CompleteConcise
The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in theOld-Testament prophets testified beforehand were the sufferings of Christ andthe glory that should follow, 1 Pt. 1:11. And that which Christ himself, when heexpounded Moses and all the prophets, showed to be the drift and scope of themall was that Christ ought to suffer and then to enter into his glory, Lu. 24:26,27. But nowhere in all the Old-Testament are these two so plainly and fullyprophesied of as here in this chapter, out of which divers passages are quotedwith application to Christ in the New-Testament. This chapter is so replenishedwith the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called rather the gospelof the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. We may observehere, I. The reproach of Christ's sufferingsthe meanness of his appearance,the greatness of his grief, and the prejudices which many conceived inconsequences against his doctrine (v. 1-3). II. The rolling away of thisreproach, 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 (v. 4, 6, 10). 2. That thereby he madeatonement for the sin of man (v. 4-6, 8, 11, 12), for it was not for any sinof his own that he suffered (v. 9). 3. That he bore his sufferings with aninvincible and exemplary patience (v. 7). 4. That he should prosper in hisundertaking, and his sufferings should end in his immortal honour (v. 10-12).By mixing faith with the prophecy of this chapter we may improve ouracquaintance with Jesus Christ and him crucified, with Jesus Christ and himglorified, dying for our sins and rising again for our justification.
The prophet, in the close of the former chapter, had foreseenand foretold the kind reception which the gospel of Christ should find among theGentiles, that nations and their kings should bid it welcome, that those who hadnot seen him should believe in him; and though they had not any prophecies amongthem of gospel grace, which might raise their expectations, and dispose them toentertain it, yet upon the first notice of it they should give it its due weightand consideration. Now here he foretels, with wonder, the unbelief of the Jews,notwithstanding the previous notices they had of the coming of the Messiah inthe Old Testament and the opportunity they had of being personally acquaintedwith him. Observe here,
I. The contempt they put upon the gospel of Christ, v. 1. Theunbelief of the Jews in our Saviour's time is expressly said to be thefulfilling of this word, Jn. 12:38. And it is applied likewise to the littlesuccess which the apostles' preaching met with among Jews and Gentiles, Rom.10:16. 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 ina corner, or confined to the schools, but proclaimed to all; and it is sofaithful a saying, and so well worthy of all acceptation, that one would thinkit should be universally received and believed. But it is quite otherwise; fewbelieved the prophets who spoke before of Christ; when he came himself none ofthe rulers nor of the Pharisees followed him, and but here and there one of thecommon 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 themany that profess to believe this report, there are few that cordially embraceit and submit to the power of it. 2. Therefore people believe not thereport of the gospel, because the arm of the Lord is not revealed tothem; they do not discern, nor will be brought to acknowledge, that divine powerwhich goes along with the word. The arm of the Lord is made bare (as wassaid, ch. 52:10) in the miracles that were wrought to confirm Christ'sdoctrine, 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 theword effectual. They believe not the gospel because, by rebelling against thelight they had, they had forfeited the grace of God, which therefore he justlydenied 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, andgreatly lamented, and ministers may go to God and complain of it to him, as theprophet 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 notstep in and be healed!
II. The contempt they put upon the person of Christ because ofthe meanness of his appearance, v. 2, 3. This seems to come in as a reason whythey 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 ofwhat they heard, would not give it any regard or entertainment, because it camefrom one that made so small a figure and had no external advantages to recommendhim. Observe here,
1. The low condition he submitted to, and how he abased andemptied himself. The entry he made into the world, and the character he wore init, were no way agreeable to the ideas which the Jews had formed of the Messiahand their expectations concerning him, but quite the reverse. (1.) It wasexpected that his extraction would be very great and noble. He was to be the Sonof David, of a family that had a name like to the names of the great men thatwere in the earth, 2 Sa. 7:9. But he sprang out of this royal andillustrious 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 aroot out of a dry ground, his being born of a mean and despicable family, inthe 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 reputethat it was thought no good thing could come out of it. His mother, being avirgin, 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 outof a dry ground, he is both the root and the offspring of David, the rootof the good olive. (2.) It was expected that he should make a public entry, andcome 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 grewup as a tender plant, silently and insensibly, and without any noise, as thecorn, that tender plant, grows up, we know not how, Mk. 4:27. Christ roseas a tender plant, which, one would have thought, might easily be crushed, ormight be nipped in one frosty night. The gospel of Christ, in its beginning, wasas a grain of mustard-seed, so inconsiderable did it seem, Mt. 13:31, 32. (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 allthat saw him. But there was nothing of this kind in him; not that he was in theleast deformed or misshapen, but he had no form nor comeliness, nothingextraordinary, which one might have thought to meet with in the countenance ofan incarnate deity. Those who saw him could not see that there was any beauty inhim that they should desire him, nothing in him more than in another beloved,Cant. 5:9. Moses, when he was born, was exceedingly fair, to such a degree thatit was looked upon as a happy presage, Acts 7:20; Heb. 11:23. David, when he wasanointed, was of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to, 1 Sa.16:12. But our Lord Jesus had nothing of that to recommend him. Or it may refernot so much to his person as to the manner of his appearing in the world, whichhad nothing in it of sensible glory. His gospel is preached, not with theenticing words of man's wisdom, but with all plainness, agreeable to thesubject. (4.) It was expected that he should live a pleasant life, and have afull enjoyment of all the delights of the sons and daughters of men, which wouldhave invited all sorts to him; but, on the contrary, he was a man of sorrowsand 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.
Sir R. Blackmore
Thus, being made sin for us, he underwent the sentencesin had subjected us to, that we should eat in sorrow all the days of ourlife (Gen. 3:17), and thereby relaxed much of the rigour and extremity ofthe sentence as to us. His condition was, upon many accounts, sorrowful. He wasunsettled, had not where to lay his head, lived upon alms, was opposed andmenaced, and endured the contradiction of sinners against himself. Hisspirit was tender, and he admitted the impressions of sorrow. We never read thathe laughed, but often that he wept. Lentulus, in his epistle to the Roman senateconcerning Jesus, says, "he was never seen to laugh;" and soworn and macerated was he with continual grief that when he was but a littleabove thirty years of age he was taken to be nearly fifty, Jn. 8:57. Grief washis intimate acquaintance; for he acquainted himself with the grievances ofothers, and sympathized with them, and he never set his own at a distance; forin his transfiguration he talked of his own decease, and in his triumph he weptover Jerusalem. Let us look unto him and mourn.
2. The low opinion that men had of him, upon this account. Beinggenerally apt to judge of persons and things by the sight of the eye, andaccording to outward appearance, they saw no beauty in him that they shoulddesire him. There was a great deal of true beauty in him, the beauty of holinessand 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 noneof this beauty, for it was spiritually discerned. Carnal hearts see noexcellency in the Lord Jesus, nothing that should induce them to desire anacquaintance with him or interest in him. Nay, he is not only not desired, but heis despised and rejected, abandoned and abhorred, a reproach of men, anabject, one that men were shy of keeping company with and had not any esteemfor, a worm and no man. He was despised as a mean man, rejected as a bad man. Hewas the stone which the builders refused; they would not have him to reign overthem. Men, who should have had so much reason as to understand things better, somuch tenderness as not to trample upon a man in miserymen whom he came toseek 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 neversorrow was like unto his sorrow. Nay, we not only behaved as having noconcern for him, but as loathing him, and having him in detestation." Itmay be read, He hid as it were his face from us, concealed the glory ofhis majesty, and drew a veil over it, and therefore he was despised and weesteemed him not, because we could not see through that veil. Christ havingundertaken to make satisfaction to the justice of God for the injury man haddone 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 incarnatedeity, but by submitting himself to the disgraces due to the worst of men andmalefactors; and thus by vilifying himself he glorified his Father: but this isa good reason why we should esteem him highly, and study to do him honour; let himbe received by us whom men rejected.
In these verses we have,
I. A further account of the sufferings of Christ. Much was saidbefore, but more is said here, of the very low condition to which he abased andhumbled 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 theacquaintance, 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; hecarried them, and did neither shrink from them, nor sink under them. The loadwas 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 fromthem; they touched him in the most tender part, especially when God wasdishonoured, and when he forsook him upon the cross. All along he was smittenwith the tongue, when he was cavilled at and contradicted, put under the worstof characters, and had all manner of evil said against him. At last he wassmitten with the hand, with blow after blow. 3. He had wounds and stripes. Hewas scourged, not under the merciful restriction of the Jewish law, whichallowed not above forty stripes to be given to the worst of male factors, butaccording to the usage of the Romans. And his scourging, doubtless, was the moresevere because Pilate intended it as an equivalent for his crucifixion, and yetit 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 hadscarcely in any part a whole skin (how fond soever we are to sleep in one, evenwhen we are called out to suffer for him), but from the crown of his head, whichwas crowned with thorns, to the soles of his feet, which were nailed to thecross, nothing appeared but wounds and bruises. 4. He was wronged and abused (v.7): He was oppressed, injuriously treated and hardly dealt with. That waslaid to his charge which he was perfectly innocent of, that laid upon him whichhe did not deserve, and in both he was oppressed and injured. He wasafflicted 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 withthose of the oppressed, that have no comforter, because on the side of theoppressors there is power, Eccl. 4:1. Oppression is a sore affliction; ithas made many a wise man mad (Eccl. 7:7); but our Lord Jesus, though, when hewas oppressed, he was afflicted, kept possession of his own soul. 5. he wasjudged and imprisoned, as is implied in his being taken from prison andjudgment, v. 8. God having made him sin for us, he was proceeded against asa malefactor; he was apprehended and taken into custody, and made a prisoner; hewas 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, andconfined him in the prison of the grave, at the door of which a stone was rolledand sealed. 6. He was cut off by an untimely death from the land ofthe living, though he lived a most useful life, did so many good works, andthey were all such that one would be apt to think it was for some of them thatthey stoned him. He was stricken to death, to the grave which he made withthe wicked (for he was crucified between two thieves, as if he had been theworst of the three) and yet with the rich, for he was buried in asepulchre that belonged to Joseph, an honourable counsellor. Though he died withthe wicked, and according to the common course of dealing with criminals shouldhave been buried with them in the place where he was crucified, yet God hereforetold, and Providence so ordered it, that he should make his grave with theinnocent, with the rich, as a mark of distinction put between him and those thatreally deserved to die, even in his sufferings.
II. A full account of the meaning of his sufferings. It was avery 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 hadhe done?" His enemies indeed looked upon him as suffering justly for hiscrimes; and, though they could lay nothing to his charge, they esteemed himstricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, v. 4. Because they hated him, andpersecuted him, they thought that God did, that he was his enemy and foughtagainst him; and therefore they were the more enraged against him, saying, Godhas forsaken him; persecute and take him, Ps. 71:11. Those that are justlysmitten are smitten of God, for by him princes decree justice; and so theylooked upon him to be smitten, justly put to death as a blasphemer, a deceiver,and an enemy to Caesar. Those that saw him hanging on the cross enquired notinto the merits of his cause, but took it for granted that he was guilty ofevery thing laid to his charge and that therefore vengeance suffered him not tolive. Thus Job's friends esteemed him smitten of God, because there wassomething 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 Sonof God, though smitten and afflicted), but not in the sense in which they meantit; for, though he suffered all these things,
1. He never did any thing in the least to deserve this hardusage. 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 thatcharacter; for there was no deceit in his mouth (v. 9), to which theapostle refers, 1 Pt. 2:22. He did no sin, neither was guile found in hismouth. He never offended either in word or deed, nor could any of hisenemies 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 thatexecuted him professed that certainly he was a righteous man.
2. He conducted himself under his sufferings so as to make itappear that he did not suffer as an evil-doer; for, though he was oppressedand afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth (v. 7), no, not so much asto 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, thathe voluntarily submitted to it, for great and holy ends. By his wisdom he couldhave evaded the sentence, and by his power have resisted the execution; but thusit was written, and thus it behoved him to suffer. This commandment he receivedfrom 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 asheep is dumb before the shearers, nay, before the butchers, so he openednot his mouth, which denotes not only his exemplary patience underaffliction (Ps. 39:9), and his meekness under reproach (Ps. 38:13), but hischeerful 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 ownlife, an offering for our sin.
3. It was for our good, and in our stead, that Jesus Christsuffered. This is asserted here plainly and fully, and in a very great varietyof emphatical expressions.
(1.) It is certain that we are all guilty before God. We haveall sinned, and have come short of the glory of God (v. 6): All we like sheephave gone astray, one as well as another. The whole race of mankind liesunder the stain of original corruption, and every particular person standscharged with many actual transgressions. We have all gone astray from God ourrightful owner, alienated ourselves from him, from the ends he designed us tomove towards and the way he appointed us to move in. We have gone astray likesheep, which are apt to wander, and are unapt, when they have gone astray, tofind the way home again. That is our true character; we are bent to backslidefrom God, but altogether unable of ourselves to return to him. This is mentionednot only as our infelicity (that we go astray from the green pastures and exposeourselves to the beasts of prey), but as our iniquity. We affront God in goingastray from him, for we turn aside every one to his own way, and thereby set upourselves, and our own will, in competition with God and his will, which is themalignity of sin. Instead of walking obediently in God's way, we have turnedwilfully and stubbornly to our own way, the way of our own heart, the way thatour 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 wewill. Some think it intimates our own evil way, in distinction from the evil wayof others. Sinners have their own iniquity, their beloved sin, which does mosteasily beset them, their own evil way, that they are particularly fond of andbless themselves in.
(2.) Our sins are our sorrows and our griefs (v. 4), or, as itmay be read, our sicknesses and our wounds: the Septuagint reads it, oursins; and so the apostle, 1 Pt. 2:24. Our original corruptions are thesickness and disease of the soul, an habitual indisposition; our actualtransgressions are the wounds of the soul, which put conscience to pain, if itbe not seared and senseless. Or our sins are called our griefs and sorrowsbecause all our griefs and sorrows are owing to our sins and our sins deserveall our griefs and sorrows, even those that are most extreme and everlasting.
(3.) Our Lord Jesus was appointed and did undertake to makesatisfaction 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 haslaid on him the iniquity of us all. God chose him to be the Saviour of poorsinners and would have him to save them in this way, by bearing their sins andthe punishment of them; not the idemthe same that we should havesuffered, but the tantundemthat which was more than equivalent for themaintaining of the honour of the holiness and justice of God in the governmentof the world. Observe here, First, In what way we are saved from the ruinto which by sin we had become liableby laying our sins on Christ, as the sinsof the offerer were laid upon the sacrifice and those of all Israel upon thehead of the scape-goat. Our sins were made to meet upon him (so themargin reads it); the sins of all that he was to save, from every place andevery age, met upon him, and he was met with for them. They were made to fallupon him (so some read it) as those rushed upon him that came with swords andstaves to take him. The laying of our sins upon Christ implies the taking ofthem off from us; we shall not fall under the curse of the law if we submit tothe 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 thelaw by being made a curse for us; thus he put himself into a capacity tomake those easy that come to him heavily laden under the burden of sin. See Ps.40:6-12. Secondly, By whom this was appointed. It was the Lord thatlaid our iniquities on Christ; he contrived this way of reconciliation andsalvation, and he accepted of the vicarious satisfaction Christ was to make.Christ was delivered to death by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge ofGod. None but God had power to lay our sins upon Christ, both because thesin was committed against him and to him the satisfaction was to be made, andbecause Christ, on whom the iniquity was to be laid, was his own Son, the Son ofhis love, and his holy child Jesus, who himself knew no sin. Thirdly, Forwhom this atonement was to be made. It was the iniquity of us all thatwas laid on Christ; for in Christ there is a sufficiency of merit for thesalvation of all, and a serious offer made of that salvation to all, whichexcludes none that do not exclude themselves. It intimates that this is the oneonly way of salvation. All that are justified are justified by having their sinslaid on Jesus Christ, and, though they were ever so many, he is able to bear theweight 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 ofthe next words (v. 7) is, It was exacted, and he answered; divine justicedemanded satisfaction for our sins, and he engaged to make the satisfaction. Hebecame 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 thatshould be his disciples' discharge: If you seek me, let these go their way,Jn. 18:8. By his own voluntary undertaking he made himself responsible for ourdebt, and it is well for us that he was responsible. Thus he restored thatwhich 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 andcarried our sorrows, v. 4. He not only submitted to the common infirmitiesof human nature, and the common calamities of human life, which sin hadintroduced, but he underwent the extremities of grief, when he said, My soulis exceedingly sorrowful. He made the sorrows of this present time heavy tohimself, that he might make them light and easy for us. Sin is the wormwood andthe fall in the affliction and the misery. Christ bore our sins, and so boreour griefs, bore them off us, that we should never be pressed above measure.This is quoted (Mt. 8:17) with application to the compassion Christ had for thesick 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 ourtransgressions, to make atonement for them and to purchase for us the pardonof 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 wedeserved and what we had brought upon ourselves, ch. 1:6. That these wounds andbruises, though they are painful, may not be mortal, Christ was wounded forour transgressions, was tormented or pained (the word is used for the painsof a woman in travail) for our revolts and rebellions. He was bruised, orcrushed, 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 hesmitten, the stroke was upon him that should have been upon us; andso some read it, He was cut off for the iniquity of my people, unto whom thestroke belonged, or was due. He was delivered to death for ouroffences, Rom. 4:25. Hence it is said to be according to the scriptures,according to this scripture, that Christ died for our sins, 1 Co. 15:3.Some read this, by the transgressions of my people; that is, by thewicked hands of the Jews, who were, in profession, God's people, he wasstricken, was crucified and slain, Acts 2:23. But, doubtless, we are to take itin the former sense, which is abundantly confirmed by the angel's predictionof the Messiah's undertaking, solemnly delivered to Daniel, that he shall finishtransgression, make an end of sin, and make reconciliation for iniquity,Dan. 9:24.
(5.) The consequence of this to us is our peace and healing, v.5. [1.] Hereby we have peace: The chastisem*nt of our peace was upon him;he, by submitting to these chastisem*nts, slew the enmity, and settled an amity,between God and man; he made peace by the blood of his cross. Whereas bysin 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 savesus from ruin, but takes us into friendship and fellowship with himself, andthereby peace (that is, all good) comes unto us, Col. 1:20. Heis our peace, Eph. 2:14. Christ was in pain that we might be at ease; hegave satisfaction to the justice of God that we might have satisfaction in ourown minds, might be of good cheer, knowing that through him our sins areforgiven 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 Christpurchased for us the pardon of, but it is a disease, which tends directly to thedeath 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 graceof God to mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls, and toput our souls in a good state of health, that they may be fit to serve God andprepared to enjoy him. And by the doctrine of Christ's cross, and the powerfularguments it furnishes us with against sin, the dominion of sin is broken in usand we are fortified against that which feeds the disease.
(6.) The consequence of this to Christ was his resurrection andadvancement to perpetual honour. This makes the offence of the cross perfectlyto cease; he yielded himself to die as a sacrifice, as a lamb, and, to make itevident 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 fromjudgment; 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 againsthim, he was by an express order from heaven taken out of the prison of thegrave, an angel was sent on purpose to roll away the stone and set him atliberty, 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 deliveredfor our offences, he was raised again for our justification. Thatdischarge of the bail amounted to a release of the debt. [2.] That he waspreferred: Who shall declare his generation? his age, or continuance(so the word signifies), the time of his life? He rose to die no more; deathhad no more dominion over him. He that was dead is alive, and livesfor evermore; and who can describe that immortality to which he rose, ornumber the years and ages of it? And he is advanced to this eternal life becausefor the transgression of his people he became obedient to death. We may take itas denoting the time of his usefulness, as David is said to serve hisgeneration, and so to answer the end of living. Who can declare how great ablessing Christ by his death and resurrection will be to the world? Some by hisgeneration understand his spiritual seed: Who can count the vast numbers ofconverts that shall by the gospel be begotten to him, like the dew of themorning?
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.
Sir R. Blackmore
Of this generation of his let us pray, as Moses did for Israel, TheLord God of our fathers make them a thousand times so many more as they are, andbless them as he has promised them, Deu. 1:11.
In the foregoing verses the prophet had testified veryparticularly of the sufferings of Christ, yet mixing some hints of the happyissue of them; here he again mentions his sufferings, but largely foretels theglory that should follow. We may observe, in these verses,
I. The services and sufferings of Christ's state ofhumiliation. Come, and see how he loved us, see what he did for us.
1. He submitted to the frowns of Heaven (v. 10): Yet itpleased 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 ofGod; but it says here, (1.) That the Lord bruised him, not only permitted men tobruise him, but awakened his own sword against him, Zec. 13:7. They esteemed himsmitten of God for some very great sin of his own (v. 4); now it was true thathe was smitten of God, but it was for our sin; the Lord bruised him, for he didnot spare him, but delivered him up for us all, Rom. 8:32. He it was thatput the bitter cup into his hand, and obliged him to drink it (Jn. 18:11),having laid upon him our iniquity. He it was that made him sin and a curse forus, and turned to ashes all his burnt-offering, in token of the acceptance ofit, Ps. 20:3. (2.) That he bruised him so as to put him to grief. Christaccommodated himself to this dispensation, and received the impressions of grieffrom his Father's delivering him up; and he was troubled to such a degree thatit put him into an agony, and he began to be amazed and very heavy. (3.) Itpleased the Lord to do this. He determined to do it; it was the result of aneternal counsel; and he delighted in it, as it was an effectual method for thesalvation of man and the securing and advancing of the honour of God.
2. He substituted himself in the room of sinners, as asacrifice. He made his soul an offering for sin; he himself explains this(Mt. 20:28), that he came to give his life a ransom for many. When menbrought bulls and goats as sacrifices for sin they made them offerings, for theyhad an interest in them, God having put them under the feet of man. But Christmade himself an offering; it was his own act and deed. We could not put him inour stead, but he put himself, and said, Father, into thy hands I commit myspirit, in a higher sense than David said, or could say it. "Father, Icommit my soul to thee, I deposit it in thy hands, as the life of asacrifice and the price of pardons." Thus he shall bear the iniquities ofthe many that he designed to justify (v. 11), shall take away the sin of theworld by taking it upon himself, Jn. 1:29. This mentioned again (v. 12): Hebore the sin of many, who, if they had borne it themselves, would have beensunk by it to the lowest hell. See how this dwelt upon; for, whenever we thinkof 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 theappointed means of our redemption and salvation. He loved not his life untothe death, and his followers, the martyrs, did likewise, Rev. 12:11. 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 ismeat indeed to all believers. There was not only a colliquation of his body inhis sufferings (Ps. 22:14, I am poured out like water), but a surrenderof his spirit; he poured out that, even unto death, though he is the Lord oflife.
4. He suffered himself to be ranked with sinners, and yetoffered himself to be an intercessor for sinners, v. 12. (1.) It was a greataggravation of his sufferings that he was numbered with transgressors,that he was not only condemned as a malefactor, but executed in company with twonotorious malefactors, and he in the midst, as if he had been the worst of thethree, in which circ*mstance of his suffering, the evangelist tells us, thisprophecy was fulfilled, Mk. 15:27, 28. Nay, the vilest malefactor of all,Barabbas, who was a traitor, a thief, and a murderer, was put in election withhim for the favour of the people, and carried it; for they would not have Jesusreleased, but Barabbas. In his whole life he was numbered among thetransgressors; 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 hissufferings, and redounded very much to his honour, that in his sufferings he madeintercession for the transgressors, for those that reviled and crucifiedhim; for he prayed, Father, forgive them, thereby showing, not only thathe 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 prayerwas the language of his blood, crying, not for vengeance, but for mercy, andtherein it speaks better things than that of Abel, even for those who withwicked hands shed it.
II. The grace and glories of his state of exaltation; and thegraces he confers on us are not the least of the glories conferred on him. Theseare secured to him by the covenant of redemption, which these verses give ussome idea of. He promises to make his soul an offering for sin, consents thatthe Father shall deliver him up, and undertakes to bear the sin of many, inconsideration of which the Father promises to glorify him, not only with theglory he had, as God, before the world was (Jn. 17:5), but with the glories ofthe Mediator.
1. He shall have the glory of an everlasting Father. Under thistitle he was brought into the world (ch. 9:6), and he shall not fail toanswer the title when he goes out of the world. This was the promise made toAbraham (who herein was a type of Christ), that he should be the father ofmany nations and so be the heir of the world, Rom. 4:13, 17. As hewas the root of the Jewish church, and the covenant was made with him and hisseed, so is Christ of the universal church and with him and his spiritual seedis the covenant of grace made, which is grounded upon and grafted in thecovenant of redemption, which here we have some of the glorious promises of. Itis promised,
(1.) That the Redeemer shall have a seed to serve him and tobear up his name, Ps. 22:30. True believers are the seed of Christ; the Fathergave them to him to be so, Jn. 17:6. He died to purchase and purify them tohimself, fell to the ground as a corn of wheat, that he might bring forthmuch fruit, Jn. 12:24. The word, that incorruptible see, of which they areborn again, is his word; the Spirit, the great author of their regeneration, ishis Spirit; and it is his image that is impressed upon them.
(2.) That he shall live to see his seed. Christ's childrenhave a living Father, and because he lives they shall live also, for he is theirlife. Though he died, he rose again, and left not his children orphans, but tookeffectual care to secure to them the spirit, the blessing, and the inheritanceof sons. He shall see a great increase of them; the word is plural, He shallsee his seeds, multitudes of them, so many that they cannot be numbered.
(3.) That he shall himself continue to take care of the affairsof this numerous family: He shall prolong his days. Many, when they seetheir seed, their seed's seed, wish to depart in peace; but Christ will notcommit the care of his family to any other, no, he shall himself live long, and ofthe increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, for he everlives. Some refer it to believers: He shall see a seed that shall prolong itsdays, agreeing with Ps. 89:29, 36, His seed shall endure for ever.While the world stands Christ will have a church in it, which he himself will bethe life of.
(4.) That his great undertaking shall be successful and shallanswer 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 shallfail. Note, [1.] The work of man's redemption is in the hands of the LordJesus, and it is in good hands. It is well for us that it is in his, for our ownhands are not sufficient for us, but he is able to save to the uttermost. It isin 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; andtherefore God loved him, and was well pleased in him, because heundertook 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 shallprosper, ch. 46:10. Cyrus, a type of Christ, shall perform all God's pleasure(ch. 44:28), and therefore, no doubt, Christ shall. Christ was so perfectly wellqualified for his undertaking, and prosecuted it with so much vigour, and it wasfrom first to last so well devised, that it could not fail to prosper, to thehonour 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 sous, and shall be satisfied. Heshall see it beforehand (so it may be understood); he shall with the prospect ofhis sufferings have a prospect of the fruit, and he shall be satisfied with thebargain. He shall see it when it is accomplished in the conversion and salvationof poor sinners. Note, [1.] Our Lord Jesus was in travail of soul for ourredemption and salvation, in great pain, but with longing desire to bedelivered, and all the pains and throes he underwent were in order to it andhastened it on. [2.] Christ does and will see the blessed fruit of the travailof his soul in the founding and building up of his church and the eternalsalvation of all that were given him. He will not come short of his end in anypart 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 reckonall his pains well bestowed, and himself abundantly recompensed, if the manysons be by him brought through grace to glory. Let him have this, and he hasenough. God will be glorified, penitent believers will be justified, and thenChrist will be satisfied. Thus, in conformity to Christ, it should be asatisfaction to us if we can do any thing to serve the interests of God'skingdom 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 everlastingrighteousness; for so it was foretold concerning him, Dan. 9:24. And here, tothe same purport, By his knowledge (the knowledge of him, and faith inhim) shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear the sinsof many, and so lay a foundation for our justification from sin. Note, (1.) Thegreat privilege that flows to us from the death of Christ is justification fromsin, our being acquitted from that guilt which alone can ruin us, and acceptedinto God's favour, which alone can make us happy. (2.) Christ, who purchasedour justification for us, applies it to us, by his intercession made for us, hisgospel preached to us, and his Spirit witnessing in us. The Son of man had powereven 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 aransom for, as many as the Lord our God shall call. He shall justify not hereand there one that is eminent and remarkable, but those of the many, thedespised multitude. (4.) It is by faith that we are justified, by our consent toChrist and the covenant of grace; in this way we are saved, because thus God ismost glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our happinessmost effectually secured. (5.) Faith is the knowledge of Christ, and withoutknowledge there can be no true faith. Christ's way of gaining the will andaffections is by enlightening the understanding and bringing that unfeignedly toassent 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 asa surety for us. [1.] As one that is employed for God to pursue his designs andsecure 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 ishimself righteous, and of his righteousness have all we received. He that ishimself righteous (for he could not have made atonement for our sin if he hadhad any sin of his own to answer for) is made of God to us righteousness, theLord our righteousness. [2.] As one that has undertaken for us. We must knowhim, and believe in him, as one that bore our iniquitiessaved us from sinkingunder the load by taking it upon himself.
3. He shall have the glory of obtaining an incontestable victoryand universal dominion, v. 12. Because he has done all these good services, thereforewill I divide him a portion with the great, and, according to the will ofthe Father, he shall divide the spoil with the strong, as a greatgeneral, when he has driven the enemy out of the field, takes the plunder of itfor himself and his army, which is both an unquestionable evidence of thevictory 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 withgreat glory: "I will set him among the great, highly exalt him, and givehim a name above every name." Great riches are also assigned to him: Heshall divide the spoil, shall have abundance of graces and comforts tobestow upon all his faithful soldiers. (2.) Christ comes at his glory byconquest. He has set upon the strong man armed, dispossessed him, and dividedthe spoil. He has vanquished principalities and powers, sin and Satan, death andhell, the world and the flesh; these are the strong that he has disarmed andtaken the spoil of. (3.) Much of the glory with which Christ is recompensed, andthe 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: Iwill give many to him, and he shall obtain many for a spoil. God will givehim the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for hispossession, Ps. 2:8. His dominion shall be from sea to sea. Manyshall be wrought upon by the grace of God to give up themselves to him to beruled, and taught, and saved by him, and hereby he shall reckon himselfhonoured, and enriched, and abundantly recompensed for all he did and all hesuffered. (4.) What God designed for the Redeemer he shall certainly gain thepossession of: "I will divide it to him," and immediately it follows, Heshall 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 therecompence 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), hedistributes, among his followers; for, when he led captivity captive, hereceived gifts for men, that he might give gifts to men; for as he has told us(Acts 20:35) he did himself reckon it more blessed and honourable to give thanto receive. Christ conquered for us, and through him we are more thanconquerors. He has divided the spoils, the fruits of his conquest, to all thatare his: let us therefore cast in our lot among them.
