After the death of
Moses and the occupation of the Promised Land by the Jews, the prophecies about
the Messiah disappear for many centuries. A new series of prophecies about the
Messiah arise during the reign of David, a descendant of Abraham, Jacob and
Judah, who ruled the Hebrew nation more than 1000 years BC. In these new
prophecies the Kingly and Godly qualities of Christ are revealed. The Lord
promises David through the lips of Nathan to establish an eternal Kingdom in
the Personage of His Descendant: “I will establish his throne for ever. I
will be his Father, and he shall be my Son” (1 Chron. 17:12-13).
This prophecy about the eternal Kingdom of the Messiah is paralleled by a
series of prophecies, which should be discussed more thoroughly. In order to
understand and to properly assess the meaning of these prophecies, it is
necessary to at least briefly familiarize oneself with the life of King David.
King David, having been anointed by God as a king and prophet, was the
prototype of the Higher King and Prophet — Christ.
David was the youngest son of the large family of the poor shepherd Jesse. When
the God-sent prophet Samuel came to the house of Jesse, in order to anoint the
king for Israel, the prophet thought to anoint one of the older sons. But
the Lord revealed to the prophet that the younger son, still a young boy,
David, is chosen by Him for this high service. Then, in obedience to God,
Samuel pours the holy oil on the head of the youngest son, thus performing the
anointment to the throne. From that moment, David became the Anointed of God,
the messiah. But David did not immediately set about to actually govern. A long
road of ordeals and unfair persecution lay before him, put forth by the then
King Saul, who had a deep hatred of David. The reason for this hatred was
jealousy, because as a boy David defeated the previously unbeaten Philistine
giant Goliath with a small rock and thus gained victory for the Hebrew army.
After this the people said: “Saul hath slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). Only his strong faith in God
the Intercessor helped David endure all the many persecutions and dangers to
which he was subjected by Saul and his servants in the course of almost 15
years. Often, when wandering for months in the wild and impassable desert, King
David would pour out his grief to God in inspired psalms. With time, the psalms
of David became an essential element and an embellishment of both the Old Testament,
and later in the New Testament religious services.
Upon being enthroned in Jerusalem after the death of Saul, king
David became the most outstanding king ever to rule Israel. He had combined within himself many valuable qualities:
love for the people, fairness, wisdom, courage, and, most importantly — a
strong faith in God. Before deciding any state question, King David always
zealously prayed to God, asking for understanding. The Lord always helped David
and blessed his 40-year reign with major successes, in both internal and
external politics.
But David did not evade severe ordeals. His deepest grief was the military
uprising, headed by his own son Absalom, who wanted to become king before his
time. In this instance, David experienced all the bitterness of villainous
ingratitude and treachery among his subjects. But, as before with Saul, faith
and hope in God helped David. Absalom died ingloriously, although David tried
to save him by all means. He also forgave the other mutineers. Afterward David
clearly portrayed his enemies’ senseless and insidious revolt in his Messianic
psalms.
While attending to the material well-being of his people, David imparted great
meaning to its spiritual life. Often he headed religious holidays, bringing
sacrifices to God for the Hebrew people and putting together his inspired
religious hymns — psalms. Being a king and a prophet, and also to a certain
extent a priest, King David became the prototype (a model), as a precursor of
the greatest of Kings, Prophet and High Priest — Christ the Savior, the
descendant of David. The personal experience of King David, and also the poetic
gift with which he was endowed, gave him the opportunity to describe the
character and feat of the coming Messiah in a whole row of psalms with
unprecedented clarity and vividness. For example, in his 2nd psalm
king David foretells the enmity and uprising against the Messiah on the part of
his enemies. This psalm is written in the form of a discussion among three
entities: David, God the Father, and the Son of God, anointed by the Father to
the Kingdom. Here are the main excerpts from this psalm:
King David: “Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed.”
God the Father: “Yet have I set My
king upon my holy hill of Zion.”
The Son of God: “I will declare the decree: the Lord
hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee.”
King David: “Kiss the Son, lest He be
angry, and ye perish from the way” (verses 1-2, 6-7 and 12).
What is
most remarkable in this psalm is the truth, revealed here for the first time,
that the Messiah is the Son of God, the Hill of Zion, on which stood the temple
and the city of Jerusalem, symbolizing the Kingdom of the Messiah — the Church.
David
writes more about the Godliness of the Messiah in several subsequent psalms.
For example, in the 45th psalm David, addressing himself on the
coming Messiah, cries out:
“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of
thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest
wickedness. Therefore God, thy God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows” (verses 6-7).
Revealing
the difference between Faces in God, between the God anointing and the God
anointed, the given prophecy laid the foundation for faith in the Triad (having
three-hypostatic Persons).
Psalm 40 points out the insufficiency of Old Testament sacrifices for
redemption (forgiveness) of human sins and bears witness to the impending
sufferings of the Messiah. In this psalm the Messiah Himself speaks through the
lips of David:
“Sacrifice and offering thou (God the Father) didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou
not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the scroll of the Book (in the
pre-eternal determination of God) it is written of me, I delight to do thy
will, O my God” (verses 6-8).
A
separate chapter will be dedicated to the redeeming sacrifice of the Messiah.
Here we will only mention that, in accordance with the 110th psalm,
the Messiah is not only the sacrifice, He is the Priest
offering the sacrifice to God — Himself. In the 110th psalm
are repeated the main thoughts of the 2nd psalm about the Godliness
of the Messiah and the hostility against Him. But several new pieces of
information are added, for example, the birth of the Messiah, the Son of God,
which is portrayed as a pre-eternal occurrence. Christ — is eternal, as is His
Father.
“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool... from the womb of the morning: thou has the dew of thy
youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou are a priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek” (As
explained by the Apostle Paul, Melchizedek, about whom it is written in the
book Genesis 14:18, was the prototype of the Son of God, the eternal priest,
see Hebrews chapter 7).
Psalm 72 presents itself as a hymn of praise of the Messiah. In it we see the
Messiah in His full glory. This glory will be realized at the end of the times,
when the Messianic Kingdom will triumph and evil will be destroyed. Here are
several verses from this joyful psalm.
“Yea, all the kings shall fall down before him: all nations
shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also,
and him that hath no helper... His name shall endure forever, his name shall be
continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him, all nations
shall call him blessed” (Ps. 72:11-12,
17).
The
Kingdom of the Messiah will be discussed more in depth in the appendix. For
now, so that the reader may have an idea how vast and detailed are the
prophecies about the Messiah in the psalms, we will cite a list of these
prophecies in the order of their content: About the coming of the Messiah —
psalms 17, 49, 67, 95-97. About the Kingdom of the Messiah —
2, 17, 19, 20, 45, 65, 72, 110, 132. About the
priesthood of the Messiah — 110. About the sufferings,
death and resurrection of the Messiah — 16, 22, 31, 41, 41, 65, 68, 98. In psalms 41, 55 and 109 — about Judas the traitor. About the ascension of Christ to Heaven — 68. Christ — the
foundation of the Church — 118. About the glory of the
Messiah — 8. About the last judgment — 97. About the inheritance of the righteous eternal peace — 94.
In order to understand the prophetic psalms one must remember that David, like
other great righteous men in the Old Testament, represented the prototype of
Christ. For this reason often, when he writes in the first person, as if about
himself, for example, about sufferings (Psalm 22), or about glory (about the
resurrection from the dead in Psalm 16), they refer not to David, but to
Christ. The 16th and 22nd psalms will be studied in more
detail in Chapter 5.
In this way, the messianic prophecies of David, recorded in his God-inspired
psalms, laid the foundation for faith in the Messiah as a true and coexistent Son
of God, King, High Priest and Expiator of Mankind. The influence of the
psalms on the faith of the Old Testament Jews was particularly great, thanks to
the wide use of psalms in private life and religious services of the Hebrew
people.
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