CHAPTER 3
The High Priest, the Chief Priests and many other
members of the Sanhedrin were completely unprepared, unable, and most
significantly, unqualified, to evaluate the incarnate Son of God’s claim to
deity. These were not spiritual men. The principle, “a natural man does not
accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised”,[1] was
much in evidence. On the other hand, as students of the T’nach they knew what
to look for in any Messianic claimant. They expected attesting miracles. “The
Jews require a sign”,[2]
wrote Paul. The Messiah provided multiple miracles to answer this requirement.
Initially, the identifying signs
of the Messiah were the same as those primary signs of Israel’s first Messiah/Deliverer,
Moses. He had said, “The Lord your
God will raise up for you a Prophet like
me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear”.[3] God’s choice of attesting signs of
Messiahship for Moses was not a random selection. The circumstances of Adam’s
transgression in the Garden of Eden dictated that God’s Messiah would have to
demonstrate that he had the power to deliver from the effects of the fall.
Namely, he would obtain victory over Satan where Adam knew defeat; and he would
provide forgiveness of sin where Satan had promoted judgement. This could not
be accomplished without cost, as the key Genesis 3.15 prophecy indicates. The seed of the woman would crush the
serpent’s head, but the serpent would crush the heel of the woman’s seed. In other words, the Devil would inflict a
severe wound on the Messiah and the Messiah would inflict a mortal wound on
Satan. The design of the Messianic miracles
therefore, had to symbolise (1) the subjugation of Satan, (2a) authority to
judge sin, (2b) authority to forgive sin, and (3) the ultimate defeat of Satan
at personal cost to the Messiah.
God gave Moses power to perform such authenticating
miracles as were needed to convince the elders of Israel that YHWH had commissioned
him to deliver them from slavery. These miracles were later re-enforced by
other additional signs when God dealt with Pharaoh’s obdurate opposition, and
when He miraculously sustained the nation as they journeyed through the
inhospitable territory of the Sinai desert.
The Sanhedrin expected Messianic claimants to
perform miracles of the calibre of the primary attesting signs of Moses, as
well as other miraculous works.
While the ministry of Moses was accredited by
miracles that had the symbolism of future truth, (they were a type or shadow of
future reality), the signs authenticating the ministry of the Redeemer of
Israel had to be of the same character but much more. The Messiah’s miracles
were the anti-type, the reality of that which had been foreshadowed. It was not
enough that His miracles should imply He was more powerful than the Devil, they
should demonstrate the impotence of Satan in His presence and be part of the
victory. His signs should not simply
symbolise the forgiveness of sin; they should display His authority to forgive
sin.
What is involved here is a matter of life and death. In the Garden, Satan, the Father of lies,
said, “You surely will not die”. [4] Moses, the historian, in the first volume of
the Pentateuch, highlights the veracity of God and the mendacity of the
Devil. The life spans of the Patriarchs
are listed with the refrain, “and he died”.
The early history includes a global demonstration of the catastrophic
effect of sin: “… all in whose nostrils was the breath of life died”. [5] Against this dark backdrop, the miraculous
ministry of the Messiah must be life-imparting, life-affirming and
life-improving. The result of His
ministry must be, ‘In Messiah shall all be made alive”.[6]
The
first primary attesting sign - the serpent in subjection.
Because of his activity in Eden, the serpent was ‘cursed’ and punished.
Since it had exalted itself above its allotted estate, God threw it to the
ground, commanding, “on your belly you shall go”,[7]
imposing the mark of deepest degradation.[8] However, when God spoke to the reptile, and
pronounced a curse upon it, He was not addressing the irrational beast so much
as the spiritual Tempter. The punishment that fell upon the serpent was merely
a symbol of the punishment of the unseen agent of evil. The prophecy of Genesis
3.15, supported by later clarifying Scriptures, makes it clear that the casting
down of the serpent was in fact a judgement on Satan: “I will put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise His heel”.
Keil and Delitzsch in their commentary[9]
suggest the construction of the Hebrew clarifies who is in view in the
prophecy. In examining Genesis 3.15,
they observe that in the first clause, the seed of the serpent is opposed to
the seed of the woman, but in the second clause, the seed of the woman gains
victory over the serpent itself. “It, (the seed of the woman), will crush your
head, and you (not your seed) will crush its heel. Thus the seed of the serpent
is hidden behind the unity of the serpent, or rather of the foe who, through
the serpent, has done such injury to man. This foe is Satan, who incessantly
opposes the seed of the woman and bruises its heel, but is eventually to be
trodden under its feet”. The death of the Messiah is in view here.
To equate the Edenic serpent with Satan is
Scriptural. The book of Revelation
describes the Prince of fallen angels as, “the great dragon” and, “that old
serpent”, and gives his names, “the Devil, and Satan”.[10]
The casting down of the serpent in the Garden, representing the casting down of
Satan, followed an earlier event that the Messiah had witnessed: “I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven”.[11]
Ezekiel described it more fully: “I cast
you as a profane thing out of
the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering
cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of
your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour; I cast you to the ground”.[12] Here, God judged pride and undisciplined
personal ambition. The language of this
prophecy, while naming the king of Tyre,
rises beyond any earthly ruler to describe events surrounding the fall of
Satan. There are further defeats for Satan yet to come and he will be thrown down again (to the earth),[13] and again (into the bottomless pit),[14] and again (into the lake of fire).[15]
The first attesting sign given to Moses was for a
symbolic re-enactment of the casting down of Satan, to demonstrate the power
and authority of God over the Devil, a power and authority delegated to His
chosen servant. “So the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? He said, A rod.
And He said, Cast it on the ground.
So he cast it on the ground, and it
became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, Reach out your hand and take it by the tail (and he reached out
his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), that they may believe
that the Lord God of their
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has
appeared to you.”[16]
Not only did Moses enact this for the elders of Israel,
but also re-enacted it before Pharaoh.
The Pharaohs of Egypt wore an image of the serpent on their diadem, as
the symbol of royal and divine power. The Pharaoh, before whom Moses and Aaron
appeared, was Satan’s instrument to hold God’s people in slavery. The grip of
Satan had to be broken if the nation of Israel was to be freed. The first act of Israel’s Deliverer was a challenge
to Satan. Aaron cast down Moses’ rod,
symbol of the defeat of Satan, and it became a serpent. The court sorcerers
imitated the miracle with their rods, which also became serpents. However,
Moses with the delegated power of God at his disposal, had control, not only
over his serpent but also over the serpents of the court magicians. This meant
he had power over the Egyptian sorcerers too. Pharaoh’s attempt to discredit
the sign failed. Moses’ power over the serpents and the court magicians further
implied power over Pharaoh, Satan’s tool, and beyond that, power over
Satan.
The
second primary attesting sign - mastery over leprosy
Because of Satanic activity, our
first parents had disobeyed the clear command of God and incurred the
consequence that God said would follow, “…in the day that you eat of it you
shall surely die”.[17] They did not immediately fall to ground but
were subject to a ‘living death’, a process of dying; the Hebrew could be
translated, “dying you will die”. Leprosy,
also called ‘the living death’, was considered a visual of the stroke of God in
the Garden. The Hebrew for leprosy, ‘tsara’ath’,
is related to the Arabic word that signifies ‘to strike down or scourge’.
Tsara’ath (leprosy) is considered the scourge of God. This truth is re-emphasised in the T’nach
where God judged individuals who rebelled against His will and struck them with
leprosy. When Miriam rebelled, “... the
anger of the LORD was aroused …and … suddenly, Miriam became leprous, as white
as snow”.[18] Uzziah
contracted leprosy when he discarded the priestly protocol contained in the
Mosaic law: “leprosy broke out on his forehead … because the LORD had struck
him”.[19]
Two words
that are strongly connected with leprosy are ‘naga’ (touch, reach, strike); and
its derivative ‘nega’ (stroke, plague, disease).
In Leviticus chapter
13, there are instructions for the diagnosis of leprosy, and in chapter 14 instructions
for the performing of the rituals required in the case of recovered
lepers. In these two chapters ‘nega’,
translated ‘plague’ in the KJV and sometimes ‘plague’ and sometimes ‘sore’ in
the NKJV, is used some eighty times.
Again, the connection is - the plague (nega) of leprosy is the visual of
the stroke of God. In Isaiah 53, both
these words occur, but there the plague is sin, and because of that plague,
God’s Messiah must suffer God’s stroke. Of the Suffering Servant it says, “He
was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people,
to whom the stroke was due”.[20] And again, “Surely he has borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted”.[21]
One commentary suggests that “in every other passage in which it does not occur
in the special sense of leprosy, (it) points back to the generic idea of a
plague divinely sent”.[22] So strong was the connection of leprosy to
sin, and because these words, which were frequently used in the special case of
leprosy, were used of the Suffering Servant, some ancients implied that the
Messiah became leprous. This, of course,
has no scriptural warrant. Nevertheless,
it identifies the strong connection of sin to leprosy and is further evidence that
leprosy was accepted as the visual manifestation of the stroke of God against
sin.
According to the Pentateuch, it
was the duty of the priests “to distinguish between holy and unholy and between
clean and unclean”.[23] Since leprosy was emblematic of sin (that is,
the outward and visible sign of inner spiritual corruption), the leper was
‘unclean’ as well as ill, ‘unclean’ here being associated with ‘unholy’. If he recovered, the priest would declare him
‘clean’. Being unclean/unholy, separated the leper from the Tabernacle, from
the Temple,
from God, and from God’s people. The Rabbis traced disease to moral causes: “no
death without sin, and no pain without transgression”,[24]
so they took a mainly moral view of the disease and only secondarily a sanitary
view. Because leprosy represented sin, the priest could not pronounce a
recovered leper clean until atonement had been made for his soul. The ceremony included, on the first day, two
clean birds, one sacrificed and one set free; and on the eighth day a trespass
offering, a sin offering, a meat offering and a burnt offering.
The instructions in the Law demanded that the
leper be separated from ordinary social contact, with the further requirement
that he had to warn any that came near, that to touch him would render them
unclean, defiled, and unholy.
Here then is the sense of the second attesting
sign for God’s Deliverer – he must have mastery over leprosy, symbolising that
he has the answer to sin. He must be
able to cleanse the defiled and return the sinner to fellowship both with God
and with the people of God. Accordingly, God said to Moses, “Now put your hand
in your bosom. And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out,
behold, his hand was leprous,
like snow. And He said, Put your hand in your bosom again. So he put his hand
in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored
like his other flesh. Then it
will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign,
that they may believe the message of the latter sign”.[25]
It should not be overlooked that the sign
involving leprosy was both positive and negative. The personal action of Moses
inflicted leprosy and healed it. This suggests not only the possibility of
forgiveness for sin but also punishment for sin. The examples of Miriam, Uzziah
and Gehazi are pertinent here. God,
through Moses, incorporated the principle suggested by this sign into the legal
framework imposed on the Jewish nation. The Law was the agent to awaken the
knowledge of sin.[26] Before the Law, sin was not imputed to the
sinner,[27]
but it was the introduction of the Law that made him culpable. So, if on the one hand animal sacrifices
could obtain forgiveness for sin, on the other hand, failure to comply with the
Law carried with it severe penalties, even capital punishment. For example, “… you are to observe the
sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that
person shall be cut off from among his people”.[28]
The third primary attesting sign – water into
blood
The two signs should have been sufficient, but in
the event that the elders asked for another, God provided one more. He said, “then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message
of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. And it
shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice,
that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land.
The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land”.[29]
Since “the life of the flesh is in the blood”,[30]
spilt blood means a life taken. The
first Biblical reference to blood on the ground is the record of a violent,
premature death. The spilt blood of Abel
had a voice that called for justice against his murderer: – “And (the Lord) said, What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries
out to Me from the ground.”[31] In the last book of the Bible the example is
repeated, where the blood of the martyrs call for justice[32]. When Moses poured out water from the Nile, it too became blood on the ground and because of
the slaughter of the innocents, when young male Israelite babies were murdered
in its waters,[33] its
voice also cried to God for justice against Pharaoh. If the elders of Israel will not call for a
Deliverer to deal with the Egyptian ruler, then the blood of the innocents
will! This truth would not escape Moses
since he had himself been abandoned to the Nile.
Furthermore, if the blood were the blood of a
sacrifice, then that would be evidence that an animal had died a
substitutionary death. This, in fact, is the context of the Leviticus
quotation, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood”, for the text continues,
“and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for
it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”[34]
The book of Genesis is the narrative of how death
reigned because sin reigned.[35] But in amongst the record of the decease of
countless individuals, there are other events that indicate how both physical
and spiritual death would, in due course, be conquered. They point to
overcoming death by:
Since the third sign is blood on
the ground, we turn our attention to the truth of substitution, for it alone
involves the shedding of blood. This is
in harmony with the narrative in Genesis, for the truth of ‘substitution’ has
precedence, first by implication when animal skins were supplied to ‘cover’ the
shame of Adam and Eve;[40]
and then more clearly in the sacrifice of lambs by Abel,[41]
and then most clearly in the substitution of a ram for Isaac.[42]
Then in Exodus, the substitutionary death of a sacrifice
became the cornerstone of the Mosaic economy. Examples include the
substitutionary death of what later came to be known as the ‘Passover lamb’.
Each family was required to kill a perfect lamb, and then ritually paint its
blood on the lintel and two side posts of the doorway to their home. This would protect the first-born of the
family from the stroke of God. The ‘covering’ of the first-born by spilt blood
was such a momentous event that it was to be remembered and celebrated annually
until the substitutionary Lamb of God, Jesus Messiah, died for the sins of the
world.[43] Moreover, His sacrificial, substitutionary
death which replaced the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, is itself commemorated
in the ordinance of the Church in the sharing of bread and wine in a symbolic
feast.
Out of the exodus of Israel
from Egypt
arose a whole raft of new laws that related to the moral and spiritual state of
the nation. These included many more
substitutionary offerings. These
offerings indicated that Moses had some means of dealing with sin that allowed
Israelite offenders to be cleansed from defilement and restored to fellowship
with God. Under the Levitical code, the last
two of the five sacrificial offerings, the trespass offering[44]
and the sin offering,[45]
were to make propitiation and expiation for sin. While they are the last named
in the short catalogue of five offerings to the Lord, they were usually offered
first. The sacrifice of the trespass
offering appeased YHWH for sins committed.
The sacrifice of the sin offering obtained forgiveness for the sinner. The
first dealt with the sinful actions of the Israelite, the second dealt with his
sinful condition. These offerings were, of course, only a temporary answer to
sin. Animal blood could never remove sin only cover it.[46] It is the blood of Jesus/Messiah, God’s Son,
which alone atones for sin and restores the sinner.[47]
And let us not fail to notice that the third
attesting sign used water. Under Torah regulations, the primary cleansing agent
is blood. Ritual purity needed blood
rather than water, for “according to the law almost all things are purified
with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission”.[48] But
sometimes water was the cleansing agent.
The rules of ablution, incorporating the constant bathing of the priests
and the washing of vessels, were particularly strict. The national place of worship, the
Tabernacle, had two pieces of furniture in the outer court, a laver and an
altar. In the ritual that took place in the Tabernacle, the laver provided the
cleansing agent water, and the sacrificial altar provided the cleansing agent,
blood.
There were times when the ritual needed both
blood and water. For example, the leper needed both to be clean: “He who is to
be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be
clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent
seven days,”[49] and “the
priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and
the priest shall put it on the
tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right
hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.”[50]
Also, the ritual for the cleansing of a house used the two agents, blood and
water. “And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and
the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and
the scarlet.”[51]
The Signs as Forensic Evidence
The language used of the
attesting signs is the language used of witnesses. The KJV uses the word “voice” - “the voice of
the first sign” and “the voice of the latter sign”. Under the Mosaic Law, two witnesses were
enough for a matter to be established.[52] The first of the two witnesses was Moses (“if
they will not believe … your voice”).
The witness of Moses was his testimony.
He had been present at the miracle of the burning bush, he had heard the
voice of God, he had received the attesting signs, and YHWH had commissioned
him.[53] The second voice was the witness of the first
of the miraculous acts that God had given Moses to perform before the elders of
Israel,
that is, the casting down of the rod to change it into a serpent.
Three witnesses would be stronger, namely, (i)
the testimony of Moses, (ii) the sign of the serpent rod (the first attesting
sign), and (iii) the sign of leprosy inflicted and cured (the second attesting
sign).[54]
If they refused the testimony of the three witnesses, then God instructed Moses
to take water from the Nile and turn it into
blood on the ground. This sign later became the first plague. Moreover, when he
changed the water of the river (itself widely used as a cleansing agent) into
blood, (the primary ritual cleansing agent), he foreshadowed an act of the Lord
Jesus. John chapter 2 describes how the Messiah changed the water, used for the
Jewish rites of purification, into wine that would be used by the Messiah to
symbolise His spilt blood, which was shed as the cleansing agent for sin.
So
Moses had four ‘voices’ to testify that he was God’s chosen Deliverer. Two or three witnesses would have been enough
but YHWH provided four - four is the number of completeness – there was no
doubt!
Summary of the four voices (witnesses).
1.
The personal eyewitness testimony of Moses.
2.
The first attesting sign - the serpent rod miracle –
symbolising the serpent in subjection (i.e. victory over Satan)
3.
The second attesting sign – leprosy inflicted and cured
–symbolising sin imputed and cleansed.
4.
The third attesting sign – water becoming blood on the
ground - representing violent, premature, death, which will be the cost paid
for victory over Satan (first attesting sign) and the cleansing from sin
(second attesting sign).
The Acceptance of the
Authenticating Signs
Moses performed the signs for the elders and
convinced them of God’s intentions.[55] The attesting signs had accomplished their
purpose, and Israel’s leaders
accepted Moses as God’s choice to be Guide, Deliverer and Mediator for Israel.
Other miracles followed in the wake of the primary, authenticating, signs, such
as the plagues upon the Egyptians (from blood throughout Egypt to the death of the firstborn), and
blessings on Israel
(the living water from the rock, and bread from heaven). But these were
subsequent to, and consequent of, the major attesting signs.
Having isolated the principle attesting signs of
Messiahship, we can now return to our enquiry. What evidence did Jesus offer to
support His claim that He was, in fact, the Messiah, prophesied by Moses and
timetabled by Gabriel through Daniel?
1.
Did He have a personal eyewitness testimony similar to
Moses?
2.
Did He have the serpent in subjection? That is, did He
have power over Satan?
3.
Did He have mastery over leprosy? That is, did He have
the answer to sin?
4.
Would there be blood on the ground? That is, would He
pay the price?
In respect of 1, on many
occasions Jesus testified to His personal relationship with God, using the
phrase ‘my Father’ frequently,[56] –
but the focus of our enquiry is the physical evidence of the signs (Nos. 2,3
& 4).
[1] 1 Cor.2.14
[2] 1 Cor.1.22
[3] Deut.18.15
[4] Gen.3.4
[6] 1
Cor.15.22
[7] Gen.3.14
[8]
Lev.11.42
[9]
Commentary on the Old Testament – originally published by T.& T. Clark, Edinburgh 1866-91; reprinted by Hendrickson Publishers,
Inc. Massachusetts
[10]
Rev.12.9; 20.2
[11] Luke
10.18
[12]
Ezek.28.16,17
[13]
Rev.12.9
[14]
Rev.20.3
[15]
Rev.20.10
[16]
Exod.4.2-5
[17]
Gen.2.17
[18]
Numb.12.9,10
[19] 2
Chron.26.19,20
[20] Isaiah
53.8 (NASB)
[21] Isaiah
53.4
[22] Keil
& Delitzsch on Isaiah 53.8.
[23]
Lev.10.10,11
[24] Shabb.5a
[25] Exod.
4.6-8
[26]
Rom.3.20
[27]
Rom.5.13
[28] Exod.31.14; cf. 12.15,19; 30.33,38;
Lev.7.20,21,25,27; 17.4,9,14; et al
[29] Exod.4.8,9
[30] Lev.17.11; cf. Gen.9.4,5; Lev.17.14;
Deut.12.23
[31] Gen.4.10
[33] Exod.1.22
[34] Lev.17.11
[35] Rom.5.13,14
[36] Gen.22.13
[37] Gen.5.24
[38] Gen.7.1 ff
[39] Heb.11.19
[40] Gen.3.21
[41] Gen.4.4
[42] Gen.22.13
[43] 1 Cor.5,7
[45] Leviticus chapter 4
[46] Heb.10.4,11
[47] Heb.10.10-14
[48] Heb.9.22
[49] Lev.14.8
[50] Lev.14.14
[51] Lev.14.52
[52] Deut.19.15
[53] Exod.3.1 ff
[54] Deut.19.15
[55] Exod.4.29-31
[56] 35 times
in John’s Gospel, including ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10.35)
