CHAPTER LVII.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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.—Isaiah liii. 4, 5, 6.
"I pray thee, of whom did the Prophet speak these words?" was the inquiry of an Eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, when reading this chapter. Philip replied by beginning at the same scripture, and preaching unto him Jesus. To him alone can we apply the whole chapter. In every part it bears so striking a resemblance, that it appears more like a history written by a contemporary, than the prediction of a Prophet who lived at least seven hundred years before the character described. These verses are more valuable than fine gold—they are the key of knowledge—they open to our view a work of immense wisdom and benefit—they make us acquainted with the counsel and plans of Jehovah.—By them, a circumstance in the moral government of God, which was before dark and mysterious, is now bright and attractive.—They shed a glorious light on the person of Jesus.—By them we understand why he who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," was treated with such contempt and cruelty. We no longer see this part of God's moral government, as "through a glass darkly." The veil which is cast around his designs is withdrawn, and the glorious scheme of redemption bursts forth to our astonished senses, sparkling with wisdom, justice, mercy, and love. By them, we are taught that Jesus suffered, not for any sin of his own, but for the sins of his people. The prophet is particular on this point. The life and conduct of Jesus proved him exempt from all the corrupt principles and evil passions of the children of men. He alone is free from imperfection, and his character forms the most perfect model of all that is lovely, amiable, and exalted. In him was no sin, and even the unjust judge who delivered him for crucifixion, was compelled to declare he could find nothing worthy of death against him; no, nor yet Herod, for he had sent Jesus to him. No doubt both Herod and Pilate examined his conduct with eagle-eyes, and gladly would have discovered, if possible, something which might give them a plea for condemning a man who so publicly declared himself the Messiah. The Jews had looked forward to his coming with much pleasure, for they considered he would deliver them from the Roman yoke, under which they then groaned. The slightest shadow of guilt would have been sufficient for the purpose of these partial Governors, and it deserves observation, that Jesus was brought before them on a charge of perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that he was Christ, a King. But they can prove nothing against him, for the more his character is examined, the brighter it shines; and they are compelled to confess, "they can find nothing worthy of death against him." Pilate, from a clear conviction that Jesus was innocent, proposes to release him; but finding that he would draw on himself the malice and hatred of the priests, like a time-serving judge, he gave sentence as they desired, and in the same moment in which he declared he could find no fault in Jesus, did he deliver him over for crucifixion. Yet Pilate could not conceal the horrors of an accusing conscience; sensible of the black injustice of his conduct he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it." The people said, "his blood be on us, and on our children." In what court of judicature shall we find such another instance? We believe, in none. Never did any one suffer more unjustly than Jesus, if viewed as a private person; but these verses teach us to look upon him as the sinner's surety. Man, from his original corruption and actual transgression, is justly exposed to the condemnation of the law he has so much dishonoured. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have forsaken the Lord's ways, and turned every one to his own ways." "We have all done that which we ought not to have done, and have left undone that which we ought to have done, and there is no health in us." We have no just plea why the sentence, "let the wicked be turned into hell, and all the nations who forget God," be not executed on us. We must lay our hand upon our mouth before the tribunal of God, who is an impartial and righteous Judge, for we justly deserve the curses of the broken law to fall on us. The Divine Being (be it spoken with reverence) cannot, without injustice to himself, and dishonour to his law, (which is holy, just, and good,) allow the guilty to go free. Man must suffer the punishment consequent on his offences, or God must lay aside his justice, which is impossible, for it is an attribute essential to his existence. The debtor must suffer, unless some one be found to discharge the debt for him.
Die he, or justice must; unless for him
Some other able, and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death for death.
Paradise Lost, b. iii.
But where shall we find the man who can, by any means, "redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for his soul?" Nowhere; it is quite impossible for any mere man to deliver his own soul, and much more the soul of another. An angel, or all the mighty hosts of angels, cannot do it; they are the creatures of God's power, and consequently finite; and therefore cannot satisfy the justice of God, which is infinite. The mind of man could never have discovered a proper person. Human intellect is utterly unable to the task; it is incapable of soaring to such a height. But though man cannot find a surety, God has pointed one out, even Jesus, his own well-beloved son, who is the second person in the revealed order of the trinity; with him it is "no robbery to be equal with God;" for he is one with the Father, as touching his Godhead. Yet this great and glorious Personage voluntarily engaged to become the surety of his people; to expiate their guilt by suffering all the punishment due to them for sin.[105] In the fulness of time, this great head of his church left the joys of Heaven, and the praises of adoring saints and angels, to tabernacle on earth. Having veiled his glory beneath the human nature, which he took into union with his divine person, he came forth to accomplish the work he had, from the foundation of the world, covenanted to perform. As the surety, representative, and head of his people, he submitted to endure all the curses of the moral law they had broken. The Lord having accepted him in their place, and laid (by imputation) their iniquities on him, he also on him laid their punishment. Nor was it a mitigated punishment; he bore the whole weight of wo due to them. It is true, he did not go into hell, which was a part of the sentence denounced on guilty man; but he was not exempt from the buffeting of Satan. He was exposed to his malice in the garden; and when on the cross, he might be said to be in Satan's territories; for he is declared to be "the Prince of the power of the air," and having shot forth his most fiery darts, he appears to leave the scene of conflict like a triumphant conqueror, for his adversary is beheld breathless on the field of battle. Jesus needed not to descend into those abodes of wo to feel their sorrows, for he is heard to exclaim, that the pains of hell had got hold upon him. It is not the place, but the extent, and the kind of suffering, which constitutes misery; and Jesus felt it in a much greater degree, than even the miserable inhabitants of that wretched place, where hope never enters. They suffer for themselves as individuals, but he endured the weight of wo for a multitude so great, that no man can number them. Theirs are the sufferings of creatures, his was the sufferings of the infinite Creator; and this it is which gives such value, efficacy, and dignity, to all he did and suffered. His were the actions of one of Adam's race, for it was the children of earth who had rebelled, and whom he came to redeem; but what renders it beneficial to man, is that he is both God and man in one person. This union stamps a value upon his work: Jesus, by the dignity of his person, has made full satisfaction; yea, his sufferings have more than compensated for the indignity offered to God by sin. It has given a greater honour to God's holy law, than could have been done by the unsinning obedience of men and angels through time and eternity, for Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the commands of the moral law, and by that obedience he exalted, and made it honourable, and then suffered the penalty it denounced on the violators of its precepts. All his active and passive obedience was performed as the head of his people, and for their benefit. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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 must look beyond the Roman governors, soldiers, and the Jewish priests and people, to behold sin, as the great cause of all the buffetings, wounds, bruises, pains, and sorrows, of Jesus. This was the fruitful source of all his wo. Would you behold the justice of God? then look at the suffering Jesus, and remember that it was not his own, but imputed, guilt. Would you know the mercy of God, and see a display of his love to man? then look at Jesus. Let it sink deep into your heart, and may your soul be influenced by the truth, that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "For God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." "He that believeth in him is not condemned; but he that believeth not, is condemned already; because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." "For there is none other name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved." "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." In the work of redemption by Jesus, we behold "mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other."
CHAPTER LVIII.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.—Psalm xvi. 9, 10.
These words are not applicable to David, for after he had served his generation, he fell asleep, and his body, interred in the royal sepulchre of the kings of Judah, which was in the city of David, saw corruption. The sentence "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," has, for many a generation, been accomplished on Jesse's Royal Son. The remains of this mighty monarch cannot now be distinguished from those of earth's meanest slave. They are alike mingled in the dust of death, and must remain hid from the eye of man until the archangel's trump shall sound, and the command be given, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment. The hell (in Hebrew, scheol) here alluded to, cannot be that place of torment, prepared for the devil and his angels, from which a soul never did or will escape. When once consigned to that abode of wo, there is a great gulf fixed, even the unchangeable decree of Omnipotence; a barrier stronger than walls of brass, and cannot be surmounted, or destroyed.[106] The word here rendered hell, (in the Greek, hades,) is the same as the Jews, before the Babylonish captivity, used for the grave, and is the sense in which it must be here understood. This verse is prophetic of the resurrection of the Messiah; which doctrine is taught in many parts of the Old Testament, by type, figure, and prophecy; in the New, we behold it clearly confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus. The circumstances attending this great event are repeatedly described, and the evidence clear and conclusive. The witnesses to this important fact are not few; both enemies and friends unite in giving their testimony to his death and resurrection. The soldiers having taken the dead body of Jesus from the cross, his friends deposit it in the tomb. We cannot but stop here, and admire the overruling hand of Providence in the more minute circumstances connected with the interment of the body of the Redeemer. The sepulchre was hewn out of the solid rock. No access could be gained to it but by one opening, on which a ponderous stone was placed, a seal set thereon, and the entrance strictly guarded by Roman soldiers. But wherefore all this care and attention over the dead body of one crucified at Golgotha? It is by order of the High Priest and Pharisees, who had requested Pilate to allow them to make the grave sure, as Jesus had declared he would rise again after three days. They, fully convinced of his death, and disbelieving his divinity, fear that the disciples should steal the dead body of their Master, and declare that he had risen; and thus the last error would be worse than the first. But we have cause to rejoice that they used so much caution, for it tends to establish the truth, and confirm the testimony, of the disciples. It fully proves the death and burial of Jesus, and that the body did not remain in the grave. On the first day of the week, certain women of the company hasted early to the sepulchre, to embalm, after the custom of the east, the body of their beloved Master; but lo, to their astonishment and grief, it is gone! They indeed see the place where the Lord had lain; for an angel, by an earthquake, had rolled away the stone; at whose appearance the keepers became as dead men; but to the women, filled with sorrow and surprise on not finding the body of their Lord, this heavenly messenger proclaimed the resurrection of that Jesus whom they sought. And as they run to tell the disciples, Jesus himself met them, saying, All hail! and they held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Some of the watch, also, went into the city, and told the Chief Priests all that was done; who, having assembled a council, give large sums of money to the soldiers to say, that the disciples came by night, and stole him away, whilst they slept. This report, though commonly believed amongst the Jews until this day, will not bear examination. The more we consider this tale, the clearer will the fact of the resurrection of Jesus appear. If the body was indeed stolen, why are the soldiers allowed to go unpunished for their neglect, as they say it was stolen whilst they slept. We should not expect to find a Roman sentinel asleep at his post of duty, for their military discipline was the most severe in the world. Even if the soldiers had fallen asleep whilst watching the entrance of the sepulchre, it appears impossible for a number of persons to remove so ponderous a stone without considerable noise and bustle, or to pass among the guards without awaking some of them. But even allowing the body to have been gone whilst they slept, how could they possibly know, that it was the disciples who had taken it? But is it at all probable, that a few timid disciples, who had fled from their Master on his first apprehension, should now dare to go, in the face of a guard of Roman soldiers, justly famed for their courage, and attempt to steal, and much more to carry off, the body! Let it be observed, that though the disciples had hoped Jesus "had been he who would have redeemed Israel;" yet, when they saw him laid in the grave, all their hopes that he was the Messiah fled, for the minds of the disciples were strongly tainted by the Jewish prejudice, that the Messiah's would be a temporal kingdom. Their dreams of earthly splendour now vanished, and they were about to return to their occupations in common life; in fact, some had done so. Is it reasonable to imagine that the others would engage in a plan fraught with danger, for the sake of obtaining the body of one, in whom they began to imagine themselves deceived? Besides, what advantage could they hope to gain by such a scheme? What end was it designed to answer? They could not expect to keep the act concealed; and if discovered, they were fully convinced it would bring upon them the severest punishment. But if, as the soldiers proclaimed, the disciples did steal him away, why are these handful of fishermen allowed to retain possession? Why did not the Chief Priest, at the head of the Jewish Sanhedrim, supported by the Roman authority, instantly compel them to surrender the body? Why are not these men of Galilee brought to a judicial tribunal, examined, and openly punished, that the truth of the soldiers' tale may bear even the appearance of fact? Surely this neglect is most extraordinary in men who had shown such vigilant care over the body when in the tomb. The more we examine the conduct of the parties, the more inconsistent does the Jewish tale appear. It is evident, the disciples were as ignorant as the rest of the nation, as to what the resurrection from the dead should mean. Jesus had again and again preached the doctrine, yet they were at the first as backward as his enemies to believe the fact, and discovered much unbelief on the first tidings of the great event. The incredulity of all of them is a strong presumption, that as they did not expect Jesus to rise from the grave, so neither did they steal the body, and falsely proclaim their Master risen. We have a still further confirmation of the fact from the events that followed. In the interval of forty days, between his resurrection and ascension, Jesus appeared to many of his disciples, and showed himself alive by many infallible proofs; the women who went early to their Lord's sepulchre, were first honoured with the sight of the risen Redeemer. He afterwards appeared to the two sorrowing disciples as they walked to Emmaus, then to the eleven as they sat at meat with the doors closed, and, eight days after, he again appeared to them, when the incredulous Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" He also showed himself to the seven disciples who were fishing at the sea of Tiberius; after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; and, though some had fallen asleep, yet, when the Apostle wrote, the greater part were then alive, and could testify to the truth of these things. How "vain the watch, the stone, the seal!" the grave could not contain the prisoner. Jesus burst the bands of death, and arose the triumphant victor. It was necessary that he, as the Head and Representative of his church, should conquer death and the grave for them. He died "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." He laid in the grave that he might subdue the power of the grave. He, as a surety, became subject unto death as a part of the curse; but, having paid the full ransom, justice demanded his release. Having satisfied the demands of the law, it was right that he should be honourably acquitted. Though "delivered for our offences, he must be raised again for our justification." The resurrection proves his atonement was accepted by God as fully adequate to all the requirements of justice, and declares him to be the Son of God with power. It is by reason of the incapacity of the damned in hell, to take in the full measure of God's wrath due to them for their sins, that their punishment, though it be eternal, yet never satisfies; because they can never endure all as Christ could, and did; theirs is truly less than what Christ underwent; and, therefore, his punishment ought not in justice to be eternal, as theirs, because he could more fully satisfy God's wrath in a few hours than they could to all eternity. By his complete satisfaction, the costly, inestimable price of redemption is paid, and the sinner's surety released from all the claims of the Law and justice. "Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept." Do we not hear him exclaim, "Thy dead men shall live together; with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction." May we not join in happy chorus, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."