Course 1, Chapter 44: A general summary and application of the promises, figures and prophecies, to our Lord Jesus Christ

1. Why did God from the beginning of the world promise a Redeemer to man?

God promised a Redeemer to man from the beginning of the world: 1 st, to prevent him from losing courage and yielding to despair; 2d, to teach him to sanctify his actions and prayers, by uniting them to those of the Redeemer to come, and thereby secure his salvation.

2. To whom was the promise of the Redeemer first made?

The promise of the Redeemer was first made to Adam, when the Lord said to the serpent: She shall crush thy head.

3. To whom was the second promise made?

The second promise was made to Abraham. The Lord said to him: In thy seed all nation shall IK*

blessed. This promise restricts his coming to the posterity of Abraham.

4. To whom was the third promise made?

The third promise was made to Isaac; this proa ise excludes all the other children of Abraham.

5. The fourth?

The fourth was made to Jacob; this excludes Esau and his descendants.

6. The fifth?

The fifth was made to Juda by his father when on his death-bed. Hence, it is only in the tribe of Juda we must look for the Messiah.

7. To whom was the last promise made?

The last promise was made to David; and it shows us that the Redeemer of the world would be born in the family of this holy king.

8. Continue.

After having conducted us, step by step, and, as it were, by the hand, down to the family of David, God ceases to give any further promise of a Redeemer. But he is not satisfied with simply promising a Redeemer; he traces for us his likeness, by which we may know him among the many children of David.

9. Why was it necessary for God to trace for us, in advance, the likeness of the Redeemer?

It was necessary in order that men might be enabled to recognize him when he should come, and not be exposed to take for the Messiah the first impostor who would give himself out as such.

10. How has God given us the likeness or description of the Messiah?

God has given us the likeness or description of the Messiah, in two ways- 1st, by figures; 2d, by prophecies. By figures: in Adam the Messiah is represented to us as the father of the new world; in Abel, he is represented as put to death by his brethren; in Isaac, as offered in sacrifice on Calvary, bv the hand of his own father: in the paschal lamb and the

113 CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE.

manna, as saving men from the exterminating angel, and nourishing them with food from heaven; in the brazen serpent, as elevated on the cross, and healing our wounds received from the infernal serpent.

11. Continue.

In David, overcoming a giant, notwithstanding the inequality of his strength; persecuted by an unnatural son, and ascending, barefooted and weeping, the mountain of Olives: in Jonas, preaching penance to the Jews, who refuse to hear him, remaining three days and nights in the depths of the sea, then coming forth full of life, and preaching to the Gentiles, who are converted.

Q What is the second manner?

A. The second manner in which God gives us the likeness or description of the Messiah, is the prophecies. They dissipate every cloud, and finish what the figures had but sketched.

12. What say the prophets?

The prophets, in speaking of the Messiah, designate him thus: " he will be born at Bethlehem, of a mother ever virgin, when the sceptre of David will have passed into the hands of a stranger prince; he will be adored in his cradle by kings, who will offer him presents of gold and perfumes; on the occasion of his birth, the little children of Bethlehem will be put to death; he wrill retire into Egypt, he will be mildness itself; he will cure the sick, and raise the dead; he will f^ter, in triumph, into Jerusalem, seated upon an ass, followed by its foal; he will enter the second temple; the Jews will deny him."

13. What further do they say?

They say, further, that "the Messiah will be betrayed by one of those who eat at his table; he will be sold for thirty pieces of silver; this silver will be carried back into the temple, and given to a potter; he will be insulted, and covered with spittle; his hands and feet will be pierced, and he will not as much as

open his mouth to complain; he will be placed between two malefactors; he will have vinegar to drink; his clothes will be divided, and lots cast for his robe."

Q Continue.

A. " He will be put to death; and that, says Daniel, will happen in four hundred and ninety years; he will remain three days in his sepulchre; he will come forth from it, full of life, will ascend into heaven and will send down the Holy Ghost upon his disciples; finally, he will convert all nations. To punish the Jews for having put him to death, their temple and their city will be destroyed, and they themselves shall be wanderers and vagabonds throughout the whole /arth, until towards the close of the world."

14. Who, therefore, is the Messiah?

The description given by the prophets leads us directly to Bethlehem, and we recognize, as the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary to whom, and to whom alone, the description corresponds in every particular.

15. To whom did God entrust the safe-keeping of all these astonishing prophecies?

A It was to the very Jews themselves, the sworn enemies of Jesus Christ, that God entrusted the safekeeping of the prophecies, which prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah whom they have rejected; and by an unheard of prodigy, the Jews preserve most religiously these prophecies; they, love them, they defend them, and carry them with them all over the earth.