EXPECTATION OF THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST. 95 



statements about our Lord in the Old Testament, that a narrative 

 of His Life and Death has been compiled from the prophecies, 

 uttered hundreds of years before. 



But, though such very full details were given, the prophecies were 

 not understood before the event ; the blending of suffering and 

 glory on One Person was not accepted by mere worldly wisdom : 

 it was no wonder that many Jews looked for two Messiahs, 

 and that even our Lord's own disciples immediately after the 

 Kesurrection were puzzled and extremely downcast. When, 

 however, our Lord Himself explained to the two on the way 

 to Emmaus that they ought to believe all that the prophets 

 had spoken about Christ's suffering and entering into His glory, 

 their hearts burned within them (Luke xxiv, 32), and as He 

 continued to explain the fulfilment of Scripture they were 

 filled with joy (Luke xxiv, 52, 53), which was confirmed 

 and strengthened by the coming of the Holy Spirit a few days after- 

 wards on the Day of Pentecost. 



Dr. A. Withers Green said : There is one verse in Acts ii, 23, 

 which is a great stronghold of my faith. It goes deeper than pre- 

 diction, for it pronounces the foreknowledge and pre-counselling of 

 God concerning every detail of the sufferings of the Christ, while 

 prediction follows after. 



Concerning these three forerunners of the Passion, to me what He 

 did not suffer is more remarkable than the permitted cruelties. 

 The murderers were paralyzed as to every action that was not to be 

 part of the sufferings of the Lamb " slain before the foundation of the 

 world." They could pierce His feet but not His thighs. His hands 

 but not His arms. The bones of the Great Antitype of the Pascal 

 Lamb could not be broken. His own words were to the one who 

 pronounced judgment, " Thou couldst have no power at all except 

 it were given thee from above." 



I cannot personally agree with the statements on pages 84 and 86 

 of the uncorrected proof calling our Lord " the Carpenter," even 

 with a capital C. As such He was never predicted, as such neither 

 did He Himself nor His apostles call Him. The name is never given 

 to Him except by His enemies in the New Testament. Therefore 

 we, 1900 years later, have no right to use such a name for our Lord 

 and Master. 



