The Anticipated Christ
The Anticipated Christ: Kings Shall Come
January 8, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
Christians reading Isaiah in the first decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus interpreted all the promises of Israel’s glorious future as prophecies about Jesus Christ, and Isaiah was an especially rich treasure trove of these prophecies. They read Isaiah and proclaimed that Jesus is Isaiah’s virgin-born Immanuel and Prince of Peace in whose kingdom swords are turned to plowshares, and where the lion lays down with the lamb. They also saw Isaiah’s prophecy of Gentile nations coming to worship the God of Israel as fulfilled in Gentile converts to Christ.
The Anticipated Christ: The Christmas Angels
December 25, 2022 • Brian Zahnd
The Christmas angels who appeared to the shepherds sang of peace on earth and good will toward men. Heaven is always seeking to pull us toward peace and good will, while hell seeks to drag us toward war and malice. If we cooperate with hate and ill-will we are left bereft of heaven’s aid and the angels sing their song in vain. But on Christmas Day we are reminded of the better way—the way of heaven, the way of the angels, the way of God, the way of the Prince of Peace.
The Anticipated Christ: St. Joseph
December 18, 2022 • Brian Zahnd
We don’t know very much about Joseph, or at least not as much as we would like. We know that though he descended from the royal line of David, he was a humble carpenter plying his trade in an obscure Galilean village. But we never hear any direct words from Joseph. He is one of those quiet men whose deep goodness is found in what they do, not in what they say. Joseph isn’t a prophet or a preacher; he’s a protector and provider.
The Anticipated Christ: A Lamb Led to the Slaughter
December 11, 2022 • Brian Zahnd
The fourth Servant Song is the prime example of why the book of Isaiah is often called the “Fifth Gospel.” The first Christians saw the suffering and vindication of Jesus throughout Isaiah 53, and thus these verses appear repeatedly in the Gospels and Epistles. Isaiah’s Suffering Servant poem contain the narrative contours of the Passion story.
The Anticipated Christ: Here Is Your God
December 4, 2022 • Brian Zahnd
When Isaiah penned his “Rivers In the Desert” poem, Judah was in a bad way—internally Judah was corrupt and externally it was under threat of foreign invasion. But the poet of audacious hope does not despair; instead he proclaims that God will come, and in that day it will be said, “Here is your God!”
The Anticipated Christ: The Proto Gospel
November 27, 2022 • Brian Zahnd
Christian theology calls the foreshadowing of Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium—the proto gospel or the first good news. As Adam and Eve are subjected to death and exiled from Eden, there is the foreshadowed hope that someday a man born of woman will triumph over sin and death. This is the messianic hope. This is the anticipated Christ.