Page:Jesus of Nazareth the story of His life simply told (1917).djvu/39

 Therefore, even before He came, God would have men know something of Him to whom the whole human family owes all the happiness it has in this life as well as all it hopes for in the next. They could not know Him as fully as we do who have the story of His Life in our hands and can study it every day if we will. But it is wonderful how much God did tell men by means of His prophets. These were holy men to whom He showed now this event, now that in the Life of Him who was to come. Were we to put together all that the prophets told of Him, we should find His Life was written hundreds of years before He came.

Men knew He was to be of the race of Abraham, therefore a Jew, of the Tribe of Judah, of the family of David.

His Mother was to be a Virgin: "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is God with us."

He was to be born in Bethlehem: "And thou, Bethlehem, art a little one among the thousands of Juda; out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be the Ruler in Israel."

He would be meek and humble of Heart, compassionate and forgiving. "I will seek that which was lost, and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak."

He would go about doing good: "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free."

In spite of His wonderful works and His miracles of