Section 875
II. The happy effect and consequence of the ransom found, which is an order for deliverance from going down to the pit
And here I shall inquire what pit this is, a deliverance from going down to which is here ordered; and then by whom this order is given, and to whom directed.
1. By the pit is commonly understood the grave, and which in this book, and elsewhere, is so called; the word signifies corruption, and it has this name from hence, because in it the bodies of men putrefy and corrupt: but the grave is what all men go down into; it is the house appointed for all living; it is man's long home, to which he is going, and where he must lodge till the resurrection: all men by divine appointment, die, and are brought to the grave, and there laid; good men as well as bad men, such as are ransomed by Christ, as well as others. It is true indeed that saints are delivered from it as a punishment; death is abolished, and the grave destroyed, as penal evils; but then they are not delivered from death itself; and from going down into the grave; they may have a reprieve for a time, and be spared a while longer; the sick man may recover strength before he goes hence and is no more; he may not be given over to death, though sorely chastened; this sickness he labors under may not be unto death; he may be restored and return, when he has been brought to the gates of it: but then such an ordinary event as the recovery of a sick man, seems to be too small a matter be founded upon such an extraordinary and marvelous affair as the ransom of Christ, and does not answer the grand design of it; rather therefore by this pit is meant the bottomless pit, the pit of destruction, which the wicked go into, even hell, eternal wrath and ruin;[4542] and which, though the elect of God are deferring of as others, yet, being ransomed by thrift, they are delivered from it. I proceed to inquire,
2. By whom, and to whom is this order given, those who think the grave is intended by the pit, suppose there words, deliver him from going down to it, are addressed either to the disease itself the sick man is afflicted with; so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "Spare him, O killing malady, from descending into the pit;" diseases are the servants of God, they come when he bids them, and they depart when he orders them so to do: he sometimes says to them, as he did to the destroying angel, It is enough; the ends are answered for which the malady was sent, and it must be continued no longer; often so it is, that upon the sick man's prayers, or those of his friends, he is railed up from his sick-bed, and delivered from the grave: or else the address is to the minister, as others think,[4543] that attends the sick man, assists him, and prays for him; who is sent to tell him that he shall not die but live, as Nathan was sent to David, and Isaiah to Hezekiah, which is declaratively, though not authoritatively, delivering from the grave: but the words are rather an address of God the Father to his Son, the angel and interpreter with him, lying in his bosom; upon finding the ransom, upon the contrivance of the scheme of redemption, after the agreement and covenant made; fending him forth in the fullness of time, to give himself a ransom for his people, and redeem and fare them from destruction, since such a way was found out and agreed upon, for the words may be rendered, "redeem him from going clown to the pit," as the word signifies;[4544] and to whom can this be so properly said as to Christ the redeemer? or else this is the address of the Father to law and justice, upon the ransom being found, or the redemption obtained by Christ; since that is done, justice, let this man go free; law, set open thy prison doors, and no longer detain this captive; hell and death, give up your claim to him, seeing the ransom-price is paid for him. Or there words may be considered as the words of the Son to the Father, the angel, the messenger and interpreter with God, the advocate with him; who appears in the presence of God for his people, and pleads his propitiatory sacrifice for them, urges on their behalf the atonement he has made, and the ransom he has given for them, and insists upon their deliverance from wrath and ruin; and declares it to his heavenly Father as his will, that they be fared from hell, and be with him in heaven, where he is, and behold his glory (John 17:24). I come now to the last general head,