Messianic prophecy
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Definition
Messianic prophecy refers to the Old Testament’s predictions of a coming Messiah, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Hodge states the point on which all sides agree before turning to the specifics: “it is universally admitted that the Old Testament does predict a Messiah, one who was to appear in the fulness of time to effect the redemption of his people.” The Old Testament’s messianic portrait combines several aspects that might seem to sit in tension — “a triumphant king, a suffering martyr, and a divine person” — which “all combine and harmonize in the person and work of our Lord and Saviour.”1
Biblical Basis
Hodge surveys how the messianic Psalms present this combined portrait. Psalm 2 depicts the nations conspiring against God’s anointed king, whom God installs in Zion and whom “all are required to acknowledge his authority and do Him homage” — one whom the psalmist commands the nations to worship as Jehovah himself (Ps. 2:11-12). Psalm 22 describes a righteous sufferer, in words Christ applied to himself from the cross (Ps. 22:1; cf. Matt. 27:46), whose deliverance secures blessing for “all nations” (Ps. 22:27). Psalm 45 addresses this king directly as God — “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Ps. 45:6) — a verse the author of Hebrews quotes of Christ specifically to establish his claim to the worship of all creatures (Heb. 1:8). Psalm 72 describes a king whose reign is everlasting and universal, in whom “all the nations of the earth” are blessed (cf. Gal. 3:16). Hodge reads all four psalms as descriptions of one and the same person, the divine Messiah, portrayed now as conquering king, now as suffering servant, now explicitly as God.2