The common thread running through the fabric of the prophetic books clear
from Isaiah to Malachi is the phrase "in that day." Sometimes it thickens
into "the day of the Lord," "the great day of the Lord," "Jehovah hath a
great day," "at that time." About this thread is woven in turn the whole
series of stirring scenes and events that are to mark the coming time.
Sometimes it is of local application; most times of the future time, and a
few times the meaning slides from one to the other, touching both.

Over all of these pages is the shadow of _Somebody_ coming down the aisle
of the ages, who is to be the world's Master. The figure of a man, large
to gigantic size, majestic, yet kindly as well as kingly, looms out
through these lines before the reader's face. The old idea of God Himself
dwelling in the midst of the people, sharing their life, made familiar by
Eden, by the flame-tipped mount and the glory-filled tent, comes out
again. For this coming One is said to be God Himself. But more than that
He is to be a man, and a _son_ of man; man bred of man. The blending of
the two, God and man, is pointed to in the unprecedented thing of a pure
virgin birth for this one. God and a pure maiden join themselves in His
coming. He is to be of native Hebrew stock, in direct descent from the
great David, and born in David's native village. Of course He is to be a
king as was David, but unlike that ancestor, to be not only a king, but a
priest, and a preacher and teacher.

The _kingdom_ he will set up will be like Himself in its blending of the
human and divine. Its origin is not human, but divine. The _capital_ is to
be Zion or Jerusalem. It will be marked by the glorious presence of God
Himself visibly present to all eyes. The _characteristics_ of the kingdom
are of peculiar attractiveness, at any time, to any people of this poor
old blood-stained, gun-ploughed battle-field of an earth. The stronger
traits that men commonly think of as desirable are combined with traits