Acts 13:27-32 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not… When we see the predicted mission of the Messiah so faithfully fulfilled; when we see the great world's history bending itself to the birth of Jesus in the "anno domini" of its dates and superscriptions; when we see that the world has moved as in deepest sympathy with the humble Nazarene, working ever in His behalf; when we behold all events marching onwards through the centuries to the beat of time, preserving, as Napoleon thought, "a celestial order," to accomplish one given result, the universal and final ascendency of the Son of David; when we see that all opposing systems can no longer hold comparison with the religion given to the world by Him than can the pale, thin, extended crescent ring of the setting moon hold comparison to the full blaze of the unclouded noonday sun; when we discover that this mighty One issued from the House of David before its fall, and from Bethlehem in the days of Herod, must we not acknowledge that He is the Being whom the prophets declared to be one with the Father Almighty? As we see Him standing alone among the millions of the race, the only pattern of absolute perfection, whose entire life, without inclining a hair's breadth to either side, pointed straight upwards to heaven — as all the separate and wandering rays of prophecy that had sparkled through the Divine Word are combined and concentrated, and rest, as with a sacred halo, on His head — how can we do otherwise than proclaim our convictions in that prophetic, startling, and sublime word, "Immanuel!" — "God with us"? (Credo.) Parallel Verses KJV: For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. |
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