Unity of the Bible to Its Inspiration 59 There are some six hundred and sixty-six general prophe- cies in the Old Testament, three hundred and thirty-three of which refer particularly to the coming Messiah, and meet only in Him. 5. T h e u n i t y i s t h e r e f o r e a l s o p e r s o n a l : “In the volume of the Book I t is written of Me." There is but one Book, and within it but one Person. Christ is the center of the Old Testament prophecy, as He is of New Testament history. From Genesis 3 to Malachi 3, He fills out the historic and prophetic profile. Not only do the three hundred and thirty-three predictions unite in Him, but even the rites and ceremonies find in Him their only interpreter. Nay, historic characters prefigure Him, and his- toric events are the pictorial illustrations of His vicarious ministry. The Old Testament is a lock of which Christ is the key. The prophetic plant becomes a burning bush, as twig after twig of prediction flames with fulfillment. The crimson thread runs through the whole Bible. Beginning at any point you may preach Jesus. The profile—at first a drawing, with- out color, a mere outline—is filled in by successive artists, until the life tints glow on the canvas of the centuries, and the perfect portrait of the Messiah is revealed. 6. T he u n i t y i s s y m b o l i c . I mean that there is a cor- responding use of symbols, whether in form, color, or num- bers. In form, we have the square, the cube, and the circle, throughout, and used as types of the same truths. In color, we have the white for purity, the lustrous white for glory, the red for guilt of sin and the sacrifice for sin, the blue for truth and fidelity to promise, the purple for royalty, the pale or livid hue for death, and the black for woe and disaster. In num- bers there is plainly a numerical system. One seems to repre- sent unity, two correspondence and confirmation or contradic- tion, three is the number of Godhead, four of the world and man. Seven, which is the sum of three and four, stands for
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