We have seen that the price which was paid to Judas for the betrayal of Jesus was foretold by Zechariah. But the prophet also told what should afterwards be done with the price of blood. The entire passage reads thus:-PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.1

“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter; a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” Zechariah 11:12, 13.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.2

Now note how remorse led Judas to complete the fulfilment of this prophecy:-PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.3

“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.” Matthew 27:3-7.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.4

The substitution of Jeremy (Jeremiah) for Zechariah, in verse 9, is undoubtedly due to an error of the transcriber, since the change of one letter would change the Hebrew of Zechariah into Jeremiah. This does not in the least degree affect the fulfilment of the prophecy. The prophecy was written, and was exactly fulfilled more than five hundred years afterward.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.5

When Jesus was fastened to the cross, the nails were driven through His hands and His feet, and a spear was thrust into His side. John 19:34; 20:25. Hundreds of years before, the prophet David had foretold this, saying: “For dogs have compassed Me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me; they pierced My hands and My feet.” Psalm 22:16.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.6

“And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.” Matthew 27:33, 34. This was done in response to words, “I thirst” (John 19:28-30), and was an exact fulfilment of Psalm 69:21, which reads: “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me the vinegar to drink.”PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.7

“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat; now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.” John 19:23, 24. More than a thousand years before this took place, the Psalmist prophetically putting himself in the place of Christ, had said: “They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.” Psalm 22:18.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.8

Isaiah, speaking of the time when Christ should pour out His soul unto death upon the cross, said, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:12. This was fulfilled to the letter when Christ, like a vile malefactor, was hanged between two thieves. See Mark 15:27, 28.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.9

In the psalm which has so many prophetic references to Christ, David said: “All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake their head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him.” Psalm 22:7, 8. Notice how exactly this was fulfilled at the crucifixion of Christ:-PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.10

“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.” Matthew 27:39-43.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.11

In this act we see an illustration of the terribly blinding power of sin. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, were well versed in the Scriptures. Moses, the prophets, and the psalms were regularly read in all the synagogue; and every parent was under obligation to see that his children were well instructed in them. And yet they had steeled their hearts against the strivings of the Holy Spirit, until they could be the unconscious instruments in the fulfilment of prophecies with which they were perfectly familiar. They had received ample proof of the Divinity of Christ, but had refused to accept it. They had determined not to believe that Jesus was the Christ, until they couldn’t believe it. Once they had known that Christ was the Messiah, but would not acknowledge it. Now they no doubt actually thought Him to be a base impostor. If He had come down from the cross, they would not have believed. The same result would be seen in the cases of those who refuse to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which proclaims His advent. Said Paul: “God shall send a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12. Apt, indeed, is the expression, “The deceitfullness of sin.”PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.12

In the messianic psalm, from which we have before quoted, Jesus is prophetically represented as saying, “Reproach hath broken My heart.” Psalm 69:20. The following from Dr. C. Geikie, with reference to Matthew 27:50; John 19:31-34, shows the fulfilment of the scripture:-PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.13

“That anyone should die so soon on the cross, especially one, like Jesus, in the prime of life, and weakened by previous ill-health, and in such vigour to last as to utter such a shriek as that with which He expired, appeared even to Christian antiquity, to imply some supernatural cause. But the mingled flow of blood and water seems to point unmistakably to another explanation. The immediate cause of death appears, beyond question, to have been the rupture of His heart, brought about by mental agony. Excess of joy or grief is known to induce the bursting of some division of the heart, and the consequent flow of blood into the pericardium, or bag, filled with colourless serum, like water, in which the heart is suspended. In ordinary cases, only examination after death discovers the fact, but in that of our Lord, the same end was answered by the thrust of the soldier’s spear. In a death from heart rupture ‘the hand is suddenly carried to the front of the chest, and a piercing shriek uttered.’ The hands of Jesus were nailed to the cross, but the appalling shriek is recorded. Jesus died, literally, of a broken heart.”-Life of Christ, chap. 63. E. J. W.PTUK June 16, 1892, page 184.14

(To be continued.)

June 2, 1892

June 30, 1892