“Who is this that cometh from Edom,with dyed garments from Bozrah?this that is glorious in his apparel,travelling in the greatness of his strength?I that speak in righteousness,mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?I have trodden the winepress alone;and of the people there was none with me:for I will tread them in mine anger,and trample them in my fury;and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,and I will stain all my raiment.For the day of vengeance is in mine heart,and the year of my redeemed is come.And I looked,and there was none to help;and I wondered that there was none to uphold:therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me:and my fury,it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger,and make them drunk in my fury,and I will bring down their strength to the earth.”—Isaiah lxiii. 1–6.
“Who is this that cometh from Edom,with dyed garments from Bozrah?this that is glorious in his apparel,travelling in the greatness of his strength?I that speak in righteousness,mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?I have trodden the winepress alone;and of the people there was none with me:for I will tread them in mine anger,and trample them in my fury;and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,and I will stain all my raiment.For the day of vengeance is in mine heart,and the year of my redeemed is come.And I looked,and there was none to help;and I wondered that there was none to uphold:therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me:and my fury,it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger,and make them drunk in my fury,and I will bring down their strength to the earth.”—Isaiah lxiii. 1–6.
Thispassage is one of the sublimest in the Bible. Not more majestic and overwhelming is the voice of God issuing from the burning bush. It represents “the Captain of our salvation,” left alone in the heat of battle, marching victoriously through the broken columns of the foe, bursting the bars asunder, bearing away the brazen gates, and delivering by conquest the captives of sin and death. Let us first determine the events to which our text relates, and then briefly explain the questions and answers which it contains.
I. We have here a wonderful victory, obtained by Christ, in the city of Bozrah, in the land of Edom. Our first inquiry concerns the time and the place of that achievement.
Some of the prophecies are literal, and others are figurative. Some of them are already fulfilled, and others are in daily process of fulfilment. Respecting this prophecy, divines disagree. Some think it is a description of Christ’s conflict and victory, without the gates of Jerusalem, eighteen centuries ago; and others understand it as referring to the great battle of Armageddon, predicted in the Apocalypse, and yet to be consummated before the end of the world.
I am not willing to pass by mount Calvary, and Joseph’s new tomb, on my way to the field of Armageddon; nor am I willing topause at the scene of the crucifixion and the ascension, without going farther on to the final conquest of the foe. I believe Divine inspiration has included both events in the text; the victory already won on Calvary, and the victory yet to be accomplished in Armageddon; the finished victory of Messiah’s passion, and the progressive victory of his gospel and his grace.
The chief difficulty, in understanding some parts of the word of God, arises from untranslated words; many of which are found in our own version, as well as in that of our English neighbors. For instance—in Mat. ii. 23, it is said, “He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called a Nazarene.” Where in the prophets is it predicted that Christ shall be called a Nazarene? Nowhere. When the proper names are translated, the difficulty vanishes. “He came and dwelt in a city calledplantation, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be calledthe Branch.” This name is given him by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. Now this is precisely the difficulty that occurs in our text, and the translation of the terms unties the knot:—“Who is this that cometh from Edom,”red earth—“with dyed garments from Bozrah,”tribulation?
The former part of the text has reference to the victory of Calvary; the latter part anticipates the battle and triumph of Armageddon, mentioned in Rev. xvi. 16. The victory of Calvary is consummated on the morning of the third day after the crucifixion. The Conqueror comes up from the earth, exclaiming:—“I have trodden the winepress alone on Calvary; and I will tread them in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, at the battle of Armageddon. I will overtake and destroy the beast, and the false prophet, and that old serpent the devil, with all their hosts.”
When the tide of battle turned, on the field of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington mounted his horse, and pursued the vanquished foe. So Isaiah’s Conqueror, having routed the powers of hell on Calvary, pursues and destroys them on the field of Armageddon. Here he is represented as a hero on foot, a prince without an army; but John, the revelator, saw him riding on a white horse, and followed by the armies of heaven, all on white horses, and not a footman among them.
The victory of Calvary is like the blood of atonement in thesanctuary. The cherubim were some of them looking one way, and some the other, but all were looking on the atoning blood. Thus all the great events of time—all the trials and triumphs of God’s people—those which happened before, those which have happened since, and those which are yet to happen, are all looking toward the wrestling of Gethsemane, the conflict of Golgotha, and the triumph of Olivet. The escape from Egypt, and the return from Babylon, looked forward to the cross of Christ; and the faith of the perfect man of Uz hung on a risen Redeemer. The Christian martyrs overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and all their victories were in virtue of one great achievement. The tomb of Jesus is the birthplace of his people’s immortality, and the power which raised him from the dead shall open the sepulchres of all his saints. “Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead.”
Christ offered himself a sacrifice for us, and drank the cup of God’s righteous indignation in our stead. He was trodden by Almighty justice, as a cluster of grapes, in the winepress of the law, till the vessels of mercy overflowed with the wine of peace and pardon, which has made thousands of contrite and humble spirits “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” He suffered for us, that we might triumph with him. But our text describes him as a king and a conqueror. He was, at once, the dying victim and the immortal victor. In “the power of an endless life,” he was standing by the altar, when the sacrifice was burning. He was alive in his sacerdotal vestments, with his golden censer in his hand. He was alive in his kingly glory, with his sword and his sceptre in his hand. He was alive in his conquering prowess, and had made an end of sin, and bruised the head of the serpent, and spoiled the principalities and powers of hell, and turned the vanquished hosts of the prince of darkness down to the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God. Then, on the morning of the third day, when he arose from the dead, and made a show of them openly—then began the year of jubilee with power!
After the prophets of ancient times had long gazed through the mists of futurity, at the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, a company of them were gathered together on the summitof Calvary. They saw a host of enemies ascending the hill, arrayed for battle, and most terrific in their aspect. In the middle of the line was the law of God, fiery and exceeding broad, and working wrath. On the right wing, was Beelzebub with his troops of infernals; and on the left Caiaphas with his Jewish priests, and Pilate with his Roman soldiers. The rear was brought up by Death, the last enemy. When the holy seers had espied this army, and perceived that it was drawing nigh, they started back, and prepared for flight. As they looked round, they saw the Son of God advancing with intrepid step, having his face fixed on the hostile band. “Seest thou the danger that is before thee,” said one of the men of God. “I will tread them in mine anger,” he replied, “and trample them in my fury.” “Who art thou?” said the prophet; He answered: “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” “Wilt thou venture to the battle alone?” asked the seer. The Son of God replied: “I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered there was none to uphold; therefore mine own arm shall bring salvation unto me; and my fury it shall uphold me.” “At what point wilt thou commence thy attack?” inquired the anxious prophet. “I will first meet the Law,” he replied, “and pass under its curse: for lo! I come to do thy will, O God. When I shall have succeeded at the centre of the line, the colors will turn in my favor.” So saying he moved forward. Instantly the thunderings of Sinai were heard, and the whole band of prophets quaked with terror. But he advanced, undaunted, amidst the gleaming lightnings. For a moment he was concealed from view; and the banner of wrath waved above in triumph. Suddenly the scene was changed. A stream of blood poured forth from his wounded side, and put out all the fires of Sinai. The flag of peace was now seen unfurled, and consternation filled the ranks of his foes. He then crushed, with his bruised heel, the old serpent’s head; and put all the infernal powers to flight. With his iron rod he dashed to pieces the enemies on the left wing, like a potter’s vessel. Death still remained, who thought himself invincible, having hitherto triumphed over all. He came forward, brandishing his sting, which he had whetted on Sinai’s tables of stone. He darted it at the Conqueror, but it turned down, and hung like the flexible lash of a whip. Dismayed, he retreated to the grave, his palace, into which the Conqueror pursued. In a dark corner ofhis den, he sat on his throne of moldering skulls, and called upon the worms, his hitherto faithful allies, to aid him in the conflict; but they replied—“His flesh shall see no corruption!” The scepter fell from his hand. The Conqueror seized him, bound him, and condemned him to the lake of fire; and then rose from the grave, followed by a band of released captives, who came forth after his resurrection to be witnesses of the victory which he had won.[94]
John in the Apocalypse did not look so far back as the treading of this winepress; but John saw him on his white horse, decked with his many crowns, his eyes like flames of fire, a two-edged sword in his hand, in the van of the armies of heaven, going forth conquering and to conquer. This is the fulfilment of his declaration in our text:—“For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury.” This is the beginning of the jubilee, the battle of Armageddon, wherein all heathen idolatry and superstition shall be overthrown, and the beast and the false prophet shall be discomfited, and the devil arid his legions shall be taken prisoners by Emmanuel, and shut up in the bottomless pit. He who hath conquered principalities and powers on Calvary, will not leave the field, till he make all his enemies his footstool, and sway his scepter over a subject universe. Having sent forth the gospel from Jerusalem, he accompanies it with the grace of his Holy Spirit; and it shall not return unto him void, but shall accomplish that which he pleaseth, and prosper in the thing whereto he hath sent it.
The victory of Armageddon is obtained by virtue of the victory of Calvary. It is but the consummation of the same glorious campaign; and the first decisive blow dealt on the prince of darkness is a sure precursor of the final conquest. “I will meet thee again at Philippi!” said the ghost of Julius Cæsar to Brutus. “I will meet thee again at Armageddon!” saith the Son of God to Satan on Calvary—“I will meet thee in the engagement between good and evil, grace and depravity, in every believer’s heart; in the contest of Divine Truth with human errors, of the religion of God with the superstitions of men; in every sermon, every revival, every missionary enterprise; in the spread and glory of the gospelin the latter day, I will meet thee; and the heel which thou hast now bruised, shall crush thy head for ever!”
Man’s deliverance is of God. Man had neither the inclination nor the power. His salvation originated in the Divine Love, and burst forth like an ocean from the fountains of eternity. Satan, as a ravenous lion, had taken the prey, and was running to his den with the bleeding sheep in his mouth; but the Shepherd of Israel pursues him, overtakes him, and rends him as if he were a kid. The declaration of war was made in Eden:—“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; thou shalt bruise his heel, and he shall bruise thy head.” It shall be fulfilled. The league with hell, and the covenant with death shall not stand. The rebellion shall be quelled, the conspiracy shall be broken, and the strong man armed shall yield the citadel to a stronger. The works of the devil shall be destroyed, and the prey shall be taken from the teeth of the terrible. The house of David shall grow stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul shall grow weaker and weaker, till the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, and Satan shall be bound in chains of darkness, and cast into the lake of fire. All the enemies of Zion shall be vanquished, and the forfeited favor of God shall be recovered, and the lost territory of peace and holiness and immortality shall be restored to man.
This campaign is carried on at the expense of the government of heaven. The treasury is inexhaustible; the arms are irresistible; therefore the victory is sure. The Almighty King has descended; he has taken the city of Bozrah; he has swayed his scepter over Edom; he has risen victoriously, and gone up with a shout, as the leader of all the army. This is but the pledge and the earnest of his future achievements. In the battle of Armageddon, he shall go forth as a mighty man; he shall stir up jealousy as a man of war; and he shall prevail against his enemies. They shall be turned back—they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images—that say unto molten images, “Ye are our gods!” Then he will open the blind eyes, and bring the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. He will make bare his holy arm—he will show the sword in that hand which was hidden under the scarlet robe—he will manifest his power in the destruction of his enemies, and the salvation of hispeople. As certainly as he hath shed his blood on Calvary, shall he stain all his raiment with the blood of his foes on the field of Armageddon. As certainly as he hath drained the cup of wrath, and received the baptism of suffering, on Calvary, shall he wield the iron rod of justice, and sway the golden sceptre of mercy, on the field of Armageddon. Already the sword is drawn, and the decisive blow is struck, and the helmet of Apollyon is cleft, and the bonds of iniquity are cut asunder. Already the fire is kindled, and all the powers of hell cannot quench it. It has fallen from heaven; it is consuming the camp of the foe; it is inflaming the hearts of men; it is renovating the earth, and purging away the curse. “The bright and Morning Star” has risen on Calvary; and soon “the Son of Righteousness” shall shine on the field of Armageddon; and the darkness that covers the earth, and the gross darkness that covers the people, shall melt away; and Mohammedism, and Paganism, and Popery, with their prince, the devil, shall seek shelter in the bottomless pit!
After a battle, we are anxious to learn who is dead, who is wounded, and who is missing from the ranks. In the engagement of Messiah with Satan and his allies on Calvary, Messiah’s heel was bruised, but Satan and his allies received a mortal wound in the head. The head denotes wisdom, cunning, power, government. The devil, sin, and death have lost their dominion over the believer in Christ, since the achievement of Calvary. There is now no condemnation, no fear of hell. But the serpent, though his head is bruised, may be able to move his tail, and alarm those of little faith. Yet it cannot last long. The wound is mortal, and the triumph is sure. On Calvary the dragon’s head was crushed by the Captain of our salvation; after the battle of Armageddon, his tail shall shake no more!
There is no discharge in this war. He that enlisteth under the banner of the cross must endure faithful until death—must not lay aside his arms till death is swallowed up in victory. Then shall every conqueror bear the image of the heavenly, and wear the crown instead of the cross, and carry the palm instead of the spear. Let us be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, that we may be able to stand in the evil day; and after all the war is over, to stand accepted in the Beloved, that we may reign with him for ever and ever!
II. It remains for us to explain, very briefly, the glorious colloquy in the text—the interrogatives of the church, and the answers of Messiah.
How great was the wonder and joy of Mary, when she met the Master at the tomb, clothed in immortality, where she thought to find him shrouded in death! How unspeakable was the astonishment and rapture of the disciples, when their Lord, whom they had so recently buried, came into the house where they were assembled, and said—“Peace be unto you!” Such are the feelings which the church is represented as expressing in this sublime colloquy with the Captain of her salvation. He has travelled into the land of tribulation; he has gone down to the dust of death; but lo, he returns a conqueror, the golden sceptre of love in his left hand, the iron rod of justice in his right, and on his head a crown of many stars. The church beholds him with great amazement and delight. She lately followed him, weeping, to the cross, and mourned over his body in the tomb; but now she beholds him risen indeed, having destroyed death, and him that had the power of death—that is, the devil. She goes forth to meet him with songs of rejoicing, as the daughters of Israel went out to welcome David, when he returned from the valley, with the head of the giant in his hand, and the blood running down upon his raiment. The choir of the church is divided into two bands; which chant to each other in alternate strains. The right hand division begins the glorious colloquy—“Who is this that cometh from Edom?” and the left takes up the interrogative, and repeats it with a variation—“with dyed garments from Bozrah?” “This that is glorious in his apparel?” resumes the right-hand company—“glorious notwithstanding the tribulations he hath endured?” “Travelling in the greatness of his strength?” responds the left—“strength sufficient to unbar the gates of the grave, and liberate the captives of corruption?” The celestial Conqueror pauses, and casts upon the company of the daughters of Zion a look of infinite benignity; and with a voice of angel melody, and more than angel majesty, he replies—“I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save!” Now bursts the song again, like the sound of many waters, from the right—“Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?” and the response rolls back in melodized thunder from the left—“And thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?” The Divine hero answers:—“I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me. Even Peter has left me, with all his courage and affection; and as for John, to talk of love is all that he can do. I have triumphed over principalities and powers. I am wounded, but they are vanquished. Behold the blood which I have lost! behold the spoils which I have won! Now will I mount my white horse, and pursue after Satan, and demolish his kingdom, and send him back to the land of darkness in everlasting chains, and all his allies shall be exiles with him for ever. My own arm, which has gained the victory on Calvary, and brought salvation to all my people from the sepulchre, is still strong enough to wield the golden sceptre of love, and break my foes on the field of Armageddon. I will destroy the works of the devil, and demolish all his hosts; I will dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. My compassion is stirred for the captives of sin and death; my fury is kindled against the tyrants that oppress them. It is time for me to open the prisons, and break off the fetters. I must gather my people to myself. I must seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away. I must bind up that which was broken, and strengthen that which was weak; but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment; I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and bring down their strength to the earth, and stain all my raiment with their blood!”
Let us flee from the wrath to come! Behold, the sun is risen high on the day of vengeance! Let us not be found among the enemies of Messiah, lest we fall a sacrifice to his righteous indignation on the field of Armageddon! Let us escape for our lives, for the fire-storm of his anger will burn to the lowest hell! Let us pray for grace to lay hold on the salvation of his redeemed! It is a free, full, perfect, glorious, and eternal salvation. Return, ye ransomed exiles from happiness, return to your forfeited inheritance! Now is the year of jubilee. Come to Jesus, that your debts may be cancelled, your sins forgiven, and your persons justified! Come, for the Conqueror of your foes is on the throne! Come, for the trumpets of mercy are sounding! Come, for all things are now ready!
“For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them,and that rock was Christ.”—1 Cor. x. 4.
“For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them,and that rock was Christ.”—1 Cor. x. 4.
Inthis chapter the apostle solemnly cautions his brethren against apostasy, and consequent shipwreck of their spiritual privileges. His admonitions are educed from important events in the history of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the land of Canaan. He speaks of the march of the twelve tribes out of the scene of their bondage, under the uplifted banner of God; of their baptism unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, when Jehovah gloriously displayed his power in preserving their lives between the watery ramparts which shut them in like the solid walls of the sepulchre, while the cloud rested upon them through the deep night, like the marble covering of the tomb; of their safe emerging on the other side of the flood, a type of the resurrection, leaving Pharaoh and his host to sleep in the waters till the morning of the last day, when they shall rise without their chariots and their horses; of their miraculous supply in the wilderness, with bread from heaven, and water from the smitten rock, which he calls spiritual meat and spiritual drink, because of their typical reference to the sacrificial death of Christ, which is the spiritual life of the world; and of their subsequent ingratitude and forgetfulness of God, notwithstanding these great deliverances and mercies, their murmurings, idolatries, fornications, and tempting of Christ, for which they were destroyed by the plague, slain by fiery serpents, smitten by the angel of the Lord, and fell to the number of three and twenty thousand in one day. “Now all these things,” he adds, “happened unto them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition,upon whom the ends of the world are come; wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” Thus he opens the graves of ancient sinners, and brings before his brethren the carcasses of those “who fell in the wilderness;” brings them into our solemn assemblies, and hangs them up over the pulpit, the baptistery, and the communion-table, terrible warnings against departing from the living God; even as the censers of Korah, Dathan and Abiram were beaten up, and made a covering for the altar, for a perpetual sign and memorial to Israel, to keep them from the sin of those men, that they might not share their fate.
In speaking of the smitten rock, which the apostle authorizes us to regard as a type of Christ, we shall consider:—First, Its smiting by Moses; andSecondly, The consequent flowing of the waters.
I. The smitten rock was a type of Christ. Messiah is the “Rock of Ages” to his church. He is the foundation of her hope, sure and steadfast, and her protection in times of danger and of dread. The armor and the prowess of Egypt constituted no rock like this rock. Edom, and Moab, and Philistia, and the seven nations of Canaan, had their gods and their heroes; but their rock was not able to shelter them from the wrath of Jehovah, when it came upon them like a tempest of hail. The gods that made not the heavens and the earth are far off in the day of trouble; but the God of Israel is “nigh at hand,” and his arm is strong to deliver. He is the rock that stood firm and immovable, for the defence of his people, amid the ragings of the Red Sea. Messiah is the man, who is predicted as “a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” He can shield, not only from the scorching sun and the scathing simoom of the desert; but also from the fiery torments of remorse, and the ruinous judgments of heaven. Our Lord is a rock, also, on account of the blessings which flow from him, for the refreshment of his Israel; as “the droppings of honey from the rock;” as “springs of water in a dry place;” as “living streams in the desert,” and “rivers from the mountains of Lebanon.”
There are two accounts of the smiting of the rock; one in the seventeenth chapter of Exodus, and the other in the twentieth chapter of Numbers. From a comparison of these two accounts, it appears that the rock was smitten at two different times; the first, as is supposed, about a year after the egress from Egypt, and theother about a year before the entrance into Canaan; making an intervening period of about thirty-eight years. The war with Amalek succeeded the first; the embassy to Edom followed the second. At the first, Miriam was alive; just before the second is the record of her death.
It seems that the people murmured bitterly against Moses, spoke of their superior fare in Egypt, and accused him of bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. This is ever the spirit of backsliding. Those who are under its influence are apt to complain of the burdens imposed upon them by their religion, and the injuries occasioned to them by their brethren; and to speak uncharitably of their spiritual leaders, instead of crying to God for help. To ask, “Is the Lord among us?” when his word and his works, indicating either his pleasure or his displeasure, testify that he is, is tempting God, with a dreadful presumption.
It does not appear that Moses sinned the first time he smote the rock; but the second time, the servant of God was evidently off his guard, and the meekest of men “spake unadvisedly with his lips;” on account of which, both he and Aaron were shut out of the promised land. His sin consisted in entering into a quarrel with the people, instead of asking God for water to quench their thirst. It appears that their chidings had provoked him to anger, and he had lost the spirit of sympathy for their sufferings, and his hard feelings stood like a thick wall between him and the miracle which God was about to work for his own glory and his people’s relief. Neither did he as God commanded him; for instead of simply speaking to the rock, as he was bidden, he smote it twice, with evident agitation of mind; and at the same time, bitterly reproached the people with their rebellion.
Every minister of the gospel is a “drawer of water,” to his congregation, from the “Spiritual Rock” which follows the church. He must be clothed with meekness from Heaven, or the provocations of the people will be apt to embitter his spirit. God would have us minister mercy, in the spirit of his own mercy. “The servant of God must not strive, but be gentle toward all men; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if, peradventure, God would grant them repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth: and that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
The smiting of the rock was intended to open it, that the water might flow. This prefigured the smiting of Christ, “the Rock of Ages,” and “the Shepherd of the sheep.” The shedding of the blood of lambs, and goats, and calves, and bullocks, for the space of four thousand years, faintly shadowed forth the sacrificial passion of our blessed Lord. Their groans and struggles under the slaughtering knife; the sound of the blood, falling into the golden basins, and poured into the flames upon the altar; the noise occasioned in cutting up the victim, and piling the pieces upon the fire and the smoke and vapor ascending from the consuming sacrifice to heaven; all, all, in their own way, foreshadowed the necessity of mangling the body and shedding the blood of Messiah, that pardoning mercy might have an open way to flow to sinners, like the water from the smitten rock; and the agonies of those slaughtered victims were an imperfect type of the agonies of the soul of Jesus, in the garden and on the cross.
The smiting of a flinty rock, for the purpose of obtaining water, was a scheme of the Divine Mind, whose ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. It was certainly the last place to which Moses would have gone for water; and he might have expected the stroke to elicit sparks of fire, rather than cool refreshing streams. What eye had not seen and ear had not heard, either of men or of angels—what had not entered into the heart of any created being to conceive, terrestrial or celestials—was, that the smiting of the Shepherd should save the sheep; that the condemnation of the just should bring the unjust to God; that the making of Messiah a curse should secure infinite blessings to mankind; that the poverty of Jesus should enrich us, and his death raise us to life eternal. Consuming flames of Divine indignation might have been expected to flash upon the guilty world from every wound of the thorns, the nails and the spear, in the sacred person of Emmanuel; but, to the astonishment of men and angels, a tide of love and mercy ran freely from every bleeding vein, to wash away the guilt and pollution of human crimes, according to the determinate counsel and immutable promise of our God.
The rock must be smitten by a rod. Had Moses been left to choose his own instrument, he would probably have taken a hammer, or perhaps a lever; but God commands him to take the rod. The rock would not have yielded water to any other instrumentthan the rod that smote the waters of Egypt, and turned them into blood. This rod was an emblem of the sovereignty of God over Israel, and is therefore called “the rod of God, which the Lord gave unto Moses”—as his deputy governor—“to lead Israel, and to work miracles before their eyes.” It was also a symbol of the royal law of Heaven; which, prior to the fall, was a rod of life; but afterward became a rod of iron, to break in pieces the offender—an angry serpent, to sting the transgressor with dreadful torments; and finally, when Christ endured the curse, and honored the violated mandate, by his death upon the tree, it was transformed again into a guiding and correcting rod. As the rock would have yielded water under no other stroke than that of “the rod of God,” so the sufferings of Christ would have been ineffectual, had they not happened under the law of the Father, and according to the counsel of Infinite Wisdom. When Isaac was about to be offered up on mount Moriah, the wood, the fire, and the knife, must all come from his father’s house, and the dreadful deed must be done by his father’s hand. So Jesus must die in no ordinary or accidental way. He must not suffer himself to be slain by the sword of Herod, nor cast over the brow of the hill by the people. He must receive the mortal cup from no other hand than that of the Father. He must die the appointed death; at the appointed time; in the appointed place, without the camp; and in the appointed manner, by hanging on a tree. The wreath of thorns, the scarlet robe, the nails, the cross, the spear, and even the vinegar offered him in his agony, were all according to his Father’s counsel. He knew the necessity, and said—“Thy will be done!” The Shepherd of Israel would bow under no other stroke than that of the Lord of Hosts. A cradle, a cross, and a grave, all of his Father’s appointing, must Jesus have, in order to open a fountain of living water to the world.
The rock must be smitten in a public manner, in the sight of the sun, and before all the elders of Israel, that God might be sanctified in the eyes of his people. This was intended to foreshadow the publicity of the death of Christ, which took place during one of the great public festivals of the Jews, in the presence of nearly the whole nation, and on the hill Calvary; and to denote the proclamation of Christ crucified throughout the world, as the true propitiation and object of faith, to be looked upon by Jews and Gentiles,to the softening of the heart, and the flowing of repentant tears, according to the prophecy—“They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son.” The Spirit of grace directs the eyes of men to the cross, upon which the prophet Isaiah, with transcendent sublimity of language, describes the Saviour as passing from Calvary to the grave, from the grave to the empyrean, and thence back again to earth, crying—“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and beside me there is no Savior!”
The rock must be smitten in the presence of God. “Behold, I will stand before thee there on the rock in Horeb.” (Ex. xvii. 6.) He stood upon the rock in Horeb, though invisible, in the glory of his loving-kindness and his power, to guide the hand of his servant Moses, and open a source of timely succor to his perishing people. But when the rod of the law smote the Rock of our salvation, when the curse fell upon the sinner’s Substitute and Surety, then God stood forth before the world upon the rock of Calvary, amid the darkened heavens, the trembling earth, and the opening sepulchres, as if all the machinery of nature had been suddenly disordered and disorganized—stood forth in the plenitude of his power, his wisdom, his justice, his mercy, and his truth, to prosper the work of man’s redemption, and open a channel through which the river of life might flow out to a famishing race. On Calvary still he stands, with the cup of salvation in his hand, and streams of living water rolling at his feet, and cries—“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!”
According to the command of God, the rock was to be smitten but once. Once smitten, it needed only to be spoken to; and, though it was more than thirty years afterward, it would yield forth its water. But Moses, provoked to anger by the murmurings and complainings of the people, transcended the Divine injunction, and though he had once smitten the rock, smote it again; yea, when he should have spoken to it only, smote it twice with his rod. This was his sin, for which God would not permit him to enter the promised land. Christ has been once smitten, and wo to those who smite him again! He has once offered himself a sacrifice, and once entered into the holy place, having finished his work of atonement, and made an end of sin, and superseded the sacrifices of the law. Henceforth, ye Jews, relinquish your burnt-offerings, yourmeat-offerings, your drink-offerings, your peace-offerings; and trust no longer in beasts, and birds, and flour, and oil; but in “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” Crucify him afresh no more, O ye backsliders; for “there remaineth no other sacrifice for sin!” Smite him not again, lest he swear unto you in his wrath, as unto Moses, that ye shall not enter into his rest!
II. Having spoken of the smiting, let us now look at the result, the flowing of the waters; a timely mercy to “the many thousands of Israel,” on the point of perishing in the desert; shadowing forth a far greater mercy, the flowing of living waters from the “spiritual rock,” which is Christ.
In the death of our Redeemer, we see three infinite depths moved for the relief of human misery; the love of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the energy of the Holy Spirit. These are the depths of wonder whence arise the rivers of salvation.
The waters flowed in the presence of the whole assembly. The agent was invisible, but his work was manifest. * * * * * * * * * *
The water flowed in great abundance, filling the whole camp, and supplying all the people. Notwithstanding the immense number, and the greatness of their thirst, there was enough for each and for all. The streams ran in every direction to meet the sufferers, and their rippling murmur seemed to say—“Open thy mouth, and I will fill it.” Look to the cross! See there the gracious fountain opened, and streams of pardoning and purifying mercy flowing down the rock of Calvary, sweeping over the mount of Olives, and cleaving it asunder, to make a channel for the living waters to go out over the whole world, that God may be glorified among the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth may see his salvation!
The water flowed from the rock, not pumped by human labor, but drawn by the hand of God. It was the same power, that opened the springs of mercy upon the cross. It was the wisdom of God that devised the plan, and the mercy of God that furnished the victim. His was the truth and love that gave the promise by the prophet—“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness.” His was the unchanging faithfulness that fulfilled it in his Son—“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our salvation is wholly of God; and we have no other agency in the matter, than the mere acceptance of his proffered grace.
The water flowed in twelve different channels; and, according to Dr. Pococke, of Scotland, who visited the place, the deep traces in the rock are visible to this day. But the twelve streams, one for each tribe, all issued from the same fountain, in the same rock. So the great salvation flowed out through the ministry of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and went abroad over all the earth. But the fountain is one. All the apostles preached the same Savior, and pointed to the same cross. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” We must come to this spring, or perish.
The flowing of the waters was irresistible by human power. Who can close the fountain which God hath opened? Can Edom, or Moab, or Sihon, or Og, dam up the current which Jehovah hath drawn from the rock? Can Caiaphas, and all the Jews, aided by the Prince of this world—can all the powers of earth and hell combined—arrest the work of redemption, and dry up the fountain of mercy that Christ is opening on Calvary? As soon might they dry up the Atlantic, and stop the revolutions of the globe. It is written, and must be fulfilled. Christ must suffer, and enter into his glory—must be lifted up, and draw all men unto him—and repentance and remission of sins must be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The water flowing from the rock was like a river of life to the children of Israel. Who can describe the distress throughout the camp; and the appearance of the people, when they were invited to approach a flinty rock, instead of a fountain or a stream, to quench their thirst? What angry countenances were there, what bitter censures, and ungrateful murmurings, as Moses went up to the rock, with nothing in his hand but a rod! “Where is he going,” said they, “with that dry stick? What is he going to do on that rock? Does he mean to make fools of us all? Is it not enough that he has brought us into this wilderness to die of thirst? Will he mock us now by pretending to seek water in these sands, or open fountains in the solid granite?” But see! he lifts the rod, he smites the rock; and lo, it bursts into a fountain; and twelvecrystal streams roll down before the people! Who can conceive the sudden transport? Hear the shout of joy ringing through the camp, and rolling back in tumultuous echoes from the crags and cliffs of Horeb! “Water! water! A miracle! a miracle! Glory to the God of Israel! Glory to his servant Moses!” It was a resurrection day to Israel, the morning light bursting upon the shadow of death. New life and joy are seen throughout the camp. The maidens are running, with cups and pitchers, to the rock. They fill and drink; then fill again, and haste away to their respective tents, with water for the sick, the aged, and the little ones, joyfully exclaiming—“Drink, father! Drink, mother! Drink, children! Drink, all of you! Drink abundantly! Plenty of water now! Rivers flowing from the rock!” Now the oxen are coming, the asses, the camels, the sheep, and the goats—coming in crowds to quench their thirst, and plunging into the streams before them. And the feathered tribes are coming, the turtle-dove, the pigeon, the swallow, the sparrow, the robin, and the wren; while the croaking raven and the fierce-eyed eagle, scenting the water from afar, mingle with them around the rock.
Brethren, this is but a faint emblem of the joy of the church, in drinking the waters that descend from Calvary, the streams that gladden the city of our God. Go back to the day of Pentecost for an instance. O what a revolution of thought, and feeling, and character! What a change of countenance, and conscience, and heart! Three thousand men, that morning full of ignorance, and corruption, and guilt—idolaters, sensualists, blasphemers, persecutors—before night were perfectly transformed—the lions converted into lambs—the hard heart melted, the dead conscience quickened, and the whole man become a new creature in Christ Jesus! They thirsted, they found the “Spiritual rock,” tasted its living waters, and suddenly leaped into new life, like Lazarus from the inanition of the grave!
This is the blessing which follows the church through all her wanderings in the wilderness; accompanies her through the scorching desert of affliction, and the valley of the shadow of death; and when at last she shall come up out of great tribulation, her garments shall be found washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb; and the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall lead her to everlasting fountains, and she shall thirst no more!
“For if,through the offence of one,many be dead;much more the grace of God;and the gift by grace,which is by one man,Jesus Christ,hath abounded unto many.”—Rom. v. 15.
“For if,through the offence of one,many be dead;much more the grace of God;and the gift by grace,which is by one man,Jesus Christ,hath abounded unto many.”—Rom. v. 15.
Manwas created in the image of God. Knowledge and perfect holiness were impressed upon the very nature and faculties of his soul. He had constant access to his Maker, and enjoyed free communion with him, on the ground of his spotless moral rectitude. But alas! the glorious diadem is broken; the crown of righteousness is fallen. Man’s purity is gone, and his happiness is forfeited. “There is none righteous; no, not one.” “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But the ruin is not hopeless. What was lost in Adam, is restored in Christ. His blood redeems us from bondage, and his gospel gives us back the forfeited inheritance. “‘For if, through the offence of one, many be dead; much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Let us consider;—First, The corruption and condemnation of man; andSecondly, His gracious restoration to the favor of his offended God.
I. To find the cause of man’s corruption and condemnation, we must go back to Eden. The eating of the “forbidden tree” was “the offence of one,” in consequence of which “many are dead.” This was the “sin,” the act of “disobedience,” which “brought death into the world, and all our wo.” It was the greatest ingratitude to the Divine bounty, and the boldest rebellion against the Divine sovereignty. The royalty of God was contemned; the riches of his goodness slighted; and his most desperate enemy preferred before him, as if he were a wiser counselor than InfiniteWisdom. Thus man joined in league with hell, against Heaven; with demons of the bottomless pit, against the Almighty Maker and Benefactor; robbing God of the obedience due to his command, and the glory due to his name; worshipping the creature, instead of the Creator; and opening the door to pride, unbelief, enmity, and all wicked and abominable passions. How is the “noble vine,” which was planted “wholly a right seed,” “turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine!”
Who can look for pure water from such a fountain? “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” All the faculties of the soul are corrupted by sin; the understanding dark; the will perverse; the affections carnal; the conscience full of shame, remorse, confusion, and mortal fear. Man is a hard-hearted and stiff-necked sinner; loving darkness rather than light, because his deeds are evil; eating sin like bread, and drinking iniquity like water; holding fast deceit, and refusing to let it go. His heart is desperately wicked; full of pride, vanity, hypocrisy, covetousness, hatred of truth, and hostility to all that is good.
This depravity is universal. Among the natural children of Adam, there is no exemption from the original taint. “The whole world lieth in wickedness.” “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags.” The corruption may vary in the degrees of development, in different persons; but the elements are in all, and their nature is everywhere the same; the same in the blooming youth, and the withered sire; in the haughty prince, and the humble peasant; in the strongest giant, and the feeblest invalid. The enemy has “come in like a flood.” The deluge of sin has swept the world. From the highest to the lowest, there is no health or moral soundness. From the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, there is nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. The laws, and their violation, and the punishments everywhere invented for the suppression of vice, prove the universality of the evil. The bloody sacrifices, and various purifications, of the pagans, show the handwriting of remorse upon their consciences; proclaim their sense of guilt, and their dread of punishment. None of them is free from the fear which hath torment, whatever their efforts to overcome it, and however great their boldness in the service of sin and Satan. “Mene! Tekel!” is written on every human heart. “Wanting!wanting!” is inscribed on heathen fanes and altars; on the laws, customs, and institutions of every nation; and on the universal consciousness of mankind.
This inward corruption manifests itself in outward actions. “The tree is known by its fruit.” As the smoke and sparks of the chimney show that there is fire within; so all the “filthy conversation” of men, and all “the unfruitful works of darkness” in which they delight, evidently indicate the pollution of the source whence they proceed. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” The sinner’s speech betrayeth him. “Evil speaking” proceeds from malice and envy. “Foolish talking and jesting,” are evidence of impure and trifling thoughts. The mouth full of cursing and bitterness, the throat an open sepulchre, the poison of asps under the tongue, the feet swift to shed blood, destruction and misery in their paths, and the way of peace unknown to them, are the clearest and amplest demonstration that men “have gone out of the way,” “have together become unprofitable.” We see the bitter fruit of the same corruption in robbery, adultery, gluttony, drunkenness, extortion, intolerance, persecution, apostasy, and every evil work—in all false religions; the Jew, obstinately adhering to the carnal ceremonies of an abrogated law; the Mohammedan, honoring an impostor, and receiving a lie for a revelation from God; the Papist, worshipping images and relics, praying to departed saints, seeking absolution from sinful men, and trusting in the most absurd mummeries for salvation; the Pagan, attributing divinity to the works of his own hands, adoring idols of wood and stone, sacrificing to malignant demons, casting his children into the fire or the flood as an offering to imaginary deities, and changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the beast and the worm.
“For these things’ sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience.” They are under the sentence of the broken law; the malediction of Eternal Justice. “By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men unto condemnation.” “He that believeth not is condemned already.” “The wrath of God abideth on him.” “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them.” “Wo unto the wicked; it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” “They that plow iniquity, and sow wickednessshall reap the same.” “Upon the wicked the Lord shall rain fire, and snares, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup.” “God is angry with the wicked every day; if he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.”
Who shall describe the misery of fallen men! His days, though few, are full of evil. Trouble and sorrow press him forward to the tomb. All the world, except Noah and his family, are drowning in the deluge. A storm of fire and brimstone is fallen from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The earth is opening her mouth to swallow up alive Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Wrath is coming upon “the Beloved City,” even “wrath unto the uttermost.” The tender and delicate mother is devouring her darling infant. The sword of man is executing the vengeance of God. The earth is emptying its inhabitants into the bottomless pit. On every hand are “confused noises, and garments rolled in blood.” Fire and sword fill the land with consternation and dismay. Amid the universal devastation, wild shrieks and despairing groans fill the air. God of mercy! is thy ear heavy, that thou canst not hear? or thy arm shortened, that thou canst not save? The heavens above are brass, and the earth beneath is iron; for Jehovah is pouring his indignation upon his adversaries, and he will not pity or spare.
Verily, “the misery of man is great upon him!” Behold the wretched fallen creature! The pestilence pursues him. The leprosy cleaves to him. Consumption is wasting him. Inflammation is devouring his vitals. Burning fever has seized upon the very springs of life. The destroying angel has overtaken the sinner in his sins. The hand of God is upon him. The fires of wrath are kindling about him, drying up every well of comfort, and scorching all his hopes to ashes. Conscience is chastising him with scorpions. See how he writhes! Hear how he shrieks for help! Mark what agony and terror are in his soul, and on his brow! Death stares him in the face, and shakes at him his iron spear. He trembles, he turns pale, as a culprit at the bar, as a convict on the scaffold. He is condemned already. Conscience has pronounced the sentence. Anguish has taken hold upon him. Terrors gather in battle-array about him. He looks back, and the storms of Sinai pursue him; forward, and hell is moved to meet him; above, and the heavensare on fire; beneath, and the world is burning. He listens, and the judgment trump is calling; again, and the brazen chariots of vengeance are thundering from afar; yet again, and the sentence penetrates his soul with anguish unspeakable—“Depart! ye accursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!”
Thus, “by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” They are “dead in trespasses and sins;” spiritually dead, and legally dead; dead by the mortal power of sin, and dead by the condemnatory sentence of the law; and helpless as sheep to the slaughter, they are driven fiercely on by the ministers of wrath to the all-devouring grave, and the lake of fire!
But is there no mercy? Is there no means of salvation? Hark! amidst all this prelude of wrath and ruin, comes a still small voice, saying: “much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
II. This brings us to our second topic, man’s gracious recovery to the favor of his offended God.
I know not how to represent to you this glorious work, better than by the following figure. Suppose a vast graveyard, surrounded by a lofty wall, with only one entrance, which is by a massive iron gate, and that is fast bolted. Within are thousands and millions of human beings, of all ages and classes, by one epidemic disease bending to the grave. The graves yawn to swallow them, and they must all perish. There is no balm to relieve, no physician there. Such is the condition of man as a sinner. All have sinned; and it is written, “The soul that sinneth shall die.” But while the unhappy race lay in that dismal prison, Mercy came and stood at the gate, and wept over the melancholy scene, exclaiming—“O that I might enter! I would bind up their wounds; I would relieve their sorrows; I would save their souls!” An embassy of angels, commissioned from the court of Heaven to some other world, paused at the sight, and Heaven forgave that pause. Seeing Mercy standing there, they cried:—“Mercy! canst thou not enter? Canst thou look upon that scene and not pity? Canst thou pity, and not relieve?” Mercy replied: “I can see!” and in her tears she added, “I can pity, but I cannot relieve!” “Why canst thou not enter?” inquired the heavenly host. “Oh!” saidMercy, “Justice has barred the gate against me, and I must not—cannot unbar it!” At this moment, Justice himself appeared, as if to watch the gate. The angels asked, “Why wilt thou not suffer Mercy to enter?” He sternly replied: “The law is broken, and it must be honored! Die they or Justice must!” Then appeared a form among the angelic band like unto the Son of God. Addressing himself to Justice, he said: “What are thy demands?” Justice replied: “My demands are rigid; I must have ignominy for their honor, sickness for their health, death for their life. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission!” “Justice,” said the Son of God, “I accept thy terms! On me be this wrong! Let Mercy enter, and stay the carnival of death!” “What pledge dost thou give for the performance of these conditions?” “My word; my oath!” “When wilt thou perform them?” “Four thousand years hence, on the hill of Calvary, without the walls of Jerusalem!” The bond was prepared, and signed and sealed in the presence of attendant angels. Justice was satisfied, the gate was opened, and Mercy entered, preaching salvation in the name of Jesus. The bond was committed to patriarchs and prophets. A long series of rites and ceremonies, sacrifices and oblations, was instituted to perpetuate the memory of that solemn deed. At the close of the four-thousandth year, when Daniel’s “seventy weeks” were accomplished, Justice and Mercy appeared on the hill of Calvary. “Where,” said Justice, “is the Son of God?” “Behold him,” answered Mercy, “at the foot of the hill!” And there he came, bearing his own cross, and followed by his weeping church. Mercy retired, and stood aloof from the scene. Jesus ascended the hill, like a lamb for the sacrifice. Justice presented the dreadful bond, saying, “This is the day on which this article must be cancelled.” The Redeemer took it. What did he do with it? Tear it in pieces, and scatter it to the winds? No! he nailed it to his cross, crying, “It is finished!” The Victim ascended the altar. Justice called on holy fire to come down and consume the sacrifice. Holy fire replied: “I come! I will consume the sacrifice, and then I will burn up the world!” It fell upon the Son of God, and rapidly consumed his humanity; but when it touched his Deity, it expired. Then was there darkness over the whole land, and an earthquake shook the mountain; but the heavenly host broke forthin rapturous song—“Glory to God in the highest! on earth peace! good will to man!”[114]
Thus grace has abounded, and the free gift has come upon all, and the gospel has gone forth proclaiming redemption to everycreature. “By grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, least any man should boast.” By grace ye are loved, redeemed and justified. By grace ye are called, converted, reconciled and sanctified. Salvation is wholly of grace. The plan, the process, the consummation, are all of grace.
“Grace all the work shall crown,Through everlasting days;It lays in heaven the topmost stone,And well deserves the praise!”
“Grace all the work shall crown,Through everlasting days;It lays in heaven the topmost stone,And well deserves the praise!”
“Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded.” “Through the offence of one, many were dead.” And as men multiplied,the offence abounded. The waters deluged the world, but could not wash away the dreadful stain. The fire fell from heaven, but could not burn out the accursed plague. The earth opened her mouth, but could not swallow up the monster sin. The law thundered forth its threat from the thick darkness on Sinai; but could not restrain, by all its terrors, the children of disobedience. Still the offence abounded, and multiplied as the sands on the sea-shore. It waxed bold, and pitched its tents on Calvary, and nailed the Lawgiver to a tree. But in that conflict sin received its mortal wound. The Victim was the Victor. He fell, but in his fall he crushed the foe. He died unto sin, but sin and death were crucified upon his cross. Where sin abounded to condemn, grace hath much more abounded to justify. Where sin abounded to corrupt, grace hath much more abounded to purify. Where sin abounded to harden, grace hath much more abounded to soften and subdue. Where sin abounded to imprison men, grace hath much more abounded to proclaim liberty to the captives. Where sin abounded to break the law and dishonor the Lawgiver, grace hath much more abounded to repair the breach and efface the stain. Where sin abounded to consume the soul as with unquenchable fire and a gnawing worm, grace hath much more abounded to extinguish the flame and heal the wound. Grace hath abounded! It hath established its throne on the merit of the Redeemer’s sufferings. It hath put on the crown, and laid hold of the golden scepter, and spoiled the dominion of the prince of darkness, and the gates of the great cemetery are thrown open, and there is the beating of a new life-pulse throughout its wretched population, and Immortality is walking among the tombs!
This abounding grace is manifested in the gift of Jesus Christ, by whose mediation our reconciliation and salvation are effected. With him, believers are dead unto sin, and alive unto God. Our sins were slain at his cross, and buried in his tomb. His resurrection hath opened our graves, and given us an assurance of immortality. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him; for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
“The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Glory to God, for the death of his Son, by which this enmity is slain, and reconciliation is effected between the rebel and the law! This was the unspeakable gift that saved us from ruin; that wrestled with the storm, and turned it away from the devoted head of the sinner. Had all the angels of God attempted to stand between these two conflicting seas, they would have been swept to the gulf of destruction. “The blood of bulls and goats, on Jewish altars slain,” could not take away sin, could not pacify the conscience. But Christ, the gift of Divine Grace, “Pascal Lamb by God appointed,” “a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they,” bore our sins, and carried our sorrows, and obtained for us the boon of eternal redemption. He met the fury of the tempest, and the floods went over his head; but his offering was an offering of peace, calming the storms and the waves, magnifying the law, glorifying its Author, and rescuing its violator from wrath and rain. Justice hath laid down his sword at the foot of the cross, and amity is restored between heaven and earth.
Hither, O ye guilty! come and cast away your weapons of rebellion! Come with your bad principles, and wicked actions; your unbelief, and enmity, and pride; and throw them off at the Redeemer’s feet! God is here, waiting to be gracious. He will receive you; he will cast all your sins behind his back, into the depths of the sea; and they shall be remembered against you no more for ever. By Heaven’s “Unspeakable Gift,” by Christ’s invaluable atonement, by the free and infinite grace of the Father and the Son, we persuade you, we beseech you, we entreat you, “be ye reconciled to God!”
It is by the work of the Holy Spirit within us, that we obtain a personal interest in the work wrought on Calvary for us. If our sins are cancelled, they are also crucified. If we are reconciled in Christ, we fight against our God no more. This is the fruit of faith. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” May the Lord inspire in every one of us that saving principle!
But those who have been restored to the Divine favor may sometimes be cast down and dejected. They have passed through the sea, and sung praises on the shore of deliverance; but there is yet between them and Canaan “a waste howling wilderness,” a longand weary pilgrimage, hostile nations, fiery serpents, scarcity of food, and the river Jordan. Fears within and fightings without, they may grow discouraged, and yield to temptation, and murmur against God, and desire to return to Egypt. But fear not, thou worm Jacob! Reconciled by the death of Christ; much more, being reconciled, thou shalt be saved by his life. His death was the price of our redemption; his life insures liberty to the believer. If by his death he brought you through the Red Sea in the night, by his life he can lead you through the river Jordan in the day. If by his death he delivered you from the iron furnace in Egypt, by his life he can save you from all the perils of the wilderness. If by his death he conquered Pharaoh, the chief foe, by his life he can subdue Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan. “We shall be saved by his life.” “Because he liveth, we shall live also.” “Be of good cheer!” The work is finished; the ransom is effected; the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers. “Lift up your heads and rejoice,” “ye prisoners of hope!” There is no debt unpaid, no devil unconquered, no enemy within your own hearts that has not received a mortal wound! “Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
“For there is one God,and one Mediator between God and man,the man Christ Jesus.”—1 Tim. ii. 5.
“For there is one God,and one Mediator between God and man,the man Christ Jesus.”—1 Tim. ii. 5.
Theapostle Paul urges the propriety, and importance of praying for all men, in the several conditions and relations of life, from a consideration of God’s merciful intentions toward all men, as exhibited in the sufficiency of the gospel provision for their salvation. But if any are saved, it must be through the medium which God has ordained, and in the manner which God has prescribed. Therefore the apostle adds: “For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” “There is one God,” to whom sinners have to be reconciled; “and one Mediator,” through whom that reconciliation is to be effected. We have a nearly parallel passage in another epistle: “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” The unity of God, and the mediation of Christ, are the two great topics of the text, to which we solicit your attention.
I. “For there is one God.” Two infinite beings cannot co-exist, unless they are one in essence and in operation. The God of Israel pervades the universe of matter, and fills the immensity of space. There is no room for another God, possessing the same ubiquity. “There is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” In him alone, all things live, move, and have their being.
This doctrine is stamped on all the works of nature. They all exhibit unity of design, and must have been contrived by the same infinite wisdom, and executed by the same infinite power. Thehand which created and arranged them is constantly seen in their preservation. The Maker of all things continues to uphold all things by the word of his power. The great Architect still presides over the immense fabric which he has reared. The universe, from age to age, is governed by the same unvarying laws. All things remain as they were from the beginning. The earth, the air, and the sea, sustain the same mutual relations, and answer the same important ends; and the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine on for ever. The same order and regularity everywhere prevail, as when the chorus of the morning stars welcomed the new creation into being. Nature proclaims aloud: “There is one God.”
The same doctrine is impressed upon the Bible. It is not only the book of God, but evidently the book of “one God.” It is a series of Divine Revelations, reaching from Eden to Calvary, and from Calvary onward to the end of the world. It is a golden chain, passing through all time, and uniting the two eternities; and all its links are similar, and depend upon each other. Its several parts are perfectly harmonious, proving them to have emanated from the same infinite mind. Everywhere we find the same character of God and of man; the same description of the law and of sin; the same way of pardon, and holiness, and immortal life. The same Eternal Spirit, that inspired the Historian of Creation, speaks in the Apocalypse of St. John, and in all the intervenient books of the Bible. It was the same Sun of Righteousness, that rose in Eden, and set on Calvary; and thence rose again the third day, to set no more for ever.
“The world by wisdom knew not God.” The heathen lost the doctrine of the unity of God; not because it was difficult to preserve, but because they did not love the character of God, “did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” The pride of the carnal mind led them to turn away from the light of heaven, to walk amid sparks of their own kindling. They boasted of their wisdom; they boasted of their philosophy. And what gained they by the exchange? The most absurd and stupid notions of the Great First Cause; almost total ignorance of his attributes. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made with hands, like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Shame to philosophic Greece and Rome!
No nation, having once lost the doctrine of the unity of God, ever regained it by the light of nature. If the light of nature is sufficient to preserve it in possession, it is not sufficient to restore it lost. It is restored only by the gospel. The gospel has restored it in India, in Otaheite, and other heathen lands. It has done more; it has revealed to the savage the only way of salvation; it has “brought life and immortality to light.”
“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel!Win and conquer! never cease!”
“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel!Win and conquer! never cease!”
Lift up thy voice with strength, and proclaim to Greece and Rome, and to all the ends of the earth, as well as to the cities of Judah, that the Son of Mary is the God of Israel, “God manifest in the flesh,” “God blessed forever!” “The man Christ Jesus” is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;” “in whom also we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
II. But this leads us to our second topic: “And one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” The two doctrines, you perceive, are intimately related to each other. “One God”—“One Mediator.” As we have but “one God,” we need but “one Mediator.” As that Mediator is himself God, the merit of his mediation is sufficient for the salvation of all them that believe.
The office of a Mediator supposes two parties at variance, between whom he interposes to produce a reconciliation. It is thus “between God and man.” God gave man a law, “holy, and just, and good;” man revolted, and “there is wrath.” Reconciliation is impossible, without the intervention of a mediator. Let us look at the parties engaged in this dreadful controversy.
On one side we see Jehovah, possessed of infinite perfections, and clothed with uncreated excellence and glory. He is self-existent, independent and eternal. Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Almightiness are his. He is great in wisdom, full of goodness, slow to anger, and ready to pardon. His love is ineffable, and “his mercy endureth for ever.” He is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” These perfections are the pearls and diamonds in his crown. “With him also is terrible majesty.” Life and joy are in his smile, but the angel of destruction waits upon his frown. One beam of his love can raise thousands of mento heaven: one glance of his anger, sink myriads of angels to hell. “He sitteth upon the circles of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” “All nations before him are as nothing; they are counted less than nothing and vanity.” “He doeth according to his will among the children of men, and ruleth the armies of heaven.” “At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” O what majesty and power belong unto the Lord our God!
With this imperfect view, contrast the impotence and insignificance of sinful man. What is he? A being of yesterday, “whose breath is in his nostrils,” and “whose foundation is in the dust.” A frail, helpless, perishing thing; dependent upon God, the Creator, for all his comforts, for life itself. What is man? A fool; an alien from all good; an embodiment of all evil. His understanding is dark; his will perverse; his affections carnal. His “throat is an open sepulchre;” swallowing up “whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, or of good report;” emitting a pestilential vapor, which withers every green herb, and sweet flower, and delicious fruit, of honor to God, and happiness to man. “The poison of asps is under his tongue;” an inflaming poison, affecting all the members, and “setting on fire the whole course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.” “His heart is fully set in him to do evil;” “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” He is an enemy to his Maker; a rebel against Jehovah; a blank—nay, worse—a blot in God’s creation; dead to every virtue, dead to every thing but sin; lost to every gracious purpose of his being; a withered branch, fit only to be plucked off, and cast into the fire; stubble, ready for the burning. “Let him alone!” said Reason. “Cut him down!” cried Justice. “I hate the workers of iniquity!” added Holiness. “He or I must perish!” exclaimed Truth. “Spare him! Spare him! Spare him!” pleaded weeping Mercy. And Wisdom came forth, leading the Son of God, and said: “I have found a ransom! Behold the Mediator!” And all the attributes met and embraced at the manger, and kissed each other at the cross!