Notes of an Address.
WHAT a death! There never was, never will be, never can be another such death. None but Jesus, the Son of God, could be obedient to that death of all deaths, “even the death of the cross.” The scene is only rightly approached with worshipping, adoring hearts; for God was there, and on the person of His well-beloved Son, executing the just judgment due to sin and transgressions, that man—sinful man—might be saved. “Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” No creature can fathom these depths, no language describe their meaning, no human mind scan the shore or measure the infinite but perhaps, as bottomless ocean of love and sorrow. God alone could estimate the eternal worth of that death. It is a marvelous mystery that “the Son of the Highest” should be found in the lowest depths; that “the Lord of Glory” should be so abased; that “the Prince of Life” should be seen bowing His head in death. But so it was; and the magnitude and perfectness of the work are more and more opened up to us, as we are enabled, by the Spirit’s teaching, to consider the glory of His sacred person, the unutterable sorrow and anguish He endured, and the glorious results that follow.
Among men, it is the dignity of the office which gives honor and importance to the person. Not so, however, with the Son of God; for it was the infinite glory of His person, which gave dignity and value to all He did. It was the eternal Godhead of that blessed One, who laid down His life for us, which gave everlasting efficacy to the work that He accomplished. In that darkest hour, the glory of God shone forth. We are told, that, “being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” (Philippians 2:66Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Philippians 2:6).) Take away His divine glory, and you destroy the whole value of His atoning work. Admit the smallest taint or tarnish of His blessed person, and the efficacy of His sacrifice is undermined. Take away the reality of His perfect manhood, and you have no substitute, no sacrifice, no redeemer. Hence the same scripture tells us that, though “being in the form of God... He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men... found in fashion as a man” (verses 7-8). Elsewhere we have it, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Thus the mystery of His person, Immanuel, God with us, is plainly set forth—verily and truly man, as made of a woman and born of a woman, yet verily and truly God, the Word, the only-begotten Son, by whom all things were made, who, while perfectly subject to the Father’s will, could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” and “I and my Father are One.”
Jesus then was “God manifested in the flesh.” Because He was man, He was able to render to God all His demands of man; able to glorify God in the earth in a life of entire devotedness, and by obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. All through, God saw in Him everything He could desire in man, and could say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Man had sinned, and man must die under the judgment of God for sin, and, blessed be God, though “by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Core ay. 21.) Because Jesus was God, He was infinitely qualified to suffer all from God, and render to God all that He required. He could fully satisfy all the claims of divine righteousness and holiness on account of our sin. Being infinitely perfect in His person, He did nothing that was not perfect. When He said, “It is finished,” and bowed His head in death upon the tree, He accomplished eternal redemption for us. It was not only the purity, and guilelessness of Jesus, but His divine, eternal qualities which so fitted Him to finish the work He undertook, as He said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God;” and gave such eternal efficacy to the sacrifice which He once offered when He offered Himself.
The unutterable sufferings of the Son of God on the Cross can never be fully comprehended by finite creatures. At the best we see, as it were, through a glass darkly. We know in part, and what we do know is known very imperfectly. We can look back on Calvary, and fall down and worship, but we have no line long enough to sound its marvelous depths. God only could deal out His infinite hatred to sin, and judge it in unsparing condemnation; and He only knew the sorrow and anguish this spotless One endured for us, when it pleased Him thus to bruise Him, and put Him to grief; when He was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sins of many, and poured out His soul unto death. In this, Jesus was alone. He only drank the cup. He said, “There is none to help.” By Himself He purged our sins. Alone, He met all the righteous claims of God’s throne. He vindicated God, glorified God, and saved us, by being “made sin for us.” On “His own Son,” God “condemned sin in the flesh.” He was wounded, smitten, bruised, and more than all forsaken of God, which wrung that bitterest cry from His holy, loving heart, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“Yea; all the billows pass’d o’er Him,
Our sins—they bore Him down;
For us He met the crushing storm—
He met th’ Almighty’s frown.”
Our souls may gaze upon this perfect outflow of divine love to us even while we were yet sinners, and contemplate the man of sorrows bearing our sins, going under the billows of divine wrath, thus glorifying God, and purging our sins, and bow our hearts in worship; but we cannot go much further in the apprehension of these marvelous mysteries. We feel lost, as it were, in traversing this labyrinth of love and sorrow, where mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other. The sons of Kohath had to carry from place to place some parts of the furniture of the tabernacle on which their eye had never rested, and which they dare not uncover lest they died (Numbers 4:15-2015And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. 16And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. 17And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites: 19But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden: 20But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. (Numbers 4:15‑20)); so we have to bear about with us many precious mysteries of the personal glory and sufferings of the Son of God, well knowing that “no man knoweth the Son but the Father.” (Matthew 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27).) We know, however, that He made peace by the blood of His cross, and there, too, we can always read the lessons of divine, unchanging love.
“Jesus bruised and put to shame
Tells me all Jehovah’s name;
God is love I surely know,
By the Saviour’s depths of woe.
In His spotless soul’s distress
I perceive my guiltiness;
Oh, how vile my low estate,
Since my ransom was so great!”
The terrible distress, however, of Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, helps much to shew how unutterable the woe of the Cross must have been. We see Him there with the cup presented to Him. It was given Him by the Father— “the cup which my Father has given me.” But we know that He did not drink it there; for, after the garden scene is over, we hear Him saying, “Shall I not drink it?” (John 18) Still the anticipation of drinking it caused such abundant suffering that we are told He was in “an agony,” and that “He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” And if the anticipation of the sorrow produced such unparalleled distress, what must the reality have been? Gethsemane sufferings, I say, were from anticipation, for there communion was not interrupted—it was still “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me;” an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen Him, — He sought the companionship of others, and the cup, as we have seen, was not drank. But in “the death of the Cross” the utterance was not “Father,” but the “man of sorrows” receiving the just judgment of His God due to sin, while God was smiting, and hiding His face, so that He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” No angel was sent to strengthen, no companions were there, but solitary, and alone, He could say, “Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.” He drank the cup, He finished the work, He suffered for sins, He purged sins, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Well may our hearts Inquire when contemplating these sorrows of the Cross―
“Was it for crimes that I had done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Surprising mercy; grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.”
The results, too, of “the death of the Cross” give us further help in intelligently estimating the infinite magnitude and perfection of that work. The Son of Man glorified God on the earth, and God hath glorified Him in heaven. Hence, when the Holy Ghost calls our attention to “the death of the Cross,” He adds, “WEREFORE God also hath highly exalted Him.” (Philippians 2:99Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:9).) That is, the work which He accomplished was so infinitely God-glorifying and meritorious, that the same hand which in righteousness smote Him unsparingly as the Sin-bearer, now righteously exalts Him to the highest possible character of glory and honor. “God hath glorified His Son Jesus.” “Sit thou on my right hand” was what He was now worthy of in righteousness, (to say nothing of His claim as the only-begotten of the Father, and the intrinsic worthiness of His person,) because of the work He did, when He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him.” And this exaltation not only to the highest possible place of honor and dignity, but also that in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth in the infernal regions, every tongue should confess His name, and every knee bow to Him. Every creature shall yet proclaim His worthiness, and say, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:1313And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13).) How stupendous then in its moral worth and glory must that work have been, which so righteously entitled Him to such eternal exaltation and glory!
But more. All the present acting’s and blessings of divine grace, present peace, justification, the gift of the Holy Ghost, joy and peace in believing, fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and with one another, entirely result from “the death of the Cross.” The change, too, and catching up of the saints—the redemption of the body—when the Lord comes, when we shall reign with Him, and He will present His Bride to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, having the glory of God, when we shall see His face, and be with Him and like Him forever, all owe their source to “the death of the Cross.” To the blessed Lord, the throne of God seemed only, as it were, one step from the Cross; for “after He had purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.” Ah! we may well say that—
“Our every joy on earth, in heaven,
We owe it to thy blood.”
And the nation of Israel is another range of glory resulting from the redemption-work of Jesus, for the glory of God shall yet rise upon that much-loved people. We must not forget that Jesus died, for that nation, as well as to gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad. When all the tribes of Israel shall be again in their own land, everyone in peace and plenty sitting under his own vine and fig tree, all the people righteous, all forgiven their iniquity, and the inhabitant no more saying, I am sick, and the Lord shall reign before His ancients gloriously, then will they, too, ascribe all their blessings to Him whom they pierced, for they will then be reconciled to God by the peace made by the blood of His Cross.
The Gentiles, too, shall know, not only that He sits on the throne of His father David, and shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, but that He is the Governor among the nations. He shall be king over all the earth—to Him every knee shall bow. He will be the light which lightens the Gentiles, as well as the glory of His people Israel. Not only was the writing over the cross in Hebrew, but also in Greek and Latin: “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.” Then the nations will assemble at Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts. Then “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Creation also shall be brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:2121Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:21).) Delivered from its present groaning and travailing in birth, she shall be brought into her long-waited-for blessing, and wear the smile of peace, and all through the suffering and death of “the last Adam.” For if through the first Adam’s sin God planted thorns in the earth in token of its curse, they were effectually worn away by the crown of thorns being planted upon the spotless brow of Him, who was “obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.”
But great and marvelous as these blessings arc, which result from the death of the cross, they are not all; for the NEW HEAVEN and the NEW EARTH shall yet bear eternal testimony to the matchless value of the work of Jesus on the Cross. (Revelation 21:11And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1).) Then God will have his own eternal purposes accomplished of many “sons” being in glory before Him in love, and having men for His own habitation—” the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Then it will be fully manifested that Jesus came “to destroy the works of the Devil,” that “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world,” and that He made peace by the blood of the cross, not only that sinners might be saved, but “to reconcile all things unto Himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20).) Observe, things under the earth, in the infernal regions, are never said to be reconciled, but will stand as an everlasting testimony to the wickedness of man, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the righteousness and holiness of God, and that on redemption-ground alone can anything stand in perpetuity and blessing before God.
Surely our best thoughts of the Lord Jesus and His humiliation and triumphs are but poor, but enough has been adduced to show that if we would have our souls instructed and enlarged in the knowledge of the unfathomable mysteries of “the death of the Cross,” we must contemplate Jesus there, under the full blaze of the glory of His person, and the wonderful ranges of glory that follow His sufferings and death. And while thus thinking of Him there, the remembrance of Him in Gethsemane also sheds a halo of glory upon “the death of the Cross;” for, as we have before said, if the anticipation produced such “agony, that He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” what must the reality have been?
Oh, for more enlarged views of the magnitude and perfections of “the death of the Cross!”