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Prologue · Prophecies of His Coming

Prophecies of the Son of God

The prophets knew Him: from the seed of the woman to the messenger of the covenant, the Son was foretold from the beginning.

Genesis–Malachi

From the fall onward the Lord kept the promise of a Redeemer before His people. To Eve He named the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent; to Adam He gave the sacrifice as a similitude of the Son; and through every prophet after (Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, Micah, Malachi) the testimony was renewed. The Gospels do not introduce the Son of God; they record the keeping of a promise the prophets had carried for ages.

From the beginning · the Covenant Christian Edition
The seed of the womanGenesis 3:15 (CCE 2:18)
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
Read in the Covenant Christian Edition ↗
The gospel preached to AdamJST Genesis 4:7 (CCE 3:3)
This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, who is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, you shall do all that you do in the name of the Son.
Read in the Covenant Christian Edition ↗
Prophecy & fulfillment
Further witnesses
Enoch sees the day of the Son of ManJST Genesis 7:54 (CCE Genesis 4)↗Enoch beholds the coming of the Son of Man in the flesh, and the redemption He would work.Noah and the covenant lineGenesis 6–9↗The covenant preserved through the flood, that the promised seed might yet come through it.The promised seed of AbrahamGenesis 22:18 (CCE 8:7)↗In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: the covenant carried toward Christ.The man of sorrowsIsaiah 53:3–5 (CCE 19:2)↗The suffering servant, wounded for our transgressions: the plainest prophecy of the atoning Son.The messenger of the covenantMalachi 3:1 (CCE 1:6)↗The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple: the close of the prophets’ witness before the Gospels.
The Book of Mormon prophets
Lehi foretells the Messiah and his forerunner1 Nephi 10:4–10 (CCE 3:2–3)↗Six hundred years before his coming, Lehi foretold a Messiah, the Savior of the world, and a prophet who would prepare his way and baptize him in Bethabara beyond Jordan.Nephi sees the ministry of the Lamb of God1 Nephi 11:13–33 (CCE 3:8–14)↗In vision Nephi sees the virgin in Nazareth, the Lamb of God baptized and followed by twelve, the sick healed and devils cast out, and the Son of God judged of the world and lifted up upon the cross.Zenos, Zenoch, and Neum1 Nephi 19:10 (CCE 5:36)↗Prophets whose words the Bible does not preserve. Through Nephi they foretell that the God of Israel would be lifted up, crucified, and buried in a sepulcher, with three days of darkness as the sign of his death.King Benjamin and the angelMosiah 3:5–10 (CCE 1:14)↗An angel tells Benjamin that the Lord Omnipotent will dwell in a tabernacle of clay and work mighty miracles, that blood will come from every pore, that he will be called Jesus Christ and his mother Mary, and that he will rise the third day.Abinadi before King NoahMosiah 15:1–8 (CCE 8:6–7)↗Abinadi testifies that God himself will come down among men, work mighty miracles, and be led as a sheep before the shearer, crucified, and slain, and so break the bands of death.Alma foretells the birthAlma 7:10–12 (CCE 5:3)↗The Son of God will be born of Mary at Jerusalem, and will take upon him the pains, the sicknesses, and the infirmities of his people.Samuel the Lamanite gives the signsHelaman 14:2–5 (CCE 5:10)↗Five years before the birth, Samuel names its signs: a day, a night, and a day with no darkness between them, and a new star such as they had never seen.

Passages are quoted verbatim from the Covenant Christian Edition (Old Covenants) on scriptures.info; numbering is traditional-first with the CCE reference in parentheses.

Margaret Barker · the prophets’ Son

Immanuel and the Begotten Son of Psalm 2

Barker reads the great messianic prophecies through the first temple: Isaiah’s Immanuel as the Davidic king, son of the Lady of Zion, and Psalm 2’s “today I have begotten you” as the proof text the early Christians used of the divine Son.

The Lady known to IsaiahTemple Studies Group, 2013

Isaiah and Micah were contemporaries. They both gave their prophecies in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, but Isaiah was the older of the two since he also prophesied in the reign of king Uzziah who died in 742 BCE.

Both knew that there was a Lady in Zion who was the Mother of the king. Isaiah’s words are better known that Micah’s: ‘Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel.’ (Isa.7.14 [Isa. 3:3]). These words were spoken to king Ahaz as he prepared Jerusalem for an attack by a coalition of enemies from the north. The kings of Syria and Israel were trying to force him to join their rebellion against Assyria. Both the city and the Davidic dynasty were in danger, and so Isaiah gave king Ahaz the assurance that there would be another king in the house of David. A boy would be born who would have the royal title ‘God with us’, Immanuel.

The next king was Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, who came to the throne in about 715 BCE. Hezekiah, ḥizqiyyahû, means ‘the LORD strengthens’. Micah’s words became another familiar Christmas prophecy - at least, some of them did. We are interested today in the words that are less well known.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, who are little among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, Whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time When she who is in travail has brought forth; Then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD [Hezekiah], In the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great To the ends of the earth (Mic.5.2-4). An unnamed Lady would give birth to one named Hezekiah - maybe that is why the royal child was given the name. Isaiah called him Immanuel, God with us; Micah says he would rule with the majesty of the Name of the LORD his God. This was the ancient royal ideology:, in which the king was the presence of the LORD with his people. He was the shepherd who fed his flock. He was the strength of the LORD with his people. He was God with us.

The Dominion of AdamUniversity of Nottingham, 2009 ↗

Two key proof texts used by the early Christians were also based on this story. ‘For to what angel did God ever say, “Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee”?’ (Heb.1.5 [Heb. 1:2]) quotes Psalm 2.7, which describes how the LORD set his human king on Zion, and established him as his son. The text at the end of this psalm is difficult, and the Authorised Version is closest to the Hebrew: ‘Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.’ (Ps.2.10-12 [Ps. 2:3]). This is the warning to the angels to pay homage to the Son, here transferred to the earth where the rulers have to acknowledge the LORD’s king in Zion. The second proof text is in the same collection in Hebrews: ‘And again, when he brings the Firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him”’ (Heb.1.6 [Heb. 1:2], quoting Deut.32.43 [Deut. 9:19]). ‘Firstborn’ was a title for the Davidic king who called the LORD his father (Ps.89. 27 [Ps. 89:4]), meaning that he was the human presence of the LORD. He, like Adam was the image. Jesus was ‘the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation’ (Col.1.15 [Col. 1:3]), in other words, he was the second Adam. The proof text in Hebrews 1.6 [Heb. 1:2], however, has been found at Qumran in a significantly longer form than has survived in the current Hebrew, but very similar to the Old Greek translation. The shorter form lacks the lines used as the proof text, and so has nothing about the angels being called to worship. The longer [original] form in the Greek reads: ‘Rejoice with him, heavens, bow down to him, sons of God, rejoice with his people, nations, confirm him all you angels of God.’ (Deut.32.43 [Deut. 9:19] LXX). The rest of the verse follows the gist of the current Hebrew: the LORD comes to bring the judgement and to atone the land/soil of his people. In Hebrews, summoning the angels to worship the Firstborn was a proof text to identify Jesus; he was the image, the human presence of the LORD coming to make atonement.

Ellipses mark omissions within Barker’s own sentences.