CHAPTER IX: Did not shrink at the approach of his greatest sufferings, his death:
CHAPTER IX
That he did not shrink at the approach of his greatest sufferings, his death, but shewed a cheerful resolution to the very last moment.
Let us instance further, in that which was the hardest piece of his work, and the finishing of all, his sufferings at his death.
1. Afore he came to undergo it a good while, see the frame of his spirit; Luke 12:50, 'I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am
I straitened till it be accomplished!' He knew the bitterness of that baptism to be such as no creature was able to be baptized with it:
Matt. 20:22, 'But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.' Yet, says he, 'How am I straitened till it be accomplished.' How much I cannot express; and I am straitened that my desire and longings are delayed, and they straiten and contract the heart. Never woman desired more to be delivered, than he to have finished that work; to have gone over that brook, that sea of wrath, he was to be sunk over head and ears into.
Upon a time when Christ began first to declare the greatness of his sufferings—Mat. 16:21, 'From that time forth, began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day'—Peter took him (that is aside, as a friend out of love) and began to rebuke him, that he would spare himself, and not provoke the pharisees by zeal; and 'be it far from thee, Lord' (says he), that never deservedst it, that art the Saviour of men, goest up and down doing good, this shall not be to thee. But how did Jesus take this? One would have thought he should have taken it lovingly. Absolutely, we never did see Christ so angry, and take a thing so ill. It is said, ver. 23, 'But he turned, and said unto
Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for
thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.' The word στραφεὶς, translated 'he turned,' it imports not so much the turning of his body to him, as the turning and change of his countenance unto a paleness or redness, as when a man's blood is up, or when he is moved with anger and indignation. And what said he? 'Get thee behind, Satan.' There was never such a word came forth of those lips afore or after, given to a saint, as Peter was. All was because he touched him in what his spirit was most eager for; as anger swells and riseth against what comes in the way and current of men's desires, even as a strong stream against what would stop it.
And Christ adds, 'Thou art an offence unto me!' An offence is properly an occasion of stumbling. Now Christ's holy nature was not capable of such an occasion of stumbling, or being drawn to sin, as ours is; yet Peter's speech had that tendency in it, to divert him from that great work his heart was intent upon. Then at another time
Peter would be meddling to rescue him by the sword, John 18:11.
And though he then received a milder answer from Christ, 'Put up thy sword into its sheath;' yet still you may thereby see how strongly his heart continued set upon the work of redemption that was undertaken by him, and designed to him; 'The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink?' Every word speaks the eagerness and strength of his will and resolution therein. Interrogations in that case argue the greatest vehemency. But this belongs to the next particular: namely, When he came to perform that last part of his obedience, his sufferings to death.
1. As the time drew nearer and nearer for him to take his last journey to Jerusalem, not having many months or days to live, and knew also all that would befall him there, as he had told Peter and his disciples; the evangelist Luke says of him, chap. 9:51, 'When the time was come he should be received up' (namely, by means of that cruel death, unto glory), 'he stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem.' I will not dispute whether it was his last journey (which I rather think with Grotius), or that it was half a year afore, as others; but two journeys
to Jerusalem are afterwards mentioned by Luke (which yet argue not that his disposition, here recorded occasionally, should not be intended of his last journey); for Luke tells things not strictly in order of time, but of occasions (as Grotius hath observed). However this all do and must acknowledge, that the scope of this passage was to shew that Christ now toward his end hardened himself, and in all his deportment (which is expressed by face there) set himself to manifest so much, that nothing did or should divert him. Yea, and this was observable in him more than at former times; for, ver. 53, it was observed by a whole city of the Samaritans, who therefore received him not: 'And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.'
Hence the exhortation from Christ's example, suffering resolutely for us: 1 Peter 4:1, is this, 'Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind;' a strong resolution, causing a man's mind as boldly and venturously to encounter difficulties, as strong armour doth embolden a man's mind to rush into battle. So then Christ armed himself, steeled his heart, as we use to speak.
And then when he was to eat his last supper, to eat his last (as we use to speak), so it is called, Luke 22:16, see what vehemency of desires he utters, ver. 15, 'With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer;' that is, how have I longed with the most passionate desire for the arrival of this last night and meal that I must make, that it would come and hasten, as all men are apt aforehand to do for that which their hearts are set upon. And that to have been his reason is evident by what follows, ver. 16, 'For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come:' the thing signified by the passover, the redemption of the world by my death. This is to be my last drink I shall drink with you; and now my death comes on, by which you and the world shall be saved and redeemed.
And again, when he knew Judas was to go out to betray him, he said, 'Do what thou dost do, quickly;' John 13:27, 30, as soon as thou wilt, for I am ready and resolved. He dares him, and hastens him to it to shew his own resolvedness. And when he was gone out he claps his hands (as it were) for joy, and utters his joy and triumph in it, ver. 31,
'Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.' For he reckoned the stroke now as good as struck, the thing now as good as done, that he should be crucified. For the instrument that was to set all a-work was gone out about it, and he calls his death, his being glorified, because it was the foundation of all that glory himself and his elect were to have.
How bitter soever it proved afterwards, his heart at present was filled with joy for the thoughts of the approach of it; he looks upon it as his wedding day, his coronation day (as in more respects than one it proved); as Solomon's heart is said to be filled with joy in the day wherein his mother crowned him. And that so he esteemed it, you have another place to the same purpose, John 12:23, 24, 28, 'Now the hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified,' which is spoken out of the same passion of spirit as the former; as if he had said, Now, even now is the time, the longed-for hour, so long longed for, come, wherein I shall be glorified, and do that most glorious work for which I came into the world. 'For this hour I came into the world,' as ver. 27. And this he speaks in relation to his death, so in the 24th verse, as also ver. 27, 28, and 32 evidently shew. It is true, he was struck with terror and trouble at his entrance into it (for here the first thunder-clap that struck him did begin), so ver. 27, 'Now is my soul troubled,' and so troubled, as he adds, 'What shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour?' But withal, he renews and recovers that which had been his constant resolution and pursuance. 'But for this cause came I to this hour.' It was a consideration he took in to hearten himself unto it; that he had gone so far, and was now come to it, and should I now recoil? And what was it did glad him, even in the midst of this his trouble? 1. That his Father should be glorified.
'Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' 2. That thereby souls should be saved, which, in ver. 24, he gives this
account of, 'Except a corn of wheat' (to which he compares himself, who was to be the root of multitudes to spring out of him), 'die, it abides alone;' as he otherwise must have done in heaven. 'But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit;' which further, ver. 32, 33, he expresseth, 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.
This he said, signifying what death he should die.'
After this he maketh a long sermon to his disciples, when Judas was gone forth to act his fatal design; and Christ, to lose no time, in the mean while enters into a long and large sermon to hearten his disciples, recorded in the ensuing thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of John. And it is greatly observable, how that in the midst of his sermon, in the tenor of his discourse coming to that which most of all did move him to that work, namely, his Father's love, you have the passage, John 14:31, 'But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.
Arise, let us go hence.' He would needs in all haste be gone, as if he had overslipped his time of Judas his meeting him with his trained bands, and so they would miss of him. He sits upon thorns (as we use to say of one that thinks the time long), for he breaks off in the midst of a discourse, which he assumes again (as if he had forgotten himself), though two chapters afterwards, the fifteenth and sixteenth. Of all works else, preaching, and preaching his last too, his heart was most in; and yet he makes a start in the midst of a sermon to be gone, to be taken and crucified: 'Arise, let us go hence.' He looked on the glass, and saw it was not yet run out, and he sits down again, and preacheth another sermon of the vine and of the branches, occasioned by what he had been administering, the sacrament of his supper, his blood, so signified by the blood of the vine. Well, when that sermon and his latter prayer, chap. 17, was done, it came to the very point of his bitter execution, he stays not till their pursuivants and Judas with his trained bands should find him out; but as the eighteenth chapter tells us, he offers himself as a sacrifice into their hands (for so all sacrifices were to be brought to the door of the temple by the person that sacrificed), and so to be offered up. And all this he did willingly and knowingly aforehand of
what should come to pass, chap. 18:4. And these things the eighteenth chapter of John doth punctually and setly relate, from the first verse to the ninth: 'When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place; for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them,
Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: that the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou givest me have I lost none.'
We had sinned against knowledge, and he suffers with a full cognisance, and an aforehand deliberation of all that was to befall him. And further (to make us apprehensive of this his will in it), he tells Peter, when he would needs vainly and weakly attempt to rescue him, Mat. 26:53, 'Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?'
Alas! he needed not so great a party; his own word, 'I am he,' John 18:8, struck them all backward, and might have done dead; and ver.
11, 'The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?'
He never shewed any sign of reluctancy, till in the garden he saw what was indeed in that cup his Father did present him with, even his wrath, and being made a curse. And to shew what the nature of a man in itself might in such a case do, namely, shew his abhorrency of so high an endurance, and merely to let us understand so much, to the end we might see his love (for it was meet we should by something understand how much he was put to it), he thereupon
cries out, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass.' But as he had, John 12:27, so here his Father's will quiets all again. And the whole mind of this passage is but to shew, 1. His averseness, as to the thing in itself simply considered, because of the bitterness of it; and, 2. That the whole ground of his submitting notwithstanding thereunto was his Father's will; and, 3. How that, notwithstanding his will stood to it as high as ever, yet only upon that ground, 'Not my will, but thy will be done.'
When they had him in the high priest's hall, scorning and buffeting of him; as he had set his face, as you heard, afore his sufferings to go to Jerusalem; so now the prophet uttering it in his person, tells us how he steeled his heart thereagainst also: 'I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.'
Lastly, When he hung upon the tree, and had enough to have provoked so great a spirit, so empowered as he was with the sovereignty of heaven and earth to have relieved himself, and to have commanded those nails to have given way, he could have taught them better obedience than to detain their Lord in so great sufferings a moment; and that which did and might have provoked him farther to have shewn his power to rescue himself, was their cruel mockings of him added to all his sufferings, 'Come down' (say they), 'thou that savest others, and we will believe thee.' Well, he still hangs quietly there. 'He endured the cross' (Paul says), 'and despised the shame,'
Heb. 12:1. When in the grave, all the power of death could not keep him there, for he had done his work. But love kept him on the cross, and nailed him there with stronger nails than men or devils could have driven in.