This is Nahum the eighth in order who was also privileged to prophesy concerning the resurrection of the Lord Christ, and he says: Feast, O Judah, keep thy feasts, perform thy vows, for they shall add to pass through thee no more. It has been consummated, it has been taken away. He went up breathing upon thy face, delivering thee from affliction.
Note.
See how this prophet also exhorts us to rejoice over the resurrection of Christ and over our own, showing beforehand that we shall never grow old, proclaiming, that is, our incorruption and our immortality. Glory to God, Amen!
The Prophet Habakkuk.
This is Habakkuk the ninth in order, who was also privileged to speak concerning the resurrection of Christ in these terms: Behold, ye despisers, and regard, and wonder marvellously, and vanish for ever, because I work a work in your days which ye will not believe though it be told you. This passage Paul cited at Antioch of Pisidia as having reference to the resurrection of the Lord Christ.
Note.
In like manner also this prophet is commanded to predict marvellous and incredible things to men, and especially to despisers, things namely concerning the resurrection. Glory to God, Amen! |202
The Prophet Jeremiah.
[235] This is Jeremiah the tenth in order, who was also privileged to prophesy concerning the mystery respecting Christ, saying thus: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the sons of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potter s field as the Lord appointed me. The evangelist Matthew mentions this passage as having been fulfilled at the time of the passion. The same prophet again says: Lo! the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. etc. This passage is cited by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans.
Note
This prophet in like manner predicts things which have reference to the Lord Christ who is the Prince of the second dispensation----for he describes in the clearest manner the first and second dispensation, the second whereof had its beginning in the Lord Christ. Glory to Cod for ever, Amen!
The Prophet Saphonias (Zephaniah).
This is Zephaniah the eleventh in order who was also privileged to prophesy concerning the Lord Christ, and he speaks thus: The Lord will come suddenly upon them, and will utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth, and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the nations! From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall they bring offering to me; and again: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem; the Lord hath taken away thine |203 iniquities. The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more . All things are more especially applicable to the Lord Christ.
Note.
This prophet most plainly points to the manifestation of the [236] Lord, to the destruction of idols, and the conversion of the nations to God through the Lord Christ. Glory be to God for ever, Amen!
The Prophet Ezekiel.
This is Ezekiel who prophesied in Babylon, and who was also privileged to predict concerning the dispensation of Christ, and he says: I will redeem them from all their transgression, wherewith they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be to me a people, and I the Lord will be their God. And my servant David shall be ruler in the midst of them, he alone shall be the shepherd of them all, because they shall walk in my precepts; and again: And he said unto me, This water, issuing forth into Galilee which lies towards the East, was going down into Arabia and came even to the sea, to the water at the outlet, and it shall heal the waters. And it shall come to pass that every living creature which swarmeth in every place whither the river comes shall live.
Note.
This prophet, like the others, under a figure foreshows the great founder and ruler of our second state, and foreshows also its constitution. Glory to God for the wisdom of all his dispensations, Amen! |204
The Prophet Daniel.
This is Daniel who prophesied in Babylon and who was also privileged to utter predictions concerning the Lord Christ, and he speaks thus: And thou shalt know and discern that from the going forth of the commandment to the response and the building of Jerusalem, until the anointed one a prince, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks , and so forth. And again: A stone was cut without hands, and it brake in pieces the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver and the gold, and it filled the whole earth; and again: Behold one like unto the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came even unto to the Ancient of days, and he was brought near before him. And there was given unto him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all the peoples and nations and languages shall serve him. His dominion, and so forth.
Note.
And this prophet spoke out more clearly concerning the conning of Christ, intimating both his time and the power belonging to him, and his birth from a virgin and the propagation of his gospel throughout all the earth, which things have all come to pass with God's help and will still come to pass. Glory to God who through all the prophets has revealed these things beforehand, Amen!
The Prophet Haggai.
This Haggai was also privileged to utter predictions concerning the Lord Christ, as, under the person of Zerubabel, he says things which are applicable to the Lord Christ: And I will make thee as a signet, because I have chosen thee, saith the Lord God. |205