| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Isaiah Chapter
Fifty-three
Isaiah 53
Chapter Contents
The person. (1-3) sufferings. (4-9) humiliation, and
exaltation of Christ, are minutely described; with the blessings to mankind
from his death. (10-12)
Commentary on Isaiah 53:1-3
(Read Isaiah 53:1-3)
No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and
fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his
glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge,
that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important
report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded. The
low condition he submitted to, and his appearance in the world, were not
agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that
he should come in pomp; instead of that, he grew up as a plant, silently, and
insensibly. He had nothing of the glory which one might have thought to meet
with him. His whole life was not only humble as to outward condition, but also
sorrowful. Being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had exposed us
to. Carnal hearts see nothing in the Lord Jesus to desire an interest in him.
Alas! by how many is he still despised in his people, and rejected as to his
doctrine and authority!
Commentary on Isaiah 53:4-9
(Read Isaiah 53:4-9)
In these verses is an account of the sufferings of
Christ; also of the design of his sufferings. It was for our sins, and in our
stead, that our Lord Jesus suffered. We have all sinned, and have come short of
the glory of God. Sinners have their beloved sin, their own evil way, of which
they are fond. Our sins deserve all griefs and sorrows, even the most severe.
We are saved from the ruin, to which by sin we become liable, by laying our
sins on Christ. This atonement was to be made for our sins. And this is the
only way of salvation. Our sins were the thorns in Christ's head, the nails in
his hands and feet, the spear in his side. He was delivered to death for our
offences. By his sufferings he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, to
mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls. We may well
endure our lighter sufferings, if He has taught us to esteem all things but
loss for him, and to love him who has first loved us.
Commentary on Isaiah 53:10-12
(Read Isaiah 53:10-12)
Come, and see how Christ loved us! We could not put him
in our stead, but he put himself. Thus he took away the sin of the world, by taking
it on himself. He made himself subject to death, which to us is the wages of
sin. Observe the graces and glories of his state of exaltation. Christ will not
commit the care of his family to any other. God's purposes shall take effect.
And whatever is undertaken according to God's pleasure shall prosper. He shall
see it accomplished in the conversion and salvation of sinners. There are many
whom Christ justifies, even as many as he gave his life a ransom for. By faith
we are justified; thus God is most glorified, free grace most advanced, self
most abased, and our happiness secured. We must know him, and believe in him,
as one that bore our sins, and saved us from sinking under the load, by taking
it upon himself. Sin and Satan, death and hell, the world and the flesh, are
the strong foes he has vanquished. What God designed for the Redeemer he shall
certainly possess. When he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men,
that he might give gifts to men. While we survey the sufferings of the Son of God,
let us remember our long catalogue of transgressions, and consider him as
suffering under the load of our guilt. Here is laid a firm foundation for the
trembling sinner to rest his soul upon. We are the purchase of his blood, and
the monuments of his grace; for this he continually pleads and prevails,
destroying the works of the devil.
¢w¢w Matthew Henry¡mConcise Commentary on Isaiah¡n
Isaiah 53
Verse 1
[1] Who
hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Who ¡X
Who, not only of the Gentiles, but even of the Jews, will believe the truth of
what I say? And this premonition was highly necessary, both to caution the Jews
that they should not stumble at this stone, and to instruct the Gentiles that
they should not be seduced with their example.
The arm ¡X
The Messiah, called the arm or power of God, because the almighty power of God
was seated in him.
Revealed ¡X
Inwardly and with power.
Verse 2
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a
dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him.
As a root ¡X
And the reason why the Jews will generally reject their Messiah, is, because he
shall not come into the world with secular pomp, but he shall grow up, (or
spring up, out of the ground) before him, (before the unbelieving Jews, of whom
he spake verse 1, and that in the singular number, as here, who
were witnesses of his mean original; and therefore despised him) as a tender
plant (small and inconsiderable) and as a root, or branch, grows out of a dry,
barren ground.
No form ¡X
His bodily presence shall be mean and contemptible.
No beauty ¡X
This the prophet speaks in the person of the unbelieving Jews.
We ¡X Our people, the
Jewish nation.
Verse 3
[3] He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him
not.
We hid ¡X We
scorned to look upon him.
Verse 4
[4]
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Yet ¡X
Our people believed that he was thus punished by the just judgment of God.
Verse 5
[5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed.
Wounded ¡X
Which word comprehends all his pains and punishments.
For our iniquities ¡X
For the guilt of their sins, which he had voluntarily taken upon himself, and
for the expiation of their sins, which was hereby purchased.
The chastisement ¡X
Those punishments by which our peace, our reconciliation to God, was to be
purchased, were laid upon him by God's justice with his own consent.
Healed ¡X By
his sufferings we are saved from our sins.
Verse 6
[6] All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We ¡X All mankind.
Astray ¡X
From God.
Have turned ¡X In
general, to the way of sin, which may well be called a man's own way, because
sin is natural to us, inherent in us, born with us; and in particular, to those
several paths, which several men chuse, according to their different opinions,
and circumstances.
Hath laid ¡X
Heb. hath made to meet, as all the rivers meet in the sea.
The iniquity ¡X
Not properly, for he knew no sin; but the punishment of iniquity, as that word
is frequently used. That which was due for all the sins of all mankind, which
must needs be so heavy a load, that if he had not been God as well as man, he
must have sunk under the burden.
Verse 7
[7] He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth.
He opened not ¡X He
neither murmured against God, nor reviled men.
Verse 8
[8] He
was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my
people was he stricken.
Taken away ¡X
Out of this life.
By distress and judgment ¡X By oppression and violence. and a pretence of justice.
His generation ¡X
His posterity. For his death shall not be unfruitful; when he is raised from
the dead, he shall have a spiritual seed, a numberless multitude of those who
shall believe in him.
Cut off ¡X By
a violent death. And this may be added as a reason of the blessing of a
numerous posterity conferred upon him, because he was willing to be cut off for
the transgression of his people.
Verse 9
[9] And
he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
With the wicked ¡X
This was a farther degree of humiliation. He saith, he made his grave, because
this was Christ's own act, and he willingly yielded up himself to death and
burial. And that which follows, with the wicked, does not denote the sameness
of place, as if he should be buried in the same grave with other malefactors,
but the sameness of condition.
Verse 10
[10] Yet
it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He ¡X God was the principal
cause of all his sufferings, tho' mens sins were the deserving cause.
When ¡X
When thou, O God, shalt have made, thy son a sacrifice, by giving him up to
death for the atonement of mens sins. His soul is here put for his life, or for
himself.
Shall see ¡X He
shall have a numerous issue of believers reconciled by God, and saved by his
death.
Prolong ¡X He
shall live and reign with God for ever.
The pleasure ¡X
God's gracious decree for the salvation of mankind shall be effectually carried
on by his ministry and mediation.
Verse 11
[11] He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Shall see ¡X He
shall enjoy.
The travel ¡X
The blessed fruit of all his labours, and sufferings.
Satisfied ¡X He
shall esteem his own and his father's glory, and the salvation of his people,
an abundant recompence.
By his knowledge ¡X By
the knowledge of him.
Justify ¡X
Acquit them from the guilt of their sins, and all the dreadful consequences
thereof. And Christ is said to justify sinners meritoriously, because he
purchases and procures it for us.
Many ¡X An
innumerable company of all nations.
For ¡X
For he shall satisfy the justice of God, by bearing the punishment due to their
sins.
Verse 12
[12]
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.
I ¡X God the father.
A portion ¡X
Which is very commodiously supplied out of the next clause.
With the strong ¡X
God will give him happy success in his glorious undertaking: he shall conquer
all his enemies, and set up his universal and everlasting kingdom in the world.
Because ¡X
Because he willingly laid down his life.
Transgressors ¡X He
prayed upon earth for all sinners, and particularly for those that crucified
him, and in heaven he still intercedes for them, by a legal demand of those
good things which he purchased; by the sacrifice of himself, which, though
past, he continually represents to his father, as if it were present.
¢w¢w John Wesley¡mExplanatory Notes on Isaiah¡n
53 Chapter 53
Verses 1-12
Who hath believed our report?
--
The Messiah referred to in Isaiah 53:1-12
By some it has been supposed, in ancient times and in modern, that
the prophet was referring to the sufferings of the nation of Israel--either of
Israel as a whole or of the righteous section of the nation--and to the
benefits that would accrue from those sufferings to the surrounding peoples,
some of whom were contemptuous of Israel, all of whom may be described as
ignorant of God. But to defend that opinion it is necessary to paraphrase and
interpret some of the statements in a way that no sound rules of exposition
will allow. Even Jewish historians are wont to represent the sufferings of
their people as the consequence of sin, whereas these verses speak repeatedly
of sufferings that are vicarious. St. Paul says in one place that the fall of
the Jews ¡§is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the
Gentiles;¡¨ but he is so far from meaning that the Jews suffered in the stead of
the Gentiles, that he proceeds at once to argue by implication: If the world
has been blessed notwithstanding the unfaithfulness of the Jew, how much more
would it have been blessed if Israel had been true? It is quite possible that
the great figure of the Servant of Jehovah, standing in the front of all these
verses, was designed to have more than a single interpretation, to be
reverently approached from many sides, to be full of appeals to the patriotism
and to the piety of the Israelite; but at the same time it is no mere abstract
conception, but the figure of a living and separated Person, ¡§more perfect than
human believer ever was, uniting in himself more richly than any other
messenger, of God everything that was necessary for the salvation of man, and
finally accomplishing what no mere prophet¡¨ ever attempted. And some of the
authorities of the synagogue even might be quoted in favour of the almost
universal Christian opinion, that the Man of Sorrows of this chapter despised,
and yet triumphant, is no other than the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of
the world, who over-trod the lowest levels of human pain and misery, and who
hereafter will sit enthroned, on His head many crowns, and in His heart the
satisfaction of assured and unlimited victory. (R.W. Moss, D.D.)
The Jewish nation a vicarious sufferer
Isaiah 53:1-12 has been supposed by many
to refer to the Jewish nation as a whole, and not to Christ or any other
individual. And, in truth, it is in many ways singularly applicable to Israel
as a nation. As a nation Israel was ¡§despised and rejected,¡¨ and ¡§bore the sins
of many.¡¨ This people was the chief medium through which the Eternal was made
manifest on earth. Hence came the peculiarities and deficiencies of the Hebrew
nature. The Jews were haunted by the Infinite and Eternal; and therefore they
knew not the free and careless joyousness of Greece. The mountains are scarred
and rent by storms and tempests almost unknown in the valleys. The deepest
religion necessarily involves prolonged suffering. The near presence of the
Infinite pierces and wounds the soul. To Greeks or Romans Israel was a sort of
Moses, veiling even while revealing the terrific lineaments of Jehovah. The
face of Israel did indeed shine with an unearthly glory after communing with
God on the mountain; but it was a glory utterly uncongenial to the gaiety of
joyous Athens. Most truly might Greeks and Romans say of the devout Jew, ¡§He is
despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and
we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him
not.¡¨ Yet was Israel a mighty benefactor to the human race. ¡§The Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all.¡¨ Salvation came by the Jews. They had more
genuine moral inspiration than any others of the sons of men. To them alone was
clearly disclosed the true Jacob¡¦s ladder connecting earth with heaven. To the
Greeks the Infinite was a mere notion, a thing for the intellect to play with,
or a kind of irreducible surd left after the keenest philosophical analysis. To
the Hebrews, on the other hand, the Infinite was an appalling and soul-abasing
reality, an ever-menacing guide, as the fiery flaming sword of the cherubims
¡§which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.¡¨ ¡§It pleased the
Lord to bruise¡¨ Israel for the sake of the whole world. By being ¡§numbered with
the transgressors,¡¨ Israel found out the real righteousness. (A. Crawford,
M.A.)
The Jewish nation was a type of Christ
The Jewish nation was a type of Christ, and of all natures at once
spiritual and sympathetic throughout the ages. All real prophets in every age
have in them much of the true Hebrew nature, with its depths and its
limitations. (A. Crawford, M.A.)
The servant and Israel
¡§Who believed what we heard, and to whom did the arm of the Lord
reveal itself?¡¨ Who believed the revelation given to us in regard to the
Servant, and who perceived the operation of the Lord in His history! The
speakers are Israel now believing, and confessing their former unbelief. (A.
B. Davidson, D.D.)
Christ in Isaiah
As an artisan, laying a mosaic of complicated pattern and diverse
colours, has before him a working drawing, and carefully fits the minute pieces
of precious stone and enamel according to it, till the perfection of the design
is revealed to all, so do the evangelists and apostles, with the
working-drawing of Old Testament prophecy, and Old Testament types and shadows
in the tabernacle services and ceremonies, in their hands, fit together the
details of Christ¡¦s life on earth, His atoning death and His resurrection, and
say, ¡§Behold, this can be none other than the long looked-for Messiah.¡¨ The
central knop, or flower pattern, of the mosaic, from which all other details of
the design radiated, was the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. (F.
Sessions.)
The suffering Saviour
I. We are led to
THE ANTICIPATED LOWLINESS OF GOD¡¦S RIGHTEOUS SERVANT, the Messiah. He would be
low in the esteem of men, even of those He comes to serve.
The Jews and Messianic prophecy
From the Jews wresting this text, observe--
1. That there is an evil disposition in men to turn off upon others
that which nearly concerns themselves.
2. That it is no new thing in persons to vouch that for themselves
which makes most against them. Thus the Jews do this chapter against the
Gentiles.
3. When God, for the wickedness of a people, hardeneth their hearts,
they are apt to mistake in that which is most plain.
4. From the prophet¡¦s great admiration, observe, that when we can do
no good upon a people, the most effectual way is to complain of it to God.
5. Those that profess the name of God may be much prejudiced against
the entertainment of those truths and counsels that He makes known to them for
their good.
6. It is a wonder they should not believe so plain a discovery of
Christ, though by the just judgment of God they did not.
7. The first believing of Christ is a believing the report of Him;
but afterwards there are experiences to confirm our belief (1 Peter 2:3; John 4:42). (T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ preached, but rejected
I. JESUS CHRIST
MAY BE CLEARLY REPRESENTED TO A PEOPLE, AND YET BUT FEW WON TO BELIEVE IN HIM.
II. THE GOSPEL IS
THE ARM AND POWER OF GOD.
III. SO FEW BELIEVE,
BECAUSE GOD¡¦S ARM IS NOT REVEALED TO THEM the power of the Word is not
manifested by the Spirit. (T. Manton, D. D. )
Jewish prejudice against Christ
At the time of Christ¡¦s being in the flesh there were divers
prejudices against Him in the Jews.
1. An erroneous opinion of the Messiah.
2. A fond reverence of Moses and the prophets, as if it were
derogatory to them to close with Christ (John 9:29).
3. Offence at His outward meanness (that is the scope of this
chapter), and the persecution He met with. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Gentile prejudice against Christ
1. Pride in the understanding (1 Corinthians 1:23).
2. The meanness of the reporters--poor fishermen.
3. The hard conditions upon which they were to entertain Christ. (T.
Manton, D. D.)
Christ rejected in our time
The hindrances to believing in Him are these:
1. Ignorance. Men hear of Christ, but are not acquainted with Him.
2. An easy slightness; men do not labour after faith.
3. A careless security. They think themselves well enough without
Him.
4. A light esteem of Christ. As we do not see our own needs, so not
His worth.
5. A presumptuous conceit that we have entertained Christ already.
Many think every slight wish, every trivial hope, will serve the turn.
6. Hardness of heart.
7. Self-confidence.
8. Carnal fears. These hinder the soul from closing with that, mercy
that is reported to be in Christ. They are of divers sorts.
9. Carnal reasonings from our sins.
10. Carnal apprehensions of Christ. (T. Manton, D. D.)
The credibility and importance of the Gospel report
I. WE WILL
CONTEMPLATE THIS REPORT, AND INQUIRE WHETHER IT IS NOT WORTHY OF OUR ATTENTION
AND BELIEF.
1. The report which we hear, is a most instructive report. It brings
us information of many things which were before unknown, and which, without
this information, never could have been known to the sons of men. ¡§That which
had not been told us, we see.¡¨ The Gospel for this reason is called a message,
good tidings, and tidings of great joy. The leading truths of natural religion
are agreeable to the dictates of reason; and perhaps might be, in some measure,
discovered without revelation. At least they were known among those who had
never enjoyed a written revelation, though, indeed, we cannot say how far these
might be indebted to traditional information. But certainly those truths, which
immediately relate to the recovery and salvation of sinners, human reason could
never investigate.
2. The Gospel is a report from heaven. It was, in some degree, made
known to the patriarchs, and afterwards more fully to the prophets But ¡§God has
in these last days, spoken to us by His Son.¡¨
3. the Gospel is a credible report. Many reports come to us without
evidence: we only hear them, but know not what is their foundation, or whether
they have any. And yet even these reports pass not wholly unregarded. But, if
any important intelligence is brought to us which is both rational in itself,
and at the same time supported by a competent number of reputable witnesses, we
may much rather judge it worthy of our attention and belief. With this evidence
the Gospel comes. It is credible in its own nature. The doctrines of the
Gospel, though beyond the discovery and above the comprehension of reason, are
in no instance contrary to its dictates. They are all adapted to promote real
virtue and righteousness. Besides this internal evidence, God has been pleased
to give it the sanction of His own testimony. Errors have sometimes been
introduced and propagated by the artful reasoning of interested men. But
Christianity rests not on the basis of human reasoning, or a subtle intricate
train of argumentation: it stands on the ground of plain facts, of which every
man is able to judge. The life, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth are the facts which support it. If these did really take place, the
Gospel is true. Whether they did or not, men of common abilities were as
competent to judge, as men of the profoundest learning. We, who live in the
present age, have not, in every respect, the same evidence of the truth of the
Gospel as they had, who were eye-witnesses of those facts. But we have their
testimony, in the most authentic manner, conveyed to us. Some advantages we
have, which they had not. We have the examination of preceding ages. We see
Christianity still supporting itself against all the opposition of the world.
We see the unwearied attempts of its enemies to subvert it, rendered fruitless
and vain. We see many of the predictions contained in these records, already
verified; and others, to all appearance, hastening on towards an
accomplishment.
4. It is an interesting report. From the Gospel we learn that the
human race have, by transgression, fallen under the Divine displeasure. This
report corresponds with our own experience and observation. The Gospel brings
us a joyful message.
5. This is a public report. It is what we have all heard, and heard
often.
II. WE WILL
CONSIDER THE COMPLAINT. ¡§Who hath believed our report?¡¨ (J. Lathrop,
D..D.)
Do the prophets believe?
¡§Who hath believed our report?¡¨ This inquiry has been read in
various ways. Each of the ways has had its own accent and good lesson.
1. For example, the figure might be that of the prophets gathered
together in conference and bemoaning in each other¡¦s hearing that their sermons
or prophecies had come to nothing. We have preached all this while, and nobody
has believed; why preach any more? If this thing were of God it would result in
great harvests: it results in barrenness, and we are disappointed prophets.
That is one way. Many excellent remarks have been made under that construction of
the inquiry.
2. But that is not the meaning of the prophecy. The Revised Version
helps us to see it more clearly, by reading the word thus:--¡§Who hath believed
that which we have heard?¡¨ The idea is that the prophets are not rebuking other
people; the tremendous idea is that the prophets are interrogating themselves
and saying, in effect at least, Have we believed our own prophecy? is there a
believer in all the Church? is not the Church a nest of unbelievers? That puts
a very different face upon the interrogation. We shall now come to great
Gospels; when the prophets flagellate themselves we shall have some good
preaching. We might put the inquiry, if not literally, yet spiritually and
experimentally, thus:--Which of us, even the prophets, have believed? We have
said the right thing; people might listen with entranced attention to such
eloquence as ours: but is it red with the blood of trust, has it gone forth
from us taking our souls with it? If not, we are as the voice of the charmer;
men are saying of each of us, He hath a pleasant voice, what he says is said
most tunefully, but the man himself is not behind it and in it and above it: it
is a recitation, not a prophecy.
3. Who can find fault with the prophets? Not one of us, least of all
myself. They had some hard things to, believe; men do not willingly believe in
wildernesses and barren rocks, and declarations that have in them no poetry and
on them no lustre from heaven, hard and perilous sayings. Who can believe this,
that when the Anointed of the Lord shall come, the Chosen One, He shall be ¡§as
a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him?¡¨ It is incredible; if He
is God¡¦s own Son He will be more beautiful than the dawn of summer. But God
will not flatter His servants; He says to each of them, even the loftiest in
stature of soul, Go out and proclaim a Cross. It is always so with this Christ;
He is all Cross at the first: but what a summer there is hidden in the clouds!
and it will come as it were suddenly. The prophets worked their own way under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit out of this darkness. Having: dwelt more
largely upon the tragical aspect of the life of this great One, they say
towards the close, ¡§He shall see His seed.¡¨ That is a new tone; ¡§He shall
prolong his days,¡¨ that is a new tone; ¡§and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand.¡¨ Why, they have turned the corner; they are getting up
into the sunshine, they are unfurling the flag on the mountain-top. ¡§He shall
see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: His blood shall buy the
universe. This is the other end; this the other aspect of the Gospel. You will
never profitably read the Scriptures until you take the darkness with the light.
4. What is the application of this? Why are you wondering that other
people do not believe? The voice says, Friend! didst thou believe thine own
sermon? Was it alive with thine heart? (J. Parker, D.D.)
A heavy complaint and lamentation
I. TO WHOM IT WAS
MADE. We find from parallel Scriptures that it is made to the Lord Himself (John 12:38; Romans 10:16).
II. WHOM IT
RESPECTS. It respects the hearers of the Gospel in the prophet¡¦s time, and in
after times too.
III. THE MAKER OF
THIS HEAVY LAMENTATION.
1. The unsucessfulness of the Gospel, and prevailing unbelief among
them that heard it. Consider--
2. The great withdrawing of the power of God from ordinances. ¡§To
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?¡¨ This implies
The little success of the Gospel matter of lamentation
I. WHAT IS THAT
SUCCESS WHICH THE GOSPEL SOMETIMES HATH? It is successful--
1. When sinners are thereby brought to faith in Christ (Romans 1:17).
2. When they are thereby brought to holiness of life (2 Corinthians 3:18).
II. WHAT IS THAT
DIVINE POWER WHICH SOMETIMES COMES ALONG WITH GOSPEL-ORDINANCES?
1. A heart and life discovering power (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). The word comes,
and the Lord¡¦s arm comes with it, and opens the volume of a man¡¦s heart and the
life, and it is as if the preacher were reading the secret history of a man¡¦s
thoughts and actions (Hebrews 4:12).
2. A sharp, convincing power, whereby the sinner does not only see
his sin, but sees the ill and danger of it, and is touched to the heart with it
(Acts 24:25).
3. A drawing and converting power (John 12:32; Psalms 19:7).
4. A quickening power (Psalms 119:50).
5. A clearing power, resolving doubts, removing mistakes and darkness
in certain particulars, whereby one is retarded in their spiritual course Psalms 19:7-8).
6. A comforting power (Psalms 119:49-50).
7. A strengthening power. The Spirit, with the Word blowing on the
dry bones, makes them stand on their feet like s great army.
8. A soul-elevating and heart-ravishing power (Luke 24:32).
III. THE REASONS OF
THE DOCTRINE.
I. It must be a
matter of lamentation to the godly in general. For--
2. Particularly to godly ministers.
Evidences of non-success
1. The slighting of Gospel ordinances that so much prevails.
2. Little reformation of life under the dispensation of the Gospel.
3. Much formality in attendance on ordinances.
4. Little of the work of conversion or soul-exercise. (T. Boston,
M. A.)
The Gospel-report
I. CONSIDER THE
GOSPEL AS IT IS A REPORT. View it--
1. In the nature of a report in general.
2. In the nature of a report to be trusted to, for some valuable end.
And so it is--
II. CONSIDER FAITH
AS IT IS A TRUSTING TO THIS REPORT. Faith is--
1. A trusting of the Gospel-report as true.
2. A trusting to the Gospel-report as good. It implies--
III. CONSIDER THE
REPORT OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE TRUSTING TO IT, CONJUNCTLY. The Gospel is a
report from heaven--
1. Of salvation for poor sinners, from sin (Matthew 1:21), and from the wrath of God
(John 3:16), freely made over to you in
the Word of promise. Faith trusts it as a true report, believing that God has
said it; and trusts to it as good, laying our own salvation upon it.
2. Of a crucified Christ made over to sinners, as the device of
Heaven for their salvation. The soul concludes, the Saviour is mine; and leans
on Him for all the purchase of His death, for life and salvation to itself in
particular 1 Corinthians 2:2).
3. Of a righteousness wherein we guilty ones may stand before a holy
God Romans 1:17). And by faith one believes
there is such a righteousness, that it is sufficient to cover him, and that it
is held out to him to be trusted on for righteousness; and so the believer
trusts it as his righteousness in the sight of God, disclaiming all other, and
betaking himself to it alone Galatians 2:16).
4. Of a pardon under the great seal of Heaven, in Christ, to all who
will take it in Him (Acts 13:38-39). The soul by faith
believes this to be true, and applies it to itself, saying, This pardon is for
me.
5. Of a Physician that cures infallibly all the diseases of the soul.
The soul believes it, and applies it to its own case.
6. Of a feast for hungry souls, to which all are bid welcome, Christ
Himself being the Maker and matter of it too. The soul weary of the husks of
created things, and believing this report, accordingly falls a-feeding on
Christ.
7. Of a victory won by Jesus Christ over sin, Satan, and death, and
the world. The soul trusts to it for its victory over all these, as already
foiled enemies (1 John 5:4).
8. Of a peace purchased by the blood of Christ for poor sinners, and
offered to them. Faith believes it; and the soul comes before God as a
reconciled Father in Christ, brings in its supplications for supply before the
throne. (T. Boston, M. A.)
The rarity of believing the Gospel-report
I. CONFIRM THIS
POINT.
1. Take a view of the Church in all ages, and the entertainment the
Gospel has met with among them to whom it came. It has been a despised and
disbelieved Gospel.
2. Take a view of the Church, setting aside those whom the Scripture
determines to be unbelievers; and we will soon see that but few do remain. Set
aside--
II. THE REASONS WHY
SO FEW BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE GOSPEL.
1. There is a natural impotency in all (John 6:44). Believing the report of the
Gospel is beyond the power of nature, Yea, everything in nature is against it,
till the Spirit of the Lord overcome them into belief of the report of the
Gospel.
2. The predominant power of lusts, to which the Gospel is an enemy.
There our Lord lodges it (John 3:19).
3. There is a judicial blindness on many (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). (T. Boston,
M. A.)
Divine power necessary for believing the Gospel report
There is no true believing or trusting to the report of the
Gospel, but what is the effect of the working of a Divine power on the soul for
that end.
I. EVINCE THE
TRUTH OF THE DOCTRINE. Consider for it--
1. Express Scripture testimony (John 6:44).
2. The state that by nature we are in, ¡§dead in sin¡¨ (Ephesians 2:1). Faith is the first vital
act of the soul, quickened by the Spirit of life from Jesus Christ.
3. There can be no faith without knowledge: and the knowledge of
spiritual things man is by nature incapable of (1 Corinthians 2:14).
4. Man is naturally under the power of Satan, a captive of the devil,
who with his utmost efforts will hinder the work of faith (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Such a case
the Gospel finds men in; and it is the design of the Gospel to bring them out
of it (Acts 26:17-18).
5. Man¡¦s trust is by nature firmly preoccupied by those things which
the Gospel calls them to renounce. He is wedded to other confidences naturally,
which therefore he will hold by, till a power above nature carry him off from
them--self-confidence, creature-confidence, law-confidence.
6. Man has a strong bias and bent against believing or trusting to
the Gospel (John 5:40; Romans 10:3).
7. It is the product of the Holy Spirit, wherever it is.
II. WHAT IS THAT
WORKING OF DIVINE POWER WHEREBY THE SOUL IS BROUGHT TO TRUST TO THE GOSPEL
REPORT? There is a twofold work of Divine power on the soul for that end.
1. A mediate work, which is preparatory to it; whereof the Spirit is
the author, and the instrument is the law.
2. An immediate work, whereby faith is produced in the soul; whereof
the Spirit is the author, and the Gospel the instrument. It is--
The Monarch in disguise
There are four distinctive features predicted--
1. The lowliness, obscurity and sorrow of the coming Servant of God.
2. The putting forth of ¡§the arm of the Lord¡¨ in Him and in His work.
3. The setting forth of this in a message or ¡§report.¡¨
4. The concealing, as it were, of the ¡§arm of the Lord,¡¨ owing to the
lowly appearance of this Servant. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
Preaching and hearing
I. THE GREAT
SUBJECT OF PREACHING, and the preacher¡¦s great errand, is to report concerning
Jesus Christ--to bring good tidings concerning Him.
II. THE GREAT DUTY
OF HEARERS is, to believe this report and, by virtue of it, to be brought to
rest on Jesus Christ.
III. THE GREAT,
THOUGH THE ORDINARY, SIN OF THE GENERALITY OF THE HEARERS OF THE GOSPEL is
unbelief.
IV. THE GREAT
COMPLAINT, WEIGHT AND GRIEF OF AN HONEST MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL is this--that
his message is not taken off his hand; that Christ is not received, believed in
and rested on. (J. Durham.)
The offer of Christ in the Gospel
I. The offering of
Christ in the Gospel is WARRANT enough to believe in Him. Otherwise there had
been no just ground of expostulation and complaint for not believing. The
complaint is for the neglect of the duty they were called to.
II. They to whom
Christ is offered in the Gospel are CALLED to believe. It is their duty to do
it.
III. Saving faith is
THE WAY AND MEANS by which those who have Christ offered to them in the Gospel
come to get a right to Him, and to obtain the benefits that are reported of to
be had from Him. (J. Durham.)
The necessity of faith
1. Look to all the promises, whether of pardon of sin, peace with
God, joy in the Holy Ghost, holiness and conformity to God--there is no access
to these, or to any of them, but by faith.
2. Look to the performance of any duty, or mortification of any lust
or idol, and faith is necessary to that.
3. Whenever any duty is done, there is no acceptation of it without
faith Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 11:6). (J. Durham.)
A faithful minister¡¦s sorrow
It is most sad to a tender minister to see unbelief and
unfruitfulness among the people he hath preached the Gospel to. There is a
fourfold reason of this--
1. Respect to Christ Jesus his Master, in whose stead he comes to woo
souls to Christ.
2. The respect he hath to people¡¦s souls.
3. The respect he hath to the duty in hand.
4. Concern for his own joy and comfort (Philippians 2:16). (J. Durham.)
The prevalence of unbelief
I. THE CHARACTER
HERE GIVEN OF THE GOSPEL. A ¡§report.¡¨ Let us see--
1. In what respects it resembles a report. A report is the statement
of things or facts done or occurring at some distance of time or place; of
things which we ourselves have not seen, but of which an account has been
brought to us by others, and to which our belief is demanded in proportion to
the degree of credibility which attaches to those who bring us the account.
Such is the Gospel.
2. In what respects this report differs from all other reports. This
difference may be traced in the importance of the truths which it professes to
communicate, no less than in the evidence by which it is confirmed.
II. THE QUESTION
WHICH THE PROPHET ASKS IN REFERENCE TO IT, ¡§Who hath believed our report?¡¨ This
question is evidently the language of complaint, of surprise, and of grief. And
has there not been always occasion for such language as this? (E. Cooper.)
Ministerial solicitude
Every minister of Jesus Christ, imbued with the spirit of his
office, is anxious--
I. THE REPORT
WHICH THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL MAKE. The ¡§report¡¨ of Isaiah is the ¡§saying¡¨
of Paul (1 Timothy 1:15).
1. It demands and deserves your attention, for we bring it from
heaven.
2. It is a report of universal interest, for it is to be made to all
the world.
3. Our report is of the very highest importance, for it refers to the
state of the soul.
4. It is a report of the strictest veracity, being confirmed by many
credible witnesses.
II. The ANXIETY
WHICH THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL FEEL.
1. This report is very generally neglected.
2. This neglect is the result of unbelief.
3. This neglect is, to those who make it, a subject of devout
solicitude and of deep regret.
4. When this report is believed, it operates with Divine efficiency.
What think you of our report? (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
And to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed?--
The arm of the Lord revealed
I. WHAT IS MEANT
BY ¡§THE ARM OF THE LORD.¡¨
II. WHAT IS MEANT
BY THE REVEALING OF THE ARM OF THE LORD.
III. THE SCOPE AND
DEPENDENCE OF THESE WORDS ON THE FORMER. (J. Durham.)
The arm of the Lord
¡§To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?¡¨ It has been made bare
these many centuries, and how few have seen it, or recognized it, or called it
by its proper name! We have had continuity, and succession, and evolution, and
development, and progress, and laws of nature; but not ¡§the arm of the Lord. (J.
Parker, D.D.)
The might of the saving arm, and how to obtain it
(with John 11:40):--A lawyer whom I know took
me to see the fire-proof strong-room inwhich he keeps valuable deeds and
securities. It is excavated under the street, and a passage leads far into the
interior, lined on either side with receptacles for the precious documents. On
entering, he took up what appeared to be a candle, with a cord attached to it;
the other end he deftly fastened to a switch at the entrance, by means of which
the electricity which was waiting there poured up the wire hidden in the cord,
glowed at the wick of the china candle, and we were able to pass to the end of
the passage, uncoiling cord and wire as we went. That unlighted candle
resembles the Christian worker apart from the power of the Holy Ghost. Faith
may be compared to the switch by means of which the saving might of God pours
into our life and ministry. It cannot be too strongly insisted on, that our faith
is the absolute condition and measure of the exertion of God¡¦s saving might. No
faith, no blessing; little faith, little blessing; great faith, great blessing.
The saving might of God¡¦s glorious arm may be waiting close against us; but it
is inoperative unless we are united to it by faith. The negative and positive
sides of this great and important truth are presented in the texts before us:
one of which complains that the arm of God is not revealed, because men have
not believed the inspired report; the other affirms from the lips of the
Master, that those who believe shall see the glory of God. (F. B.
Meyer, B.A.)
The arm of God and human faith
(with John 11:40):--
I. THE ARM OF GOD.
This expression is often used in the older Scriptures, and everywhere signifies
the active, saving energy of the Most High. We first meet with it in His own
address to Moses: ¡§I will redeem them with a stretched-out arm.¡¨ Then, in the
triumphant shout that broke from two million glad voices beside the Red
Sea--and frequently in the book of Deuteronomy--we read of the stretched-out
arm of Jehovah. It is a favourite phrase with the poets and prophets of
Israel--the arm that redeems; the holy arm; the glorious arm; the bared arm of
God. The conception is that, owing to the unbelief of Israel, it lies
inoperative, hidden under the heavy folds of Oriental drapery; whereas it might
be revealed, raising itself aloft in vigorous and effective effort. All that concerns
us now is the relation between faith and the forth-putting of God¡¦s saving
might.
II. THE LIFE OF THE
SON OF MAN. AS this chapter suggests, it seemed, from many points of view, a
failure. The arm of the Lord was in Him, though hidden from all save the
handful who believed.
III. A SPECIMEN
CASE. Even though our Lord went to Bethany with the assurance that the arm of
the Lord would certainly be made bare, yet He must of necessity have the
co-operation and sympathy of some one¡¦s faith.
1. Such faith He discovered in Martha. Her admissions showed that
faith was already within her soul, as a grain of mustard-seed, awaiting the
summertide of God¡¦s presence, the education of His grace. There are many
earnest Christians whose energies are taxed to the uttermost by their ministry
to others. They have no time to sit quietly at the feet of Christ, or mature
great schemes of loving sympathy with His plans, as Mary did when she prepared
her anointing-oil for her Lord s burial. And yet they are capable of a great faith.
Christ will one day discover, reveal and educate that faith to great exploits.
2. He put a promise before her--¡§Thy brother shall rise again.¡¨ Faith
feeds on promises.
3. He showed that its fulfilment might be expected and now. Jesus
said, ¡§I AM the Resurrection and the Life.¡¨ Here and now is the power which, on
that day of which you speak, shall awaken the dead; do but believe, and you
shall see that resurrection anticipated. Ponder the force of this I AM. It is
the present tense of the Eternal.
4. He aroused her expectancy. For what other reason did He ask that
the stone might be rolled away? She believed, and she beheld the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. The one aim for each of us should be to bring
Christ and the dead Lazarus together. Let us ask Christ, our Saviour, to work
such faith in us; to develop it by every method of education and discipline; to
mature it by his nurturing Spirit, until the arm of God is revealed in us and
through us, and the glory of God is manifested before the gaze of men. At the
same time, it is not well to concentrate our thought too much on faith, lest we
hinder its growth. Look away from faith to the Object of faith, and faith will
spring of itself. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Who hath
believed our report?
--
The Messiah referred to in
Isaiah 53:1-12
By some it has been
supposed, in ancient times and in modern, that the prophet was referring to the
sufferings of the nation of Israel--either of Israel as a whole or of the
righteous section of the nation--and to the benefits that would accrue from
those sufferings to the surrounding peoples, some of whom were contemptuous of
Israel, all of whom may be described as ignorant of God. But to defend that
opinion it is necessary to paraphrase and interpret some of the statements in a
way that no sound rules of exposition will allow. Even Jewish historians are
wont to represent the sufferings of their people as the consequence of sin,
whereas these verses speak repeatedly of sufferings that are vicarious. St.
Paul says in one place that the fall of the Jews ¡§is the riches of the world,
and their loss the riches of the Gentiles;¡¨ but he is so far from meaning that
the Jews suffered in the stead of the Gentiles, that he proceeds at once to
argue by implication: If the world has been blessed notwithstanding the
unfaithfulness of the Jew, how much more would it have been blessed if Israel
had been true? It is quite possible that the great figure of the Servant of
Jehovah, standing in the front of all these verses, was designed to have more
than a single interpretation, to be reverently approached from many sides, to
be full of appeals to the patriotism and to the piety of the Israelite; but at
the same time it is no mere abstract conception, but the figure of a living and
separated Person, ¡§more perfect than human believer ever was, uniting in
himself more richly than any other messenger, of God everything that was
necessary for the salvation of man, and finally accomplishing what no mere
prophet¡¨ ever attempted. And some of the authorities of the synagogue even
might be quoted in favour of the almost universal Christian opinion, that the
Man of Sorrows of this chapter despised, and yet triumphant, is no other than
the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world, who over-trod the lowest
levels of human pain and misery, and who hereafter will sit enthroned, on His
head many crowns, and in His heart the satisfaction of assured and unlimited
victory. (R.W. Moss, D.D.)
The Jewish nation a
vicarious sufferer
Isaiah 53:1-12 has been supposed by many to refer to the Jewish nation as a
whole, and not to Christ or any other individual. And, in truth, it is in many
ways singularly applicable to Israel as a nation. As a nation Israel was
¡§despised and rejected,¡¨ and ¡§bore the sins of many.¡¨ This people was the chief
medium through which the Eternal was made manifest on earth. Hence came the
peculiarities and deficiencies of the Hebrew nature. The Jews were haunted by
the Infinite and Eternal; and therefore they knew not the free and careless
joyousness of Greece. The mountains are scarred and rent by storms and tempests
almost unknown in the valleys. The deepest religion necessarily involves
prolonged suffering. The near presence of the Infinite pierces and wounds the
soul. To Greeks or Romans Israel was a sort of Moses, veiling even while
revealing the terrific lineaments of Jehovah. The face of Israel did indeed
shine with an unearthly glory after communing with God on the mountain; but it
was a glory utterly uncongenial to the gaiety of joyous Athens. Most truly
might Greeks and Romans say of the devout Jew, ¡§He is despised and rejected of
men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our
faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.¡¨ Yet was Israel a mighty
benefactor to the human race. ¡§The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all.¡¨ Salvation came by the Jews. They had more genuine moral inspiration than
any others of the sons of men. To them alone was clearly disclosed the true
Jacob¡¦s ladder connecting earth with heaven. To the Greeks the Infinite was a
mere notion, a thing for the intellect to play with, or a kind of irreducible
surd left after the keenest philosophical analysis. To the Hebrews, on the
other hand, the Infinite was an appalling and soul-abasing reality, an
ever-menacing guide, as the fiery flaming sword of the cherubims ¡§which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.¡¨ ¡§It pleased the Lord to
bruise¡¨ Israel for the sake of the whole world. By being ¡§numbered with the transgressors,¡¨
Israel found out the real righteousness. (A. Crawford, M.A.)
The Jewish nation was a
type of Christ
The Jewish nation was a
type of Christ, and of all natures at once spiritual and sympathetic throughout
the ages. All real prophets in every age have in them much of the true Hebrew
nature, with its depths and its limitations. (A. Crawford, M.A.)
The servant and Israel
¡§Who believed what we
heard, and to whom did the arm of the Lord reveal itself?¡¨ Who believed the
revelation given to us in regard to the Servant, and who perceived the
operation of the Lord in His history! The speakers are Israel now believing,
and confessing their former unbelief. (A. B. Davidson, D.D.)
Christ in Isaiah
As an artisan, laying a
mosaic of complicated pattern and diverse colours, has before him a working
drawing, and carefully fits the minute pieces of precious stone and enamel
according to it, till the perfection of the design is revealed to all, so do
the evangelists and apostles, with the working-drawing of Old Testament
prophecy, and Old Testament types and shadows in the tabernacle services and
ceremonies, in their hands, fit together the details of Christ¡¦s life on earth,
His atoning death and His resurrection, and say, ¡§Behold, this can be none
other than the long looked-for Messiah.¡¨ The central knop, or flower pattern,
of the mosaic, from which all other details of the design radiated, was the
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. (F. Sessions.)
The suffering Saviour
I. We are led to THE ANTICIPATED LOWLINESS OF GOD¡¦S RIGHTEOUS
SERVANT, the Messiah. He would be low in the esteem of men, even of those He
comes to serve.
The Jews and Messianic
prophecy
From the Jews wresting
this text, observe--
1. That there is an evil disposition in men to turn off upon others
that which nearly concerns themselves.
2. That it is no new thing in persons to vouch that for themselves
which makes most against them. Thus the Jews do this chapter against the
Gentiles.
3. When God, for the wickedness of a people, hardeneth their hearts, they
are apt to mistake in that which is most plain.
4. From the prophet¡¦s great admiration, observe, that when we can do
no good upon a people, the most effectual way is to complain of it to God.
5. Those that profess the name of God may be much prejudiced against
the entertainment of those truths and counsels that He makes known to them for
their good.
6. It is a wonder they should not believe so plain a discovery of
Christ, though by the just judgment of God they did not.
7. The first believing of Christ is a believing the report of Him;
but afterwards there are experiences to confirm our belief (1 Peter 2:3; John 4:42). (T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ preached, but
rejected
I. JESUS CHRIST MAY BE CLEARLY REPRESENTED TO A PEOPLE, AND YET BUT
FEW WON TO BELIEVE IN HIM.
II. THE GOSPEL IS THE ARM AND POWER OF GOD.
III. SO FEW BELIEVE, BECAUSE GOD¡¦S ARM IS NOT REVEALED TO THEM the
power of the Word is not manifested by the Spirit. (T. Manton, D. D. )
Jewish prejudice against
Christ
At the time of Christ¡¦s
being in the flesh there were divers prejudices against Him in the Jews.
1. An erroneous opinion of the Messiah.
2. A fond reverence of Moses and the prophets, as if it were
derogatory to them to close with Christ (John 9:29).
3. Offence at His outward meanness (that is the scope of this chapter),
and the persecution He met with. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Gentile prejudice against
Christ
1. Pride in the understanding (1 Corinthians 1:23).
2. The meanness of the reporters--poor fishermen.
3. The hard conditions upon which they were to entertain Christ. (T.
Manton, D. D.)
Christ rejected in our
time
The hindrances to
believing in Him are these:
1. Ignorance. Men hear of Christ, but are not acquainted with Him.
2. An easy slightness; men do not labour after faith.
3. A careless security. They think themselves well enough without
Him.
4. A light esteem of Christ. As we do not see our own needs, so not
His worth.
5. A presumptuous conceit that we have entertained Christ already. Many
think every slight wish, every trivial hope, will serve the turn.
6. Hardness of heart.
7. Self-confidence.
8. Carnal fears. These hinder the soul from closing with that, mercy
that is reported to be in Christ. They are of divers sorts.
9. Carnal reasonings from our sins.
10. Carnal apprehensions of Christ. (T. Manton, D. D.)
The credibility and
importance of the Gospel report
I. WE WILL CONTEMPLATE THIS REPORT, AND INQUIRE WHETHER IT IS NOT
WORTHY OF OUR ATTENTION AND BELIEF.
1. The report which we hear, is a most instructive report. It brings
us information of many things which were before unknown, and which, without
this information, never could have been known to the sons of men. ¡§That which
had not been told us, we see.¡¨ The Gospel for this reason is called a message,
good tidings, and tidings of great joy. The leading truths of natural religion
are agreeable to the dictates of reason; and perhaps might be, in some measure,
discovered without revelation. At least they were known among those who had
never enjoyed a written revelation, though, indeed, we cannot say how far these
might be indebted to traditional information. But certainly those truths, which
immediately relate to the recovery and salvation of sinners, human reason could
never investigate.
2. The Gospel is a report from heaven. It was, in some degree, made
known to the patriarchs, and afterwards more fully to the prophets But ¡§God has
in these last days, spoken to us by His Son.¡¨
3. the Gospel is a credible report. Many reports come to us without
evidence: we only hear them, but know not what is their foundation, or whether
they have any. And yet even these reports pass not wholly unregarded. But, if
any important intelligence is brought to us which is both rational in itself,
and at the same time supported by a competent number of reputable witnesses, we
may much rather judge it worthy of our attention and belief. With this evidence
the Gospel comes. It is credible in its own nature. The doctrines of the
Gospel, though beyond the discovery and above the comprehension of reason, are
in no instance contrary to its dictates. They are all adapted to promote real
virtue and righteousness. Besides this internal evidence, God has been pleased
to give it the sanction of His own testimony. Errors have sometimes been
introduced and propagated by the artful reasoning of interested men. But
Christianity rests not on the basis of human reasoning, or a subtle intricate
train of argumentation: it stands on the ground of plain facts, of which every man
is able to judge. The life, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth are the facts which support it. If these did really take place, the
Gospel is true. Whether they did or not, men of common abilities were as
competent to judge, as men of the profoundest learning. We, who live in the
present age, have not, in every respect, the same evidence of the truth of the
Gospel as they had, who were eye-witnesses of those facts. But we have their
testimony, in the most authentic manner, conveyed to us. Some advantages we
have, which they had not. We have the examination of preceding ages. We see
Christianity still supporting itself against all the opposition of the world.
We see the unwearied attempts of its enemies to subvert it, rendered fruitless and
vain. We see many of the predictions contained in these records, already
verified; and others, to all appearance, hastening on towards an
accomplishment.
4. It is an interesting report. From the Gospel we learn that the
human race have, by transgression, fallen under the Divine displeasure. This
report corresponds with our own experience and observation. The Gospel brings
us a joyful message.
5. This is a public report. It is what we have all heard, and heard
often.
II. WE WILL CONSIDER THE COMPLAINT. ¡§Who hath believed our report?¡¨ (J.
Lathrop, D..D.)
Do the prophets believe?
¡§Who hath believed our
report?¡¨ This inquiry has been read in various ways. Each of the ways has had
its own accent and good lesson.
1. For example, the figure might be that of the prophets gathered
together in conference and bemoaning in each other¡¦s hearing that their sermons
or prophecies had come to nothing. We have preached all this while, and nobody
has believed; why preach any more? If this thing were of God it would result in
great harvests: it results in barrenness, and we are disappointed prophets.
That is one way. Many excellent remarks have been made under that construction
of the inquiry.
2. But that is not the meaning of the prophecy. The Revised Version
helps us to see it more clearly, by reading the word thus:--¡§Who hath believed
that which we have heard?¡¨ The idea is that the prophets are not rebuking other
people; the tremendous idea is that the prophets are interrogating themselves
and saying, in effect at least, Have we believed our own prophecy? is there a
believer in all the Church? is not the Church a nest of unbelievers? That puts
a very different face upon the interrogation. We shall now come to great
Gospels; when the prophets flagellate themselves we shall have some good
preaching. We might put the inquiry, if not literally, yet spiritually and
experimentally, thus:--Which of us, even the prophets, have believed? We have
said the right thing; people might listen with entranced attention to such
eloquence as ours: but is it red with the blood of trust, has it gone forth
from us taking our souls with it? If not, we are as the voice of the charmer;
men are saying of each of us, He hath a pleasant voice, what he says is said
most tunefully, but the man himself is not behind it and in it and above it: it
is a recitation, not a prophecy.
3. Who can find fault with the prophets? Not one of us, least of all
myself. They had some hard things to, believe; men do not willingly believe in
wildernesses and barren rocks, and declarations that have in them no poetry and
on them no lustre from heaven, hard and perilous sayings. Who can believe this,
that when the Anointed of the Lord shall come, the Chosen One, He shall be ¡§as
a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him?¡¨ It is incredible; if He
is God¡¦s own Son He will be more beautiful than the dawn of summer. But God
will not flatter His servants; He says to each of them, even the loftiest in
stature of soul, Go out and proclaim a Cross. It is always so with this Christ;
He is all Cross at the first: but what a summer there is hidden in the clouds!
and it will come as it were suddenly. The prophets worked their own way under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit out of this darkness. Having: dwelt more
largely upon the tragical aspect of the life of this great One, they say
towards the close, ¡§He shall see His seed.¡¨ That is a new tone; ¡§He shall
prolong his days,¡¨ that is a new tone; ¡§and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand.¡¨ Why, they have turned the corner; they are getting up
into the sunshine, they are unfurling the flag on the mountain-top. ¡§He shall
see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: His blood shall buy the
universe. This is the other end; this the other aspect of the Gospel. You will
never profitably read the Scriptures until you take the darkness with the
light.
4. What is the application of this? Why are you wondering that other
people do not believe? The voice says, Friend! didst thou believe thine own
sermon? Was it alive with thine heart? (J. Parker, D.D.)
A heavy complaint and
lamentation
I. TO WHOM IT WAS MADE. We find from parallel Scriptures that it is
made to the Lord Himself (John 12:38; Romans 10:16).
II. WHOM IT RESPECTS. It respects the hearers of the Gospel in the
prophet¡¦s time, and in after times too.
III. THE MAKER OF THIS HEAVY LAMENTATION.
1. The unsucessfulness of the Gospel, and prevailing unbelief among
them that heard it. Consider--
2. The great withdrawing of the power of God from ordinances. ¡§To
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?¡¨ This implies
The little success of the
Gospel matter of lamentation
I. WHAT IS THAT SUCCESS WHICH THE GOSPEL SOMETIMES HATH? It is
successful--
1. When sinners are thereby brought to faith in Christ (Romans 1:17).
2. When they are thereby brought to holiness of life (2 Corinthians 3:18).
II. WHAT IS THAT DIVINE POWER WHICH SOMETIMES COMES ALONG WITH
GOSPEL-ORDINANCES?
1. A heart and life discovering power (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). The word comes, and the Lord¡¦s arm comes with it, and opens the
volume of a man¡¦s heart and the life, and it is as if the preacher were reading
the secret history of a man¡¦s thoughts and actions (Hebrews 4:12).
2. A sharp, convincing power, whereby the sinner does not only see
his sin, but sees the ill and danger of it, and is touched to the heart with it
(Acts 24:25).
3. A drawing and converting power (John 12:32; Psalms 19:7).
4. A quickening power (Psalms 119:50).
5. A clearing power, resolving doubts, removing mistakes and darkness
in certain particulars, whereby one is retarded in their spiritual course Psalms 19:7-8).
6. A comforting power (Psalms 119:49-50).
7. A strengthening power. The Spirit, with the Word blowing on the
dry bones, makes them stand on their feet like s great army.
8. A soul-elevating and heart-ravishing power (Luke 24:32).
III. THE REASONS OF THE DOCTRINE.
I. It must be a matter of lamentation to the godly in general. For--
2. Particularly to godly ministers.
Evidences of non-success
1. The slighting of Gospel ordinances that so much prevails.
2. Little reformation of life under the dispensation of the Gospel.
3. Much formality in attendance on ordinances.
4. Little of the work of conversion or soul-exercise. (T. Boston,
M. A.)
The Gospel-report
I. CONSIDER THE GOSPEL AS IT IS A REPORT. View it--
1. In the nature of a report in general.
2. In the nature of a report to be trusted to, for some valuable end.
And so it is--
II. CONSIDER FAITH AS IT IS A TRUSTING TO THIS REPORT. Faith is--
1. A trusting of the Gospel-report as true.
2. A trusting to the Gospel-report as good. It implies--
III. CONSIDER THE REPORT OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE TRUSTING TO IT,
CONJUNCTLY. The Gospel is a report from heaven--
1. Of salvation for poor sinners, from sin (Matthew 1:21), and from the wrath of God (John 3:16), freely made over to you in the Word of promise. Faith trusts it
as a true report, believing that God has said it; and trusts to it as good,
laying our own salvation upon it.
2. Of a crucified Christ made over to sinners, as the device of
Heaven for their salvation. The soul concludes, the Saviour is mine; and leans
on Him for all the purchase of His death, for life and salvation to itself in
particular 1 Corinthians 2:2).
3. Of a righteousness wherein we guilty ones may stand before a holy
God Romans 1:17). And by faith one believes there is such a righteousness, that
it is sufficient to cover him, and that it is held out to him to be trusted on
for righteousness; and so the believer trusts it as his righteousness in the
sight of God, disclaiming all other, and betaking himself to it alone Galatians 2:16).
4. Of a pardon under the great seal of Heaven, in Christ, to all who
will take it in Him (Acts 13:38-39). The soul by faith believes this to be true, and applies it to
itself, saying, This pardon is for me.
5. Of a Physician that cures infallibly all the diseases of the soul.
The soul believes it, and applies it to its own case.
6. Of a feast for hungry souls, to which all are bid welcome, Christ
Himself being the Maker and matter of it too. The soul weary of the husks of
created things, and believing this report, accordingly falls a-feeding on
Christ.
7. Of a victory won by Jesus Christ over sin, Satan, and death, and
the world. The soul trusts to it for its victory over all these, as already
foiled enemies (1 John 5:4).
8. Of a peace purchased by the blood of Christ for poor sinners, and
offered to them. Faith believes it; and the soul comes before God as a
reconciled Father in Christ, brings in its supplications for supply before the
throne. (T. Boston, M. A.)
The rarity of believing
the Gospel-report
I. CONFIRM THIS POINT.
1. Take a view of the Church in all ages, and the entertainment the
Gospel has met with among them to whom it came. It has been a despised and
disbelieved Gospel.
2. Take a view of the Church, setting aside those whom the Scripture
determines to be unbelievers; and we will soon see that but few do remain. Set
aside--
II. THE REASONS WHY SO FEW BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE GOSPEL.
1. There is a natural impotency in all (John 6:44). Believing the report of the Gospel is beyond the power of
nature, Yea, everything in nature is against it, till the Spirit of the Lord
overcome them into belief of the report of the Gospel.
2. The predominant power of lusts, to which the Gospel is an enemy.
There our Lord lodges it (John 3:19).
3. There is a judicial blindness on many (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). (T. Boston, M. A.)
Divine power necessary for
believing the Gospel report
There is no true believing
or trusting to the report of the Gospel, but what is the effect of the working
of a Divine power on the soul for that end.
I. EVINCE THE TRUTH OF THE DOCTRINE. Consider for it--
1. Express Scripture testimony (John 6:44).
2. The state that by nature we are in, ¡§dead in sin¡¨ (Ephesians 2:1). Faith is the first vital act of the soul, quickened by the
Spirit of life from Jesus Christ.
3. There can be no faith without knowledge: and the knowledge of
spiritual things man is by nature incapable of (1 Corinthians 2:14).
4. Man is naturally under the power of Satan, a captive of the devil,
who with his utmost efforts will hinder the work of faith (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Such a case the Gospel finds men in; and it is the design of
the Gospel to bring them out of it (Acts 26:17-18).
5. Man¡¦s trust is by nature firmly preoccupied by those things which
the Gospel calls them to renounce. He is wedded to other confidences naturally,
which therefore he will hold by, till a power above nature carry him off from
them--self-confidence, creature-confidence, law-confidence.
6. Man has a strong bias and bent against believing or trusting to
the Gospel (John 5:40; Romans 10:3).
7. It is the product of the Holy Spirit, wherever it is.
II. WHAT IS THAT WORKING OF DIVINE POWER WHEREBY THE SOUL IS BROUGHT
TO TRUST TO THE GOSPEL REPORT? There is a twofold work of Divine power on the
soul for that end.
1. A mediate work, which is preparatory to it; whereof the Spirit is
the author, and the instrument is the law.
2. An immediate work, whereby faith is produced in the soul; whereof
the Spirit is the author, and the Gospel the instrument. It is--
The Monarch in disguise
There are four distinctive
features predicted--
1. The lowliness, obscurity and sorrow of the coming Servant of God.
2. The putting forth of ¡§the arm of the Lord¡¨ in Him and in His work.
3. The setting forth of this in a message or ¡§report.¡¨
4. The concealing, as it were, of the ¡§arm of the Lord,¡¨ owing to the
lowly appearance of this Servant. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
Preaching and hearing
I. THE GREAT SUBJECT OF PREACHING, and the preacher¡¦s great errand,
is to report concerning Jesus Christ--to bring good tidings concerning Him.
II. THE GREAT DUTY OF HEARERS is, to believe this report and, by
virtue of it, to be brought to rest on Jesus Christ.
III. THE GREAT, THOUGH THE ORDINARY, SIN OF THE GENERALITY OF THE
HEARERS OF THE GOSPEL is unbelief.
IV. THE GREAT COMPLAINT, WEIGHT AND GRIEF OF AN HONEST MINISTER OF THE
GOSPEL is this--that his message is not taken off his hand; that Christ is not
received, believed in and rested on. (J. Durham.)
The offer of Christ in the
Gospel
I. The offering of Christ in the Gospel is WARRANT enough to believe
in Him. Otherwise there had been no just ground of expostulation and complaint
for not believing. The complaint is for the neglect of the duty they were
called to.
II. They to whom Christ is offered in the Gospel are CALLED to
believe. It is their duty to do it.
III. Saving faith is THE WAY AND MEANS by which those who have Christ
offered to them in the Gospel come to get a right to Him, and to obtain the
benefits that are reported of to be had from Him. (J. Durham.)
The necessity of faith
1. Look to all the promises, whether of pardon of sin, peace with
God, joy in the Holy Ghost, holiness and conformity to God--there is no access
to these, or to any of them, but by faith.
2. Look to the performance of any duty, or mortification of any lust
or idol, and faith is necessary to that.
3. Whenever any duty is done, there is no acceptation of it without
faith Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 11:6). (J. Durham.)
A faithful minister¡¦s
sorrow
It is most sad to a tender
minister to see unbelief and unfruitfulness among the people he hath preached
the Gospel to. There is a fourfold reason of this--
1. Respect to Christ Jesus his Master, in whose stead he comes to woo
souls to Christ.
2. The respect he hath to people¡¦s souls.
3. The respect he hath to the duty in hand.
4. Concern for his own joy and comfort (Philippians 2:16). (J. Durham.)
The prevalence of unbelief
I. THE CHARACTER HERE GIVEN OF THE GOSPEL. A ¡§report.¡¨ Let us see--
1. In what respects it resembles a report. A report is the statement
of things or facts done or occurring at some distance of time or place; of
things which we ourselves have not seen, but of which an account has been
brought to us by others, and to which our belief is demanded in proportion to
the degree of credibility which attaches to those who bring us the account.
Such is the Gospel.
2. In what respects this report differs from all other reports. This
difference may be traced in the importance of the truths which it professes to
communicate, no less than in the evidence by which it is confirmed.
II. THE QUESTION WHICH THE PROPHET ASKS IN REFERENCE TO IT, ¡§Who hath
believed our report?¡¨ This question is evidently the language of complaint, of
surprise, and of grief. And has there not been always occasion for such
language as this? (E. Cooper.)
Ministerial solicitude
Every minister of Jesus
Christ, imbued with the spirit of his office, is anxious--
I. THE REPORT WHICH THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL MAKE. The ¡§report¡¨ of
Isaiah is the ¡§saying¡¨ of Paul (1 Timothy 1:15).
1. It demands and deserves your attention, for we bring it from
heaven.
2. It is a report of universal interest, for it is to be made to all
the world.
3. Our report is of the very highest importance, for it refers to the
state of the soul.
4. It is a report of the strictest veracity, being confirmed by many
credible witnesses.
II. The ANXIETY WHICH THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL FEEL.
1. This report is very generally neglected.
2. This neglect is the result of unbelief.
3. This neglect is, to those who make it, a subject of devout
solicitude and of deep regret.
4. When this report is believed, it operates with Divine efficiency.
What think you of our report? (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?--
The arm of the Lord
revealed
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY ¡§THE ARM OF THE LORD.¡¨
II. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE REVEALING OF THE ARM OF THE LORD.
III. THE SCOPE AND DEPENDENCE OF THESE WORDS ON THE FORMER. (J.
Durham.)
The arm of the Lord
¡§To whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed?¡¨ It has been made bare these many centuries, and how few have
seen it, or recognized it, or called it by its proper name! We have had
continuity, and succession, and evolution, and development, and progress, and
laws of nature; but not ¡§the arm of the Lord. (J. Parker, D.D.)
The might of the saving
arm, and how to obtain it
(with John 11:40):--A lawyer whom I know took me to see the fire-proof strong-room
inwhich he keeps valuable deeds and securities. It is excavated under the
street, and a passage leads far into the interior, lined on either side with
receptacles for the precious documents. On entering, he took up what appeared
to be a candle, with a cord attached to it; the other end he deftly fastened to
a switch at the entrance, by means of which the electricity which was waiting
there poured up the wire hidden in the cord, glowed at the wick of the china
candle, and we were able to pass to the end of the passage, uncoiling cord and
wire as we went. That unlighted candle resembles the Christian worker apart
from the power of the Holy Ghost. Faith may be compared to the switch by means
of which the saving might of God pours into our life and ministry. It cannot be
too strongly insisted on, that our faith is the absolute condition and measure
of the exertion of God¡¦s saving might. No faith, no blessing; little faith,
little blessing; great faith, great blessing. The saving might of God¡¦s
glorious arm may be waiting close against us; but it is inoperative unless we
are united to it by faith. The negative and positive sides of this great and
important truth are presented in the texts before us: one of which complains
that the arm of God is not revealed, because men have not believed the inspired
report; the other affirms from the lips of the Master, that those who believe
shall see the glory of God. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
The arm of God and human
faith
(with John 11:40):--
I. THE ARM OF GOD. This expression is often used in the older
Scriptures, and everywhere signifies the active, saving energy of the Most
High. We first meet with it in His own address to Moses: ¡§I will redeem them
with a stretched-out arm.¡¨ Then, in the triumphant shout that broke from two
million glad voices beside the Red Sea--and frequently in the book of Deuteronomy--we
read of the stretched-out arm of Jehovah. It is a favourite phrase with the
poets and prophets of Israel--the arm that redeems; the holy arm; the glorious
arm; the bared arm of God. The conception is that, owing to the unbelief of
Israel, it lies inoperative, hidden under the heavy folds of Oriental drapery;
whereas it might be revealed, raising itself aloft in vigorous and effective
effort. All that concerns us now is the relation between faith and the
forth-putting of God¡¦s saving might.
II. THE LIFE OF THE SON OF MAN. AS this chapter suggests, it seemed,
from many points of view, a failure. The arm of the Lord was in Him, though
hidden from all save the handful who believed.
III. A SPECIMEN CASE. Even though our Lord went to Bethany with the assurance
that the arm of the Lord would certainly be made bare, yet He must of necessity
have the co-operation and sympathy of some one¡¦s faith.
1. Such faith He discovered in Martha. Her admissions showed that
faith was already within her soul, as a grain of mustard-seed, awaiting the
summertide of God¡¦s presence, the education of His grace. There are many
earnest Christians whose energies are taxed to the uttermost by their ministry
to others. They have no time to sit quietly at the feet of Christ, or mature
great schemes of loving sympathy with His plans, as Mary did when she prepared
her anointing-oil for her Lord s burial. And yet they are capable of a great
faith. Christ will one day discover, reveal and educate that faith to great
exploits.
2. He put a promise before her--¡§Thy brother shall rise again.¡¨ Faith
feeds on promises.
3. He showed that its fulfilment might be expected and now. Jesus
said, ¡§I AM the Resurrection and the Life.¡¨ Here and now is the power which, on
that day of which you speak, shall awaken the dead; do but believe, and you
shall see that resurrection anticipated. Ponder the force of this I AM. It is
the present tense of the Eternal.
4. He aroused her expectancy. For what other reason did He ask that
the stone might be rolled away? She believed, and she beheld the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. The one aim for each of us should be to bring
Christ and the dead Lazarus together. Let us ask Christ, our Saviour, to work
such faith in us; to develop it by every method of education and discipline; to
mature it by his nurturing Spirit, until the arm of God is revealed in us and
through us, and the glory of God is manifested before the gaze of men. At the
same time, it is not well to concentrate our thought too much on faith, lest we
hinder its growth. Look away from faith to the Object of faith, and faith will
spring of itself. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 2
For He shall grow up before wire as a tender plant
God accomplishes great things by unlikely means
1.
God prosecuteth and
accomplisheth His greatest designs by the most unlikely and despised means.
Jesus Christ, the great Saviour of the world, was but a tender plant, which a
man would be more apt to tread upon and crush, than to cherish.
2. God cometh in for the
deliverance of His people in times of greatest despair and unlikelihood. For
when the branches of Jesse were dried up, and had no verdure, even then sprung
up the greatest ornament of that stock, although a root out of a dry ground.
3. Mean beginnings may grow
up to great matters and glorious successes. Christ, the tender plant, was to be
a tall tree. (T. Manton, D. D.)
God to be trusted
You have no cause to distrust God; though He doth not find means,
He can create them. The root of Jesse, though there be no branches, it can bear
a sprig. God, that could make the world out of nothing, can preserve the Church
by nothing. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Christ a tender plant
1. Christ in His humiliation
appeared in great feebleness; born a helpless babe, He was in His infancy in
great danger from the hand of Herod, and though preserved, it was not by a
powerful army, but by flight into another land. His early days were not spent
amid the martial music of camps, or in the grandeur of courts, but in the
retirement of a carpenter¡¦s shop--fit place for ¡§a tender plant.¡¨ His life was
gentleness, He was harmless as a lamb. At any time it seemed easy to destroy
both Him and His system. When He was nailed to the Cross to die, did it not
appear as if His whole work had utterly collapsed and His religion would be for
ever stamped out? The Cross threatened to be the death of Christianity as well
as of Christ; but it was not so, for in a few days the power of the Divine
Spirit came upon the Church.
2. At its first setting up,
how feeble was the kingdom of our Lord! When Herod stretched out His hand to
vex certain of the Church, unbelief might have said, ¡§There will he an utter
end ere long.¡¨ When, in after years, the Roman emperors turned the whole
imperial power against the Gospel, stretching forth an arm long enough to
encompass the entire globe, and uplifting a hand more heavy than an iron
hammer, how could it be supposed that the Christian Church would still live on?
It bowed before the storm like a tender shoot, but it was not uprooted by the
tempest; it survives to this day; and although we do not rejoice at this moment
in all the success which we could desire, yet still that tender shoot is full
of vitality, we perceive the blossoms of hope upon it, and expect soon to
gather goodly clusters of success.
3. Christianity in our own
hearts--the Christ within us--is also a ¡§tender plant.¡¨ In its upspringing it
is as the green blade of corn, which any beast that goeth by may tread upon or
devour. Oftentimes, to our apprehension, it has seemed that our spiritual life
would soon die: it was no better than a lily, with a stalk bruised and all but
snapped in twain. The mower a scythe of temptation has cut down the outgrowth
of our spiritual life, but He who cometh down like rain upon the mown grass has
restored our verdure and maintained our vigour to this day. Tender as our
religion is, it is beyond the power of Satan to destroy it. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Growth before God
There is one word which marks the difference between the work of
God and the work of man. It is the word ¡§growth.¡¨ No human work can grow. For
though we speak of a picture growing under the brush of the painter, or of a
statue growing under the chisel of the sculptor, this is only a figure of
speech.
1. But there is no work of
God that cannot grow. This world itself grew into being. It grew up before God
as the wild flower does--grew out of chaos, into order and beauty, and we can
read on the rocks the story of its growth. There is a greater world than
this--the world of Divine truth. And this also has been a growth from the
beginning.
2. No wonder, then, that the
Son of God grew up before the Lord--that the Lord of nature conformed to the
law of nature. The sacred historian is not to be found tripping here, like the
medieval romancist. He does not outrage the order of nature by a single story
of monstrous precocity. There is not a part of the being of Jesus which he
excludes from the order of growth. In body, mind and spirit he declares the
child grew up before the Lord.
3. What hope is there here
for man! The Son of God had to grow, and the meanest child of man can grow. If
we had no power of growth but that which we possess in common with the animal
and the tree, then were we of all creatures the most miserable. Because we have
in us the power of an endless growth in all that is great and good, we are
creatures of the Most Blessed. And we must grow. That is our destiny. Our
Christianity is not a piece of mechanism that was finished off at the date of
conversion. It is a life that has been born within the soul. We are growing,
either upwards or downwards, either better or worse, either to honour or to
shame.
4. But how may a noble and
Divine growth be ensured? It is a question that is not left unanswered in my
text. For we are told that the plant of which it speaks grew up before the
Lord. It was the fondest desire of the Hebrew mother¡¦s heart that her son
should grow up before the Lord. She would rather have him grow up before the
Lord in the temple than before the king in the palace. There can be no higher
position or nobler prospect for a man than to grow up before his God. The child
Samuel and the child Jesus grew up before the same God, but how differently.
The former under the very shadow of the altar, under the wing of the old, blind
priest, utterly secluded from the common ways of men; but Jesus, at His mother
s knee in the village home, in the midst of His little relatives and playmates,
among the workmen at the bench, and the old familiar faces in street and
synagogue. And so it has become a Christian commonplace that you can grow up
before the Lord anywhere.
5. But we are further
informed of the special fashion in which Jesus grew up before the Lord. ¡§As a
tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground,¡¨ we read. But the Hebrew
contains a more explicit meaning. It is this: ¡§He grew up before God like a
fresh sucker from a root springing out of a dry ground¡¨ The old plant is the
house of David, once so glorious in flower and fruitage, at last cut down and
withered. The dry soil is the barren religious life of Israel. The fresh young
sucker is the Son of Man. That it did grow to what we see is the supreme
miracle of Christianity. Its principal evidence is in its own marvellous
growth. This is the dilemma in which Christianity still keeps its foes, and to
which all additional thought and investigation can only add strength. From such
a root, in such a soil, how did Jesus grow to be the Christ of history? It must
either be acknowledged to be the supreme miracle or the supreme mystery of
time. And this is the one Christian miracle which keeps repeating itself
century after century. From the withered plant, and out of the desert soft, God
is evermore producing His plants of renown. How was it, for example, that
Luther grew to be the man he was, and to wield the power he did? Was it from
the withered root of the mediaeval Church or the desert soil of the monastery
that he derived his power? Or was he right when he declared the conviction of
his heart that it was all by the grace of God through faith? History discloses
to us nothing so glorious as these Divine developments of the soul of man. The
grace that has achieved these things is in the world as much as ever.
6. Why is it, then, that so
many young men are excluding from their ambition in life that of growth in
Christ? Why is it that so many of them murmur that the old creeds are dry, and
the old Bible and the old familiar Church service, and that even the fountain
of private devotion has ceased to water the wilderness? It is because they are
not rooted in God and His truth, but are, many of them, like plants thrown out
of a country nursery, which lie bleaching in the sun or are blown about by the
wind. No wonder that religion seems dry to those who are not rooted in it.
Young men! see to it that you go down into the truth which you profess to stand
by, whether of creed, of catechism, or Bible, and you will find as much good in
it as your fathers did. Thus settled and grounded, seek to grow in everything;
put on nothing. All pretence is worse than waste of time and strength. And
abjure all forced and unnatural growth, all ambition to fill rapidly a large
space. Be content to occupy the ground that God has allotted to you, according
to the nature that God has given. (P. J. Rollo.)
As a root out of a dry
ground
The root out of a dry ground
Owing to their geographical position, the central and western
regions of South Africa are almost constantly deprived of rain. They contain no
flowing streams, and very little water in the wells. The soil is a soft and
light-coloured sand, which reflects the sunlight with a glaring intensity. No
fresh breeze cools the air; no passing cloud veils the scorching sky. We should
naturally have supposed that regions so scantily supplied with one of the first
necessaries of life, could be nothing else than waste and lifeless deserts: and
yet, strange to say, they are distinguished for their comparatively abundant
vegetation, and their immense development of animal life. The evil produced by
want of rain has been counteracted by the admirable foresight of the Creator,
in providing these arid lands with plants suited to their trying circumstances.
The vegetation is eminently local and special. Nothing like it is seen
elsewhere on the face of the earth. Nearly all the plants have tuberous roots,
buried far beneath the ground, beyond the scorching effects of the sun, and are
composed of succulent tissue, filled with a deliciously cool and refreshing
fluid. They have also thick, fleshy leaves, with pores capable of imbibing and
retaining moisture from a very dry atmosphere and soil; so that if a leaf be
broken during the greatest drought, it shows abundant circulating sap. Nothing
can look more unlike the situations in which they are found than these
succulent roots, full of fluid when the surrounding soil is dry as dust, and
the enveloping air seems utterly destitute of moisture; replete with
nourishment and life when all within the horizon is desolation and death. They
seem to have a special vitality in themselves; and, unlike all other plants, to
be independent of circumstances. Such roots are also found in the deserts of
Arabia; and it was doubtless one of them that suggested to the prophet the
beautiful and expressive emblem of the text, ¡§He shall grow up before him as a
root out of a dry ground.¡¨ (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
Christ¡¦s growth before God
Commentators usually connect these words with the next clause of
the verse, and regard them as implying that the promised Messiah would have no
form or comeliness in the estimation of men, no outward beauty, that they
should desire Him. This, I think, is a wrong interpretation. The words of the
text are complete and separate. They speak not of the appearance of Christ to
men, but of His growth in the sight of God. They refer not to His
attractiveness, but to His functions; and the point that seems to be most
insisted upon is, that His relation to the circumstances in which He should be
placed would be one of perfect independence and self-sufficiency. (H.
Macmillan, LL. D.)
The root out of a dry ground
In the light of this explanation let us look at the three ideas
which the subject suggests to us--
1. The living root.
2. The dry ground.
3. The effect of the living
root upon the dry ground. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
Christ the living root
1. This emblem is peculiarly
appropriate when applied to Christ. He is called the ¡§Branch,¡¨ to show that He
is a member of the great organism of human life, in all things made like unto
His brethren, yet without sin. He is a branch of the tree of humanity,
nourished by its sap, pervaded by its life, blossoming with its affections, and
yielding its fruits of usefulness. But He is more than the Branch. ¡§There shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots,¡¨ is the spiritual language of prophecy relative to the coming of the
Messiah; but the figure is speedily changed, and the Branch is also called ¡§the
Root of Jesse.¡¨ This language is most strange and paradoxical. It reveals the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Jesus is at one and the same
time the Branch and the Root, the root of Jesse and the offspring of Jesse,
David¡¦s Lord and David¡¦s son, because He is Emmanuel, God with us, God and man
in two distinct natures and one person for ever; deriving His human life by
natural descent from man, and possessing Divine life in Himself, and the author
of spiritual life to others. The root of plants growing in a dry ground is the
most important part of their structure. It lies at the basis of, and involves
the whole plant. The whole growth of a lily, for instance, lies folded up
within its bulb. And so Christ lies at the basis of, and involves the whole
spiritual life.
2. It is assuredly the most
precious, as it is the most distinguishing, feature of the Christian religion,
that it places the foundation of eternal life in living relations with a living
Person, rather than in the profession of a creed or the practice of a duty.
The unfoldings of the Root of Jesse
All the individual life of the Christian, with its blossoms of
holiness and its fruits of righteousness; all the Christian life of society,
with its things that are pure, and honest, and lovely, and of good report, is but
a development and a manifestation of the life of Christ in the heart and in the
world; a growth and unfolding of the power, the beauty, and the sweetness that
are hid in the Root of Jesse. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
The dry ground
There is usually a very intimate connection between a plant and
the circumstances in which it grows. Modifications of specific character are
produced by varieties of soil; and the wide difference between a wild flower or
fruit, and a garden flower or fruit, is entirely owing to the difference
between rich cultivated soil and the poor untilled soil of nature. The plants
of a dry ground, however, are less dependent upon the nature of their soil than
others; they receive from it, in most cases, mere mechanical support and room
to expand in, while their means of growth are derived entirely from the
atmosphere. Looking at the emblem of the text in this light, we may suppose the
¡§dry ground¡¨ here to mean--
I. THAT HUMANITY OUT OF WHICH
CHRIST SPRANG. There are many who regard Jesus as the natural product of
humanity--the highest development of human nature, the blossom, so to speak, of
mankind. But we look upon Him as a Divine germ planted in this wilderness, a
Divine Being attaching Himself to men, wearing their nature, dwelling in their
world, but still not of them--as distinct from humanity as the living root is
distinct from the dry ground in which it grows. The soil of humanity is indeed
dry ground. Sin has dried up its life, its fertility, turned its moisture into
summer¡¦s drought, and reduced it to perpetual barrenness. By the law of natural
development, mankind could never have given birth to a character in every way
so exceptional as that of Christ. It is true indeed that a few individuals have
ever and anon emerged from the dark chaos of fallen humanity, and exhibited a
high type of intellectual and moral worth; but such individuals have been
completely identified with the human race, and have shared in its sins and
infirmities. In Jesus, on the contrary, there was a remarkable remoteness and
separateness from men his life ran parallel with man¡¦s, but it was never on the
same low level. He was independent of worldly circumstances, and superior to
worldly conventionalities. He had no joys on earth save those He brought with
Him from heaven. He was alone, without sympathy, for no one could understand
Him; without help, for no mortal aid could reach the necessities of His case.
Like a desert well, He was for ever imparting what no one could give Him back.
II. THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE
JEWS REGARDING THE MESSIAH. There are scientific men who believe in the
doctrine of spontaneous or equivocal generation. And so there are theologians
who assert that Christ was merely the natural product of the age and the
circumstances in which He lived; the mere incarnation, so to speak, of the
popular expectation of the time. In all their attempts to account for His life,
without admitting Him to be a Divine person, they bring prominently into view
whatever there was in Jewish history, belief, and literature, to prepare for
and produce such a personality and character as those of Jesus; they endeavour
to show that the condition of the Jewish world, when Christ appeared, was
exactly that into which His appearing would fit; and that all these preparatory
and formative conditions did of themselves, by a kind of natural spontaneous
generation, produce Christ. In reply to these views, it may be admitted as an
unquestionable historical fact, that the expectation of a Messiah ran like a
golden thread throughout the whole complicated web of the Hebrew religion and
polity. The expectations of the Jews did no more of themselves produce the
Saviour, than the soil and climate produce, of their own accord, any particular
plant. There was nothing in the age, nothing in the people, nothing in the
influences by which he was surrounded, which could by any possibility have
produced or developed such a remarkable character as He exhibited. There was no
more relation between Him and His moral surroundings, than there is between a succulent
life-full root and the arid sandy waste in which it grows. The counterfeit
Messiahs were not roots out of a dry ground, but, on the contrary, mushrooms
developed from the decaying life of the nation. There was a complete harmony
between them and their moral surroundings. They were really and truly the
products of the popular longing of the time; they agreed in every respect with
their circumstances. The prevailing notions concerning the Messiah were worldly
and carnal.
III. THE CHARACTER OF THE JEWISH
PEOPLE. Nothing can be more marked and striking than the contrast between the
character of Christ and the general character of the Jewish nation--between the
excellences which He displayed and those which they held in most esteem. It is
said that a man represents the spirit and character of the age and the race to
which he belongs. He seldom rises above their general level. But here we have a
man who not only rose high above the level of his age and nation, but stands
out, in all that constitutes true moral manhood, in marked and decided contrast
to them. He was descended from the Jewish people, but He was not of them. He
was rooted in Jewish soil, but His life was a self-derived and heavenly life.
This is a great and precious truth. Something has come into this world which is
not of it. A supernatural power has descended into nature. A man has lived on
our earth who cannot be ranked with mankind. A Divine Being has come from God,
to be incarnate with us, and to lift us up to God. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
Christ binds humanity into a brotherhood
The roots of the desert, by their extensive ramifications, fix the
constantly shifting sands, and prevent them from being drifted about in
blinding clouds by every wind that blows. So the Root of Jesse binds the dry
ground of humanity by its endless fibres of benevolence and love. The despised
and apparently feeble Jesus of Nazareth was lifted up on the Cross, and then
followed--according to His own prophecy--the drawing of all men to Him and to
one another. Sin is selfishness and isolation; the love of Christ is
benevolence and attraction. Jesus unites us to the Father, and therefore to one
another. The love of Christians is not to be confined to their own society and
fraternity. In Christ they have received expansion, not limitation--universal
benevolence, not mere party spirit. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
A root out of a dry ground
I. THE HISTORICAL MEANING OF
THIS METAPHOR. It applies to the person of the Lord, and also to His cause and
Kingdom: to Himself personally and to Himself mystically. A root which springs
up in a fat and fertile field owes very much to the soil in which it grows. Our
Saviour is a root that derives nothing from the soil in which it grows, but
puts everything into the soil.
1. It is quite certain that
our Lord derived nothing whatever from His natural descent. He was the Son of
David, the lawful heir to the royal dignities of the tribe of Judah; but His
family had fallen into obscurity, had lost position, wealth, and repute.
2. Nor did our Lord derive
assistance from His nationality; it was no general recommendation to His
teaching that He was of the seed of Abraham. To this day, to many minds, it is
almost shameful to mention that our Saviour was a Jew. The Romans were
peculiarly tolerant of religions and customs; by conquest their empire had
absorbed men of all languages and creeds, and they usually left them
undisturbed; but the Jewish faith was too peculiar and intolerant to escape
derision and hatred. After the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews were
hunted down, and the connection of Christianity with Judaism so far from being
an advantage to it became a serious hindrance to its growth.
3. Nor did the Saviour owe
anything to His followers. Shall a world-subduing religion be disseminated by
peasants and mariners? So did He ordain it.
4. Our Saviour is ¡§a root out
of a dry ground¡¨ as to the means He chose for the propagation of His faith.
5. Neither did the Saviour
owe anything to times in which He lived. Christianity was born at a period of
history when the world by wisdom knew not God, and men were most effectually
alienated from Him. The more thinking part of the world¡¦s inhabitants were
atheistic, and made ridicule of the gods, while the masses blindly worshipped
whatever was set before them. The whole set and current of thought was in
direct opposition to such a religion as He came to inculcate. It was an age of
luxury.
6. Neither did the religion
of Jesus owe anything to human nature. It is sometimes said that it commends
itself to human nature. It is false: the religion of Jesus opposes unrenewed
human nature.
II. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ITS TRUTH
EXPERIMENTALLY. You remember your own conversion. When Jesus Christ came to you
to save you, did He find any fertile soil in your heart for the growth of His
grace?
III. This whole subject affords
much ENCOURAGEMENT to many.
1. Let me speak a word to
those who are seeking the Saviour, but are very conscious of your own
sinfulness. Christ is all--does that not cheer you?
2. The same thought ought also
to encourage any Christian who has been making discoveries of his own
barrenness. When at any time you are cast down by a sense of your nothingness,
remember that your Lord is ¡§a root out of a dry ground.¡¨
3. The same comfort avails
for every Christian worker. When you feel you are barren, do not fret or
despair about it, but rather say, ¡§Lord, here is a dry tree, come and make it
bear fruit, and then I shall joyfully confess, from Thee is my fruit found.¡¨
4. Ought not this to comfort
us with regard to the times in which we live? Bad times are famous times for
Christ.
5. And thus we may be
encouraged concerning any particularly wicked place. Do not say, ¡§It is useless
to preach down there, or to send missionaries to that uncivilized country.¡¨ How
do you know? Is it very dry ground? Well, that is hopeful soil; Christ is a
¡§root out a dry ground,¡¨ and the more there is to discourage the more you
should be encouraged.
6. The same is true of
individual men; you should never say, ¡§Well, such a man as that will never be
converted.
IV. THE GLORY WHICH ALL THIS
DISPLAYS. Christ¡¦s laurels at this day are none of them borrowed. When He shall
come in His glory there will be none among its friends who will say, ¡§O King,
Thou owest that jewel in Thy crown to me.¡¨ Every one will own that He was the
author and the finisher of the whole work, and therefore He must have all the
glory of it, since we who were with Him were dry ground, and He gave life to us
but borrowed nothing from us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ not the product of Palestine
According to Renan, the excellence of Jesus was due to the climate
and soil of Palestine! But he forgets to ask how it is that the climate and
soil of Palestine have never produced such another! (C. Clemance, D.D.)
He hath no form nor
comeliness
Christ¡¦s humble appearance
While we see no necessity for the Saviour of the world appearing
in pomp and splendour, we can point out many important ends that may be
answered by His having been made humble and of no reputation.
1. In this state His
all-perfect example was of the most extensive benefit. He could exhibit virtues
more in number, more difficult to practise, and more generally necessary, than
there could have been room for in a higher rank and in less trying
circumstances. And the virtues which such a state required from Him, as they
are the most difficult to practise, so are they those which are universally
useful. The virtues which belong to sovereign power and regal dignity a few
only have occasion to exercise. The virtues of that station which He assumed
are useful for all to acquire.
2. By His appearing in the
humble, suffering state He teaches us how very insignificant in the sight of
God, and in the eyes of true wisdom, are all the possessions of this world and
all the flattering distinctions of a present state.
3. By appearing in a humble,
suffering state He shows us that earthly distress is no proof of a bad
character; that suffering is no sure intimation of God s displeasure at the
sufferer.
4. By appearing in this state
He shows us that it was only the force of truth that engaged and influenced His
followers. So strongly are men impressed by the circumstances of high birth, of
eminent rank, of great power, the splendid acts of a monarch or a conqueror,
that wherever these are found they are eager to show deference and respect. But
Jesus had none of these worldly attractions. (R. Bogg, D.D.)
The real character of the Messiah
I. AS TO THE OBJECTION, that
Jesus was not the true Messiah, because He did not answer the universal expectation
which the Jews had of His being a mighty temporal prince. Considering the
natural temper of mankind, and how strongly addicted they are to their worldly
interests, and how jealous of everything that thwarts and opposes them, we must
allow it to be a prejudice not easy to overcome. It requires a greater zeal for
the honour of God and religion than most men are possessed of, to adhere to
truth when we are likely to be losers by it. Few there are that have resolution
enough to abide by a religion in which they have been educated, when once it
comes to be opposed by the secular powers, and the profession of it to be
attended with nothing but poverty and affliction: how much more courage then,
and firmness of mind, is necessary to make men enter into a religion newly set
up, and that is attended with the like disadvantages? But can any one seriously
think this excuse of any force? Let him urge it in its true light, and thus
must he plead when arraigned at the tribunal of God for unbelief: ¡§I would willingly
have embraced the religion of Jesus Christ had it been made more suitable to my
carnal inclinations and interests; had the rewards it promises been temporal
instead of eternal, none should have more industriously and cheerfully sought
after them; but when He told me that His ¡¥kingdom was not of this world,¡¦ and
that I could not follow Him without ¡¥taking up the cross;¡¦ without losing, or
being in danger of losing, everything that was valuable in life, nay, life
itself, for His sake--my flesh trembled at the thought, and human nature,
directed me to take care of myself, and to run no hazards for the sake of
religion.¡¨ What sentence can such an one expect but this: ¡§Thou hast preferred
thy temporal to thy eternal interest, thou hast had thy reward on earth, and
canst therefore expect no other in heaven¡¨? But the Jew perhaps thinks he has
somewhat further to say in behalf of his unbelief--that he was persuaded, from
the predictions of the prophets, that the Messiah would really be, what the
Gentiles might only wish Him to be, a temporal prince; and, finding Jesus not
to be so, they thought it a good reason for rejecting Him. But was this
(supposing it true) the only mark by which the Messiah was to be known? How
often do we read of His sufferings and ill-usage in the world? Did anybody
appear that answered the character of the Messiah, in any one instance, so
exactly as Jesus did? The Jews made another objection against Him of much the
same kind: that He was brought up, and, as they supposed, born at Nazareth, in
Galilee; a country much despised by the Jews, as if there was anything in the
nature of the soil or air of the country that rendered the inhabitants of it
less acceptable to God than they might otherwise be, and He could not, if He
would, produce eminent and bright spirits out of the most obscure parts of the
world. The Chaldees were an idolatrous people, and yet God made choice of
Abraham, a man of that country, with whom to establish an everlasting covenant,
and in whose seed to bless all the nations of the earth. The prophet Jonah, a
type of Christ, was born at a place called Gath-hepher, a town of the tribe of
Zebulon, in Galilee itself, though no prophet is said by the Jews to come from
thence: and Isaiah moreover plainly declares to us, in the description he is
giving of the universal joy and comfort that will be occasioned by the birth
and kingdom of Christ, that ¡§in Galilee of the nations¡¨ this shall be seen.
¡§The people (says he) that walked in darkness, have seen a great light; they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined.¡¨ So that this objection is as groundless as it is weak and foolish.
II. APPLICATION to ourselves.
1. It greatly behoves us to
take care that worldly interest and advantage be not the principal motive that
engages us to perform our duty; lest, after the example of the Jews, we fall
away from it, when that motive fails; lest, being disappointed of the hopes we
had conceived from our attachment to religion and religious men, we become enemies
instead of friends.
2. How hard it is for truth
to prevail over the prejudices and settled notions of men. (C. Moore, M. A.)
Religion a weariness to the natural man
Putting aside for an instant the thought of the ingratitude and
the sin which indifference to Christianity implies, let us, as far as we dare,
view it merely as a matter of fact, after the manner of the text, and form a
judgment on the probable consequences of it.
1. ¡§Religion is a weariness;¡¨
alas! so feel even children before they can well express their meaning.
Exceptions, of course, now and then occur. I am not forgetful of the peculiar
character of children¡¦s minds: sensible objects first meet their observation;
it is not wonderful that they should at first be inclined to limit their thoughts
to things of sense. A distinct profession of faith, and a conscious maintenance
of principle, may imply a strength and consistency of thought to which they are
as yet unequal. Again, childhood is capricious, ardent, light-hearted; it
cannot think deeply or long on any subject. Yet all this is not enough to
account for the fact in question--why they should feel this distaste for the
very subject of religion.
2. ¡§Religion is a weariness¡¨
I will next take the case of young persons when they first enter into life. Is
not religion associated in their minds with gloom and weariness? This is the
point that the feelings of our hearts on the subject of religion are different
from the declared judgment of God; that we have a natural distaste for that
which He has said is our chief good.
3. Let us pass to the more
active occupations of life. The transactions of worldly business, speculations
in trade, ambitious hopes, the pursuit of knowledge, the public occurrences of
the day, these find a way directly to the heart; they rouse, they influence.
The name of religion, on the other hand, is weak and impotent.
4. But this natural
contrariety between man and his Maker is still more strikingly shown by the
confessions of men of the world who have given some thought to the subject, and
have viewed society with somewhat of a philosophical spirit. Such men treat the
demands of religion with disrespect and negligence, on the ground of their
being unnatural. The same remark may be made upon the notions which secretly
prevail in certain quarters at the present day, concerning the unsuitableness
of Christianity to an enlightened age. The literature of the day is weary of
revealed religion.
5. That religion is in itself
a weariness is seen even in the conduct of the better sort of persons, who
really on the whole are under the influence of its spirit. So dull and
uninviting is calm and practical religion, that religious persons are ever
exposed to the temptation of looking out for excitements of one sort or other,
to make it pleasurable to them.
6. Even the confirmed
servants of Christ witness to the opposition which exists between their own
nature and the demands of religion. Can we doubt that man¡¦s will runs contrary
to God¡¦s will--that the view which the inspired Word takes of our present life,
and of our destiny, does not satisfy us, as it rightly ought to do? That Christ
hath no form nor comeliness in our eyes; and though we see Him, we see no
desirable beauty in Him? ¡§Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light.¡¨ If our hearts are by nature set on the world for its own sake, and
the world is one day to pass away, what are they to be set on, what to delight
in then? What are to be the pleasures of the soul in another life? Can they be
the same as they are here? They cannot; Scripture tells us they cannot; the
world passeth away--now what is there left to love and enjoy through a long
eternity? It is then plain enough, though Scripture said not a word on the
subject, that if we would be happy in the world to come, we must make us new
hearts, and begin to love the things we naturally do not love. ¡§He hath no form
nor comeliness,¡¨ etc. It is not His loss that we love Him not, it is our
loss. (J.H. Newman, B.D.)
The love of beauty (in art)
Let us fix our thoughts on one example of that contrast which
inspired prophecy and the life of Christ have agreed to reconcile. It is
decisively expressed in the contradictory words of Zechariah and Isaiah: the
former heralding the King of Sion as one whose beauty should surpass the utmost
praise of human words or thoughts Zechariah 9:7); the latter declaring
that those who should see that self-same Christ should find in Him no beauty
that they should desire Him. I would try to suggest something in regard to the
actual fulfilment of both prophecies in the claims addressed to our sense of
beauty, by the revelation of Christianity; believing that there is a deep
meaning in that strange and blended force of stern restraint and irresistible
charm which this sense has so often owned in the presence of the Crucified; and
hoping to show that this too is an instinct of our human nature, which, if we
suffer it to act in sincerity and truth, will find its rest for ever in the
Person of its Redeemer. Let us, then, notice first that the prophecy of Isaiah
is, if we take it alone and superficially, in accord with much that has been
written or implied about the influence of Christianity upon the genius of Art.
For we are sometimes told, and more often made to feel, that there is something
irksome and hindering to the free appreciation and enjoyment of beauty, in
those dogmas about the conditions and issues of human life, which are
inseparable from the work of our Lord. In various ways it is suggested or
proclaimed that Christianity has unduly and too long presumed to thrust its
doctrines between the human soul and the beauty which is about it, and
disturbed that free entrance into the pleasures of sight and sound, through
which every energy might go out to find its satisfaction and its rapture. And
so some have already returned feed and foster their sense of beauty by the
works and thoughts of those who lived before this tyrannous restraint was
preached; others are looking forward to a time when Art may avail itself of the
triumph of scepticism, and renounce all hindering allegiance and regard to the
discredited formulae of religion; while many more are conscious of a vague
expectation that the life of passion henceforward will and should be fleer and
fuller than it has been: that hitherto we have been unnecessarily cautious and
sober in our pleasures, and timidly patient of undue restrictions; but that now
all is going to be much more passionate and unfettered and absorbing, and that,
by the pursuit of Art for Art¡¦s sake, we enter into an earthly paradise, which
has at length been relieved from certain gloomy and old-fashioned regulations,
and in which it may now be hoped that our sense of beauty will be a law unto
itself. And in this temper very many who little know the consistent
significance of their choice are falling in with a course of life and thought
which has, as a whole, turned away from the Cross of Jesus Christ: turned away
to seek elsewhere the full desire of their eyes, because He hath, as He dies
for us, no form nor comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we
should desire Him. For in truth there is a challenge and a law with which
Christianity must ever meet the lover of beauty as he goes out to seek by
whatever way the gratification of this sense. The Church of Christ cannot,
while she remembers His message, her Master, and her trust, consent to be
dismissed from the sphere of taste, or let it be thought that she has no
counsel for her sons, as they turn to those high and thrilling pleasures, no
means or right of judging the tone and the ideals of contemporary Art. (J.
H.Newman, B. D.)
Christianity and the sensuous
We were going to throw ourselves without reserve into this or that
enthusiasm of beauty, to steep our souls in the excitement of music, or poetry,
or art, to forget all else in the engrossing delight of their eager sympathy,
to lay aside every hindering thought, to trust the strong desire of our heart,
and measure our interests by their intensity: and Christianity recalls us to
ourselves. It sets before us, in the compass of a single life, the full
expression of that deep and marring discord which has broken up the harmony of
this world, and it urges us to seek within ourselves for the secret of the
disturbance and misery. It shows us the Perfect Love rejected, Perfect Purity
reviled, Perfect Holiness blasphemed, Perfect Mercy scorned; God coming to His
own and His own receiving Him not; the righteous Judge condemned; the Lord of
Life obedient unto death; and it says that the cause of this anomaly, the
condition which made this the earthly life of the Incarnate Son of God, is to
be found within our own souls; and we know that them is something them which
seems at times as though it would crucify the Son of God afresh: something
which would distort our choice from the high and spiritual to the bestial and
mean: something which has often made us cruel and unjust to other men, and
contemptible to ourselves. And as before the Cross which mankind awarded to its
Redeemer we feel the havoc and tumult which sin has brought upon the order and
truthfulness of our inner life, we must surely hesitate before we say that no
restraint shall rest upon our sense of beauty, that there is no need, whatever adversaries
may be moving about us, to be sober and vigilant in the world of Art. But for
those who humbly take the yoke upon them, who, as they turn to the manifold
wealth of beauty, do not thrust away the knowledge of their own hearts and the
thought of Him whose death alone has saved them, and whose strong grace alone
sustains and shelters them--for those the best delights of Art and Nature
appear in a new radiance of light and hope, and speak of such things as pass
man¡¦s understanding. The moments of quickened and exalted life which music and
painting stir within them, the controlling splendour of the sunset, the tender
glory of the distant hills, the wonder of a pure and noble face--these no
longer come as passing pleasures, flashing out of a dark background, which is
only the gloomier when they are gone, half realized and little understood: for
now all are linked and held together as consistent tokens of the same
redeeming, sanctifying Love; they see the Hand, the pierced Hand, which holds
the gift; they know the Love which fashioned and adorned it; they have read
elsewhere the thought which is embodied in the outward beauty; for it is He who
spared not His own Son who with Him freely gives them all things. And all that
He gives them prophesy of Him. (J. H. Newman, B. D.)
Christ¡¦s beauty
It was not a beauty of form, it was the beauty of expression. It
was not the beauty of statuary, it was the beauty of life. It is the purpose of
God to disappoint the senses. He has victimized the eyes, and the ears, and the
hands of men. (J. Parker, D. D.)
No beauty in Christ
Look not on the pitcher, but on the liquor that is contained
within. (J. Trapp.)
Christ¡¦s meanness on earth no objection against, but confirmation
of, Christianity
I. Show against unbelievers,
that THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECIES WHICH CONCERNED THE MESSIAH ARE A
CONVINCING ARGUMENT OF THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. It is agreed on all
hands that there can be no human or natural reason assigned for such future and
remote events as have no visible or natural cause to produce them; but are of a
contingent nature, and many times depend on the free choice and will of man;
and therefore the prediction of such events must be supposed to proceed from
some supernatural revelation. It is the argument whereby God proves Himself to
be the Lord, and that there is no other Saviour beside (Isaiah 43:11-12). By the same reason, he
proves the gods of the nations to be idols, and no gods (Isaiah 41:21-22; Isaiah 41:29). The prophecies of
Scripture, which referred to the Messiah, were of things at such a distance,
and of such a nature, that there could not be any probable reason assigned, or
tolerable conjecture made of them. And yet there was not one tittle of all the
prophecies which relate to the manner or design of Christ¡¦s appearance in the
world that fell to the ground.
II. Show against the Jews,
that THE MEAN APPEARANCE OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD IS NO GOOD ARGUMENT AGAINST THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION, OR OF ANY FORCE TO PROVE THAT JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS NOT THE
CHRIST and that upon the two following accounts--
1. As the grounds upon which
the Jews expected a temporal Messiah, were false and impracticable; false with
respect to the spirituality of His kingdom; impracticable with respect to the
extent and universality of its blessings and privileges.
2. As the state and condition
of life which our Saviour chose in the world was most agreeable to the great
ends and design of His coming into it.
III. PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT.
1. If the accomplishment of
the prophecies concerning our Saviour be an evident proof of His being the
great Prophet that was to come into the world, then whatever doctrines He
taught are, certainly true and Divinely revealed.
2. From the circumstances of
our Saviour s appearance in the world let us learn the duties of patience,
charity and humility.
3. In order to humble the
pride of our hearts, when we are tempted to bear ourselves high upon any
worldly advantages, which give us a superiority above our brethren, let us
consider how Jesus Christ, the best and wisest, judged of these things. (R.
Fiddes)
Christ uncomely and yet beautiful
How can it be said of Christ that He had neither comeliness nor
beauty, since it is said (Psalms 45:2), that ¡§He is fairer than
the children of men,¡¨ or ¡§than the sons of Adam¡¨? And in Song of Solomon 5:10-16 He is described by the
spouse to be well-coloured, and likewise well-featured, and she goeth on from
part to part, from head to feet; and then concludeth, ¡§He is altogether
lovely.¡¨ To this I answer--
1. It is one thing what,
Christ is to the spouse, another what He is to the unbelieving Jews Christ¡¦s
beauties are reward, seen of none but those that are inwardly acquainted with
Him. The spouse speaketh of Him in a spiritual sense.
2. We must distinguish
between Christ¡¦s humiliation and exaltation, His Godhead and His manhood. In
His Godhead He is ¡§the brightness of His Father¡¦s glory, and the express image
of His person,¡¨ and consequently full of beauty. In His humiliation He is not
only a man, but a mean man Philippians 2:9).
3. In Christ¡¦s humiliation we
must distinguish as to what He is in Himself and as to what He is in the eye of
the world. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The mean not necessarily despicable
Do not despise things, for their meanness, for so thou mayest
condemn the ways of God. (T. Manton, D.D.)
God¡¦s use of the mean
As there was meanness in the outward habitude of Christ¡¦s person,
so there is now in the administration of His kingdom; as appears by
considering--
1. That the ordinances are
weak to appearance; there is nothing but plain words, plain bread and wine, in
one ordinance, and only water in another. The simple plainness of the
ordinances is an obstacle to men¡¦s believing; they would fain bring in pomp,
but that will mar all.
2. These ordinances are
administered by weak men. Our Saviour sent fishermen to conquer the world, and
made use of a goose-quill to wound Antichrist. Moses, the stammering shepherd,
was commissioned to deliver Israel; God makes use of Amos, who was a herdsman,
to declare His will. So Elisha the great prophet was taken from the plough. And
many times God made use of young men, such as Paul, whose very person causeth
prejudice; young Samuel, young Timothy, men of mean descent, low parentage, and
of no great appearance in the world.
3. The manner how it is by
them managed, which is not in such a politic, insinuating way as to beguile and
deceive, and as if they were to serve their own ends (2 Corinthians 1:12).,
4. The persons by whom it is
entertained, the poor (James 2:5). Usually God s true
people are the meanest, not being so noted for outward excellency as others.
This has been always a great prejudice against Christ¡¦s doctrine (John 7:48).
5. The general drift of it is
to make men deny their pleasures, to overlook their concernments, to despise
the world, to hinder unjust gain, to walk contrary to the ordinary customs and
fashions of the world. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ assumed an appearance of meanness
This meanness of Christ was willingly taken up by Him.
1. In His birth.
2. In His life and manner of
appearance in the world. He was altogether found in fashion as a man; to outward
appearance just as other men, for His growth was as other, men¡¦s, by degrees:
¡§And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.¡¨ His
life was spent in much toil and labour, etc. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Poverty
1. Poverty and meanness are
not disgraceful. Christ Himself was a carpenter, Paul a tent-maker, and the
apostles fishermen. Christ, you see, scorned that glory, pomp and greatness
which the world doteth upon.
2. Poverty should not he
irksome to us. Christ underwent it before you; His apostles were base in the
world¡¦s eye (1 Corinthians 4:13). Poverty is a great
burden, and layeth a man open to many a disadvantage--scorn, contempt and
refusal. But consider, Christ hath honoured it in His own person, and He
honoureth it to this very day. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Missing Christ¡¦s beauty
There have been two traditions respecting Christ¡¦s person. Some of
the Fathers of the Church have declared that He was, Divinely beautiful, ¡§the
fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely.¡¨ Others have spoken of
Him in the words of Isaiah, ¡§He hath no form nor comeliness.¡¨ For my own part I
like to think of Him as Divinely beautiful. If in all things He is to have the
pre-eminence, why not here as well as there? Certain it is that there must have
shone through Him some transfiguring splendour, that awed and fascinated. Men
were conquered as much by His look as by His word. If, however, these
descriptions of Isaiah refer to His person, and are to be taken literally, then
they are very far from being attractive. ¡§As a root out of a dry ground.¡¨ ¡§He
hath no form nor comeliness.¡¨ ¡§There is no beauty that we should desire Him.¡¨
¡§We esteemed Him not,¡¨ or, as Luther translates, ¡§We thought Him nothing.¡¨ The
picture seems to be that of a mean and miserable life, tragic, unsettled,
menaced, lined with grief, disfigured with wounds. I say ¡§seems.¡¨ For, after
all, the fault may not be so much in Him as in us. Beauty may be all about men,
yet they may never perceive it, because their foolish hearts are darkened;
because they are short-sighted, blind, impure. Ruskin¡¦s dictum is that joy,
affection, veneration are necessary to the beholding of beauty. If that be so,
and men know nothing of ¡§the joy that rises in one like a summer s morn;¡¨ if
they have never experienced the ¡§love that greatens and glorifies all things;¡¨
if they know nothing of that reverence which recognizes and bows before the
highest, it is no wonder that they miss the spirit of the beautiful. Men may
have missed Christ¡¦s beauty from many causes, as men are missing it to-day. Let
us seek to discover what these things are that blind us to the holiest, the
highest, the loveliest.
I. THE SPIRIT OF CONTEMPT
BLINDS TO BEAUTY. Jesus came into this world a Galilean peasant, poor, obscure,
straitened in every way. And judging Him by the measure of the scale on which
He appeared, men treated Him with disdain, contempt, scorn, remarking, ¡§Is not
this the carpenter.?¡¨ How many there are who live continually in the spirit of
contempt. They continually look down. They seem to forget that some,of the
choicest spirits of earth have dined on ¡§homely fare¡¨ and worn ¡§hodden grey,¡¨
and that the millionaires of ideas have frequently been bankrupts in pocket.
How contemptuously the great spirits of the world have been treated by those
who were not worthy to unloose their shoe-latchets! Think of Mozart being sent
by an archbishop in whose retinue he was to dine with the servants in the
kitchen. Think of that same Mozart occupying a nameless grave, for ¡§no man
knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.¡¨ ¡§Odd world, is it not, that will send
its Bunyans to prison and give its jockeys ten thousand a year?¡¨ Aristotle
paints his magnanimous man as ¡§not apt to admire, for to him there is nothing
great.¡¨ What number of these magnanimous men there must be; men so held in the
grip of contempt that, standing in a world crammed full of the rich glories of
creation, they see nothing to admire. Now contempt springs from two things:
lack of understanding and lack of love. The wise man never despises. ¡§God is
great, yet He despiseth not any,¡¨ and those who are great after the greatness
of God have ever felt their smallness beside the humblest and poorest of men.
They see that behind the dullest life there may be angelic light. Where true
wisdom is there contempt is not. Charles V was truly great when, picking up the
brush of Titian which the painter had dropped, he remarked that he was ¡§proud
to wait on so supreme a genius.¡¨ Men see no beauty in Christ because they have
been too ready to despise Him. Contempt springs from lack of love. ¡§They
thought Him nothing¡¨ because they never looked at Him with the heart. If you
want to discover all that is brightest and best in men you must look at them
with the look of love; then will God become ¡§aglow to the loving heart in what
was mere earth before.¡¨ Love is wonderful always. There is a magic power about
it which can make plain faces shine as the faces of angels. It can fill with light
and radiance a cottage home as no gold can do. It can convert worthless trifles
into precious heirlooms. So if men would only look at Christ with the supreme
look of the soul they would discover that He who seems to have no form nor
comeliness will then be crowned with glory and honour.
II. MEN MISS THE BEAUTY, TOO,
BY THE CRITICAL TEMPER. Some men there are who start out always with a
disposition to criticize rather than to admire. When a young lady once
expressed the wish to Hogarth that she might be able to draw caricature, the
great satirist replied, ¡§It is not a faculty to be envied; take my advice and
never draw caricature. By the long practice of it I have lost the enjoyment of
beauty. I never see a face but distorted, and have never the satisfaction to
behold the human face divine.¡¨ The great caricaturist had so accustomed himself
to look for faults that he could see nothing else. Criticism blinds to beauty.
Was not that true with regard to Christ? Look for the beauty in Him and you
will discover a loveliness that cannot be chiselled in marble or expressed in
colour, but a beauty which, when the soul sees it is ravished for ever, and
rapt into an ecstasy of admiration and love.
III. WE MAY MISS THE BEAUTY
THROUGH ENVY. Did not men miss His beauty in that way in the days of His flesh?
Pilate was keen enough to perceive that behind the seeming air of justice
assumed by His traducers the fires of envy burned. ¡§He knew that for envy they
had delivered Him.¡¨ The artist who portrayed Envy as a man of mean and
misshapen figure, with crouching shoulder, craning neck, distended ears, and
serpent tongue, was endowed with a more than ordinary gift of insight. Where
envy exists there can be no vision of the beautiful. For it blinds the mind and
poisons the heart, and lifts not to a throne, but to a cross. How it blinded
the eyes of those Scribes and Pharisees! They saw the beautiful deeds of the
Man, how He succoured the weak, the suffering, the sad; they heard His words,
flagrant, uplifting, strengthening; they beheld a life spent in doing good; yet
so blinded were they by the spirit of envy that this supreme vision of
loveliness did not dawn upon them. The penalty of envy is blindness, and until
those scales fall from the eyes, all things true and beautiful and of good
report, everything of worth in the character and conduct of our fellow-men, all
the charm and sweetness of the Son of Man, will remain undiscovered by us.
IV. PREOCCUPATION MAY BLIND TO
BEAUTY. Men are so feverishly busy in these days, they live at such express
speed, that they often miss the angel at the door. When men are busy here and
there they miss the charms of the Eternal. A little more quiet, a little
abiding in one¡¦s own room, and it would be discovered that Christ is lovelier
than painter¡¦s sublimest dream, and that finding Him one finds a joy for ever.
(Cecil H. Wright.)
Verses
3-7
He
is despised and rejected of men
The mean
appearance of the Redeemer foretold
I.
THE WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF GOD IN DETERMINING TO SEND HIS SON INTO
THE WORLD IN A STATE OF POVERTY AND AFFLICTION.
1. With regard to His being a teacher, His sufferings set Him above
the reach of suspicions. What ends could He have to serve by His doctrine, who
met with nothing but misery and affliction, as the reward of His labour?
2. With regard to our Lord¡¦s being an example of holiness and
obedience set before us for our instruction and imitation. His sufferings
render the pattern perfect, and show His virtues in their truest lustre, and at
the same time silence the pleas which laziness or self-love would otherwise
have suggested.
3. With regard to His Divine mission. His sufferings were an evident
token that the hand of God was with Him. He only can produce strength out of
weakness, and knows how to confound the mighty things of the world by things
which are of no account. Add to this the evidence of prophecy, which is so much
the stronger by how much the weaker Christ was: so admirably has the wisdom of
God displayed itself in this mystery of faith.
II. THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY CONCERNING THE MEAN APPEARANCE OUR LORD
WAS TO MAKE.
III. THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE WE HAVE FOR THE COMPLETION OF THESE
PROPHECIES. (T. Sherlock, D.D.)
Christ despised
and rejected of men
I. IN WHAT RESPECTS IT MAY STILL BE SAID THAT CHRIST IS DESPISED AND
REJECTED OF MEN.
1. Men may be said to despise Christ when they do not receive Him as
their alone Saviour, the true and only way to the Father.
2. When they practically deny His authority by breaking His
Commandments.
3. When they do not give Him the chief room in their hearts, nor
prefer Him in their choice to everything else.
4. When they do not publicly, confess Him before men.
II. THE CAUSES OF THIS CONTEMPT.
1. The main cause is a secret unbelief.
2. Love of this would.
3. Ignorance of their own condition.
4. An opinion that they may obtain His aid at what time soever they
shall choose to ask it.
III. THE MALIGNITY OF THIS SIN.
1. To despise and reject such a Saviour, is the blackest ingratitude
that can possibly be imagined.
2. Your ingratitude is heightened by the most insolent contempt both
of the wisdom and goodness of God.
3. By despising and rejecting Christ, you openly proclaim war against
the Most High, and bid Him defiance. (R. Walker.)
Designed and
rejected
I. CHRIST WAS AN OBJECT OF SCORN AND CONTEMPT.
1. He was despised as an impostor.
2. Despised in His teachings.
3. In his work.
4. In His claims to a righteous judgment at the national tribunal.
II. NOT ONLY WAS JESUS AN OBJECT OF CONTEMPT AND SCORN BUT OF ABSOLUTE
REJECTION. If the word had read ¡§neglected,¡¨--deserted, coldly passed by--this
would have revealed an indifference that would have covered His nation and age
with reproach, and would have stood out a lasting monument of their base
ingratitude. But here is a word conveying the idea of the most inveterate and
active hatred. But why this active hostility to Christ? (J. Higgins.)
Despised and
rejected of men
In the
Gospel we see this rejection in actual occurrence.
I. HE WAS DESPISED AND REJECTED BY THE WORLDLY-MINDED (John 6:1-71). Following Christ for the sake of bread may lead to much
enthusiastic and self-denying exertion. Here, the very meanest view of Christ
is preferred to those lofty and spiritual truths by which He tried to allure
and save their souls. In his presence, before His face, while listening to His
voice, and with the splendour of the miracle before them--all are passed by for
the bread. Is not this the essence of worldly-mindedness? Christianity is the
religion of many, not for the sake of the Lord Himself, nor His gracious words,
nor even His miracles, but for the bread, for reputation¡¦s sake, and social
character and respectability.
II. HE WAS DESPISED AND REJECTED BY THE RATIONALIST (Matthew 13:54-57). It was in ¡§His own country.¡¨ There men thought they knew Him;
His family had long dwelt there. Parents, brothers, sisters were all familiarly
known--all, down to their very trade: ¡§Is not this the carpenter?¡¨ The facts of
the case, as the rationalist is so fond of saying, were all clearly
apprehended, and stood forth in their true dimensions. ¡§Whence hath this man
this wisdom and these mighty works?¡¨ Is it real? is it not on the face of it
absurd, this mere carpenter¡¦s son? This is the inmost spirit of rationalism. It
rejects everything above the level of visible and tangible fact, everything
that cannot be weighed and measured, everything spiritual in Scripture doctrine
and supernatural in Scripture history.
III. HE IS DESPISED AND REJECTED BY THE ECCLESIASTIC (Matthew 21:15-23). The ecclesiastical temper is not found solely or chiefly
amongst those who are ecclesiastics by profession. The religious spirit may be
crushed--indeed, has often been; rigid and severe forms may take the place of
the easy and graceful motions of vital Christianity. ¡§This¡¨ is ¡§the rejection
of Christ in the freedom by which His Holy Spirit ¡§distributes to every man
severally as He will.¡¨
IV. HE IS DESPISED AND REJECTED BY MEN OF BRUTE FORCE (Luke 23:11). To some the tenderness of the Gospel religion is an offence.
Humanity is a peculiarly Christian virtue, and meekness and resignation. The
calm tranquillity of meditation, the tearful eye of compassion, the sublime
courage of patience, the dating heroism of forgiveness, excite no sympathy or
admiration in some breasts. Theirs is the rejection of Christ; through a false
manliness.
V. CHRIST IS DESPISED AND REJECTED BY HIS OWN (John 1:11). Some, from a natural sweetness and amiability of disposition,
seem in a certain degree adapted to be Christians. The restraining effects of
home discipline and generous education have restrained them from open
transgression. Yet their rejection of Christ as a Saviour from sin is often
most decided and even disdainful. They think the charge of sin inappropriate,
for they have no consciousness of it, and no felt need of a Saviour. The sinfulness
of rejecting Christ is seen in its being a rejection of the Father (Luke 10:16). It is not possible to reject Christ, and be right with God. (S.
H. Tindall.)
Failure
In a
life that is lived with the thoughts of eternity, in one aspect failure is
inevitable: in another aspect failure is impossible.
1. Failure is inevitable. If I accept for myself an ideal which is
beyond the limits of here and now, then manifestly it is impossible that I can
here and now realize it. There must be always with me, so long as I am faithful
to that ideal, a sense of incompleteness, a ceaseless aspiration, an effort
that only the grave can close. He knows if he is faithful that he has before
him an eternal career, that the end to which he is moving is likeness to Jesus
Christ; that he has to pass into the unveiled presence of God and hold
communion with Him. If that be the end, can it be otherwise than that, in the
meanwhile, there should be failure, humiliation, penitence, and ceaseless and
unwearied discipline of self?
2. Failure, in another aspect, is impossible. Only be sure that deep
down at the root of life there is loyalty to God, and then begin where we are
placed--in the effort to find Him He will fulfil the search. The miracle of the
failure of Calvary is our assurance of that truth. It is this living for the
Eternal, as a venture of faith, which has always appealed to the eternal God,
which His own nature is pledged to meet. Do we stumble? It is only that we may
realize His readiness to help. Are we bewildered? It is only in order that we
may find how sure He guides. Are we humiliated by our confessions? It is only
that we may realize the readiness of His pardon. Are we conscious and stricken
with the sense of our weakness? It is only that we may find His strength
perfected within us. If we have only taken sides with Him in the great issues
of human life, then He will justify our choice. (C. G. Lang.)
Failure may be
welcomed
Our
failure in the light of the Cross, our spiritual failures, are things to be
welcomed; they prevent the torpor of dull assurance creeping over us like a
poison; they prevent our falling under imperfect standards of life, they prove,
so long as their are constant with us, that the energy of the Spirit of God has
not left us to ourselves; they witness to us that we recognize the truth that
our souls can find their rest and satisfaction only in God. (C. G.
Lang.)
The despised
Saviour
To all
God grants some dim vision of what He intends man to be. The holiest men have
had the clearest glimpses of that character. One nation was separated to keep
the ideal before the world. The majority corrupted the representation, but some
prophets saw it clearly.
I. GOD¡¦S IDEAL FOR MAN, AND ITS REALIZATION IN CHRIST. The majority
thought He would be another Solomon, David¡¦s greater son. The prophet saw that
He would be a Sinless Sufferer; what it had been intended that the nation
should be, that the Suffering Servant would be. The voice of God, which set
forth the ideal by the lips of prophets, now speaks through our own highest
desires.
II. THE WORLD¡¦S RECEPTION OF THE REVEALED IDEAL. Pilate has brought
Him forth that His suffering may excite their pity, but His pure and loving
life has made them relentless in their hate. There is no beauty that they
should desire Him. Barabbas, the bold and reckless, is the people¡¦s choice.
While boon companions crowd round him, cold looks and scornful smiles are
reserved for Christ. Christ had headed no revolt against the powers that be,
and therefore He was not popular. Political emancipation is more popular than
spiritual. The path of righteousness ends on Calvary; its crown is one of
thorns, its throne a cross.
III. THE MEANING OF THE REVELATION OF THIS IDEAL. The world says,
Blessed are the wealthy, the powerful, the great, and the wise. Christ says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the meek, the mourners, the
persecuted. At first we pity Christ, and reserve our indignation for His persecutors.
But He was the least pitiable of all that group. Pilate was a pitiable victim,
the people were pitiable because carried away by passion, and the priests by
desire for revenge. The greatness of apparent weakness is here revealed. Yet we
despise weakness. Here is a dramatic representation of weighty decisions made
every day in human hearts. When we choose ease and worldly glory in preference
to holiness and self-denial, we despise and reject Christ. Here our choice is
seen worked out to the bitter end. This is a revelation of the meaning of sin.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THIS REVELATION. The world can never forget that
spiracle. In the dark ages, when the Bible was a hidden book, a representation
of this scene was to be found in every church. Though obscured by superstition,
the ideal was still held up, and was still moulding the minds and stimulating
the holy endeavours of men. In an open Bible we have the ideal more truthfully
set forth. The love there revealed has been the constraining motive which moved
apostles to preach, martyrs to suffer, missionaries to forgo the joys of home,
and humble men and women to labour in countless ways to advance the interests
of Christ. His patience shames our murmuring: His burning love to us kindles
our love to Him. (R. C. Ford, M.A.)
The world¡¦s
regard for the outward
The
great cause assigned by the prophet for the astonishment of men at the Messiah
and for their rejection of Him is, that His real glory is hidden beneath
humiliation and sorrow. The world, that is, which always looks at the outward
appearance of things, judges them according to their material splendours;
having a carnal eye, it can but dimly discern moral beauty. It renders homage
to thrones and crowns, and wealth and power, and does not care to see the moral
iniquity and the spiritual repulsiveness there may be behind them; it feels
pity and contempt for suffering and poverty and obloquy, and does not care to
see the moral grandeur that these may cover or indicate. There are few of us so
reverent to a poor, godly man, as to a rich godless one. We may not refuse to
utter words commending the one and condemning the other, but we utter them very
tenderly; the goodness of a rich man causes us to exhaust our expletives, and
almost ourselves, in admiring praise; the wickedness of a poor man is denounced
by us without mercy; but when the conditions are reversed we have a great deal
more reserve. Our praise is a concession that we cannot withhold. We blame
¡§with bated breath, and whispering humbleness.¡¨ The ragged garments of poverty
have a wonderful transparency when vice lies behind them; while riches usurp
the powers of charity, and ¡§hide the multitude of sins.¡¨ (H. Allen, D.D.)
The art of
seeing the spiritual
The
Jews did not look for spiritual meaning in their dispensation, but simply at
material and mechanical ordinances, and they became Pharisees--regarding
religion as a thing of phylacteries and tithes and street prayers: they did not
look for spiritual glory in their expected Messiah, or for spiritual blessings
in His coming, and they became absorbed in the conception of a temporal prince,
and were incapable of seeing anything else in Him; and, because He was not
this, in their astonishment and anger, they rejected and crucified Him. The
lesson is a universal one; it affects the spiritual education of every soul,
our own daily habits of interpreting things. We may look at God¡¦s world until
we see nothing of God¡¦s presence in it; nothing but mechanical forces. A
scientific or philosophical eye may soon educate itself to see nothing but
science and philosophy; a material eye, to see nothing but materialism. We may
look upon creation, and see no Creator; upon providence, and see no Benefactor.
So we may read the Bible, and see nothing but sacred history, or scientific
philosophy--the letter and not the spirit. So we may look at Christian things
on their material rather than their spiritual side. We may speculate upon a
millennium coming of Christ, until we forget His spiritual presence--even upon
heaven itself, until we forget the inward grace, and holiness and Divine
communion that chiefly make it heaven. Let us carefully cultivate the Divine
art of seeing spiritual aspects and meanings in all things, of judging of all
things by their spiritual importance, of valuing them for their spiritual
influence, of applying them to spiritual uses. ¡§The pure in heart see God;¡¨
spiritual things are spiritually discerned.¡¨ (H. Allon, D.D.)
Christ rejected
I. The first reason assigned for the rejection of the Messiah by the
Jews was THE GRADUAL AND UNOSTENTATIOUS MANNER OF HIS MANIFESTATION. ¡§He shall
grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground,¡¨
etc. The general reference is, no doubt, to His parentage, and His manner
of entering the world--so contrasted with the probable expectations of the
Jews. Not like a cedar of Lebanon did the world s Messiah appear; not as a
scion of a noble and wealthy house; not as the son of a Herod or a
Caiaphas--but ¡§as a ¡§tender plant,¡¨ as ¡§a root, out of a dry ground.¡¨ It is a
repetition of the figure in the eleventh chapter, ¡§There shall come forth a
Shoot out of the stem of Jesse; and a Scion shall spring forth from his roots.¡¨
Just as the descendants of the Plantagenets are to be found amongst our English
peasantry, the glory of the family had departed. Nothing could be farther from
the thought of the carnal Jews than that Messiah the Prince should be a scion
of such a forgotten house. How wonderful in its obscurity and helplessness was
His childhood; not hastening towards His manifestation, not hastening even
towards His ministry to the perishing, but waiting until ¡§the fulness of time
was come;¡¨ growing into the child, the youth, the man; for more than thirty
years giving scarcely a sign that He was other than an ordinary son of
humanity; at first helplessly dependent upon His parents for support and
direction, then obediently ¡§subject to them,¡¨ fulfilling all the conditions and
duties of childhood, a child with children as well as a man with men; then a
youth labouring as an artisan, fulfilling His great mission to the world in a
carpenter¡¦s shop. And then fulfilling His ministry, not amongst the rich, but
amongst the poor; not in acts of rule and conquest, but in deeds of beneficence
and words of spiritual life; and consummating it by a death on a cross.
II. The second reason for the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews,
which the prophet assigns, is HIS UNATTRACTIVE APPEARANCE WHEN MANIFESTED. This
he puts both negatively and positively.
1. Negatively, He was destitute of all attractions; He had ¡§no form
nor comeliness;¡¨ He was without ¡§beauty¡¨ to make men ¡§desire Him¡¨.
2. But there were positive repulsions; everything to offend men who
had such prepossessions as they had. A Messiah in the guise of a peasant
babe--the Divine in the form of a servant and a sufferer. Chiefly, however,
weare arrested by the phrase, which, because of its touching beauty, has almost
become one of the personal designations of the Messiah--¡§A Man of
sorrows¡¨--literally, a Man of sufferings, or of many sufferings--One who
possesses sufferings as other men possess intelligence, or physical
faculty--One who was ¡§acquainted with grief,¡¨ not in the casual, transient way
in which most men are, but with an intimacy as of companionship; the utmost
bodily and mental sorrow was endured by Him. The emphasis of the description
lies not in the fact that one who came to be a Prophet and Reformer was
subjected to martyr treatment, for such men have ever been rejected and
persecuted by the ignorance, envy and madness of their generation. It is that
He who was the Creator and Lord of all things should have submitted to this
condition, borne this obloquy, endured this suffering; that the Lord of life
and blessedness should appear in our world, not only as a Man, but as so
suffering a Man, as that He should be known amongst other suffering men as
pre-eminently ¡§a Man of sorrows¡¨--a Man whose sorrows were greater than other
men¡¦s sorrows. Now, we cannot think that this designation is given to Him
merely because of the bodily sufferings, or social provocations, that were
inflicted upon Him. We shall touch but very distantly the true heart of the
Redeemer¡¦s sorrows, if we limit the cause of them to the mere stubbornness of
His generation, or to the mere physical agonies of His death. It is doing no
wrong to the pre-eminence of the Saviour¡¦s agonies to say, that many teachers
of truth have been opposed and persecuted more than He was, and that many
martyrs have endured deaths of more terrible physical agony. If this were all,
we should be compelled, I think, to admit that the prophetic description is
somewhat exaggerated. How, then, is it to be accounted for? Only by the fact of
His having also endured transcendent inward sorrow; sorrow of mind, sorrow of
heart, of which ordinary men have no experience; only by His own strange
expression in His agony, when no human hand touched Him--¡§My soul is
exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.¡¨ Then comes the mystery of such a pure
and perfect soul experiencing such a sorrow. If He were only a prophet and
martyr for the truth of God, why, as distinguished from all other prophets and
martyrs, should He have endured so much inward anguish? Here we touch the great
mystery of atonement, and we are bold to say that this alone interprets Christ¡¦s
peculiar sorrow. (H. Allon, D.D.)
Lessons from
the manner of Christ¡¦s appearing
1. Great things may be found in very lowly forms. We judge of things
by material magnitudes; the spiritual God judges them by moral qualities. The
great forces that have ruled the world have mostly been born in lowly places;
they have been moulded to greatness in the school of necessity; trained to
greatness in the school of endurance. He who has not to endure can never be
great. Let us cultivate the spiritual eye, that can recognize spiritual
qualities, everywhere, and neither in others nor in ¡§ourselves disparage¡¨ the
day of small things, the germs of virtue and strength; for we know not what
they may achieve. The acorn becomes an oak; the ¡§solitary monk shakes the
world;¡¨ the Babe of Bethlehem becomes the Christ of Christianity. Your solitary
scholar may be the nucleus of a great system of education; your solitary
convert may evangelize a nation (Matthew 13:31-32).
2. The power of Divine patience. God waits, even in His great
redeeming purpose, until ¡§the fulness of time is come,¡¨ and then until the
¡§tender plant grows up before Him.¡¨ We, in our impatience, wish to do all
things at once, to convert the world in a day. Our zeal becomes fanaticism the
more difficult to check because it takes so holy a form. (H. Allon, D.D.)
Aversion to
Christ
The
reason for this aversion to Christ may probably be found in the fact of--
1. His sorrowful face.
2. His serious manner.
3. His spiritual teaching.
4. His consecration to His Father¡¦s business.
5. His single walk with God, His habits of retirement and prayer.
Men
hate and reject Christ for these characteristics. The world¡¦s spirit and all
worldly religion resent these aspects of spiritual life. (G. F, Pentecost,
D. D.)
Handel¡¦s
Messiah
Of
Handel, it is said, that when composing his ¡§Messiah,¡¨ and he came to these
words, he was affected to tears; and well might he weep, for history furnishes
no parallel to this case. (J. Higgins.)
A man of sorrows
The causes of
Christ¡¦s sorrows
I. THE DAILY CONTACT OF HIS PURE AND PIOUS SOUL WITH SINFUL AND
SINNING MEN. And who may conceive the constancy and intensity of the anguish
that would spring from this? There would be the sense of human relationship to
a race that had sinned and fallen; they were men, and He was a Man too: ¡§He
likewise took part of the same;¡¨ they were His proper brothers; He was allied
in blood to men so guilty and degraded. It was as if a vicious brother, a
prodigal son, were guilty of nameless and constant crime. The sense of men¡¦s
guilt, degradation, misery, ingratitude, would bow down His pure soul with
unspeakable sorrow and shame. Then there was His daily practical contact with
acts and hearts of sin; the touch on every side, and wherever He felt humanity,
of what was unloving and unholy; the sight of their hate to His loving Father;
of their rebelliousness against His holy law; a sinfulness and unspiritualness
that led them to reject and hate Him; to turn away with dislike and
determination from His holy words and deeds. His great human love, His perfect
human holiness, would wonderfully combine to wring His soul with anguish. The
apostle intimates how great this sorrow was, when he says that ¡§He endured the
contradiction of sinners against Himself;¡¨ that He ¡§resisted unto blood,
striving against sin.¡¨ And we can understand the mysterious agony of His soul
in Gethsemane only by supposing that it was the sense of the world¡¦s guilt that
lay upon it: that made His soul so exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. We
have only to think of His pure nature; that He was ¡§holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners;¡¨ and to remember the men that He came into contact with;
the world in which He lived; the treatment which His message of holiness and
mercy received: to understand how sore the sorrow of His soul would be.
II. THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL. He, the pure and perfect Son of the
Father, was doomed to listen to polluting and hateful thoughts of distrust and
sin: He who so loathed evil was plied with evil.
III. THE GREAT BUT INEXPLICABLE SORROW OF WHATEVER CONSTITUTED HIS
ATONEMENT--of whatever is meant by its ¡§pleasing the Father to bruise Him¡¨--to
¡§put Him to grief¡¨--to ¡§make His soul an offering for sin¡¦--to ¡§lay upon Him
the iniquity of us all¡¨--to ¡§forsake Him¡¨ on His cross. These were the chief
elements of His sorrow--a sorrow that has had no equal, and that, in many of
its ingredients, has had no likeness. (H. Allon, D. D.)
Christ a Man of
sorrows
I. IT IS HERE PREDICTED THAT CHRIST SHOULD BE A MAN OF SORROWS, and
acquainted with grief. This prediction was literally fulfilled. It has been
supposed that His sufferings were rather apparent than real; or, at least, that
His abundant consolations, and His knowledge of the happy consequences which
would result from His death, rendered His sorrows comparatively light, and
almost converted them to joys. But never was supposition more erroneous. His
sufferings were incomparably greater than they appeared to be. No finite mind
can conceive of their extent. His sufferings began with his birth, and ended
but with His life.
1. It must have been exceedingly painful to such a person as Christ
to live in a world like this.
2. Another circumstance which contributed to render our Saviour a Man
of sorrows was the reception He met with from those He came to save.
3. Another circumstance that threw a shade of gloom over our Saviour
s life was His clear view and constant anticipation of the dreadful agonies in
which it was to terminate. He was not ignorant, as we happily are, of the
miseries which were before Him. How deeply the prospect affected Him is evident
from His own language: ¡§I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished!¡¨
II. We have in this prophetic passage AN ACCOUNT OF OUR SAVIOUR¡¦S
CONDUCT UNDER THE PRESSURE OF THESE SORROWS. ¡§He was oppressed,¡¨ etc.
¡§He was brought as a Lamb,¡¨ etc. Never was language more descriptive of
the most perfect meekness and patience; never was prediction more fully
justified by the event than in the case before us. If His lips were opened, it
was but to express the most perfect submission to His Father¡¦s will, and to
breathe out prayers for His murderers. Christian, look at your Master, and
learn how to suffer. Sinner, look at your Saviour, and learn to admire, to
imitate, and to forgive. But why is this patient, innocent Sufferer thus
afflicted? ¡§He was wounded for our transgressions,¡¨ etc.
III. Our text describes THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST WAS TREATED when He
thus came as a Man of sorrows to atone for our sins. ¡§Despised and rejected of
men.¡¨ ¡§We hid, as it were, our faces,¡¨ etc. He has long since ascended
to heaven, and therefore cannot be the immediate object of men¡¦s attacks. But
His Gospel and His servants are still in the world; and the manner in which
they are treated is sufficient evidence that the feelings of the natural heart
toward Christ are not materially different from those of the Jews. His servants
are hated, ridiculed and despised, His Gospel is rejected, and His institutions
slighted. Every man who voluntarily neglects to confess Christ before men, and
to commemorate His dying love, must say, either that He does not choose to do
it, or that he is not prepared to do it. If a man says, I do not choose to
confess Christ, he certainly rejects Him. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The human race
typified by the Man of sorrows
I. THE LOT OF HUMANITY IN THIS WORLD. This is the portrait of the
species--¡§A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.¡¨
II. THE TREATMENT WHICH DEPRESSED HUMANITY COMMONLY EXPERIENCE: ¡§We
hid, as it were, our faces from Him.¡¨ (F. W. Robertson,
M.A.)
The Man of
sorrows
I. ¡§A MAN.¡¨ He who was God, and was in the beginning with God, was
made flesh, and dwelt among us. Remembering that Jesus Christ is God, it
behoves us to recollect that His manhood was none the less real and substantial
It differed from our own humanity in the absence of sin, but in no other
respect. This condescending participation in our nature brings the Lord Jesus
very near to us in relationship. Inasmuch as He was man, though also God, He
was, according to Hebrew law, our goel--our kinsman, next of kin. Now it
was according to the law that if an inheritance had been lost, it was the right
of the next kin to redeem it. Our Lord Jesus exercised His legal right, and
seeing us sold into bondage and our inheritance taken from us, came forward to
redeem both us and all our lost estate. Be thankful that you have not to go to
God at the first, and as you are, but you are invited to come to Jesus Christ,
and through Him to the Father. Then let me add, that every child of God ought
also to be comforted by the fact that our Redeemer is one of our own race,
seeing that He was made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and
faithful High Priest; and He was tempted in all points, like as we are, that He
might be able to succour them that are tempted. The sympathy of Jesus is the
next most precious thing to His sacrifice.
II. ¡§A MAN OF SORROWS.¡¨ The expression is intended to be very
emphatic; it is not ¡§a sorrowful man,¡¨ but ¡§a Man of sorrows,¡¨ as if He were
made up of sorrows, and they were constituent elements of His being. Some are
men of pleasure, others men of wealth, but He was ¡§a Man of sorrows.¡¨ He and
sorrow might have changed names. He who saw Him, saw sorrow, and he who would
see sorrow, must look on Him. ¡§Behold, and see,¡¨ saith He, ¡§if there was
ever sorrow like unto My sorrow which was clone unto Me.¡¨
1. Our Lord is called the Man of sorrows for peculiarity, for this
was His peculiar token and special mark. We might well call Him ¡§a man of
holiness;¡¨ for there was no fault in Him: or a man, of labours, for He did His
Father¡¦s business earnestly; or ¡§a man of eloquence,¡¨ for never man spake like this
man. We might right fittingly call Him ¡§The man of love,¡¨ for never was there
greater love than glowed in His heart. Still, conspicuous as all these and many
other excellencies were, yet had we gazed upon Christ and been asked afterwards
what was the most striking peculiarity in Him, we should have said His sorrow.
Tears were His insignia, and the Cross His escutcheon.
2. Is not the title of ¡§Man of sorrows¡¨ given to our Lord by way of
eminence? He was not only sorrowful, but pre-eminent among the sorrowful. All
men have a burden to bear, but His was heaviest of all. The reason for this
superior sorrow may be found in the fact that with His sorrow there was no
admixture of sin. Side by side with His painful sensitiveness of the evil of
sin, was His gracious tenderness towards the sorrows of others. Besides this
our Saviour had a peculiar relationship to sin. He was not merely afflicted
with the sight of it, and saddened by perceiving its effects on others, but sin
was actually laid upon Him, and He was himself numbered with the transgressors.
3. The title of ¡§Man of sorrows,¡¨ was also given to our Lord to
indicate the constancy of His afflictions. He changed His place of abode, but
He always lodged with sorrow. Sorrow wove His swaddling bands, and sorrow spun
His winding sheet.
4. He was also ¡§a Man of sorrows,¡¨ for the variety of His woes; He
was a man not of sorrow only, but of ¡§sorrows.¡¨ As to His poverty. He knew the
heart-rendings of bereavement. Perhaps the bitterest of His sorrows were those
which were connected with His gracious work. He came as the Messiah sent of
God, on an embassage of love, and men rejected His claims. Nor did they stay at
cold rejection; they then proceeded to derision and ridicule. They charged Him
with every crime which their malice could suggest. And all the while He was
doing nothing but seeking their advantage in all ways, As He proceeded in His
life His sorrows multiplied. He preached, and when men¡¦s hearts were hard, and
they would not believe what He said, ¡§He was grieved for the hardness of their
hearts.¡¨ His sorrow was not that men injured Him, but that they destroyed
themselves; this it was, that pulled up the sluices of His soul, and made His
eyes o¡¦erflow with tears: ¡§O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered
thy children together,¡¨ etc. But surely He found some solace with the
few companions whom He had gathered around Him? He did; but for all that He
must have found as much sorrow as solace in their company. They were dull
scholars; they were miserable comforters for the Man of sorrows. The Saviour,
from the very dignity of His nature, must suffer alone. The mountain-side, with
Christ upon it, seems to me a suggestive symbol of His earthly life. His soul
lived in vast solitudes, sublime and terrible, and there, amid a midnight of
trouble, His spirit communed with the Father, no one being able to accompany
Him into the dark glens and gloomy ravines of His unique experience. In the
last, crowning sorrows of
His
life, there came upon Him the penal inflictions from God, the chastisement of
our peace which was upon Him.
III. ¡§ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF.¡¨
1. With grief he had an intimate acquaintance. He did not know merely
what it was in others, but it came home to Himself. We have read of grief, we
have sympathized with grief, we have sometimes felt grief: but the.Lord felt it
more intensely than other men in His innermost soul. He and grief were bosom
friends.
2. It was a continuous acquaintance. He did not call at grief¡¦s house
sometimes to take a tonic by the way, neither did He sip now and then of the
wormwood and the gall, but the quassia cup was always His, and ashes were
always mingled with His bread. Not only forty days in the wilderness did Jesus
fast; the world was ever a wilderness to Him, and His life was one long Lent. I
do not say that He was not, after all, a happy man, for down deep in His soul
benevolence always supplied a living spring of joy to Him. There was a joy into
which we are one day to enter--the ¡§joy of our Lord¡¨--the ¡§joy set before Him¡¨
for which ¡§He endured the Cross, despising the shame;¡¨ but that does not at all
take away from the fact that His acquaintance with grief was continuous and
intimate beyond that of any man who ever lived. It was indeed a growing
acquaintance with grief, for each step took Him deeper down into the grim
shades of sorrow.
3. It was a voluntary acquaintance for our sakes. He need never have
known a grief at all, and at any moment He might have said to grief, farewell.
But He remained to the end, out of love to us, griefs acquaintance. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Christ as a
Sufferer
1. Jesus suffered from what may be called the ordinary privations of
humanity. Born in a stable, etc. We may not be able to assert that none
ever suffered so much physical agony as He, but this is at least probable; for
the exquisiteness of His physical organism in all likelihood made Him much more
sensitive than others to pain.
2. He suffered keenly from the pain of anticipating coming evil.
3. He suffered from the sense of being the cause of suffering to
others. To persons of an unselfish disposition the keenest pang inflicted by
their own weakness or misfortunes may sometimes be to see those whom they would
like to make happy rendered miserable through connection with themselves. To the
child Jesus how gruesome must have been the story of the babes of Bethlehem,
whom the sword of Herod smote when it was seeking for Him! Or, if His mother
spared Him this recital, He must at least have learned how she and Joseph had
to flee with Him to Egypt to escape the jealousy of Herod. As His life drew
near its close, this sense that connection with Himself might be fatal to His
friends forced itself more and more upon His notice.
4. The element of shame was, all through, a large ingredient in His
cup of suffering. To a sensitive mind there is nothing more intolerable; it is
far harder to bear than bodily pain. But it assailed Jesus in nearly every
form, pursuing Him all through His life. He was railed at for the humbleness of
His birth. The high-born priests and the educated rabbis sneered at the
carpenter¡¦s son who had never learned, and the wealthy Pharisees derided Him.
He was again and again called a madman. Evidently this was what Pilate took Him
for. The Roman soldiers adopted an attitude of savage banter towards Him all
through His trial and crucifixion, treating Him as boys torment one who is weak
in the mind. He heard Barabbas preferred to Himself by the voice of His
fellow-countrymen, and He was crucified between thieves, as if He were the worst
of the worst. A hail of mockery kept falling on Him in His dying hours. Thus
had He who was conscious of irresistible strength to submit to be treated as
the weakest of weaklings, and He who was the Wisdom of the Highest to submit to
be used as if He were less than a man.
5. But to Jesus it was more painful still, being the Holy One of God,
to be regarded and treated as the chief of sinners. To one who loves God and
goodness there can be nothing so odious as to be suspected of hypocrisy and to
know that he is believed to be perpetrating crimes at the opposite extreme from
his public profession. Yet this was what Jesus was accused of. Possibly there
was not a single human being, when He died, who believed that He was what He
claimed to be.
6. If to the holy soul of Jesus it was painful to be believed to be
guilty of sins which He had not committed, it must have been still more painful
to feel that He was being thrust into sin itself. This attempt was olden made.
Satan tried it in the wilderness, and although only this one temptation of his
is detailed, he no doubt often returned to the attack. Wicked men tried it;
they resorted to every device to cause Him to lose His temper (Luke 11:53-54). Even friends, who did not understand the plan of His life,
endeavoured to direct Him from the course prescribed to Him by the will of
God--so much so that He had once to turn on one of them, as if he were
temptation personified, with ¡§Get thee behind Me, Satan.¡¨
7. While the proximity of sin awoke such loathing in His holy soul,
and the touch of it was to Him like the touch of fire on delicate flesh, He was
brought into the closest contact with it, and hence arose His deepest
suffering. It pressed its loathsome presence on Him from a hundred quarters. He
who could not bear to look on it saw it in its worst forms close to His very
eyes. His own presence in the world brought it out; for goodness stirs up the
evil lying at the bottom of wicked hearts. It was as if all the sin of the race
were rushing upon Him, and Jesus felt it as if it were all His own. (J.
Stalker, D.D.)
The Man of
sorrows
I. THE LANGUAGE DOES NOT DESCRIBE THE CASE OF ONE WHO ENCOUNTERED
ONLY THE ORDINARY OR THE AVERAGE AMOUNT OF THE TRIALS WHICH BELONG TO HUMAN
LIFE. There is implied in it a pre-eminence in sorrow, a peculiarly deep
experience of grief.
II. OF ALL THE MANY GRIEFS OF THE DIVINE REDEEMER IN HIS HUMAN LIFE,
THERE WAS NOT ONE WHICH HE HIMSELF EITHER NEEDED OR DESERVED TO BEAR. When the
apostle tells us that He was made perfect through suffering, the meaning is
that He was by this means made officially perfect as a Saviour, as the Captain
of salvation, and the High-Priest of His redeemed, and not that He lacked any moral
excellence, to acquire which suffering was needful. So again, when it is said
that He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, the meaning
obviously is, that by putting Himself in a state of humiliation, and in the
condition of a servant under law, He came to know by experience what it was to
render obedience to the law, and not at all that He was ever defective in the
least, as to the spirit of obedience to the Father¡¦s will. As He had no need of
any improvement of His virtues, He had no faults, no sins, which called for
chastisement.
III. ALL THE SUFFERINGS OF THE LORD JESUS WERE ENDURED WITH UNWAVERING
FORTITUDE.
IV. IN ALL THE GRIEFS AND SORROWS WHICH THE BLESSED SAVIOUR SUFFERED,
HIS MIND WAS CHIEFLY OCCUPIED WITH THE GOOD RESULTS IN WHICH HIS SUFFERINGS
WERE TO ISSUE. He deliberately entered on His singular career of humiliation
and self-sacrifice for the good of man and the glory of God. Practical lessons:
1. If even the Son of God, when on earth, was a Man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, we certainly should not think it strange that days of
trial are appointed unto us.
2. If our blessed Lord felt keenly what He suffered, and was even
moved to tears, we need not reproach ourselves because we deeply feel our
trials, and cannot but weep in the fulness of our grief.
3. If Christ was a willing sufferer, deliberately choosing to suffer
for the good of others, we surely should consent to suffer for our own
advantage.
4. If our blessed Lord and Saviour made less account of what He suffered
than of the good results that were to follow, it is wise at least in us to do
the same. (Ray Palmer, D.D.)
Christ the Man
of sorrows
While
on earth He was surrounded by many sources of pleasure. The earth teemed with
every form of life, and the air was melodious with music. The sceneries of His
native country suggested the sublimest imagery, and inspired poetry of the
highest kind: and had He possessed none of these, He would have been perfectly
happy; for He was the Infinite; His sorrows arose from--
I. THE FELT RELATION OF A LOVING BEING TO A RUINED RACE.
II. THE CRUSHING PRESSURE OF HIS MEDIATORIAL WORK.
III. HIS CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT THE RESULT OF HIS MISSION WOULD NOT BE
EQUAL TO THE BENEVOLENCE OF HIS WILL. (Evan Lewis, B.A.)
The mystery of
sorrow
I. CONSIDER ITS RELATION TO MAN. There are facts which know no
frontiers. In the inner life of thought and feeling such is sorrow. It is a
universal language, it obliterates space, it annihilates time; it is the great
leveller, it ignores rank, it stands head and shoulders above any dignity.
Think again, it is too sacred to be only universal. It is also an intimate
fact. None can comfort. There may be sweet help, deep and real sympathy, not
comfort, no, for none can undo the tragic truth. Yes, there is One. One can
come nearest to the feeling, mad, in our eternal life, in a sense He can undo.
One, only One, has gathered up the representative experiences of all.
II. The thought gains precision when we remember that IT BEARS A
WITNESS FOR GOD. Let Love meet death or trouble, and the result is sorrow. This
noblest human sorrow so begotten is a witness to the Source of its being. Love,
the love of the creature, is his highest endowment from the Love of God.
III. SORROW GAINS A CLEARER OUTLINE TO ITS FRAIL AND MISTY FORM AS SEEN
IN ITS RELATION TO WHAT IS CALLED THE ¡§SCHEME OF REDEMPTION¡¨ seen, that is, in
its place in the awakening and restoring of the human spirit, great though
fallen. Sorrow here is a power. It takes varying tints.
1. At the darkest, it is a power of warning, of prophecy. It warns of
a stern reality in this world--the dreadfulness of sin.
2. Better, it is a power to transfigure. Repentance is the one path
to pardon, and it is a certain path. Whence comes true repentance? It comes
from God¡¦s love seen in fairest, saddest image in ¡§the Man of sorrows ¡§
3. It is a power to purify. Sorrow sends you in on self. Godless
sorrow would make self more selfish, working death; not so sorrow from the
Cross of Christ. A life searched out, repented of, is a spirit purified. (W.
J. KnoxLittle, M.A.)
The suffering
Christ
I. THE MATTER, what He suffered.
II. THE MANNER, how He came to suffer.
III. THE REASONS and ends why, for our good. Here are three chief
lessons for a Christian to learn:--
1. Patience and comfort.
2. Humility.
3. In the end, love. All this was for you. What will you do for God
again? (T. Manton, D..D.)
Sir Noel
Paton¡¦s ¡§Man of Sorrows¡¨
To the
painter ere he sat down to produce this work of art many questions would
suggest themselves. Among them, doubtless, would be these:--
1. What shall be the scene? Of course, the artist would naturally
think of many scenes in our Lord¡¦s life more or less appropriate for such a
representation. The painter seems to have recognized the great truth which we
all must have proved to some extent, that man tastes deepest of sorrow in
loneliness, that the cross which weighs heaviest on any shoulder is not the
cross which the world can see, but which is borne out of sight, when the heart,
and no one else save God, knoweth its own bitterness. Thus Sir Noel Paton has
represented ¡§The Man of Sorrows¡¨ as isolated from His fellows, far away from
the habitations of men and shut out of the world. The whole picture is one of
desolation. In its centre and foreground is represented ¡§The Man of Sorrows
sitting upon a jagged rock. And, oh, what sorrow is depicted there! Those
large, full, liquid eyes brim over with tears; every expression of the
countenance is charged with grief; the lips are wan, and a deep furrow crosses
that young, manly brow. The swollen veins in the neck and temple, the powerful
muscular action in the right hand, as with open fingers it rests heavily upon
the rocks and in the left clenched tightly as it presses upon the thigh, and in
the feet as they press the earth convulsively underneath--for the Man of
Sorrows is represented with head uncovered and feet unsandalled--all these tell
the story of an awful tension of a withering sorrow.
2. Closely and inseparably connected with the question of scene is that
of the period in our Lord s life in which He can most appropriately be
represented as the Man of sorrows. The artist chooses the eve of the
Temptation, and thus selects the greatest transitional period of our Saviour¡¦s
life--that beginning with the Baptism and closing with the Temptation. The time
of day chosen is the twilight of morning. There is something in the twilight
that is consistent not only with solemn, but also with sad thoughts and
feelings.
3. What can account for the sorrow! You look to the picture in vain
for the solution. The painting is a problem, an enigma. It is purposely so. The
painter presents to us the great fact, not its explanation. He goes to Inspired
Writ for that, and thus refers the perplexed spectator to the words of Isaiah as
supplying the key to the whole painting: ¡§He hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows,¡¨ etc. (verses 4-6). These are the words which Sir Noel
Paton adopts, and practically says, ¡§There! that is what I mean.¡¨ ¡§We did
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.¡¨ How shall this false
estimate of Him be corrected? Look at the picture; that Man of sorrows looks up
and holds communion with the skies; see the half-open mouth expressive of
expectation, and those eyes so full of tears and yet so full of vision. Verily
He is not alone--the Father is with Him; for from the heavens and from a source
other than the sun there descends through a rift of the clouds a shaft of light
that looks like the light of the Father¡¦s countenance, and rests upon the face
of this Sorrowing One. This human countenance thus lit up by the light of the
Divine countenance is the painter¡¦s sublime answer to the old-world estimate of
the Man of sorrows. What need of any more! (D. Davies.)
Christ¡¦s life a
model for His people
The
more deeply we enter into the meaning of Christ considered as the Divine Man,
the more distinctly revealed it becomes to us that what His life was our life
is intended to be. There are instincts and there are impulses and ambitions
that shrink from coming under the sovereignty of a commitment so cordial and
entire. That accounts for the disproportionate emphasis so customarily laid
upon the commercial feature of the atonement. It is easier and it is lazier to
believe in a Christ that is going to pay my debts for me, than it is to grow up
in Christ into a Divine endowment, that shall be itself the cure for insolvency
and the material of wealth Divine and inexhaustible. You have really done
nothing for a poor man by paying his debts for him, unless in addition to
squaring his old accounts you have in such manner dealt with him as to
guarantee him against being similarly involved in the time to come. Emphasize
as we may the merely ransoming work of Christ, we are not made free men by
having our fetters broken off, and we are not made wealthy men by having our
debts paid. It is not what Christ delivers us from, but what He translates us
into that makes us saved men in Christ. (C. H.Parkhurst, D. D.)
Our Lord¡¦s life
lived in shadow
No
fair reading of the narrative of Christ¡¦s life will leave the impression that
sorrow of heart was a grace that Christ cultivated. The pathetic was not a
temper of spirit which He encouraged in Himself or in others. Heaviness of mind
was not a thing to be sought in and for itself. There is no gain saying the
fact that one great object of His mission was to make the world glad. Still for
all that He was a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It needs also to
be said that for us to be heavy-hearted merely because Christ was, to be sorrowful
by a sheer act of imitation, is distinctly repugnant to everything like
Christian sense, and at the farthest possible remove from all that deserves to
be called Christian sincerity. Neither can we leave out of the account all
those passages, especially in the New Testament, where particular praise is
accorded to gladness of heart.
The problems of
life involve sorrow
Nevertheless,
when all these caveats have been entered and gladness of heart eulogized to
the fullest extent, authorized by multitudinous expressions occurring
throughout the entire Scriptures, it still remains beyond dispute that our
Lord¡¦s life was lived in shadow, and that He died at last less because of the
nails and the spear-wounds, than He did of a broken heart. (C. H. Parkhurst,
D. D.)
The sorrow of
strained powers
He
came to interfere with the natural current of event. And it made Him tired. And
a man, even a Divine man, is less apt to laugh when He is tired. A good deal of
what we call our gladness of heart, if we will care to scrutinize it, is simply
the congenial luxury of drifting down the current of event. If you are pulling
your boat up-stream you will be sober while you are about it. Strained powers
are serious. It is the farthest from our thought to disparage exuberance or
even hilarity; nevertheless, it remains a fact that hilarity is feeling out at
pasture and not feeling under the yoke. It is steam escaping at the throttle
because it is not pushing at the piston. I venture to say that Christ could not
shake His purpose off. He was here to stay the downward drift of event; the
purpose was too vast to be easily flung aside, and His muscles were too solidly
knotted to it to be easily unknotted and relaxed. And we shall have to go on
and say that it was an inherent part of Christ to have a purpose and to be
mightily bent to its achievement; and not only that, it was an inherent part of
Christ as the Saviour of this world to seize upon the current of event and of
history and to under take to reverse it. Exactly that was the genius of the
Christ-mission. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The Christ-life
in the Christian
You
cannot drift down the tide of event and be a Christ man or a Christ woman. The
world is to be saved; the tide is to be reversed. Man inspired of God is to do
it; and you cannot buckle yourself down to that problem in Christian
whole-heartedness and not grow sober under it. Now you see the philosophy of
the sober Christ. He flung Himself against forty centuries of bad event, and
the Divine Man got bruised by the impact. He stood up and let forty centuries
jump on Him; He held His own, but blood broke through His pores in
perspiration, and about that there is nothing humorous. The edge of this truth
is not broken by the fact that Christ took hold of the work of the world¡¦s
saving in a larger way than it is possible for us to do, and that therefore the
burden of His undertaking came upon Him in a heavier, wider, and more crushing
way than it can come upon us; and that therefore while it overwhelmed Him in
sorrow, our smaller mission and lighter task can with entire propriety leave us
buoyant and gladsome. All of that conception of the case lacks dignity and
reach You can¡¦t take hold of a great matter in a small way. (C. H.
Parkhurst, D. D.)
The sorrow of
love
It is
but a step now to go on and speak of the saddening effect necessarily flowing
from the circumstances under which in this world Christian work has to be done.
It was the love which Christ had for the world that made Him sad while doing
His work in the world; and the infinitude of His love is what explains the
unutterableness of His pain; for the world in which Christ fulfilled His
mission was a suffering world. Now a man who is without love can be in the
midst of suffering and, not suffer. A loveless spirit grieves over his own
pain, but has no sense of another¡¦s pain, and no feeling of being burdened by
another¡¦s pain. Love has this peculiar property, that it makes the person whom
we love one with us, so that his experience becomes a part of our own life, his
pain becomes painful to us, his burdens make us tired. The mother feels her
child¡¦s pain as keenly as though it were her own pain, perhaps more so. In its
Divine relations this is all expressed in those familiar words of Scripture,
¡§In all their affliction He was afflicted.¡¨ Sympathy is the form which love
takes in a suffering world. Love is the finest type of communism. (C.
H.Parkhurst, D. D.)
Christ¡¦s great
capacity for suffering
The
measure of our being is our capacity for sorrow or joy. Captain Conder speaks of
the shadow cast by Mount Hermon being as much as seventy miles long at some
periods. Was it not the very greatness of Christ that made His joys and His
griefs equally unique? (H. O. Mackey.)
We hid as it were our faces from Him
A sad
confession
In the
margin of your Bibles this passage is rendered, ¡§He hid as it were His face
from us.¡¨ The literal translation of the Hebrew would be, ¡§He was as a hiding
of faces from Him,¡¨ or ¡§from us.¡¨ Some critical readers think these words were
intended to describe our Lord as having so humbled Himself, and brought Himself
to such a deep degradation, that He was comparable to the leper who covered his
face and cried, ¡§Unclean, unclean,¡¨ hiding himself from the gaze of men.
Abhorred and despised by men, He was like one put aside because of His disease
and shunned by all mankind. Others suppose the meaning to be that on account of
our Lord s terrible and protracted sorrow His face wore an expression so
painful and grievous that men could scarcely bear to look upon Him. They hid as
it were their faces from Him--amazed at that brow all carved with lines of
anxious thought, those cheeks all ploughed with furrows of deep care, those
eyes all sunk in shades of sadness, that soul bowed down, exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death! It may be so; we cannot tell. I have a plain, practical
purpose to pursue. Here is an indictment to which we must all plead guilty.
I. Sometimes men hide their faces from Jesus IN COOL CONTEMPT OF HIM.
How astounding! how revolting! He ought surely to be esteemed by all mankind.
1. Some show their opposition by attempting to ignore or to tarnish
the dignity of His person.
2. Are there not others who affect great admiration for Jesus of
Nazareth as an example of virtue and benevolence, who nevertheless reject His
mediatorial work as our Redeemer? As a substitutionary sacrifice they do not
and cannot esteem Him.
3. Then they will pour contempt upon, the various doctrines of His
Gospel.
4. And with what pitiful disdain the Lord s people are slighted! Do I
address anybody who has despised the Lord Jesus Christ? Your wantonness can
offer no excuse but your ignorance. And as for your ignorance, it is without
excuse.
II. A far more common way in which men hide their faces from Christ is
BY THEIR HEEDLESSNESS, THEIR INDIFFERENCE, THEIR NEGLECT.
III. We hid as it were our faces from Him BY PREFERRING ANY OTHER MODE
OF SALVATION TO SALVATION BY FAITH IN CHRIST.
IV. After we were quite sure that we could not be saved other than by
the one Mediator, do you remember how we continued to hide our face from Jesus
BY PERSISTENT UNBELIEF IN HIM.
V. But there are some of us who must plead guilty to another charge;
we have hidden as it were our faces from Him since He has saved us, and since
we have known His love, BY OUR SILLY SHAME AND OUR BASE COWARDICE.
VI. Many, if not all, of us who are believers will penitently confess
that we have sometimes hidden our faces from Christ BY NOT WALKING IN CONSTANT
FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM. (C. H. Spurgeon.) ¡§We hid as it were our faces from
Him.¡¨ Literally, ¡§as one from whom there is hiding of face,¡¨ as if shrinking
from a horrible sight. (Canon Cook.) The impersonal form refers to the
men just named, or all those of note and influence. Their faces were averted
from Him, as a lunatic, beside Himself, or one possessed, as a deceiver and a
blasphemer. (T.R. Birks.)
Verses 4-6
Surely He hath borne our
griefs
Christ¡¦s love and man¡¦s unthankfulness
I.
CHRIST¡¦S
LOVE.
1. The
certainty of what is averred of Christ: ¡§Surely.¡¨
2. The
acts of Christ¡¦s obedience, set forth in two words: He hath ¡§borne,¡¨ He hath
¡§carried.¡¨
3. The
objects. They are ¡§griefs,¡¨ ¡§sorrows.¡¨
II. MAN¡¦S
UNTHANKFULNESS, in censuring Christ and despising Him; and there consider--
1. The
persons: ¡§We.¡¨
2. The
guilt. Esteeming Christ stricken and smitten of God. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The pressure of the burden on God
My positions are these--
1. The
Lord--electing to perpetuate the sinful race, to endure all the sorrow which
Heaven would look upon, and the question which would fall upon His government
through the existence of a world so full of wrong and wretchedness, in a
universe whose order was his charge--stooped at once, in infinite, tender pity,
to lift the burden, and to become a fellow-wayfarer in the sorrowful pilgrimage
to which man had doomed himself by his sin. Suffering sin to live on and
reproduce itself, with all its bitter fruits, in the universe which He made to
be so blest, He needs must become its sacrifice; making the atonement for the
sin which He did not on the moment crush, and bearing the burden of the sorrow
which He did not at once destroy. And this is Divine love. It must share the
sorrow which it allows to live on, though the fountain of the sorrow be a sin
which he hates; it must lift and bear the burden which most righteous
necessities lay heavily upon erring souls. We none of us know, even dimly, what
is meant by ¡§Emmanuel,¡¨ ¡§God with us. God always with us, incarnate from the
hour when He announced Himself as the woman¡¦s seed, and the destroyer of her
foe. God with us, our fellow in all the dread experience into which our sharing
in the sin of Adam has driven us; knowing Himself the full pressure of its
burdens, and infinitely more nearly touched than we are by everything that
concerns the dark, sad history of mankind.
2. The
fellowship of God with the race in the very hour of the transgression infused
at once a tincture of hope into the experience of the sinner, and made it, from
the first, a discipline unto life instead of a judgment unto death.
3. This
first promise to man, this fellowship of God with the sinning, suffering race,
whose existence He perpetuated, pledged Him to the sacrifice of Calvary, the
baptism of Pentecost, and the abiding of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, with
the world. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)
Christ the Burden-bearer
There are two questions
which here suggest themselves--
I. WHAT
BURDENS PRESSED ON CHRIST, WHICH COULD NOT HAVE BEEN HIS, UNLESS HE HAD TAKEN
THEM UP?
1. By His
incarnation He inserted Himself into our race, and by assuming our own nature,
He felt whatever sorrows press on man as man
2. By His
position He represented our race. As the Son of God, He is Heaven¡¦s
representative on earth. As the Son of Man, He is our Great High Priest, to
intercede with Heaven. Thus all earth¡¦s spiritual concerns rested on Him. Could
such a work be entrusted to man, and He-be otherwise than ¡§a man of sorrows¡¨?
3. By His
own personal sympathy He so felt for man, that He made the sorrows of others
His own. His was no heartless officialism.
4. By
suffering and sorrow, Christ not only discloses His own human sympathy, but by
reason of the two-foldness of His nature, that human sympathy was an
incarnation of the Divine!
5. But we
have to take one more step, in accounting for the burden which lay upon Christ.
He came, ¡§not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life, a
ransom for many.¡¨
II. WHAT
BURDENS DO NOT REST UPON US, THAT MUST HAVE BEEN OURS IF CHRIST HAD NOT BORNE
THEM AWAY?
1. The
burden of unatoned guilt rests on none! ¡§Behold the Lamb of God that beareth
away the sin of the world!¡¨
2. The
burden of hopeless corruption of nature need rest on none. When the Son of God
came to be a sacrifice for us, He came to be also a Living
Root in us. He allied
Himself with human weakness, and joined it to His almightiness, that in Him
that weakness might be lost, and be substituted by ¡§everlasting strength.¡¨
3. The
burden of unshared sorrows rests on none. Does our sorrow arise from the sin
without us? That pressed more heavily on Christ than ever it can do on us. Does
it come from personal trial? Christ¡¦s were far heavier than ours. Does it come
from the temptations of Satan? He was in all points tempted like as we are. But
perhaps it may be said, ¡§By reason of the infirmities of the flesh, I am
betrayed into impatience, murmuring and fretfulness and I cannot feel that
Christ has lifted off that burden, for I am sure Christ never felt any fretfulness
or impatience, and so He cannot sympathize with mine.¡¨ But, strange as it may
seem at first sight, it is just here that the perfection of Christ¡¦s sympathy
is seen. In this last-named course of sorrow there is a mixture of what is
frail with what is wrong. But since Christ¡¦s nature was untainted by sin, He
can draw exactly the line between infirmity and sin, which sinful natures
cannot do. Now, we do not want, and we ought not to wish for sympathy with the
wrong, but only with weakness and frailty. How does Christ, then, meet this
complex case! Distinguishing most clearly between the two, He looks on the
infirmity, and has for it a fulness of pity; He discerns the sin, and has for
that fulness of power to forgive it, and fulness of grace to remove it! ¡§In
that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that
are tempted.¡¨
4. The
burden of dreaded death need rest on none. Christ passed through death that He
might deliver them who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to
bondage.
5. The
great burden of the destiny of the human race rests not on us. Christ has taken
that up. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
The death of Christ a propitiation for sin
Two things are asserted--
I. THAT
THE MESSIAH SHOULD SUFFER NOT FOR HIS OWN SINS, BUT FOR OURS (Isaiah
53:4-5).
This indeed is what His enemies would deny, esteeming Him ¡§stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted,¡¨ for His own sins, His imposture, usurpation and blasphemy.
But if we peruse the history of His life we shall find that the sum of all they
had to lay to His charge was His presuming to act in a character which really
did (but which they would not believe did) belong to him: that the whole course
of His behaviour exemplified the most perfect integrity of heart and life, and
showed Him to be the spotless Lamb of God, in whom there was no sin. Hence it
follows that He must have suffered for the sins of others.
1. Some
have put this gloss upon the words, ¡§He was wounded for¡¨--i.e., (they
say) ¡§by our transgressions,¡¨ and ¡§bruised by our iniquities.¡¨
Or, that it was owing to the sins of the Jews that He suffered so much as He
did. It was their malice, unrighteousness and envy that was the cause of all
His suffering. But this construction is not only apparently forced, but is
confuted by the whole scope and tenor of the prophecy. For He is not said to be
smitten by the Jews, but for them; nay, that He was smitten of God for them,
for it was ¡§the Lord that laid on Him the punishment of their iniquities.
2. Others
say that He bore our sins by imputation, and was wounded for our
transgressions, because our transgressions were imputed to Him, or reckoned as
His. But you will say, perhaps, ¡§Were not our sins then imputed to Christ?¡¨ I
answer, I find no fault with the word, provided it be rightly understood and
explained. If by ¡§imputation¡¨ be meant, that our sins were actually made over
or transferred to Him, so as to become His, I do not see how this can be
conceived possible. ¡§But might they not be reckoned His?¡¨ No, for that would be
to reckon them what they were not, and what it was impossible they should be.
But if by our sins being ¡§imputed¡¨ to Christ be understood no more than that
the punishment thereof was actually laid upon Him, this is easily conceived,
and readily granted: that is what the sacred Scriptures everywhere say. If
anything further be necessary to illustrate this affair, we may explain it by
the case of the propitiatory sacrifices under the law, all which pointed at or
prefigured the great Christian sacrifice under the Gospel. Those piacular
victims were of Divine appointment. The sin-offerings, over the heads of which
the priest was to confess the sins of the people, were substituted in the room of
the offenders, and died instead of those sinners for whom they were offered.
The sins of the people were not transferred over to the victim, but the victim
was slain for the sins of the people. Leviticus
16:21-22 must
of necessity be taken in a figurative construction: because the sins of a man
can in no other sense be transferred to, or laid upon a beast, than by
transferring upon it the punishment of them.
3. Others
there are who acknowledge that Christ died for us, meaning thereby that He died
for our sakes or for our good, and to set us a perfect example of patience and
submission under sufferings; but not for our sins, or in our room and stead.
But if Christ died for us as our Sacrifice, or as the sacrifices under the law
died for the offenders (as He certainly did if they were proper types of Him),
then He must have died in our room, and as substituted in our place.
4. Others
think, that all those places of Scripture which speak of Christ¡¦s death as a
¡§propitiation are to be explained in a figurative sense: that the apostles
borrowed those sacrifical terms from the Jewish law, and applied them to the
death of Christ, only by way of accommodation or analogy, not that the blood of
Christ did really and properly expiate or atone for sin, any more than that of
the Jewish sacrifices; but that He only died for us as a pledge to assure us
that God would pardon and accept us upon our repentance. To which it may
suffice to say, that the apostle does not speak of the death of Christ merely
by way of analogy to the Jewish sacrifices, but as typified, represented and
prefigured by them (Ephesians
5:2; Hebrews
9:13-14; Hebrews
10:4).
II. THAT
THE GREAT END AND DESIGN OF CHRIST¡¦S SUFFERING FOR OUR SINS, WAS TO MAKE OUR
PEACE WITH GOD. ¡§The chastisement of our peace was upon Him,¡¨ etc. These
words plainly intimate to us the way whereby our peace is made with God, viz by
our justification and sanctification. (J. Mason, M.A.)
Vicarious Sacrifice of Christ
In these words Isaiah declares
the end of Christ¡¦s sufferings. The Jews, who put Him to death, did ¡§esteem Him
smitten of God,¡¨ that is, crucified according to the will of God, for
attempting to turn away men from the law of Moses. And, to this day, they speak
of Jesus as one who suffered according to the law of God, for seducing the
Israelites from the faith of their forefathers. The prophet gives a different
view of Christ¡¦s death. Instead of dying for His own sins, He was wounded for
our transgressions.
1. There
is no passage of Scripture in which the substitution of Christ¡¦s sufferings, in
place of those of the sinner, is more clearly revealed than in our text.
2. All
agree that men are sinners, and that sin deserves punishment. But when we come
to ask how it may be forgiven, and for what consideration God forgives it, we
begin to differ. The Trinitarian doctrine is, that the eternal Son of God, the
uncreated, and equal with the Father, became incarnate, and suffered the
punishment of our sins, as our Substitute; and that for the sake of what He has
done, we may be forgiven. They who are opposed to us, on the other hand,
believe that Christ, a created being, but still so very exalted that He may be
called a God--yet not the supreme God--took our nature upon Him, that He might
teach men a purer religion than was ever before known, and set before them a
perfect example, and thus draw them away from their sins; so that He saves us
from our sins, not by atoning for them, but just as any merely good man does,
who so teaches and practises as to lead men from sin to holiness. While engaged
in this work, they assert further, that the Jews seized upon the Saviour and
put Him to death; and Jesus, to show that He was persuaded of the truth of what
He had taught, gave Himself up to die, just as Latimer and Ridley sealed their
testimony with their blood; and that thus Christ may be said to have died for
us, because He met His death in seeking to do us good. Some go a little
further, and believe that God was so pleased with the holy life, and the
martyr-death of His Son, that for His sake He is graciously inclined to forgive
sin, just as the good conduct of one child may procure favours for an erring
brother, for whom he pleads. They expect to be saved through their repentance,
by the mercy of God; we expect salvation through the alone merits of the
suffering Son of God.
3. Now
let us go on to see how this great doctrine of our Church is sustained by
Scripture.
4. But
again, we ask attention to the fact, that Christ¡¦s sufferings were not so much
from man as from God, not bodily so much as of the soul. How do we account for
this? If He was seized upon by the Jews, and died merely as a martyr, would God
have withdrawn His presence from Him in His last agonies Would He not then have
had, as other good men have had, the brightest views of the Divine presence and
comfort? But it was just the reverse. ¡§The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all.¡¨ ¡§It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.¡¨ It is said God made Christ¡¦s
soul, not His body alone, an offering for sin; it was foretold that it should
be mental, not merely corporal suffering, that He should endure. And such, in
fact, was the case.
5. How
can these facts be explained on the Unitarian system? (W. H.
Lewis, D.D.)
Redemption
I. THE
NEED (Isaiah
53:6).
Sheep, but astray; through following their own inclinations. Divine pity is on
the selfish and the lost.
II. THE
MEANS.
1. The
reality of the redemption seen in the fact that Christ died. He did not die for
His own sin; ¡§I am innocent of the blood of this just man,¡¨ said His judge. He
did not die through His own feebleness; ¡§I have power to lay down My life,¡¨
etc., said Christ. He did not die by accident; ¡§the Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all:¡¨ it was the will of the Father, and foretold, and a
fact.
2. The
form of the redemption.
III. THE
EFFECT (Isaiah
53:5).
1. Sin
atoned for, iniquity borne away.
2. Peace.
¡§The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.¡¨ ¡§Being justified by faith we have
peace.¡¨
3. Healing.
We are free from sin to be the servants of God. The depth of His love the
measure of our obligation. As that cannot be fathomed our obligation can never
be fully realized. (R. V. Pryce, M.A., LL.B.)
Vicarious suffering
Great is the power of
vicarious suffering in its endless varieties. By the struggles and the
obstinate questionings of deep souls the world of ordinary men is redeemed and
elevated. It is by His suffering prophets that God most truly saves the world.
By the untold miseries of Job, by the deep grief of Isaiah, by the piercing
sorrows of Paul, by the weary restlessness of Augustine, by the fiery agonies
of Luther, by the sore trials of John Bunyan, by the spiritual travail of
Wesley and Whitfield, by the brave endurance of Theodore Parker, by the torn
heart of Robertson of Brighton, by the manifold diquietudes and internal gloom
of the great army of bewildered doubters and baffled pioneers--by all these we
have been led from the house of bondage and the city of destruction, from the
valley of the shadow of death, into the glorious liberty of the children of
God. (A. Crauford, M.A.)
Luther and Bunyan
By their ¡§agony and bloody
sweat.¡¨ it is given to sympathetic souls in every age to deliver the world to
some extent. Thus by the stripes of Luther John Bunyan was healed. From
Luther¡¦s commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians Bunyan received peace and
victory. (A. Crauford, M.A.)
Vicarious suffering
Vicarious suffering, with
its far-reaching influence, pervades the whole world. Assuredly this is not due
to any after-thought of God. It is an essential part of the original
arrangement. ¡§No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (A.
Crauford, M.A.)
Society an organism
The English Deists
certainly erred in rejecting the true inner meaning of the doctrine of
salvation by vicarious suffering. The Deists did not realize the truth that
society is an organism. And our perception of this fact in the present day
enables us to appreciate the real meaning of the doctrine of vicarious
suffering. This truth shines all the more clearly, owing to the light of modern
science, which has discredited the old Deism even more effectually than Bishop
Butler did. (A. Crauford, M.A.)
Sadder and mysterious aspects of vicarious
suffering
Some of these aspects are
so unspeakably sad that it is only in the light of a future life that I can
bear to gaze upon them. We do but skim over the surface of the deep mystery of
vicarious suffering, unless we recognize the fact that the spiritual world is
full of wasted lives, of marvellous abortions, of grand and heroic failures, of
illustrious scapegoats dying in the bleak wilderness of ignominy and defeat, bearing
away the sins of the many, and yet by them misunderstood, condemned, and
anathematized. In many respects these outcast scapegoats of the spiritual world
are the truest saviours of our race, though by commonplace religionists they
¡§are numbered with the transgressors,¡¨ and die unhealed and unredeemed, and
¡§make their graves with the wicked.¡¨ (A. Crauford, M.A.)
The world¡¦s majestic failures
The world¡¦s majestic
failures are a sorrowful hint of God¡¦s inexhaustible resources. (A. Crauford,
M.A.)
The failure of one the gain of another
I suppose that no
thoughtful person would think of denying the fact that predestined failure is
the lot of many noble natures here on earth. They are stepping-stones on which
others ¡§rise to higher things.¡¨ Of each of them we might truly, affirm that he
is thus addressed by others, ¡§Bow down, that we may go over. And, in meek
obedience, he complies; so that we write concerning him, ¡§And thou hast laid
thy body on the ground, and as the street to them that went over.¡¨ Such souls are
scapegoats of the race, bearing away the deficiencies and the sins of many into
the wilderness of isolation, despondency, and disaster. They drink to the very
dregs the cup of ancestral sinfulness, and their brethren thereby escape that
fatal heritage of the soul. It seems as if it were necessary that they should
be lost, in order that others may be saved. Consciously or unconsciously, they
suck out the poison from the wounds of the human race. (A. Crauford,
M.A.)
Vicarious sacrifice in the intellectual world
I In the intellectual
world it is often expedient that one man should be sacrificed for the race. For
instance, David Hume¡¦s total want of spirituality, though extremely injurious
to him individually, was probably highly beneficial to the race in one way, viz
by showing to what monstrous conclusions intellect by itself was likely to
lead. And the very infirmities and aberrations of the intellect, in some men,
are full of instruction for the race at large. Unrestrained imagination often
mars or destroys the life of its possessor, as did that of Rousseau, but adds
much to the world¡¦s abiding mental wealth. (A. Crauford, M.A.)
Poisons as tonics
The spiritual poisons of
individuals are often turned into tonics for the race. (A. Crauford,
M.A.)
Stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted
Jesus, smitten of God
Smitten as with a
loathsome leprosy--the curse-mark of judicial vengeance upon Him, for so it is
rendered by St. Jerome, We thought Him to be a leper. (Jr. R Macduff,
D.D.)
Stricken
Stricken is the expression
used when God visits a man with severe and sudden sickness (Genesis
12:17; 1 Samuel
6:9),
especially leprosy, which was regarded as pre-eminently the ¡§stroke¡¨ of God¡¦s
hand (Job 2 Kings
15:5; Leviticus
13:3; Leviticus
13:9; Leviticus
13:20), and
the direct consequence of sin. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)
The Servant of the Lard pictured as a leper
That the Servant is
pictured as a leper is suggested by several particulars in the description,
such as His marred and disfigured form, and His isolation from human society,
as well as the universal conviction of His contemporaries that He was a special
object of the Divine wrath; and the impression is confirmed by the parallel
case of Job, the typical righteous sufferer, whose disease was elephantiasis,
the most hideous form of leprosy. It has to be borne in mind, of course, that
the figure of the Servant is, in some sense, an ideal creation of the prophet s
mind, so that the leprosy is only a strong image for such sufferings as are the
evidence of God¡¦s wrath against sin. (Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)
The mystery of our Lord¡¦s sufferings
I. THE
MYSTERY OF CHRIST¡¦S SUFFERINGS--MAN¡¦S EXPLANATION OF IT. ¡§We did esteem Him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.¡¨ And it is impossible to say that this
is other than a fair view to take from man¡¦s position and with man¡¦s knowledge.
1. Let us
try and realize the process of mind in a man who was told of Christ¡¦s
sufferings and death, but had no knowledge of His personal innocence; no
conception of Him as the ¡§spotless One,¡¨ separate from sinners. Such a man
would only decide that He was ¡§stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.¡¨ To
such a man it would be plain enough that God has established an immediate
connection between sin and suffering. And yet we know, we feel, that this
explanation of the mystery of our Lord¡¦s sufferings is insufficient and incorrect.
It does not lift the veil. It is altogether too commonplace. Good enough if
Christ were a fellow-man. Worthless--nay, wholly wrong--if He be the spotless
Lamb of God; if He be the Son of God with power.
2. Then
let us try to realize the process of mind in a man who has some knowledge of
Christ¡¦s life, and especially of His personal innocence, as one who ¡§did no
sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.¡¨ Such a man might say, Christ¡¦s
sufferings were a specially and extraordinary Divine judgment. ¡§He was smitten
of God.¡¨ Such a knowledge of Christ¡¦s life would convince the man that Jesus
must have been a most amiable and excellent person, an obedient Son, a loving
Friend, a gentle-hearted Brother; one who could claim to be a firm and wise
moral Teacher. The man would feel sure that the influence of such an one as
Jesus must have been very great upon His age. The fast departing moral life of
Judaism ought to have had its flickering flame fanned afresh by the presence
and teachings of such a Master-Spirit. And then, as he saw Him despised,
persecuted, and at last put to the ignominious slave¡¦s death of the cross, what
could he think about it all But this? It was a sad calamity, one of those
mysterious Divine judgments that seem to come in every age, and puzzle sorely
the sons of men. Man can only say of the sufferer--¡§Smitten of God.¡¨ In this
way a man might fairly regard the innocent Jesus. Nay; this, too, is
insufficient; it is but the beginning of an explanation. A calamity! Yes, but
only a seeming calamity, seeing that by dying He conquered death, ¡§led
captivity captive,¡¨ and ¡§opened the kingdom of heaven you to all-believers.¡¨
¡§Man cannot of himself explain the mystery of Christ¡¦s sufferings. But he can
be humble, and learn so much of the mystery as God may be pleased to reveal.
II. THE
MYSTERY OF CHRIST¡¦S SUFFERINGS--GOD¡¦S EXPLANATION OF IT. ¡§He was wounded for
our transgressions,¡¨ etc.
1. We may
first notice that God sustains man¡¦s view, that the sufferings of Christ were
His appointment; but He further declares that they were an unusual and
altogether singular appointment.
2. Then
God¡¦s explanation declares that the sufferings of Christ bore no relation
whatever to His own guilt.
3. God
affirms, further, that Christ suffered as the Representative or Substitute, for
others. Is it any wonder that an absorbing love should grow in our souls toward
this vicariously-suffering Saviour? In the restoration of man to the Divine
favour; in the great and gracious work of ¡§reconciliation,¡¨ we can recognize
three stages--
Verse
5
But He was wounded for our transgressions
The sufferings of Christ
Three things suggest themselves as requiring explanation to one
who seriously contemplates the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.
1. An innocent man suffers.
2. The death of Jesus is the
apparent defeat and destruction of one who possessed extraordinary and
supernatural powers.
3. This apparent defeat and
ruin, instead of hindering the progress of His work, became at once, and in all
the history of the progress of His doctrine has been emphatically, the
instrument whereby a world is conquered. The death of Jesus has not been
mourned by His followers, has never been concealed, but rather exulted in and
prominently set forth as that to which all men must chiefly look if they would
regard Christ and His mission right. The shame and the failure issue in glory
and completest success. What is the philosophy of this? Has any ever been given
which approaches the Divinely revealed meaning supplied by our text? ¡§He was
wounded for our transgressions,¡¨ etc. We learn here--
I. THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS
CHRIST RESULTED FROM OUR SINS.
II. THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS
WHERE RELATED TO THE DIVINE LAW.
III. THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS
BECAME REMEDIAL OF HUMAN SINFULNESS. (L. D.Bevan, D. D.)
A short catechism
1. What is man¡¦s condition by
nature?
2. How are folks freed from
this sinful and miserable condition?
3. Who maketh this
satisfaction? The text says, ¡§He¡¨ and ¡§Him.¡¨ The Messiah.
4. How does He satisfy
justice?
5. What are the benefits that
come by these sufferings?
6. To whom hath Christ
procured all these good things?
7. How are these benefits
derived from Christ to the sinner?
Sin
Verses 5 and 6 are remarkable for the numerous and diversified
references to sin which they make. Within the short compass of two verses that
sad fact is referred to no less than six times, and on each occasion a
different figure is used to describe it. It is transgression--the crossing of a
boundary and trespassing upon forbidden land. It is iniquity--the want of
equity: the absence of just dealing. It is the opposite of Peace--the root of
discord and enmity between us and God. It is a disease of the spirit--difficult
to heal. It is a foolish and wilful wandering, like that of a stray sheep. And
it is a heavy burden, which crushes him on whom it lies. So many and serious
are the aspects of sin. (B. J. Gibbon.)
The sufferings of Christ
I. ATTEND TO THE SUFFERINGS
OF THE SON OF GOD, as described in the text. The sufferings of the Saviour are
described in the Scriptures with simplicity and grandeur combined. Nothing can
add to the solemnity and force of the exhibition.
1. The prophet tells us that
the Son of God was ¡§wounded.¡¨ The Hebrew word here translated ¡§wounded,¡¨
signifies to run through with a sword or some sharp weapon, and, as here used,
seems to refer to those painful wounds which our Lord received at the time of
His crucifixion.
2. The prophet tells us that
the Son of God was ¡§bruised.¡¨ This expression seems to have a reference to the
labours, afflictions, and sorrows which our blessed Lord sustained, especially
in the last scenes of His life.
3. The prophet tells us that
the Son of God bore chastisements and stripes.
II. CONSIDER THE PROCURING
CAUSE OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE SON OF GOD. ¡§Our transgressions.¡¨ ¡§Our
iniquities.¡¨
III. ATTEND TO THE GRACIOUS
DESIGN AND HAPPY EFFECTS OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE SON OF GOD. ¡§The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.¡¨
1. One gracious design and
blessed effect of the sufferings of the Son of God was to procure for us
reconciliation with God.
2. The renovating of our
nature. (D. Dickson, D.D.)
Substitution
There is no more remarkable language than this in the whole of the
Word of God. It is so clear a statement of the doctrine of the substitution of
the innocent for the guilty, that we do not hesitate to say, no words could
teach it if it be not taught here. We are distinctly told--
I. THAT THERE BELONGS TO US A
SAD AND GRIEVOUS WEIGHT OF SIN. There are three terms expressive of what belong
to us: ¡§our transgressions,¡¨ ¡§our iniquities,¡¨ ¡§gone astray.¡¨ These three
phrases have indeed a common feature; they all indicate what is wrong--even sin,
though they represent the wrong in different aspects.
1. ¡§Transgressions.¡¨ The word
thus translated indicates sin in one or other of three forms--either that of
missing the mark through aimlessness, or carelessness, or a wrong aim; or of
coming short, when, though the work may be right in its direction, it does not
come up to the standard; or of crossing a boundary and going over to the wrong
side of a line altogether. In all these forms our sins have violated the holy
law of God.
2. ¡§Iniquities.¡¨ This word
also has reference to moral law as the standard of duty. The Hebrew word is
from a root which signifies ¡§to bend,¡¨ ¡§to twist,¡¨ and refers to the tortuous,
crooked, winding ways of men when they conform to no standard at all save that
suggested by their own fancies or conceits, and so walk ¡§according to the
course of this world.¡¨
3. The third phrase has
reference rather to the God of Law, than to the law of God, and to Him in His
relation to us of Lord, Leader, Shepherd, and Guide. There is not only the
infringement of the great law of right, but also universal neglect and
abandonment of Divine leadership and love; and as the result of this, grievous
mischief is sure to follow. ¡§Like the sheep,¡¨ they find their way out easily
enough; they go wandering over ¡§the dark mountains,¡¨ each one to ¡§his own way,¡¨
but of themselves they can never find the way home again. And so far does this
wandering propensity increase in force, that men come to think there is no home
for them; the loving concern of God for the wanderers is disbelieved, and the
Supreme Being is regarded in the light of a terrible Judge eager to inflict
retribution. And all this is a pressure on God. He misses the wanderers. And
through the prophet, the Spirit of God would let men know that the wanderings
of earth are the care of Heaven. Nor let us fail to note that in these verses
there is an entirely different aspect of human nature and action from that
presented in the verse preceding. There, the expressions were ¡§our griefs,¡¨
¡§our sorrows.¡¨ Here, they are ¡§our transgressions,¡¨ etc. Griefs and
sorrows are not in themselves violations of moral law, though they may be the
results of them, and though every violation of moral law may lead to sorrow.
Still they must not be confounded, though inseparably connected. Grief may
solicit pity: wrong incurs penalty. And the sin is ours. The evil is wide as
the race. Each one¡¦s sin is a personal one: ¡§Every one to his own way.¡¨ Sin is
thus at once collective and individual. No one can charge the guilt of his own
sin on any one else. On whom or on what will he cast the blame? On influences?
But it was for him to resist and not to yield. On temptation? But temptation
cannot force. In the judgment of God each one¡¦s sin is his own.
II. THIS SERVANT OF GOD BEING
LADEN WITH OUR SINS, SHARES OUR HERITAGE OF WOE. How remarkable is the
antithesis here--Transgressions; iniquities; wanderings, are ours. Wounds;
bruises; chastisements; stripes, are His. There is also a word indicating the
connection between the two sides of the antithesis, ¡§wounded for our
transgressions¡¨--on account of them; but if this were all the explanation
given, it might mean no more than that the Messiah would feel so grieved at
them that they would bruise or wound Him. But there is a far fuller and clearer
expression: ¡§The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.¡¨ This expression
fixes the sense in which the Messiah was wounded and bruised on our account. In
pondering over this, let us work our way step by step.
1. The inflexibility of the
moral law and the absolute righteousness and equity of the Lawgiver in dealing
with sin are thoughts underlying the whole of this chapter. The most high God
is indeed higher than law; and though He never violates law, He may, out of the
exuberance of His own love, do more than law requires, and may even cease to
make law the rule of His action. But even when that is the ease, and He acts £q£s£l£d̀ς
£h£j́£g£j£o ¡K (¡§apart from law,¡¨ Romans 3:21), while He manifests the
infinite freedom of a God to do whatsoever he pleaseth, He will also show to
the world that His law must be honoured in the penalties inflicted for its
violation. This is indicated in the words, ¡§The Lord hath laid on Him,¡¨ etc.
Nor ought any one for a moment to think of this as ¡§exaction.¡¨ Exactness is
not exactingness; it would not be called so, nor would the expression be
tolerated if applied to a judge who forbade the dishonouring of a national law,
or to a father who would not suffer the rules of his house to be broken with
impunity.
2. It is revealed to us that
in the mission of this servant of Jehovah, the Most High would act on the
principle of substitution. When a devout Hebrew read the words we are now
expounding, the image of the scapegoat would at once present itself to him.
3. The Messiah was altogether
spotless; He fulfilled the ideal typified by the precept that the sacrificial
lamb was to be without blemish. Being the absolutely sinless One, He was fitted
to stand in a relation to sin and sinners which no being who was tainted with
sin could possibly have occupied.
4. The twofold nature of the
Messiah--He being at once the Son of God and Son of man, qualified Him to stand
in a double relation;--as the Son of God, to be Heaven¡¦s representative on
earth--as the Son of man, to be earth¡¦s representative to Heaven. Thus, His
offering of Himself was God¡¦s own sacrifice (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19), and yet, in another
sense, it was man¡¦s own sacrifice (2 Corinthians 5:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13).
5. By His incarnation, Christ
came and stood in such alliance with our race, that what belonged to the race
belonged to Him, as inserted into it, and representative of it. We need not use
any such expression as this--¡§Christ was punished for our sin.¡¨ That would be
wrong. But sin was condemned in and through Christ, through His taking on
Himself the liabilities of a world, as their one representative Man who would
stand in their stead; and by the self-abandonment of an unparalleled love,
would let the anguish of sin¡¦s burden fall on His devoted head. Paul, in his
Epistle to Philemon pleads for Onesimus thus, ¡§If he hath wronged thee or oweth
thee ought, put that to my account.¡¨ So the Son of God has accepted our
liabilities. Only thus can we explain either the strong language of the
prophecy, or the mysterious sorrow of Christ depicted in the Gospel history. On
whatever grounds sin¡¦s punishment was necessary had there been no atonement, on
precisely those grounds was an atonement necessary to free the sinner from
deserved punishment. This gracious work was in accord with the appointment of
the Father and with the will of the Son.
6. Though the law is honoured
in this substitution of another for us, yet the substitution itself does not
belong to law, but to love! Grace reigns; law is not trifled with; it is not
infringed on: nay, it is ¡§established.¡¨
III. CHRIST HAVING ACCEPTED OUR
HERITAGE OF WOE, WE RECEIVE THROUGH HIM A HERITAGE OF PEACE. (C. Clemance,
D. D.)
Vicarious suffering
In a large family of evil-doers, where the father and mother are
drunkards, the sons jail-birds and the daughters steeped in shame, there may be
one, a daughter, pure, sensible, sensitive, living in the home of sin like a
lily among thorns. And she makes all the sin of the family her own. The others
do not mind it; the shame of their sin is nothing to them; it is the talk of
the town, but they do not care. Only in her heart their crimes and disgrace
meet like a sheaf of spears, piercing and mangling. The one innocent member of
the family bears the guilt of all the rest. Even their cruelty to herself she
hides, as if all the shame of it were her own. Such a position did Christ hold
in the human family. He entered it voluntarily, becoming bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh; He identified Himself with it; He was the sensitive centre
of the whole. He gathered into His heart the shame and guilt of all the sin He
saw. The perpetrators did not feel it, but He felt it. It crushed Him; it broke
His heart. (J. Stalker, D.D.)
With His stripes we are healed
The disease of sin
I. IT IS A WASTING DISEASE it
bringeth the soul into a languishing condition, and wasteth the strength of it
(Romans 5:6). Sin hath weakened the
soul in all the faculties of it, which all may discern and observe in
themselves.
II. IT IS A PAINFUL DISEASE,
it woundeth the spirit (Proverbs 18:14). Greatness of mind may
support us under a wounded body, but when there is a breach made upon the
conscience, what can relieve us then? But you will say, They that are most
infected with sin feel little of this; how is it then so painful a disease?
1. If they feel it not, the
greater is their danger; for stupid diseases are the worst, and usually most
mortal.
2. The soul of a sinner never
sits so easy but that he has his qualms and pangs of conscience, and that
sometimes in the midst of jollity; as was the case of Belshazzar, while
carousing in the cups of the temple.
3. Though they feel not the
diseases now, they shall hereafter.
III. IT IS A LOATHSOME DISEASE.
IV. IT IS AN INFECTIOUS
DISEASE. Sin cometh into the world by propagation rather than imitation: yet
imitation and example hath a great force upon the soul.
V. IT IS A MORTAL DISEASE, if
we continue in it without repentance. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Recovery by Christ¡¦s stripes
1. None but Christ can cure
us, for He is the Physician of souls.
2. Christ cureth us not by
doctrine and example only, but by merit and suffering. We are healed by ¡§His
stripes.¡¨
3. Christ¡¦s merit and
sufferings do effect our cure, as they purchased the Spirit for us, who
reneweth and healeth our sick souls (Titus 3:5-6). (T. Manton, D.D.)
Healed by Christ¡¦s stripes
¡§With His stripes we are healed.¡¨ We are healed--of our
inattention and unconcern about Divine things. Of our ignorance and unbelief
respecting these things. Of the disease of self-righteousness and
self-confidence. Of our love to sin, and commission of it. Of our love to the
riches, honours and pleasures of this world. Of our self-indulgence and
self-seeking. Of our lukewarmness and sloth. Of our cowardice and fear of
suffering (1 Peter 4:1). Of our diffidence and
distrust, with respect to the mercy of God, and His pardoning and accepting the
penitent. Of an accusing conscience, and slavish fear of God, and of death and
hell. Of our general depravity and corruption of nature. Of our weakness and
inability; His sufferings having purchased for us ¡§the Spirit of might.¡¨ Of our
distresses and misery, both present and future. (J. Benson, D.D.)
His stripes
This chapter is not mainly an indictment. It is a Gospel. It
declares in glad while solemn language that, terrible as sin is, it has been
dealt with. The prophet dwells purposely upon the varied manifestations of the
evil in order to emphasize the varied forms and absolute completeness of its
conquest. He prolongs the agony that he may prolong the rapture.
I. OUR NEED OF HEALING. There
is no figure which more aptly represents the serious nature and terrible
consequences of sin than this one of bodily sickness. We know how it prostrates
us, takes the brightness out of life, and, unless attended to, cuts life short.
Sickness in its acutest form is a type in the body of sin in the soul. Sin is a
mortal disease of the spirit. A common Scriptural emblem for it, found in both
Old and New Testaments, is leprosy--the most frightful disease imaginable,
loathsome to the observer and intolerably painful to the sufferer, attacking
successively and rotting every limb of the body, and issuing slowly but
certainly in death.
1. It is complicated. It
affects every part of the moral being. It is blindness to holiness, and
deafness to the appeals of God. There is a malady known as ossification of the
heart, by which the living and beating heart is slowly turned to a substance
like bone. It is a type of the complaint of the sinner. His heart is hard and
impenitent. He suffers, too, from the fever of unhallowed desire. The lethargy
of spiritual indifference is one of his symptoms; a depraved appetite, by which
he tries to feed his immortal soul on husks, is another; while his whole
condition is one of extreme debility--absence of strength to do right. In
another part of the book our prophetdiagnoses more thoroughly the disease of
which he here speaks (Isaiah 1:5-6). No hospital contains a
spectacle so sickening and saddening as the unregenerate human heart.
2. The disease is universal.
¡§There is none righteous; no, not one.¡¨ What the Bible declares, experience
confirms. The ancient world, speaking through a noble literature that has come
down to us, confesses many times the condition expressed by Ovid, ¡§I see and
approve the better things, while I follow those which are worse.¡¨ Christendom
finds its mouthpiece in the apostle Paul, who, speaking of himself apart from
the help of Christ, mournfully says, ¡§When I would do good, evil is present
with me.¡¨ And modem culture reveals its deepest consciousness in the words of
Lowell, the ambassador-poet, ¡§In my own heart I find the worst man¡¦s mate.¡¨ It
is a feature of the malady that the patient is often insensible to it. But from
every lip there is at least occasional confession of some of its symptoms.
There is discomfort in the conscience; there is dissatisfaction at the heart;
and there is dread in the face of death and the unknown beyond. The Scriptures
are the Rontgen rays of God, and their searching light reveals behind an uneasy
conscience, behind a dissatisfied heart, behind the fear of death, behind all
the sorrows and evils of life, that which is their rimary cause--the malady of
sin.
3. This disease is
incurable--that is, apart from the healing described in the text. ¡§The end of
these things is death¡¨--spiritual death; insensibility to God, and absence of
the life of fellowship with Him which is life indeed--physical death, in so far
as that natural process is more than mere bodilydissolution, and is a fearful
and hopeless leap into the dark; for ¡§the sting of death is sin¡¨--and eternal
death. Men are great at quack remedies, and the world is equally flooded with
nostrums for the disease of sin. And what is the result of these loudly-hawked
specifics? They are as useless as the charms which our grandmothers used to
scare away diseases. The Physician is He who gave His back to the smiters; the
balm is the blood which flowed from ¡§His stripes.¡¨
II. OUR MEANS OF HEALING.
¡§With His stripes.¡¨ ¡§Stripes¡¨ does not mean the lashes that fell on His back,
but the weals which they left. We remember how He ¡§suffered under Pontius
Pilate¡¨ before He ¡§was crucified, dead and buried.¡¨ His back was bared, His hands
were tied to a low post, and a coarse, muscular giant flourished a whip above
Him. It was a diabolical instrument, that Roman whip--made of leather with many
thongs, and in the end of each of them a piece of iron, or bone, or stone.
Every stroke fetched blood and ripped open the quivering flesh. The Jewish law
forbade more than forty stripes being given, but Christ was scourged by Romans,
who recognized no such merciful limit. But as we know that Pilate intended the
scourging to be a substitute for crucifixion, and hoped that its severity would
so melt the Jews to pity that they would not press for the worse
punishment--which end, however, was not reached--we may infer that He was
scourged until He could bear no more, until He could not stand, until He fell
mangled and fainting at His torturer¡¦s feet. Nearly two thousand years have
passed since that awful affliction, but its significance is eternal. But how
can the sufferings of one alleviate the sufferings of another?
1. Because the sight of them
moves us to sorrow. There are certain maladies of the mind and heart for which
there is hope if the emotions can be stirred and the patient made to laugh or
cry. There is hope for the sinner when the thought of his sin melts his heart
to sorrow and his eyes to tears. Sorrow for sin--repentance of wrong-doing--is
the first stage in recovery. And there is nothing that will cause penitence
like a sight of the Saviour¡¦s wounds.
2. The sight of them relieves
our consciences. For as we look at those livid weals we know He did not deserve
them. We know that we did merit punishment direr far. And we know that He
endured them, and more mysterious agonies of which they were the outward sign,
in our stead. Then, gradually, we draw the inference. If He suffered for us, we
are free. If our load was laid on Him, it is no longer upon us. Conscience
accepts that logic.
3. The sight of them prevents
further outbreaks. This cure is radical. It not only heals, it also
strengthens. It gradually raises the system above its tendency to sin. For the
more we gaze upon those livid stripes, the more intolerable and hateful sin,
which caused them, appears, and the more difficult it becomes for us to indulge
in it. Our medicine is also a strong tonic, which invigorates the spiritual
nature and fortifies its weaknesses. Stanley, in one of his books on African
travel, tells of the crime of Uledi, his native coxswain, and what came of it.
Ulodi was deservedly popular for his ability and courage, but having robbed his
master, a jury of his fellows condemned him to receive ¡§a terrible flogging.¡¨
Then uprose his brother, Shumari, who said, ¡§Uledi has done very wrong; but no
one can accuse me of wrong-doing. Now, mates, let me take half the whipping. I
will cheerfully endure it for the sake of my brother.¡¨ Scarcely had he finished
when another arose, and said, ¡§Uledi has been the father of the boat boys. He
has many times risked his life to save others; and he is my cousin; and yet he
ought to be punished. Shumari says he will take half the punishment; and now
let me take the other half, and let Uledi go free.¡¨ Surely the heart of the
guilty man must have been touched, and the willing submission by others to the
punishment he had merited must have restrained him from further outbreaks as
the strict infliction of the original penalty never could. By those stripes he
would be healed. Even so, the stripes of our Lord deliver us from the very
tendency to sin. For the disease to be healed the medicine must be taken. Our
very words ¡§recipe¡¨ and ¡§receipt¡¨ remind, us of this. They are related, and
signify ¡§to take.¡¨ The selfsame word describes the means of cure, and commands
that it be used. Look upon His wounds! And let those of us who have looked for
our cure, still look for our strengthening. We should not have so many touches
of the old complaint if we thought oftener of the stripes by which we are
healed. Look all through life, and you will grow stronger and holier. (B.
J. Gibbon.)
The universal remedy
Not merely His bleeding wounds, but even those blue bruises of His
flesh help to heal us. There are none quite free from spiritual diseases. One
may be saying, ¡§Mine is a weak faith;¡¨ another may confess, ¡§Mine is distracted
thoughts;¡¨ another may exclaim, ¡§Mine is coldness of love;¡¨ and a fourth may
have to lament his powerlessness in prayer. One remedy in natural things will
not suffice for all diseases; but there is a catholicon, a universal remedy,
provided in the Word of God for all spiritual sicknesses, and that is contained
in the few words--¡§With His stripes we are healed.¡¨
I. THE MEDICINE ITSELF WHICH
IS HERE PRESCRIBED--the stripes of Our Saviour. By the term ¡§stripes,¡¨ no doubt
the prophet understood here, first, literally, those stripes which fell upon
our Lord¡¦s shoulders when He was beaten of the Jews, and afterwards scourged of
the Roman soldiery. But the words intend far more than this. No doubt with his
prophetic eye Isaiah saw the stripes from that unseen scourge held in the
Father¡¦s hand which fell upon his nobler inner nature when His soul was scourged
for sin. It is by these that our souls are healed. ¡§But why?¡¨ First, then,
because our Lord, as a sufferer, was not a private person, but suffered as a
public individual and an appointed representative. Our Lord was not merely man,
or else his sufferings could not have availed for the multitude who now are
healed thereby. He was God as well as man. Our Saviour¡¦s sufferings heal us of
the curse by being presented before God as a substitute for what we owe to His
Divine law. But healing is a work that is carried on within, and the text
rather leads me to speak of the effect of the stripes of Christ upon our
characters and natures than upon the result produced in our position before
God.
II. THE MATCHLESS CURES
WROUGHT BY THIS REMARKABLE MEDICINE. Look at two pictures. Look at man without
the stricken Saviour; and then behold man with the Saviour, healed by His
stripes.
III. THE MALADIES WHICH THIS
WONDROUS MEDICINE REMOVES.
1. The mania of despair.
2. The stony heart.
3. The paralysis of doubt.
4. A stiffness of the
knee-joint of prayer.
5. Numbness of soul.
6. The fever of pride.
7. The leprosy of
selfishness.
8. Anger.
9. The fretting consumption
of worldliness.
10. The cancer of
covetousness.
IV. THE CURATIVE PROPERTIES OF
THE MEDICINE.
1. It arrests spiritual
disorder.
2. It quickens all the powers
of the spiritual man to resist the disease.
3. It restores to the man
that which he lost in strength by sin.
4. It soothes the agony of
conviction.
5. It has an eradicating
power as to sin.
V. THE MODES OF THE WORKING
OF THIS MEDICINE. The sinner hearing of the death of the incarnate God is led
by the force of truth and the power of the Holy Spirit to believe in the
incarnate God. The cure is already begun. After faith come gratitude, love,
obedience.
VI. ITS REMARKABLY EASY
APPLICATION.
VII. Since the medicine is so
efficacious, since it is already prepared and freely presented, I do beseech
you TAKE IT. Take it, you who have known its power in years gone by. Let not
backslidings continue, but come to His stripes afresh. Take it, ye doubters,
lest ye sink into despair; come to His stripes anew. Take it, ye who are
beginning to be self-confident and proud. And, O ye who have never believed in
Him, come and trust in Him, and you shall live. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
A simple remedy
I. THESE ARE SAD WORDS. They
are part of a mournful piece of music, which might be called ¡§the requiem of
the Messiah.¡¨
1. These are sad words
because they imply disease.
2. There is a second sorrow
in the verse, and that is sorrow for the suffering by which we are healed.
There was a cruel process in the English navy, in which-men were made to run
the gauntlet all along the ship, with sailors on each side, each man being
bound to give a stroke to the poor victim as he ran along. Our Saviour¡¦s life
was a running of the gauntlet between His enemies and His friends, who all
struck Him, one here and another there. Satan, too, struck at him.
II. THESE ARE GLAD WORDS.
1. Because they speak of
healing.
2. There is another joy in
the text--joy in the honour which it brings to Christ.
III. THESE ARE SUGGESTIVE
WORDS. Whenever a man is healed through the stripes of Jesus, the instincts of
his nature should make him say, ¡§I will spend the strength I have, as a healed
man, for Him who healed me.¡¨ (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Christopathy
I. GOD HERE TREATS SIN AS A
DISEASE. Sin is a disease--
1. Because it is not an
essential part of man as he was created. It is something abnormal.
2. Because it puts all the
faculties out of gear.
3. Because it weakens the
moral energy, just as many diseases weaken the sick person¡¦s body.
4. Because it either causes
great pain, or deadens all sensibility, as the case may be.
5. Because it frequently
produces a manifest pollution.
6. Because it tends to increase
in the man, and will one day prove fatal to him.
II. GOD HERE DECLARES THE
REMEDY WHICH HE HAS PROVIDED.
1. Behold the heavenly
medicine.
2. Remember that the
sufferings of Christ were vicarious.
2. Accept this atonement and
you are saved by it.
4. Let nothing of your own
interfere with the Divine remedy. Prayer does not heal, but it asks for the
remedy. It is not trust that heals; that is man s application of the remedy.
Repentance is not what cures, it is a part of the cure, one of the first tokens
that the blessed medicine has begun to work in the soul. The healing of a
sinner does not lie in himself, nor in what he is, nor in what he feels, nor in
what he does, nor in what he vows, nor in what he promises. It is in His
stripes that the healing lies.
III. THE REMEDY IS IMMEDIATELY
EFFECTIVE. How are we healed?
1. Our conscience is healed
of every smart.
2. Our heart is healed of its
love of sin.
3. Our life is healed of its
rebellion.
4. Our consciousness assures
us that we are healed. If you are healed by His stripes you should go and live
like healthy men. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Healed by Christ¡¦s stripes
Mr. Mackay, of Hull, told of a person who was under very deep
concern of soul. Taking the Bible into his hand, he said to himself, ¡§Eternal
life is to be found somewhere in this Word of God; and, if it be here, I will
find it, for I will read the Book right through, praying to God over every page
of it, if perchance it may contain some saving message for me.¡¨ The earnest
seeker read on through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and so on; and though Christ
is there very evidently, he could not find Him in the types and symbols.
Neither did the holy histories yield him comfort, nor the Book of Job. He
passed through the Psalms, but did not find his Saviour there; and the same was
the case with the other books till he reached Isaiah. In this prophet he read
on till near the end, and then in the fifty-third chapter, these words arrested
his delighted attention, ¡§With His stripes we are healed.¡¨ Now I have found it,
says he. Here is the healing that I need for my sin-sick soul, and I see how it
comes to me through the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be His
name, I am healed!¡¨ (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Self-sufficiency prevents healing
I saw a pedlar one day, as I was walking out; he was selling
walkingsticks. He followed me, and offered me one of the sticks. I showed him
mine--a far better one than any he had to sell--and he withdrew at once. He
could see that I was not likely to be a purchaser. I have often thought of that
when I have been preaching: I show men the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, but
they show me their own, and all hope of dealing with them is gone. Unless I can
prove that their righteousness is worthless, they will not seek the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Oh, that the Lord would show you your disease, and
then you would desire the remedy! (C.H. Spurgeon.)
Sin deadens sensibility
It frequently happens that, the more sinful a man is, the less he
is conscious of it. It was remarked of a certain notorious criminal that many
thought him innocent because, when he was charged with murder, he did not
betray the least emotion. In that wretched self-possession there was to my mind
presumptive proof of his great familiarity with trims; if an innocent person is
charged with a great offence, the mere charge horrifies him. (C.H.
Spurgeon.)
Verse 6
All we like
sheep have gone astray
Astray from the fold
I.
The
first part of my text is AN INDICTMENT. ¡§All we like sheep have gone astray.¡¨
Says some one, ¡§Can¡¦t you drop the first word?¡¨ And some one rises and looks
off and says, ¡§There is a man who is a blasphemer, he is astray. Yonder is a
man who is impure, he is astray. Yonder is a man who is fraudulent, he is
astray.¡¨ Look at home, for the first word of the text takes you and me as well
as the rest.
1. I have studied the habits of sheep, and I know they lose their way
sometimes by trying to get other pasture. There are many of you who have been
looking for better pasture. You have wandered on and on. You tried business
successes, you tried worldly associations, you tried the club-house. You said
that the Church was a short commons, and you wanted to find the rank grass on
the bank of distant streams, and to lie down under great oaks on the other side
of the hills. Have you found the anticipated pasture that was to be so
superior?
2. I have noticed also that the sheep get astray by being frightened
with dogs. Oh, man, that is the way you got astray. You said, ¡§Where is God,
that He allows an honest man to go down, and thieves to prosper?¡¨ You were
dogged by creditors; and some of you went into misanthropy, and some of you
took to strong drink, and some of you fled from all Christian associations; and
in that way the sheep got astray.
II. But the last part of my text OPENS A DOOR WIDE ENOUGH TO LET US
ALL OUT, and wide enough to let all heaven in. ¡§The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.¡¨ Says some one, ¡§That is not generous. Let every one bear
his own burden.¡¨ And there is something in that. If I owe a debt, and I have
money to pay it, and I come to you and ask you, to cancel my obligations, you
will be right in saying to me, ¡§Pay your own debts.¡¨ If I am walking along the
street with you, and we are both hale and hearty, and I want you to carry me,
you are right in saying, ¡§Walk on your own feet.¡¨ But suppose you and I were in
a regiment together, and I was fearfully wounded in the battle, and I fell unconscious
at your feet with gunshot fractures and dislocations, five bullets having
struck me at once--you would say to your comrades, ¡§Here, this man is helpless.
Let us carry him to the ambulance; let us take him out to the hospital. Would
It have been mean to let you carry me then. You certainly would not have been
so unkind as not to carry me. Now, that is Christ to the soul If we could pay
our spiritual obligations we might go up to God and say, ¡§Lord, there is so
much debt, and here I have the menus with which to cancel it. Now cross it all
out.¡¨ But the fact is we are pierced through and through with the sabres of
sin. We have gone down under the hot fire, and we are helpless and undone. We
will die on the field unless some help comes to us. God sends His ambulance,
yea, He dispatches His only Son to carry us out, and bind up our gashes, and
take us home. Is there any man who is under the delusion that he can carry his
own sins? You cannot. You might as well try to transport a boulder of the sea,
or carry on one shoulder the Alleghanies, and on the other shoulder Mount
Washington. Then let us shift the burden. (T. de W. Talmage, D.D.)
Salvation for the straying
sheep
I. LOOK AT THE SHEEP THAT HAVE GONE ASTRAY. The text implies they
were once in the fold. You cannot go astray except you have been in the right
place first.
II. EACH SHEEP WALKS ITS OWN PATH. There is almost an infinite variety
in sinning. Some go along a path of licentiousness; others the money-making
road; others the gamester¡¦s path; others take the Christless morality road.
III. WHAT IS GOD¡¦S WAY OF SALVATION? ¡§The Lord laid on Him,¡¨ etc. Who
is that ¡§Him¡¨? The One described in the previous verses. Let Christ be the
object of your trust, and you shall be saved. (A. G. Brown.)
Our misery and its remedy
I. OUR MISERY BY SIN.
1. Our sin is charged upon us collectively in common: we have all
gone astray.
2. Distributively. ¡§Every one to his own way.¡¨ We all agree in
turning aside from the right way of pleasing and enjoying of God; and we disagree,
as each one hath a by-path of his own, some running after this lust, some after
that, and so are not only divided from God, but divided from one another, while
every one maketh his will his law.
II. OUR REMEDY BY CHRIST. ¡§The Lord hath laid,¡¨ etc. (T.
Manton, D.D.)
Departing from God
This departing from God
and His ways is fitly represented by the straying of sheep. In the general it
implieth--
1. That we are brutish in our sin and defection from God: it could
not be expressed but by a comparison fetched from the beasts.
2. Proneness to err. No creature is more prone to wander and lose his
way than a sheep without a shepherd.
3. Our inability to return, or to bring ourselves into the right way
again.
4. Our readiness to follow evil example. Sheep run one after another,
and one straggler draweth away the whole flock. Austin saith, ¡§I could wander
by myself, and could not return by myself.¡¨ And God saith as much Hosea 13:9).
5. The danger of straying sheep, which when out of the pasture are
often in harm¡¦s way, and exposed to a thousand dangers (Jeremiah 50:6-7). (T. Manton, D.D.)
We have turned every one to his own way
Every man to his own way
Though there be one path
to heaven, yet there are several ways of sinning and going to hell. The reasons
how this cometh to pass are--
1. Because of the activeness of man¡¦s spirit. It is always a-devising
wickedness.
2. It happeneth through diversity of constitution.
3. It happeneth from their business and occasions in the world. Many
men are engaged to ways of sin because they suit best with their employments,
the sin of their calling, as vainglory in a minister.
4. Custom and education.
5. Company example. (T. Manton, D.D.)
His own way
This is the sin of men in
their natural condition, that they turn to their own way. The phrase implieth
these two things--
1. A defect or want of Divine guidance.
2. A rejection of the ways of God when made known to us. (T. Manton,
D.D.)
Caiaphas: Cephas: Jesus
The forms of human
sinfulness are as numerous and varied as are men¡¦s natural inclinations: but
near the cross may be found a representative of every one of these. Three figures
will demand our attention--Caiaphas, the high priest, with his surroundings;
and then, amidst the obscurity of the twilight scene, and the crowd of
spectators, we must single out the figure of Simon, then at the moment of his
deepest shame. And then, turning our eyes away from these subordinates, we must
fix them lastly on Jesus of Nazareth Himself.
I. CAIAPHAS is the president of the High Ecclesiastical Court then
assembled, and no judge ever could produce higher credentials than he. The
Gospels all acknowledge him, without the slightest apparent doubt, as the
legitimate successor of Aaron. He is descendant of a priestly dynasty some
1,500 years old, whose origin was confessedly Divine. Besides, the highest
power of all had owned his legitimate position, by giving to him the spirit of
unconscious prophecy. Now the priesthood of Aaron, which he bore, had never
been a bloodthirsty one. There are, I think, only two examples of that
priesthood shedding blood. One of these was the stroke of the spear of Phinehas--an
act of wild justice, suited to the times, which received praise and blessing
from above; and the other, the just punishment by Jehoiada of Athaliah, who had
murdered all the royal family but one. Whatever other faults they may have had,
the priests, the sons of Aaron, had never erred before on the side of
intolerance and cruelty. And Caiaphas himself was no fanatic. Like all the
family to which he belonged, he was a Sadducee. He had the views of a
politician rather than of an ecclesiatic; and, having coolly judged, several
weeks before, that the proceedings of Jesus of Nazareth were politically
dangerous, he had determined that it would be well to put Him out of the way.
But, in the council that surrounded him, there were many, and perhaps a majority,
of strong religious belief and feelings. So, for their sakes, he affected a
horror which he could hardly have felt himself. The high priest asked Him, ¡§Art
Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?¡¨And Jesus said, ¡§I am; and ye shall
see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds
of heaven.¡¨ Then the high priest rent his clothes--the original word in St.
Mark seems to imply that one of these was the seamless tunic of the high
priest--in sign of a horror, which can hardly have been otherwise than
hypocritical in a cool man of the world like him, and said, ¡§What need we any
further witnesses. Ye have heard the blasphemy. What think ye?¡¨ And then the
question being thus put, they all--the whole council, all the scribes, all the
elders, all the chief priests, the whole representative body of the universal
Church of God--condemned Him to be guilty of death. What a lesson for us arises
out of this fact, that our Lord¡¦s death was wholly a sin of the religious world
under the guidance of their Divinely-appointed leaders. And in that religious
world we may distinguish all the chief tendencies both of that time and of all
times--the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the liberal and the orthodox, the men
with the minimum of belief in the supernatural, and those with the maximum of
that belief, the traditionists and the anti-traditionists--in fact, the High
Church, and the Broad Church, and the Low. The lesson is for our times. In
those days authority and tradition utterly failed those who relied upon them,
while the light within the heart lighted those who possessed it to the cross
and to the glory of the Lord of Truth.
II. Let us turn our eyes away now from Caiaphas and the splendid array
around him to the lower end of the courtyard near the door, where the lower
classes are collected. All these are within sight of the proceedings at the
upper end of the hall, which no doubt is well lighted. Perhaps they are also
near enough to hear. Amongst them is one whose speech betrays him to be a Galilean.
We know his name (though those around him do not) to be SIMON, SON OF JONAS,
who has also the surname Cephas. He is thrice recognized as a follower of the
accused, and thrice denies the charge. Then the cock crows at early morning,
and the Master turns on him with a glance which he feels to single him out,
even in the darkness and the crowd; and he goes out at the door, weeping
bitterly. This strange character, so made up of contradictions as to have been
pronounced by that Being who knew him best, at one moment a ¡§rock,¡¨ and at the
next a Satan, full of boldness and full of cowardice, the first to confess and
the first to deny; this picture of the weakness of all human strength, of the
frailty of all earthly goodness, is now at the very depths of his weakness and
shame. He stands there a sinner who has just committed a sin--a very mean and
cowardly sin. Yet there is an eye upon him, searching for him, busied with him.
We who have betrayed Him and denied Him, the Lord hath turned and looked on. He
is seeking, let Him find.
III. We see JESUS in the midst of all this crowd of representative
sinners, amongst whom a little honest search will soon enable each of us to
detect himself. Betrayed by covetous Judas, forsaken by unwatchful,
unprayerful, and therefore easily tempted disciples, denied by self-confident,
self-willed Simon, condemned by worldly-minded, unscrupulous Caiaphas,
condemned again by timid time-serving Pilate, persecuted to the death by
sanctimonious, theologically-hating Scribes and Pharisees, shouted at by a
rude, ignorant multitude, tortured in cruel sport by barbarous soldiers--what
species of human sin is absent there? Let us consider the exceeding beauty of
the figure presented to us, and also how that figure is produced. Compare for one
moment any character in a work of fiction. These, too, are beautiful, but how
is their beauty produced? By word-painting of the most exquisite kind. But in
the narratives of the Gospels there is no word-painting at all, except perhaps
a little in St. John. It is not the narratives that are sublime, but the Being
who becomes known to us through their simple inartificial language. And now the
end of this should be, that every one of us should bring the matter as closely
as possible home. It was all done for me; it was I that created the necessity.
Let Him, in each of us, see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. (W.E.Rawstorne,
M.A.)
The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all
Sin laid on Jesus
1. The verse opens with a confession of sin common to all the persons
intended in the verse.
2. The confession is also special and particular.
3. This confession is very unreserved. There is not a single syllable
by way of excuse; there is not a word to detract from the force of the
confession.
4. It is, moreover, singularly thoughtful, for thoughtless persons do
not use a metaphor so appropriate as the text: ¡§All we like sheep have gone
astray.¡¨ I hear no dolorous wailings attending this confession of sin; for the
next sentence makes it almost a song. ¡§The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all.¡¨ It is the most grievous sentence of the three; but it is the most
charming and the most full of comfort. Strange is it that where misery was
concentrated mercy reigned, and where sorrow reached her climax there it is
that a weary soul finds sweetest rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing of
bruised hearts.
I. EXPOSITION.
1. It may be well to give the marginal translation of the text,
¡§Jehovah hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.¡¨ The first thought
that demands notice is the meeting of sin. Sin I may compare to the rays of
some evil sun. Sin was scattered throughout this world as abundantly as light,
and
Christ is made to suffer
the full effect of the baleful rays which stream from the sun of sin. God as it
were holds up a burning-glass, and concentrates all the scattered rays in a
focus upon Christ. Take the text in our own version, ¡§The Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all;¡¨ put upon Him as a burden is laid upon a man¡¦s back all
the burdens of all His people; put upon His head as the high priest of old laid
upon the scapegoat all the sin of the beloved ones that he might bear them in
his own person. The two translations are perfectly consistent; all sins are
made to meet, and then having met together and been tied up in one crushing
load the whole burden is laid upon Him.
2. The second thought is that sin was made to meet upon the suffering
person of the innocent Substitute.
3. It has been asked, Was it just that sin should thus be laid upon
Christ? We believe it was rightly so.
4. Lying upon Christ brought, upon Him all the consequences connected
with it. God cannot look where there is sin with any pleasure, and though as
far as Jesus is personally concerned, He is the Father¡¦s beloved Son in whom He
is well pleased; yet when He saw sin laid upon His Son, He made that Son cry,
¡§My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?¡¦
5. Think of the result of all this. Sin meets on Christ and Christ is
punished with sin, and what then? Sin is put away.
6. The ¡§us¡¨ here intended.
II. APPLICATION. There is a countless company whose sins the Lord
Jesus bore; did He bear yours? Do you wish to have an answer? Let me read this
verse to you and see if you can join in it. If there be in you a penitential
confession which leads you to acknowledge that you have erred and strayed like
a lost sheep; if there be in you a personal sense of sin which makes you feel
that you have turned to your own way, and if now you can trust in Jesus, then a
second question is not wanted; the Lord hath laid on Him your iniquity.
III. CONTEMPLATION. I will give you four things to think of.
1. The astounding mass of sin that must have been laid on Christ.
2. The amazing love of Jesus which brought Him to do all this.
3. The matchless security which this plan of salvation offers.
4. What, then, are she claims of Jesus Christ upon you and me? (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
Going astray as sheep
1. The sheep is a creature exceedingly quick-witted upon the one
matter of going astray.
2. The sheep goes astray, it is said, all the more frequently when it
is most dangerous for it to do so; propensities to stray seem to be developed
in the very proportion in which they ought to be subdued. Whereas in our own
land a sheep? might wander with some safety, it wanders less than it will do in
the Oriental plains, where for it to go astray is to run risks from leopards
and wolves.
3. The sheep goes astray ungratefully. It owes everything to the
shepherd, and yet forsakes the hand that feeds it and heals its diseases.
4. The sheep goes astray repeatedly. If restored to-day it may not
stray to-day if it cannot, but it will to-morrow if it can.
5. The sheep wanders further and further, from bad to worse. It is
not content with the distance it has reached, it will go yet greater lengths;
there is To limit to its wandering except its weakness. See ye not your own
selves as in a mirror! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sin meeting on Jesus
I. THE MEETING-PLACE OF SIN IS THE CROSS OF CHRIST. In the margin
these words are rendered, ¡§The Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us
all.¡¨ The Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Persian, and Egyptian tongues were spoken about
that cross. The inscription was in different languages that all might read.
This is the representation of the world now looking upon the Crucified. His
embrace encircled the race of man.
1. The cross was the focus of sins.
2. The burdens of sin here meet.
3. Here the responsibilities of the sinner are assumed by one
competent to discharge them.
4. The sufferings of the sinner are gathered in the agonies of the
cross.
II. THE MEETING-PLACE OF SIN IS THE MERCY-SEAT OF SINNERS. Conclusion:
1. The imperative claim Christ has upon the soul.
2. If you will not consent that your iniquities shall meet on Christ,
bear them you must yourself. (S. H. Tyng, D.D.)
The nature and power of
the atonement
1. It has been suggested that there was injustice in the sacrifice of
One who had never sinned in the place of sinners, and that it involved the idea
that God liked suffering for its own sake. This statement is one-sided: it
forgets mercy, it shuts its eyes to the truth that the power of any sacrifice
is in its voluntary and representative character. Facts must be respected, and
what is the fact which is before us all? Pain and sorrow!
2. The vicarious sacrifice of Calvary is the work of the Three
Persons of the Trinity. Men speak as if the Son devised the plan of His own
death to save man from the Father¡¦s wrath. It was the work of the whole Three
Persons in the Godhead. If the justice of the Divine life demanded the
atonement, the mercy of the Divine love devised the means of pardon and the
sacrifice on Calvary.
3. There is yet another thought which illuminates the gloom. We know
the power of sin which, like some mysterious shape, some wild and wandering
shadow in a forest, stands or flits about the portals of the opening life of
man. Nature brings us within its reach, our own will places us in its iron
grasp, it paralyzes the spiritual power, it chills our desires for better things;
we cannot rise up as once we could when we are lying under the weight of
unforgiven sin. This sense of the awfulness of sin illuminates the power of the
atonement, for the sacrifice of the Son of God must at least be commensurate in
its awfulness with what we know of human sin.
4. If the awfulness of sin and the majesty of God bring home the
sense of what vicarious sacrifice is, and we are able in its power to raise our
hearts to God and to feel renewed life and holier aspirations, how about the
past? Florence rose and wept over the grave of Dante, but Florence could not
then undo the edict which banished the man, and Dante¡¦s ashes rest beside the
pinewoods and the Adrian Sea, and Florence is undone. And for each of you there
was a day when you told your first lie, a day when you acted your first
pretence, a day when you did your first act of dishonesty, when you first
degraded yourself with some burning vice and destroyed the innocency which God
had given you. In your better moments you look back to such a day, and you feel
as if you were standing by an open grave, as you remember the hard words, the
unkind looks, the want of sympathy, to him or her who lies beneath. The past is
gone beyond recall. How will you meet it? With scorn? Will you turn away and
drown its memories in pleasure? You cannot. You have a spirit born for
eternity. But there is one other way. Christ on the Cross bore man¡¦s sin in all
its intensity, gave Himself as a sacrifice, and purchased for the race complete
forgiveness. No sorrow is so deep but He can assuage it, no memory so black but
He can cleanse it. (W. J. Knox-Little, M.A.)
The universal burden and
its bearer
It is of prime importance
to mark that the only office which the prophet describes the Servant as filling
is the function of suffering. He is neither Teacher nor Conqueror nor Lawgiver
nor, here, King; he is only a Sufferer. That is what the Saviour of the world
has to be, first of all. The rabbis have a legend, far wiser than most of their
follies, which tells how Messias is to be found sitting amongst the lepers at
the gate of the city. The fable has in it the deep truth that He who saves the
world must suffer with, and for, the world He saves.
I. CONSIDER THE UNIVERSAL BURDEN. Of course the speakers in my text
are primarily the penitent Jewish nation, who at last have learned how much at
first they had misunderstood the Servant of the Lord. But the ¡§we¡¨ and the
¡§all¡¨ may very fairly be widened out so as to include the whole world, and
every individual of the race, and iniquity is the universal burden of us all. I
believe that almost all of the mistaken and unworthy conceptions of
Christianity which have afflicted and do afflict the world are directly
traceable to this--the failure to apprehend the radical fact affecting men¡¦s
condition that they are all sinful, and therefore separated from God. The evil
that we do, going forth from us as deed, comes back upon us as guilt. And so,
we are all staggering under this burden. The creatures that live at the bottom
of the doleful sea, fathoms deeper than plummet has ever sounded, have to bear
a pressure upon their frames all inconceivable by the men that walk upon the
surface of the earth. And the deeper a man goes in the dark ocean of wrongdoing
and wrongbeing, the heavier the weight of the compressed atmosphere above him,
crushing him in. And, yet, like those creatures that crawl on the slime, miles
down in the dreary sea, where no light has come, they know not the weight that
rests upon them, and never have dreamed of how blessed it is to walk in the
lighter air with the sun shining above them. There are some of you, grovelling
down at the bottom of the ocean, to whom the liberty and illumination, the
lightness and ligntsomeness of the pure life which is possible, would seem miraculous.
If these things be at all true, then it seems to me that the fact of universal
sinfulness, with all its necessary, natural, and inevitable consequences, must
be the all-important fact about a man. What we think about sin will settle all
our religious ideas.
II. LOOK AT THE ONE BEARER OF THE BURDEN. ¡§The Lord has made to light
upon Him the iniquity ,of us all.¡¨
III. MARK THE MEN THAT ARE FREED FROM THE BURDEN. ¡§Us all. And yet it
is possible for a man included in the ¡§all¡¨ to have to stagger along through
life under his burden, and to carry it with him when he goes hence. ¡§Be not
deceived, God is not mocked,¡¨ says the foremost preacher of the doctrine that
Christ¡¦s death takes away sin. ¡§Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. Every man shall bear his own burden.¡¨ So your sins, taken away as they
are by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, may yet cling to you and crush you. There
is only one way by which the possibilities open to all men by the death of
Jesus Christ may become the actual experience of every man, or of any man--and
that is, the simple laying your burden, by your own act of quiet trust, upon
the shoulders of Him that is mighty to save. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
God¡¦s fofgiving love in
Christ
Rev. G. Barber, assistant
to Dr. Dale of Birmingham says: I remember going to him on one occasion in
great distress; I wanted to preach on ¡§Christ died for our sins,¡¦ and I thought
that if I could only show how, through the death of Christ, it was made
possible for God to forgive sin, many whom I knew might be led to believe. He
replied: Give up troubling, my friend, about how it was possible for God to
forgive sin, and go straight and tell the people that God does forgive sin, and
tell them straight that Christ died for their sins. It is the fact the people
want most to know, and not your theory, nor mine, as to how it was or is
possible.¡¨ (Life of R. W. Dale.)
Peace in the true
knowledge of Jesus
I was sent for to see a
lady--a stranger--who was dying in Brighton. I found her to be a person of
means and education, but quite ignorant of the salient facts of the Christian
faith. To her, Jesus was simply a great moral teacher, standing in line with
other religious masters. Of Christianity, as the religion of redemption, she
had no knowledge. Her life story had been a sad one, stained deeply by both
sorrow and sin. ¡§Oh,¡¨ she sighed, ¡§that it were possible for some great, strong
friend to take my conscience as though it were his own, that I might have a
little peace!¡¨ I learned more from that sentence concerning the mystery of
redemption than up to that moment I had ever thought of. Here was a soul who
knew and stated the need of just such a salvation as we are bidden to proclaim.
She asked, without knowing that there was any answer, for the Saviour who was made
sin for us, who could take man¡¦s conscience as though it were His own and leave
in its place His peace. The sense of guilt had awakened with power in this poor
dying woman. To have told her that the Most High could forgive her sins would
have carried no comfort to her heart. The only possible relief for her was to
hear of Him on whom the Lord hath laid the iniquity of us all (R. J.
Campbell, M.A.)
Verse 7-8
He was oppressed
Christ¡¦s sufferings and His deportment under them
I.
THE NATURE OF THE SUFFERINGS. ¡§He was oppressed, and He was
afflicted.¡¨
II. THE CARRIAGE OF CHRIST
UNDER THEM. ¡§He opened not His mouth,¡¨ which is amplified and illustrated by
two similitudes, of a lamb going, to the slaughter, and a sheep before her
shearers.
1. ¡§He opened not His mouth.¡¨
This shows two things.
2. The particular
resemblance.
Christ¡¦s patience in suffering
Christ upon the Cross is as a doctor in his chair, where He
readeth unto us all a lecture of patience. (J. Trapp.)
The monarch surrenders Himself
In Isaiah 53:7-8 there are five specific
predictions:--
1. The oppression to which
Christ was subjected was of no ordinary kind. The first three Gospels indicate
to some extent the spirit of hostility which animated the people, though in the
fourth Gospel the advancing stages of that hostility are most clearly marked.
At the last we find Jesus hurried off to trial. There were two trials: first,
the Jewish, and then the Roman one. In the first, so far was the mind of the
accusers set against Christ, that neither the fairness nor even the form of
proper judicial procedure was observed. In the facts of
2. Amid this oppression there
was no defence of Himself. Once He called attention to His rights as a Hebrew;
once and again He reaffirmed His claims when challenged on oath. But ¡§when He
was reviled, He reviled not again.¡¨ Why this silence? He knew His hour was come,
and He yielded Himself to the stroke. He knew that His words would not tell
rightly on His accusers in the state of mind which they cherished. With the
far-distant future before Him, He saw that the sequel would vindicate His
honour, and He could wait. He loved, too, to show patience rather than to
display power; and He would show us the Divine grandeur of keeping power in
reserve.
3. Underlying all this there
was a Divine purpose being wrought out, of which the men of that generation had
no conception. Man meant one thing, God was intending another.
4. This great work, of which
the men of that generation never dreamt, was that the Messiah was cut off, ¡§a
stroke for them,¡¨ for the people who sought His life and crucified Him. Let us,
then,
Yet He opened not His
mouth
The silence of Christ
(with Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:14):--What can be said of
the silence of Christ? Much has been said of the words He spake, and too much
can never be said of them, for He spake as never man spake. Much has been said
of the sacrifice He made. Much has been said of His miracles, etc., but
how little of His silence, and yet how full of meaning to every thoughtful and
inquiring-mind.
I. IT WAS WONDERFUL.
Wonderful that Christ should remain silent, especially under false
accusations--false witnesses giving testimony against Him, and a wicked judge
about to deliver the charge. He who could with one word have made the world
tremble, witnesses, judge and jury fall dead before Him, testifying to His
innocence as well as His Divinity by their lifeless bodies. The silent years of
Christ--how wonderful! He who knew so well how to speak and what to say. But,
we can understand something of this--it was a time of restraint, of growth, of
preparation. But the preparation is over and Christ Jesus has asserted Himself.
He has declared Himself by His life and by miracles to be the Son of God. He is
falsely and basely accused, declared an impostor, sentenced and condemned to
die, scourged mocked spit upon, arrayed in a gorgeous robe and finally
crucified, but silent amid it all. Do you ask why? The wonder is only
increased. It was for our sake.
II. HIS SILENCE WAS FULL OF
SUFFERING, suffering that was vicarious and expiatory. We are not to attribute
the justification of sinners to the death of Christ alone. It was the sinless
purity of perfect obedience of His whole life.
III. IT WAS OMINOUS that is
full of foreboding, portentous, inauspicious, foreshowing ills. It told of the
utter degradation of the men before whom He stood. He had already said and done
everything that was necessary to establish His claims to the Messiahship. His
silence said, what more can I do unto My vineyard than I have already done unto
it, and having done all He could do, He answered now to never a word. It is an
appalling sign when Christ ceases to plead with any of us. It shows that we
have seared our hearts--that we are bent on ruin.
IV. CHRIST¡¦S SILENCE WAS
INSPIRED, and therefore full of instruction as well as the words He spake. I
refer now to the general silence of Christ. If His words were inspired must not
His silence have been also? It is absolutely inconceivable that He who is
Himself the Truth could have connived at heresy in any of the great doctrines
He taught, or desired that should be taught even through silence.
1. Take the great doctrine of
our Lord¡¦s Deity, and was it not the very question under dispute and for which
He had been accused ¡§of making Himself equal with God¡¨? Now this fundamental
doctrine is established by a vast and varied mass of evidence, but no stronger
proof of it is anywhere to be found, as it seems to me, than that to be drawn
from the silence of
Christ. We know how Peter checked the homage of Cornelius, and how
the angel shrank in alarm from the worship which John offered him. But Christ
never acted so; He held His peace; He spake not a word. He never so much as
hinted that this devotion should not be paid Him, and when His enemies accused
Him of making Himself equal with God, He did not repel the charge with horror.
Meek and lowly as He was He accepted all the worship that men offered Him; He
welcomed it, and by His silent approval seemed to claim it.
2. Apply it to the
authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures, and what an argument we find! He
held His peace in regard to all these criticisms that are being made. He
condemned the unscriptural traditions of the Jews, but He at no time questioned
the purity or integrity of the Old Testament Canon.
3. Apply His silence to the
perpetuity of the Sabbath law and with what force it speaks. There are those
amongst us who maintain that the Sabbath was only an institution for the Jews,
and that its observance is not binding now under the Christian dispensation,
but Christ nowhere says so. He often spoke in reference to Sabbath observance.
He found the Sabbath a standing ordinance of God, and He left it such, only
freshened by the dew of His blessing.
V. CHRIST¡¦S SILENCE WAS
BEAUTIFUL, especially during His dread trial. It is difficult to speak aright
amid enemies and detractors, but it is even more difficult to be silent right
before them. The lip is ever ready to curl unbidden, the light of malice
hurries to the eye, in a moment the crimson of anger mounts to the cheek before
we are aware, but not so with Christ.
VI. CHRIST¡¦S SILENCE IS
EXEMPLARY TO US ALL. Self-imposed silence often becomes a duty. There are
calumnies good men cannot refute. There are accusations which they must leave
unanswered.
1. Because of the perils of
speech. In self-justification we are liable to self-glorification, to
irritability, to extravagance.
2. Because of the blessings
of the discipline of silence. If we spend our time in self-vindication, then
farewell labour for Christ, for we will have no time for anything else. (J.
I. Blackburn.)
Silent suffering
Is it not always true with those that are called to suffer that
they suffer most at times when one hears no sound from their lips? It is
considered a relief to cry out in the midst of pain. So long as one can plead
his case the excitement of pleading enables him to forget the painfulness of
his position. When the tongue is silent then it is that the brain is busy. What
must have been the thoughts of Christ when He held His peace? Must they not
have been of the most painful nature? The silence of Christ was full of the
most awful suffering and that suffering was expiatory and vicarious. Because He
was wounded, we are healed; and because He kept silent before this earthly
tribunal, we shall hereafter speak. (J. I. Blackburn.)
Christ¡¦s speechlessness
Why this speechlessness? In part it was due to the Saviour¡¦s clear
apprehension of the futility of arguing with those who were bent on crucifying
Him. It was also due to the quiet rest of His soul on God, as He committed
Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, and anticipated the hour when the
Father would arise to give Him a complete vindication. But it was due also to His
consciousness of carrying in His breast a golden secret, another explanation of
His sufferings than men were aware of, a Divine solution of the mystery of
human guilt. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
He is brought as a lamb to
the slaughter
The sufferings of Christ
St. Peter makes it almost a description of a Christian, that he
loves Him whom he has not seen. Unless we have a true love of Christ, we are
not His true disciples; and we cannot love Him unless we have heartfelt
gratitude to Him; and we cannot duly feel gratitude, unless we feel keenly what
He suffered for us. No one who will but solemnly think over the history of
those sufferings, as drawn out for us in the Gospels, but will gradually gain,
through God¡¦s grace, a sense of them.
1. As to these sufferings,
our Lord is called a lamb in the text; He was as defenceless, and as innocent
as a lamb is. Since then Scripture compares Him to this inoffensive and
unprotected animal, we may, without presumption or irreverence, take the image
as a means of conveying to our minds those feelings which our Lord s sufferings
should excite within us. Consider how very horrible it is to read the accounts
which sometimes meet us of cruelties exercised on brute animals. What is it
moves our very hearts, and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes?
First, that they have done no harm; next, that they have no power whatever of
resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which
makes their sufferings so especially touching. He who is higher than the
angels, deigned to humble Himself even to the state of the brute creation.
2. Take another example, and
you will see the same thing still more strikingly. How overpowered should we
be, nay not at the sight only, but at the very hearing of cruelties shown to a
little child, and why so? for the same two reasons, because it was so innocent,
and because it was so unable to defend itself. You feel the horror of this, and
yet you can bear to read of Christ¡¦s sufferings without horror. Our Lord was
not only guiltless and defenceless, but He had come among His persecutors in
love.
3. And now, let us suppose
that some venerable person whom we have known as long as we could recollect any
thing, and loved and reverenced, suppose such a one, who had often done us
kindnesses, rudely seized by fierce men, made a laughing-stock, struck, spit
on, severely scourged and at last exposed with all his wounds to the gaze of a
rude multitude who came and jeered him, what would be our feelings? But what is
all this to the suffering of the holy Jesus, which we bear to read of as a
matter of course! A spirit of grief and lamentation is expressly mentioned in
Scripture as a characteristic of those who turn to Christ. If then we do not
sorrow, have we turned to Him (J. H. Newman, B. D.)
Christ the victim and the example
1. There is only One in whom
are fulfilled all the prophecies of this wonderful Lesson (Acts 8:34-35).
2. It may be noticed how
animals are chosen in Holy Scripture as symbols of Divine Persons and
mysteries; and Christian art has perpetuated the association. The dove has been
the symbol of the Holy Ghost from earliest times. The man, the calf, the lion,
and the eagle represent the four Evangelists, and are types of the Incarnation,
Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ. Christ is represented by a
lamb, for this was the symbol of our Lord both in the Old Testament and the
New. Indeed, it was such a popular symbol in the early ages of the Church, that
authority was invoked to check it as a substitute for His human body.
3. Throughout Holy Scripture,
by hints and prophecies, by types and fulfilment, Christ is depicted by the
lamb (Genesis 22:8; the Paschal lamb; the,
daily sacrifice in the temple; St. John s exclamation, ¡§Behold the Lamb of
God!¡¨ John 19:36; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:12; Revelation 6:1; Revelation 7:14, etc.). The symbol
has two aspects--that of the victim, and that of the example. Let us look at it
in both lights.
I. THE VICTIM.
1. The text expresses the
willingness of the Sufferer. ¡§He was ill-treated whilst He bowed Himself, ¡§ i.e.
¡§suffered voluntarily,¡¨ as the simile of the unresisting animal explains. It is
a prophecy of the self-oblation of Christ John 10:15; John 10:18). The oblation was the
result of love. He was led to the slaughter with the full knowledge of all that
was before Him. The voluntariness of Christ¡¦s sufferings is a ground of merit
and a secret of attractiveness. Sacrifice must ¡§be the blood of the soul,¡¨ the
offered will, to have value before God; and it must be spontaneous, to touch
and win the hearts of men.
2. ¡§He is brought as a lamb
to the slaughter¡¨ reminds us of the greatness of Christ¡¦s sufferings. He was
¡§obedient unto death,¡¨ a sacrificial death--different from a mere martyr s
death, as the words just before the text show. The Lord had laid on Him the
punishment of Israel¡¦s guilt--nay, ¡§the iniquity of us all.¡¨ There can be no
getting rid of ¡§the poena vicaria here¡¨ (Delitzsch)
. This is a great mystery. But it is not one man suffering for another, for ¡§no
man can deliver his brother;¡¨ but God Himself in man¡¦s nature suffering. Those
who think such a mode of redemption unjust, it will be found, have not grasped
the dogma of the Incarnation, or the oneness of will in the Divine Persons of
the Blessed Trinity. It was an act of love. Death is the test of love, and the
worst kind of death, that of the cross, the most convincing test. ¡§He was
brought as a lamb to the slaughter¡¨ is a sentence which at once would bring up
before the mind of the Jew the sacrificial worship in which he had often taken
part. In the language of St. Paul, Christ ¡§became sin for us¡¨--a Sin
Offering--¡§who knew no sin.¡¨ In the language of St. Peter, we were redeemed
¡§with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.¡¨
II. THE EXAMPLE.
1. One of the purposes for
which Christ came was to be an Example. The truth is sometimes obscured by
dwelling too exclusively upon the mystery of redemption; as, on the other hand,
there have not been wanting those who have been too much absorbed in that view
of our Lord as the True Light which meets the cravings of the human intellect.
To keep the proportion of faith is not always easy, especially as personal
needs and experiences are apt to exaggerate some one aspect of a mystery.
2. Christ¡¦s life throughout
has this twofold view--sacrificial and exemplary. We might have expected that
the latter view would be associated chiefly with His public ministry, and the
former with His Passion. But it is not so. Both culminate on the cross. ¡§Christ
suffered for us, leaving us an example¡¨ (1 Peter 2:21); and, as the context
shows, the final sufferings are before the apostle¡¦s gaze. A suffering world
needs a suffering Example. The Passion brought out to view the virtues which
man is ever requiring to exercise, and in a manner which exercises a spell upon
all who look upon ¡§that sight.¡¨ Even those who are blind to the atoning
efficacy of the mystery are touched by its moral loveliness.
3. ¡§Brought as a lamb to the
slaughter;¡¨ ¡§dumb before her shearers.¡¨ This is a difficult virtue which the
words unveil--patience, or meekness. What we read in the prophecy we see in the
Passion (Matthew 27:12; Matthew 27:14; John 19:9) and upon the cross. ¡§All
three hours His silence cried.¡¨ ¡§When He was reviled, He reviled not again.¡¨
The lamb, innocent and silent, aptly represents the Lamb of God, meek and
patient in the midst of His slaughterers.
III. LESSONS.
1. Let us seek through the
sufferings of Christ to realize the enormity and malice of sin. Pardon without
any revelation of Divine justice and holiness might have demoralized mankind.
We know not ¡§how that satisfaction operated towards God,¡¨ and the Church has
not attempted to define this. That Christ died ¡§for us men and for our
salvation¡¨ is all that we are required to believe and that is the kernel of the
doctrine.
2. Seek to imitate the
patience of Jesus--to be silent when ¡§reviled,¡¨ and to still within the movements
of anger and pride.
3. To be able to do this we
must meditate upon Christ¡¦s sufferings, and see in all things, as they reach
us, the will of God, though our sufferings may arise from the faults and sins
of others. We must ¡§commit our cause to Him that judgeth righteously,¡¨
accepting calmly all that we may have to bear.
4. We must pray for the help
of the Holy Ghost, without which we cannot grow in patience and meekness, which
are ¡§fruits¡¨ of the Spirit. (The Thinker.)
And as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb
The sheep before the shearers
I. OUR SAVIOUR¡¦S PATIENCE.
Our Lord was brought to the shearers that He might be shorn of His comfort, and
of His honour, shorn even of His good name, and shorn at last of life itself;
but when under the shearers He was as silent as a sheep. How patient He was
before Pilate, and Herod, and Caiaphas, and on the cross.
1. Our lord was dumb and
opened not His mouth against His adversaries, and did not accuse one of them of
cruelty or injustice.
2. As He did not utter a word
against His adversaries, so He did not say a word against any one of us.
Zipporah said to Moses, ¡§Surely a bloody husband art thou to me,¡¨ as she saw
her child bleeding; and surely Jesus might have said to His Church, ¡§Thou art a
costly spouse to Me, to bring Me all this shame and bloodshedding.¡¨ But He
giveth liberally, He openeth the very fountain of His heart, and upbraideth
not.
3. There was not a word
against His Father, nor a syllable of repining at the severity of the
chastisement laid upon Him for our sakes. You and I have murmured when under a
comparatively light grief, thinking ourselves hardly done by. But not so the
Saviour. Many are the Lamentations of Jeremiah, but few are the lamentations of
Jesus. Jesus wept, and Jesus sweat great drops of blood, but He never murmured
nor felt rebellion in, His heart. I see in this our Lord¡¦s complete submission.
There was complete self-conquest too. There was complete absorption in His
work.
II. VIEW OUR OWN CASE UNDER
THE SAME METAPHOR AS THAT WHICH IS USED IN REFERENCE TO OUR LORD. As He is so
are we also in this world. Just as a sheep is taken by the shearer, and its
wool is cut off, so doth the Lord take His people and shear them, taking away
all their earthly comforts, and leaving them bare.
1. A sheep rewards its owner
for all his care and trouble by being shorn. Some of God s people can give to
Christ a tribute of gratitude by active service, and they should do so gladly
every day of their lives; but many others cannot do much in active service, and
about the only reward they can give to their Lord is to render up their fleece
by suffering when He calls upon them to suffer, submissively yielding to be
shorn of their personal comfort when the time comes for patient endurance. The
husband, or perhaps the wife, is removed, little children are taken away,
property is shorn off, and health is gone. Sometimes the shears cut off the
man¡¦s good name; slander follows; comforts vanish. Well, it may be that you are
not able to glorify God to any very large extent except by undergoing this
process.
2. The sheep is itself
benefited by the operation of shearing. Before they begin to shear the sheep
the wool is long and old, and every bush and briar tears off a bit of the wool,
until the sheep looks ragged and forlorn. If the wool were left, when the heat
of summer came the sheep would not be able to bear itself. So when the Lord
shears us, we do not like the operation any more than the sheep do; but first,
it is for His glory; and secondly, it is for our benefit, and therefore we are
bound most willingly to submit. There are many things which we should like to
have kept which, if we had kept them, would not have proved blessings but
curses. A stale blessing is a curse.
3. Before sheep are shorn
they are always washed. If the Good Shepherd is going to clip your wool, ask
Him to wash it before He takes it off; ask to be cleansed in spirit, soul and
body.
4. After the washing, when
the sheep has been dried, it actually loses what was its comfort. You also will
have to part with your comforts. The next time you receive a fresh blessing
call it a loan. A loan, they say, should go laughing home, and so should we
rejoice when the Lord takes back that which He had lent us.
5. The shearers take care not
to hurt the sheep: they clip as close as they can, but they do not cut the
skin. When they do make a gash, it is because the sheep does not lie still: but
a careful shearer has bloodless shears. The Lord may clip wonderfully close: I
have known Him clip some so close that they did not seem to have a bit of wool
left, for they were stripped entirely.
6. The shearers always shear
at a suitable time. It would be a very wicked, cruel, and unwise thing to begin
sheep-shearing in winter time. Have you ever noticed that whenever the Lord
afflicts us He selects the best possible time?
7. It is with us as with the
sheep, there is new wool coming. Whenever the Lord takes away our earthly
comforts with one hand, one, two, three, He restores with the other hand, six,
a score, a hundred; we are crying and whining about the little loss, and yet it
is necessary in order that we may be able to receive the great gain. If the
Lord takes away the manna, as He did from His people Israel, it is because they
have the old corn of the land of Canaan to live upon. If the water of the rock
did not follow the tribes any longer, it was because they drank of the Jordan,
and of the brooks.
III. LET US ENDEAVOUR TO
IMITATE THE EXAMPLE OF OUR BLESSED LORD WHEN OUR TURN COMES TO BE SHORN. (C
H. Spurgeon.)
Eastern sheep-shearing
Those who have seen the noise and roughness of many of our
washings and shearings will hardly believe the testimony of that ancient writer
Philo-Judaeus when he affirms that the sheep came voluntarily to be shorn He
says: ¡§Woolly rams laden with thick fleeces put themselves into the shepherd¡¦s
hands to have their wool shorn, being thus accustomed to pay their yearly
tribute to man, their king by nature. The sheep stands in a silent inclining
posture, unconstrained under the hand of the shearer. These things may appear
strange to those who do not know the docility of the sheep, but they are true.¡¨
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Lying still under the Divine hand
I went to see a friend, the other day, who has had a great number
of sore affliction, yet I found her singularly cheerful and content; and when I
was speaking with her about the matter, she said, ¡§I have for years enjoyed
perfect submission to the Divine will, and it was through what I heard you
say.¡¨ So I asked her, ¡§What did I say?¡¨ She replied, ¡§Why, you told us that you
had seen a sheep that was in the hands of the shearers, and that, although all
the wool was clipped off its back, the shears never cut into its flesh; and you
said that the reason was because the sheep was lying Perfectly still. You said,
¡¥Lie still, and the shears will not cut you; but if you kick and struggle, you
will not only be shorn, for God has resolved to do that, but you will be
wounded into the bargain.¡¦¡¨ (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 8-9
He
was taken from prison and from judgment
¡§He was taken
from prison and from judgment:¡¨
Every
word here is ambiguous.
The principal interpretations are as follows--
1. ¡§Without hindrance and without right He was taken away, i.e.
He was put to death without opposition from any quarter, and in defiance of
justice.
2. ¡§Through oppression and through judgment He was taken away¡¨ (so
virtually R.V.). ¡§Judgment¡¨ here means judicial procedure, and the rendering
¡§oppression¡¨ is guaranteed by Psalms 107:39.
3. ¡§From oppression and from judgment He was taken away,¡¨ i.e
released by death, or taken by God to Himself (2 Kings 2:10). Of the three interpretations, the last seems the most natural.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s
impisonment
(with John 18:12-13):--The word ¡§prison¡¨ should not, perhaps, be taken to designate a
particular place of incarceration; for there is no evidence to show that Christ
was ever confined in any such penal cell. He was, however, a prisoner. His
limbs were bound, and He was held in the custody of the iron-hearted officers
of the Roman government. We shall look upon Christ¡¦s imprisonment in three
aspects.
I. AS THE MOST THRILLING CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF CHRIST.
1. He was first taken a prisoner from Gethsemane.
2. He was then taken as a prisoner from Annas to Caiaphas (John 18:19-24; Matthew 26:59-68).
3. He was next taken a prisoner from the palace of Caiaphas to the
hall of the Sanhedrim.
4. He was next taken as a prisoner from the hall of the Sanhedrim to
Pilate John 18:28-38; Luke 23:1-7; Mark 15:1-5; Matthew 27:11-14).
5. He was then taken as a prisoner from Pilate to Herod (Luke 23:8-12).
6. He was then taken as a prisoner back from Herod to Pilate (Luke 23:13-25; Matthew 27:15-26; Mark 15:6-15).
7. He was finally taken as a prisoner from Pilate to Calvary (Matthew 27:27-50). The cross is the culmination of the whole.
II. As THE GREATEST ENORMITY IN THE ANNALS OF CRIME.
1. His imprisonment combined all the chief elements of crime.
2. His Imprisonment was effected in the name of law and religion.
III. AS THE MOST WONDERFUL ENIGMA IN THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. I know of
nothing more wonderful in the universe than the sight of Jesus in bonds.
1. Why does Eternal Justice allow unsullied holiness thus to suffer?
2. Why does Almighty God give men the power to perpetrate such
enormities?
3. Why does All-powerful Emanuel Himself submit to these enormities?
Does not the vicarious principle stand out in sunny prominence? (D.
Thomas, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s
ignominious death and glorious resurrection
I. THE SCANDAL ITSELF, laid down in the most aggravating
terms--¡§prison,¡¨ ¡§judgment,¡¨ ¡§cutting off from the land of the living,¡¨ and a
¡§stroke upon Him for transgression¡¨ as if the prophet had said, Grant all that
you will charge upon Him, prison, judgment, strokes, cutting off--express it
the worst way you can, all this will not impeach the glory of His excellency.
II. THE DEFENCE in other terms. ¡§He was taken¡¨ from those things, and
¡§who shall declare His generation?¡¨ If you think it is not enough to say that
He died for others, and that He was stricken for the transgression of My
people, yet He did not as every man that dieth for others; He perished not in
this expression of His love, as others do: He was taken from prison, and from
judgment, and now liveth gloriously. There are two things in the defence--
1. His resurrection. ¡§He was taken from prison and from judgment;¡¨ He
got out from under it.
2. His life and duration in that state. ¡§Who shall declare His
generation?¡¨ The sense is, who shall declare His age or duration? who can tell
those endless ages that Christ shall live? (T. Manton, D.D.)
Who shall declare His generation?--
¡§Who shall
declare His generation?¡¨
The
Hebrew word for ¡§generation¡¨ is translated ¡§age¡¨ in Isaiah 38:12, but it more properly means ¡§lifetime.¡¨ The Septuagint
translators have, however, hit the true idea of this passage in making the
Greek word word £^£`£h£`£\́£h, instead of £]£d́£j£h or
£\£d̓£s͂£h£\, for the thought regards the apparent brevity of Messiah career.
¡§He comes, and He goes, and there is an end of Him. Who will take the trouble
to think about a life that is cut off so soon, and leaves, apparently, no
trace? He has no successor, no family, no descendants to preserve His name.¡¨
The Septuagint reading, therefore, while not a literal translation of the
Hebrew, follows its thought. The Hebrew literally is, ¡§Who shall think upon His
career?¡¨ The Septuagint is, ¡§Who shall describe or recount His race or
generation?¡¨ The one refers directly to His lifetime, but indirectly to His
posterity; the other confines itself to the posterity. Now, both questions are
answered in Isaiah 38:10¡¨ ¡§He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days.¡¨ The Messiah
will have a spiritual seed on the earth, and in them He will continue His own
earthly life. (Howard Crosby, LL.D.)
¡§Who shall
declare His generation?¡¨
Meyer,
Alford, and others understand this as equivalent to, ¡§Who can describe the
wickedness of the men of this time?¡¨ Hengstenberg interprets it, ¡§Who shall
declare His posterity?¡¨ i.e. His spiritual children, born of the travail
of His soul. Delitzsch translates, ¡§Of His contemporaries, who considered this:
¡¥ He was snatched out of the land of the living, seeing that, on account of the
transgression of My people, vengeance fell on Him?¡¦¡¨ ¡§Who shall declare His
generation?¡¨ A difficult clause. The Hebrew word for ¡§generation¡¨ (dor)
may mean--
For the transgression of My people was He stricken
Christ ¡§smitten
unto death:¡¨
There
is reason to believe that the original text has, in this instance, undergone
some alteration, and that it anciently stood thus, ¡§He was smitten unto
death.¡¨ It was thus written by Origen, who assures us that a certain Jew,
with whom he disputed, seemed to feel himself more pressed by this expression
than by any other part of the chapter. It is thus rendered by the Septuagint in
our present copies; and if, in this instance, it had not concurred with the
original, neither could Origen have urged it with good faith, nor the Jew have
felt himself embarrassed by the argument which is suggested. (R. Hall,
M.A.)
The Person
stricken
The
Jews pretend that no single person is designed in this portion of prophecy; but
that the people of Israel collectively are denoted under the figure of one man,
and that the purport of the chapter is a delineation of the calamities and
sufferings which that nation should undergo, with a view to its correction and
amendment. The absurdity of this evasion will be obvious to him who considers
that the person who is represented as ¡§stricken¡¨ is carefully distinguished by
the prophet from the people for whoso benefit He suffered. ¡§For the
transgression of My people was He stricken:¡¨ in addition to which, He is
affirmed to be stricken ¡§even to death,¡¨ which, as Origen very properly urged,
agrees well with the fate of an individual, but not with that of a people. (R.
Hall, M. A.)
The
substitution of the innocent for the guilty
Let us
consider what circumstance met in this case, and must be supposed to concur on
any occasion of this kind, to render fit and proper the substitution of an
innocent person in the place of the guilty; and what is peculiar in the
character of our Saviour, which renders it worthy of God to set Him apart as ¡§a
propitiation the sins of the world,¡¨ and annex the blessings of eternal
life to such as believe in the doctrine of the Cross, and repent, and turn to
God.
I. It is obvious that such a procedure as we are now contemplating,
in order to give it validity and effect, MUST BE SANCTIONED BY THE SUPREME
AUTHORITY. For a private person, whatever might be his station in society, to
pretend to introduce such a commutation of punishment as is implied in such a
transaction, would be a presumptuous invasion of legislative rights, which no
well-regulated society would tolerate. This condition was most unequivocally satisfied
in the mystery of Christ¡¦s substitution.
II. Another indispensable circumstance in such a proceeding, is, that
IT SHOULD BE PERFECTLY VOLUNTARY ON THE PART OF THE SUFFERER. Otherwise, it
would be an act of the highest injustice; it would be the addition of one
offence to another, and give a greater shock to all rightly-disposed minds than
the acquittal of the guilty without any atonement. Here there appears, at first
sight, an insuperable difficulty in the way of human salvation. How could that
be rendered which was, at once, due to sin and mankind at large? Where could
one be found that would endure the penalty freely, which was incurred by a
sinful world? This our Saviour did. No sacrifice should go unwillingly to the
altar. It was, indeed, reckoned a bad omen when any one did so. None ever went
so willingly as He.
III. It is farther necessary that the substitute not only undertake
voluntarily, but that HE BE PERFECTLY FREE FROM THE OFFENCE WHICH RENDERS
PUNISHMENT NECESSARY. Accordingly, in the case of man Divine justice cannot be
willing to acquiesce in a substitute who is a sharer in guilt; for the law has
a previous hold upon him; there is a debt due on his own account. But Jesus
Christ, though a man, was, by reason of His miraculous conception, free from
the taint of original sin.
IV. There would be a great propriety in this also, that THE INNOCENT
PERSON SUBSTITUTED FOR THE GUILTY, SHOULD STAND IN SOME RELATION TO HIM. Now,
our Lord Jesus Christ was related to mankind; one like them whom He came to
redeem. This was shadowed forth in the law of a Redeemer of a lost estate. The
person who was to redeem must be related: hence a redeemer and a relation were
expressed by one term, and the nearest relation was to redeem. Hence, then, the
incarnation of our Lord was necessary.
V. If the substitution of the innocent in the room of the guilty is
at all permitted, it seems requisite that NO ADVANTAGE SHOULD BE TAKEN OF A
MOMENTARY ENTHUSIASM, a sudden impulse of heroic feeling, which might prompt a
generous mind to make a sacrifice, of which, on cool deliberation, be repented.
In the ease we are now contemplating, nothing could reconcile the mind to such
a procedure but such a settled purpose on the part of the substitute as
precludes the possibility of a vacillation or change. But this condition is
found in the highest perfection on the part of the blessed Redeemer. His
oblation of Himself was not the execution of a sudden purpose, the fruit of a
momentary movement of pity; it was the result of deliberate counsel, the
accomplishment of an ancient purpose, formed in the remotest recesses of a past
eternity.
VI. In the case of the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, it
seems highly requisite that HE WHO OFFERS HIMSELF AS THE SUBSTITUTE SHOULD JUSTIFY
THE LAW BY WHICH HE SUFFERS. In the substitution of the Redeemer of mankind
were conjoined the most prompt and voluntary endurance of the penalty, with the
most avowed and cordial approbation of the justice of its sanctions. It was a
great part of the business of His life to assert and vindicate by His doctrine
that law which He magnified and made illustrious by His passion. Never had the
law such an expounder as in the person of Him who came into the world to
exhaust its penalties, and endure its curse.
VII. That the voluntary substitution of an innocent person, in the
stead of the guilty, may be capable of answering the ends of justice, nothing
seems more necessary than that THE SUBSTITUTE SHOULD BE OF EQUAL CONSIDERATION,
AT LEAST, TO THE PARTY IN WHOSE BEHALF HE INTERPOSES. The interests sacrificed
by the suffering party should not be of less cost and value than those which
are secured by such a procedure. But the aggregate value of those interests
must be supposed to be in some proportion to the rank and dignity of the party
to which they belong. As a sacrifice to justice, the life of a peasant must, on
this principle, be deemed a most inadequate substitute for that of a personage
of the highest order. We should consider the requisitions of justice eluded,
rather than satisfied, by such a commutation. It is on this ground that St.
Paul declares it to be ¡§impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take
away sins.¡¨ In this view the redemption of the human race seemed to be
hopeless; for where could an adequate substitute be found? The mystery hid from
ages and generations, the mystery of Christ crucified, dispels the obscurity,
and presents, in the person of the Redeemer, all the qualifications which human
conception can embody as contributing to the perfect character of a substitute.
VIII. However much we might be convinced of the competence of vicarious
suffering to accomplish the ends of justice, and whatever the benefits we may
derive from it, A BENEVOLENT MIND COULD NEVER BE RECONCILED TO THE SIGHT OF
VIRTUE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER FINALLY OPPRESSED AND CONSUMED BY ITS OWN ENERGIES
and the more intense the admiration excited, the more eager would be the desire
of same compensatory arrangement, some expedient by which an ample retribution
might be assigned to such heroic sacrifices. If the suffering of the substitute
involved his destruction, what satisfaction could a generous and feeling mind
derive from impunity procured at such a cost! While we rejoice in the cross of
Christ as the source of pardon, our satisfaction is heightened by beholding it
succeeded by the crown.
IX. If the principle of substitution be at all admitted in the
operations of criminal law, it is tog obvious to require proof that IT SHOULD
BE INTRODUCED VERY SPARINGLY, only on very rare occasions, and never be allowed
to subside into a settled course. It requires some great crisis to justify its
introduction, some extraordinary combination of difficulties, obstructing the
natural course of justice; it requires, that while the letter of the law is
dispensed with, its spirit be fully adhered to; so that, instead of tending to
weaken the motives to obedience, it shall present a salutary monition, a moral
and edifying spectacle. The substitution of Christ in the room of a guilty race
receives all the advantage as an impressive spectacle which it is possible to
derive from this circumstance. It stands amidst the lapse of ages, and the
waste of worlds, a single and solitary monument.
X. Whenever the expedient of vicarious suffering is adopted, A
PUBLICATION OF THE DESIGN OF THAT TRANSACTION BECOMES AS INDISPENSABLY
NECESSARY AS OF THE TRANSACTION ITSELF since none of the effects which it is
intended to produce can be realized but in proportion as that is understood.
Hence we see the infinite importance, in the doctrine of the Cross, that not
merely the fact of our Lord¡¦s death and sufferings should be announced, but
that their object and purpose, as a great moral expedient, should be published
to all nations. The doctrine of remission of sins, through the blood of that
Victim which was once offered for the sins of the world, forms the grand
peculiarity of the Gospel, and was the principal theme of the apostolic
ministry, and is still pre-eminently ¡§the power of God to salvation.¡¨ (R.
Hall, M. A.)
The crucifixion
I. THE SUFFERING ITSELF. ¡§He was stricken.¡¨ The greatness of this
suffering will be made out to us upon these three accounts.
1. Of the latitude and extent of it.
2. Of the intenseness and sharpness of it.
3. Of the person inflicting it.
II. THE NATURE OF THE SUFFERING, which was penal, and expiatory, ¡§He
was stricken for transgression.¡¨
III. THE GROUND AND CAUSE OF THIS SUFFERING, which was God¡¦s propriety
in, and relation to, the persons for whom Christ was stricken, implied in this
word, ¡§My people.¡¨ Conclusion: Christianity is a suffering religion, and there
are two sorts of suffering to which it will certainly expose every genuine
professor of it.
1. A suffering from himself; even that grand suffering of self-denial
and mortification, the sharpest and most indispensable of all others, in which
every Christian is not only to be the sufferer, but himself also the
executioner. ¡§He who is Christ¡¦s,¡¨ says the apostle, ¡§has crucified the flesh
with its affections and lusts.¡¨
2. From the world. (R. South, D.D.)
The stricken
Christ
I. WHO WAS STRICKEN?
II. REFER TO HIS SUFFERINGS. How was He stricken?
1. With reproach. ¡§As for this fellow, we know not whence He is.¡¨
2. With ingratitude. His very ¡§disciples forsook Him, and fled.¡¨
3. With poverty.
4. Chiefly by the rod of His heavenly Father.
III. THE OBJECT OF THESE SUFFERINGS. ¡§For the transgression of My
people was He stricken.¡¨
1. Justice is satisfied.
2. Conscience is at peace.
IV. THE FRUITS OF HIS SUFFERINGS, in connection with our own feelings
and experience.
1. The devil is now destroyed. However formidable an enemy, the power
of his arm is foiled.
2. The soul is saved.
3. All possible consolation is secured. (J. Parsons.)
Verse 9
And He made his grave with
the wicked
¡§With the rich in His
death:¡¨
¡§Rich¡¨ must mean ¡§wicked,¡¨
just as ¡§poor¡¨ often means godly.
(A. B. Davidson, D.D.)
The suffering Servant
given a convict¡¦s grave
Having conceived Him to
have been lawfully put to death, they consistently gave Him a convict¡¦s grave;
¡§they made His grave with the wicked, and He was with the felon in His death,¡¨
though He was an innocent man--¡§He had done no harm; neither was guile in His mouth.¡¨
(Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)
¡§With the rich in His
death:¡¨
The meaning is, ¡§His grave
was assigned to Him with criminals, and with a rich man after He had actually
died a painful death,¡¨ i.e. He was to have been laid where the bodies of
dead criminals lie, but He came after His death to lie in a grave that had been
intended for the corpse of a rich man. (F. Delitzsch, D.D.)
A prophecy of Messiah
I. SOMETHING
FORETOLD CONCERNING THE MESSIAH, that is, that He shall make His grave, etc.
II. A
REASON SUBJOINED, taken from His innocency. (J. Durham.)
Christ laid in the grave
In all the Evangelists it
is clear that after death He was laid in the grave, and very particular notice
is taken of it. Take here some reasons of this necessity.
1. That
the unstaindeness and purity of Divine justice may appear, and that, therefore,
the perfection of His satisfaction may be confirmed.
2. It is
much for the manifestation of the great love of God, and of the rich
condescending grace of the Mediator, who is not only content to die, but to be
laid in the grave, and to suffer death to have a kind of dominion over Him for
a time.
3. It is
for the consolation of the believer and serves mightily to strengthen him
against the fear of death and the grave. He may lie down quietly in the grave,
because it was Christ¡¦s bed, warmed, to say so, by Him.
4. It
serves to confirm the truth of the resurrection of Christ. (J. Durham.)
Verse
10-11
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him
¡§It pleased the Lord to bruise Him:¡¨
The Lord¡¦s hand was supreme in the business--
1.
In
respect of His appointing Christ¡¦s sufferings. It was concluded in the counsel
of God that He should, suffer.
2. In respect of the ordering and overruling of His sufferings. He,
who governs all the counsels, thoughts and actions of men, did, in a special
manner, govern and overrule the sufferings of the Mediator; though wicked men
were following their own design, and were stirred and acted by the devil, who
is said to have put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ--yet God had
the ordering of all who should betray Him, what death He should die, how He
should be pierced, and yet not a bone of Him be broken.
3. In respect of His having had a hand actively in them (John 19:11; Matthew 27:46; Romans 8:32; Zechariah 13:7). (J. Durham.)
The good pleasure of God in redemption
The good pleasure of God. Which the prophet marks to show--
1. That all the good that comes by Christ to sinners is bred in the
Lord¡¦s own bosom.
2. The concurrence of all the Persons of the Trinity in promoting the
work of the redemption of sinners. (J. Durham.)
The Divine complacency in the sorrows of Christ
There are many expressions in Scripture, which, without
explanation, are repugnant to human instincts of justice, and shocking to our
intuitions of love. This is a case in point. He had done nothing overtly or
morally to deserve severity, ¡§yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.¡¨ It
revolts our first feeling of equity and compassion; and when the statement is
applied to Him of whom we are taught that God is love, we shrink at the
sternness of the words. Had it been said the Lord found it necessary to put Him
to grief, it would, have been mysterious enough, and we should have found
ourselves asking ¡§Why?¡¨ and catechizing our speculative ideals of Divine equity
and of moral necessity. But to read that it pleased the Lord to inflict this
bruise and to impose this grief is a riddle which seems as harsh as it is
contradictory. (A. Mursell.)
The unity of the Father and the Son in atonement
All this confusion and injustice arises from sustaining too
literally in our minds the figure of duality which excludes the Father from
participation in the sacrifice, and the Son from the acquiescent willinghood of
its executive. It is not the punishment of an innocent Son by an angry Father
that we have to consider, but rather the co-operation of the entire Godhead in
the tragedy of sorrow out of which the redemption of mortality was born. Under
the figure of Father and Son, the Deity devoted the full strength and
tenderness of the Divine character and resource to the salvation of our race.
And, in this respect, there was, and ever will be, a Divine complacency in the
sorrow and suffering from which that redemption sprang. (A. Mursell.)
Christ¡¦s complacency in the Divine sorrows
Our topic is the Divine complacency in the sorrows of Christ. It
will bear transposition; and we can speak of Christ¡¦s complacency in the Divine
sorrows. Here is a blending of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, as full of
mystery as of love, but the key to whose mystery is carried in the bosom of its
love. The sorrows of Christ were endured in pursuance of the settled and
ancient purpose of God. Not of the purpose of a Father to afflict His Son, but
of the purpose of the Divine Creator to redeem His universe. There was a
compact of pity and of power in the heart and arm of God as soon as man had
lapsed, that his lapse should be atoned and his fall restored. The Creator was
not to be baffled in His plan. His life was bound up in that of His Maker; and
because He lived man must live also. Not only because He loved us, but because
He would not be defeated, did the mind of Deity set itself to untie the knot
which the serpent had encoiled around the creature of God¡¦s image. (A.
Mursell.)
Divine love and Divine suffering
1. The sorrows which atonement involved became a source of
complacency to the Divine mind, inasmuch as the Lord foresaw their certain
issues.
2. Nor could this complacency in sorrow fail to be augmented by the
thought of the universal interest those sorrows would awaken. Earth, for whose
sake they were endured, was the last to show that interest.
3. This complacency was made complete because the sorrows it
confronted removed the barrier from the exercise of infinite beneficence and
love. What is more tantalizing to a soul aflame than love restrained? (A.
Mursell.)
The bruising of the Son of God the pleasure of His Father
I. WHOM DID JEHOVAH BRUISE?
II. HOW DID HE BRUISE HIM?
III. WHY DID HE TAKE PLEASURE
IN BRUISING HIM?
1. That He might execute His pleasant decrees.
2. That He might fulfil His pleasant promises.
3. That He might redeem the chosen objects of His love.
4. That He might promote His Son to the highest honours.
5. That He might exalt His own glory to the uttermost. (W.
Taylor.)
The bruising of Jesus
The Father was ¡§pleased¡¨ to bruise Emmanuel.
I. BECAUSE OF THE HOLY
SUFFERER¡¦S PERFECT SYMPATHY WITH HIS PURPOSE, as being the vindication of the
Divine holiness, ¡§the magnifying of the Divine law,¡¨ and the upholding of the
Divine government.
II. BECAUSE UNDER THIS
¡§BRUISING¡¨ JESUS WAS MANIFESTING THE DIVINE LOVE AND SYMPATHY FOR AND WITH
US--perfect as it was God¡¦s, and yet true brotherly, as it was man¡¦s.
III. BECAUSE OF WHAT HE DESIRED
TO SEE IN US. (J. Wylie, D.D.)
God¡¦s purpose in the awful tragedy of the Cross
It is so utter a perversion of justice, so signal a triumph of
wrong over right, so final a disappearance into oblivion of the fairest life
that ever lived, that men might be tempted to say, God has forsaken His own. On
the contrary. God¡¦s own will and pleasure have been in this tragedy. ¡§Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him.¡¨ The line as it thus stands in our English
Version has a grim, repulsive sound. But the Hebrew word has no necessary
meaning of pleasure or enjoyment. All it says is, God so willed it. His purpose
was in this tragedy. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s sufferings; their cause, nature and fruits
The prophet is still dealing with the Jews scandals. Whilst you
look only to the outward meanness and sufferings of Christ, you overlook the
design of God in Him.
I. THE WILL OF GOD. ¡§It
pleased the Lord to bruise Him,¡¨ etc., that is the cause of His
sufferings.
II. THE NATURE OF HIS
SUFFERINGS. ¡§When Thou shall make His soul an offering for sin.¡¨
III. THE FRUITS OF HIS
SUFFERING. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s sufferings Divinely ordained
All the sufferings of Jesus Christ were laid on Him by the
ordination and appointment of, God the Father. This appears by Scripture, which
asserts--
1. The choice of Christ¡¦s person, and the designation and deputation
of Him to the office of Mediator (Isaiah 42:1; John 6:27; Ro 1 Peter 1:20).
2. The bestowing the person of Christ upon us, so that He was made
ours John 3:16).
3. The determining of all the sufferings of Christ; not a sorrow, but
God had it in His thoughts before all worlds (Acts 2:23; Luke 22:22; Acts 4:27-28).
4. There are some expressions which seem to imply as if there were
more than a bare knowledge and permission in this great affair, as if there
were some kind of action in Christ¡¦s sufferings. It will be worthy the
inquiring, then, what acts of God, what efficiency there was from Him towards
the sufferings of Christ?
The reasons of this point are--
1. Because all things fall under His decrees and the care of His
providence, and therefore certainly this matter of Christ does.
2. Because this was the special design and contrivance of Heaven to
bring forth Christ into the world; all other dispensations looked this way. (T.
Manton, D. D.)
God¡¦s eternal pleasure revealed in Christ
The plot of the Gospel was long since drawn in heaven, and lay hid
in God¡¦s breast, till He was pleased to copy out His eternal thoughts, and give
the world a draught of them. (T. Manton, D. D.)
God working His own counsel through human agency
How is the creature to blame, then, for smiting and bruising of
Christ? Or if to blame, how is God clear?
1. For the creatures¡¦ blame. They are faulty--
2. For the justifying of God when He judgeth. His justice cannot be
impeached, because He infuseth no evil, enforceth to no evil, only ordaineth
what shall be. His goodness cannot be impeached for suffering things which He
can turn to such advantage for His own glory and the creature s good. God s
decrees are immanent in Himself, working nothing that is evil in the creatures.
(T. Manton, D. D.)
When Thou shalt make His
Soul an offering for sin
Christ an offering for sin
1. It is here supposed that there is sin on the person, and that
wrath due for sin is to be removed.
2. That there is an inability in the person to remove the sin, and
yet a necessity to have it removed, or else he must suffer.
3. The intervening, or coming of something in the place of that
person who is guilty of sin, and liable to wrath.
4. The acceptance of that which interveneth by God, the party
offended, and so a covenant whereby the Lord hath condescended to accept that
offering. (J. Durham.)
Christ a guilt-offering
(R.V., marg.):--Hebrews asham (Leviticus 5:14; Leviticus 6:7), to be carefully distinguished
from the sin-offering (Hebrews chattah, Leviticus 4:1; Leviticus 5:13). Sin is viewed as a
sacrilege, an invasion of God s honour: the asham is the satisfaction
paid for it, viz the innocent life of the Righteous Servant. (Prof. S. R.
Driver, D. D.)
The guilt-offering
There is a historical passage which, though the term
¡§guilt-offering¡¨ is not used in it, admirably illustrates the idea. A famine in
David¡¦s time was revealed to be due to the murder of certain Gibeonites by the
house of Saul. David asked the Gibeonites what reparation he could make. They
said it was not a matter of damages. But both parties felt that before the law
of God could be satisfied and the land relieved of its curse, some atonement,
some guilt-offering, must be made to the, Divine law. It was a wild kind of
satisfaction that was paid. Seven men of Saul¡¦s house were hung up before the Lord
in Gibeon. But the instinct, though satisfied in so murderous a fashion, was a
true and a grand instinct--the conscience of a law above all human laws and
rights, to which homage must be paid before the sinner could come into true
relations with God, or the Divine curse be lifted off. (Prof. G.
A. Smith, D.D.)
The Monarch self-surrender, a trespass-offering and a sin-offering
What this suffering meant, the prophet indicates in several
phrases which we will link together. ¡§His soul shall make a guilt-offering¡¨ (Isaiah 53:10). ¡§He shall bear their
iniquities ¡§(Isaiah 53:11). ¡§He bare the sin of
many¡¨ (Isaiah 53:12). These three expressions
are derived from the Mosaic ritual; the first, from the trespass-offering, the
second, from the law concerning the scapegoat, the third from the sin-offering.
Inasmuch, however, as the sending away of the scapegoat was a part of the
ceremonial connected with the sin-offering on the great day of atonement, we
may let the second and third expressions blend into one. And then we get the
thought that this suffering Servant would at once fill up the varied meanings
of the sin-offering and of the guilt-offering. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
In Messiah¡¦s offering, the meanings of the trespass-offerings and
the sin-offerings were all included
1. That there was a distinction between the significance of the
trespass-offerings and that of the sin-offerings is seen in the fact that each
kind of offerings had its own specific ritual and set of laws (Leviticus 11:25; Leviticus 7:1). But it is not so easy
to point out wherein that distinction lay. They had some points in common. Both
recognized sin in some form or other. Though every sin might not be a trespass,
yet every trespass was a sin, hence (at least in one case) the trespass was to
be atoned for by a sin-offering (Leviticus 5:6). Both of them were for
sins of omission and for sins of commission. Both were for inadvertent and for
known sins. Both were for sins against conscience and against God. Both were
for some sins against property. Both were for open and for secret sins. So that
it is not surprising that the two frequently seem to overlap. Still a careful
study will help us to draw out some distinctions between them--
.
.
.
(9) In the sin-offering the priest is always the representative of the
offerer; in the trespass-offering he is generally the representative of God.
¡§Thus the trespass-offering was a restitution or compensation made to God, in
being paid to the priest, a payment or penance which made amends for the wrong
done--a satisfactio in a disciplinary sense.¡¨
2. The prophet in the chapter before us declares that the
trespass-offering and the sin-offering will be fulfilled in this Servant of
God; that His work for man, towards God in reference to sin, will take into
account all the aspects of sin, will honour all the claims of God, and will
meet all the need of man. And so, in fact, we find it when we come to examine
the representations of the work of our Lord Jesus, as given us in the New
Testament.
3. Let us learn, then--of the unity there is between the law and the
Gospel. We have this prophecy standing seven hundred years after the
giving of the one, seven hundred years before the announcement of the
other: yet we find the very phrases of the prophet are adopted from the Mosaic
ritual, pointing to its fulfilment in the Messiah; while the New Testament
teachings as to the work of Christ are based on both ritual and prophecy,
carrying them both on to their fulness of meaning, and revealing their wealth
of glory.
Expiation
Both Jews and Gentiles knew pretty well what an offering for sin
meant. The Gentiles had been in the habit of offering sacrifices. The Jews,
however, had by far the clearer idea of it.
I. SIN DESERVES AND DEMANDS
PUNISHMENT.
II. THE PROVISION AND
ACCEPTANCE OF A SUBSTITUTE FOR SINNERS IS AN ACT OF GRACE.
III. JESUS IS THE MOST FITTING
PERSON TO BE A SUBSTITUTE, AND HIS WORK IS THE MOST FITTING WORK TO BE A
SATISFACTION.
IV. CHRIST¡¦S WORK, AND THE
EFFECTS OF THAT WORK ARE NOW COMPLETE. (C. H, Spurgeon.)
Christ¡¦s death and the law of God
By His death the Servant did homage to the law of God. By dying to
it He made men feel that the supreme end of man was to own that law and be in a
right relation to it, and that the supreme service was to help others to a
right relation. As it is said a little farther down, ¡§My Servant, righteous Himself,
wins righteousness for many, and makes their iniquities His load. (Prof.
G.A. Smith, D.D.)
The guilt-offering
It is strange but true, that the saddest, darkest day that ever
broke upon our world is destined to cure the sadness and dissipate the darkness
for evermore. It is to the passion of the Redeemer that loving hearts turn in
their saddest, darkest, most sin-conscious hours to find solace, light, and
help.. As though to obviate the possibility of mistaking its meaning, we are
reminded again, and yet again, that the death of the Divine Servant was no
ordinary episode; but distinguished from all other deaths, from all martyrdoms
and sacrifices, in its unique and lonely grandeur--the one perfect and
sufficient sacrifice and oblation for the sins of the whole world. The prophet
s thought will become apparent, if we notice--I THE COMMON LOT OF MAN. It may
be summed up in three words--suffering, sin, death.
II. THE NOTABLE EXCEPTION OF
THIS CHAPTER. The Divine Servant presents a notable exception to the lot of
man; not in His sufferings, for He was ¡§a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with
grief;¡¨ nor in His death, for He died many deaths in one (Isaiah 53:9, R.V., marg.); but in His
perfect innocence and goodness. He had done no violence, neither was any deceit
m His mouth. The Divine Servant has passed through every painful experience;
has drunk to its dregs every cup; has studied deeply every black-lettered
volume in the library of pain. In His case, at least, man¡¦s hastily-formed
conclusions are falsified. Generally we pass from singular suffering to
discover its cause in some hidden or remote transgression. In the case of Jesus
Christ, however, this explanation of His unique sufferings was altogether at
fault. Another explanation must, therefore, be forthcoming to account for the
sufferings of the innocent Saviour. The explanation lay hid as a secret
concealed in a hieroglyph, in the vast system of Levitical sacrifice which
foreshadowed the ¡§offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.¡¨ So, under
the Divine guidance, men were led from the conclusions of Isaiah 53:4 to those of Isaiah 53:5. These conclusions
expressed here as the verdict of the human conscience, after scanning the facts
in the light of history, are confirmed and clenched by the unanimous voice of
the New Testament. This is the great exception which has cast a new light on
the mystery of pain and sorrow. It may be that there is other suffering, which,
in a lower sense and in a smaller measure, is also redemptive, fulfilling
Divine purposes in the lives of others; though no sufferer is free from sin as
Christ was, and none has ever been able to expiate sin as He.
III. THE PERSONAL APPLICATION
OF THESE TRUTHS. ¡§Thou must make his soul a guilt-offering¡¨ (R.V., marg.) This
term, ¡§guilt-offering,¡¨ occurs in the Book of Leviticus. If a man committed a
trespass in the holy things of the Lord, he was directed to select and bring
from his flock a ram without blemish. This was his ¡§guilt-offering¡¨--the word
used here. He was to make a money restitution for his offence; but the atonement
was made through the ram (Leviticus 5:1-16). Similarly, if a man
sinned against his neighbor, either in oppressing him or withholding his dues,
or neglecting to restore property which had been entrusted to him, he was not
only to make restitution, but to bring his guilt-offering to the Lord--a ram
without blemish out of the flock--and the priest made an atonement before the
Lord, and he was forgiven concerning whatsoever he had done to be made guilty
thereby (Leviticus 6:1-7). Is there one of us who
has not committed a trespass and sinned in the holy things of the Lord? Is
there one of us who has not failed in his obligations to neighbour and friend?
How certainly we need to present the guilt-offering! There is no mention made
of the necessity of summoning priestly aid. This is the more remarkable, when
we consider the strict Levitical system in which Israel was cradled. It would
seem that in the great crisis of its need, the soul of man reverts to an
earlier cult, and goes back beyond the elaborate system of the temple to the
practice of the patriarchal tent, where each man acted as his own priest, and
offered the guilt-offering with his own hand. No third person is needed in thy
transactions with God. Jesus is Priest as well as Sacrifice. (F. B. Meyer,
B. A.)
The atonement and its results
I. THE THING DONE. ¡§When thou
shalt make His soul an offering for sin.¡¨ ¡§Without shedding of blood there is
no remission.¡¨ This sentence, written by the finger of God on the page of
Scripture, is also written as a received truth on every page of the history of
heathenism. However we may recoil from the fearful superstitions of Paganism,
and weep over that sad ignorance which can suppose God delighted even with
human sacrifice, never let it be forgotten that in the bloodiest rites of
idolatry there are the vestiges of a truth which is the very sum and substance
of Christianity. We can turn our gaze to the evidence of what is called natural
religion, accompanied, it may be, and loaded with what is abominable; and there
we find monuments in every age that God, at some time or another, hath broken
the silences of eternity, and spoken to His apostate creatures, and taught them
that unless there could be found a sufficient sin-offering, the sinful must
bear for ever the burden of His displeasure. Thus from the first God gave
notices of the plan of redemption, and gradually prepared the way for that
oblation which could alone take away sin. In the deep recesses of Christ¡¦s
undefiled spirit was paid down the debt which man owed to God.
II. ITS CONSEQUENCES. (H.
Melvill, B.D.)
He shall see His seed
Notable effects following Christ¡¦s sufferings
1. ¡§He shall see His seed.¡¨ Men by the suffering of death are
incapacitated to increase their offspring, but this is a quickening suffering
and death that hath a numerous offspring.
2. ¡§He shall prolong His days,¡¨ which seems to be another paradox; for
men¡¦s days are shortened by their sufferings and death; but though He be dead
and buried yet He shall rise again and ascend, and sit down at the right hand
of the Father and live for ever, to make intercession for His people.
3. A third effect, which is the upshot of all, is, ¡§the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in His hand.¡¨ God hath designed Him for a work--the
great work of redemption--even the bringing of many sons to glory. He shall
pull many captives from the devil, and set many prisoners free; He shall, by
His sufferings, overcome the devil, death and the grave, and all enemies; shall
gather the sons of God together from the four corners of the earth. (J.
Durham.)
Christ seeing His seed
1. A relation implied betwixt Christ and believers. They are ¡§His
seed,¡¨ such as in the next verse are said to be ¡§justified¡¨ by Him.
2. A prophecy of the event that should follow Christ¡¦s sufferings.
Our Lord Jesus should not only have a seed, but a numerous seed.
3. Considering the words as a promise they hold out this--that though
our Lord Jesus suffer and die He shall not only have a seed, but shall ¡§see His
seed.¡¨ He shall outlive His sufferings and death and shall be delighted in
seeing them who shall get the good of His sufferings. (J. Durham.)
Believers Christ¡¦s seed
1. They have their being of Him.
2. In respect of the likeness that is betwixt Him and them.
3. In respect of the care that He hath of them.
4. In respect of the portion which they get from Him.
5. Because of the manner of their coming to the possession of that,
which through Him they have a claim to. They have a claim to nothing, but by
being heirs to and with Him. (J. Durham.)
Christ seeing His seed
In ¡§shall see His seed and have long life,¡¨ the figure of a
patriarch blessed with longevity and numerous descendants Genesis 1:22, etc.) is in the
prophet s thoughts. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D.D.)
The Atonement indicates the dignity of man
Men do not launch lifeboats to pick up corks, and we may rest
assured that in the atonement there is a just proportion between means and
ends. (James Duckworth.)
Messiah contemplating His spiritual offspring
I. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL BORN
AND BROUGHT IN.
II. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL
EDUCATED AND BROUGHT UP.
III. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL
SUPPORTED AND BROUGHT THROUGH.
IV. HE SHALL SEE THEM ALL
PERFECTED AND BROUGHT HOME. (R. Muter, D. D.)
Christ¡¦s spiritual Offspring
I. MESSIAH¡¦S GLORY IS
INSEPARABLY CONNECTED WITH THE HAPPINESS OF HIS OFFSPRING.
II. THE APPLICATION IS NOT
LESS CERTAIN THAN THE PURCHASE OF REDEMPTION.
III. A SEASONABLE AND POWERFUL
ANTIDOTE AGAINST UNDUE DEPRESSION OR ALARM ABOUT THE LOW STATE OF RELIGION IN
THE CHURCH.
IV. IT IS OUR DUTY AND HONOUR
TO CONCUR IN CARRYING THIS SCRIPTURE INTO EFFECT. (R. Muter, D. D.)
Seeing His seed
(with John 17:2, and Ephesians 5:25-27):--¡§His Seed.¡¨ This
clearly implies that the Messiah should be the living Head of a new spiritual
race. As Adam was the head of the human family, and Abraham the header the
Hebrew people, so the Lord Jesus was to be the head of a spiritual seed. The
Psalmist in the second Psalm, plainly a Messianic one, declares: ¡§Ask of Me,
and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance and the uttermost parts
of the earth for Thy possession.¡¨ Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke of those who
would be saved by Him as given to Him by the Father. And apostles speak of the
Church as composed of men gathered to the Lord, and belonging to Him. Precisely
this thought is expanded in Ephesians 5:25-27.
I. CHRIST¡¦S SURRENDER OF
HIMSELF WAS THE EXPRESSION OF HIS LOVE.
II. A LIVING CHURCH, THE
CREATION OF HIS LOVE. Just as the sculptor, before he begins to chip the marble
into shape, sees with his mind¡¦s eye the figure which is first conceived by his
genius and then fashioned by his skill--so with our Divine Redeemer. He from
eternity, before man wascreated, beheld him coming into being, placed on His
own footing, falling, redeemed, saved. And, as the result of His atoning work,
there rises up, through His Spirit, the fufilment of His own ideal, a new
creation, a living Church, distinguished the marks of forgiveness,
justification, renewal and eternal life.
III. CLEANSING THE CHURCH, THE
CONTINUOUS ACTION OF HIS LOVE. ¡§That He might sanctify and cleanse it.¡¨ Then He
does not love the Church because it is clean, but He first loves it that He may
make it clean.
IV. PERFECTING THE CHURCH, THE
FAR-OFF VISION OF HIS LOVE. ¡§A glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing.¡¨
V. PRESENTING THE CHURCH TO
HIMSELF, THE REALIZATION OF THE IDEAL OF HIS LOVE. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
The posterity of Christ
Jesus is still alive, for to see anything is the act of a living
person. Do not be afraid that Christ¡¦s work will break down because He is dead.
He lives to carry it on.
I. THE DEATH OF CHRIST HAS
PRODUCED A POSTERITY. We do not read that the Lord Jesus has followers. That
would be true; but the text prefers to say He has a seed.
1. All who truly follow Christ and are saved by Him have His life in
them.
2. Believers in Christ are said to be His seed because they are like
Him.
3. They prosecute the same ends, and expect to receive the same
reward. We are towards Christ His seed, and thus heirs to all that He
has--heirs to His business on earth, heirs to His estate in heaven. They speak
of the seed royal. What shall I say of the seed of Christ? You may be a poor
person, but you are of the imperial house. You are ignorant and unlettered, it
may be, and your name will never shine on the roll of science, but He who is
the Divine Wisdom owns you as one of His seed. It may be that you are sick; by
and by you will die. But you are of His seed, who died, and rose, and is gone
into glory. You are of the seed of Him, ¡§who only hath immortality.¡¨ It follows
if we are thus of a seed, that we ought to be united, and love each other more
and more. Christian people, you ought to have a clannish feeling l
II. THAT POSTERITY OF HIS
REMAINS. If it had been possible to destroy the Church of God on earth, it
would have been destroyed long ago.
1. Only read the story of the persecutions under Nero, etc. As
to our own country, read the story of persecutions here.
2. There have been laborious attempts to destroy the Church of Christ
by error.
3. Worldliness has gone a long way to destroy the Church of God.
III. THIS POSTERITY IS ALWAYS
UNDER THE IMMEDIATE EYE OF CHRIST. ¡§He shall see His seed.¡¨ He sees them when
they are first born anew. Wherever His seed may wander, He still sees them.
This look of Christ is one of intense delight. He will see all His seed to the
last. What a seed He will have to see in the morning. It will be a part of His
heaven for Him to look upon His redeemed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
He shall prolong His days (with Hebrews 7:15-16; Hebrews 7:25)
The enduring life of Christ after His sufferings
In these passages we have given to us, first in Hebrew prophecy,
and then in Christian teaching, the doctrine of the enduring life of the Christ
after His sufferings are over.
The Old Testament prophet sees from afar the new life of the
Messiah, in a blaze of glory. The New Testament prophet declares the life
already begun, and indicates the purposes for which that life is being spent as
well as the glory with which it is crowned. The words quoted from the Epistle
to the Hebrews are a goal rather than a starting-point. They teach the
following truths--
1. Jesus Christ is now exalted: He is a Priest upon His throne.
2. In Him there is the power of an indissoluble life.
3. Because of an indissoluble life, there is an intransmissible
priesthood.
4. This life and this priesthood are in action for the purpose of
saving.
5. Since the life is indissoluble, and the priesthood
intransmissible, there is an infinitude of saving power. (C. Clemance,
D.D.)
The pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand
The ¡§pleasure of Jehovah¡¨
The ¡§pleasure of Jehovah¡¨ is the Servant¡¦s religious mission (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 49:8). (Prof. S.
R. Driver, D.D.)
The success of Christ in His work
I. WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND
BY THE PLEASURE OF THE LORD, the work which is here said to prosper?
1. What is the work to which the declaration refers? The term
¡§pleasure of the Lord,¡¨ as here used, must he considered as expressive of His
gracious design to save a number of the human race from sin and all its fatal
consequences; to render them perfect in holiness; and put them in full
possession of happiness in the heavenly state. It includes in it, therefore,
what has been termed the work of grace in the soul while here, and the full fruition
of glory hereafter. In this work there are two things to be considered--
2. Why is this work called ¡§the pleasure of the Lord¡¨?
II. WHAT PART HAS THE REDEEMER
IN THIS WORK? The management of it is wholly committed to His care. It is ¡§in
His hand.¡¨
1. Reconciling sinners unto God is a principal part of the work of
salvation committed to the care of the Redeemer.
2. It belongs to the Redeemer, as their Saviour, to preserve His
people from every thing that is evil in death.
3. The Redeemer has it in charge to perfect the salvation of His
people, by putting them in full possession of glory, honour and immortality, in
the heavenly state.
III. WHAT ASSURANCE WE HAVE,
THAT THIS WORK SHALL PROSPER IN THE HAND OF THE REDEEMER, so as to be fully and
finally accomplished. The language of the text. What is here asserted is
supported by many other passages of the Word of God. Consider--
1. The character of Him to whom the work is entrusted.
2. The merit of His obedience, and the perfection of His atonement.
3. The progress He has already in the work. (G. Campbell.)
The salvation of sinners the pleasure of God
This will appear if we glance at the means which He has graciously
provided for its accomplishment.
I. HE HAS GIVEN HIS
ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON.
II. HE HAS HAS GIVEN US HIS
WORD.
III. HE HAS ESTABLISHED A
GOSPEL MINISTRY. The salvation of sinners is the pleasure of the Lord, and this
shall prosper in the hands of Christ.
1. Omnipotence has promised it, as the reward of His obedience and
death.
2. He is gone to carry it on before the throne of God.
3. He will descend to complete it when He shall come to judge the
world in righteousness. Have we entrusted our souls into His hands? (Essex
Remembrancer.)
Human redemption a pleasure to the Almighty
I. HUMAN REDEMPTION IS A
PLEASURE TO THE ALMIGHTY, It is not a mere work of intellect, it is a work of
the heart. It is ¡§His good pleasure.¡¨ It is the highest qualification of His
benevolence. It is benevolence restoring the rebellious to order, the sinful to
holiness, the miserable to blessedness. What is most pleasing to a being
always--
1. Engages most of his thoughts.
2. Enlists most of his energies.
II. HUMAN REDEMPTION IS
ENTRUSTED TO CHRIST. It shall ¡§prosper in His hands.¡¨ He has undertaken the
work. Four things are necessary to qualify a being to succeed in any
undertaking.
1. He should enter on it from a deep sympathy with it. We persevere
most in the work we most love.
2. He should foresee all me difficulties that are destined to occur.
When difficulties arise which we never anticipated, we often get baffled and
disheartened.
3. He should have power equal to all the emergencies of the case.
4. He should have sufficient time for its accomplishment. Death often
prevents us from finishing our work. Christ has all these qualifications.
III. HUMAN REDEMPTION IS
DESTINED TO SUCCEED. It ¡§shall prosper.¡¨ An argument for the certainty of its
accomplishment.
1. Therefore do not be perplexed by the dispensations of Providence.
The result of all the outcome of the chaos will be glorious.
2. Therefore do not be discouraged in your Christian labours. (Homilist.)
The Divine purpose fufilled
I. GOD HAS FORMED A PURPOSE
OF MERCY TOWARD MANKIND. This is intended by the expression ¡§the pleasure of
the Lord.¡¨ Notwithstanding the state to which mankind had been reduced by sin,
a state in which God, with justice, might have abandoned them to hopeless
punishment, that God has adopted towards them a far different mode of
procedure. In these mysterious depths of eternity there was a Divine
determination that a way of recovery should be opened for the guilty. This is
styled ¡§the eternal purpose of grace,¡¨ ¡§the good pleasure which the Father had
purposed in Himself,¡¨ ¡§the good pleasure of His will,¡¨ ¡§the good pleasure of
His goodness.¡¨ The manifestation of this pleasure of the Lord began on earth as
soon as the need of mercy existed. The new-economy, established at an
ever-memorable era, has explained what might be ambiguous, has illuminated what
might be dark, has supplied what might be deficient under preceding
dispensations, and it lays open before us in substance the whole counsel of the
Eternal. We now discern that the entire fabric of creation, and the entire
system of Providence, are subordinated to the stupendous achievements of
redemption, those achievements the attributes of the Divine nature being united
in harmony to conduct and to perform.
II. THE FULFILMENT OF THIS
PURPOSE OF MERCY IS COMMITTED TO THE LORD JESUS. ¡§The pleasure of the Lord is
in His hand,¡¨ the hand of the Messiah, the Son of God, committed to Him to be
by Him accomplished. That the Lord Jesus does sustain this momentous trust is
obvious from the entire testimony of revelation. The Lord Jesus performs the
purpose of His mercy, we observe more particularly, by His own atonement for
sin, and by the communication of the Holy Spirit.
III. UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE LORD JESUS, THE PURPOSE OF MERCY SHALL BE PERFECTLY AND TRIUMPHANTLY
ACCOMPLISHED. ¡§The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.¡¨
1. The certainty of the accomplishment must appear from the mere
existence of a Divine purpose to that effect. The supreme majesty of the
perfections of God itself secures the fulfilment of whatever He has designed.
2. The certainty rests upon the inherent excellency of His own
character and work. The proper deity of the Lord Jesus Christ renders failure
in His work impossible.
3. We observe the Divine assurances solemnly pledged to that effect.
Besides general declarations to which we might easily appeal there are recorded
assurances addressed by the Father to the Son in His mediatorial capacity
respecting the exaltation He was to receive as a specific recompense of the
shame and suffering which on behalf of men He had endured. (J. Parsons.)
Verse 11
He shall see of the
travail of His soul
Christ¡¦s soul-travail and
its outcome
1.
The word translated
¡§travail¡¨ has not the special force which the English reader might infer from
it; it is a word of much more general use, of much less intensity and much
greater variety in the notion of sorrow which it conveys. It is used some sixty
times in the Old Testament and means trouble of any, kind, as in the following
passages: ¡§Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.¡¨ ¡§God made
me forget all my toil.¡¨ ¡§If by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet
is their strength labour and sorrow.¡¨ In all these cases the same word
is used as in the text. It denotes strong effort, attended with pain and grief.
2. Again, the clause is usually supposed to mean that the glorious
results which would follow, would be so glorious, that when beheld, the Messiah
should look on them and be satisfied. This is a truth; but it is one developed
by necessary inference from the text. The clearer and more exact rendering
would be, ¡§He shall look out from his sorrow, and be satisfied:¡¨ not only
satisfied with the results of the sorrow, as if amply rewarded by them; but
satisfied in the sufferings, in the fact of having undertaken them, because of
the grand reason which was ever present to His view. Even in the midst of the
sorrow He could look out above and beyond it. Thus we see in this text a most
helpful and gladdening light on those aspects of the atoning work which are set
forth in this chapter: we are taught not only that Christ would be satisfied
when the outcome of His work was complete, but that He was satisfied with his
errand on earth while in the very depths of His sorrow and care. At the same time,
this view of the text does not exclude the more usual one. So far from that it
intensifies it. For if there was satisfaction even at the very hour of the
suffering, much greater must be the joy when the suffering is past and the
glory secured. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
The aspect of the
Redeemer¡¦s work which afforded Him satisfaction
I. There must have
been a sublime satisfaction in KNOWING THAT THE SUFFERING WAS ON BEHALF OF
OTHERS and that, however unworthy they might be of such entire devotion, they
would through it be relieved of a burden which would have crushed them.
II. There must have
been a satisfaction in ASSERTING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LOVE OF THE SUPREME
GOVERNOR. In the work of the Lord Jesus Christ ¡§righteousness and peace kissed
each other.¡¨
III. The Messiah
would experience an intense satisfaction at THE PROSPECT OF THE NEW NAME WHICH
HE WOULD ACQUIRE, EVEN THAT OF ¡§SAVIOUR.¡¨
IV. THE MESSIAH
BEHELD FROM AFAR MEN WHO ONCE WERE REBELS, STANDING BY HIS SIDE, AS SONS AND
HEIRS OF GOD: and this satisfied Him.
V. OUR SAVIOUR
FORESAW THE CLOSE UNION BETWEEN THE SAVED AND HIMSELF, and was satisfied. He
knew that after He had died for them, He should live in them, and that there
would be such an outgoing of life from Him to them, as to form out of the human
race men of finer mould and of higher character than, apart from Himself, would
ever have been possible.
VI. The Messiah was
satisfied in BEHOLDING FROM AFAR THE RELATION OF SAVED MEN TO EACH OTHER. He
saw the Church ¡§perfect in One,¡¨ its discords hushed, its sounds all attuned to
perfect harmony. He beheld the believers sharing His glory, all with Him,
seated with Him on His throne. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
Christ¡¦s sufferings
fruitful
I. THE ASPECT IN
WHICH THAT WORK IS HERE REPRESENTED BY WHICH OUR SAVIOUR ACCOMPLISHED HIS GREAT
UNDERTAKING. The sufferings of Christ were--
1. Expiatory and piacular.
2. Voluntary.
3. Most intense and awful.
¡§The travail of His soul.¡¨
He had a spirit unequalled for sensibility and affection, and keenness of
feeling. To form a just conception of His sorrow, we must unite the ideas of
compassion for the grief of the distressed, and horror at what was cruel and
unjust; of indignation at the oppressor, and pity for the oppressed; of a wish
to deliver the guilty, and an abhorrence of their sin. We must connect all the
iniquity which He witnessed, and all the knowledge He had of the human heart.
We must think of all the wickedness, the hardness of heart, the unbelief of
man. We know nothing of the nature of this sacrifice; but this we know, that it
was an act of amazing energy, of strenuous labour. It was not submission
merely; it was a direct and positive consecration of His whole being; as if He
would place Himself on the altar, and become Himself the sacrificing Priest.
II. THE SUBLIME AND
HEAVENLY SATISFACTION ARISING TO THE REDEEMER IN CONTEMPLATING THE EFFECT OF
HIS SUFFERINGS.
1. It is the pleasure arising from the expectation of success.
2. It is the pleasure of the most pure and exalted benevolence.
3. It is such satisfaction as springs from the great importance and
difficulty of the event brought to an accomplishment.
4. It is satisfaction arising from the peculiar relation of His
character and work, to the event itself, and all its consequences.
III. THE CERTAINTY
THAT THIS SALVATION SHALL BE FINALLY REALIZED.
1. The sufferings of Christ are assumed as the basis of this
assurance, and lead us to observe the natural and inherent attraction of this
doctrine. But this certainty arises--
2. From the tendency of the Gospel to an unlimited and ceaseless
diffusion.
3. From its conferring, wherever it is embraced, the greatest
temporal advantages in connection with its spiritual benefits.
4. From its amazing progress.
5. From the promises of final success, and the encouraging
appearances in the circumstances of the Church in the present day. (R. S.
McAll, M. A.)
The connection between
Messiahs sufferings and subsequent triumphs
I. THE SUFFERINGS
OF CHRIST FORMED A PART OF THE PREDETERMINATION OF GOD, IN REFERENCE TO THE
SALVATION OF MAN. ¡§It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things,¡¨ etc.
1. Contemplate the character of that purpose, in reference to its
objects as manifesting the benevolence of God.
2. The wisdom of God.
3. The holiness of God.
II. THE
INDISSOLUBLE CONNECTION THAT SUBSISTS BETWEEN THOSE SUFFERINGS AND THE
REDEEMER¡¦S SUBSEQUENT TRIUMPHS.
1. The character of the triumphs of Christianity on earth.
2. The certainty of those triumphs.
3. Their extent. (J. W. Etheridge.)
The travail of Christ¡¦s
soul
I. WHEREIN THIS
SOUL-SUFFERING DID NOT CONSIST.
1. We are not to suppose any actual separation betwixt His Godhead
and His manhood.
2. There was no sinful fretting, no impatience, nor carnal anxiety in
our Lord.
3. There was not in him any distrust of God¡¦s love, nor any unbelief
of His approbation before God, neither the least diffidence as to the result.
4. Neither are we to conceive that there was any inward confusion,
challenge or gnawing of conscience in Him, such as is in desperate sinners,
cast under the wrath of God, because there was no inward cause of it, nor
anything that could breed it.
II. WHEREIN IT DID
CONSIST.
1. It consisted in the Godhead s suspending its comfortable influence
for a time from the human nature. Though our Lord had no culpable anxiety, yet
He had a sinless fear, considering Him as man. The infinite God was angry, and
executing angrily the sentence of the law against Him.
2. He had an inexpressible sense of grief, not only from the outward
afflictions that He was under, but also from the current of the wrath flowing
in on His soul.
3. It consisted in a sort of wonderful horror which the marching up
of so many mighty squadrons of the highly provoked wrath of God, making so
furious an assault on His innocent human nature, was necessarily attended with.
(J. Durham.)
Christ¡¦s soul-travail
I. CHRIST¡¦S TRVAIL
OF SOUL IN THE WORK OF OUR REDEMPTION.
II. THE CERTAINTY
OF SUCCESS. ¡§He shall see.¡¨
III. HIS CONTENTMENT
THEREIN. ¡§He shall be satisfied.¡¨ He counts the salvation of lost sinners to be
satisfaction enough for all His pains. (T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s soul-sufferings
In Christ¡¦s
soul-sufferings we may take notice of two things--His desertion and agonies. (T.
Manton, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s satisfaction in
the salvation of sinners
Jesus Christ taketh an
infinite satisfaction in the salvation of sinners.
I. EVIDENCES OF
IT.
1. Christ pleased and entertained Himself in the thought of it before
the world was (Proverbs 8:31).
2. This was the end and aim of His coming into the world; and it is
pleasant when a man hath attained his end, especially if it be greatly desired
and much laboured for. For delight is according to the degree of the desire and
labour.
3. Now, in heaven it is His rejoicing to see the work thrive.
4. When He shall come from heaven to judge the world, with what
triumph and rejoicing will He come, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to the
Father!
II. THE REASONS OF
IT. His love was the cause of all--His love to the Father, and His love to the
saints. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The satisfaction of the
Messiah
Satisfied! Very few can
say that word on this side of heaven. There is no satisfaction for those who
are self-centred; and we say reverently that God Himself could not have known
perfect blessedness unless He had been able to pour Himself forth in blessing
upon others. We might put the truth into four sentences. There is no
satisfaction apart from love. There cannot be love for sinning suffering souls
without travail. There cannot be travail without compensating joy. In
proportion to the travail, with its pangs and bitterness, will be the resulting
blessedness.
I. THE TRAVAIL OF
CHRIST¡¦S SOUL. He suffered because of His quick sympathy with the anguish that
sin had brought to man. He probably saw, as we cannot, the timid oppressed by
the strong; the helpless victim pursued by rapacity and passion. He heard the
wall of the world s sorrow, in which cries of little children, the shriek or
moan of womanhood, and the deep bass of strong men wrestling with the
encircling serpent-folds, mingle in one terrible medley. He sighed over the
deaf and dumb, had compassion on the leper, wept at the grave. As the
thorn-brake to bare feet, so must this world have been to His compassionate
heart. He must also have suffered keenly by the rejection of those whom He
would have gathered, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing, but they
would not. But these elements of pain are not to be compared with that more
awful sorrow which He experienced as the substitute and sacrifice of human
guilt. It could not be otherwise. He could not have loved us perfectly without
becoming one with us in the dark heritage of our first parent. Dost thou love
Christ? The first duty He will lay on thee will be love to others. And if thou
dost truly love, thou too shalt find thy meed of soul-travail.
II. THE CERTAINTY
OF INFINITE COMPENSATION. ¡§He shall see.¡¨ It is impossible to suffer
voluntarily for others, and not in some way benefit them. Thy pain may
sometimes seem abortive--the mighty throes that rend thee for the souls of
others appear in vain; but it is not really so. Drop by drop thy tears shall
presently turn the scale. Patience shall have her perfect work. The laws of the
harvest in this sphere are as certain in their operation as in that of nature.
III. THE NATURE OF
CHRIST¡¦S COMPENSATION. It will come--
1. In the glory that shall accrue to the Father.
2. In the redemption of untold myriads. Great as the harvest of sin
has been, we believe that the saved shall vastly outnumber the lost. Nothing
less will satisfy Christ. Remember that in the first age, before mention is
made of the latter triumphs of the Gospel, John beheld in heaven a multitude
which no man could number.
3. In the character of the redeemed. He shall present them to Himself
without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
4. In the destruction of the devil s work. What is involved in the
majestic promise that He should destroy the works of the devil, is not yet made
manifest. In due time we shall see it all.
IV. THE GREATNESS
OF THOSE RESULTS.
1. They must be proportionate to the glory of His nature. It is not
difficult to satisfy, at least temporarily, a little child. But as its nature
develops, it becomes increasingly hard to content it. But surely there is more
difference between the capacity of an angel and that of a man, than between the
capacities of a man and a babe But, great as an angel is, his capacity is
limited and finite. What then must be the measure of that blessedness, of that
harvest of souls, of that result of His travail, which can content the Divine
Redeemer?
2. They must be proportionate to the intensity of His suffering. The
results of God¡¦s work are always commensurate to the force He puts forth. You
cannot imagine the Divine Being going to an immense expenditure without a sure
prescience that He would be recouped. Satisfied! We shall hear His sigh of deep
content, and see the triumph on His face. And if Christ is satisfied, we shall
be. On this let us rest. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
Messiah suffering and
Messiah satisfied
I. A few thoughts
illustrative of THE MEANING of the text.
II. Two or three
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS to show how we ought to be affected who believe that
meaning.
1. The ¡§satisfaction¡¨ of Messiah in relation to the present world is
yet incomplete. This should promote humility.
2. In spite of all past disappointments, we confidently expect the
fulfilment of this prophecy.
3. The subject ought to lead us individually seriously to examine
whether we are contributing to the Saviour¡¦s satisfaction, either by what we
are or by what we are doing. (T. Binney D.D.)
The reward of the
Redeemer¡¦s sufferings
He sees of the travail of
His soul and is satisfied.
1. In the free remission of sins which, through His blood and in His
name, has been proclaimed to the children of men.
2. In the actual return of sinners to God. (R. Gordon, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s travail and
satisfaction
The travail is the agony
of one Divine as well as human, and that word leads us to the deepest depths of
Gethsemane and Calvary--deeper than any plummets of angels¡¦ sympathetic
imagination could ever sound; while on the other hand, the satisfaction spoken
of is similarly the satisfaction of one Divine as well as human, and projects
before us something higher than the usual serenity of God, something more
blissful than the usual gladness of the skies, some harvest home, some
exquisite ecstasy that fills and overflows the Father-heart of God.
I. Whatever there
may be in this word, there is a lesson of this sort, that WITHOUT SACRED
TRAVAIL IN THE SENSE OF LABOUR, SACRIFICE, PATIENCE, THERE IS NEVER ANY ABIDING
SATISFACTION. Not even for God. There are, I doubt not, indeed, many things
which yield satisfaction to God, which, perhaps, involve no Divine travail of
proportionate amount. I dare say it might be the case that creation came easily
to Him, to the overflowing energy of Divine omnipotence. That it was easy for
His infinite wisdom to adapt every organism to its place, and every creature to
its circumstances; and He has satisfaction in that work of His hands. Perhaps
providence comes easily to Him. But when He aims at the greater objects that
engage His heart, when He would not make but save the world, when He would get
back to Him the love of His suspicious and wandering children, when He would
fill His house with guests, and when He would make these guests eternally
worthy of His fellowship, and capable of communion with Him, then not easily
even for Him can that work be done; but between Him and this joy that He sets
before Him there is the travail of Bethlehem, with its lowliness, of His lonely
pilgrim path of misunderstanding, of the weakness of feeble friends, and the
bitterness of hateful foes:--there is Gethsemane, there is Calvary. Do not let
us dream of doing anything effective for ourselves, or others cheaply, lightly,
easily. ¡§If any one will be My disciple,¡¨ says Christ, let him take up the
cross--the gibbet--and follow Me¡¨--bidding farewell to dreams of ease, thoughts
of self-indulgence, and copying the pattern set upon the Mount of Calvary.
There is no sorrow in the world which you and I cannot materially relieve if we
will but share it, but there is no sorrow that can be touched till we share it.
II. WHEREVER THERE
IS SACRED TRAVAIL THERE IS ALWAYS ABIDING SATISFACTION. There may be travail in
other directions without any satisfaction. Travail for wealth often leaves a
man in poverty; travail for the sake of honour leaves him still insignificant
and unknown. Do not spend your labour for that which will not profit, but
aspire to the grand reward, to the noble results of existence, and put forth
the sacred travail which, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or
think, is rewarded and blessed of heaven.
III. Our text
suggests a third lesson which it is desirable for all Christian workers to
remember--THE SALVATION OF MAN IS THE SATISFACTION OF GOD.
IV. THE SALVATION
OF MEN WILL BE ON SUCH A SCALE, AS TO GIVE COMPLETE AND PERFECT SATISFACTION TO
GOD. The word ¡§satisfaction¡¨ is a large word. You know it is easy to please a
man, but it is hard to satisfy him; and, as some one has said, it is the same
with God; He is easily pleased, but hard to satisfy. (R. Glover, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s soul-travail
I. THE TRAVAIL OF
HIS SOUL. Think of the travail of our Lord¡¦s soul between Bethlehem and
Calvary.
1. The travail of waiting during the long years of the life at
Nazareth, during the tedious process of training the disciples that followed (Luke 12:50).
2. The travail of His own personal temptation, in the solitude of the
wilderness, the protests of Peter, the impulses and the spiritual aloofness of
the multitudes, and the actual hostility of their leaders (John 1:11).
3. Omitting many other particulars, the travail of Gethsemane and the
cry upon the cross (Matthew 27:46).
4. The travail with sin. ¡§Upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all¡¨ A
pure spirit is alway pained, even at the sight of meanness or vice. Christ¡¦s
spirit was so pure that Satan could find nothing in Him (John 14:30); and yetin the loneliness of the passion He suffered the penalty
of sins not His own, wrestled with them in prolonged, triumphed over them for
ever on the Cross. And if the travail of His soul be measured by the distance
between His holiness and the guilt with which He consented to be charged, it
will be seen to be absolutely without parallel in human history.
II. THIS TRAVAIL,
SO IT IS SOMETIMES STATED, HAS PROVED SHEER WASTE, or at least, has not
accomplished, and is not likely to accomplish, anything like what Christ in
enduring it expected.
1. ¡§Christianity a failure has been the theme of many a critic of our
faith; and the failure has been alleged to occur in almost every department of
thought and morals and mission. It must be confessed that Christianity has not
yet succeeded completely anywhere. Even in places where it has had on its side
almost every possible advantage--been supported by governments, illustrated by
every kind of genius, in control of the influences of education and public
opinion--it has not made society quite pure, or even the average character of
its own agents and adherents faultless. And at present there is no part of the
earth upon which the Saviour can be imagined to look and to be satisfied with
what He sees. The complaint sometimes takes a more personal form. Every
Christian is occasionally tempted to think that religion is proving for himself
personally something of a failure. After years of sincere trust and service,
there are faults of temper, elements of discontent and self-seeking and sin
present in the nature, and often apparently even supreme there. And instead of
imagining that our Saviour is satisfied with us, the disposition is rather to
imagine that we can never satisfy Him, never become ¡§perfect¡¨ and matured, but
that we shall have to go on stumbling and faulty to the end.
2. There are two obvious modes of dealing with these complaints and
suspicions. It would be possible to plead the intractability of the material,
and to imitate natural science in her ceaseless demand for time. Or, we may
place ourselves with this prophet at the ultimate end of our Lord¡¦s career, and
see whether there are not, in society and in the heart of man, processes of
progress that are tending to success. The conclusion will probably be that the
success of Christianity, in relation to everything that concerns morality and
religion, has already been so great as even to guarantee the eventual
satisfaction concerning which this verse speaks.
The effects of our Lord¡¦s
passion
I. THE SUFFERINGS
OF OUR LORD. These sufferings were--
1. Continual.
2. Extreme.
3. Voluntary.
4. Expiatory.
5. Completely effectual.
II. THE
SATISFACTION WHICH HE FEELS IN VIEWING THE EFFECTS OF HIS SUFFERINGS.
1. The sight. Our Lord has seen of the travail of His soul
2. The satisfaction. We are not merely to consider the salvation of
sinners as satisfying the Saviour, but as satisfying Him after all the
preceding anguish of His sufferings.
Conclusion:
1. The light which the subject casts on the value of the soul of man.
Both the inconceivable agony of our Lord¡¦s passion, and the satisfaction He
derives from its effects, suppose the unspeakable worth of the human soul.
2. The light which this subject reflects on the hope of a penitent¡¦s
acceptance with Christ. Surely, if He endured such a travail, such anguish of
soul and body, and that for the redemption of sinners, He will never reject any
one who sincerely renounces his sins and flies to Him. Surely His atonement can
reach the case of the worst offender.
3. The illustration which this subject supplies of the powerful
motive, by which the Christian is constrained to obey his Saviour. What can
claim and fix our love and obedience, if such sufferings, voluntarily endured
for us, cannot?
4. The light this subject throws on the future propagation of the
Gospel throughout the world. For, if the engagement of the Covenant of
redemption expressly be that our Lord ¡§shall see of the travail of His soul and
be satisfied,¡¨ then we may go forth in the cause of missions and of the Bible
with a humble confidence. (D. Wilson, M.A.)
The salvation of man, the
joy of the Redeemer
I. SOME OF THOSE
OBJECTS WHICH IT IS DECLARED THE MESSIAH SHALL BEHOLD, AS THE RESULT OF HIS SUFFERINGS.
1. To remove obstructions out of the way of the sinner¡¦s salvation.
2. The salvation of His own people.
3. To rectify the moral disorders of our nature.
II. THE
SATISFACTION WITH WHICH THE SAVIOUR WILL BEHOLD THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS PURPOSES.
1. The completion of any great undertaking is accompanied with
satisfaction.
2. Another source of satisfaction to the Saviour must be in the
consciousness of having accomplished a work of infinite beneficence. (S.
Summers.)
The satisfaction of Christ¡¦s
sufferings
I. WHAT WAS THE
TRAVAIL OF CHRIST ?
II. WHY HE
SUBMITTED TO IT.
III. WHY AND WHEN HE
IS SATISFIED THAT HE ENDURED IT.
1. He is satisfied when He sees any penitent transgressor alarmed by
His warnings, or touched by His merciful invitations, and turning to the
obedience which he owes to God.
2. When He sees those whom He has redeemed walking uprightly before
God.
3. The last and fullest recompense of the Redeemer s sufferings is
still to come; to come in that great and joyful day, when He shall see the
family which He has ransomed with His blood surrounding His throne in glory. (J.
B. Sumner, M.A.)
The sympathy and
satisfaction of the Redeemer
I. THE DEEP,
DIVINE, IMPASSIONED SYMPATHY OF THE REDEEMER.
1. If we analyze the expression, ¡§the travail of His soul,¡¨ we shall
find that its meaning is not exhausted, if, indeed, it is illustrated at all,
by a reference to the physical sufferings of our Lord. In the writings of the
Fathers; in the devotional literature of the Middle Ages; in much of the sacred
poetry of ancient, and even of more recent, times; and more specially in the
highly realistic conception of sacred and legendary art, the physical
sufferings of the Redeemer are treated with an emphasis and detail, which is
not authorized by the Inspired record, and which imperils the clearness of our
insight into the deeper meaning and mystery of His passion. It is not denied
that physical suffering, most acute, most varied in form, and far transcending
power of description or of imagination, was the Divinely appointed lot of Him
whom ¡§it pleased the Lord to bruise.¡¨ Yet there is a reticence on the part of
the inspired writers in relation to the physical sufferings of our Lord which
is profoundly suggestive, not only as implying that a too realistic conception
of the Passion is prolific of unhealthy and morbid tendencies, but as
indicating that it is not within the range of His bodily anguish that we are to
discover the true gauge and meaning of His ¡§travail¡¨
2. If we contemplate the more subjective phases of the Redeemer¡¦s
suffering, we see the impossibility of appreciating, from the standpoint of our
human experience and intelligence, the travail of a sinless soul, ¡§smitten of
God and afflicted.¡¨
3. But ¡§the travail of His soul¡¨ involves more than this. It includes
that profound and indescribable sympathy, that yearning pity for fallen man,
that self-denying and soul-absorbing love of souls, which led the Eternal Son
of God to surrender Himself to humiliation and suffering, to empty Himself and
become ¡§obedient unto death--the death of the Cross¡¨--that sympathy which
perhaps has told more powerfully upon the human heart than the most picturesque
and stirring incidents in His life of lowliness and pain. It was in respect of
His sorrow for the fallen and the lost that there was ¡§no sorrow like unto His
sorrow.¡¨ I linger on the study of this ¡§travail of His soul¡¨ because of its
intimate relation to the success of all truly Christian toil. With many of us
the gravest problem of life is the comparative fruitlessness of our work. Does
not the secret lie in the feebleness of our sympathy, in the absence of that
which has been called a ¡§passion for saving souls¡¨?
II. THE CALM AND
TRANQUIL ASSURANCE WITH WHICH THE DIVINE REDEEMER SURVEYS THE COURSE AND DEVELOPMENT
OF HIS TOIL. A single word in the original is responsible for this deduction,
which, however, is sustained not only by the highly elliptical character of the
passage, but by the general tenor of the references of Holy Scripture to the
mediatorial function. These passages more particularly which refer to the
session of the Redeemer on the right hand of the Majesty on high, and notably
the memorable passage in the Hebrews: ¡§But this Man, after He had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till His enemies be made His footstool,¡¨ establish the doctrine which
the Hebrew original, with characteristic conciseness, enshrines in one word.
The same doctrine is reflected in the history of the Christian Church, which,
even in its varying cycles and its intermittent fortunes, bears witness to a
Divine Headship, calm, patient, and undisturbed. This tranquil survey of the
development and fruitage of His past travail in the moral history of the world
does not involve the idea of the personal inactivity of the ascended Son. But
this ceaseless activity is not fretted by the anxieties which wait upon human
toil. Our noblest work is harassed and hampered by conscious weakness, by
distrust of our methods, by the precarious conditions under which we labour, by
actual failures, or by the dread of prospective defeats. We, too, are baffled
by contingencies not calculable by human foresight: and in front of us there
looms that inevitable end of all work which comes alike to all. It is not under
such conditions that the enthroned Redeemer surveys the fields of His toil. In
the calm assurance which these words imply, there lies a tacit rebuke of the
recklessness and feverish impatience of the Church in regard to the conversion
of the world.
III. THE CERTAINTY
OF HIS FINAL AND ETERNAL SATISFACTION. It is obvious that if this passage is to
be taken literally, the ultimate issues of redemption will far transcend the
loftiest anticipations which the Church has ventured to entertain. For though
there be a few passages even in the ministry of our Lord which seem to look
towards a less cheering sequel, a study of their surroundings will show that
there is no collision between them and the most hopeful interpretation of the words
of the text. No conclusions drawn from merely human analogies can be fairly
applied in the endeavour to ascertain the limits within which the satisfaction
of the Reedemer is to be understood. Human nature is governed by sentiment.
Judging of the Divine administration by its own feelings, it has assumed that
nothing less than the final restoration of every fallen man can satisfy the
travail of the soul of the Redeemer. But the Divine economy is not an economy
of sentiment. The infinite love of the Father acts only in harmony with the
other attributes of the Divine nature. Law must be satisfied as well as love;
and the human will must not be coerced in its acceptance or rejection of the
provisions which mercy has devised. But while we decline to indulge even a
larger hope, which rests only on sentiment and on the subtle perversion of the
Sacred text, no limitations which must necessarily be assigned to its
exposition can spoil it of its overpowering significance. No human mind can
indicate the sources or measure the depths of that satisfaction. The practical
application of this ancient prophecy is furnished by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:58). (R. N. Young, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s vision the Cross
It was in the crisis of
His mental and spiritual horror, and agony and darkness, that a vision broke on
the eyes of Jesus which made even His death on the Cross to be even a
satisfaction to Him.
I. HE SAW THE
COMPLETION OF THE MOST STUPENDOUS UNDERTAKING OF GOD.
II. THE VISION GAVE
HIM THE SATISFACTION OF A CONQUEROR.
III. IN THAT VISION
WAS A SIGHT OF THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN WINNING THE HEARTS OF MEN TO GOD. (C.
F. Deems, LL.D.)
He shall be satisfied
The satisfaction of which
the prophet speaks is not the joy of a sinner in the Saviour who redeems him,
but the joy of the Saviour over sinners whom He has redeemed.
I. THE TRAVAIL OF
HIS SOUL. We may take note of some of the ingredients that entered into the
cup, although we cannot measure the degree of their bitterness.
1. He who was from all eternity the beloved of His Father put His
glory off, and put on our nature.
2. He severed Himself from the company of the holy who loved and
worshipped Him, for the company of the unholy who in feeble friendship vexed or
in open enmity crucified Him.
3. ¡§He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.¡¨
4. He met personally with the person of the wicked one in our
quarrel.
5. His heart was often sore vexed by ignorance, selfishness,
unfaithfulness, even of His own selected disciples.
6. The people for whose sake He came into the world--the Israel among
whom he was born and bred--would none of Him.
7. The office of the priesthood, which He loved and honoured as God s
institute to hold up the promise of redemption, was by those who held it
prostituted to reject the counsel of God.
8. But alone, and above all, incomprehensible to us, yet awful both
for the part that we know and the part that we know not, is the desertion by
the Father, and the final descent of wrath, due to sin, on the Redeemer¡¦s soul.
II. THE FRUIT THAT
RESULTS FROM THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL. It is not to the sufferings in themselves
that the Redeemer looks. Herein appears the greatness of His love. He looks
over and past the travail of His soul, and fixes His regards on the results
that it secures.
III. THE
SATISFACTION WHICH THE SAVIOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE RESULTS OF THE TRAVAIL OF HIS
SOUL. How comes it that this new creature is graven more deeply on the heart of
the Eternal Son than all His other works? Those other possessions were created
by His word, or fashioned by His hand, but this springs from the travail of His
soul. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
¡§The travail of His soul:¡¨
In dealing with the travail
of our Redeemer¡¦s soul, we are like a child writing down in figures the
national debt of the country. The figures are soon written, and they are all
correct; but how much of the mighty meaning has entered the mind of that child.
(W. Arnot, D. D.)
The fruit of Christ¡¦s
sacrifice
The fruit of Christ¡¦s
sacrifice included three things:--
I. THE GLORY THAT
SHOULD ACCRUE TO THE FATHER from the new splendours reflected on all the
perfections of His character by the work of human redemption.
II. THE REWARD THAT
SHOULD ACCRUE TO THE SAVIOUR HIMSELF, His personal exaltation, mediatorial
authority, His Father s approbation, and the blessings of countless millions
ransomed by His blood.
III. THE BENEFIT
THAT SHOULD ACCRUE TO HIS PEOPLE, the blissful change produced upon their
condition, character, and prospects--children of wrath snatched from hell,
servants of corruption rescued from their debasing servitude, rebels against
God subdued by the sweet influence of His grace, cleansed from all moral
defilement, arrayed in the beauties of holiness, purified, refined, ennobled,
rendered worthy associates of unfallen angels, and made to people heaven, who,
but for Christ¡¦s interposition, must have been the tenants of hell. This last
is the cause of His satisfaction specially referred to in the text. (J. Roxburgh,
M.A.)
The success of the Gospel
How few of us are
satisfied! The prophet himself seems far from being satisfied; for in the first
verse of the chapter he laments, ¡§Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed?¡¨ And yet so complete shall be the Gospel at last,
so entirely shall it fulfil all that God meant it to accomplish, that Jesus
Himself shall be satisfied.
I. WHY THIS
SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IS CALLED THE TRAVAIL OF JESUS¡¦ SOUL. Because Gospel
blessings are given us on account of Christ¡¦s sufferings.
II. If we would see
a little more clearly the final success of the Gospel, let us ask, WHEN DID HE
SEE THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL, AND WAS SATISFIED? at what time? This chapter, I
think, tells us when. ¡§When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin,¡¨ says
the tenth verse, ¡§He shall see His seed.¡¨
III. If we would ask
IN WHAT RESPECTS JESUS WAS SATISFIED, we may answer at once, in every respect.
All the purposes for which He died will be accomplished. We may hence learn--
1. That the number of those finally saved will be exceedingly great.
2. The complete final sanctification of believers.
3. Another reason for which Christ poured out His soul unto death
was, to obtain for us the grace and help of His Holy Spirit. (E.
Bradley.)
The promised fruit of
Christ¡¦s sufferings
I. THE PREDICTION
BEFORE US HAS ALREADY BEEN PARTIALLY FULFILLED. Already has our Redeemer seen
much of the fruit of His sufferings. Our once barren world, watered by His
tears and His blood, has already produced a large harvest of righteousness and
salvation.
II. DURING THE
PERIOD WHICH MUST ELAPSE BEFORE TIME SHALL END, THIS PREDICTION SHALL RECEIVE A
MUCH MORE AMPLE ACCOMPLISHMENT.
III. IT IS TO THE
FINAL CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS, IT IS TO ETERNITY, THAT WE MUST LOOK FOR THE
COMPLETE FULFILMENT OF THIS ANIMATING PREDICTION. Our Redeemer will see that
spiritual edifice, the foundation of which was laid in His blood, which has
been so long erecting, standing before Him finished, resplendent in glory, and
perfect in beauty. (E. Payson, D.D.)
The prophecy of the Cross
In fancy we can see the
Son of God standing before the world began upon the heights of heaven, His
ancestral home, and there with conflicting emotions at work within His heart,
and mirrored on His face, He sees the great drama of Calvary unrolled before
His eyes.
I. JESUS SAW THE
NECESSITY FOR THE CROSS.
1. He knew that God the Father had plans for man. He was a being of
order and intelligence. Man was to be created in the image of God. He was to
have happiness within his reach. It was to come by a perfect obedience to the
will of God. That was all man needed for happiness.
2. Jesus saw that men would go away from the plan of God.
II. JESUS SAW THE
REALITY OF THE CROSS. Jesus knew as He looked with prophetic eye that there
must be some satisfaction rendered for the law that had been violated. He saw
that He must render that satisfaction.
III. JESUS SAW THE
FRUIT OF THE CROSS. (A. W. Bealer, D.D.)
The Saviour¡¦s ultimate joy
May we not safely say that
the joy will be as varied as the relationships which our Saviour bears to us?
It will be the joy of the Sufferer whose agony is forgotten in the abundance of
bliss,--the joy of the Sower in reaping the abundance of the harvest,--the joy
of the Shepherd in seeing all the sheep as one flock, safe for ever in the
heavenly fold,--the joy of the Friend in seeing all His friends by His side in
a union with Him and with each other, that no misapprehension shall ever mar,
and no sin shall ever stain,--it will be the joy of the Warrior when the battle
is over, when every enemy is still as a stone, and the summons to fight is
exchanged for victorious rest,--it will be the joy of the Leader, who has
brought all His host into the promised land,--it will be the joy of the
Mediator, who has discharged His trust and surrendered it to the Father,
saying, ¡§Of those whom Thou gavest Me I have lost none,¡¨--it will be the joy of
the King who is to reign for ever over a kingdom in which revolt has been made
impossible through the achievements of almighty grace,--it will be the joy of
the Redeemer when the redemption is complete, fulfilling His longings and His
prayers,--it will be the joy of the First-born Son at seeing every member of the
new-born family safe in a happy home, which no sin can disturb and no death
invade,--it will be the joy of the Son of man in witnessing the ideal of human
perfection,--it will be the joy of the Son of God, as to principalities and
powers in heavenly places He reveals through a glorified Church the manifold
wisdom of God, showing to worlds on worlds what Infinite Love devised and
Infinite Power achieved! (C. Clemance, D.D.)
Travail of soul and
satisfaction
I have known an eminent
portrait-painter, who, when the crisis of his picture came at which it was to
be determined whether or not he had produced a likeness of the features only,
or a picture of the soul and character of his subject, used to fall into
perfect paroxysms of excitement, weeping, wringing his hands and grovelling on
the ground; but when it was over and the true likeness stood embodied the
canvas, gave way to equally extravagant exultation. (J. Stalker, D.D.)
Messiah satisfied
Small things will satisfy
a small mind. It requires great things to satisfy a great mind. What must be
required to satisfy the mind of an angel? above all, what must be required to
satisfy the mind of God? The salvation of ruined mankind does so! (J. R.
Macduff, D.D.)
The satisfaction of
realized purpose
There is intense joy in
work when it is done and well done. The humblest mechanic feels this pleasure
when he sees the article he has been making passing out of his hands perfect.
The poet surely feels it when he writes Finis at the end of the work into which
he has poured the full force of his genius. What must it have been to William
Wilberforce to hear on his deathbed that the cause to which he had devoted the
toil of a lifetime had triumphed, and to know that, when he died, there would
not be a single slave breathing in any of the dependencies of Britain! (J.
Stalker, D.D.)
By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many
Justification by the
knowledge of Christ
I. THE GREAT
BENEFIT THAT FLOWS FROM CHRIST¡¦S SUFFERINGS. Justification.
II. THE PARTIES
MADE PARTAKERS OF THE BENEFIT. ¡§Many.¡¨
III. THE FOUNTAIN
FROM WHICH THIS BENEFIT FLOWS TO MANY. ¡§My righteous Servant.¡¨
IV. THE WAY CHRIST
JUSTIFIES. Not simply by forgiving, but by His satisfying for them. ¡§He shall
bear their iniquities.¡¨
V. THE MEANS BY
WHICH THIS BENEFIT IS DERIVED. ¡§By His knowledge.¡¨ (J. Durham.)
¡§My righteous Servant:¡¨
Consider the title that
Christ gets in these words.
I. He is called
the Lord¡¦s SERVANT. It looks to Him as Mediator. It imports--
1. A humiliation and inferiority in respect of God (Philippians 2:1-30).
2. His prerogative as being singularly and eminently God¡¦s Servant.
3. The particular task or work that is laid on Him, and the
commission that He hath got to prosecute that work.
4. That our Lord Jesus, in performing the work of redemption, cannot
but be acceptable to Jehovah, because it is a performing of that with which He
hath entrusted Him.
II. He is called
the Lord¡¦s RIGHTEOUS SERVANT. He is all excellent Servant; not righteous simply
as He is God, nor as He is man, but righteous in the administration of His
offices, and in the discharge of the great trust committed to Him. He
administrates His offices--
1. Wonderfully wisely.
2. Very tenderly.
3. Most diligently and effectually.
4. With all faithfulness. (J. Durham.)
Justification
There are commonly six
causes made necessary to concur in justification.
1. The efficient cause--God, the Party that doth justify.
2. The final cause--His own glory.
3. The meritorious cause--Christ¡¦s merit.
4. The inward instrumental cause--faith.
5. The formal cause, or that wherein justification consists.
6. The external, instrumental cause--the Word of God. (J. Durham.)
Knowledge and faith
Faith, where it is saving,
hath always knowledge going along with it.
1. Faith is nothing, but as it lays hold on some object. How can
faith lay hold on an object, except it know it?
2. Faith, as justifying, is always holden forth as making use of and
giving credit to that which is revealed in the Word.
3. In justification, God would have a sinner proceed as a man doth
who defends himself before an earthly tribunal. As it is dangerous in a weighty
cause to have an ignorant advocate, who puts in a wrong defence, so is it, in
this case, to be ignorant (Romans 10:3).
4. There must be repentance ere a sinner can be justified, which
supposeth knowledge. He must needs know his sin, and that his own righteousness
will not do his turn.
5. Look forward to the duties of holiness, which are necessary,
though not to justify you, yet that ye may live as it becomes justified
persons. Now, can any know or do duties, who are ignorant?
6. Consider your own peace, and how, in order to it, there is a
necessity of knowledge. (J. Durham.)
Justifying faith
1. The necessity of it.
2. The Object of it.
3. The act of it.
4. The effects that flow from it.
5. The manner of its concurring in the attainment of justification. (J.
Durham.)
Justification by the
knowledge of Christ
1. It is the privilege of the Gospel to discover a way for the
justification of sinners ¡§by His knowledge.¡¨
2. Faith is knowledge, or an apprehension of Christ. ¡§The knowledge
of Him.¡¨
3. By faith we are justified. He saith by His knowledge, but He
meaneth faith; such apprehensions of Christ as cause answerable dispositions in
the spirit. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The knowledge of Christ
I. WHAT IS THE
NATURE OF THE KNOWLEDGE TO WHICH THE PROPHET ASCRIBES SUCH EFFICACY? It is well
to cultivate the understanding, if, perchance, the Spirit of enlightening grace
might employ this faculty as an avenue to the heart. And yet we must beware of
substituting the means for the end. Others have acquired a more clear view of
the Gospel revelation, who know much, but employ their knowledge to no better
purpose than to maintain an empty parade of religious profession. What is the
knowledge to which we allude--the knowledge which involves privileges so
inestimable? The prophet calls it, the knowledge of the righteous Servant of
God. This is no other than the holy Jesus, the righteous Messiah.
1. There must be the knowledge of self.
2. The knowledge which the sinner acquires of his own character,
though connected with that to which the prophet alludes, is not the thing
itself. It is the knowledge of the Saviour, Christ. To know the Lord Jesus
Christ is to renounce all virtue in ourselves, and to look to Him alone for
salvation. But there is a further particular comprehended in the knowledge
which the believer has of Christ. The Lord Jesus is called the ¡§righteous
Servant of God.¡¨ If we love Him, we must love Him as a righteous Saviour.
II. THE BENEFITS
WHICH SUCH A KNOWLEDGE IS MADE INSTRUMENTAL IN PROCURING.
1. The believer enjoys justification from sin by the sufferings and
death of Christ.
2. As he is united by faith with the Saviour, he partakes in His
righteousness.
3. As he is designed for the heavenly inheritance, he must be made
meet for its enjoyment; and therefore he has the promise of the Spirit of
Christ to sanctify his heart. (W. North, M.A.)
¡§By His knowledge:¡¨
That is, either by His own
knowledge, or by their knowledge of Him. And, as Dean Plumptre puts it, the
prophet may have been directed to an expression which included both. For both
are true of Christ. Men are saved by knowing Him; and, on the other hand, it is
His knowledge of the Father that enables Him to lead men to the Father. (Expository
Times.)
Justifying the many
1. Here is a state supposed with regard to the many--that they would
need to be justified. Look at history. Let us look into our own hearts. Let us
look at the pure and holy law.
2. The prophet foresees One who would be an exception to the many.
While to them iniquities belong, this one would be the ¡§righteous Servant.¡¨
There has been but One in
all history to whom this expression could completely and unreservedly apply.
3. Nor did the prophet foresee this One merely as one Righteous One
amid a desolate waste of sin, but he foresees Him taking on Himself the
liabilities of the race. ¡§He shall bear their iniquities.¡¨
4. The knowledge of this Righteous One should have peculiar value.
¡§By His knowledge;¡¨ this and no more will the Hebrew term bear. But we may
understand either--by the knowledge He has, or by the knowledge that He
imparts, or by the knowledge of Himself that men should gain. Either way a
sense is conveyed that is intelligible and true.
5. Where the Righteous One is thus known, He accomplishes a glorious
justifying act. By means of the saving acquaintance with Him which believing
penitents make, when, confessing their sin, they rely on Him for pardon, He, in
the exercise of His own royal rights, absolves them from all their guilt, and
releases them from the condemning sentence of the law of God.
6. As the result of this release the penitents are re-set in a
position of favour, grace, and love.
7. The ground or reason of His justifying the many, is that He bore
their iniquities. The justifying is not only a sequence, but the consequence of
His bearing our sins. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
Verse 12
Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great
Christ¡¦s conflict and conquest
I.
CHRIST¡¦S
CONFLICT.
II. CHRIST¡¦S
CONQUEST. The conflict is last in the order of the words, but first in order of
nature and time. (T. Manton, D.D.)
The greatness of the Sin-bearer
It is the voice of God Himself; and it is befitting that, as He
introduced His Servant in the opening verses of this marvellous portraiture,
so, in these closing words, He should pronounce His verdict on His career. Two
things are clearly predicated of the Sin-bearer.
1. That He should be great.
2. That He should attain His commanding position, not as the founder
of a new school of thought, nor as the leader of a social reformation, nor as
possessed of exceptional saintliness--but as a Sufferer.
I. THE GREATNESS
GIVEN BY THE FATHER AS THE REWARD FOR CHRIST¡¦S OBEDIENCE TO DEATH. It was meet
that such a reward should be bestowed, for the sake of those who should
afterwards follow in the footsteps of their Divine Master. None could ever
deserve more or better than Christ; and if He were without recognition or
reward, might it not be thought that Heaven had no prize to give for faithful
service? Surely He must have a reward, or the very order of the universe might
be deemed at fault? But what reward should He have? What could compensate Him
for having laid aside the exercise of His Divine prerogative; for having
assumed our nature; for having passed through the ordeal of temptation, sorrow,
and pain; for having become obedient to death, even the death of the Cross? All
worlds were His by native right; all holy beings owned His sway as Creator and
God; all provinces of thought, emotion, power, and might, sent Him their
choicest tribute. What reward could He claim, or have? The answer may be
suggested by recalling our own pleasure in conferring pleasure, our joy in
giving joy. Let the limitations imposed by our mortality or circumstances be
removed; let us be able to realize to the full the yearnings and promptings of
our noblest hours; lot the wish to help be accompanied by a sympathy that
cannot hurt the most sensitive, a wisdom that cannot mistake, a power that
cannot be daunted or thwarted; and probably we should at once drink deep
draughts of blessedness like God¡¦s. This is the blessedness of Christ, and this
is the reward which the Father has given Him. God Himself could not give, nor
the Saviour ask for, a greater reward than this. And, in its magnificence, it
appeals to all who would tread in His steps. This is Heaven¡¦s supreme reward:
that all who pour out their souls to death shall obtain enlarged opportunities
and possibilities of service.
II. THE GREATNESS
THAT CHRIST¡¦S DEATH HAS SECURED HIM AMONG MEN. He is worthy to take the
mysterious scroll of destiny, and break its seals, because of the light Its has
cast on the great mysteries by which our lot is shadowed.
1. Pain. When it enwraps us in its fiery baptism, we are apt to
accuse ourselves or to doubt God. But Jesus has taught us that there is yet a
third way of regarding pain. He had not sinned, yet He suffered as none of
woman.born ever did. Evidently, then, pain is not always symptomatic of special
sin. He was once so submerged in anguish that for a time He lost the sense of
His Father¡¦s love; but He never suggested that there was failure or obliquity
in the moral government of the world. The death of Jesus has therefore robbed
death of these two implications, and has taught us that it is often sent, and
must be borne, with the view of benefiting others. What a priceless service was
this--to transform pain; to persuade sufferers that by their travail of soul
they were enriching the whole world of men.
2. Death. Men dread it. But He, by His dying, has abolished death,
and brought life and immortality to light. For this we count Him great, that
through death He undid death.
3. Sin When Jesus died on the Cross, He was numbered with transgressors;
but He stood over against all transgressors, distinct from them and bearing
their sin. This surely constitutes an overmastering claim for us to count
Christ great.
III. THE GREATNESS
WHICH HIS DEATH WILL WIN FOR CHRIST IN THE ESTIMATION OF OTHER RACES OF BEING.
Not to the Mount of Beatitudes, but to the Cross, will distant worlds send
their deputations in all coming ages, to learn the manifold lessons which it
alone can teach. There they will learn to know the very heart of God, His
hatred against sin, His love for the sinner, His fidelity to covenant
engagements, His righteousness, His truth. The Cross is the heavenly prism that
enables us to distinguish the constituents of the Divine nature. (F. B.
Meyer, B. A.)
He shall divide the spoil
with the strong
¡§He shall divide the spoil with the strong:¡¨
This is generally interpreted as picturing a conqueror sharing
with other fellow-conquerors in the booty of the conquered. But could that
figure have any analogy in Christ¡¦s triumph¡¨ Who could be His fellow-conquerors?
What could be the booty of His conquered ones? Much better is it to consider
¡§the strong,¡¨ or the ¡§mighty ones,¡¨ to represent the powers of darkness, who
have made spoil of the human race, and the division of the spell with them by
Messiah to be the rescue of souls from their grasp. The ¡§many¡¨ (Isaiah 53:11) whom He saves will then be
the spoil He snatches from the great enemy, and we can read the whole passage:
¡§By the knowledge of Him shall My righteous Servant give righteousness to many,
and He Himself shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him the
many as His portion, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty ones.¡¨ This
allusion to the powers of evil gives completeness to the prophetic description.
The humble birth, unattractive position in society, and unfavoured career
through life, are given in Isaiah 53:2,
3.
His partnership with distress and His own sufferings are exhibited invers. 4,
5, 6. His meekness is portrayed in Isaiah 53:7. Then comes the apparent
failure of His life, followed by its complete triumph in saving souls. We need
a word regarding the enemy triumphed over to make the wonderful prophetic
sketch complete. (Howard Crosby, LL.D.)
The Lord Jesus a glorious Conqueror
Dividing of the spoil is the effect of a sure and a great
conquest. The eminency of it lieth in these four things--
THE ADVERSARIES. They are always expressed by such notions as do
imply great strength and power (Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 4:8).
1. There is the devil, who is a powerful adversary. But ¡§the prince
of this world is judged¡¨ (John 16:11).
2. The law was an enemy, as it condemns us (Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:16).
3. Death and hell (1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 1:18).
4. The flesh (Romans 8:3).
5. The world (John 16:33).
6. All the adverse powers in the world (Psalms 2:10-12).
II. THE MEANS. The
weapons of this warfare are not carnal.
1. As to His death.
2. By the Word of the Cross, called the foolishness of preaching.
3. By His Spirit; a great force, but secret and undiscerned.
4. By His prayers and intercessions.
III. THE MANNER OR
NATURE OF THE CONQUEST, how it is achieved.
1. The enemies are overcome and terribly broken: there is a total
dissipation of all the powers of darkness.
2. Not barely overcome, but spoiled and rifled (Colossians 2:15).
3. Such a victory as endeth in a solemn triumph; as conquerors in
public view carried their spoils and their enemies tied to their chariots, so
Christ would expose them to open shame.
IV. WHAT SPECIAL
BENEFITS WE HAVE BY THE CONQUEST OF CHRIST.
1. The banishment of distracting fear (Hebrews 2:15).
2. An encouragement to the spiritual conflict.
3. Joy unspeakable and glorious.
4. Hopes of glory; we shall conquer with Him, and reign with Him.
5. The very exaltation of Christ is a great comfort to us.
6. Christ¡¦s conquest is a token, earnest and pledge of our victory.
7. What Christ did in this conquest, He did it for our sakes. He will
have nothing but we shall share in it.
8. Another benefit is usefulness and serviceableness for all that
befalls us. Christ doth so effect it that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). (T. Manton, D.D.)
He hath poured out His
soul unto death
The conflict of Christ explained
I. HIS DEATH. ¡§He
hath poured out,¡¨ etc.
II. THE IGNOMINY OF
IT. ¡§He was numbered with the transgressors.¡¨
III. THE CAUSE OF
IT. ¡§He bare,¡¨ etc.
IV. THE NOTED
CIRCUMSTANCE IN IT. ¡§He made intercession for the transgressors.¡¨ (T. Manton,
D.D.)
The love of Christ
He gave Himself.
I. THE GIFT. ¡§His
soul.¡¨
II. THE MANNER OF
GIVING. ¡§Poured out.¡¨
III. THE INTENT. (T.
Manton, D.D.)
Christ killed by the inner Cross
It was not the Cross of wood that killed the Saviour, but the
inner Cross, which lay heavily on His soul. (C. Clemance, D.D.)
Christ¡¦s connection with sinners the source of His glory
I. The first
source of the Mediator¡¦s glory is, that He, out of His love to guilty men, has
POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH. The penalty of sin is death. ¡§The soul that
sinneth, it shall die.¡¨ The Lord Jesus came into such connection with men that
He bore the death penalty which guilty men had incurred. Remark the expression:
¡§He hath poured out His soul unto death.¡¨ It is deliberate. It is a libation
presented with thought and care; not the mere spilling of His blood, but the
resolute, determinate pouring out of His whole life unto its last drop--the
pouring it; out unto death. Christ¡¦s resolve to die for you and me was not that
of a brave soldier who rushes up to the cannon¡¦s mouth in a moment of
excitement; but He was practically pouring out His life from the day when His
public ministry commenced, if not before. He was always dying by living at such
a rate that His zeal consumed Him.
2. It was most real and true. I pray you do not think of Christ as
pouring out His soul, as though it made Him spend a sort of ecstatic life in
dream-land, and suffer only in thought, intent, and sympathy. My Lord suffered
as you suffer, only more keenly; for He had never injured His body or soul by
any act of excess, so as to take off the edge from His sensitiveness.
3. See how complete it was. Jesus gave poor sinners everything. His
every faculty was laid out for them. Put your trust; m Him, then, without
reserve.
II. OUR LORD WAS
NUMBERED WITH SINNERS. ¡§He was numbered with the transgressors.¡¨ There is a
touch of nearness to the sinner about this which there is not in the first
clause. He bears death for the sinner; but you could not suppose, if you had
not read it, thus He would be written in the sinner s register. He was not, and
could not be, a sinner; but yet it is written, ¡§He was numbered with the
transgressors.¡¨ Is there a census taken of sinners? Then, the name of Jesus is
written down. How was He numbered with the transgressors? This makes it the
more marvellous, because it is so hurtful to a man who is pure, to be numbered
with the impure.
Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors--
1. By the tongue of slander. They called Him a drunken man and a
wine-bibber: they even called Him Beelzebub. That was sharp enough for Him to
bear, whom all the angels salute as ¡§Holy, holy, holy!¡¨
2. In the earthly courts of justice. He stood at the bar as a common
felon, though He was judge of all. Though they could not find witnesses whose
testimony agreed, yet they condemned Him (Mark 15:28).
3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on earth, was treated, in the providence of God, as transgressors
are treated. Transgression sometimes brings on men poverty, sickness, reproach,
and desertion; and Jesus Christ had to take His share of all these with sinful
men. All things in this world that are so keen and terrible to man, because man
has become so guilty, were just as keen and terrible to Him. The nails that
pierced Him tore His tender flesh as they would have torn that of the sinful.
Fever parched Him till His tongue cleaved to His jaws.
4. The Holy God treated Him as if He were one of us. ¡§It pleased the
Father to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.¡¨. God not only turned His back
on transgressors, but He turned His back upon His Son, who was numbered with
them.
III. The third
matter by which the Lord Jesus Christ has won His victories, and earned reward
of God, is this: ¡§HE BARE THE SIN OF MANY.¡¨
IV. The last thing
is this: ¡§HE MADE INTERCESSION FOR THE TRANSGRESSORS.¡¨ Who among us will take
up the part of the guilty? Who will plead for the guilty? I know, in certain
oases, the lawyer will sell his tongue to the most polluted; but if a man were
perfectly pure, you would not find him saying a word in defence of the guilty.
So far as the man was guilty he could not be defended. But our Lord made
intercession for transgressors. When He was here on earth how tender He was
with transgressors! He bore on His heart the names of guilty men. He was always
pleading their cause, and when He came to die he said, ¡§Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.¡¨ He took their part. He would exculpate them if
He could. I dare say that He has often prayed like that for you. Now He has
gone up yonder He is pleading still. Application:
He was numbered with the
transgressors
The Friend of sinners
I. To the sinner,
troubled and alarmed on account of guilt, there will be much comfort in the
thought that CHRIST IS ENROLLED AMONG SINNERS. ¡§He was numbered with the
transgressors.¡¨
1. In what sense are we to understand this?
2. Why was Christ numbered with transgressors?
II. We are taught
in the next sentence, that Christ ¡§BARE THE SINS OF MANY.¡¨
1. Here it is as clear as noon-day that Christ dealt with sinners.
2. As He did bear their sins, other texts tell us that He did bear
them away.
3. There is now no sin abiding upon those for whom Jesus died.
III. Our third
sentence tells us that JESUS INTERCEDES FOR SINNERS. ¡§And made intercession for
the transgressors.¡¨
1. He pleads for their forgiveness.
2. He next prays that those for whom He intercedes may be saved, and
may have a new life given them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ numbered with the transgressors
He became a sinner, though sinless--
1. By imputation.
2. By reputation. (J. Trapp.)
Made intercession far the
transgressors
Christ¡¦s intercession for transgressors
Christ in this and such like actions is to be considered in a
double regard--
1. As a holy, godly man; so He was to fulfil all righteousness.
2. As a mediator and public person, that was to be our High Priest,
to satisfy and intercede. (T. Manton D. D.)
Christ s intercession
1. Who prayeth. Christ, one that could destroy them with His glory
easily enough.
2. When He prayed. In the very act of His sufferings.
3. For whom He prayed. For them that offered Him all the indignities
in the world.
4. How He prayed. He pleadeth for them; ¡§Forgive them,¡¨ etc. (T.
Manton, D.D.)
Jesus interceding for transgressors
Our blessed Lord made intercession for transgressors in so many
words while He was being crucified, for He was heard to say, ¡§Father, forgive
them; for they know not what they do.¡¨ Our Lord fixed His eye upon that point
in the character of His persecutors which was most favourable to them, namely,
that they knew not what they did. He could not plead their innocence, and
therefore He pleaded their ignorance. Our great Advocate will be sure to plead
wisely and efficiently on our behalf; He will urge every argument which can be
discovered, for His eye, quickened by love, will suffer nothing to pass which
may tell in our favour. The prophet, however, does not, I suppose, intend to
confine our thoughts to the one incident which is recorded by the evangelists,
for the intercession of Christ was an essential part of His entire life-work.
Jesus Himself is the reasoning and logic of prayer, and He Himself is an
ever-living prayer unto the Most High. It was part of our Lord¡¦s official work
to make intercession for the transgressors. He is a Priest, and as such He
brings His offering, and presents prayer on the behalf of the people.
I. I have to
direct your attention to our ever-living Lord making intercession for the
transgressors; and I shall pray God that all of us may be roused to ADMIRATION
FOR HIS GRACE.
1. If you will consider His intercession for transgressors I think
you will be struck with the love, and tenderness, and graciousness of His
heart, when you recollect that He offered intercession verbally while He was
standing in the midst of their sin. Sin heard of and sin seen are two very
different things. Our Lord actually saw human sin, saw it at its worst. He saw
it all, and felt the sin as you and I cannot feel it, for His heart was purer,
and therefore tenderer than ours: He saw that the tendency of sin was to put
Him to death, and all like Him, yea and to slay God Himself if it could achieve
its purpose, for man had become a Decide and must needs crucify His God--and
yet, though His holy soul saw and loathed all this tendency and atrocity of
transgression, He still made intercession for the transgressors.
2. Another point of His graciousness was also clear, namely, that He
should thus intercede while in agony.
3. But it is marvellous that He being pure, should plead for
transgressors at all: for you and for me amongst them--let the wonder begin
there.
4. Further, it is to me a very wonderful fact that in His glory He
should still be pleading for sinners.
5. Again, it is gloriously gracious that our Lord should continue to
do this. He hath never ceased to make intercession for transgressors.
II. I do earnestly
pray that we may be led of the Holy Ghost so to view His intercession for
transgressors as to put our CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF. There is ground for a
sinner¡¦s confidence in Christ, and there is abundant argument for the
believer¡¦s complete reliance in Him, from the fact of His perpetual
intercession.
1. Because His intercession succeeds.
2. There is reason for transgressors to come and trust in Jesus
Christ, seeing He pleads for them.
3. I am sure, too, that if Jesus Christ pleads for transgressors as
transgressors, while as yet they have not begun to pray for themselves, He will
be sure to hear them when they are at last led to pray.
4. In order that our confidence may be increased, consider the effect
of our Lord¡¦s intercession for transgressors.
III. I pray that our
text may inspire us with the spirit of OBEDIENCE TO HIS EXAMPLE. I take the
example of Christ to be an embodied precept as much binding upon us as His
written commands.
1. Imitate Him by forgiving all transgressions against yourself.
2. Imitate Christ, in pleading for yourselves. Since you are
transgressors, and you see that Jesus intercedes for transgressors, make bold
to say, ¡§If He pleads for such as I am, I will put in my humble petition, and
hope to be heard through Him.¡¨
3. If we have been forgiven our transgressions, let us now intercede
for transgressors, since Jesus does so.
4. Let us take care, that if we do plead for others we mix with it
the doing of good to them, because it is not recorded that He made intercession
for transgressors until it is first written, ¡§He bare the sin of many¡¨
5. If Christ appears in heaven for us, let us be glad to appear on
earth for him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Monarch becomes an intercessor for His foes
(with Luke 23:34):--Here prophecy and history
unite in taking us to the place which is calledCalvary.
I. IN WHAT LIGHT
SHOULD WE REGARD THESE WORDS?
II. WHAT IS THE
REQUEST? For whom? ¡§Forgive them,¡¨ those who were the instruments and agents in
His crucifixion. These were--
1. The people.
2. The chief priests and scribes.
3. The rulers.
4. The soldiers.
5. The Roman governor.
6. The passers-by, who were reviling Him.
7. Those who were crucified with Him, joining in the mockery and
jests.
What is the plea by which the petition is urged? ¡§They know not
what they do.¡¨ Not one of them knew the full extent of the crime. Not even the
disciples could have estimated the guilt of the people (Acts 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:6). There was only
One, even the Sufferer Himself, who could view that sin in all its manifold
complications, and hold evenly and righteously the scales of judgment.
III. WHAT A SPIRIT
OF LOVE THESE WORDS BREATHE! Their self-forgetfulness is wonderful. The sin of
those thus wronging the Saviour was a far greater cause of distress to Him than
all the degradation, ignominy, and pain He was enduring; on these things He
could be altogether silent, in order to plead for the forgiveness of others
sin. We see here, too, a love which, rising above human repulsiveness and
guilt, ever regards itself as sent to save; a love which would carry on a
redeeming work, even when stretched in agony on the Cross. Here, too, is not
only the love of One, whose saving energy could neither be repulsed nor
trammelled, but of One who, though He is most fully acquainted with the
greatness of their guilt, pleads before Him, to whom sin is an abominable
thing, the mitigation of their crime. Truly, it is a marvel of comfort that He,
who judges sin most exactly, deals with the sinner most tenderly! Here, too, is
Divine love making intercession for the transgressors; not for the good, but
for the bad; not for the penitent, but for the impenitent; that they may be
brought to repent; showing us how Christ¡¦s love goes after men always, under
all circumstances, in the lowest depths of guilt. Nevertheless, Divine love so
pleads, as to imply that if this sin had been committed with full understanding
of its enormity, He dared not have asked for its forgiveness. ¡§For they know
not what they do.¡¨ Thus the spirit of this prayer has its terrors as well as
its comforts. ¡§There is a sin unto death,¡¨ for which the Redeemer does not
intercede, and for which we have no commission or authority to pray. Where that
sin lies, what is its precise character, whether this or that man has committed
it, we dare not say. We can tell four things about it:--we know the region in
which it lies, the sign it has been committed, the sign it has not been
committed, and why there is no mercy for it. Where one who has the fullest
light indulges in the greatest sin, he is getting very near the unpardonable
sin. The sign that it has been committed, would be hard, final, impenitence.
True repentance is a sure sign it has not been committed. It is not pardonable,
because at such a stage the sinner will not repent.
IV. WHAT ARE THE
DOCTRINES THESE WORDS INVOLVE?
1. They teach us that the Father saves us through the Son.
2. That sins of ignorance need forgiveness. Paul sinned ¡§ignorantly
in unbelief,¡¨ and yet was the ¡§chief of sinners.¡¨
3. Whatever palliation of guilt may be allowed, owing to ignorance,
full recognition is taken thereof by the great Intercessor.
4. We are taught that the fuller the light the greater the sin (Hebrews 10:26-27).
5. That forgiveness of sin, by God, is so precious to us, because it
is made over to us in perfect knowledge of every aggravation and mitigation.
V. WHAT RESULTS
DID THIS INTERCESSION SECURE? We are sure that this prayer was answered. It did
not indeed avert the destruction of the doomed city, but--
1. It secured the forgiveness of every penitent who might be,
nevertheless, involved in its temporal disasters.
2. The Great Pleader¡¦s work soon proved its power in the salvation of
the thief on the Cross, and shortly after of thousands more.
3. By means of the intercession of our Lord, begun on earth, and now
carried on in heaven, we are ¡§not under the law, but under grace.¡¨ (C.
Clemance, D. D.)
Meaning of intercession
The question, ¡§What is meant by intercession?¡¨ being asked in a
Sunday school, one of the children replied, ¡§Speaking a word to God fur us,
sir.¡¨
Intercession for the transgressors
¡§I shall never forget,¡¨ wrote Miss Plumptre to a friend, ¡§the day
of the sadness and the gladness of my heart, the day when a chafed and
disappointed spirit found healing and rest in One whom I had done my utmost to
be independent of. The joy of the astronomer over his newly-discovered planet
is nothing to the rapture with which I gazed upon the word transgressors in the
last sentence of Isaiah 53:12; ¡¥He made intercession for
the transgressors.¡¦ I wellremember being so dazzled that for a time I thought
it a delusion, a misprint. It was something so altogether new to my proud,
hard-working spirit, that I could almost wonder that I did not erase it and put
in ¡¥the penitent¡¦ or ¡¥the humble¡¦ or one of nature¡¦s proud epithets. Yes, I
think that word ¡¥transgressors¡¦ was the first that ever glowed on me with all
the attraction of ¡¥free grace.¡¦¡¨.
¢w¢w¡mThe Biblical Illustrator¡n