From Splendor to Shadow

The True Character of the Messiah Revealed

With prophetic vision David had foreseen that the coming of Christ should be “as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.” 2 Samuel 23:4. And Hosea testified, “His going forth is prepared as the morning.” Hosea 6:3. Quietly and gently the daylight breaks on the earth, dispelling the darkness and waking the earth to life. Isaiah exclaimed: SS 356.2

Unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given:
And the government shall be upon His shoulder:
And His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

The steadfast among the Jewish nation strengthened their faith by dwelling on these and similar passages. They read how the Lord would anoint One “to preach good tidings unto the meek,” “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,” and to declare “the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah 61:1, 2. Yet with sadness and deep humiliation of soul they traced the words in the prophetic roll: SS 356.3

He is despised and rejected of men;
A Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
And we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He hath borne our griefs,
And carried our sorrows:
Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted ... .

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned everyone to his own way;
And the Lord hath laid on Him
The iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6

As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was to suffer under divine justice. Through the psalmist the Redeemer had prophesied of Himself: SS 357.1

Reproach hath broken My heart;
And I am full of heaviness:
I looked for someone to take pity,
But there was none;
And for comforters,
But I found none.
They gave Me also gall for My meat;
And in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.
Psalm 69:20, 21

He prophesied: “They pierced My hands and My feet. I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon Me. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.” Psalm 22:16-18. SS 357.2

These portrayals of the bitter suffering and cruel death of the Promised One, sad though they were, were rich in promise; for “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” and put Him to grief, in order that He might become “an offering for sin.” Isaiah 53:10. SS 357.3

Love for sinners led Christ to pay the price of redemption. None other could ransom men and women from the power of the enemy. In His life no self-assertion was mingled. The homage which the world gives to position, to wealth, and to talent, was to be foreign to the Son of God. None of the means that men employ to win allegiance was the Messiah to use. His renunciation of self was foreshadowed in the words: SS 358.1

He shall not cry,
Nor lift up,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall He not break,
And the smoking flax shall He not quench.
Isaiah 42:2, 3