellectual power enjoy, appreciate, and bring forth the evident fruits of faith; so that, with the Bible in their hands and the Holy Spirit to apply it, none need despair of finding the way that leads to everlasting life.