Demonstratio Evangelica 9 part 4/4

And who would not grieve deeply, seeing the prophecy so clearly fulfilled even now in the unbelief toward Christ shown by those of the circumcision? For of old, though seeing him become man and work wonders among them, they did not behold him with the eyes of the soul or with the eyes of the understanding, nor was there in them any vision of intelligent reflection, to comprehend who, then, was that power which wrought among them so many and such great wonders.

And though counted worthy of receiving with their very own ears the words of eternal life, and hearing the voice of divine wisdom, they did not hear with the ears of the understanding — so that they brought upon themselves the plain fulfilment of the prophecy.

And even to this day, seeing the divine power of Christ so clearly displayed, by which he turned away every race of men from their ancestral superstition and led them into piety toward himself, they in no way fix their mind upon it, nor do they grasp how that which was accomplished by neither Moses nor the prophets after Moses, upon themselves alone — namely, the not worshipping idols and not attending to the deception of polytheism — has been established by the divine power of our Saviour among all the nations.

Moreover, when they encounter the prophetic testimonies concerning him, they hear indeed with the hearing, but they do not understand — the prophecy now before us being fulfilled against them in very deed even to this day. From Zechariah

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you, righteous and saving; he himself is meek, and mounted upon a beast of burden and a young colt. And he shall utterly destroy chariots out of Ephraim, and horse out of Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be utterly destroyed, and there shall be abundance of peace out of the nations; and he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth.

These things Zechariah prophesied after the return from Babylon, being among the last of the prophets; and it is recorded that no king arose among the Jews after the times of that prophecy such as the prophecy sets forth, except our Saviour and Lord alone, Jesus the Christ of God, in whom also this prediction found its fulfilment, when, speaking to his own disciples word for word, he said: "Go into the village opposite you, and you will find a donkey and a colt tied; loose it and bring it to me."

"And if anyone says to you, What are you doing? say to him, The Lord has need of them. And they went away and did as he had directed them." Such, then, is the manner of the prediction and of its fulfilment.

Now what, then, did his riding upon the donkey signify but his lowly and inglorious advent, according to which he made his first coming? For there is also a second, glorious coming, concerning which Daniel too, uncovering the vision more nakedly, has said: "I watched until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat; a thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. And behold, one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven."

"And he came even to the Ancient of Days, and to him was given dominion, and honour, and kingship, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed."

The signs of the first advent, that more human and lowly one, have, along with others, this too as a great proof and token: that he is called meek and quiet, and that he is prophesied to come mounted upon a beast of burden — for this would be a token of a common and human life. But the signs of the second, divine advent are most brilliantly declared through his being borne upon the clouds of heaven, and through the everlasting kingdom over all the nations.

And it would indeed have been good to set both prophecies side by side before those of the circumcision, and to demand of them an account of how they could preserve the prophecies while expecting but a single advent of Christ. For since they themselves also confess that they see Christ in each of the prophecies here cited, it is time for us to ask, and for them to answer us when we inquire, how it is possible for the same one to be borne, at one and the same time and under a single advent, upon the clouds of heaven, and also to ride upon a beast of burden and a young colt; for these things are widely separated from one another.

If, then, you gather together countless other such prophecies concerning Christ, and set them side by side and compare their diversely signified meanings, you will most clearly perceive that some contain indications of his first coming, fulfilled at his first appearing, while others refer to his second and glorious advent.

For at his first coming, the divine power of our Saviour secretly destroyed the chariots and the horse and every weapon of war belonging to the more bodily Jerusalem and to the people called Ephraim; wherefore, from that time even to this day, their kingdom has no longer stood, nor their military equipment and armed strength, once so mighty in wars.

And fittingly in these words he named the whole people of the Jews "Ephraim," and not Israel nor Judah, so as not to bring reproach upon the more venerable appellations.

You would find in the other prophecies too that the whole nation is named "Ephraim," with much reproach and accusation, just as here. After the return from Babylon, then, the people no longer being divided as before, whom was it likely that "Ephraim" should signify but those very people who dwelt in Jerusalem? — whose military and armed strength, which had endured until Roman times, the advent of our Saviour, by a divine and ineffable power, cast down, in agreement with the prophecy.

And these things the word announces as good news to the Church of the nations, bidding her not simply to rejoice, but to rejoice greatly, on account of the advent of the Word of God to her — whom it also calls the daughter of the heavenly Zion, or even of the former congregation, because all of us who from the nations have believed in the Christ of God are the offspring and children of Christ and of his apostles, as having come forth from the congregation of the Jews as from a mother.

And what follows was also fulfilled at the advent of our Saviour.

Peace, then, has come from the nations, since the time of his coming, such as never was before; for no longer do city war against city, as of old, nor do nation clash with nation, nor, as in ancient times, is the life of men in a state of disorder; nor do the Athenians campaign against the Lacedaemonians, nor the Syrians against the Phoenicians, nor the Arabians against the Palestinians, nor the Egyptians against their neighbours.

All things, by God's help, have been united since that time, and truly abundance of peace from the nations has come to be, from that time even to this day, in accordance with the prophecy. Jesus alone, and the word of the evangelical teaching proclaimed through him, has ruled over the peoples from the eastern sea to the western sea where the sun sets, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth, in accordance with what was foretold in the prophet.

These words Aquila also rendered somewhat in this manner, saying: "and he shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth." Compare these words with those in the Psalm entitled "For Solomon," concerning the son of the king — namely, him who was to come forth from the seed of Solomon — concerning whom the Psalm says: "and he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the inhabited world."

And the same Psalm also signifies the peace declared here, saying: "In his days shall righteousness arise, and abundance of peace." And Isaiah too agrees with these words, in what he says: "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles, and nation shall no longer take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

You would find Micah too in agreement with these, and several other of the prophets. But if you attend carefully, as I said, to the times, you will be able to perceive how, from the times of Augustus and the appearance of our Saviour that shone forth in his day, once the monarchy of the Romans prevailed, the ancient divisions and multiple rules of the nations were dissolved; and from that time onward, in this manner, the matters concerning the prophesied peace began to attain their fulfilment.

But for now it has only begun; there will be a time when the prophecy shall be brought to its most complete fulfilment, when the fullness of the nations shall have come in, as declared by the sacred Apostle. From Psalm 117

"The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner; this was from the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, save now; O Lord, prosper now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us."

When our Saviour Jesus Christ once entered into Jerusalem, at the time when, in fulfilment of the prophecy discussed before this, he was fulfilling the prediction in Zechariah by riding upon a donkey, according to the divine evangelist, the crowds who went before him and those who followed acclaimed him, saying, "Hosanna to the son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest."

And when he had entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

Since, then, the word "Hosanna" is taken from the Psalm just cited, which, being interpreted, signifies "Save now," while the Hebrew contains "Anna Adonai," as "Hosanna" — and since "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" has likewise been taken over from the same Psalm — and since these words have plainly been referred to the Christ of God, we have with good reason understood the rest of the prediction as referring to him also.

For he indeed happens to be the "blessed one," who is also named by another prophet "he who comes," the prophet who said: "Yet a little while, and he who comes will come, and will not delay" — he who has also come in the name of the Lord God and his own Father. And he himself would also be the "God, the Lord," who has appeared to us. It is in the name of his own Father, then, that he confesses he has come, saying to the Jews: "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive."

This same one, then, who has appeared to us as God the Lord, the blessed one, who came in the name of the Lord — he it was also the stone which those of old, who built up the people of the circumcision by the Mosaic teaching, rejected; and he, having been rejected by them, became the head of the corner — of another corner, that of the Church from the nations — which Church, as not seen by all but marvellous only to prophetic eyes, the oracle declares, saying, 'And it is marvellous in our eyes.'

And again it calls his manifestation 'the day' which the Lord made, since he himself was the true light, and the sun of righteousness, and the day of God; in which may it be given to us also to say, 'This is the day which the Lord made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' And now that these matters have been set forth summarily in this manner, it is time to pass on to the prophecies concerning his passion.