3. It was, farther, a TOKEN, or pledge, that the remote deliverance of the house of David by Immanuel, should hereafter take place, just as the approaching deliverance of Ahaz, by the prophet’s Son, would be seen to do.
4. This sign, when fulfilled in the near event, would, thenceforward, become a PROOF, or evidence, that it would be fulfilled in the remote one.
5. Lastly, in the Antitype, the sign was a MIRACLE, properly so called.
So eminently was this Child, a SIGN! A sign, in all the senses of the word, as employed by the Jewish prophets; and to all the purposes, for which signs were given.
[61] Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τὰ γενόμενα ἤδη πάντα ἀποδείκνυμεν, πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι, προκεκηρύχθαι διὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀνάγκη καὶ περὶ τῶν ὁμοίως προφητευθέντων, μελλόντων δὲ γίνεσθαι, πίϛιν ἔχειν ὡς πάντως γενησομένων.
Justin Martyr, Apol. i. c. 87.
[62] Isaiah vii. 16. Daniel ix. 24.
[63] Mal. iv. 5. Luke xvi. 16.
[64] Joel ii. 28, 29.
[65] Is not their case exactly delineated by the prophet Ezekiel—Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they SEEK A VISION OF THE PROPHET; i. e. they shall seek what they shall not find, for the LAW shall perish from the priest, and COUNCIL from the ancients; i. e. their ecclesiastical and civil polity, to which prophecy was annexed, shall be utterly abolished. See Ezekiel vii. 26. and compare Isaiah iii. 1, 2.
[66] See A. Van Dale, de Oraculorum ethnicorum duratione atque interitu.