throne, and be a priest upon his throne." These distinctions were, in ordinary circumstances, incompatible. Joshua, the high priest, of the tribe of Levi, could not be a king, of the royal stock of Jesse, and of the tribe of Benjamin. And no one of that noble race could, according to the established law of the Israelites, fulfil the priestly offices ascribed to the predicted deliverer. Yet both these characters, as we have before seen,1 were united in Christ. I 3. The predicted person was also to be distinguished by titles superior to those of any earthly dignity: for this is the name whereby he should be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! And to Christ alone was given "a name which is above every name." He was His in the beginning with God, and was God. name was called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 4. The Scriptures of the Old Testament also limit the time, before the expiration of which, the prophecies and prefigurations respecting the BRANCH should be completed. That period was the destruction of the temple, which was building when Zechariah and Hag P Zech. vi. 13. t John i. 1. Lect. VIII. • Phil. ii. 9. u Isai, ix. 6. gai prophesied by word, and by sign, and by vision. The Lord whom they sought was to come to his temple. The Desire of all nations was to come and fill that house with glory." If, then, the Branch of David be not yet sprung forth, it is in vain to expect the completion of these prophecies. Not only has all sure trace of the royal seed of David been lost, in the dispersion of the Jews among all nations, but the city and temple of Jerusalem have been long since destroyed, and their foundations rased. The temporal glory of the latter house has departed. But within that house, at the time and place appointed, there came, as was predicted, one endowed with greater glory than was given to the temple built by Solomon: one, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily; whose glory was beheld, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." 5. Again, the same person, first predicted as the BRANCH, is also pointed out under the significant emblem of a foundation-stone. This also is an image often found in the prophetic writers of the Old Testament. The attention of the people of God, had long been directed to "the Stone of Israel," that stone Col. i. 19. ii. 9. which the builders refused, and yet should become the head of the corner. Isaiah had declared, at first obscurely, that the Lord of hosts, who should be for a sanctuary, should also be for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel; and afterwards with greater precision, "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." Christ himself, applied the prediction of David to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah. And Peter, in his first address to the same people, declared respecting Jesus, "This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner; neither is there salvation in any other." And the same apostle, referring to the two prophecies of Isaiah, and to that of David, expressly calls Christ a "living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious," to those who believe, but unto them which be disobedient, "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." h One only person, and he distinguished above the sons of men by the incommunicable title of the LORD, is predicted, in the Old Testament, under the figure of a corner-stone, a sure foun Psalm cxviii. 22. d Isai. viii. 14. f Matt. xxi. 42. h 1 Pet. ii. 4, 6, 7. dation. Of Christ alone is it in Scripture affirmed, that he is that stone, chosen of God and precious; the chief corner-stone of the temple of his church: and that "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 7. The stone also which was seen in vision, was represented as covered with seven, or many,' eyes. These may indicate, according to the meaning of the same term in other parts of Scripture, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, the Providence of God," the energy and animation of the living stone which is prefigured: evidently the same glorious person, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David," whom Saint John beheld in vision, when he saw "a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth unto all the earth."" ne But it may be observed, that the words possibly admit of a different interpretation, which has a close affinity to many other passages of Scripture. They have been rendered; For, behold, the stone which I have set before Joshua: From one stone seven fountains; } Saith JEHOVAH of hosts: And I will take away the iniquity of this land in one day." The prophet is thus considered to have seen, in vision, a stone, whence flowed seven fountains of living water, opened by God himself, as Moses opened the rock in the wilderness, which rock was Christ. Zechariah him. self, afterwards predicts the mercies of the gospel dispensation by a similar figure. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Je rusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." * And he thus points out that period, when men should "draw water out of the wells of salvation ;" when God should " pour water upon him that was thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." r S Whichever interpretation is put upon these words of Scripture, there is a close connection between the several parts of the revelation of God's will to mankind. Prophecy, and type, and vision, and sign, all point to one great • Dr. Blayney's translation of Zechariah. Vitringa proposes the same interpretation. Dr. Stonard on Zech. iii. 9, defends the received version. P Psalm cv. 41. Zech. xiii. 1. Isai. xliv. 3. See John vii. 38. a 1 Cor. x. 4. S Isai. xii. 3. |