The Sufferings Foretold

By the ancient prophecies, the sufferings of the Messiah were to be extremely great.

“For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt as an hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave unto my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert… For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.” (Psa 102:3–6, 9–10)
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws… I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.” (Psa 22:14–15, 17)
“The waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried… Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness.” (Psa 69:1–3, 20)
“We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted… He was wounded… He was bruised… The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted… It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.” (Isa 53:4–7, 10)

Abasement, Disgrace, and Mockery

By the ancient prophecies, the outward meanness, abasement, disgrace, and contempt that the Messiah should be the subject of would be exceeding great, even to the utmost extreme, and that His enemies should greatly mock and deride Him.

“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.” (Psa 22:6–7)
“Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face… I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; I was the song of the drunkards… Reproach hath broken my heart.” (Psa 69:7, 11–12, 19–20)
“As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” (Isa 52:14)
“I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (Isa 50:6)

That Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, and the money given to the potter, is remarkably agreeable to Zechariah 11:12–13.

Cruelty and Piercing

It was foretold that the Messiah should suffer greatly by the cruelty of men.

“Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion… For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.” (Psa 22:12–13, 16)
“They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink… For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten.” (Psa 69:21, 26)
“They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.” (Mic 5:1)

Forsaken and Alone

Jesus being left alone in His suffering, forsaken of all His disciples, and deserted by those that a little before admired Him, crying “Hosanna,” is agreeable to Psalm 22:11: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.”

“I am become a stranger unto my brethren… I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” (Psa 69:8, 20)
“I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.” (Psa 102:7)

These two last places were remarkably verified at the time of His agony, when He watched and kept awake alone, and His disciples refused to watch with Him to comfort Him one hour. When in His great distress He came to them once and again, seeking to be comforted by their company, He found none to pity — looked for comforters but found none.

Compassed About by Many Nations

Jesus being compassed round by His enemies in His last sufferings — Jews and proselytes from all parts of the world, from every nation under heaven, Herod and his attendants, Romans, soldiers, and servants of many nations — is agreeable to Psalm 118:10–12:

“All nations compassed me about… They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about… They compassed me about like bees.” (Psa 118:10–12)

His Visage Marred

That the sufferings of Jesus were such as did in a peculiar manner mar and deform His visage — His countenance being first marred with a bloody sweat, by the spittle of His enemies, and by their wounds buffeting Him, striking Him with a rod on the head, and shedding out His blood on His face by the crown of thorns — is agreeable to Isaiah 52:14: “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”

That Jesus was so spit upon by His enemies is agreeable to Isaiah 50:6: “I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” That the enemies of Jesus beat and wounded Him in the head and face with a stick and with their hands is agreeable to Isaiah 50:6: “I gave… my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” That Jesus was scourged is agreeable to the same verse: “I gave my back to the smiters.”

A Violent and Untimely Death

It was foretold that the Messiah should die, that He should die a violent death at the hands of His cruel enemies, and die in the midst of His days.

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow… smite the shepherd.” (Zec 13:7)
“After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” (Dan 9:26)
“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter… He was cut off out of the land of the living… He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death… he hath poured out his soul unto death.” (Isa 53:7–10, 12)

The places in Psalm 102 show that He was to die long before He came to the age of man and that He was to die in the midst of His days. This was exactly fulfilled in Jesus. And verse 8 shows that His death was by the malice and cruelty of His enemies: “Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.”

Zeal for God’s House

Jesus dying by the cruelty of the Jews, His brethren — His being hated and persecuted to death by their malice, excited by His zeal for God and particularly by His vexing them with His zeal for the honour of the temple — is agreeable to Psalm 69:7–9:

“Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” (Psa 69:7–9)

This prophecy had a remarkable fulfilment in Jesus Christ. The rulers and teachers of the house of God were prodigiously provoked by Jesus’ severe reproofs for their wicked mismanagements — their false teaching, making void the commandment of God through their tradition; their proud behaviour in God’s house; their shutting up the house of God against men; their joining long prayers with covetous practices. And by His going into the temple a little before His crucifixion and casting out all them that sold and bought in the temple, overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves — by these things they were enraged and never left until they had imbrued their hands in His blood.

Condemned as a Malefactor

It was foretold that the Messiah should be condemned to death in a judicial process.

“He was taken from prison and from judgment… he was cut off out of the land of the living.” (Isa 53:8)

It was foretold that the Messiah should suffer as a wicked man, be put to death as a vile malefactor, and suffer with such.

“He made his grave with the wicked… he was numbered with the transgressors.” (Isa 53:9, 12)

Derision, Gall, and the Parting of Garments

Christ’s enemies deriding Him while under His last sufferings, insulting Him for His pretended high favour with God, wagging their heads, is a most exact and wonderful fulfilment:

“All they that see me laugh to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” (Psa 22:7–8)

Their giving Jesus gall and vinegar when thirsty is agreeable to Psalm 69:21: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

Their parting Jesus’ garments among them and casting lots on His vesture is a remarkable fulfilment of Psalm 22:18: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” And what makes the fulfilment of this the more remarkable is that there should be such a special circumstance of Jesus’ raiment that was the occasion of both these being fulfilled: the coat, the principal garment, being seamless, so that the executioners could not have equal shares — obliging them to cast lots for it.

All My Bones Are Out of Joint

We may conclude that in Jesus’ death there was a remarkable fulfilment of Psalm 22:14: “All my bones are out of joint.” For He, having His strength exceedingly wasted and the sinews greatly relaxed before His crucifixion by His agony the night before; His watching all night and fasting under constant, cruel sufferings until that time; bearing His cross until He sank under it; and then hanging by His wounded hands, bearing His whole weight on them for three hours together — wasting all the rest of His strength and life, and by degrees more and more relaxing and stretching the sinews and ligaments by which the bones were held together — the joints must needs be separated and bones be drawn asunder.

Great Sorrow of Mind

It was foretold that the Messiah should die under great sorrow and distress of mind, as well as pain of body.

“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” (Psa 22:14–15)
“Reproach hath broken my heart; I am full of heaviness.” (Psa 69:20)
“My heart is smitten, and withered like grass.” (Psa 102:4)
“He hath poured out his soul unto death.” (Isa 53:12)

Forsaken of God

It is agreeable to the prophecies that God should remarkably withdraw from the Messiah and leave Him destitute of the comforts of His presence under His last sufferings.

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psa 22:1–2)

It was foretold that there should be a special hand of God in the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and that those sufferings should be the fruit of His indignation and wrath.

“It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.” (Isa 53:10)
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow… smite the shepherd.” (Zec 13:7)

Meek and Silent Under Suffering

It was agreeable to the prophecies that Christ should show Himself remarkably meek under His last sufferings and that He should be silent amid all the injurious accusations, reproaches, and cruel oppressions of His enemies.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” (Isa 53:7)

Voluntary Suffering

It was foretold that the Messiah should be active in His own sufferings and death and that He should voluntarily undergo them.

“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death.” (Isa 53:12)
“I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (Isa 50:6)

Intercession for His Murderers

That Jesus in the time of His last sufferings made intercession to His Father for those horribly wicked men, His crucifiers — even at the very time when, in the heat of their cruelty, bloodthirsty malice, and height of contempt, they were nailing Him to the cross — was a marvellous expression of the full and perfect submission, patience, and obedience of His soul under those sufferings. He was pleading for them, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luk 23:34). The glorious holiness, grace, and infinitely meritorious excellency of that act of His soul — offering Himself to die for sinners with perfect love, humility, meekness, and love to God and sinners under all the trial He then endured — was a wonderful fulfilment of Isaiah 53:12:

“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa 53:12)

The intercession there spoken of seems to be the intercession He made in His last sufferings, and it is spoken of as a meritorious circumstance and concomitant of those sufferings — a manifestation of His great and meritorious virtue in suffering, on the account of which God would so gloriously reward Him.

Honoured in Death — With the Rich

It was foretold that though the Messiah should die under circumstances of great contempt as a wicked man and a malefactor, yet God, in some circumstances of His death, would take care to put honour upon Him as a reward of His innocence and merits by being in some respect with the rich in His death.

“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isa 53:9)

This was remarkably fulfilled in Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, being extraordinarily stirred up to come boldly and beg the body of Jesus and give it a very honourable interment in his own new tomb — because he was sensible in his own mind that He had suffered wrongfully and that He had done no violence.

Full Satisfaction — All Sacrifice Rendered Needless

It was foretold that the sacrifice of the Messiah should make full satisfaction to God’s justice, such as should make all other sacrifice needless.

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness… In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” (Dan 9:24, 27)

The word in the original translated “make reconciliation for iniquity” is the same that is used in the Law for making atonement by sacrifice — implying that the Messiah should offer such an atonement for sin as should make an end of, or consume, the transgression and seal up sin; quite completing the business of reconciliation, so that there should be no further occasion for going about to make reconciliation or offer any further atonement. By these expressions it seems as if sacrifices for sin thenceforward must cease and be made to cease by the Messiah. Verse 27 expressly says they should cease at that very time — in the last half of the week of the seventy weeks. Putting these things together, we cannot understand those prophecies otherwise than that the Messiah should offer up such a sacrifice to atone for sin as should render all other sacrifices and oblations for sin needless and should put an end to them.

From “Fulfilment of the Prophecies of the Messiah,” in Jonathan Edwards Documents (New Haven, CT: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, 2016).
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) — American Congregational preacher and theologian; born in East Windsor, Connecticut Colony, USA.
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