But what is that emptying of Himself or that poverty except the receiving the form of a slave by which the majesty of the Word was veiled and the scheme of mans redemption carried out? For as the original chains of our captivity could not be loosed, unless a man of our race and nature appeared who was not under the prejudice of the old debt, and who with his untainted blood might blot out the bond of death, as it had from the beginning been divinely ordained, so it came to pass in the fullness of appointed time that the promise which had been proclaimed in many ways might reach its long expected fulfillment, and that thus, what had been frequently announced by one testimony after another, might have all doubtfulness removed.
Leo the Great, 400-460 AD, Letters, Letter CXXIV, To the Monks of Palestine, VII, (translated by Rev. Charles Lett Feltoe, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, T & T Clark and Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, Second Series, Vol. XII, p. 94)
How important is Christ's fulfillment of prophecy? What does it tell us about His mission?
Always have mixed feelings about the messianic prophecies as so many of the folks who seemed to know them missed the Messiah when he came.
ReplyDeleteI think the prophecies were in some degree intended to be cryptic that those who were looking for God would see them and those who were not would not. God is not so much looking for smart people as those who trust Him.
DeletePerhaps it was simply that they were looking for a different kind of Messiah?
DeleteI would agree, that certainly was a factor.
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