THE ATONEMENT
Isaiah 53:10. When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, &c.
I. THE SOUL OF THE MESSIAH WAS TO BE MADE AN OFFERING FOR SIN.
The word here used (אשמ, asham) signifies either guilty,—or, by a figure, an offering for guilt. We may consider it in both senses. He was not in Himself guilty, but innocent and perfectly so (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26). But our sins were imputed to Him, or “laid upon Him;” that is, they were laid to His charge, and He was made accountable for them (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24); “made a curse” (Galatians 3:13). Hence He was made an offering for guilt. Two things were to be done, that the glory of God might be fully displayed, in the redemption of man. Sin must be pardoned, otherwise the sinner could not be saved. It was necessary also it should be punished; otherwise, its evil could not appear, nor the Divine attributes escape impeachment; the law of God, which had forbidden sin, must be magnified, or the equity of His government asserted. Sin must, therefore, be pardoned in a way that marks and publishes the evil of the offence. The sacrifice of bulls and goats, or of any creature inferior to man, was insufficient for this purpose (Hebrews 10:4). Nor could any man atone for his own sins, or suffer a punishment adequate to their demerit, without suffering eternally, and to the utmost extent of his capacity, much less could one man atone for many, or many for all. It was necessary, therefore, one should suffer, who, although possessed of human nature, yet had a nature superior to man, who could bear unlimited sufferings—sufferings adequate to the demerit of all human offences, in a limited time. This the Messiah did, whose Godhead supported His manhood, and enabled Him to bear, partly in His body, and especially in His soul, an anguish so great as might give not only men, but angels, a proper view of the evil and bitterness of sin, and the purity, justice, and wrath of God, in hating, condemning, and punishing it. No mere bodily sufferings could do this, and, therefore, “His soul” was made “an offering for sin.” (See Matthew 26:36-45. Comp. Mark 14:34-36; Luke 22:41-44).
II. BY WHOM IT WAS TO BE MADE AN OFFERING.
By the Father; “when Thou,” &c. (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 53:10). It was done by His “determinate counsel” (Acts 2:23). This does not excuse those who became the instruments of His death. It was God who required an offering for sin; His purity, His justice, His truth, the authority of His law, the rights of His government required it. His glory demanded it, as a consideration on account of which He might pardon sin, and save the sinner with honour to Himself (Romans 8:3; Romans 3:25-26). God provided it in mercy and love to mankind (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10; Titus 3:4). He provided even His own Son to be made flesh, to be poor, despised, afflicted, to die in ignominy and torture, for men who were sinners, enemies, rebels! (Romans 5:6-10).
III. THE EFFECTS WHICH SHOULD BE PRODUCED.
1. “He shall see His seed,”—a numerous race of sons and daughters begotten by the Gospel among Jews and Gentiles (Isaiah 54:1; Isaiah 53:8; Psalms 110:3).
2. “He shall prolong His days.” His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation are here alluded to, whereby He obtained an everlasting life at God’s right hand (Psalms 21:4). The end of it is threefold:
(1.) For a recompense of His own labours and sufferings (Philippians 2:9).
(2.) For the salvation of His seed, whose Prophet, Priest, and King; whose wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; whose Saviour, Protector, Judge, Rewarder, &c., He thus becomes (Matthew 25:34).
(3.) For the judgment, condemnation, and punishment of those that reject Him, and are not His seed (Matthew 25:41; Psalms 110:1; Hebrews 10:13; 1 Corinthians 15:25).
3. “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” By “the pleasure of the Lord” is intended the progress of truth and goodness, of wisdom, holiness, and happiness in the world, the advancement of God’s glory, and the salvation of mankind, the felicity of the righteous, and the destruction of the wicked.
4. Hence we need not wonder that “He sees of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied.”
INFERENCES.—
1. Was it necessary that Christ should be made “an offering for sin?” How great, then, is its evil! How dreadful its effects! It is of so heinous a nature that its guilt could not be expiated, so that it might be pardoned, consistently with the Divine perfections, without the sacrifice of so glorious a person. How great, then, will be the punishment of those in the other world, who, by rejecting or neglecting this sacrifice, are not saved from sin?
2. Are God’s holiness and justice so inviolable, and His law so honourable, and the rights of His government so sacred, that such a sacrifice was required for the manifestation of His glory? Then, what a powerful call and motive have we here for reverence and fear, solemnity and awe!
3. Did God judge it proper that such a price as this should be paid for man’s redemption? Then, how important, how valuable are the souls of men!
4. Has the Father provided such an atonement? And is it actually made? Then, how great, how astonishing, His mercy and love! What a foundation is laid for confidence in Him, and love to Him in return (Romans 8:32; Romans 5:9-10).
5. Has God been thus kind and bountiful? Then what a loud call upon your gratitude!
6. Shall the pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hands? Then, if it be your anxiety to know, experience, and do the will of the Lord, you may commit your cause to Him.
7. Are you His seed? If so, rejoice; for He has prolonged His days for your benefit. If not, tremble; for He is your Judges 8. Does He see of the travail of His soul, and is He satisfied? Then, sympathise with Him in His sufferings and His satisfaction. Being conformed to the motives and ends for which He suffered and died on our behalf, let us become instances of the efficacy of His gracious undertaking and objects of His joy, in consequence of it (Titus 2:14).—Joseph Benson: Sermons, vol. i. p. 236–243.
I. A DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN SYSTEM THAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED.
1. Christ died in the room of sinners. Not as the death of an individual may be the occasion of benefit to others, but by a legal substitution.
2. He died to satisfy Divine justice. Not to satisfy any thirst of vengeance in the Father, but to satisfy His justice, which requires Him to punish sin as sin, and not merely for its consequences.
3. He died to expiate human guilt. Man is guilty or liable to punishment for sin. He has a sense of guilt latent or awakened. The death of Christ is intended to deliver him from his guilt, and to remove the sense of guilt from his conscience.
4. He died to propitiate the Divine favour. Wrath against sin is not incompatible with love. It is infinite abhorrence of sin, and an inflexible determination to punish it. It is displayed in the cross of Christ. The death of Christ averts it from all who believe in Him.
II. AN EXPEDIENT OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT THAT NEEDS TO BE VINDICATED.
1. It is said that God, as a being of infinite love, might forgive sin without atonement. Perhaps He might, if sin were a personal insult or a debt. It is a crime, a violation of law, rebellion against legitimate authority. It must be punished before it can be pardoned.
2. It is said that atonement involves the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, which is cruel and unjust. Admit that Christ was innocent, and His death presents a problem of which the doctrine of the atonement is the only satisfactory solution. It was voluntary.
3. It is said that atonement is inconsistent with grace. All is grace to the sinner.
4. It is said that atonement is subversive of the interests of morality. It has a man-ward as well as a God-ward aspect. It exercises a moral influence. It supplies the strongest motive-power that was ever brought to bear on the formation of character (H. E. I., 396–398).
III. A REMEDY FOR THE ILLS OF MEN THAT NEEDS TO BE APPLIED.
1. The atonement unappropriated will not avail any one. It does not operate mechanically or magically. Many will perish although Christ has died.
2. The benefits of the atonement are offered to all. There are no limitations in the offer. “To you, O men, I call.”
3. The benefits of the atonement are conferred on all who believe on Christ. Faith is a condition of human nature rather than of the Gospel. Man is a voluntary being, having the power of choice. He must choose Christ as his Saviour; trust in His ability and His willingness to save; rest on His finished work. He must receive Him, or be undone for ever.—G. Brooks: Outlines, p. 91–93.
I. The atonement of Christ was necessary to save the guilty. Denied by some, who say, “God can pardon sin as easily as a father pardons a disobedient child;” and further contend that for God to require an atonement in order to forgive would be an act of unnecessary severity. But God is not only the “Father of mercies;” He is also the moral governor of the universe. He has a public character to sustain, and in His public character He could not consistently pardon sin without an atonement, any more than could a judge on the bench pardon a guilty criminal when the law required that he should be punished. God is a just as well as a merciful Being; and would not, and could not, sacrifice one attribute to the exaltation of another (Romans 5:21).
II. The atonement of Christ was not designed to make God merciful, but to open up an honourable way for Him to show mercy. It is a grievous mistake to represent God the Father, all justice, and God the Son, all mercy, and to suppose that by the sacrifice of Christ God the Father was influenced to become merciful. “God is love,” &c. Besides, the great design of saving man originated with God the Father as such. It was from His love and mercy that He gave His Son to die for sinners (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). Christ’s death did not make Him merciful, but opened up an honourable way for showing mercy (see pp. 92, 93).
III. The atonement of Christ was an expedient in the government of God that would answer the same end as the eternal punishment of the transgressor. The law of God requires that the transgressor should die; had we been left to perish like fallen angels, His justice and holiness would have been eternally glorified. But all that Divine justice required is done by the substitution of Christ in the sinner’s place.
IV. The atonement of Christ must not be considered as a commercial affair, but as a moral act. It is an error to represent sin literally as a debt: it is a crime. Those texts which speak of it as a debt must not be taken literally but figuratively. If sin were merely a debt it would not be so aggravated in its nature as it really is: a crime against the high authority of heaven. Further, if it were a debt, God could pardon it without a sacrifice, as easily as a creditor can forgive a debtor, if disposed so to do. Christ’s atonement is not a pecuniary payment of debt, but a moral satisfaction to the Lawgiver to atone for a crime (1 Peter 1:18; 1 Peter 1:20; H. E. I. 383).
V. The atonement of Christ is an arrangement that protects the character of God, and establishes His government even while pardoning sinners. The character of God must stand unimpeached and unimpeachable, and His government must stand on the unalterable laws of truth and justice. Now, by the sacrifice of Christ sin appears exceedingly sinful, the justice of God stands out in all its awful glory, and the government of Jehovah (or His moral influence over His creatures) appears stronger than if men had never sinned, or if, after sinning, they had been eternally punished. All the perfections of God harmonise even while forgiving believing sinners (Psalms 85:10-11).
VI. The atonement of Christ was not designed to save us in our sin, but from it, and all its dreadful consequences. It leads not to licentiousness, as some affirm (Romans 3:8), but the reverse, since it gives stronger motives for obedience. We fear sin, not only because we fear hell, but because we see how awful a thing it is, in the death of Christ. We hate sin, not merely because it ruined us, but because it caused Him so much suffering. We obey God, not merely as creatures, but from love as redeemed sinners (Matthew 1:21; Galatians 6:14).
VII. The atonement of Christ was not made for few only, but for many. Such is the aggravation of sin, that it would have been equally necessary for Christ to have suffered as He did, if but one sinner were to be saved. His atonement is equally sufficient for all that believe (1 John 2:1-2).
VIII. There is no defect or insufficiency in the atonement of Christ to save any who believe. If we are not saved, it will not be from any want of virtue in the atonement of Christ, but for not believing in Him for salvation (John 3:18; Mark 16:16). Have we received the atonement, or rather, reconciliation through the atonement? (Romans 5:11.)—Studies for the Pulpit, part 1, pp. 467–469.
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S DEATH
I. It was the good pleasure of God. His eternal, wise, gracious purpose. II. It was an offering for sin. Life for life. To expiate guilt. By Divine appointment. III. It is the source of inexhaustible wonders of grace and glory. A holy seed. A mysterious life. A triumphant work.—J. Lyth, D.D.
MESSIAH CONTEMPLATING HIS SPIRITUAL OFFSPRING
Isaiah 53:10. He shall see His seed.
Observing that Messiah, though He did no sin, suffered even unto death—astonished while they read of an incarnate, obedient, and expiring God, many will ever be ready to inquire, Why, and for what great purpose, was it so? To all such questions, this chapter, nay, this verse, enables us to reply. “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, &c.” A part of the high remuneration is set forth in these few short words—“He shall see His seed.”
I. He shall see them all born and brought in. To Him they are children of sure promise (Romans 9:8; Galatians 4:28); He is acquainted with them individually. Messiah’s offspring may differ much at different times, in respect of the measure of its increase. Now, it may be slow; anon, it may be rapid; but at all times, and in all places, the measure of its increase will just accord with His own expectation (Psalms 145:4; Psalms 22:30-31).
II. He shall see them all educated and brought up. The practical object is to imbue them with the spirit of children. Great varieties may exist as to their talents, &c.; but in one thing they are all alike (Jeremiah 24:7). Of their education, Messiah Himself has the principal charge (Isaiah 54:13); and the means He employs are worthy of Him, for He instructs them by the truth of His word, by the light of His Spirit, and by the events of His providence. The charge is weighty, but it is His pleasant work. In evidence of this, He invites them to His school, arguing with them from the attractions of His own character, and the blessedness of such as are under His tuition (Matthew 11:28-30; Proverbs 8:32-34). “Experience,” it is said, “is the best schoolmaster;” let us, therefore, listen to one who, being at once proficient in the learning of his time, and a partaker of heavenly wisdom, could compare and contrast the two (Philippians 3:8).
III. He shall see them all supported and brought through. God’s rich providence is their inheritance for a present world; His sure promise is their charter for a better; and for all their work and warfare, there is more than enough in the wisdom, grace, and strength that are in Christ Jesus. The history of Messiah’s offspring is full of illustrations of this.
IV. He shall see them all perfected and brought home. As Christ Himself was made a perfect Saviour by the sufferings which He underwent, even so His honour requires, and it belongs to His office, that He confer on all His offspring a perfect salvation. With this view He has appointed His Church for the perfecting of the saints, &c. The Bible speaks of a future and fixed period, which it significantly styles the “manifestation of the sons of God,” and the “coming of Christ with all His saints.” Home! delightful word to such as have sojourned in a land of strangers. Home! where? To the house not made with hands—to the prepared city, which is also the city of habitation. With what rapture and triumph will Messiah exclaim in the presence of His great Father, and before an assembled universe—“Behold I, and the children whom God hath given Me!” This is a home of which Messiah shall not be ashamed; it will do Him infinite honour. Nor is this all: arrived at home, their ineffable and inconceivable felicity is to be absolutely without end.
CONCLUSION.—Our subject shows that Messiah’s glory is inseparably bound up with the happiness of His offspring; that the application is not less certain than the purchase of redemption; it contains a seasonable and powerful antidote against undue depression in the Church (Romans 9:26); it shows, also, that it is our duty and our honour to concur, after our measure, in carrying this scripture into effect.—Robert Muter, D.D.: Weekly Christian Teacher, vol. ii. pp. 713–718.
THE IMMORTAL HIGH PRIEST
Isaiah 53:10. He shall prolong His days. Hebrews 7:15-16; Hebrews 7:25.
In these passages we have, 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.
I. The Lord Jesus now lives as the Priest upon His throne. Calvary’s night is over. The Christ is not here, He is risen. He has entered “within the veil,” there to appear in the presence of God for us, and is now the “Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” His atoning work was finished on earth once for all,—His administrative work is being carried on in perpetuity—sustaining a like relation to the work accomplished by His death, that God’s upholding of all things does to His first acts of creative power.
II. The supreme fitness of Christ for this vast work, is owing to His possessing all the power of an indissoluble life. The word “endless” is inadequate; it merely signifies a life that will not end. But the word in the original signifies a life that cannot end;—one that is and must be perpetuated, by virtue of its own inherent energy and power. With whatever devotion and care the high-priest might bear the concerns of the Israel of God on his heart, and with whatever skill he might administer Israel’s affairs, he must sooner or later resign the office, and give it up to another, when death called him away. But the life that resides in that Christ whom God raised from the dead, is a life infinitely full of spontaneous, self-sustaining energy, not dependent on aught without for its maintenance. There is within it no cause of decay; there is no wasting of energy, however much is spent; no outside power can weaken or obstruct that glorious life. It has in it all Divine perfections to the full—.strength, wisdom, intelligence, fidelity, and love—each and all of these being “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!” That life which is dependent on none, is the life on which all things depend! Since His life can never be weakened by decay from within, or imperilled by assaults from without—time, which makes other power to crumble, does but give grander scope for the manifestation of His. Kings, thrones, and empires, may rise up, flourish, decline, pass away, and be succeeded by others, and yet the power of Christ’s endless life shall be “ever new, ever young,”
“And firm endure, while endless years
Their everlasting circles run.”
III. Because Christ’s life is indissoluble, His Priesthood cannot change hands. Long as the human race shall need an Advocate with God, Jesus will be that Advocate to interpose on their behalf. He ever liveth with a view to intercession. Can we frame to ourselves an intelligible conception of the method of this Redeemer’s interposition? There seem to be four things involved in it.
(1.) Christ appears in the presence of God for us; the seer beholds Him like a Lamb as it had been slain, bearing the marks of Calvary’s work—marks full of their own infinite meaning—how He has borne away the sins of the world. As that offering was well pleasing to God then, so it ever will be; neither its meaning nor its worth can change throughout eternity.
(2.) Christ pleads in the presence of God, continuing there for sinners the plea He urged on the Cross; continuing for those who believe on Him His wondrous intercessory prayer!
(3.) He acts in the presence of God for us: “I go to prepare a place for you.” The Son of God prepares a place for us, while the Spirit of God is preparing us for the place.
(4.) He is governing for us—He is Head over all things to the Church. All things are working together for good to them that love God, because their working is in our Redeemer’s hands.
IV. The effect of a priesthood that is unchanging, is a redemption that is unvarying. Because of the Redeemer’s sway in heaven, the work of salvation is advancing on earth.
V. This great Redeemer ever living, this great Redemption being unvarying, is the guarantee of the salvation being carried on to the uttermost! Who can set forth all that that glorious phrase means?
(1.) This Saviour can reach to the uttermost depth of sin and guilt and misery. His sacrifice, appropriated by faith, can cause the highest pile of guilt to disappear for ever. His power can eradicate the most inveterate and apparently hopeless corruption. The hardest heart can be melted down by Jesus’ love—to the uttermost.
(2.) Jesus can reach souls through the uttermost extent of His domain. No human spirit can be too far off for contact with Jesus.
(3.) However varied the demands which may be made on the saved one at any moment, Christ can help to the uttermost (H. E. I. 934, 945). Though the longer each believer lives, the greater will be his demands on his Saviour, he cannot overtax Him. This bank can be drawn upon to the uttermost, and yet be rich as ever!
(4.) Christ’s salvation can lay hold of every part of our nature. Body, soul, and spirit; all will be sanctified by Him.
(5.) Christ’s salvation will reach to the uttermost point of time.
(6.) However believers may multiply—let myriads on myriads be added to the roll, for myriads on myriads of ages—the salvation will be large enough and strong enough for all, even to the uttermost!
(7.) Believers shall be gathered unto Christ: all presented to Him, a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Then, when they are without fault before the throne of God, they will have proved the truth of salvation to the uttermost! No. I am wrong. They will not have proved it; they will be proving it still, for, when they reach that point which is now the “uttermost” of our conception, that goal of glory will be but a starting point for eternity!—Clement Clemance, D.D.: The Christian Era, vol. i. pp. 39, 40.
THE DIVINE PURPOSE FULFILLED
(Missionary Discourse.)
Isaiah 53:10. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
Some have affirmed that this chapter relates to the mission of Jeremiah, and to the hostile treatment he had to encounter in performing it; some that it sets forth the approaching downfall and subsequent exaltation of the Jewish nation; some that it refers entirely to the history of the Messiah. The former two of these interpretations have been suggested only under the influence of mental perversion, and are utterly untenable. The last is confirmed by the best evidence that can be afforded. Philip declared that this prophecy referred to Jesus (Acts 8:35). On several occasions in the New Testament the prophecy is expressly announced as having been fulfilled in Christ. The whole course of the Saviour’s life, and the circumstances associated with His final sufferings and death, correspond so exactly with the description given by the prophet, that had he been a personal witness of that course and of these circumstances, his statements could not have been more accurate or more striking.
I. God has formed a purpose of mercy toward mankind. “The pleasure of the Lord” (Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 2:11). His purpose was—
1. Formed before the foundations of the earth were laid.
2. Manifested on earth as soon as the need of mercy existed, in the promise made to our first parents even on the day that they sinned.
3. Unfolded more and more clearly to patriarchs and prophets.
4. Fully disclosed in the Christian economy.
II. The fulfilment of this purpose of mercy is committed to the Lord Jesus. The pleasure of the Lord is in His hand. It was He to whom the first promise referred (Genesis 3:15); of whom Abraham was informed (Genesis 26:4); whose coming Jacob anticipated (Genesis 49:10); and of whom Moses and all the prophets wrote and spoke (Deuteronomy 18:18, &c.). The Lord Jesus performs the purpose of mercy—
1. By His atonement for human sin.
2. By the communication of the Holy Spirit, by whose influence men are brought to a cordial reception of the Saviour’s meritorious work, so as to render that work their own.
III. Under the administration of the Lord Jesus the purpose of mercy shall be perfectly and triumphantly accomplished. Every Divine purpose is certain to be accomplished (Isaiah 46:9-11; Psalms 33:11). But apart from this general reason, the certainty of the accomplishment of the work which has been entrusted to the Lord Jesus rests,
1. On His own character. It is essentially Divine. His proper Deity imparts to His atoning sacrifice an absolute fulness of merit, and renders failure in His work impossible.
2. On the Divine assurance solemnly pledged to that effect (Isaiah 53:10-11; Philippians 2:9-11; John 12:32; Hebrews 12:12-13).
APPLICATION. God has formed a purpose of mercy toward mankind. Hence—
1. Those theologies are false which represent God as a God of vengeance. In the Scriptures He appears in consistency with all His perfections as the God of love. The redemption of our race is His “pleasure.”
2. The perfect unity of the Father with the Son is exemplified in the eutrustment of this work to the Son. He came into the world, and “made His soul an offering for sin,” not to change the Father’s purposes but to fulfil them (see p. 92).
3. If we sympathise with this purpose, which God cherished from all eternity, and in the fulness of time entrusted to Christ for its accomplishment, let us show that we do so by making known to all nations the glad tidings of His grace. If we cannot personally carry to perishing men the good news, let us do our utmost to send it.—James Parsons: Christian World Pulpit, 1:440.
ALL THINGS IN CHRIST’S HAND
Isaiah 53:10. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
I. WHAT THINGS ARE PUT INTO CHRIST’S HAND?
The Father is here, as everywhere else in Scripture, looked on as the originator and disposer of all things. The Son is the medium through whom, and for whom things come to be what they are, and come to be arranged as they are. At least, one reason why all things are put into Christ’s hand is,—the great love of the Father towards Him. Ere Christ made His appearance into this world, there had been a sublime transaction between the Father and the Son, in which vast affairs had been entrusted on the one hand and accepted on the other. For the knowledge of this we are indebted to revelation alone. All things are put into Christ’s hand.
1. Creation is put into Christ’s hand (John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1). Here, Christ, as the Son of the Father, is very clearly marked off from ought that is created, by being distinctly declared to be, Himself, the Creator. The Father, indeed, appoints, and the Son executes, the Father’s appointment. Subordination of office is perfectly consistent with equality of nature (see p. 83). And if we would seize the most adequate view of our Divine Lord which it is possible for us to attain unto, we must let all the Scriptures concerning Him have their right place and power. All creation was formed and is upheld by our Redeemer’s hand!
2. Revelation is also put into His hand. God speaks to us in His Son. When we speak of the work of creation being Christ’s, we speak of that which includes all worlds. But here, when revelation is our theme, we have to do, so far as we know, with only one world. Not, indeed, that there are not hints in the Word of God, that the Son is the revealer of the Father to other worlds than this. On earth, Christ is the clearest and brightest beam of glory that is let down from heaven for us to see! We see in Him, One in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!”
3. But we must limit our field of thought yet again. It might have been that Jesus had been a revelation of God to this world, quite irrespective of any element of sin. But where sin is, a declaration of what God is, is not enough. If relations of friendship and love are to be established between a holy God and sinful men, it must be in such a way as shall clear the holy throne from all compromise with sin, and as shall make even those who are conscious of guilt feel at home in the blaze of pure and holy love. It was reserved for Christ to institute these gracious relations between us and heaven. Mediation is put into Christ’s hand. He is the way along which the penitent may come and hold converse with the great Supreme! And, owing to sin, His mediation involved not only an incarnation, but expiation. Christ, owing to the two-foldness of His nature, could make an offering which should be effective as towards God, and suitable as towards man. The Father loveth the Son, and hath put expiation into His hand!
4. Creation, revelation, mediation. Two more steps have yet to be taken. A power is needed to ensure that the mediation shall not fail through men refusing to accept it. Such a power is lodged in Christ. He gives the Spirit to convict and to renew. And by His own living energy bestowed through the Holy Ghost, He will regenerate the sinner and perfect the saint. This great work of the conquest and training of hearts is put into His hand!
5. The administration of the affairs of the globe on behalf of the Church is put into His hand. He is now a Priest upon His throne. He is the King and Lord of His Church. He builds up that Church by the word of truth and by the Spirit of His grace. He watches over the Church everywhere in this world, presides over the departure of every soul, and governs the “spacious world unseen” with a view to the judgment day. “He died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”
6. The consummation of all things is put into His hand. He who sent Peter to gather in the first-fruits, will send forth His angels to reap when the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when, for all believers, He shall have conquered death, having raised them up at the last day. Then the redeemed shall be gathered home from all lands, shall be without spot before the throne of God, and presented before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Then shall our Saviour have manifested the wisdom of the Father in putting all things into His hand; He shall everlastingly have proved His infinite capacity for the trust; and then shall Christ and His Church be glorified together.
II. WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL BEARING OF THIS THEME?
1. We see that Christ’s work in saving us, is but part of a vast, boundless, infinite scheme of glory and of grandeur which it will take ages on ages to develop and reveal!
2. We see a reason why every preacher should follow the example of John the Baptist, and point away from himself to Christ (John 3:26-35).
3. We see the imperativeness of insisting on the Lordship of Christ over men and nations. Governments only lay up sorrow for themselves if they contravene the holy will of Christ.
4. We see why we must point to Jesus only as the exclusive object of a sinner’s trust.
5. We see the security of the redemption of those who are in Christ.
6. We see the certainty of the ruin of those who persist in rebelling against Christ.—Clemant Clemance, D.D.: The Christian Era, vol. ii. p. 41, &c.
OUR SAVIOUR SUFFERING, SATISFIED, TRIUMPHANT
Isaiah 53:10-11. When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin.… He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.
I. The aspect in which that work of the Saviour by which He accomplished the redemption of the world is here represented: “The travail of His soul.” The New Testament teaches that the Saviour’s sufferings were—
1. Sacrificial and expiatory.
2. Voluntary. The first clause of the text should read: “When His soul shall make an offering for sin.”
3. Most intense and awful. [1650]
[1650] See outlines on this clause, and on the description: “A man of sorrows,” &c.
II. The nature of that sublime and heavenly satisfaction described in this passage, as accruing to the Redeemer from witnessing the effect of His work and sufferings in the salvation of men.
1. It is the satisfaction arising from enlarged success of a pleasure always proportionate to the difficulties of the task we have fulfilled, and to the zeal with which it has been prosecuted.
2. It is the satisfaction of most pure and exalted benevolence. No joy can be compared with the peaceful and exquisite delight arising from this principle, when it is effectual in the mitigation of calamity or the removal of necessity or danger [1653]
[1653] What ecstasy were it to reflect that we had snatched a fellow-creature from the devouring flame or the tempestuous deep; that we had stayed the progress of contagion or pestilence in its march of silence and desolation; that we had unbarred the dungeon of the prisoner, or burst the fetter of the slave! How exalted, then, the joy with which the adorable Redeemer must behold the helpless ruin of mankind exchanged for happiness and safety!—M‘All.
3. It is such as springs from contemplating the greatness, the importance, and the difficulties of the work itself. Salvation is an illustrious and an arduous work. The obstacles that present themselves in the way of its accomplishment are, to all but the power of God, insuperable.
4. It is to be estimated only by the perfection of the Saviour’s knowledge, relative to the whole progress and issue of that event which he so joyously contemplates.
5. It arises principally from the peculiar relation of His character and work to the event itself and to all its consequences [1656]
[1656] With what holy and elevated transport may the martyrs and confessors, the prophets and apostles, be supposed to look now upon the scene of their labours and the progress of their cause! How may we suppose them now to exult in the remembrance of their self-denying efforts and oppressive privations, their wants and trials and griefs, and, more than all, that terrible moment when they sealed their last testimony, and closed their career in blood! With what unspeakable felicity must those devoted missionaries, lately removed from us, behold, amidst the mansions of blessedness, the first-fruits of their labours—the poor wanderer of Africa or the wretched slave of Demerara—now mingling in the chorus of the redeemed! But who shall describe the interest taken in all that relates to the salvation of His people by their ascended and sympathising Lord? Here all the causes of interest and joy are united in the highest operation. The affection of the Saviour is infinite. The relation He bears to the saved is the closest and most indissoluble; and their rescue and happiness are the results only of His dying agonies and His ever-living intercession.—M‘All.
III. The certainty that this satisfaction shall be finally realised. This is certain, because the most unlimited diffusion of Christianity throughout the world is certain. We cherish this confidence—
1. Because of the natural attraction and influence of the great doctrine of the atonement, which forms the very substance of the Gospel [1659]
[1659] Never, amongst all the diversity of sacrificial institutions in any country or in any age, has there appeared even a distant resemblance to many of the most essential features of this great Christian propitiation. Never has the guilt of sin been represented as forgiven, in consequence of a design mercifully originating in the Deity Himself, and that, too, in opposition to the provocation and obstinate rebellion of the miserable offender. Never has the part to be sustained by the worshipper been declared to be that only of the free and joyous reception of unpurchased favour and the simple reliance of a grateful heart. Never has the victim been represented as provided, not by man, but God, and that victim the object of His own unspeakable and infinite attachment. Never has that victim been represented as offering himself willingly to suffer, not on behalf of his friends, but of his enemies, and for the pardon of the very crime by which he died.
The manner in which it addresses itself to the heart is equally peculiar. Other systems effectuate their purpose the most fully when they can alarm and agitate and appal. It is this alone which lulls the breast into sacred tranquillity, and, banishing every fear, ravishes the soul with ceaseless adoration, and allures to the cheerful obedience of gratitude and love, and unites the tears of contrition with the ardour of thankfulness and the exultation of hope.—M‘All.
2. Because of the tendency of the Gospel to an unlimited and ceaseless diffusion. This characteristic was exhibited in the age of its first promulgation. It still continues, for in every heart in which the Gospel is truly received it kindles a strong desire to make it known to others. Wherever it is received, it blesses men in temporal as well as in spiritual things.
3. Because of its resistless and triumphant progress in past ages. There remains no new form of opposition or of danger which has not already been successfully encountered; no enemy to combat who has not been already vanquished; no power which has not already been overthrown [1662]
[1662] No subtlety of philosophical scepticism can be harder to subdue than that which was opposed to the first proclamation of the Gospel by Porphyry, Celsus, and Julian, and the learned of Greece and Asia; nor any political power more terrible than that which was exercised by Nero, Domitian, and Maximus; no barbarism more fierce than that of the Scythians, the Sarmatians, and the Gauls; no ignorance more gross, no darkness of the understanding more intense, than that of the Greenlander and the Esquimaux. But over these the Gospel has already triumphed; and what cause have we then to tremble for the future!—M‘All.
4. Because of the peculiar and encouraging appearances which are now everywhere beheld in the condition and circumstances of the Church. Awaking from her long and inglorious repose, she has thrown aside that lethargy by which she was restrained from asserting her ancient glories. She has heard and is responding to the voice of Him who summons her to extend her conquests, and to inherit the desolate heritages.—R. S. M‘All, LL.D.: Sermons, pp. 422–472.
THE TRAVAIL AND SATISFACTION OF THE REDEEMER’S SOUL
Isaiah 53:11. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.
Three distinct ideas presented:—
I. THE TRAVAIL OF OUR REDEEMER’S SOUL.
The “travail” of the Redeemer signifies the sufferings He underwent. By “the travail of His soul” is meant that peculiar agony of grief by which His soul was affected in the course of His sufferings. The physical sufferings of some of “the noble army of martyrs” equalled, perhaps surpassed, those of their Lord. But the sorrows of His soul forced from Him His bloody sweat, and His cry, “My God,” &c. These sorrows were wisely designated by the ancient fathers of the Church, “the unknown sufferings of the Son of God.” But it is revealed that two of the ingredients in that cup of mental suffering were the burden of the sins of a guilty world, and the furious onslaught of Satan and his emissaries in the utmost violence and plenitude of their power. We must also take into view certain considerations of a peculiar nature which tend to heighten our conceptions of their character and extent:—
1. The soul of the Redeemer was perfect in holiness. In proportion to a man’s purity of heart is the shock and revulsion of soul of which he is conscious, when he is compelled to witness the debasing and desolating effects of sin. Inconceivably painful must have been the travail of our Redeemer’s soul when He was brought into the nearest relation to sin that is possible to a being perfectly pure, when surveying its horrors in the light of His own spotless holiness, when bearing the wrath of His heavenly Father on account of it.
2. The soul of the Redeemer was full of light. Confined to a small spot of the surface of the globe, and capable of interpreting only to a very small degree those revelations of the future which have been vouchsafed to us, our conception of the real extent of the tendencies and effects of sin is very limited. But to the mind of the Redeemer all the awful effects of sin throughout time and eternity lay bare, and the impression thereby produced must have been correspondingly deep and solemn. Moreover, when man suffers, his sufferings come on him by a gradual process, and he is sustained by the hope of deliverance at every stage of his journey. But to our Redeemer all the parts and constituents of His sufferings were by clear anticipation present at one and the same instant. What, then, must have been “the travail of His soul?”
3. The soul of the Redeemer was full of love. A philanthropist feels with tender acuteness for the distresses of his fellowmen. What, then, must have been the travail of the Redeemer’s soul when, in the full flow of His ardent and unlimited benevolence, He surveyed the ruin of man’s moral greatness, and died that He might restore him to his forfeited honour?
II. THE RESULTS OF OUR SAVIOUR’S SUFFERINGS AS SEEN BY HIMSELF.
In the preceding part of the chapter, He is represented as suffering the most cruel and ignominious inflictions on account of sin. Here He is represented as beholding the results of His sufferings—in the deliverance of unnumbered millions of sinful men from the condemnation and misery of sin, and their exaltation to blessedness and glory in heaven. Those results began to appear in the entrance of Abel into heaven; and have been seen in every heart, every home, every country in which the work that Christ came into the world to do has been accomplished. What glorious and exquisitely beautiful results!
III. THE SATISFACTION WHICH THE REDEEMER FEELS IN CONTEMPLATING THE RESULTS OF “THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL.” A debased mind is satisfied with what is mean and degrading; a narrow mind will rest contented with what is little and trifling; but an enlarged and comprehensive mind will be pleased only with what is dignified and noble! What, then, can be that which can satisfy the soul of the Divine Redeemer? It is by us inconceivable. But some things we do see—
1. That the scheme of redemption affords a bright display of the attributes of God.
2. That through the sufferings and death of Christ the great interests of holiness have been most effectually secured. His people are delivered from the dominion as well as the condemnation of sin. On holiness the welfare and happiness of the universe depend.
3. That by His blood countless myriads of the human race have been redeemed. As He contemplates these things, we may say with reverent confidence, His mind, expanded with the noblest and purest benevolence, must become filled with delight and satisfaction indescribable.
CONCLUSION.—
1. This great theme reminds us of the inestimable value of the human soul. Surely that must be inestimably precious the redemption of which, at such a cost, can satisfy the Son of God (P. D. 3204).
2. If the salvation of a soul gives delight to the mind of God, surely He will not reject any awakened sinner who comes to Him in faith (John 6:37; Revelation 22:17; H. E. I. 928, 929).
3. The subject furnishes the most powerful motives to love and obey the Saviour. By so doing we co-operate in the accomplishment of His great design, and contribute to the satisfaction of His soul.
4. The subject furnishes most ample encouragement in the labours and trials of the Christian ministry. The enterprise in which we are engaged is the opposite of hopeless, for God has promised that by the results of it His Son shall be satisfied, and “He is faithful who hath promised!” Besides, in what can we find greater delight than in doing something to contribute to the satisfaction of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us?—Robert Burns, D.D.: Protestant Preacher, vol iii. pp. 399–408.
(Missionary Sermon.)
I. A FEW THOUGHTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MEANING OF THE TEXT.
1. Mark the singularity and greatness which our text would seem to teach us to attach to Christ. It implies a distinction between Christ and the Church. He is not a part of it; He does not rank with saved men. He, looking upon them, “shall see of the travail of His soul;” they, looking unto Him, shall behold the source of their spiritual existence. In such a case there must be an essential difference between the parties. To confound them together, as of the same nature, and possessing nothing else on either side, would seem like confounding the potter with the material substance he can fashion as he will, or the Creator of the world with the work of His hands. God is not a part of the creation; nor is Christ a part of the Church. This essential distinction, or at least the supremacy resulting from it, would seem to be indicated by the declaration that “He shall be satisfied;” as if to intimate that were He not, whatever else might be achieved, nothing comparatively would seem to be accomplished.
2. The passage also indicates the peculiar work of Christ, and attaches preeminent importance to that.
(1.) This remarkable expression would seem to imply that all the glory of the Church, all the salvation of sinners, the perfection of the faithful, whatever in the consequences of His undertaking connected either with God or man can be regarded as a source of satisfaction to Messiah, is to be attributed to the fact that “His soul was made an offering for sin.” The sufferings of Christ and the salvation of men are connected together as cause and effect.
(2.) It suggests also an important truth in relation to the nature of those sufferings. “The travail of His soul” would seem to indicate that the mind of Messiah was more immediately the seat of His atoning agonies [1665]
(3.) Of those agonies the passage further depicts the intense and aggravated character—“the travail of His soul.” The pangs of “a woman in travail” is a phrase sanctioned and employed again and again by the Divine Spirit, as an image combining in itself all that can be conceived of the extreme and the terrible in human suffering. And this image, among others, is here employed to depict the mental sensations of the Son of God when “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him,” &c. “Travail” is the peculiar suffering connected with the natural birth of a human being; and as applied to Christ it intimates that in the throes and pangs of His soul, He endured what was necessary to give spiritual existence to the Church.
[1665] “The travail of His soul” carries us further than to what was physical; it teaches us to attach inferior importance to the bruising and the piercing of the flesh—to the animal pain (if I may so speak) which the Redeemer endured, and which, whatever was its extent, was probably surpassed in many of the martyrs. “The travail of His soul” would seem to explain that mysterious amazement which overtook and overwhelmed the Lord Jesus previous to His public rejection by the people, before the hand of man had touched Him, when alone with His disciples and in the attitude of prayer. If it be proper to use such an expression with respect to Him, with all reverence I would say that at that moment He seemed destitute or bereft of the high bearing, the calm serenity, the magnanimous heroism, the contempt of danger, pain, death, which have often illustrated the conduct of His followers, even women, under circumstances similar or worse—worse, if the external circumstances were all. Now, this is a fact in the history of Jesus eternally irreconcileable with the idea of His dying merely as a witness for truth, or an example to others; it can be accounted for, with honour to His character, only on the ground of His sustaining as sacrificial victim, and sustaining in His soul, sufferings exclusively and pre-eminently His own—Binney.
It was not what Christ was in His moral character, nor what He did as a prophet, “mighty in deed and in word,” that constituted that peculiar work by which He became personally and alone the Saviour of men.
3. The greatness of the results which are to flow from the Redeemer’s sufferings. Implied in the declaration, “He shall be satisfied;” the mind of Messiah shall be filled with joy when He witnesses the effect of His sufferings in the salvation of the redeemed. That the results productive in Him of this feeling must be surpassingly and inconceivably great appears from several considerations.
(1.) Messiah is the Creator of the universe (John 1:3). All its vastness and magnificence was needed to satisfy Him as such. How much sublimer must those spiritual results necessarily be with which He is to be “satisfied!” The new creation may reasonably be expected to surpass as far the old and the earthly as the human intellect is superior to dead brute matter, or the love of God’s heart must necessarily excel the power of His hand, or the redemption of the lost exceeds and surpasses the support of the living.
(2.) The extent and intensity of His sufferings [1668] For all those sufferings He is to be recompensed (John 16:21), but in an infinitely higher degree.
(3.) Consider the period occupied, the care expended, and the anxiety sustained in carrying on the process, the result of which is to satisfy Messiah. In nature, that which is of slow growth is always distinguished by proportionate excellence. Among men, long—continued and arduous labour is expected to be followed by corresponding results, both in the effects produced and in the rewards enjoyed. But the work of redemption abounds over history of all time. Nay, previous to the birth of time, it occupied the thought and councils of the Eternal. In actual operation it stretches from the fall of man to the restitution of all things. The reward will be proportioned to the magnitude and costliness of the work performed.
[1668] What the sufferings of Messiah really were in themselves, it is as impossible to say as it is to conceive of their magnitude and their depth. They could not be literally the agonies of the damned; literally the curse due to sin, or the direct results on a spiritual nature of the foul act of personal transgression. And yet if anything there be bearing any resemblance to them at all—which probably there is not—it must be found among the victims of retributive justice. The sufferings of Christ, whatever they were, in fact were those which resulted from the presentation of Himself as a real sacrifice, the sacrifice of a living, sensitive Being in an “offering made by fire unto the Lord.” The fire, indeed, was spiritual, like the thing it touched; and from that very circumstance it was the more terrible, It was not that element that can become the servant of man, and minister to his wrath, and be made to seize upon and “destroy the body, and after that hath nothing more that it can do;” but it was fire which nothing but heaven could furnish, something which God alone could inflict and which a spiritual nature alone could feel. It descended upon the soul of the Redeemer, and (if I may so speak) consumed it, like the fire which descended upon the altar of the prophet, “which consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the wood and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” Sufferings flowing from a source like this cannot but be felt to have been unparalleled and unspeakable; they necessarily transcend not only the power of language, but the power of thought—Binney.
4. Those things with which we may suppose the Saviour will be “satisfied.”
(1.) The inconceivable number of the saved [1671]
(2.) The equally inconceivable perfection of their character.
(3.) The love and adoration of the redeemed.
(4.) The effect of the work of redemption on the moral universe, revealing God more fully to it, and helping to keep it loyal to Him.
[1671] Messiah, it is said, is to “see His seed,” “justify many,” and “the pleasure of the Lord is to prosper in His hand.” This work could not, I think, be said to “prosper” if the number of the lost should exceed that of the saved; nor if the number of the lost and saved were nearly balanced; nor if the success of Messiah in rescuing from death were to be but little superior to that of His adversary in seducing to destruction. The saved will, I imagine, as to numbers surpass the lost to a degree that shall destroy everything like parallel or proportion between them. They shall be brought from all lands, and from under every dispensation; they shall be “of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues;” they shall be of every class, and colour, and condition; and they shall constitute “a number which no man can number,” equalling or exceeding the sands of the sea, or “the stars of heaven,” or “the grass of the field,” or “the drops of dew from the womb of the morning.”—Binney.
II. HOW WE WHO UNDERSTAND AND BELIEVE THE MEANING OF THE TEXT OUGHT TO BE AFFECTED.
1. We should be moved to humility. The continued prevalence in the world of what grieves and offends Him ought to have disappeared long since, and would have done so, had the Church been faithful to her office and her Lord. In the unfaithfulness of the Church we have had our share.
2. The declaration of our text should stimulate our faith and missionary activity. “He shall see, &c.” Christianity is yet to be acknowledged and professed by universal man (H. E. I. 979, 1166–1169). But this end, however confidently expected, even faith expects not without the employment of appropriate instrumentality. Among the means employed, there must be the sending forth of the Bible and the preacher, the letter of the message and the loving messenger.
3. The subject ought to lead us, individually and personally, seriously to examine whether we are contributing to the Saviour’s “satisfaction” either by what we are, or what we are doing (H. E. I. 4423–4428, 4446–4466).—T. Binney, LL.D.; Sermons, second series, pp. 1–50.
Christ’s bodily travail was great. On this part of the Messiah’s sufferings the prophet lays no particular emphasis, because, though most visible, it was not the main part of His atoning sufferings. He emphasizes the inward mental spiritual agony as that in which he chiefly bore our iniquities. Let us reverently note some of those things which we may conceive constituted for our Lord, “the travail of His soul”—first, during his life, and secondly, in connection with His death; though this distinction is not to be pressed, since the sufferings of the life and of the death overlap each other, and constitute together “the travail of His soul.”
I. IN LIFE. We must not limit Christ’s atoning mental sufferings to His actual endurance on the cross, or forget what He endured before the last scenes of His ministry on earth. The whole period of His public ministry was a “temptation,” and to Him temptation was suffering, as He met and fought it.
1. He endured “the contradiction of sinners against Himself.”
2. The sight and contact of human sin and misery as they lay passive around Him must have deeply wounded His soul. If Lot could vex his righteous soul in Sodom, what must Christ have endured as He saw all that was debased and repulsive in humanity with His holy eye (see p. 476), as He sighed over human pains and sorrows, and made them in sympathy His own (Matthew 8:17; see p. 484).
3. His foresight of the doom coming on God’s chosen people caused Him pain (Luke 19:41-44).
4. The shadow of the cross projecting itself over His life cast a burden on His spirit as He anticipated the end of His ministry (Mark 8:31, &c.).
II. IN CONNECTION WITH DEATH. The travail of soul during life culminated at death, assuming a distinctness and bitterness peculiarly great as that crisis arrived. All the past was intensified and concentrated, and additional elements of pain were experienced. Thus His friends forsook Him and fled. One denied Him. One betrayed Him. Did not this experience, to one who was so sympathetic and social Himself, and who then needed all the human sympathy and society which His friends could give Him, cause sorrow of soul of no ordinary kind? His enemies, too, the people He came to save, trampled His love under foot, insulted, maligned, cast Him out, and crucified Him, inflicting sorer wounds upon His generous heart and loving soul than on His body by their shameful treatment of Him. The lifelong vision and contact of sin came to a head in its most painful and repulsive form, and He would see more vividly and feel more acutely in His own maltreatment the depravity, not only of the nation, but of the race which He had come to save, and of which He was one. The fierce passions that raged against Him, His actual collision with the world’s evil, His suffering of its concentrated hatred of good must have caused Him, the’ only sinless One of the race, unspeakable horror and anguish of soul. But there was also—
1. The human and natural shrinking from death as the dissolution of soul and body; in His case peculiarly painful because of the perfection of His human nature, the consciousness of His own sinlessness, the fulness of His indwelling power of life, the clear insight He had into the dread connection between sin and death, and that His death was by judicial murder. He was not a Stoic. He was not ignorant of what it involved, and had not the feeling that it was natural for Him to submit to the “common lot,” or die a death of refined and wilful cruelty.
2. Satanic temptation. The prince of this world came back to find something in Him, and found nothing. But the search was painful, as the devil did his last and worst, since all temptation is suffering. It was the hour and power of darkness for our Lord when the seed of the serpent bruised the heel of the seed of the woman. The bruising of the heel might indicate only a slight injury in comparison with the wounding of the head, but who can tell what in itself it was to Jesus Christ; how manifold and searching were the assaults of Satan, and how they intensified the bitterness of Christ’s sorrow of soul?
3. His treatment as a sinner. Christ realised sin in the, to Him, most painful form of bearing it and suffering for it. He was “made sin for us”—enduring for us, in some real but mysterious way, the wrath of God due to us for our sins. Every view of His death which ignores this wraps His whole suffering in inexplicable mystery, and provokes men to despair, not only of themselves, but even of God. What pain for the Holy One to be treated, not merely by man, but by God as a sinner, to feel in His soul the anger of God, to be forsaken for a time by His Father! Who can fathom the depth of soul-sorrow in the cry, “My God,” &c., as it came from the heart of the only-begotten and well-beloved Son?
LEARN—
(1.) The costliness of His redemption.
(2.) The evil and shamefulness of sin.
(3.) The reality of our Lord’s sympathy for all who are in the world as He was, and follow in His footsteps.
(4.) The greatness of the suffering of the impenitent.—The Homiletical Library, vol: ii. pp. 78–82.
Throughout the chapter the Messiah appears as a suffering individual. He is represented as bearing the punishment of sin, though not on His own account, but on behalf of others, for whom He appears as a substitute. The expression, “travail of His soul,” is elliptical, and evidently means, that He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul. The mighty and benevolent objects He had in view would certainly be accomplished, and would be fully satisfactory to Him.
I. SOME OF THOSE OBJECTS WHICH THE MESSIAH SHALL BEHOLD AS THE RESULT OF HIS SUFFERING.
1. Obstructions removed out of the way of the sinner’s salvation. The apostasy and rebellion of man have subjected him to the curse of the divine law. No offer of mercy can be made to him, while that law, by which God rules all worlds, is trampled upon and dishonoured. The substitution of the innocent for the guilty, was the great moral expedient by which God determined to save His apostate creatures, and to preserve unsullied the honour of His government. The object of divine mercy was to save transgressors, but the government of God required that sin should be condemned in the flesh. The obedience of the Son of God has magnified the law, as law. God can now, as a moral governor, exercise mercy without doing violence to His character, or weakening the obligations of His law.
2. His own people saved. Every sinner that has been saved, from the beginning of the world, has been saved by virtue of the death of Christ (Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 10:4). After His humiliation and death, He was to see the fruit of His sufferings (Isaiah 53:10). The death of Christ was to be followed by the rapid and extensive diffusion of the truth. Christianity widely spread in every direction. It took root in every soil—it visited every clime—and gained converts from every rank in society.
3. The moral disorders of our nature rectified. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and to establish an empire of righteousness, truth, and joy in the Holy Ghost. As the doctrines of the cross extend, the Saviour is “purifying to Himself a people zealous of good works.” This process is going on in the world; the latter-day glory will consist in the wide and extended reign of holy principles. The great mass of human society will be pervaded by them. Instead of wrath, hatred, envyings, covetousness, and all unrighteousness, love, joy, peace, gentleness, meekness, temperance, will become the dominant principles of action.
II. THE SATISFACTION WITH WHICH THE SAVIOUR WILL BEHOLD THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS PURPOSES.
1. The completion of any great undertaking is accompanied with pleasure and satisfaction. To see a wise and mighty scheme of action working out the anticipated results, cannot fail to be gratifying to the projector.
2. The consciousness of having accomplished a work of infinite beneficence. One of the purest and highest pleasures we can enjoy on earth is the consciousness of having performed a disinterested act of benevolence. To impart happiness is pleasurable to all virtuous minds, and our enjoyment will be in proportion to the magnitude of the blessing bestowed. Jesus Christ gives eternal life—an infinite good, and His satisfaction will be proportionably large and enduring. In the Saviour’s consciousness of having bestowed an infinite blessing, there is an element of happiness peculiarly His own. He still retains the sympathies and affections of our nature in His glorified state. We are to awake in His likeness. There will, therefore, be a peculiarity in the satisfaction He enjoys, arising from a community of feeling with us. There will be an identity of feeling, a sympathy in happiness, which no one can feel who has not tasted of humanity.
IMPROVEMENT.—
1. Let the subject teach us that we all have a deep interest in the travail of the Redeemer’s soul. It has a gracious aspect to every one of us. This is the glad tidings of salvation, the gospel of the grace of God.
2. How great are our obligations to the Saviour!—Samuel Summers: Sermons, pp. 169–191.
Were there no other evidence of the true divinity of our Lord than that which may be gathered from a comparison of this chapter with the accounts of His life, sufferings, and death, as furnished by the four Evangelists, it ought to be abundantly sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mind. While Scripture is most positive and frequent in its declaration on this great doctrine, there is no passage or word, rightly understood, which favours a contrary opinion. If a firm belief in the true divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary, a proper notion of His real humanity is not less so. The doctrine of atonement requires a distinct conviction of the true and proper humanity of our Lord. Deity cannot suffer, &c. We shall confine ourselves to the consideration of our Lord’s sufferings of soul; because general attention is directed rather to His sufferings of body, and because the text speaks expressly of the “travail of His soul.”
I. OUR LORD’S TRAVAIL OF SOUL. He had a travail of soul arising—
1. From an anxious desire to be engaged in His great work. We know something of this feeling. How strong must it have been in the soul of Christ (Luke 12:50).
2. From the temptations of the devil. These were sometimes presented through the unconscious agency of others. But His severest temptations were suggested by Satan in his own person in the wilderness.
3. From sorrow at men’s impenitence and hardness (Mark 6:6; Matthew 23:37).
4. From fear in the immediate anticipation of His agony (Hebrews 5:7; Matthew 26:38-39).
5. From a sense of Divine desertion. “He trod the wine-press alone.” All His sufferings and travail of soul were as nothing compared with that sensation of utter loneliness and destitution which wrung from Him that exceeding great and bitter cry, “My God,” &c.
II. WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF ALL THIS TRAVAIL OF SOUL AND AGONY OF BODY?
1. In reference to man. The result to every one who receives Him is Justification. “By the knowledge of Him shall My righteous servant justify many,” implies a living faith in the Saviour.
2. In reference to our Lord Himself. One word expresses them. “He shall … be satisfied.” Satisfied with what?
(1.) With its effects upon individuals, leading them from the depths of sin to the heights of holiness.
(2.) With its efficacy for all mankind.
(3.) With the fulfilment of the Divine engagement to save every believing penitent. No poor guilty sinner coming in the way of God’s appointment has been rejected.
(4.) The salvation of sinners is Christ’s satisfaction. He does not regret His mediatorial undertaking, His reproach, and suffering, and death. He knows what our salvation has cost Him, and is satisfied.
But He may see of the travail of His soul and not be satisfied. He is not satisfied when the backslider crucifies Him afresh and puts Him to an open shame. He is not satisfied when the open sinner “tramples Him under foot,” &c. We have all, I trust, given some satisfaction to Christ; but which of us has done so fully? How many defects and imperfections have marred our best services!—S. D. Waddy, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 43–61.
To Christian Workers.
I. Without sacred travail—in the sense of labour, sacrifice, patience—there is never any profound and abiding satisfaction. Nothing precious in the world can be obtained without sacrifice; and this is just as true in the kingdom of God [1674] So it is with God. Creation and Providence may be the recreations of Omnipotence, but Redemption could be accomplished only by infinite cost [1677] Let us not dream of doing anything effective for ourselves or others cheaply.
[1674] We all would like that the law of Christian, and, indeed, of other life and success, was very different from this, and just as in the world people would like to get wealth without paying the price of it in labour, and would like to gain influence without rendering service by which it alone is won, and would like to get the love of their fellow-men without the life of friendliness that attracts it, so in spiritual things we would like cheaply, easily, to gain the precious things on which we set our eyes—forgiveness without repentance, perfect sanctity without the gradual and laborious self-denial by which alone it can be reached; usefulness we would like to get in some cheap and easy way without any sweat of agony, and without any strain of sympathy. We would all like in this way to get various things that are good—forgiveness, usefulness, raptures, light, conviction, assurance, without any travail. Now I do not know any lesson that it is more requisite for the young to learn, and more requisite for older men to keep themselves from forgetting than this—that without travail there is no abiding satisfaction.—Glover.
[1677] When He aims at the greater objects that engage His heart and tax His powers, 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 loneliness, of His lonely pilgrim path of misunderstanding, of the weakness of feeble hearts, and the bitterness of hateful foes. There is Gethsemane, there is Calvary. Without travail there is no satisfaction.—Glover.
II. Wherever there is sacred travail there is always abiding satisfaction. This lesson is as true as the other. No Christian labour is ever lost; it may seem lost, but it is not. Even when Christ re-ascended to heaven, His incarnation, His life, His death seemed to have been thrown away. A mere handful of disciples seemed the only result of it all. But was Christ’s travail lost? Every century that has since rolled away has been revealing how much was accomplished by it. His cross has been a tree of life in the midst of the garden bearing all manner of fruits—in that it has reconciled man to God; that it has reconciled man to man; that it reconciles us to our earthly lot; that it sweetens every other cross; that it reconciles us to our duty. So will it be with all who labour for Christ. Whatever travail of love or consecration you or I can put into our life and labour, none of it will be lost; but there will be a divine satisfaction infinitely ample, enduringly grand, compensating for it all [1680]
[1680] 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.—Glover.
III. The salvation of man is the satisfaction of God. Let this thought cheer the soul oppressed by guilt: God will delight to save you. Let it cheer the Christian worker; surely it should animate us in going forth to any work, that God is on our side, and that He finds His satisfaction in saving men.
IV. The salvation of men will be on such a scale as to give complete and perfect satisfaction to our God. “Satisfaction” is a large word. It is easy to please a man, but hard to satisfy him; and, as some one has said, it is the same with God: He is easily pleased, but hard to satisfy. Yet He shall be “SATISFIED!”—R. Glover: The Baptist, Oct. 11, 1878.
THE KNOWLEDGE THAT JUSTIFIES
Isaiah 53:11. By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many.
“Of whom speaketh the prophet this?” (Acts 8:34). Only of One, in all earth’s history, could these things be said. Is not His name “Wonderful”? Here we have—
I. THE FATHER’S RIGHTEOUS SERVANT. “My righteous servant,” says God, as if He had never had another. “Servant,” is a name of subjection and obedience, yet also of honour, according to the rank of him whom he serves. As servant He is the doer of the Father’s will; the Father’s servant for us, and in this sense our servant (Luke 22:27; Matthew 20:28). As servant He is the fulfiller of the Law; the obedient One in all things; not pleasing Himself, nor doing His own will. “My righteous Servant,” says God, as delighting in Him; for never before had He got such service and such righteousness; Divine, yet human service; Divine, yet human righteousness. It is of this righteous Servant that the whole chapter speaks. Wondrous servant! Gracious service! What or where should we be without such a servant and such a service? All we need is ministered to us by Him freely, liberally, lovingly!
II. THIS RIGHTEOUS SERVANT JUSTIFIES. He is no common servant. He is the great Judge of all; the Justifier of the sinner; He who acquits and pardons the guilty. He acted as such on earth (John 8:11; Matthew 9:2, &c.); He acts as such in heaven. Our justification is in His hands; we go to Him to be justified. In one aspect it is the Father that justifies; in another, it is the Son. He “justifies many.” All power is given Him—judicial, royal, priestly. We get acquittal and acceptance from His priestly-royal hands. “Let us then come boldly,” &c. His justifying sentence reverses the law’s condemning sentence. It is with the condemned that He deals; it is them that He pardons. There was justice in the condemnation; there is no less justice in the pardon. The Justifier is the Father’s Servant; the Word made flesh; the Son of God, who came in the name of the Lord to save us. Grace and righteousness in all their fulness are to be found in Him.
III. THIS RIGHTEOUS SERVANT JUSTIFIES BY HIS KNOWLEDGE. The “knowledge” is the link between the “many” and justification. He justifies them by giving them the knowledge of Himself as the Justifier, and of His work as the justifying thing. Know ledge is not here used in the sense of wisdom or understanding. It means that which He teaches them to know. We are justified by knowing the “righteous servant.” It is not by working, or praying, or suffering, but by knowing, that we enter on the state of acceptance (John 17:3). This is one of the simplest aspects in which the Gospel is presented to us. There is no mystery or darkness here. To know Jesus is to be justified! The justified man can say nothing in his own behalf; nothing good has he found in himself, in his works, feelings, character. The knowledge of “God’s righteous servant” has brought him into the state of “no condemnation.” Satisfied with that knowledge, though satisfied with nothing about himself, he can say with certainty and gladness, “Who is he that condemneth?”
IV. THIS RIGHTEOUS SERVANT JUSTIFIES BY BEARING THE INIQUITY OF THOSE WHOM HE JUSTIFIES. He justifies as a judge; as a judge giving righteous judgment; righteous judgment in acquitting the unrighteous. The ground on which He justifies is not mere grace, it is also righteousness. Not that sin is trivial; but that He has borne iniquity in the room of righteousness. God has given us a testimony to the work of His Son; and He has added the promise, that whosoever believes that testimony is straightway justified We believe and are justified. We know that we are so because of the sure word of promise to him who receives the testimony. This is what is called “appropriation.” It is the simple conclusion we draw from our believing the testimony. “He that believeth hath everlasting life.”—Horatius Bonar, D.D.: Light and Truth, Old Testament, pp. 266–270.