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means 'He shall be', and thus the passage asserts that the promised Messiah
is 'the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity'. That this prophecy refers to Christ
is evident from St. Matthew's Gospel, in which the first two verses of this
chapter are quoted and explained as fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ 'came
1 and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of
Zebulun and Naphtali.'
Before passing on to other prophets we must quote one other passage from
Isaiah, the one in which it is written: 'The 2 voice of one that
crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make straight in the
desert a high way for our God.' In all four Gospels this passage is referred to,
and all four Evangelists 3 state that the 'voice' was the voice of
John the Baptist, and that he was sent to prepare for the appearance of the Lord
Jesus Christ, John being born about six months before Him and having begun to
preach for some time before Christ revealed Himself as a teacher. Accordingly
John the Baptist said: 'Repent 4 ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand . . . . I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.'
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PROOF OF THE DEITY OF CHRIST |
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When the Jews asked him who he was and why he baptized, he replied : 'I
1 am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of
the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet .... I baptize with water: in the midst of
you standeth one whom ye know not, even he that cometh after me, the latchet of
whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.' In order, however, to remove any
uncertainty who the Lord was whose way he had to prepare and whose forerunner he
was, John on the next day pointed out Jesus as the person whose appearance he
had been sent 2 to announce; for it is written: 'On 3 the
morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a
man which is become before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not; but
that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing with
water. And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a
dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent
me to baptize with water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the
Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth with the
Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of
God. Again
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