PROPHECIES OF THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH.
Dan. ix. 26.—Acts ii. 23.
We read in Daniel that "The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself." And Zechariah says: "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."
THE THREE CROSSES.
As our Blessed Lord hung on that Cross "He was numbered with the transgressors," for two thieves were crucified with Him.
In the twenty-second Psalm we learn to understand a little of the anguish which made Him cry on the Cross: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" It was because "He bore our sins in His own Body on the tree."
"He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
But though all this came upon that beloved Son of God, in order that He might redeem the world, we have, in Isaiah liii. 10, a great and beautiful promise of the Resurrection, and of His afterwards reigning in glory as King:—
"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."
"He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death." This was fulfilled when rich Joseph of Arimathæa buried Him in beautiful fine linen in his own new grave in that garden near Calvary.