Israel’s “Prince for Ever” — “One King,” “One Shepherd,” “The Son of David”: That is, Jesus Christ -
As the time draws on for the return of the Lord, there is renewed interest in the prophecy of Ezekiel which speaks of his mission as the “Son of Man” anointed with the Holy Spirit and power to resurrect and reorganise “the whole house of Israel.” He is “the Prince” of Ezekiel’s prophecies, who takes the throne of David vacated by the “profane and wicked prince of Israel,” King Zedekiah (Ezek. 21:25–27). Some Christians have a difficulty in receiving some of the things that are testified concerning “the prince,” on the understanding that Jesus Christ is he. So they imagine another prince, with consequences disastrous to the divine purpose, could the imagination only be translated into fact.
But that cannot be, and we devote a very few words here to establishing for the hundredth time the fact that “the Prince” of Israel in the age to come is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of the angel Gabriel to Daniel really settle the matter in a single phrase: “THE MESSIAH, THE PRINCE” (Dan. 9:25). And the word of God by Ezekiel is scarcely less definite: “Thus saith the Lord God; . . . I will make (the children of Israel) one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and ONE KING shall be King to them all . . . David (the Beloved) my servant (“the Son of David—Luke 1:32, 33) shall be King over them; and they shall all have ONE SHEPHERD; and my servant David shall be their PRINCE FOR EVER” (Ezek. 37:21, 22, 24, 25). “The Prince,” then, is “the Messiah,” “the King,” “the Son of David,” “the Good Shepherd,” and “the Resurrection and the Life” who lives “for ever.” The Lord Jesus Christ says he is all these. There is not only not the least reason for reading another person into the title “the prince” in the Temple vision; there is not the least possibility of so doing in harmony with the other scriptures. It would not be difficult to make out a charge of constructive treason against any who should maintain that “the Prince” in the Father’s House of Prayer for all nations is some hitherto unknown man, and not Jesus Christ.
Purity
As the time draws on for the return of the Lord, there is renewed interest in the prophecy of Ezekiel which speaks of his mission as the “Son of Man” anointed with the Holy Spirit and power to resurrect and reorganise “the whole house of Israel.” He is “the Prince” of Ezekiel’s prophecies, who takes the throne of David vacated by the “profane and wicked prince of Israel,” King Zedekiah (Ezek. 21:25–27). Some Christians have a difficulty in receiving some of the things that are testified concerning “the prince,” on the understanding that Jesus Christ is he. So they imagine another prince, with consequences disastrous to the divine purpose, could the imagination only be translated into fact.
But that cannot be, and we devote a very few words here to establishing for the hundredth time the fact that “the Prince” of Israel in the age to come is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of the angel Gabriel to Daniel really settle the matter in a single phrase: “THE MESSIAH, THE PRINCE” (Dan. 9:25). And the word of God by Ezekiel is scarcely less definite: “Thus saith the Lord God; . . . I will make (the children of Israel) one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and ONE KING shall be King to them all . . . David (the Beloved) my servant (“the Son of David—Luke 1:32, 33) shall be King over them; and they shall all have ONE SHEPHERD; and my servant David shall be their PRINCE FOR EVER” (Ezek. 37:21, 22, 24, 25). “The Prince,” then, is “the Messiah,” “the King,” “the Son of David,” “the Good Shepherd,” and “the Resurrection and the Life” who lives “for ever.” The Lord Jesus Christ says he is all these. There is not only not the least reason for reading another person into the title “the prince” in the Temple vision; there is not the least possibility of so doing in harmony with the other scriptures. It would not be difficult to make out a charge of constructive treason against any who should maintain that “the Prince” in the Father’s House of Prayer for all nations is some hitherto unknown man, and not Jesus Christ.
Purity