w
of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it
not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And
beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Here Jesus
Himself states that Moses and all the prophets prophesied of Him. And
when He had returned to Jerusalem, and stood in the midst of the
eleven, He said to them: "These are my words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, how that all things must needs be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms
concerning me." Thus the books of Moses, and all the prophets, and the
psalms, contained teaching concerning the Christ, according to Jesus'
own statement; and it was all in the form of type and prophecy. Indeed,
types are but forms of prophecy.

Jesus charged the Jews with not believing Moses, and gave that as the
reason why they did not believe on Him. He said: "For if ye believe
Moses, ye would believe me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not
his writings how shall ye believe my words?" Like modern skeptics, they
did not believe the writings of Moses concerning the Messiah--did not
believe that they referred to the Messiah; hence their value was
destroyed, and they did not believe in Jesus. Had they believed these
prophecies they would have believed on Christ.

On the day of Pentecost Peter convinced the three thousand by argument
from prophecy concerning the Christ. In his sermon in Solomon's porch
the argument was likewise based upon prophecy. Paul's manner of
preaching (see Acts xvii. 1-3) was to show the prophecies of the Old
Testament concerning the Messiah and then show that these were
fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore the conclusion was
necessitated that He was the Christ. As this was Paul's method, he
evidently attached to prophecy the highest possible value. That all the
apostles did this is evident from the statement of Peter. Speaking of
their being "eye-witnesses of His majesty," and of the infallible signs
He gave of His divinity, he says: "And we have the word of prophecy
made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp
shining in a dark place."

How are we to determine the Messianic prophecies? We unhesitatingly
reply, by the example of Christ and the apostles. Three important
points are established by their testimony: (1) They teach that such
propheci