Romains 1:2

Which He had promised afore by His prophets.

The Messiah predicted

The Jews, throughout their history, differed from every other nation in their expectation of a Messiah. While heathen kingdoms decayed and fell without hope of deliverance, in Israel political decline was attended by an increasing expectation of a high and God-sent deliverer. This idea was always referred by the prophets to Divine revelation, and we have every reason to receive their testimony; for it is contrary to the very nature of things that such golden fruit as this should grow on the barren thorn of the simple human heart. Could this have been, surely the great and noble spirits of other nations would also have confidently expected salvation, whereas we only hear from the lips of a few some dim and obscure yearnings of this kind. It was only as a vanished epoch, a poetical dream, or a political panegyric, that heathen poets ever sang of a golden age. The heathen were “without hope” because they were without God in the world. (Professor Auberlen.)

Christ foretold by the prophets

I. Who they were. Persons--

1. Speaking by special Divine impulse (1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Corinthiens 14:1).

2. Employed by God to reveal His will and to foretell future events.

3. Moved to compose and sing hymns to God (Exode 15:20; 1 Chroniques 25:1).

4. Living in habitual communion with God.

II. What they promised. Christ and His salvation (Luc 24:27; Actes 3:18; Actes 10:43).

1. By Moses as--

(1) The woman’s seed (Genèse 3:15).

(2) Abraham’s seed (Genèse 22:18).

(3) Shiloh (Genèse 49:10).

(4) The prophet like unto Himself (Deutéronome 18:15).

2. By David as--

(1) His son (Psaume 132:11).

(2) His Lord (Psaume 110:1).

(3) The Anointed (Psaume 2:2; Psaume 84:9).

(4) The Priest-King (Psaume 110:1).

(5) The Pierced One (Psaume 22:16).

3. By Isaiah as--

(1) The Virgin’s Son (Ésaïe 7:14).

(2) Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God (Ésaïe 9:6).

(3) Rod out of the stem of Jesse. (Ésaïe 11:1).

(4) Man of sorrows (Ésaïe 53:3).

(5) Wounded and bruised Surety (Ésaïe 53:5; Ésaïe 10:1; Ésaïe 11:1; Ésaïe 12:1).

(6) God’s righteous Servant (Ésaïe 42:1; Ésaïe 52:13; Ésaïe 53:11).

4. By Jeremiah as--

(1) The righteous Branch (Jérémie 23:5).

(2) The Lord our Righteousness (Jérémie 23:6).

5. By Ezekiel as the true David, the Shepherd King (Ézéchiel 37:24).

6. By Daniel as Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:25).

7. By Micah as the Judge of Israel (Michée 5:2).

8. By Haggai as the Desire of all nations (Aggée 2:7).

9. By Zechariah as--

(1) The Pierced One (Zacharie 12:10).

(2) The Man who was Jehovah’s Shepherd and Fellow (Zacharie 13:7).

10. By Malachi as--

(1) The Messenger of the Covenant (Malachie 3:1).

(2) The Sun of Righteousness (Malachie 4:3). (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Messianic prophecy

The prophets had foretold concerning the Messiah--

1. His Divine and human natures (Ésaïe 9:6).

2. His descent (Genèse 3:15; Genèse 12:3, Genèse 49:10; Ésaïe 11:1; 1 Samuel 16:11).

3. The time of His appearing (Genèse 49:10; Daniel 9:24; Aggée 2:6).

4. The place of His birth (Michée 5:2).

5. The virginity of His mother (Ésaïe 7:14).

6. The Forerunner who should prepare His way (Malachie 3:1).

7. The special scene of His ministry (Ésaïe 9:1).

8. The miracles that should accredit His mission (Ésaïe 35:5).

9. His sufferings and death (Psaume 22:16, etc.; Zacharie 13:7; Ésaïe 53:5).

10. Jeremiah His resurrection (Psaume 16:10).

11. His ascension (Psaume 68:18).

12. His sitting down at the right hand of the Father (Psaume 110:1).

13. His effusion of the Holy Ghost (Joël 2:28).

14. His second coming in judgment (Daniel 7:13). (T. Robinson, D. D.)

The gospel is no afterthought, but the forethought of God

God sees the end from the beginning. All things in nature and grace are working out one grand scheme, which God before the creation of heaven and earth designed. The gospel was but a further and fuller development of God’s plans in Old Testament times. The stem is no afterthought; the leaves and buds are no afterthought; the flower is no afterthought; the fruit is no afterthought; for they were all wrapped up from the first in the seed, or cutting, or bulb. Or, to take another illustration, it is of no unfrequent occurrence that the architect designs a Gothic church which is not to be built all at once, but as sufficient funds are forthcoming, or as the congregation increases. At first the nave is constructed, then one aisle after another is added; and afterwards the chancel is built, and last of all is erected the spire--whose “silent finger points to heaven.” The pulling down of temporary walls and hoardings, and the additions from time to time made, are no afterthought, but only the carrying out of the original design. Thus the doing away with the ceremonial law and Jewish ritual, and the bringing life and immortality to light through Jesus, are no afterthought, but the forethought of God--the revealing of His glorious scheme of grace designed before the foundation of the world, and previously promised by His prophets. (C. Nell, M. A.)

In the holy Scriptures.

The Old Testament Scriptures called holy from

I. Their Author, God the Holy Ghost (2 Pierre 1:21; 2 Timothée 3:16; Hébreux 1:1).

II. Their matter, God’s holy will, thoughts, words, and works.

III. Their design and tendency, to make man holy (2 Timothée 3:17; Jean 17:17).

IV. To distinguish them from all other books. (T. Robinson, D. D.)