Demonstrations

¹⁰ And if you should say that Christ has not yet come, I will grant this also to your contentiousness. For it is written that when He shall come, the Gentiles shall expect Him. Lo! I, one of the Gentiles, have heard that Christ is to come. And when as yet He had not come, I beforehand have believed on Him; and through Him I worship the God of Israel. When He comes, will He then blame me because before His coming I beforehand believed on Him? But, you fool, the prophets suffer you not to say that Christ has not yet come; for Daniel confutes you, saying:— After sixty-two weeks shall Messiah come and shall be slain.

And in His coming shall the Holy City be laid waste, and her end shall be with a flood. And until the accomplishment of the things that are determined, shall she continue in desolation.</em> You expect and hope that, at the coming of Christ, Israel shall be gathered together from all regions, and Jerusalem shall be built up and inhabited. But Daniel testifies that, when Christ comes and is slain, Jerusalem shall be destroyed, and shall continue in desolation until the accomplishment of the things which are determined, forever.

And concerning the suffering of Christ, David said:— They pierced my hands and my feet, and all my bones cried out. They gazed and looked upon me, and divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast the lot. And Isaiah said:— Lo! My servant shall be known and shall be revealed and shall be lifted up, so that many shall be astonished at Him. As for this man, His visage shall be marred more than that of man, and His aspect more than that of the sons of men. And he said:— He will purify many nations, and kings shall be amazed at Him. And he said in that passage:— He came up as a little child before Him, and as a root from the dry ground. And in the end of the passage he said:— He shall be slain for our sins; He shall be humiliated for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace is upon Him, and by His bruises shall we be healed. By what wounds were men healed?

David was not slain; for he died in a good old age, and was buried in Bethlehem. And if they should say that it is spoken of Saul, for Saul was killed in the mountains of Gilboa in the battle with the Philistines, and if they should say that they pierced his hands and his feet, when they fastened up his body on the wall of Bethshan; yet it does not fitly apply to Saul. When the limbs of Saul were pierced, his bones were not conscious of suffering, because he was dead.

It was after Saul died, that they hanged his body and those of his sons on the wall of Bethshan. But when David said, They pierced my hands and my feet, and all my bones cried out, he said in the next verse:— O God, abide for my help, and deliver my soul from the sword. Now Christ was delivered from the sword, and ascended from out of Sheol, and revived and rose the third day, and so God abode for His help. But Saul called upon the Lord and He did not answer him; and he asked through the Prophets, but no answer was given to him.

And he disguised himself and inquired by soothsayers, and learned from thence. He was worsted before the Philistines, and he slew himself with his own sword, when he saw that the battle had overcome him. Moreover in this passage David said:— I will declare Your name unto my brethren, and in the midst of the congregation will I glorify You. How can these things apply to Saul? And again David said:— You did not give Your holy one to see corruption. But all these things fitly apply to Christ.

When He came to them, they did not receive Him; but wickedly judged Him by false witness. And He was hung upon the tree by His hands, and they pierced His hands and His feet with the nails which they fastened in him; and all His bones cried out. And on that day a great prodigy happened. namely, that the light became dark in the middle of the day, as Zechariah prophesied, saying:— The day shall be known unto the Lord. It shall not be daytime, and it shall not be night; and at the evening time there shall be light. Now what is the day that was distinguished by the prodigy, that it was neither daytime nor night, and that at the evening time there was light?

Evidently the day on which they crucified Him, for in the midst of that day there came darkness, and at the evening time there was light. And again he said:— That day there shall be cold and frost. — As you know, on that day on which they crucified Him, it was cold, and they had made them a fire to warm themselves when Simon came and stood with them. And again he said:— The spear shall arise against the shepherd, and against the man, My friend; and it shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock shall be scattered; and I will turn back My hand upon the pastor. And furthermore David said concerning His Passion:— For My meat they gave gall, and for My thirst did they give Me vinegar to drink. — Again he said in that passage:— They have persecuted Him Whom You have smitten; and have added to the affliction of Him that was slain. For they added many (afflictions) to Him, much that was not written concerning Him, cursings and revilings, such as the Scripture could not reveal, for their revilings were hateful.

But, however, the Lord was pleased to humiliate Him and afflict Him. And He was slain for our iniquity, and was humiliated for our sins, and was made sin in His own person.