Sect. 232The Church of Christ Foretold and Prefigured in the Old TestamentThe Church of Christ Foretold and Prefigured in the Old Testament

The Church of the Old Testament was not only itself a preparation for, and a figure of, the Church of Christ; it also announced prophecies, and contained types and figures of this latter and more perfect Church. As Christ’s person and work were foretold and prefigured with ever-increasing distinctness, so too was His Church, which is the mystical prolongation of His existence on earth. We have already (Book V. § 167) traced the course of prophecy concerning our Lord, and in doing so we observed how commonly the Prophets speak at the same time of His Church. Here, instead of following the chronological order, it will be better to consider in turn the various images and expressions used to describe this permanent work of Christ’s hands.

I. The Prophets announced that when Christ came He would found a kingdom, which should be (1) universal, (2) never-ending, and (3) one.

Its universality is contrasted with the narrowness and exclusiveness—its perennial character and unity with the temporariness and divisions—of the older covenant. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He shall have dominion over the nations” (Ps. 21:28, 29). “In His days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace till the moon be taken away; and He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Ps. 71:7, 8). “In the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed; and His kingdom will not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever” (Dan. 2:44; cf. 7:13, 14, 27; Agg. 2:7. 8, 22, 23). “The Lord hath prepared His holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Is. 55:10; cf. 60:1 sqq.; Ps. 97:3; Mich. 4:1 sqq.). “It shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last (west) sea; they shall be in summer and in winter, and the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and His Name shall be one” (Zach. 14:8 sqq.).

II. This new people of Israel, this new Jerusalem, this new city of the Lord, this new Sion, promised by the Prophets, is to receive its ruling power, its teaching authority, and its priesthood from Christ the Supreme King, Teacher, and Priest.

1. Christ is to be the Supreme King in this supernatural kingdom of peace; but as this kingdom is to last visibly on earth as long as the earth shall last, so there are ever to be shepherds and princes to rule God’s people in Christ’s Name and by His power. “I am appointed King by Him over Sion, His holy mountain, preaching His commandment. The Lord hath said to Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession” (Ps. 2:6–8). “For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of peace; His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace; He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and justice from henceforth and for ever” (Isa. 9:6, 7). “I will set up one Shepherd over them (My sheep), and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David the prince in the midst of them; I the Lord have spoken it” (Ezech. 34:23, 24). “I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands … and I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them.… Behold, the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just Branch, and a King shall reign and shall be wise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jer. 23:3–5; Ps. 44:17).

2. This same King and Shepherd is also foretold and promised as a Faithful Prophet; so that His kingdom is to be not only a kingdom of peace, but also a kingdom of truth and justice. “You, O kingdom of Sion, rejoice and be joyful in the Lord your God; because He hath given you a teacher of justice, and He will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning” (Joel 2:23). “The Law shall go forth out of Sion, and the Word of the Lord out of Jerusalem” (Mich. 4:2). “All thy children (Jerusalem) shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children; and thou shalt be founded in justice” (Isa. 54:3; 11:12; Jer. 31:33, 34; 32:38–40). “I will give you pastors according to My own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.… At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their most wicked heart” (Jer. 3:15–17). Hence, the name of the city shall be “the City of Truth,” and Sion shall be called “the Mount of Holiness.” “I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the Mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the Sanctified Mountain [Heb. ‘the Mount of Holiness’] … Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun … they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and in justice” (Zach. 8:3, 7, 8).

3. Just as the Church was to be a kingdom of peace and truth, ruled over by Christ as King and Teacher, so was it also to be a priestly kingdom with Christ as its High Priest, and men under Him exercising a ministerial priesthood. The son of Josedec, Jesus the high priest, is distinctly spoken of as a type of the Messias: “Hear, O Jesus, thou high priest, thou and thy friends that dwell before thee, for they are portending men [men who are for a sign, men who by words and deeds are to foreshadow wonders that are to come]; for behold I will bring My Servant the Orient” (Zach. 3:8; supra, p. 53). The Prophet is ordered to unite in this “portending man” the sacerdotal with the royal crown, that there may always be the counsel of peace between them both. “And thou shalt take gold and silver, and shalt make crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, and thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Behold a man, the Orient is His name … He shall build a temple to the Lord, and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon His throne, and He shall be a Priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.… And they that are afar off shall come and shall build in the temple of the Lord” (Zach. 6:11–15; cf. St. Epiph., Heres., xxxix. nn. 2–4). So, too, Christ is promised as a Priest who will acquire His Church by the sacrifice of His own blood. “He was offered because it was His own will, and He opened not His mouth; He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter … if He shall lay down His life for sin, He shall see a long-lived seed … by His knowledge shall this My Servant justify many, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I distribute to Him many, and He shall divide the spoils of the strong, because He hath delivered His soul unto death” (Isa. 53). This priesthood is not to be temporary and Levitical, but “for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech” (Ps. 109:4; Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5, 7, 9; see also supra, § 210). Hence it is to continue in Christ’s Church, having, of course, its origin from Him. “I come that I may gather them together with all nations and tongues [Heb. ‘gather together all nations and tongues’], and they shall come, and they shall see My glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send of them that shall be saved to the Gentiles into the sea, into Africa, and Lydia them that draw the bow; into Italy and Greece, to the islands afar off, to them that have not heard of Me, and have not seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory unto the Gentiles.… And I will take of them to be priests and Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth … so shall your seed stand and your name” (Isa. 66:18–22; cf. Jer. 33:15 sqq.).

These passages are enough to show that a clear promise was made of Christ’s kingdom, which was to last for ever with its own ruling power, teaching authority, and priesthood—a kingdom to be acquired by Christ the Redeemer with His own Precious Blood—a kingdom composed of all the Gentiles, and founded for their eternal salvation. Indeed, the foundation of this eternal and universal kingdom is one of the marks of the Messias who was to come. (Cf. Isa. 11:1, 11, 12; 40:2, 9; 42:6, 10; 51:3–7; 54; 62; 65:16 sqq.; Osee 2:16 sqq.; 3:5; Joel 2:27–32; 3:16–21; Amos 3:15 sqq.; 9:11; Soph. 3:14; Zach. 2:10; 14:8, 9.) How far these various passages refer to Christ and His Church, may be gathered from St. Paul’s manner of citing them (Rom. 15:8–12). See Franzelin, l.c. th. vi.