not because
I desire to treat them fragmentarily, but because we thereby throw into
stronger relief the writer's purpose to bring out the identity of the
Old and the New Revelation, the fact that Christ and His sufferings are
the centre of the world's history, to which all that went before points,
from which all that follows after flows; and that not only thus does He
stand in the midst of humanity, but that from Him there ran out
influences into other orders of beings, and angels learn from Him
mysteries hitherto unknown to them. The prophets prophesy of the grace
which comes in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow, and the same Spirit which taught them teaches the preachers of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They that went before had for their deepest
message the proclamation, 'He will come'; they that follow after have
for their deepest message, 'He has come.' And angels listen to, and
echo, the chorus, from all the files that march in front, and all that
bring up the rear, 'Hosanna! Blessed be Him that cometh in the name of
the Lord.'

My purpose, then, is just to try to bring before you the magnificent
unity into which these texts bind all ages, and all worlds, planting
Jesus Christ and His Cross in the centre of them all. There are four
aspects here in which the writer teaches us to regard this unity: Jesus
and the Cross are the substance of prophecy, the theme of Gospel
preaching, the study of angels, and presented to each of us for our
individual acceptance. Now, let us look briefly at these four points.

I. First, then, Christ and His Cross is the substance of prophecy.

Now, of course, we have to remember that general statements have to be
interpreted widely, and without punctilious adherence to the words; and
we have also to remember that great mischief has been done, and great
discredit cast, on the whole conception of ancient revelation by the
well-meaning, but altogether mistaken, attempts of good people to read
the fully developed doctrine of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice into
every corner of the ancient revelation. But whilst I admit all that,
and would desire to emphasise the fact, I think that in this
generation, and to-day, there is a great deal more need to insist upon
the truth that the inmost essence and deepest purpose of the whole Old
Testament system is to create an attitude of expectance, and to point
onwards, with ever-growing distinctness, to one colossal and mysterious