Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/327



THE PRINCE OF PEACE 311

ideal King in this prophecy. He alone, among the sons of men, can be described as the true Tsaddik the Righteous One, who did no violence, nor was deceit found in His mouth ; the One who always loved righteousness and hated iniquity, whose purity and beauty of character is borne witness to even by those who have not learned to bow their knees in allegiance before Him as the Son of God.

(d} The Lord Jesus Christ, for us men and our salvation also became " poor " and " afflicted " so poor that He Himself could say : " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head."

(e) And of Him alone also is it true that He is endowed with, and is the bringer of, salvation, because He was Himself " saved " or " delivered," or " made victorious " (as some would render) in the great conflict which He came to wage on our behalf with the powers of darkness. " He trusted in Jehovah that He would deliver Him," l and the chief priests and scribes taunted Him with it on the cross, saying : " Let Him deliver Him now if He desireth Him : if He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him : He saved others, Himself He cannot save! 2 Thus in their blindness and ignorance uttering unconsciously an eternal truth, for it was because He came to save others, and His life, as He Himself had predicted, had to be laid down " a ransom for many," that He could not save Himself.

But though He willingly drank the cup of shame and sorrow which the Father had given Him to drink, and was not delivered from the death on the cross, " He was delivered in very deed from the hand of the great destroyer, for God raised Him from the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." 3 Thus He was saved by the almighty power of the Father, " and declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. And because He

1 Ps. xxii. 8. a Matt, xxvii. 39-43. * Acts ii. 23, 24.