I. Is inextinguishable and insuperable
I. Is inextinguishable and insuperable
It cannot be quenched by many waters; nor drowned by all the floods,
1st, Of sin and corruption, which have overflowed all human nature; for "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God:" sin, like a mighty torrent, or rather inundation, has entered into the world, and brought death along with it, upon all the posterity of Adam; it has drowned them in destruction and perdition, as all hurtful and foolish lusts do. Now the elect of God themselves are not exempted from this universal deluge; but though these waters of sin have come into their souls and overrun all the powers and faculties thereof; yet they have not extinguished Christ's love towards them; nor in the least alienated his affections from them it is true, when he first loved them, he saw them in all that glory and perfection, which his Father designed to bring them to, and which they will appear in, in another world; yet when the great council was held concerning their redemption, they were presented to him as plunged into the depths of sin and misery; which was so far from setting his heart against them, that it rather moved his pity and compassion for them, and gave him an opportunity of showing the exceeding greatness of his love towards them; for upon this, he readily and cheerfully became their surety, engaged to assume their nature, lay down his life for them, and thereby satisfy law and justice in their room and stead; all which agreements were to a tittle made good by him, in the fullness of time, for all the elect of God, notwithstanding their after-fall in Adam, and their actual rebellion against him, as they appeared upon the stage of the world; nay, though their innumerable evils compassed him about like floods of water, and brought death and the curse upon him; these being imputed to him, and laid upon him by his Father; and with which, standing charged by divine justice, he suffered to the uttermost that they deserved; yet his love continued the same towards his people; for, "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end," (John 13:1). For,
2dly, By these "waters and floods," may be meant the several afflictions and sufferings which Christ underwent for the sins of his own people; by which they are expressed (Psalm 69:1, 2), where Christ is introduced thus speaking, "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul; I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." Hence it is, that his sufferings are called a baptism, in Luke 12:50, under which may be comprehended these following things: 1. "The floods of ungodly men," which compassed him about; some of whom reviled him, others spit upon him, others buffeted him, others crucified him, and pierced his hands, feet and side; yet his love to his people remained firm and unconquerable: nay, though the whole infernal posse of devils was let loose upon him, and exercised all their rage and cunning; yet as neither "life nor death," that is, all his sufferings, both in life and death, could separate his people from his love; so neither could angels, wicked angels, nor "principalities and powers." 2. Floods of reproaches were poured into his bosom on the account of his birth, parentage, and education, his public ministry, the miracles which he wrought, and the free courteous, and affable conversation, he used with sinners: He was spit upon in Pilate's hall, and mocked at when upon the cross, in the utmost misery; yet he bore all this "contradiction of sinners against himself," with an uncommon patience; despising all the shame that attended these reproaches, for the "joy that was set before him," of having all his people with him in glory. 3. The vials of his Father's wrath were also poured forth upon him; for though, as God's Son, he was always the object of his love, yet, as the sinners surety, suffering in their room and stead, he was "cast off and abhorred;" for God was wroth with his anointed or Messiah; "terrors took hold on him as waters;" when only some few drops of divine wrath fell upon him, he "began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; his soul became exceeding sorrowful unto death; his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground;" then was it that "the waters began to come into his soul," which kept flowing in until the measure was quite filled up; yet all these waters and floods could not quench nor drown his love towards his people; his affections to them, as well as his regard to his Father's will in their salvation, continued the same; as appears from those words of his to his Father, in the midst of his agony, "not my will, but thine be done." 4. All the sorrows and sufferings of Christ, from his cradle to his cross, may be included herein; for his whole life was one continued series of suffering, which ended in an accursed and ignominious death, to which he voluntarily submitted; that so his people might be set free by justice, and delivered from death and condemnation.
3dly, As the love of Christ cannot be extinguished and overcome by all the waters and all the floods of sin and corruption in them, nor by all the sorrows and sufferings which he has underwent in his own person for their sins; so neither can it, by all their water-floods and billows of sufferings and afflictions which pass over his members; these indeed make them appear mean and abject in the eye of the world, and render them the object of their scorn and contempt: yet nevertheless, though the sun of persecution has looked upon them, and made them black, they are comely in Christ's eye; his heart is not set against them, nor his love alienated from them upon that account; for when they "pass through such waters," he will be with them; nay, he chooses, approves of, and delights in them, when "in the furnace of affliction," and will purify them thereby; so that though they "have lain among the pots," and are become black and sooty; yet they "shall be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold," (Psalm 68:13).