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CHAPTER
4
OF
THOSE THINGS WHICH IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION ARE PECULIARLY
ASCRIBED TO THE PERSON OF THE SON.
SECONDLY,
The SON was an agent in this great work, concurring by a
voluntary susception, or willing undertaking of the office
imposed on him; for when the Lord said, “Sacrifice and
offering he would not: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
he had no pleasure,” then said Christ, “Lo, I come, (in
the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O
God,” Hebrews 10:6, 7. All other ways being rejected as
insufficient, Christ undertaketh the task, “in whom alone
the Father was well pleased,” Matthew 3:17. Hence he
professeth that
“he
came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent
him,” John 4:38;
yea,
that it was his meat and drink to do his Father’s will, and
to finish his work, John 4:34. The first words that we find
recorded of him in the Scripture are to the same purpose,
“Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s
business?” Luke 2:49. And at the close of all he saith,
“I
have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do,” John 17:4;
calling it everywhere his Father’s work that he did, or his Father’s will which he came to accomplish, with reference to the imposition which we before treated of. Now, this undertaking of the Son may be referred to three heads. The first being a common foundation for both the others, being as it were the means in respect of them as the end, and yet in some sort partaking of the nature of a distinct action, with a goodness in itself in reference to the main end proposed to all three, we shall consider it apart; and that is, —
First,
His incarnation, as usually it is called, or his taking of flesh,
and pitching his tent amongst us, John 1:14. His “being made
of a woman,” Galatians 4:4, is usually called his
incarnation; for this was
“the
mystery of godliness, that God should be manifested in the
flesh,” 1 Timothy 3:16,
thereby
assuming not any singular person, but our human nature, into
personal union with himself. For,
“forasmuch
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil,” Hebrews 2:14.
It
was the children that he considered, the “children whom the
Lord gave him,” Hebrews 2:13. Their participation in
flesh and blood moved him to partake of the same, — not
because all the world, all the posterity of Adam, but because the
children were in that condition; for their sakes he sanctified
himself. Now, this emptying of the Deity, this humbling of
himself, this dwelling amongst us, was the sole act of the second
person, or the divine nature in the second person, the Father and
the Spirit having no concurrence in it but by liking,
approbation, and eternal counsel.
Secondly,
His oblation, or “offering himself up to God for us without
spot, to purge our consciences from dead works,” Hebrews
9:14; “for he loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood,” Revelation 1:5.
“He
loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it,” Ephesians 5:25, 26;
taking
the cup of wrath at his Father’s hands due to us, and
drinking it off, “but not for himself,” Daniel 9:26:
for, “for our sakes he sanctified himself,” John 17:19,
that is, to be an offering, an oblation for sin; for
“when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly,” Romans 5:6;
— this being that which was typified out by all the institutions, ordinances, and sacrifices of old; which when they were to have an end, then said Christ, “Lo, I come to do thy will.” Now, though the perfecting or consummating of this oblation be set out in the Scripture chiefly in respect of what Christ suffered, and not so much in respect of what he did, because it is chiefly considered as the means used by these three blessed agents for the attaining of a farther end, yet in respect of his own voluntary giving up himself to be so an oblation and a sacrifice, without which it would not have been of any value (for if the will of Christ had not been in it, it could never have purged our sins), therefore, in that regard, I refer it to his actions. He was the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” John 1:29; the Lamb of God, which himself had provided for a sacrifice. And how did this Lamb behave himself in it? with unwillingness and struggling? No; he opened not his mouth:
“He
was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,” Isaiah 53:7.
Whence
he saith,
“I
lay down my life. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again,” John 10:17, 18.
He might have been cruciated on the part of God; but his death could not have been an oblation and offering had not his will concurred.
“But
he loved me,” saith the apostle, “and gave himself for
me,” Galatians 2:20.
Now,
that alone deserves the name of a gift which is from a free and a
willing mind, as Christ’s was when “he loved us, and
gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor,” Ephesians 5:2. He does it cheerfully:
“Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” Hebrews 10:9; and
so “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree,” 1 Peter 2:24. Now, this oblation or offering of
Christ I would not tie up to any one thing, action, or passion,
performance, or suffering; but it compriseth the whole economy
and dispensation of God manifested in the flesh and conversing
among us, with all those things which he performed in the days of
his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, with
strong cries and tears, until he had fully “by himself
purged our sins, and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high,” Hebrews 1:3, “expecting till his enemies be made
his footstool,” Hebrews 10:13, — all the whole
dispensation of his coming and ministering, until he had given
his soul a price of redemption for many, Matthew 26:28. But for
his entering into the holy of holies, sprinkled with his own
blood, and appearing so for us before the majesty of God, by some
accounted as the continuation of his oblation, we may refer unto,
—
Thirdly,
His intercession for all and every one of those for whom he gave
himself for an oblation. He did not suffer for them, and then
refuse to intercede for them; he did not do the greater, and omit
the less. The price of our redemption is more precious in the
eyes of God and his Son than that it should, as it were, be cast
away on perishing souls, without any care taken of what becomes
of them afterward. Nay, this also is imposed on Christ, with a
promise annexed:
“Ask
of me,” saith the Lord, “and I will give thee the
nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession,” Psalm 2:8;
who
accordingly tells his disciples that he had more work to do for
them in heaven.
“I
go,” saith he, “to prepare a place for you, that I may
come again and receive you unto myself,” John 14:2, 3.
For
as
“the
high priest went into the second [tabernacle] alone once every
year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and the
errors of the people,” Hebrews 9:7;
so
“Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by his own
blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us,” Hebrews 9:11, 12.
Now,
what was this holy place whereinto he entered thus sprinkled with
the blood of the covenant? and to what end did he enter into it?
Why,
“he
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are
the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God for us,” Hebrews 9:24.
And
what doth he there appear for? Why, to be our advocate, to plead
our cause with God, for the application of the good things
procured by his oblation unto all them for whom he was an
offering; as the apostle tells us,
“If
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous,” 1 John 2:1.
Why,
how comes that to pass? “He is the propitiation for our
sins,” 1 John 2:2. His being iJlasmon, a propitiatory
sacrifice for our sins, is the foundation of his interceding, the
ground of it; and, therefore, they both belong to the same
persons. Now, by the way, we know that Christ refused to pray for
the world, in opposition to his elect. “I pray for
them,” saith he: “I pray not for the world, but for
them thou hast given me,” John 17:9. And therefore there was
no foundation for such an interceding for them, because he was
not iJlasmo>v a propitiation for them. Again; we know the
Father always heareth the Son (“I knew,” saith he,
“that thou hearest me always,” John 11:42), that is, so
to grant his request, according to the fore-mentioned engagement,
Psalm 2:8; and, therefore, if he should intercede for all, all
should undoubtedly be saved, for
“he
is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,”
Hebrews 7:25.
Hence,
is that confidence of the apostle, upon that intercession of
Christ,
“Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God
that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us,” Romans
8:33, 34.
Where,
also, we cannot but observe that those for whom be died may
assuredly conclude he maketh intercession for them, and that none
shall lay any thing to their charge, — which breaks the neck
of the general ransom; for according to that, he died for
millions that have no interest in his intercession, who shall
have their sins laid to their charge, and perish under them:
which might be farther cleared up from the very nature of this
intercession, which is not a humble, dejected supplication, which
beseems not that glorious state of advancement which he is
possessed of that sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
but an authoritative presenting himself before the throne of his
Father, sprinkled with his own blood, for the making out to his
people all spiritual things that are procured by his oblation,
saying,
“Father,
I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I
am” John 17:24.
So
that for whomsoever he suffered, he appears for them in heaven
with his satisfaction and merit. Here, also, we must call to mind
what the Father promised his Son upon his undertaking of this
employment; for there is no doubt but that for that, and that
alone, doth Christ, upon the accomplishment of the whole,
intercede with him about: which was in sum that he might be the
captain of salvation to all that believe on him, and effectually
bring many sons to glory. And hence it is, having such an high
priest over the house of God, we may draw near with the full
assurance of faith, for by one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10:14. But of this more
must be said afterward.