quite other than that, to which the faith and hope of the Church have clung.

1. The most important point here is to keep in mind the organic unity of the Old

Testament. Its predictions are not isolated, but features of one grand prophetic picture; its

ritual and institutions parts of one great system; its history, not loosely connected events,

but an organic development tending towards a definite end. Viewed in its innermost

substance, the history of the Old Testament is not different from its typical institutions,

nor yet these two from its predictions. The idea, underlying all, is God's gracious

manifestation in the world - the Kingdom of Go d; the meaning of all - the establishment

of this Kingdom upon earth. That gracious purpose was, so to speak, individualized, and

the Kingdom actually established in the Messiah. Both the fundamental and the final

relationship in view was that of God towards man, and of man towards God: the former

as expressed by the word Father; the latter by that of Servant - or rather the combination

of the two ideas: 'Son-Servant.' This was already implied in the so-called Protevangel;1

and in this sense also the words of Jesus hold true: 'Before Abraham came into being, I

But, narrowing our survey to where the history of the Kingdom of God begins with that

of Abraham, it was indeed as Jesus said: 'Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should

see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.'2 For, all that followed from Abraham to the

Messiah was one, and bore this twofold impress: heavenwards, that of Son; earthwards,

that of Servant. Israel was God's Son - His 'first-born;' their history that of the children of

God; their institutions those of the family of God; their predictions those of the household

of God. And Israel was also the Servant of God - 'Jacob My Servant;' and its history,

institutions, and predictions those of the Servant of the Lord. Yet not merely Servant, but

Son-Servant - 'anointed' to such service. This idea was, so to speak, crystallised in the

three great representative institutions of Israel. The 'Servant of the Lord' in relation to

Israel's history was Kingship in Israel; the 'Servant of the Lord' in relation to Israel's ritual

ordinances was the Priesthood in Israel; the 'Servant of the Lord' in relation to prediction

was the Prophetic order. But all sprang from the same fundamental idea: that of the

'Servant of Jehovah.'

One step still remains. The Messiah and His history are not presented in the Old

Testament as something separate from, or superadded to, Israel. The history, the

institutions, and the predictions of Israel run up into Him.3 He is the typical Israelite, nay,

typical Israel itself - alike the crown, the completion, and the representative of Israel. He

is the Son of God and the Servant of the Lord; but in that highest and only true sense,

which had given its meaning to all the preparatory development. As He was 'anointed' to

be the 'Servant of the Lord,' not with the typical oil, but by 'the Spirit of Jehovah' 'upon'

Him, so was He also the 'Son' in a unique sense. His organic connection with Israel is

marked by the designations 'Seed of Abraham' and 'Son of David,' while at the same time

He was essentially, what Israel was subordinately and typically: 'Thou art My Son - this