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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. LIII.
The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in the Old-Testament
prophets testified beforehand were the sufferings of Christ and the
glory that should follow,
And that which Christ himself, when he expounded Moses and all the
prophets, showed to be the drift and scope of them all was that Christ
ought to suffer and then to enter into his glory,
But nowhere in all the Old-Testament are these two so plainly and fully
prophesied of as here in this chapter, out of which divers passages are
quoted with application to Christ in the New-Testament. This chapter is
so replenished with the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be
called rather the gospel of the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of
the prophet Isaiah. We may observe here,
I. The reproach of Christ’s sufferings–the meanness of his appearance,
the greatness of his grief, and the prejudices which many conceived in
consequences against his doctrine,
II. The rolling away of this reproach, and the stamping of immortal
honour upon his sufferings, notwithstanding the disgrace and ignominy
of them, by four considerations:–
1. That therein he did his Father’s will,
2. That thereby he made atonement for the sin of man
for it was not for any sin of his own that he suffered,
3. That he bore his sufferings with an invincible and exemplary,
4. That he should prosper in his undertaking, and his sufferings
should end in his immortal honour,
By mixing faith with the prophecy of this chapter we may improve our
acquaintance with Jesus Christ and him crucified, with Jesus Christ and
him glorified, dying for our sins and rising again for our
justification.
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1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and
when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
The prophet, in the close of the former chapter, had foreseen and
foretold the kind reception which the gospel of Christ should find
among the Gentiles, that nations and their kings should bid it welcome,
that those who had not seen him should believe in him; and though they
had not any prophecies among them of gospel grace, which might raise
their expectations, and dispose them to entertain it, yet upon the
first notice of it they should give it its due weight and
consideration. Now here he foretels, with wonder, the unbelief of the
Jews, notwithstanding the previous notices they had of the coming of
the Messiah in the Old Testament and the opportunity they had of being
personally acquainted with him. Observe here,
I. The contempt they put upon the gospel of Christ,
v. 1.
The unbelief of the Jews in our Saviour’s time is expressly said to be
the fulfilling of this word,
And it is applied likewise to the little success which the apostles’
preaching met with among Jews and Gentiles,
Note,
1. Of the many that hear the report of the gospel there are few, very
few, that believe it. It is reported openly and publicly, not whispered
in a corner, or confined to the schools, but proclaimed to all; and it
is so faithful a saying, and so well worthy of all acceptation, that
one would think it should be universally received and believed. But it
is quite otherwise; few believed the prophets who spoke before of
Christ; when he came himself none of the rulers nor of the Pharisees
followed him, and but here and there one of the common people; and,
when the apostles carried this report all the world over, some in every
place believed, but comparatively very few. To this day, of the many
that profess to believe this report, there are few that cordially
embrace it and submit to the power of it.
2. Therefore people believe not the report of the gospel,
because the arm of the Lord is not revealed to them; they do not
discern, nor will be brought to acknowledge, that divine power which
goes along with the word. The arm of the Lord is made bare (as
was said,
in the miracles that were wrought to confirm Christ’s doctrine, in the
wonderful success of it, and its energy upon the conscience; though it
is a still voice, it is a strong one; but they do not perceive this,
nor do they experience in themselves that working of the Spirit which
makes the word effectual. They believe not the gospel because, by
rebelling against the light they had, they had forfeited the grace of
God, which therefore he justly denied them and withheld from them, and
for want of that they believed not.
3. This is a thing we ought to be much affected with; it is to be
wondered at, and greatly lamented, and ministers may go to God and
complain of it to him, as the prophet here. What a pity is it that
such rich grace should be received in vain, that precious souls should
perish at the pool’s side, because they will not step in and be
healed!
II. The contempt they put upon the person of Christ because of the
meanness of his appearance,
This seems to come in as a reason why they rejected his doctrine,
because they were prejudiced against his person. When he was on earth
many that heard him preach, and could not but approve of what they
heard, would not give it any regard or entertainment, because it came
from one that made so small a figure and had no external advantages to
recommend him. Observe here,
1. The low condition he submitted to, and how he abased and emptied
himself. The entry he made into the world, and the character he wore in
it, were no way agreeable to the ideas which the Jews had formed of the
Messiah and their expectations concerning him, but quite the reverse.
(1.) It was expected that his extraction would be very great and noble.
He was to be the Son of David, of a family that had a name like to
the names of the great men that were in the earth,
2 Sam. vii. 9.
But he sprang out of this royal and illustrious family when it was
reduced and sunk, and Joseph, that son of David, who was his supposed
father, was but a poor carpenter, perhaps a ship-carpenter, for most of
his relations were fishermen. This is here meant by his being a root
out of a dry ground, his being born of a mean and despicable
family, in the north, in Galilee, of a family out of which, like a dry
and desert ground, nothing green, nothing great, was expected, in a
country of such small repute that it was thought no good thing could
come out of it. His mother, being a virgin, was as dry ground, yet from
her he sprang who is not only fruit, but root. The seed on the
stony ground had no root; but, though Christ grew out of a dry ground,
he is both the root and the offspring of David, the root of the
good olive.
(2.) It was expected that he should make a public entry, and come in
pomp and with observation; but, instead of that, he grew up before God,
not before men. God had his eye upon him, but men regarded him not:
He grew up as a tender plant, silently and insensibly, and
without any noise, as the corn, that tender plant, grows up, we know
not how,
Mark iv. 27.
Christ rose as a tender plant, which, one would have thought, might
easily be crushed, or might be nipped in one frosty night. The gospel
of Christ, in its beginning, was as a grain of mustard-seed, so
inconsiderable did it seem,
(3.) It was expected that he should have some uncommon beauty in his
face and person, which should charm the eye, attract the heart, and
raise the expectations of all that saw him. But there was nothing of
this kind in him; not that he was in the least deformed or misshapen,
but he had no form nor comeliness, nothing extraordinary, which
one might have thought to meet with in the countenance of an incarnate
deity. Those who saw him could not see that there was any beauty in him
that they should desire him, nothing in him more than in another
beloved,
Cant. v. 9.
Moses, when he was born, was exceedingly fair, to such a degree that it
was looked upon as a happy presage,
David, when he was anointed, was of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to,
1 Sam. xvi. 12.
But our Lord Jesus had nothing of that to recommend him. Or it may
refer not so much to his person as to the manner of his appearing in
the world, which had nothing in it of sensible glory. His gospel is
preached, not with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but with
all plainness, agreeable to the subject.
(4.) It was expected that he should live a pleasant life, and have a
full enjoyment of all the delights of the sons and daughters of men,
which would have invited all sorts to him; but, on the contrary, he was
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It was not only his
last scene that was tragical, but his whole life was so, not only mean,
but miserable,
| ——– but one continued chain
Of labour, sorrow, and consuming pain.
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| SIR R.
BLACKMORE. |
Thus, being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had
subjected us to, that we should eat in sorrow all the days of our
life
(Gen. iii. 17),
and thereby relaxed much of the rigour and extremity of the sentence as
to us. His condition was, upon many accounts, sorrowful. He was
unsettled, had not where to lay his head, lived upon alms, was opposed
and menaced, and endured the contradiction of sinners against
himself. His spirit was tender, and he admitted the impressions of
sorrow. We never read that he laughed, but often that he wept.
Lentulus, in his epistle to the Roman senate concerning Jesus, says,
“he was never seen to laugh;” and so worn and macerated was he
with continual grief that when he was but a little above thirty years
of age he was taken to be nearly fifty,
Grief was his intimate acquaintance; for he acquainted himself with the
grievances of others, and sympathized with them, and he never set his
own at a distance; for in his transfiguration he talked of his own
decease, and in his triumph he wept over Jerusalem. Let us look unto
him and mourn.
2. The low opinion that men had of him, upon this account. Being
generally apt to judge of persons and things by the sight of the eye,
and according to outward appearance, they saw no beauty in him that
they should desire him. There was a great deal of true beauty in him,
the beauty of holiness and the beauty of goodness, enough to render him
the desire of all nations; but the far greater part of those
among whom he lived, and conversed, saw none of this beauty, for it was
spiritually discerned. Carnal hearts see no excellency in the Lord
Jesus, nothing that should induce them to desire an acquaintance with
him or interest in him. Nay, he is not only not desired, but he is
despised and rejected, abandoned and abhorred, a reproach of men,
an abject, one that men were shy of keeping company with and had not
any esteem for, a worm and no man. He was despised as a mean man,
rejected as a bad man. He was the stone which the builders refused;
they would not have him to reign over them. Men, who should have had so
much reason as to understand things better, so much tenderness as not
to trample upon a man in misery–men whom he came to seek and save
rejected him: “We hid as it were our faces from him, looked
another way, and his sufferings were as nothing to us; though never
sorrow was like unto his sorrow. Nay, we not only behaved as having
no concern for him, but as loathing him, and having him in
detestation.” It may be read, He hid as it were his face from
us, concealed the glory of his majesty, and drew a veil over it,
and therefore he was despised and we esteemed him not, because
we could not see through that veil. Christ having undertaken to make
satisfaction to the justice of God for the injury man had done him in
his honour by sin (and God cannot be injured except in his honour), he
did it not only by divesting himself of the glories due to an incarnate
deity, but by submitting himself to the disgraces due to the worst of
men and malefactors; and thus by vilifying himself he glorified his
Father: but this is a good reason why we should esteem him highly, and
study to do him honour; let him be received by us whom men
rejected.
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4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one
to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall
declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any
deceit in his mouth.
In these verses we have,
I. A further account of the sufferings of Christ. Much was said before,
but more is said here, of the very low condition to which he abased and
humbled himself, to which he became obedient even to the death of the
cross.
1. He had griefs and sorrows; being acquainted with them, he kept up
the acquaintance, and did not grow shy, no, not of such melancholy
acquaintance. Were griefs and sorrows allotted him? He bore them, and
blamed not his lot; he carried them, and did neither shrink from them,
nor sink under them. The load was heavy and the way long, and yet he
did not tire, but persevered to the end, till he said, It is
finished.
2. He had blows and bruises; he was stricken, smitten, and
afflicted. His sorrows bruised him; he felt pain and smart from
them; they touched him in the most tender part, especially when God was
dishonoured, and when he forsook him upon the cross. All along he was
smitten with the tongue, when he was cavilled at and contradicted, put
under the worst of characters, and had all manner of evil said against
him. At last he was smitten with the hand, with blow after blow.
3. He had wounds and stripes. He was scourged, not under the merciful
restriction of the Jewish law, which allowed not above forty stripes to
be given to the worst of male factors, but according to the usage of
the Romans. And his scourging, doubtless, was the more severe because
Pilate intended it as an equivalent for his crucifixion, and yet it
proved a preface to it. He was wounded in his hands, and feet, and
side. Though it was so ordered that not a bone of him should be broken,
yet he had scarcely in any part a whole skin (how fond soever we are to
sleep in one, even when we are called out to suffer for him), but from
the crown of his head, which was crowned with thorns, to the soles of
his feet, which were nailed to the cross, nothing appeared but wounds
and bruises.
4. He was wronged and abused
(v. 7):
He was oppressed, injuriously treated and hardly dealt with.
That was laid to his charge which he was perfectly innocent of, that
laid upon him which he did not deserve, and in both he was oppressed
and injured. He was afflicted both in mind and body; being
oppressed, he laid it to heart, and, though, he was patient, was not
stupid under it, but mingled his tears with those of the oppressed,
that have no comforter, because on the side of the oppressors there
is power,
Eccl. iv. 1.
Oppression is a sore affliction; it has made many a wise man mad
(Eccl. vii. 7);
but our Lord Jesus, though, when he was oppressed, he was afflicted,
kept possession of his own soul.
5. He was judged and imprisoned, as is implied in his being taken
from prison and judgment,
v. 8.
God having made him sin for us, he was proceeded against as a
malefactor; he was apprehended and taken into custody, and made a
prisoner; he was judge, accused, tried, and condemned, according to the
usual forms of law: God filed a process against him, judged him in
pursuance of that process, and confined him in the prison of the grave,
at the door of which a stone was rolled and sealed.
6. He was cut off by an untimely death from the land of the
living, though he lived a most useful life, did so many good works,
and they were all such that one would be apt to think it was for some
of them that they stoned him. He was stricken to death, to the grave
which he made with the wicked (for he was crucified between two
thieves, as if he had been the worst of the three) and yet with the
rich, for he was buried in a sepulchre that belonged to Joseph, an
honourable counsellor. Though he died with the wicked, and according to
the common course of dealing with criminals should have been buried
with them in the place where he was crucified, yet God here foretold,
and Providence so ordered it, that he should make his grave with the
innocent, with the rich, as a mark of distinction put between him and
those that really deserved to die, even in his sufferings.
II. A full account of the meaning of his sufferings. It was a very
great mystery that so excellent a person should suffer such hard
things; and it is natural to ask with amazement, “How came it about?
What evil had he done?” His enemies indeed looked upon him as suffering
justly for his crimes; and, though they could lay nothing to his
charge, they esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted,
v. 4.
Because they hated him, and persecuted him, they thought that God did,
that he was his enemy and fought against him; and therefore they were
the more enraged against him, saying, God has forsaken him;
persecute and take him,
Ps. lxxi. 11.
Those that are justly smitten are smitten of God, for by him princes
decree justice; and so they looked upon him to be smitten, justly put
to death as a blasphemer, a deceiver, and an enemy to Cæsar.
Those that saw him hanging on the cross enquired not into the merits of
his cause, but took it for granted that he was guilty of every thing
laid to his charge and that therefore vengeance suffered him not to
live. Thus Job’s friends esteemed him smitten of God, because there was
something uncommon in his sufferings. It is true he was smitten of
God,
v. 10
(or, as some read it, he was God’s smitten and afflicted, the
Son of God, though smitten and afflicted), but not in the sense in
which they meant it; for, though he suffered all these things,
1. He never did any thing in the least to deserve this hard usage.
Whereas he was charged with perverting the nation, and sowing sedition,
it was utterly false; he had done no violence, but went about
doing good. And, whereas he was called that deceiver, he never
deserved that character; for there was no deceit in his mouth
(v. 9),
to which the apostle refers,
He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He never
offended either in word or deed, nor could any of his enemies take up
that challenge of his, Which of you convinceth me of sin? The
judge that condemned owned he found no fault in him, and the centurion
that executed him professed that certainly he was a righteous man.
2. He conducted himself under his sufferings so as to make it appear
that he did not suffer as an evil-doer; for, though he was oppressed
and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth
(v. 7),
no, not so much as to plead his own innocency, but freely offered
himself to suffer and die for us, and objected nothing against it. This
takes away the scandal of the cross, that he voluntarily submitted to
it, for great and holy ends. By his wisdom he could have evaded the
sentence, and by his power have resisted the execution; but thus it
was written, and thus it behoved him to suffer. This commandment he
received from his Father, and therefore he was led as a lamb to
the slaughter, without any difficulty or reluctance (he is the
Lamb of God); and as a sheep is dumb before the shearers,
nay, before the butchers, so he opened not his mouth, which
denotes not only his exemplary patience under affliction
(Ps. xxxix. 9),
and his meekness under reproach
but his cheerful compliance with his Father’s will. Not my will, but
thine be done. Lo, I come. By this will we are sanctified, his
making his own soul, his own life, an offering for our sin.
3. It was for our good, and in our stead, that Jesus Christ suffered.
This is asserted here plainly and fully, and in a very great variety of
emphatical expressions.
(1.) It is certain that we are all guilty before God. We have all
sinned, and have come short of the glory of God
(v. 6):
All we like sheep have gone astray, one as well as another. The
whole race of mankind lies under the stain of original corruption, and
every particular person stands charged with many actual transgressions.
We have all gone astray from God our rightful owner, alienated
ourselves from him, from the ends he designed us to move towards and
the way he appointed us to move in. We have gone astray like sheep,
which are apt to wander, and are unapt, when they have gone astray, to
find the way home again. That is our true character; we are bent to
backslide from God, but altogether unable of ourselves to return to
him. This is mentioned not only as our infelicity (that we go astray
from the green pastures and expose ourselves to the beasts of prey),
but as our iniquity. We affront God in going astray from him, for we
turn aside every one to his own way, and thereby set up ourselves, and
our own will, in competition with God and his will, which is the
malignity of sin. Instead of walking obediently in God’s way, we have
turned wilfully and stubbornly to our own way, the way of our own
heart, the way that our own corrupt appetites and passions lead us to.
We have set up for ourselves, to be our own masters, our own carvers,
to do what we will and have what we will. Some think it intimates our
own evil way, in distinction from the evil way of others. Sinners have
their own iniquity, their beloved sin, which does most easily beset
them, their own evil way, that they are particularly fond of and bless
themselves in.
(2.) Our sins are our sorrows and our griefs
(v. 4),
or, as it may be read, our sicknesses and our wounds: the LXX.
reads it, our sins; and so the apostle,
Our original corruptions are the sickness and disease of the soul, an
habitual indisposition; our actual transgressions are the wounds of the
soul, which put conscience to pain, if it be not seared and senseless.
Or our sins are called our griefs and sorrows because all our
griefs and sorrows are owing to our sins and our sins deserve all our
griefs and sorrows, even those that are most extreme and
everlasting.
(3.) Our Lord Jesus was appointed and did undertake to make
satisfaction for our sins and so to save us from the penal consequences
of them.
[1.] He was appointed to do it, by the will of his Father; for the
Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. God chose him to be
the Saviour of poor sinners and would have him to save them in this
way, by bearing their sins and the punishment of them; not the
idem–the same that we should have suffered, but the
tantundem–that which was more than equivalent for the
maintaining of the honour of the holiness and justice of God in the
government of the world. Observe here, First, In what way we are
saved from the ruin to which by sin we had become liable–by laying our
sins on Christ, as the sins of the offerer were laid upon the sacrifice
and those of all Israel upon the head of the scape-goat. Our sins were
made to meet upon him (so the margin reads it); the sins of all
that he was to save, from every place and every age, met upon him, and
he was met with for them. They were made to fall upon him (so some read
it) as those rushed upon him that came with swords and staves to take
him. The laying of our sins upon Christ implies the taking of them off
from us; we shall not fall under the curse of the law if we submit to
the grace of the gospel. They were laid upon Christ when he was made
sin (that is, a sin-offering) for us, and redeemed us from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for us; thus he put
himself into a capacity to make those easy that come to him heavily
laden under the burden of sin. See
Secondly, By whom this was appointed. It was the Lord that laid
our iniquities on Christ; he contrived this way of reconciliation and
salvation, and he accepted of the vicarious satisfaction Christ was to
make. Christ was delivered to death by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. None but God had power to lay our sins upon
Christ, both because the sin was committed against him and to him the
satisfaction was to be made, and because Christ, on whom the iniquity
was to be laid, was his own Son, the Son of his love, and his holy
child Jesus, who himself knew no sin. Thirdly, For whom this
atonement was to be made. It was the iniquity of us all that
was laid on Christ; for in Christ there is a sufficiency of merit for
the salvation of all, and a serious offer made of that salvation to
all, which excludes none that do not exclude themselves. It intimates
that this is the one only way of salvation. All that are justified are
justified by having their sins laid on Jesus Christ, and, though they
were ever so many, he is able to bear the weight of them all.
[2.] He undertook to do it. God laid upon him our iniquity; but did he
consent to it? Yes, he did; for some think that the true reading of the
next words
(v. 7)
is, It was exacted, and he answered; divine justice demanded
satisfaction for our sins, and he engaged to make the satisfaction. He
became our surety, not as originally bound with us, but as bail to the
action: “Upon me be the curse, my Father.” And therefore, when he was
seized, he stipulated with those into whose hands he surrendered
himself that that should be his disciples’ discharge: If you seek
me, let these go their way,
John xviii. 8.
By his own voluntary undertaking he made himself responsible for our
debt, and it is well for us that he was responsible. Thus he
restored that which he took not away.
(4.) Having undertaken our debt, he underwent the penalty. Solomon
says: He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it.
Christ, being surety for us, did smart for it.
[1.] He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows,
v. 4.
He not only submitted to the common infirmities of human nature, and
the common calamities of human life, which sin had introduced, but he
underwent the extremities of grief, when he said, My soul is
exceedingly sorrowful. He made the sorrows of this present time
heavy to himself, that he might make them light and easy for us. Sin is
the wormwood and the fall in the affliction and the misery. Christ bore
our sins, and so bore our griefs, bore them off us, that we
should never be pressed above measure. This is quoted
with application to the compassion Christ had for the sick that came to
him to be cured and the power he put forth to cure them.
[2.] He did this by suffering for our sins
(v. 5):
He was wounded for our transgressions, to make atonement for
them and to purchase for us the pardon of them. Our sins were the
thorns in his head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his
side. Wounds and bruises were the consequences of sin, what we deserved
and what we had brought upon ourselves,
That these wounds and bruises, though they are painful, may not be
mortal, Christ was wounded for our transgressions, was tormented
or pained (the word is used for the pains of a woman in travail) for
our revolts and rebellions. He was bruised, or crushed, for
our iniquities; they were the procuring cause of his death. To the
same purport is
v. 8,
for the transgression of my people was he smitten, the stroke
was upon him that should have been upon us; and so some read it,
He was cut off for the iniquity of my people, unto whom the stroke
belonged, or was due. He was delivered to death for our
offences,
Rom. iv. 25.
Hence it is said to be according to the scriptures, according to
this scripture, that Christ died for our sins,
1 Cor. xv. 3.
Some read this, by the transgressions of my people; that is, by
the wicked hands of the Jews, who were, in profession, God’s people, he
was stricken, was crucified and slain,
But, doubtless, we are to take it in the former sense, which is
abundantly confirmed by the angel’s prediction of the Messiah’s
undertaking, solemnly delivered to Daniel, that he shall finish
transgression, make an end of sin, and make reconciliation for
iniquity,
Dan. ix. 24.
(5.) The consequence of this to us is our peace and healing,
v. 5.
[1.] Hereby we have peace: The chastisement of our peace was upon
him; he, by submitting to these chastisements, slew the enmity, and
settled an amity, between God and man; he made peace by the blood of
his cross. Whereas by sin we had become odious to God’s holiness
and obnoxious to his justice, through Christ God is reconciled to us,
and not only forgives our sins and saves us from ruin, but takes us
into friendship and fellowship with himself, and thereby peace
(that is, all good) comes unto us,
Col. i. 20.
He is our peace,
Eph. ii. 14.
Christ was in pain that we might be at ease; he gave satisfaction to
the justice of God that we might have satisfaction in our own minds,
might be of good cheer, knowing that through him our sins are forgiven
us.
[2.] Hereby we have healing; for by his stripes we are healed.
Sin is not only a crime, for which we were condemned to die and which
Christ purchased for us the pardon of, but it is a disease, which tends
directly to the death of our souls and which Christ provided for the
cure of. By his stripes (that is, the sufferings he underwent) he
purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God to mortify our
corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls, and to put our
souls in a good state of health, that they may be fit to serve God and
prepared to enjoy him. And by the doctrine of Christ’s cross, and the
powerful arguments it furnishes us with against sin, the dominion of
sin is broken in us and we are fortified against that which feeds the
disease.
(6.) The consequence of this to Christ was his resurrection and
advancement to perpetual honour. This makes the offence of the cross
perfectly to cease; he yielded himself to die as a sacrifice, as a
lamb, and, to make it evident that the sacrifice he offered of himself
was accepted, we are told here,
v. 8,
[1.] That he was discharged: He was taken from prison and from
judgment; whereas he was imprisoned in the grave under a judicial
process, lay there under an arrest for our debt, and judgment seemed to
be given against him, he was by an express order from heaven taken out
of the prison of the grave, an angel was sent on purpose to roll away
the stone and set him at liberty, by which the judgment given against
him was reversed and taken off; this redounds not only to his honour,
but to our comfort; for, being delivered for our offences, he
was raised again for our justification. That discharge of the
bail amounted to a release of the debt.
[2.] That he was preferred: Who shall declare his generation?
his age, or continuance (so the word signifies), the time
of his life? He rose to die no more; death had no more dominion over
him. He that was dead is alive, and lives for
evermore; and who can describe that immortality to which he rose,
or number the years and ages of it? And he is advanced to this eternal
life because for the transgression of his people he became obedient to
death. We may take it as denoting the time of his usefulness, as David
is said to serve his generation, and so to answer the end of
living. Who can declare how great a blessing Christ by his death and
resurrection will be to the world? Some by his generation
understand his spiritual seed: Who can count the vast numbers of
converts that shall by the gospel be begotten to him, like the dew of
the morning?
| When thus exalted he shall live to see
A numberless believing progeny Of his adopted sons; the godlike race Exceed the stars that heav’n’s high arches grace.
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| SIR R.
BLACKMORE. |
Of this generation of his let us pray, as Moses did for Israel, The
Lord God of our fathers make them a thousand times so many more as they
are, and bless them as he has promised them,
Deut. i. 11.
| The Exaltation of the Messiah; The Triumph of the Messiah. | B. C. 706. |
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10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and
he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured
out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors.
In the
the prophet had testified very particularly of the sufferings of
Christ, yet mixing some hints of the happy issue of them; here he again
mentions his sufferings, but largely foretels the glory that should
follow. We may observe, in these verses,
I. The services and sufferings of Christ’s state of humiliation. Come,
and see how he loved us, see what he did for us.
1. He submitted to the frowns of Heaven
(v. 10):
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to pain, or
torment, or grief. The scripture nowhere says that Christ is his
sufferings underwent the wrath of God; but it says here,
(1.) That the Lord bruised him, not only permitted men to bruise him,
but awakened his own sword against him,
They esteemed him smitten of God for some very great sin of his own
(v. 4);
now it was true that he was smitten of God, but it was for our sin; the
Lord bruised him, for he did not spare him, but delivered him up for
us all,
Rom. viii. 32.
He it was that put the bitter cup into his hand, and obliged him to
drink it
having laid upon him our iniquity. He it was that made him sin and a
curse for us, and turned to ashes all his burnt-offering, in token of
the acceptance of it,
(2.) That he bruised him so as to put him to grief. Christ accommodated
himself to this dispensation, and received the impressions of grief
from his Father’s delivering him up; and he was troubled to such a
degree that it put him into an agony, and he began to be amazed and
very heavy.
(3.) It pleased the Lord to do this. He determined to do it; it was the
result of an eternal counsel; and he delighted in it, as it was an
effectual method for the salvation of man and the securing and
advancing of the honour of God.
2. He substituted himself in the room of sinners, as a sacrifice. He
made his soul an offering for sin; he himself explains this
(Matt. xx. 28),
that he came to give his life a ransom for many. When men
brought bulls and goats as sacrifices for sin they made them offerings,
for they had an interest in them, God having put them under the feet of
man. But Christ made himself an offering; it was his own act and deed.
We could not put him in our stead, but he put himself, and said,
Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, in a higher sense
than David said, or could say it. “Father, I commit my soul to
thee, I deposit it in thy hands, as the life of a sacrifice and the
price of pardons.” Thus he shall bear the iniquities of the many that
he designed to justify
(v. 11),
shall take away the sin of the world by taking it upon himself,
This mentioned again
(v. 12):
He bore the sin of many, who, if they had borne it themselves,
would have been sunk by it to the lowest hell. See how this dwelt upon;
for, whenever we think of the sufferings of Christ, we must see him in
them bearing our sin.
3. He subjected himself to that which to us is the wages of sin
(v. 12):
He has poured out his soul unto death, poured it out as water,
so little account did he make of it, when the laying of it down was the
appointed means of our redemption and salvation. He loved not his
life unto the death, and his followers, the martyrs, did likewise,
Or, rather, he poured it out as a drink-offering, to make his sacrifice
complete, poured it out as wine, that his blood might be drink indeed,
as his flesh is meat indeed to all believers. There was not only a
colliquation of his body in his sufferings
I am poured out like water), but a surrender of his spirit; he
poured out that, even unto death, though he is the Lord of life.
4. He suffered himself to be ranked with sinners, and yet offered
himself to be an intercessor for sinners,
(1.) It was a great aggravation of his sufferings that he was
numbered with transgressors, that he was not only condemned as a
malefactor, but executed in company with two notorious malefactors, and
he in the midst, as if he had been the worst of the three, in which
circumstance of his suffering, the evangelist tells us, this prophecy
was fulfilled,
Nay, the vilest malefactor of all, Barabbas, who was a traitor, a
thief, and a murderer, was put in election with him for the favour of
the people, and carried it; for they would not have Jesus released, but
Barabbas. In his whole life he was numbered among the transgressors;
for he was called and accounted a sabbath-breaker, a drunkard, and a
friend to publicans and sinners.
(2.) It was a great commendation of his sufferings, and redounded very
much to his honour, that in his sufferings he made intercession for
the transgressors, for those that reviled and crucified him; for he
prayed, Father, forgive them, thereby showing, not only that he
forgave them, but that he was now doing that upon which their
forgiveness, and the forgiveness of all other transgressors, were to be
founded. That prayer was the language of his blood, crying, not for
vengeance, but for mercy, and therein it speaks better things than that
of Abel, even for those who with wicked hands shed it.
II. The grace and glories of his state of exaltation; and the graces he
confers on us are not the least of the glories conferred on him. These
are secured to him by the covenant of redemption, which
give us some idea of. He promises to make his soul an offering for sin,
consents that the Father shall deliver him up, and undertakes to bear
the sin of many, in consideration of which the Father promises to
glorify him, not only with the glory he had, as God, before the world
was
(John xvii. 5),
but with the glories of the Mediator.
1. He shall have the glory of an everlasting Father. Under this title
he was brought into the world
(ch. ix. 6),
and he shall not fail to answer the title when he goes out of the
world. This was the promise made to Abraham (who herein was a type of
Christ), that he should be the father of many nations and so be
the heir of the world,
Rom. iv. 13, 17.
As he was the root of the Jewish church, and the covenant was made with
him and his seed, so is Christ of the universal church and with him and
his spiritual seed is the covenant of grace made, which is grounded
upon and grafted in the covenant of redemption, which here we have some
of the glorious promises of. It is promised,
(1.) That the Redeemer shall have a seed to serve him and to bear up
his name,
True believers are the seed of Christ; the Father gave them to him to
be so,
He died to purchase and purify them to himself, fell to the ground as a
corn of wheat, that he might bring forth much fruit,
John xii. 24.
The word, that incorruptible see, of which they are born again, is his
word; the Spirit, the great author of their regeneration, is his
Spirit; and it is his image that is impressed upon them.
(2.) That he shall live to see his seed. Christ’s children have a
living Father, and because he lives they shall live also, for he is
their life. Though he died, he rose again, and left not his children
orphans, but took effectual care to secure to them the spirit, the
blessing, and the inheritance of sons. He shall see a great increase of
them; the word is plural, He shall see his seeds, multitudes of
them, so many that they cannot be numbered.
(3.) That he shall himself continue to take care of the affairs of this
numerous family: He shall prolong his days. Many, when they see
their seed, their seed’s seed, wish to depart in peace; but Christ will
not commit the care of his family to any other, no, he shall himself
live long, and of the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end, for he ever lives. Some refer it to believers:
He shall see a seed that shall prolong its days, agreeing with
His seed shall endure for ever. While the world stands Christ
will have a church in it, which he himself will be the life of.
(4.) That his great undertaking shall be successful and shall answer
expectation: The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
God’s purposes shall take effect, and not one iota or tittle of them
shall fail. Note,
[1.] The work of man’s redemption is in the hands of the Lord Jesus,
and it is in good hands. It is well for us that it is in his, for our
own hands are not sufficient for us, but he is able to save to the
uttermost. It is in his hands who upholds all things.
[2.] It is the good pleasure of the Lord, which denotes not only his
counsel concerning it, but his complacency in it; and therefore
God loved him, and was well pleased in him, because he undertook to lay
down his life for the sheep.
[3.] It has prospered hitherto, and shall prosper, whatever
obstructions or difficulties have been, or may be, in the way of it.
Whatever is undertaken according to God’s pleasure shall prosper,
Cyrus, a type of Christ, shall perform all God’s pleasure
(ch. xliv. 28),
and therefore, no doubt, Christ shall. Christ was so perfectly well
qualified for his undertaking, and prosecuted it with so much vigour,
and it was from first to last so well devised, that it could not fail
to prosper, to the honour of his Father and the salvation of all his
seed.
(5.) That he shall himself have abundant satisfaction in it
(v. 11):
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
He shall see it beforehand (so it may be understood); he shall with the
prospect of his sufferings have a prospect of the fruit, and he shall
be satisfied with the bargain. He shall see it when it is accomplished
in the conversion and salvation of poor sinners. Note,
[1.] Our Lord Jesus was in travail of soul for our redemption and
salvation, in great pain, but with longing desire to be delivered, and
all the pains and throes he underwent were in order to it and hastened
it on.
[2.] Christ does and will see the blessed fruit of the travail of his
soul in the founding and building up of his church and the eternal
salvation of all that were given him. He will not come short of his end
in any part of his work, but will himself see that he has not laboured
in vain.
[3.] The salvation of souls is a great satisfaction to the Lord Jesus.
He will reckon all his pains well bestowed, and himself abundantly
recompensed, if the many sons be by him brought through grace to glory.
Let him have this, and he has enough. God will be glorified, penitent
believers will be justified, and then Christ will be satisfied. Thus,
in conformity to Christ, it should be a satisfaction to us if we can do
any thing to serve the interests of God’s kingdom in the world. Let it
always be our meat and drink, as it was Christ’s, to do God’s will.
2. He shall have the glory of bringing in an everlasting righteousness;
for so it was foretold concerning him,
And here, to the same purport, By his knowledge (the knowledge
of him, and faith in him) shall my righteous servant justify
many; for he shall bear the sins of many, and so lay a foundation
for our justification from sin. Note,
(1.) The great privilege that flows to us from the death of Christ is
justification from sin, our being acquitted from that guilt which alone
can ruin us, and accepted into God’s favour, which alone can make us
happy.
(2.) Christ, who purchased our justification for us, applies it to us,
by his intercession made for us, his gospel preached to us, and his
Spirit witnessing in us. The Son of man had power even on earth to
forgive sin.
(3.) There are many whom Christ justifies, not all (multitudes perish
in their sins), yet many, even as many as he gave his life a ransom
for, as many as the Lord our God shall call. He shall justify not here
and there one that is eminent and remarkable, but those of the many,
the despised multitude.
(4.) It is by faith that we are justified, by our consent to Christ and
the covenant of grace; in this way we are saved, because thus God is
most glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our
happiness most effectually secured.
(5.) Faith is the knowledge of Christ, and without knowledge there can
be no true faith. Christ’s way of gaining the will and affections is by
enlightening the understanding and bringing that unfeignedly to assent
to divine truths.
(6.) That knowledge of Christ, and that faith in him, by which we are
justified, have reference to him both as a servant to God and as a
surety for us.
[1.] As one that is employed for God to pursue his designs and secure
and advance the interests of his glory. “He is my righteous servant,
and as such justifies men.” God has authorized and appointed him to do
it; it is according to God’s will and for his honour that he does it.
He is himself righteous, and of his righteousness have all we received.
He that is himself righteous (for he could not have made atonement for
our sin if he had had any sin of his own to answer for) is made of
God to us righteousness, the Lord our righteousness.
[2.] As one that has undertaken for us. We must know him, and believe
in him, as one that bore our iniquities–saved us from sinking under
the load by taking it upon himself.
3. He shall have the glory of obtaining an incontestable victory and
universal dominion,
Because he has done all these good services, therefore will I divide
him a portion with the great, and, according to the will of the
Father, he shall divide the spoil with the strong, as a great
general, when he has driven the enemy out of the field, takes the
plunder of it for himself and his army, which is both an unquestionable
evidence of the victory and a recompense for all the toils and perils
of the battle. Note,
(1.) God the Father has engaged to reward the services and sufferings
of Christ with great glory: “I will set him among the great, highly
exalt him, and give him a name above every name.” Great riches are also
assigned to him: He shall divide the spoil, shall have abundance
of graces and comforts to bestow upon all his faithful soldiers.
(2.) Christ comes at his glory by conquest. He has set upon the strong
man armed, dispossessed him, and divided the spoil. He has vanquished
principalities and powers, sin and Satan, death and hell, the world and
the flesh; these are the strong that he has disarmed and taken the
spoil of.
(3.) Much of the glory with which Christ is recompensed, and the spoil
which he has divided, consists in the vast multitudes of willing,
faithful, loyal subjects, that shall be brought in to him; for so some
read it: I will give many to him, and he shall obtain many for a
spoil. God will give him the heathen for his inheritance and the
uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,
Ps. ii. 8.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea. Many shall be wrought
upon by the grace of God to give up themselves to him to be ruled, and
taught, and saved by him, and hereby he shall reckon himself honoured,
and enriched, and abundantly recompensed for all he did and all he
suffered.
(4.) What God designed for the Redeemer he shall certainly gain the
possession of: “I will divide it to him,” and immediately it follows,
He shall divide it, notwithstanding the opposition that is given
to him; for, as Christ finished the work that was given him to do, so
God completed the recompence that was promised him for it; for he is
both able and faithful.
(5.) The spoil which God divided to Christ he divides (it is the same
word), he distributes, among his followers; for, when he led
captivity captive, he received gifts for men, that he might give
gifts to men; for as he has told us
he did himself reckon it more blessed and honourable to give than to
receive. Christ conquered for us, and through him we are more than
conquerors. He has divided the spoils, the fruits of his conquest, to
all that are his: let us therefore cast in our lot among them.
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