Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.
Christ the only sufficient sacrifice
Among the many irrefragable proofs that we belong to a fallen race, is the misconstruction which men have put upon the clearest revelations of the Divine will. The Lord had appointed that, in their approaches to Him, the Israelites should offer sacrifices as an acknowledgment that their sins could not be remitted without the shedding of blood. The sacrifices both made clear expression of the fearful guilt of sin, and foreshadowed the atonement Christ should make for the transgressions of His people. But the Jews, as a nation, were not impressed with horror of sin, neither were their thoughts led forward to the promised Redeemer. In their shameful misconceptions of the Divine character, they often impiously imagined that, if any of them committed a trespass, he had no more to do than to kill a bullock or a sheep, in sacrifice, and his guilt would be forgiven him.
I. What kind of atonement is required. It must be costly, for man’s guilt is great. Hence--
1. It must be equivalent in value to the souls of the redeemed. Such is the stern doom of justice: else man cannot be saved.
2. There must be a connection between those for whom the atonement is offered and the party who suffers.
3. He who was to die for man must be innocent. No halt or maimed victim could be accepted in the ancient sacrifices: it must be perfect. But how could man furnish a perfect sacrifice for sin?
4. The victim must be willing. An involuntary, forced sacrifice would be cruel tyranny.
II. How all the qualities requisite for a perfect atonement have met in Christ.
1. There was sufficiency in value, for Christ was the Son of God.
2. He had connection with these for whom He died; for He was man as well as God.
3. He was perfectly innocent--“He did no sin.”
4. He was a willing victim. (George Innes.)
Jesus the true Messiah
I. It is intimated that, whenever the Messiah should come, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the mosaic law were to be superseded by him. Jewish writers contend for the perpetuity of the ceremonial as well as of the moral law; but in this they are opposed, both by Scripture and by fact.
1. As to Scripture (1 Samuel 15:22; Psalms 50:7-15; Psalms 51:16-17; Isaiah 1:11-12; Jeremiah 7:21-23; Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 10:17-18).
2. Whether Messiah the Prince be come or not, sacrifice and oblation have ceased. We believed they virtually ceased when Jesus offered Himself a sacrifice, and in a few years after they actually ceased.
II. It is suggested that, whenever Messiah should come, the great body of scripture prophecy should be accomplished in him. “In the volume,” etc.
1. The time when Messiah should come is clearly marked out in prophecy (Genesis 49:10; Haggai 2:6-9; Daniel 9:24-27).
2. The place where Messiah should be born, and where He should principally impart His doctrine, is determined (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:2).
3. The house or family from whom Messiah should descend is clearly ascertained.
4. The kind of miracles that Messiah should perform is specified (Isaiah 35:5-6).
5. It was predicted of Messiah that He should, as a King, be distinguished by His lowliness, entering into Jerusalem, not in a chariot of state, but in a much humbler style (Zechariah 9:9).
6. It is predicted of Messiah that He should suffer and die by the hands of wicked men (Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 53:9; Daniel 9:26).
7. It was foretold that the Messiah, after being cut off out of the land of the living and laid in the grave, should rise from the dead.
8. It was foretold that the great body of the Jewish nation would not believe in Him; and that He would set up His kingdom among the Gentiles (Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 49:4-6).
III. It is declared, that when the Messiah should come, the will of God would be perfectly fulfilled by him. “I delight to do Thy will.” The will of God sometimes denotes what He approves, and sometimes what He appoints. The first is the rule of our conduct, the last of His own; and both we affirm to have been fulfilled by Jesus. (A. Fuller.)
“Lo, I come”
I. The sweeping away of the shadow.
1. When the Son of God is born into the world, there is an end of all types by which He was formerly prefigured. When the heart is gone out of the externals of worship, they are as shells without the kernel. Habitations without living tenants soon become desolations, and so do forms and ceremonies without their spiritual meaning. Toward the time of our Lord’s coming, the outward worship of Judaism became more and more dead: it was time that it was buried.
2. As these outward things vanish, they go away with God’s mark of non-esteem upon them: they are such things as He did not desire. The spiritual, the infinite, the almighty Jehovah could not desire merely outward ritual, however it might appear glorious to men. The sweetest music is not for His ear, nor the most splendid robes of priests for His eye. He desired something infinitely more precious than these, and He puts them away with this note of dissatisfaction.
3. They were so put away as never to be followed by the same kind of things. Shadows are not replaced by other shadows.
II. The revelation of thy Substance.
1. The Lord Himself comes, even He who is all that these things foreshadowed.
(1) When He comes He has a prepared ear. The margin hath it, “Mine ears hast Thou digged.” Our ears often need digging; for they are blocked up by sin. The passage to the heart seems to be sealed in the case of fallen man. But when the Saviour came, His ear was not as ours, but was attentive to the Divine voice.
(2) He came also with a prepared body (Hebrews 10:5).
2. He who assumed that body was existent before that body was prepared. He says, “A body hast Thou prepared me. Lo, I come.” He from old eternity dwelt with God: the Word was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God. He was before all worlds, and was before He came into the world to dwell in His prepared body.
3. The human nature of Christ was taken on Him in order that He might be able to do for us that which God desired and required. An absolutely perfect righteousness He renders unto God; as the second Adam, He presents it for all whom He represents.
III. The declaration of the Christ made in the text. “Lo, I come.”
1. Observe when He says this. It is in the time of failure.
2. When our Lord comes, it is with the view of filling up the vacuum which had now been sorrowfully seen. He gives to man in reality what he had lost in the shadow.
3. When He appears, it is as the personal Lord--the Infinite Ego. Everything is stored up in His blessed person, and we are complete in Him.
4. Observe the joyful avowal that He makes. This is no dirge; I think I hear a silver trumpet ring out, “Lo, I come.”
5. He comes with a word calling attention to it; for He is not ashamed to be made partaker of our flesh. Others have cried to you, “Lo, here! and Lo, there”; but Jesus looks on you, and cries, “Lo, I come.” Look hither; turn all your thoughts this way, and behold your God in your nature ready to save you.
6. I hear in this declaration of the coming One a note of finality. He is the fulfilment of all the requirements of the human race, as well as the full amount of what God requires.
IV. The reference to preceding writings. He says, “to, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.” If I preached from the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, I might fairly declare that in the whole volume of Holy Scripture much is written of our Lord and prescribed for Him as Messiah. Preaching as I am from the Psalms, I cannot take so long a range. I must look back and find what was written in David’s day, and within the Pentateuch certainly; and whore do I find it written concerning His coming? The Pentateuch drips with prophecies of Christ as a honeycomb overflowing with its honey.
V. The delight of him that cometh.
1. He came in complete subserviency to His Father. Though high as the highest, tie stooped low as the lowest.
2. He had a prospective delight as to His work (Proverbs 8:31).
3. He had an actual delight in His coming among men. To Him it was joy to be in sorrow, and honour to be put to shame. Do you think that lightens our estimate of His self-denial and disinterestedness? Nay, it adds weight to it. Some people fancy that there is no credit in doing a thing unless you are miserable in doing it. Nay, that is the very reverse. Obedience which is unwillingly offered and causes no joy in the soul, is not acceptable. We must serve God with our heart, or we do not serve Him.
4. Need I tell you what must be the delight, the heavenly joy of our Lord, now that the work is finished? He is now the focus, the centre, the source of bliss. What must be His own delight! We often say of the angels that they rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. What means the presence of the angels? Why, that the angels see the joy of Christ when sinners repent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
“Lo, I come”
The times when our Lord says, “Lo, I come,” have all a family likeness. There are certain crystals which assume a regular shape, and if you break them, each fragment will show the same conformation; if you were to dash them to shivers, every particle of the crystal would be still of the same form. Now, the goings forth of Christ which were of old, and His craning at Calvary, and that great advent when He shall come a second time to judge the earth in righteousness, all these have a likeness the one to the other. But there is a coming of what I may call a lesser sort, when Jesus cries, “Lo, I come “to each individual sinner, and brings a revelation of pardon and salvation; and this has about it much which is similar to the great ones.
I. The Lord Christ has times of his first comings to men; “Then said I, Lo, I come.” What are these times? Mayhap some here have reached this season, and this very day is the time of blessing when the text shall be fulfilled: “Then said I, Lo, I come.” Go with me to the first record in the volume of the Book, when it was said that He should come. You will find it in the early chapter of Genesis.
1. Jesus said, “Lo, I come,” when man’s probation was a failure. “Adam being in honour continued not.” At that point we read in the volume of the Book that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. Then our Redeemer said, “Lo, I come.” Hearken to me; you also have had your probation, as you have thought it to be.
2. When man’s clever dealings with the devil had turned out a great failure.
3. When man’s covering was a failure.
4. When all man’s pleas were failures.
5. When man’s religion had proved a failure.
II. Christ comes to sinners in the glory of his person. “Lo, I come.” What does He mean?
1. He means the setting of all else on one side.
2. Before Him there is a setting of self aside. Lo, he comes to clothe you from head to foot with His own seamless robe of righteousness. He annihilates self that He may fill all things.
3. Here is a glorious setting of Himself at our side and in our place. Jesus is now the one pillar on which to lean, the one foundation on which to build, the one and only rest of our weary souls.
4. He sets Himself where we can see Him; for he cries, “Lo, I come”; that is to say, “See Me come.” He comes openly, that we may see Him clearly.
5. Our Lord sets Himself to be permanently our all in all. When He came on earth, He did not leave His work till He had finished it. Even when He rose to glory, He continued His service for His chosen, living to intercede for them. Jesus will be a Saviour until all the chosen race shall have been gathered home.
III. Christ, in his coming, is his own introduction.
1. Here our Lord is His own herald. “Lo, I come.” He bids you look on Him when you beseech Him to look on you.
2. He comes when quite unsought or sought for in a wrong way. “Lo, I come,” is the announcement of majestic grace which waiteth not for man, neither tarrieth for the sons of men.
3. Our Lord Jesus is the way to Himself.
4. He is the blessing which He brings.
5. He is His own spokesman.
IV. Christ, to cheer us reveals his reasons for coming.
1. It is His Father’s will.
2. His own heart is set on you.
3. You have need, and He has love, and so He comes.
V. Christ’s coming is the best plea for our receiving him, and receiving him now. Receive Him! If you are in yourself sadly unready, yet He Himself will make everything ready for Himself. Shut not out your own mercy. A pastor in Edinburgh, in going round his district, knocked at the door of a poor woman, for whom he had brought some needed help; but he received no answer. When next he met her, he said to her, “I called on Tuesday at your house.” She asked, “At what time?. .. About eleven o’clock; I knocked, and you did not answer. I was disappointed, for I called to give you help.” “Ah, sir!” said she, “I am very sorry. I thought it was the man coming for the rent, and I could not pay it, and therefore I did not dare to go to the door.” Many a troubled soul thinks that Jesus is one who comes to ask of us what we cannot give; but indeed He comes to give us all things. His errand is not to condemn, but to forgive. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Delight to do the will of God
I. Some cases in which the christian delights to do the will of God.
1. In the acts and offices of religious worship.
2. In the faithful discharge of those duties which he owes to his fellow-creatures.
3. In the good government of himself, and the practice of temperance and self-denial.
II. Some of the chief fruits or effects of it.
1. Cheerfulness, an habitual vivacity and gladness of heart in the exercise of our moral and religious duties, both in the time of our wealth and in the time of suffering and tribulation.
2. A firm confidence in God’s protection and goodness, a cheerful apprehension of His perpetual presence and overruling providence, and a deep-rooted persuasion of His merciful disposition towards us, and of the truth and excellence of His promises.
3. A humble but stedfast hope of everlasting happiness, grounded on His promises in Christ, and brought home to the mind of the believer in the way of just inference and reasonable collection. (Bishop Bethell.)
Christ’s delight in the work of redemption
I. Why it ought to be a pleasant and grateful thing to Christ to take a body of flesh and lay it down by death again for the redemption of sinners.
1. It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and delight, that thereby He might give His death the nature and formality of a sacrifice.
2. It ought to be so in regard of the unity of Christ’s will with the Father’s. The work of our redemption is called “the pleasure of the Lord” (Isaiah 53:10), and what was the Father’s pleasure could not be displeasing to Him who is one with the Father.
3. This was necessary to magnify and commend the love of Jesus Christ to us, for whom He gave Himself. That He came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude, but that He came in love to our souls, and underwent all His sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension.
4. It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to God according to this pattern, that seeing and setting this great example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any duty or suffering that God should call us to.
II. Whence it came to re so pleasant and acceptable to Jesus Christ to come into the world and die for poor sinners.
1. That in His sufferings there would be made a glorious display and manifestation of the Divine attributes; yea, such a glorious display of them as was never made before to angels or to men, nor ever shall be any more in this world.
(1) For though the wisdom of God had made itself visible to men in the creation of the world, yet there it shone, but in a faint and languishing beam compared with this.
(2) The love of God had appeared before in our creation, protection and provision, yet nothing to what it doth in our redemption by the death of Christ.
(3) God had given several sad marks of His justice before, both upon the angels that fell, and in the overthrow of Sodom, etc.; yet never was the exactness and severity of justice so manifested before, nor ever shall be any more, as it was at the death of Christ.
2. Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of His sufferings was the recovery and salvation of all the elect by His death; and though His sufferings were exceeding bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceeding sweet; upon this account He assumed his name Jesus (Matthew 1:21), yea, and His human nature also (Galatians 4:4-5).
3. The glory which would redound to Him from His redeemed ones to all eternity; for it will be the everlasting pleasant employment of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise and honour to the Redeemer. (John Flavel.)