Isaiah Proclaims the Christ

Isaiah Proclaims the Christ as told by Eusebius "Lord, who hath believed our report? And the arm of the Lord to whom hath it been revealed? We proclaimed him before as a child, as a root in a thirsty soil." (Isaiah 53:1-2a) Eusebius (263 -339 AD) wrote the following in his book The Proof of the Gospel, in explanation of these passages from Isaiah: This miracle of our Lord's birth Isaiah teaches sometimes mysteriously, and sometimes more plainly. The verses above are "mysteriously". Aquila interpreted these verses thus: "And he shall be proclaimed as a suckling before his face, and as a root from an untrodden ground." And Theodotion: "And he shall go up as a suckling before him, and as a root in a thirsty land." For in this passage, the prophet having mentioned "the Arm of the Lord," which was the Word of God, says: "In his sight we have proclaimed (him) as a sucking child, and one nurtured at the breast, and as a root from untrodden ground." The child that is "a suckling and nurtured at the breast" exactly therefore shews forth the birth of Christ, and "the thirsty and untrodden land" the Virgin that bare Him, whom no man had known, from whom albeit untrodden sprang up "the blessed root," and "the sucking child that was nurtured by the breast." But this prophecy was darkly and obscurely given: the same prophet explains his meaning more plainly, when he says: "Behold a Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name God with us," (Isaiah 7:14) for Emmanuel signifies this. Such were the thoughts of the Hebrews long ago about the birth of Christ among men. Do they, then, describe in their prophecy some famous prince or tyrant, or some one in any other class of those who have great power in earthly things? One cannot say so, for no such man appeared. But as He was in His life, so they prophesied that He would be, in no way failing in truth. For Isaiah said: "We proclaimed him before, as a child, as a root in thirsty soil." We hope you enjoyed understanding the biblical proclamations of Isaiah through the eyes of the early church. The more you study the history of the early and historic church the more you'll see their depth of understanding regarding the Christ. Here's one more tidbit for today (and notice how it was understood that all had been accomplished, and how, generation after generation, they understood that we live in the enduring fulfillment of Christ's great victory): The Prophets foretold the coming of a prophet and the religion of a lawgiver like Moses, his race, his tribe, and the place he should come from, and they prophesied the time of his appearance, his birth, and death, and resurrection, as well as his rule over all the Gentiles, and all those things have been accomplished, and will continue to be accomplished in the sequence of events, since they find their completion in our Lord and Savior alone. Eusebius (263 - 339 AD) from The Proof of the Gospel And now my usual reminder to never forget the purpose behind the COCG mission to increase daily scripture reading amongst the body: "We cannot know Jesus personally or his plan for our lives without reading the Bible." (St. Jerome 347-420 AD) And also, that only a return to the Scriptures of the early and historic Church will produce the kind of results of which St. Jerome speaks. Modern Bibles with their notes based on silly fables simply won't cut it! Indeed, with our Spiritual Fitness Program, you will engage yourself in reading Scripture as it was read for 1900 years, simply and easily through our unique New Testament compilation which contains over 1,250 notes based on the teaching of the early and historic church. As you consider participating in the Spiritual Fitness Program, remember that you are not a sinner by nature, but are created good (Genesis 1:31) and choose, of your own free will, to humble yourself and faithfully accept the one and only way into Heaven, Jesus Christ; or choose, of your own free will, to blaspheme the heavenly order and force your own blotting out of the Book of Life. To choose the first way of those "poor in spirit" saints who through their example have provided a good report, sign up here to engage yourself in this most noble task of building your relationship with Jesus Christ.