Originally Posted by Augustus Toplady
LONG before our blessed Saviour was manifested in the flesh, the particular circumstances of His humiliation and death were revealed to the ancient prophets, and by them made known to the people. Neither can there be a more unanswerable proof given of the Messiahship of Christ than that all the prophecies from the least to the greatest, that were descriptive of the Messiah, were accomplished, to a tittle, in Him. Thus, for instance — Isaiah, who flourished about eight hundred and thirty years before the coming of Christ, foretold of Him that He should be despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; that He should be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; that He should be numbered with transgressors, and make His soul an offering for sin. Zechariah expressly foretold, that Christ should be delivered up for thirty pieces of silver, and that a potter’s field should be bought with the money. And David, who died upwards of a thousand years before the birth of Christ, prophesied of His fast in the wilderness; of His arraignment and condemnation through the instigation of false witnesses; of His being scourged, crucified, and buried; and likewise of His resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven.

And, as the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles are the best comment on the Old Testament; so, by consulting what they relate concerning the sufferings of Christ, and comparing their account with the ancient prophecies, we shall find that every event answered the predictions as exactly as face answers face in a glass. And I am persuaded, that one grand reason why we have so many Deists and infidels in the present age, is, either because those men never trouble themselves to read the Scriptures at all, or, supposing they may by chance look into them, it is in a slight, careless manner; and their prejudice on one hand, and want of attention on the other, render them proof against demonstration itself, and blind to the evidence of truth, let it shine ever so clearly.

But I only mention this; my chief design being to improve the circumstances of our blessed Lord’s crucifixion, as we find them recorded by this evangelist.
I am confidently sure that many share my amazement and joy to read of the great prophecies and announcements of the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ that were written hundreds of years before His actual coming to earth. Which in me only solidifies my assurance of His promises to save all who come to Him, confessing their sins and embracing Him by a true living faith wrought in them by the work of the Spirit of God. Thus I commend this article to you with the hope that you will even more rest in your union with Christ, whether it be for the first time or by renewal and anticipate His eventual return to finalize that great salvation which He accomplished via His sufferings, death, and resurrection.

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In His service and grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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