Eusebius: Demonstration of the Gospel Book 6

(237) IN my fifth book of the Proof of the Gospel the doctrine of the Father and the Son has been clearly defined in the confession of one Almighty God, and in the proof of a Second Being coming after Him as Head of all begotten things, Whom the Holy Scriptures named of old the Firstborn Wisdom of God, the Only-begotten Son, God of God, the Angel of Great Counsel, the Leader of the Host of Heaven, the Minister of the Father, yea, even Lord of the Universe, Word of God and Power of God, and if now the witness of the prophets should shew that they foretold that God intended to come to men, it will be abundantly evident to whom we must apply this prediction, especially as according to what I have said already, the Word of God, under the Name of Lord and God, appeared to human eyes, to the pious men of Abraham's day, made in the form and likeness of man.

So let us now examine any such predictions of the Hebrew oracles, that now the Ford, now God, would descend to men and again ascend in their sight, and the causes of His descent: and you will note that some prophecies are veiled and some clearly expressed. I hold that the secret prophecies were delivered in a disguised form because of the Jews, as the predictions concerning them were unfavourable; because they would most probably have destroyed the writing, if it had plainly foretold their final ruin; just as history shows that they attacked the prophets, because they rebuked them. But the prophecies that are clear include beyond all doubt |2 the call of the Gentiles, and announce the promises of the reward of holiness not only to the Jewish race, but to all men throughout the world. As this is so, we must now hear the divine oracles.

(238)Of the Sojourn of the Word of God with Men.

From Psalm xvii.

The Shewing forth of the Coming of God to Men, and the Consequent Call of the Gentiles.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xvii. 9-11.]

I CONSIDER that we have here an express prophecy of God's Descent from heaven. For after telling many divine truths he adds the above. In saying “He bowed the heavens and came down,” he notes that humiliation of the Divine Glory, which the divine apostle expressed, when he said:

“Who being in the form of God, did not consider it a prize to be equal with God, but emptied himself, and took the form of a servant.”

And by the words, “He rode upon Cherubim and flew,” I believe he presents darkly the return to Divine Glory, which He made surrounded by troops of angelic and divine powers. And this also seems to be intended by, “He flew upon the wings of the wind.” And by “making darkness his secret-place, and darkness under his feet,” is signified the hidden and secret dispensation, under which He accomplished all this. What shall we understand by “round about him was his tabernacle” but His Holy Catholic Church, either the earthly, or the heavenly? And afterwards at the end of the same Psalm, there is a prophecy of the rejection of the former people coincident with the call of the Gentiles:

“ 43. Save me from the gainsayings of the people, thou wilt make me the head of the Gentiles. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. “44. At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me: the strange children lied to me. |3 “45. The strange children waxed old: and grew lame from their paths.”

I will examine in the proper place what meaning is to be attributed to this.

Psalm xlvi.

The Ascent of God Who had First descended, and the Calling of all the Gentiles thereafter, to know the One and Only God.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xlvi. 1-9.]

WHAT can the Ascension of the Lord God here mentioned imply, but a Descent previous to His Ascension, after which the calling of all the Gentiles is again prophesied, and good news of joy and gladness announced to all nations in their future knowledge of God, when the Lord Himself, He that is the one Most High God and King of all the earth, is said to subdue the peoples under us. And who are meant by “us”? Surely those who give the prophecy: which will be clearly seen to be fulfilled, when all the nations that believe in Christ are subdued to the teaching of the prophets.

Or they might be spoken in the person of our Saviour's apostles, who also could say, “He has chosen out an inheritance for us.” And what else could be understood by “his inheritance,” but the calling of all nations, which the Christ of God shewed forth Himself, when He said: “The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son: to-day have I begotten thee . . . Desire of me and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the bounds of the earth for thy possession? “This inheritance, then, that was given Him by the Father He subordinated to His apostles and prophets, by subduing those that believed on Him to their words agreeably to the above prophecies.

And the Word of God, of Whom I have discoursed so much, after accomplishing all things in His appearance among men, “ascended with a shout.” This is interpreted by the apostle, who says: “That he ascended, what is it but |4 that he also descended first to the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same as He Who ascended far above all heavens.” And he says that He ascended with a shout, because of the companies of angels proclaiming His Divinity as He went up, who also said: “Open your gates, ye rulers, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.”

And you would not err in identifying the sound of the trumpet with the preaching of the Gospel heard in all the world. For as the trumpet is the loudest of all musical instruments, it seems a fit symbol to shew forth that the teaching given to all men about Christ is proclaimed in stronger and louder tones than any other teaching has ever been, by which as by a trumpet for the hearing of all men the Holy Spirit shouts and cries what follows in this Psalm, “Sing to the Lord, sing, sing to our King, sing, That God is King “not only of the Jewish race in the future, he says, but “of all the earth, sing with understanding.”

No more the daemons of old, he says, no more the earth-bound and weak spirits, but God Himself rules over all the nations, God Himself, Who sits upon His holy seat.

I have already in the preceding book treated of the throne of God the Word, on which the Father bade Him sit, “Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.” And we can still more clearly refer the words, “The princes of the peoples were gathered together with the God of Abraham,” to the Gentile rulers of the Christian Church coming into the inheritance of God's pious prophets of old, who, waxing strong by the power of the Saviour, have been lifted up, no man being able to cast them down or humble them because of the right hand of God that raises them and gives them power. But of this I will give fuller treatment when I have leisure. |5

From Psalm xlix.

How it is said that God will come dearly to Men, and will call all Races of Men io Himself.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xlix. 1-14.]

HERE the divine prediction clearly prophesies that God will come manifestly, meaning none other but the Word of God. And it shews the reason of His coming, again emphasizing the calling of all nations of the world. For it says, “He (d) has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting”; and it teaches that the rejection of the outward worship according to the Mosaic Law will follow hard after His Manifestation and the calling of the Gentiles, a worship which actually ceased after the manifestation of the Word of God to all men. For from that day to this all men throughout all the world have been called, and all the nations of the east and west. And the Jewish worship has ceased (262) and been abolished, all men being called to worship according to the new Covenant of the preaching of the Gospel, and not according to the Law of Moses. We might also apply these prophecies to our Saviour's second and glorious Coming.

From Psalm lxxxiii.

That God is said to be about to be seen on Earth through the Manifestation of the Christ to Men.

[Passage quoted, Ps. Ixxxiii. 7.]

AFTER saying that the God of gods shall be seen, he prays that His Manifestation may take place quickly, teaching in what manner He will be seen in the words, “Look on the lace of thy Christ,” as if he said more clearly, “Manifest thyself to us in the person of Christ.” For since “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father that sent me,” He naturally promises that the God of God who dwells in Christ will manifest Himself in the Person of Christ. |6

From Psalm xcv.

The Coining of Christ on Earth, and His Kingdom over the Gentiles, and the New Song which shall be given, not to Israel but to the Gentiles.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xcv. 1-13.]

(b) HERE again the Coming of the Lord to men is foretold, and that a new song shall be sung at His Coming, by which is meant the new Covenant, by the whole earth, not by the Jewish race; and that the good news will be no longer for Israel, but for all the nations, since it says that the Lord Who is to come will be their King. But who could this be but God the Word, Who, intending to judge the world in righteousness and the human race in truth, reckons all men in the world equally worthy of His call, and of the salvation of God consequent thereon?

From Psalm xcvii.

The New Song, the Knowledge of the Heathen of the Lord's Righteousness and His Own Coming as Judge of the Universe.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xcvii. 1-8.]

IT is prophesied here that the Coming of the Lord will be the cause of great benefits to the nations, which have been proved to have actually accrued to them, through the manifestation of our Saviour. For of a truth from then and not before the new song of the new Covenant has been sung among all men, and His wonders have been known (264) and heard by all men through the written gospels. Yea, and salvation also, by the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead, has been revealed to all nations, and the true righteousness, by which it has been clearly proved, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles. “Since there is one God,” in the words of the holy apostle, |7 “who will judge the circumcision from their faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.” And the words, “for he cometh to judge the earth,” might refer also to His second Coming.”

From Psalm cvii.

The Word of God sent forth for the Healing and Salvation of Souls Long Time afflicted with Evil.

[Passages quoted, Ps. cvii. 15-19, 32-36.]

THIS clearly gives the good news of the Descent of God the Word from heaven, Who is named, and of the result of His Coming. For it says, “He sent his Word and healed them.” And we say distinctly that the Word of God was He that was sent as the Saviour of all men, Whom we are taught by the Holy Scriptures to reckon divine. And it (265) darkly suggests that He came down even unto death for the sake of those who had died before Him, and in revealing the redemption of those to be saved by Him it shews the reason of His Coming. For He saved without aid from any one those that had gone before Him even to the gates of death, healed them and rescued them from their destruction. And this He did simply by breaking what are called the gates of death, and crushing the bars of iron. And (b) then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected Him when He came. For it says, “He turned rivers into a wilderness, and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein”: which you will understand if you behold Jerusalem of old, the famous city of the Jewish race, her glory and her fruitfulness, despoiled now of her holy citizens and pious men. For © after the coming of Christ she became as the prophet truly says without fruit or water, and quite deserted, “saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” |8

To this is added quite in the prophetic manner a veiled prediction of the change of the long-time desert and thirsty land, referring either to the individual soul, or to the turning of the Gentile Church to holiness, and of its fertility in divine words. This is clearly predicted in a veiled way, when it says, “He made the desert into pools of water,” and that which follows. But to understand this one must have wisdom from God; according to the monition at the end of the Psalm, which says, “Who is wise, and he will (d) keep this? “and that which follows.

From Psalms cxvii. and cxviii.

The Calling of the Gentiles, God Manifested, and Pressed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

[Passages quoted, Pss. cxvii. 1 and cxviii. 25.]

(266) HOLY Scripture records that this prophecy was fulfilled when our Lord and Saviour Christ entered Jerusalem, and a great multitude of men and children went before Him (b) crying with joy, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” For instead of, “O Lord, save us,” as expressed in the Psalm, they cried out the Hebrew “Hosanna,” which is translated by “save.” And the words, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” explain the words that follow, “The Lord is God and hath appeared to us.” It was, then, one and the same Lord God that appeared to them, that is to say the Word of God, as He Who is therefore blessed, because He came among men in the name of the Lord His Father that sent Him. It was therefore in reproof of the Jews that disbelieved in Him, that He said: “I came in the name of my Father, and ye received me not. But if one come in his own name, him will ye receive.” So the Holy Spirit suitably addresses the opening verses of the Psalm not to the Jewish people, but to all the nations. |9

From Psalm cxliii.

The Descent of the Lord from Heaven for Men's Salvation, (d) and the New Song sung thereafter, which is the Song of the New Covenant.

[Passages quoted, Ps. cxliii. 3, 5, 9.]

I CONSIDER this to be connected with my present subject. (267) For in his wonder at the knowledge of God the Word coming to men, the Psalmist is astonished above measure at the love by which He descends from His Divinity, and lessens His natural Majesty, and reckons the human race worthy of bearing Him. So here he prays, saying, “Lord, bow the heavens and descend.” While in the Seventeenth Psalm it is written, “And he bowed the heavens, and descended, and it was dark under his feet. And he rode upon Cherubim, and flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds,” wherein there is a prophecy of His Ascension (b) from earth to heaven. And when there is a fit opportunity I will shew that we must understand the Descent and Ascension of God the Word not as of one moving locally, but in the metaphorical sense which Scripture intends in the use of such conventional terms.

But we should also note here the new Covenant, into which the Coming of Christ was about to invite men. And the new Covenant is that which succeeds the old and is given to all nations. And so the oracle before us says, “O God, I will sing a new song to thee.” The words, © “Touch the mountains and they shall smoke,” I think are a veiled prophecy of the burning and abolition of all forms of idolatry, which had its chief seats among the ancients in mountains, it being a common charge against the Jews themselves, that they worshipped idols on every high mountain in imitation of foreign nations. |10

(d) From Psalm cxlvii.

The Word of God sent on Earth, and in a Short Time running through All Nations.

[Passage quoted, Ps. cxlvii. 12, 15.]

“HE that sendeth his word on earth, until his word runs swiftly.” He that sends is evidently distinct from Him that (268) is sent. You have then, here, both the Sender, the Almighty God, and also the Word that was sent, Who having many names is called by the holy oracles now Wisdom, now Word, now God, and also Lord. And as you know how in a very short time the word of His teaching has filled the whole world, I am sure you will wonder at the fulfilment of the prophecy, “Till his word runs swiftly.”

From the Second Book of Kings [= 2 Samuel].

© The Lord descending from Heaven, Leader of the Nations that before knew Him not, and about to cast off the Jewish Nation.

[Passages quoted, 2 Sam. xxii. 1, 10-12, 44-46.]

(d) THE God that bowed the heavens and came down, Who mounted upon the man whom He had chosen, called here Cherubim by Scripture, flew up with Him making His Ascension with the divine spirits as His bodyguard, and these are called the wings of the winds. And it suggests that this was done darkly and in obscurity by some secret and hidden words, when it says, “And he made darkness his secret place.” What follows agrees with the Incarnation of Christ and shews the opposition of the Jewish people to Him, and the obedience of the Gentiles to His teaching. |11

You will find similar sayings in the Seventeenth Psalm, about which I have already given my views.

From the Third Book of Kings [ = First Book of Kings].

God descending from Heaven, and dwelling with Men on Earth.

[Passage quoted, 1 Kings viii. 26, 27.]

THIS is also found in the same words in Chronicles. God then promised David He would raise up a king from His body, and would be His father, so that the offspring of the seed of David should be called the Son of God, and should have His throne in an eternal kingdom. This was prophesied to David by Nathan in the Second Book of Kings as follows:

“And it shall come to pass when thy days shall have been fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, who shall come from thy body, and I will prepare his kingdom. He shall build a house to my name, and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”

The same is also said in Chronicles. And in the 88th Psalm it is written:

“27. He shall call on me, Thou art my Father, my God and the helper of my salvation. | 28. And I will will make him my firstborn, | high among the kings of the earth. | 29. I will keep my mercy for him for ever, | and my covenant shall stand fast with him, | 30. and I will make his seed last for ever and ever, | and his: throne as the days of heaven.” |

And again:

“4. I have sworn | to David my servant, | 5. I will prepare thy seed for ever, | and I will build thy throne from generation to generation.” | |12

And once more:

“36. I have sworn once by my holiness that I will not lie to David. | 37. His seed shall remain for ever, | and his throne is as the sun before me, | 38. and as the moon that is established for ever.” |

And Psalm 131, too, when it records this, refers the matter to Christ. Hear what it says:

“1. Remember, Lord, David and all his gentleness; | 2. how he sware to the Lord and vowed a vow unto the God of Jacob.” |

To which he adds afterwards:

“11. The Lord sware the truth to David, and he will not abolish him. | Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy seat.” |

And a little lower down he names more definitely Him that is to arise of the fruit of David's body, as follows:

“17. There will I raise up the horn of David, I have prepared a lantern for my Christ. | 18. His enemies I will clothe with shame; | but on him shall his glory flower.” |

And so Solomon being unique in wisdom, understanding this oracle given to his father, and perceiving it to be no slight thing, but something beyond human nature, and more suitable to God than to himself, son of David though he was, and knowing who was meant by God by the Firstborn, and who was clearly foretold as the Son of God, was overjoyed at the message, and prayed that the words of the prophecy might be confirmed, and that He that was foretold might come, calling Him Firstborn and Son of God. So he says, “And now, O God of Israel, let thy word be confirmed which thou spakest to thy servant David my father: Shall God truly dwell with men on earth, if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice thee? ” |13

From Micah.

Concerning the Descent from Heaven to Men, and concerning the Fall of the Jewish Nation at His Coming, and the Incorporation of All the Other Nations.

[Passage quoted, Micah i. 2-5.] (271)

HERE, too, in this passage the Descent of the Lord coming forth from His place is proclaimed plainly. This must mean (b) the Word of God, Whom I have proved in the previous books to be alone God and Lord after the Supreme and Almighty God. His place you would rightly understand to be the kingdom of heaven, and the glorious throne of His Divinity, of which the prophet sang in praise of God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,” on which the Father bade Him sit as being His Only-begotten Son, saying, “Sit thou on my right hand.” For I have already shewn © that these words can only be referred to our Saviour, God the Word. So, then, the prophecy before us says that He conies forth from His place, and will descend upon the high-places of the earth. How are we to understand this? Shall we take it literally of the hills and mountains of Israel, which are the subjects of so many prophecies, Jerusalem itself and Mount Sion, in which our Lord and Saviour spent so much time? If so, their destruction and ruin at (d) the descent of Christ would be prophesied. And it is the fact that after the Saviour's coming and the treatment He received all the hills mentioned were besieged, and utterly desolated. But the rulers of the Jewish people as well, and their kingdom that existed previously, their sacrificial system and the seats of their teachers, here called Mountains metaphorically, are said to be shaken by the Descent of the Lord from heaven. And who could deny that this was fulfilled after the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when he sees all these things not only shaken, but abolished? And the valleys even now melting are the Jewish synagogues established in all cities instead of Jerusalem and Mount (272) Sion, which are full of lamentation and wailing, and melting as wax at the fire with grief and extreme sorrow for the |14 desolation of their homes and their long and lasting slavery. And the coming of the Word of God regarded in another light took place not in chasms and valleys, nor in lowly and earth-bound thoughts, but in exalted souls. And so the Lord Himself is said in a wider metaphor to be about to descend on the high-places of earth. Then the mountains shaken under Him will be those very heights whither He “was led by the spirit to be tempted of the devil,” “when the devil leadeth him to an exceeding high mountain, and he was with the wild beasts.” Or the mountains again might represent in metaphor the idolatry practised formerly on mountains, and the principalities and powers working there invisibly, which our Saviour's teaching was to shake and overthrow in no small degree. For His inspired word and His miraculous and wondrous strength have insensibly destroyed the powers which from far ages have attacked mankind. In like manner also the hills melting like wax from the presence of the fire would be the infernal and earth-bound daemons, against whom He sent forth fire to consume their lust, saying, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled?” Burned by which fire, and unable to bear the torture of its unseen flame, they withdrew from the bodies of men, and acknowledged that which controlled them and drove them out, crying, “Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, Son of God? Hast thou come to torment us before the time? We know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” And these He chiefly chastised, and destroyed their princes, because not content with the corruption of the other nations, whereby they had cast them all into the errors of polytheism, they had also plotted against God's ancient people, those of the Circumcision, and had endeavoured to seduce even them from their God to all manner of impiety. And this was the chief reason why the Lord descended from heaven. Wherefore He says next, “For the iniquity of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of my people Israel.” And then He gives an additional reason for the Descent of the Word, recounting the impiety of the Jews, and the destruction falling upon them, and heralding the calling of all nations throughout the world. For these things' sake the Word of God came down from heaven to earth. Hear this passage: |15

“5. For the impiety of the House of Jacob is all this done, and for the transgression of the House of Israel. What is the impiety of the House of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6. And I will make Samaria a lodge of the field, and a plantation of a vineyard, and I will draw down to chaos the stones thereof, and will hide the foundations thereof.”

And He adds:

“12. Evil hath descended from the Lord on the gates of Jerusalem, the noise of chariots and horsemen.”

And again:

“15. O glory of the daughter of Jerusalem, shave and cut off thy choice children. Enlarge thy widowhood, as an eagle, when thy captives are led from thee.”

And moreover:

“Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a granary, and the mount of the house as a grove of the wood.”

Sion and Jerusalem and the so-called “mount of the house” are what were represented before in, “And the mountains shall be shaken from beneath him, and the valleys shall be melted as wax before the fire for the iniquity of Jacob.” For the mountains and the dwellers thereon were besieged for the iniquity they had wrought against Him soon and not long after Mount Sion was burned and left utterly desolate, and the Mount of the House of God became as a grove of the wood.

If our own observation has any value, we have seen in our own time Sion once so famous ploughed with yokes of oxen by the Romans and utterly devastated, and Jerusalem, as the oracle says, deserted like a lodge. And this has come to pass precisely because of their impieties, for the |16

sake of which the Heavenly Word has come forth from His own place.

And I have already said that the Word of God came down from heaven and descended on the high places of the earth for other reasons, both that the mountains which of old lifted themselves up and exalted the