So the Jews are telling fables and pushing the present time off into the future. For when did prophet or vision cease from Israel, if not now, when Christ, the Holy One of holies, has come? It is a sign and a great proof of the coming of the Word of God that Jerusalem no longer stands, no prophet is raised up, and no vision is revealed to them—and rightly so.
For when the one signified had come, what further need was there for those who signified Him? And when the Truth was present, what further need was there for the shadow? This is why they prophesied until Righteousness Itself should come, the one who ransoms the sins of all. This is also why Jerusalem stood for so long: so that there they might rehearse beforehand the types of the truth.
Therefore, once the Holy One of holies was present, vision and prophecy were rightly sealed, and the kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. For kings were anointed among them only until the Holy One of holies was anointed. Moses also prophesies that the kingdom of the Jews would stand until Him, saying, "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things laid up for him shall come; and He is the expectation of the nations."
For this reason the Savior Himself cried out, "The law and the prophets prophesied until John." If there is now a king or prophet or vision among the Jews, they do well to deny that Christ has come. But if there is neither king nor vision, all prophecy is now sealed, and the city and temple have been captured, why do they persist in such impiety and transgression—seeing what has happened yet denying Christ who brought it about? And when they see people from the nations abandoning idols and placing their hope, through Christ, in the God of Israel, why do they deny Christ, who according to the flesh came from the root of Jesse and now reigns? If the nations worshiped some other god rather than confessing the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, then they would indeed have reason to claim that God had not come.
But if the nations honor the same God who gave the law to Moses and made the promise to Abraham—the God whose word the Jews dishonored—why do they not recognize, or rather why do they deliberately ignore, that the Lord foretold by the Scriptures has shone upon the world and appeared to it in bodily form? As Scripture says, "The Lord God has appeared to us"; and again, "He sent forth His Word and healed them"; and again, "No messenger, no angel, but the Lord Himself saved them."
They are like someone out of his mind who sees the earth lit by the sun but denies the sun that lights it. What more is the one they expect supposed to do when he comes? Call the nations? They have already been called. Bring prophet, king, and vision to an end? That has already happened. Expose the godlessness of idols? It has already been exposed and condemned. Abolish death? It has already been abolished.
What, then, has not happened that Christ still needs to do? What remains unfulfilled that the Jews can now rejoice and disbelieve? For, as we plainly see, there is among them no king, prophet, Jerusalem, sacrifice, or vision; yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and people from the nations, abandoning godlessness, now take refuge in the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. It should therefore be clear even to the most shameless that Christ has come, has shone His own light upon everyone, and has taught the true and divine teaching concerning His Father.
Thus the Jews may rightly be refuted by these and by still more arguments from the divine Scriptures.