De Incarnatione (8)

Examen of Chapters 33-40

“For what the prophets foretold of Him, this also has come to pass”

In previous chapters Athanasius defends the incarnation by means of appealing to the senses. In which ways we saw, heard, and touched the very God-man walking among us. Here in refuting the unbelieving Jews, he appeals to something greater than our very own senses. He speaks to the shared belief in the Old Testament scriptures, pointing to both law and prophets in the ways in which they speak of a coming figure. Both speaking of Him as a man, but also as a divine figure.

In speaking of the birth, the prophet foretells a virgin whom Jesus is the seed of, saying this child will be “God with us”, giving no room to doubt that this is not just a mere human, but God Himself dwelling with His creation. Athanasius also points to the prophecies of miracles never seen before, such as the lame man walking and the blind men seeing, things which Isaiah explicitly attributes not to a prophet but to the very coming of God Himself in chapter 35:4-5:

“Behold, your God will come... Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a deer.”

Giving the Jews no doubt that Christ is the God-man spoken of in antiquity, doing the very works which God alone was said to do. Even pointing to the unique geography of the Messiah from these ancient texts, being fulfilled only in the person of Christ.

We likewise see the conclusion of Christ’s ministry foretold. A sacrifice long awaited. Untold suffering brought on for the salvation of many. Athanasius draws from the famous passage in Isaiah 53 to show the fact that the man spoken of was to die for the iniquities of us all. Who else more capable of absorbing sin and death and destroying such things than the Word Himself? Who else but Christ had died in such a manner upon a cross, receiving the condemnation of mankind? When we draw the parallels, we make two connections. First: that the man spoken of in scriptures by Moses and the prophets was born, had lived, and had died in the same manner as the historic figure of Jesus of Nazareth. Second: that the man foretold had to be of divine origin, for his birth, life, and death all bear marks of one who is of the divine nature itself, and so therefore Christ Himself is divine in nature.

Athanasius also points to the timing of prophecies, such as the one given in Daniel talking about the end of sins, the finish of transgressions, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness. Daniel 9:24 reads:

“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”

This prophecy gives a definite measure of time, and the works described at the end of it are no small things. To put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, these are not works that any prophet, priest, or king of Israel ever accomplished, nor could any mere man accomplish them. Only one of divine nature could finish transgression itself and bring in a righteousness that is everlasting, for a righteousness that endures forever can only proceed from One who is Himself eternal. And we know that this period has long since passed, with Jerusalem and the temple destroyed in the year of our Lord seventy by the Romans under Titus, just as Daniel foretold. So either the prophecy failed, which cannot be, or the One who came in that period accomplished what was promised, and that One is Christ, who by His divine nature alone was able to do so.

Finally, Athanasius points to what is happening before our very eyes, that is, the calling of the Gentiles. The prophets foretold that the nations would abandon their idols and turn to the God of Israel, and we see this fulfilled in no other way than through Christ. Before His coming, the worship of the true God was confined to the borders of Judea, and the nations sat in darkness sacrificing to wood and stone. But after His coming, whole peoples have abandoned their ancestral gods, not by the sword nor by force of arms, but by the simple preaching of the cross. This too is a work proper to God alone, for who else can turn the heart of an entire nation, who else can cast down idols which had stood for generations, who else can be worshiped

by Greek and Scythian and Roman alike as the one true God? If Christ were not Himself divine, the prophecies of the nations coming to God would still be unfulfilled. But they are fulfilled, and they are fulfilled in Christ, therefore Christ is the God to whom the nations come.

And so we conclude this section seeing that the argument from prophecy is itself an argument for divinity. The prophets did not merely foretell that a man would come, but that God Himself would come, doing the works of God, bearing the names of God, and accomplishing what only God could accomplish. And He has come, the Word made flesh, foretold by Moses and the prophets, born of the virgin, healing as the eternal God heals, dying as no mere man could die, raising as only the Author of Life could raise, and drawing the nations as only the true God could draw them. To Him be glory and honor and power forever and ever, Amen.