hath so strengthened the human nature, and upheld it, that it could bear the weight of the wrath of
1. The Heidelberg Catechism (used in the Scotch Church, along with Calvin's, till superseded by the
Westminster) asks, "What profit takest thou by Christ's holy conception and nativity?" and answers,
"That He is our Mediator, and doth cover my sins with His innocencv and perfect holiness, in which I
was conceived, that they may not come into the sight of God."
2. "These ceremonial observances were so many confessions of sin. Christ, then, who was made sin
for us, conformed to these" (Ames, Medulla Theologica, B. 1. ch. 21). "Hereby (by circumcision) He
was represented to the world not only as a subject, but also as a sinner. For though He was pure and
holy, yet this ordinance passing upon Him seemed to imply as if corruption had indeed been in Him,
which must be cut off by mortification....Thus was He represented as a sinner to the world, though
most holy and pure in Himself" (Flavel, Fountain of Life-Sermon 19). "He was circumcised, and kept
the law to deliver us from the condemnation of it....Therefore we must seek our righteousness, not in
the law, but in Christ, who hath fulfilled the same, and given us freely His fulfilling" (Latimer on
Matt 2:1,2).
3. The old hymns have not lost sight of those truths. As specimens, I give the following: - "Stillat
excisos pueri per artus -- Eficacious blood drops fromEfficax noxas abolere sanguis; -- The pierced
limbs of the boyObligat morti pretiosa totum -- To abolish punishments;Stilla cruorem." -- A
precious drop requires the whole bloodshed to death.Again: "Vix natus, ecce lacteum -- Behold the
infant, scarcely born,Profundit Infans sanguinem, -- Sheds the milk blood,Libamen est hoc funeris --
A sample of death,Amoris hoc praeludium." -- A prelude of love.And again: "Dixit; et Patris
veneratus iram -- He spoke; and having respectedSustinet vulnus silicis cruentae; -- The wrath of the
Father endures the wound of the bloody rock;Et jugum legis subit ipse, servis -- And he himself
submits to the yoke of the lawUt juga demat." -- In order to take away the yokes for his servants. --
Editor Little as these hymns contain of the finished work of the substitution, occasionally the great
truth breaks
4. The evangelist here translates directly from the Hebrew, and differs from the Septuagint.
5. The Heidelberg Catechism asks, "What believest thou when thou sayest, He suffered?" and the
answer is, "That He, all the time of His life which He led on earth, but especially at the end thereof,
sustained the wrath of God, both in body and soul, against the sin of mankind, that He might by His
passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice, deliver our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and
purchase unto us the favour of God, righteousness, and everlasting life."
6. The old catechetical exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism brings out this fully: "The Godhead
hath so strengthened the human nature, and upheld it, that it could bear the weight of the wrath of
God against sin. It hath also given such dignity to the short sufferings of the human nature, that it
hath satisfied for the eternal punishment which we had deserved... What suffered He in His soul?
Very heavy and terrible torments, anxieties, pains, sorrows, distresses, arising from the sense of God's
wrath... When and how long hath Christ suffered? The whole time of His life which He led on earth,
but especially at the end thereof. The evangelical histories testify of banishments, Satan's
temptations, poverty, disgrace, infirmities, hunger, thirst, fear, perils of life; especially in the garden
of Gethsemane, in the judgment hall, on Golgotha... He not only suffered for sin, but He felt God
against Him in that suffering as an angry judge... Hath He also purchased righteousness for us? Ye
7. "To what end was He buried? That thereby He might make manifest that He was dead indeed"
(Heidelberg Catechism).
8. "What other benefits receive we by the sacrifice and death of Christ? That by virtue of His death
our old man is crucified, slain, and buried together with Him, that henceforth evil lusts and desires
may not reign in us, but we may offer ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving....How doth the
resurrection of Christ profit us? First, by His resurrection He vanquished death, that He might make
us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased for us; secondly, we are stirred up by His
power to a new life" (Heidelberg Catechism).(9) See Kypke's Observations in N.T, who quotes some
striking passages in classical Greek to illustrate this. See also Bengel and Winer.
Chapter Four
The Declaration of the Completeness
The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is a prophetic vision of the cross.
he book of Leviticus had given Israel in detail the standing symbols
which were all to be transformed into spiritual substances or verities
in Christ crucified. And this chapter of the prophet gives a summary of
these truths, in Levitical language, connecting them all with the seed of the
woman, and His bruising upon the tree.
For more than three thousand years the "bruised heel" had been held up
before the eye of the world, and specially of Israel (in their sacrifices), as
their deliverance and hope. But now the interpretation is given in more
explicit language. Its meaning, as expressing (in the varied details of this
chapter) the transference of the sinner's guilt to the Surety; as setting forth
also the mysterious person of the Man of sorrows, and, under all this,
revealing the deep free love of God to man,-is here proclaimed with a
clearness and fulness such as had not hitherto been vouchsafed either to the
patriarchs or to Israel. Nowhere is the work of the Messiah the sin-bearer
more explicitly revealed. The just One suffering for the unjust is the theme
of this prophetic burden.
Abruptly the prophet breaks forth in his description of Messiah, seed of
the woman, son of Adam, son of Abraham, son of David: "He shall grow up
before Him a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." The soil and
the air of earth are alike uncongenial to this shoot from the stem of Jesse. Its
affinities are all with a purer climate than ours.
He rises up in the midst of us, but not to be appreciated and honored; not
to be admired, or loved. "He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall
see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." The light shineth in
the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. "He is [the] despised
and rejected [one] of men"; i.e. of all men, the most despised and rejected:
for He came to His own, and His own received Him not.
Here is the beginning of His vicarious life ,-a life of reproach among the
sons of men. "A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."
Whence all this life-long sadness? When angels visit earth, are they thus
sorrowful? Does the air of earth infect them with its troubles? Do they
weep, and groan, and bleed? Are they assailed with the blasphemies of
earth? If not, why is it thus? Why is the holy Son of God, from His
childhood, subjected to this contempt, and bowed down beneath this
burden? Why is the cup of gall and wormwood set beside His cradle? and
why, day by day, in youth and manhood, has He to drink the bitter draught?
Angels see the sights and hear the sounds of earth, as they attend us in their
ministries, or execute the errands of their King: yet they are not saddened;
nor, when they return to their dwellings of light, do they require the tears to
be wiped from their eye, or the sweat from their brow. How can we account
for the difference between Messiah and the angels, save the fact that His
sin-bearing character made Him accessible to and penetrable by grief, in a
way such as no angel could be?
The difficulty of such a case was obvious; and accordingly the prophet
meets it in the next verse. It is our griefs that He was bearing; it was our
sorrows that He was carrying. These were the things that made Him the
Man of sorrows. They that saw Him could not understand the mystery.
They said, God has smitten him for his sins, and afflicted him for some
hidden transgression that we know not. But, no; "He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." The wounding,
the bruising, the chastening, and the scourging had their beginnings before
He reached the cross; but it was there that they were all completed by "the
obedience unto death."
"The LORD [Jehovah] hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all"; or, bath
made to rush or strike upon Him the punishment of us all.
"It was exacted, and He became answerable, And (therefore)
He opened not His mouth.
As a lamb to the slaughter He is led;
And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
So He opened not His mouth.
From prison and from judgment He is taken,
And His generation (manner of life) who declareth?"
These are the scenes before the Cross; while He was on His way to it. He
was dumb before His judges, because He had made Himself legally
responsible for our debt or guilt. Nor was there any one to come forward
and declare His innocence. He was carrying, too, our sins to the cross. After
this we have the cross itself:
"He was cut off out of the land of the living; For the
transgressions of my people He was stricken."
The sin-bearing of the cross is fully brought out here. There He hung as
the Substitute, "the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."
"And there was appointed Him a grave with the wicked, But
with the rich man was He in death."
There was assigned to Him a place with the wicked not only on the cross,
but in His burial; He was condemned not only to die an ignominious death,
but to have a like sepulchre. From this latter, however, He was delivered by
the rich man of Arimathea, who unexpectedly came forward and begged the
body, which would otherwise have been consigned to a malefactor's grave.
He was "with the rich in His death"; that is, when He died, or after His
death, when He was taken down from the cross.
"Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, He bath put Him to
grief."
Jehovah was well pleased with His bruising,-nay, took plea-sure in
bruising Him. Never was Messiah more the "beloved Son" than when
suffering on the cross; yet Jehovah was "well pleased" to put Him to grief.
Though the consciousness of communion was interrupted for a time, when
he cried, "Why has Thou forsaken me?" yet there was no breaking of the
bond. There was wrath coming down on Him as the Substitute, but love
resting on Him as the Son. Both were together. He knew the love, even
while He felt the wrath; nay, it was the knowledge of the love that made
Him cry out in amazement and anguish, "My God, my God, why hast Thou
forsaken me?"
"Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin;"
or, more exactly, "a trespass-offering"; a sacrifice for willful, conscious
sin. Of this trespass-offering it is written, "The priest shall make an
atonement for him before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven him for anything
of all that he hath done in trespassing therein" (Lev 6:7). The various
offerings of the tabernacle and the altar all center in and cluster round the
cross. It is THE SOUL that is here said to be the trespass-offering; implying
that when the soul was parted from the body, when Christ commended His
spirit to His Father, then the trespass-offering was completed. Atonement
was made, once for all. Before the body of the Surety had reached the tomb,
the great work was done. The lying in the grave was the visible and
palpable sign or pledge of the work having been already finished; and
resurrection was the Father's seal from above set to the excellency of that
completed sacrifice, and to the perfection of Him by whom it had been
accomplished on the cross.
"Upon the labor of His soul He shall look, He shall be
satisfied."
Christ, in the days of His flesh, often used language like this regarding
His soul: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt 26:38);
"Now is my soul troubled" (John 12:27); "The Son of man came. ..to give
His soul a ransom for many" (Matt 20:28); "The good shepherd giveth His
soul for the sheep" (John 10:11); "I lay down my soul for the sheep" (John
10:15). Thus the life, the soul, the blood, are connected together; and with
that which was accomplished by them in life and in death He is satisfied
Whether it is Himself that is satisfied, or the Father, matters not. The truth
taught is the same.
"By His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many;
For He shall bear their iniquities."
It is the Father that here speaks. He calls Messiah, "My righteous
Servant," and proclaims that by giving the knowledge of Himself He shall
justify many. The knowledge of Christ is that which secures our
justification; the knowledge of Christ as the sin-bearer: for it is added, as
the justifying thing in this knowledge, "He shall bear their iniquities"; thus
again linking justification with the cross, and the finished work there.
The last verse is very remarkable, as bringing out fully the Father's
reasons for glorifying His Son; reasons connected entirely with the cross
and the sin-bearing there:
"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He hath poured out His soul unto death.
And He was numbered with the transgressors;
And He bare the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors."
So that the resurrection, with all the subsequent glory and honor
conferred on Him, is the recompense and result of His justifying work on
the cross. On that tree of death and shame the work was FINISHED. There
He poured out His soul; there He was numbered with the transgressors;
there He bare the sin of many; there He made intercession for the
transgressors, when He cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." 1
"It is finished" were His words as He died. The justifying work is done!
If anything else besides this finished work is to justify, then Christ has died
in vain.
"It is finished," He said, and gave up the ghost. "Father, into Thy hands I
commend my spirit"; and to the Father that spirit went. The Father received
it; and in receiving it, bore testimony to the completeness of the work. The
Roman soldiers, "perceiving that he was dead already," may be said to have
testified to the completion of the work of pouring out His soul unto death.
The taking down from the cross was another testimony. Joseph and
Nicodemus were like the Levites carrying away the ashes from the altar.
The burial was another testimony. The resurrection began the divine and
visible testimony to this same thing. The ascension, and "sitting" at the
Father's right hand, were the attestations from above,-the heavenly
responses to the voice from the cross, "It is finished." All after this was the
result of that finished work. The presentation of His blood was not to
complete the sacrifice, but to carry out what was already done. The
sprinkling of the blood (at whatever time that may have been done) was the
application of the sacrifice, not the sacrifice itself.
"It is finished!" He who makes this announcement on the cross is the Son
of God; it is He who but the day before had said in the prospect of this
consummation, "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work
which Thou gavest me to do." He knows what He says when He utters it;
and He is "the faithful and true witness." His words are true, and they are
full of meaning.
He makes this announcement before the Father, as if calling on Him to
confirm it. He makes it before heaven and earth, before men and angels,
before Jew and Gentile. He makes it to us. Listen, O sons of men! The work
that saves is perfected. The work that justifies is done.
The completeness thus announced is a great and momentous one. It is
one in which all the ends of the earth have an interest. Had ought been left
unfinished, then what hope for man or for man's earth? But it is begun,
carried on, consummated; and no flaw is found it in; no part is left out; not a
jot or tittle has failed. It is absolutely perfect.
This perfection or consummation proclaims to us such things as these:
the completion of the Father's purpose, the completion of atonement, the
completion of the justifying work, the complete-ness of the sin-bearing and
law-fulfilling, the completeness of the righteousness, the completeness of
the covenant and the covenant seal. All is done, and done by Him who is
Son of man and Son of God; perfectly and for ever done; nothing to be
added to it or taken from it, by man, by Satan, or by God. The burial of the
Substitute does not add to its completeness; resurrection forms no part of
that justifying work. It was all concluded on the cross.
It is so finished that a sinner may at once use it for pardon, for rest, for
acceptance, for justification. Standing beside this altar where the great
burnt-offering was laid and consumed to ashes, the sinner feels that he is
put in possession of all blessing. That which the altar has secured passes
over to him simply in virtue of his taking his place at the altar, and thus
identifying himself with the victim. There the divine displeasure against sin
has spent itself; there righteousness has been obtained for the unrighteous;
there the sweet savor of rest is continually ascending from God; there the
full flood of divine love is ever flowing out; there God meets the sinner in
His fullest grace, without hindrance or restraint; there the peace which has
been made through blood-shedding is found by the sinner; there
reconciliation is proclaimed, and the voice that pro-claims it from that altar
reaches to the ends of the earth; there the ambassadors of peace take their
stand to discharge their embassy, pleading with the sons of men far off and
near, saying, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
The resurrection was the great visible seal set to this complete-ness. It
was the Father's response to the cry from the cross, "It is finished." As at
baptism He spoke from the excellent glory, and said, "This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased"; so did He speak, though not with audible
voice, at the resurrection, bearing testimony thereby not only to the
excellency of the Person, but to the completeness of the work of His only-
begotten Son. The resurrection added nothing to the propitiation of the
cross; it proclaimed it already perfect, incapable of addition or greater
completeness.
The ascension added to this testimony, and especially the sitting at God's
right hand. "This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
SAT DOWN at the right hand of God" (Heb 10:12). "When He had by
Himself purged our sins, SAT DOWN on the right hand of the Majesty on
high" (Heb 1:3). The standing p05-ture of the ancient priests showed that
their work was an unfinished one. The sitting down of our High Priest
intimated to all heaven that the work was done, and the "eternal redemption
obtained." And what was thus intimated in heaven has been pro-claimed on
earth by those whom God sent forth in power of the Holy Ghost, to tell to
men the things which eye had not seen nor ear heard. That "sitting down"
contained in itself the gospel. The first note of that gospel was sounded at
Bethlehem, from the manger where the young child lay; the last note came
from the throne above, when the Son of God returned in triumph from His
mission of grace to earth, and took His seat upon the right hand of the
Majesty in heaven.
Between these two extremities, the manger and the throne, how much is
contained for us! All the love of God is there. The exceeding riches of
divine grace are there. The fullness of that power and wisdom and
righteousness, which have come forth, not to destroy, but to save, is there.
These are the two boundary walls of that wondrous storehouse out of which
we are to be filled throughout the eternal ages.
Of what is contained in this treasure-house we know something here, in
some small measure; but the vast contents are beyond all measurement and
all conception. The eternal unfolding of these to us will be perpetual
gladness. Apart from the excellency of the inheritance, and the beauty of
the city, and the glory of the kingdom, which will make us say, "Truly the
lines have fallen unto us in pleas-ant places," there will be, in our ever-
widening knowledge of "the unsearchable riches of Christ," light and
replenishment and satisfaction, which, even were all external brightness
swept away, would be enough for the soul throughout all the ages to come.
The present glory of Christ is the reward of His humiliation here.
Because He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the Cross, therefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him
the name that is above every name. He wears the crown of glory, because
He wore the crown of thorns. He drank of the brook by the way, therefore
he has lifted up the head (Psa 110:7).
But this is not all. That glory to which He is now exalted is the standing
testimony before all heaven that His work was finished on the cross. "I have
finished the work which Thou gavest me to do," He said; and then He
added, "Now, 0 Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:4,5).
The proofs of the completeness of the sacrificial work upon the cross are
very full and satisfying. They assure us that the work was really finished,
and, as such, available for the most sinful of men. We shall find it good to
dwell upon the thought of this completeness, for the pacifying of the
conscience, for the satisfying of the soul, for the removal of all doubt and
unbelief, and for the production and increase of faith and confidence.
There are degrees of rest for the soul, and it is in proportion as we
comprehend the perfection of the work on Calvary that our rest will
increase. There are depths of peace which we have not yet sounded, for it is
"peace which passeth all understanding"; and into these depths the Holy
Spirit leads us, not in some miraculous way, or by some mere exertion of
power, but by revealing to us more and more of that work, in the first
knowledge of which our peace began.
We are never done with the cross, nor ever shall be. Its wonders will be
always new, and always fraught with joy. "The Lamb as it had been slain"
will be the theme of our praise above. Why should such a name be given to
Him in such a book as the Revelation, which in one sense carries us far past
the cross, were it not that we shall always realize our connection with its
one salvation; always be looking to it even in the midst of glory; and always
learning from it some new lesson regarding the work of Him "in whom we
have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace"? What will they who here speak of themselves as
being so advanced as to be done with the cross, say to being brought face to
face with the Lamb that was slain, in the age of absolute perfection, the age
of the heavenly glory?
Thou fool! Dost thou not know that the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
endureth for ever, and that thou shalt eternally glory in it, if thou are saved
by it at all?
Thou fool! Wilt thou not join in the song below, "To Him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in His own blood"? Wilt thou not join in the
song above, "Thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood"?
And dost thou not remember that it is from "the Lamb as it had been slain"
that "the seven spirits of God are sent forth into all the earth"? (Rev 5:6). (2)
It is the Lamb who stands in the midst of the elders (Rev 5:6), and before
whom they fall down. "Worthy is the Lamb" is the theme of celestial song.
It is the Lamb that opens the seals (6:1). It is before the Lamb that the great
multitude stand clothed in white (7:9). It is the blood of the Lamb that
washes the raiment white (7:14). It is by the blood of the Lamb that the
victory is won (12:11). The book of life belongs to the Lamb slain (13:8). It
was a Lamb that stood on the glorious Mount Zion (14:1). It is the Lamb
that the redeemed multitude are seen following (14:4); and that multitude is
the first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb (14:4). It is the song of the
Lamb that is sung in heaven (15:3). It is the Lamb that wars and over-comes
(17:14). It is the marriage of the Lamb that is celebrated, and it is to the
marriage-supper of the Lamb that we are called (19:7,9). The church is the
Lamb's wife (21:9). On the foundations of the heavenly city are written the
names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (21:14). Of this city the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple (21:23). Of that city the Lamb is the
light (21:23). The book of life of the Lamb, and the throne of the Lamb
(21:27; 22:1,3), sum up this wondrous list of honors and dignities belonging
to the Lord Jesus as the crucified Son of God.
Thus the glory of heaven revolves round the cross; and every object on
which the eye lights in the celestial city will remind us of the cross, and
carry us back to Golgotha. Never shall we get beyond it, or turn our backs
on it, or cease to draw from it the divine virtue which it contains.
The tree, be it palm, or cedar, or olive, can never be independent of its
roots, however stately its growth, however plentiful its fruit. The building,
be it palace or temple, can never be separated from its foundation, however
spacious or ornate its structure may be. So, never shall the redeemed be
independent of the cross, or cease to draw from its fullness.
In what ways our looking to the cross hereafter will benefit us; what the
shadow of that tree will do for us in the eternal kingdom, I know not, nor do
I venture to say. But it would seem as if the cross and the glory were so
inseparably bound together, that there cannot be the enjoyment of the one
without the remembrance of the other. The completeness of the sacrificial
work on Calvary will be matter for eternal contemplation and rejoicing,
long after every sin has been, by its cleansing efficacy, washed out of our
being for ever.
Shall we ever exhaust the fullness of the cross? Is it a mere stepping-
stone to something beyond itself? Shall we ever cease to glory in it (as the
apostle gloried), not only because of past, but because of present and eternal
blessing? The forgiveness of sin is one thing; but is that all? The crucifixion
of the world is another; but is that all? Is the cross to be a relic, useless
though venerable, like the serpent of brass laid up in the tabernacle; to be
destroyed perhaps at some future time, and called Nehushtan? (2 Kings
18:4). Or is it not rather like the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of
fruits, and yields its fruit every month, by the banks of the celestial river?
Its influence here on earth is transforming; but even after the transformation
has been completed, and the whole church perfected, shall there not be a
rising higher and higher, a taking on of greater and yet greater comeliness, a
passing from glory to glory; and all in connection with the cross, and
through the never-ending vision of its wonders?
Of the new Jerusalem it is said, "The LAMB is the light [or lamp]
thereof' (Rev 21:23). The Lamb is only another name for Christ crucified:
so that thus it is the cross that is the lamp of the holy city; and with its light,
the gates of pearl, the jasper wall, the golden streets, the brilliant
foundations, and the crystal river, are all lighted up. The glow of the cross is
everywhere, penetrating every part, and reflected from every gem; and by
its peculiar radiance transporting the dwellers of the city back to Golgotha,
as the fountainhead of all this splendor.
It is light from Calvary that fills the heaven of heavens. Yet it is no dim
religious light: for the glory of God is to lighten it (Rev 21:23); and its light
is "like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal;
and there is no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun,
for the Lord God giveth them light" (Rev 22:5). Yes, we shall never be done
with the cross and the blood; though, where all are clean and perfect in
every sense, these will not be used for purging the conscience or justifying
the ungodly.
It is the symbol both of a dying and of a risen Christ that we find in the
Revelation. The "lamb as it had been slain" indicates both. But the
prominence is given to the former. It is the slain Lamb that has the power
and authority to open the seals; implying that it was in His sin-bearing or
sacrificial character that He exercised this right, and that it was His finished
work on which this right rested, and by which it was acquired. It is as the
Lamb that He is possessed with all wisdom and strength,-"the seven horns
and the seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Rev 5:6); the Holy
Spirit, or the Spirit of omniscience and omnipotence.
The Lamb is one of His special and eternal titles; the name by which He
is best known in heaven. As such, we obey and honor and worship Him;
never being allowed to lose sight of the cross amid all the glories of the
kingdom. As such we follow Him, and shall follow Him eternally, as it is
written, "These are they that follow THE LAMB withersoever He goeth"
(Rev 14:4).