The Sufferings of Christ, and

Next Part The Sufferings of Christ, and 2

The Sufferings of Christ, and Their Consequent Joys and Blessings</strong>

</strong> by Samuel Davies, July 11, 1756
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief. When you shall 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. 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!" Isaiah 53:10-11

This chapter contains a most lively and moving account of very tragic sufferings; and, if we have but a small share of humanity, we cannot hear it without being affected—even though we did not know the person concerned. Here is one so mangled and disfigured, that he has no form nor loveliness; one despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; one wounded, bruised, oppressed, afflicted; one brought as a lamb to the slaughter; one cut off out of the land of the living. And who is he?

Were he an enemy, or a malefactor—we could not but pity him. But this was not his character; "for he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." And he was so far from being our enemy, that "he has borne our griefs and carried oursorrows; he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities," not for his own. Were he a child or a friend that had suffered such things, it would raise all our mournful and sympathizing passions to hear the history. But what if this should be the man that is God's fellow, the Redeemer, to whom we are bound by the most endearing obligations! a person of infinite dignity and perfect innocence, our best friend, and only Saviour! What if it should be him? Would not this move your hearts, and raise all your tender passions?

Or shall he die in such agonies—unpitied, unlamented, unloved; when even a dying criminal excites our compassion? What do you think would be the outcome, if I should make an experiment of this today? If I should make a trial, what weight will the sufferings of Jesus have upon your hearts? Do you think the representation of his sufferings and love—would have any effect upon you?

That they may have this effect, is my design in the prosecution of this subject; for that it is Jesus who is the hero of this profound tragedy, or the subject of these sufferings, we may learn from the frequent application of passages quoted from this chapter to him in the New Testament. This chapter has been a successful part of the Scriptures, and there are some now in heaven who were brought there by it. This is the chapter the Ethiopian eunuch was reading, when he asked Philip, "Of whom is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. And he believed with all his heart and was baptised; and went on his way homeward (and heavenward) rejoicing!" Acts 8:32, 35.

This was the chapter that opened to the penitent Earl of Rochester the way of salvation through the sufferings of Christ, which alone relieved his mind from the horrors of guilt, and constrained him to hope that even such a sinner as he might find mercy. Oh! that it may have the same effect upon you, my friends, today, that with the eunuch you may return home rejoicing!

The design and method I now have in view, is only to illustrate and improve the several parts of my text, especially those that represent how pleasing and satisfactory the conversion and salvation of sinners, by the death of Christ, is to him.

1. "When you shall make his soul an offering for sin." An offering for sin is when the punishment of sin is transferred from the original offender to another; and that other person suffers in his stead. Thus the Lord Jesus was made a sin-offering for us. The punishment of our sin was transferred to him, and he bore it in his own body on the tree. He became our substitute, and took our place in law, and therefore the penalty of the law which was due to us—was executed upon him. It is in this, my brethren, that we have any hope of salvation: blood for blood, life for life, soul for soul. The blood, the life, the soul of the Son of God—for the blood, and life, and soul of the obnoxious criminal. Here, sirs, your grateful wonder may begin to rise upon our first entrance on the subject; and you will find the wonders will increase as we go along!

You see Jesus presented an offering for sin; and what was it that he offered? "Silver and gold he had none," the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of heifers, would not suffice; and these too he had not. But he had blood in his veins—and that shall be poured out; he will offer up his precious blood—to save our guilty blood. He had a soul, and that was made an offering for sin. His soul an offering for sin! his pure spotless soul! his soul that was of more value than the whole universe beside! You may find those who will give a great many things for the deliverance of a friend—but who would give his soul! his soul for his enemies! This is the peculiar commendation of the love of Jesus!

His soul here may signify his whole human nature; in which sense it is often taken in the Sacred Writings. And then the meaning is, that both his soul and body, or his whole human nature, bore the punishment due to us.

Or his soul may be here understood properly for his rational and immortal part, in opposition to his body; and then the meaning is, that he suffered in soul—as well as in body. His soul suffered by the foresight of his suffering; by the temptations of the devil; by an affecting view of the sins of men; and especially by the absence of his heavenly Father. Hence, when his body was untouched, in the garden of Gethsemane, he cries out, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death!" And elsewhere, "Now is my soul deeply troubled."

In short, as one expresses it, the sufferings of his soul—were the soul of his sufferings. The sense of bodily pain may be swallowed up in the pleasing sensations of divine love. So some have found by happy experience, who have suffered for righteousness sake. But Jesus denied himself that happiness which he has given to many of his servants. His soul was sorrowful, exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; and all this—for such sinners as us!

And shall this have no weighty effect among the creatures for whom he endured all this? Make an experiment upon your hard hearts with this thought, and try if they can resist its energy, "You shall make his soul an offering for sin." You shall make; that is, you, the great God and Father of all. This sacrifice is provided by your wisdom and grace, and appointed by your authority, who have a right to settle the terms of forgiveness; and therefore we may be sure this sacrifice is acceptable; this atonement is sufficient. This method of salvation is your contrivance and establishment, and therefore valid and firm. Here, my brethren, is a sure foundation; here, and nowhere else. Can you produce a divine warrant for depending on your own righteousness, or anything else? No! but this offering for sin is of divine appointment, and therefore you may safely venture your eternal all upon it. "Come, you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted;" come, build upon this rock—and you shall never fall.

Or the words may be rendered, "When his soul shall make an offering for sin." And in this sense it is signified that this was Christ's own voluntary act. He consented to the arduous undertaking; he consented to be our substitute, and offered himself a sacrifice for us. He was under no previous constraint; subject to no compulsion. This he tells us himself: "No man takes my life from me; but I lay it down of my own accord" John 10:18. Thus it was his own free choice; and this consideration prodigiously enhances his love. A forced favour is but a small favour. But Jesus willingly laid down his life—when he had power to keep it. He voluntarily ascended the cross—when he might have still continued on the throne. He was absolute Lord and proprietor of himself, under no obligations to any, until he assumed them by his own consent.

When martyrs have died in the cause of righteousness, they did but what was their previous duty; their lives were not theirs—but his who gave them, his to whom they devoted them; and they had no right to them when he demanded them; nor were they able to protect them against the power of their enemies. But Jesus resigned what was his own absolute property; and he resigned his life when it was in his power to have retained it. All the united forces of earth and hell could not have touched his life—had not he consented. As with one word he spoke them into being, so with a word he could have blasted all their powers, or remanded them into nothing, as he found them. Of this he gave a specimen, when by saying "I am he," (John 18:6,) I am the despised Nazarene whom you are seeking, he struck an armed company down to the earth; and he could as easily have chained them there, and never allowed them to rise more.

Here was love indeed, that he should offer himself a voluntary, self-devoted sacrifice! And if he made his soul an offering for sin when he was not obliged to it—then will not you voluntarily love and serve him, when you are obliged to it; obliged by all the ties of authority and gratitude, of duty and self-interest?

Let me bring home this overture to your hearts: will you, of your own choice, devote yourselves to his service—who consented to devote himself a victim for your sins? Are you willing to live to him—when you are bound to do it; to him who died for you—when he was not bound to do it? You have the easier task of the two: to live a life of holiness, and to die upon a cross, are very different things; and will you not do thus much for him? Methinks this abundance of love might constrain you to it; and will you not so much as honestly attempt that which you are bound to by the most strong and endearing obligations? If you reject this proposal, make no pretensions to gratitude, a regard to the most sacred and rightful authority, or any noble disposition. You are sunk into the most sordid and aggravated degree of wickedness, and every generous and pious passion is extinct within you!

Now, what shall be the consequence, what the reward of all these sufferings of Christ? Shall he endure all this in vain? Shall he receive no compensation? Yes; for,

2. My text tells you that "he shall prolong his days". The self-devoted victim shall have a glorious resurrection. His days were cut off in the midst; but he rose again, and shall enjoy an endless length of happy and glorious days! That he was once dead, he was not ashamed to own, when he appeared in majesty to John. "Fear not," says he, "I am the first and the last; I am he who lives, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore!" Revelation 1:17, 18. The man that hung on Calvary, and lay dead in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea— where is he now? Oh! he has burst the bonds of death, triumphed over the grave, and enjoys an immortal life. And this immortal life he spends in a station of the most exalted dignity and perfect happiness forever.

See Jesus, "who was made a little lower than the angels for the sufferings of death, crowned with glory and honour!" Hebrews 2:9. Because "he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!" Philippians 2:8-11

It was for this end that "Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living!" Romans 14:9. By his death he acquired universal government, and has the keys of the vast invisible world, and of death which leads into it; Revelation 1:18. This was a great part of that joy which was set before him, for the sake of which he endured the cross, despising the shame! Hebrews 12:2.

And is the poor, despised, insulted, crucified Jesus—thus exalted? Then I proclaim, like the herald before Joseph, when advanced to be prime minister to Pharaoh, "Bow the knee! submit to him, you sons of men. He has bought you with his blood, and has a right to your subjection; therefore yield yourselves to him. This day become his willing subjects, and swear allegiance to him at his table. To him let every knee in this assembly bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!"

And do you now feel your hearts begin to yield? Are your souls in the posture of humble homage? Are you ready to say, "Lord Jesus, reign over this soul of mine! See, I resign it as the willing captive of your cross!"

Or will you stand it out against him? Shall your hearts and practices, as it were, send a message after him, now when he is advanced to his heavenly throne, "We will not have this man to reign over us!" Then I proclaim you rebels— wilful, inexcusable rebels against the supreme, the most rightful, and the most gracious government of Christ! And if you continue such—you must perish forever by the sword of his justice, without a possibility of escaping! You cannot rebel against the crucified Jesus with impunity, for he is not now dying on the cross, or lying senseless in the grave. He lives! he lives to avenge the affront! He lives forever, to punish you forever! He shall prolong his days—to prolong your torment! Therefore, you have no alternative—but to submit to him—or perish!

I may also propose the immortality and exaltation of Christ to you, as an encouragement to desponding souls. So the apostle uses it, "He is able to save to the uttermost, all who come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives." Hebrews 7:25. In trusting your souls to him—you do not commit them to a dead Saviour. It is true, he was once dead, over 1700 years ago; but now he is alive; and behold he lives for evermore. He lives to communicate his Spirit for your sanctification; he lives to look after you in your pilgrimage through this wilderness; he lives to send down supplies to you according to your needs; he lives to make perpetual intercession for you (which is the thing the apostle had in view), to plead your cause, to urge your claims founded on his blood, and to solicit blessings for you! He lives forever—to make you happy forever. And will you not venture to trust your souls in his hand? You may safely do it without fear. He has power and authority to protect you, being the Supreme Being, Lord of all, and having all things subjected to him; and consequently, nothing can hurt you—if he undertakes to be your guard. You trembling weaklings, would it not be better for you to fly to him for refuge—than to stand on your own footing, afraid of falling every hour? He can, he will support you, if you lean upon him!

And does not he appear to you as an object of love—in his exalted state? He is all-glorious, and deserves your love; and he is all benevolence and mercy, and therefore self-interest, one would think, would induce you to love him; for to what end is he exalted? Isaiah will tell you, "He is exalted—that he may have mercy upon you." Isaiah 30:18. He has placed himself upon his throne, as upon an eminence, may I so speak, that he may more advantageously scatter blessings among the needy crowd beneath him, that look up to him with eager wishful eyes, like the lame beggar on Peter and John, expecting to receive something from them. And shall not such grace and bounty, in one so highly advanced above you, excite your love? Certainly it must, unless that the principle of gratitude be lost in your hearts!

Finally, may I not propose the exaltation and immortality of the Lord Jesus, as an object of rejoicing to you who are his friends? Friends naturally rejoice in the honours conferred upon one another, and mutually congratulate each other's success. And will not you who love Jesus—rejoice with him, that he is not now where he once was; not hanging on a painful and ignominious cross—but seated on a glorious throne! Not insulted by the rabble—but adored by all the heavenly multitudes! Not pierced with a crown of thorns—but adorned with a crown of unfading glory! Not oppressed under loads of sufferings—but exulting in the fullness of everlasting joys! Must you not rejoice that his sufferings for you had so happy an outcome with regard to himself? Oh! can you be sunk in sorrow—while your Head is exalted to so much glory and happiness, and that as a reward for the shame and pain he endured for you? Methinks a generous sympathy should affect all his members; and if you have no reason to rejoice on your own account—yet rejoice for your Head; share in the joys of your Lord!

Thus you see that Jesus Christ has obtained the richest reward in his own person. But is this all? Shall his sufferings have no happy consequences with regard to others; in which he may rejoice as well as for himself? Yes, for,

3. My text tells you, that "he shall see his seed. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." What an emphatic variety of expressions are here to signify the pleasure which Christ takes in observing the happy fruits of his death, in the salvation of many of the ruined sons of men!

"He shall see his seed." By his seed are meant—those saved by his grace, his followers, the sincere professors of his religion. Thedisciples or followers of a noted person, for example, a prophet or philosopher, are seldom denominated his seed or children. These words are parallel to those spoken by himself, in the near prospect of his sufferings; "Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies—it abides alone: but if it dies—it brings forth much fruit." John 12:24. So unless Jesus had fallen to the ground and died—he would have abode alone; he would have possessed his native heaven in solitude, as to any of the sons of Adam. But now by his dying, and lying entombed in the ground, he has produced a large increase.

One dying Christ—has produced thousands, millions of Christians! His blood was prolific; it was indeed "the seed of the church!" And, blessed be God, its prolific virtue is not yet failed. His spiritual seed have been growing up from age to age, and oh the delightful thought! they have sprung up in this barren soil, though, alas! they too often appear thin and withering. These tender plants of righteousness have sprung up in some of your families; and I trust, a goodly number of them are here in the courts of the Lord today. If you search after the root—you will find it rises from the blood of Jesus; and it is his blood that gives it nourishment!

Jesus came into our world, and shed the blood of his heart on the ground, that it might produce a crop of souls for the harvest of eternal glory! And without this, we could no more expect it—than wheat without seed or moisture. A part of this seed is already ripened and gathered into the granary of heaven, like a shock of ripened corn. Another part is still in this unfriendly climate suffering the extremities of winter, covered with snow, nipped with frost, languishing in drought, and trodden under foot! Such are you, the plants of righteousness, who now hear me. But you are ripening apace, and your harvest is just at hand!

Therefore, bear up under the severities of winter; for that coldness of heart, that drought for lack of divine influences, those storms of temptations, and those oppressions which now tread you down—will shortly be over!

Oh! when shall we see this heavenly seed spring up in this place, in a more extensive and promising degree! When you travel through the country, in this temperate season, with which God has blessed our country which was parched and languishing last year—how agreeable is the survey of wide, extensive fields, promising plenteous crops of various kinds! And oh! shall we not have a fruitful season of spiritual seed among us! May I accommodate the words of Jesus to this assembly, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest!" John 4:35. Oh! Has the happy season come, when we shall see a large crop of converts in this place? Then welcome, you long-expected season! But alas! is not this a flattering hope? Is it not, on the other hand, a barren season with us? Is not the harvest past and the summer over—while so many are not saved? Oh! the melancholy thought! If it has been so with us for some time, oh let us endeavour to make this a fruitful day!

We may perhaps more naturally understand this metaphor as taken, not from the seed of vegetables—but that of man; and so it signifies a posterity, which is often called seed. This only gives us another view of the same case. Spiritual children are rising up to Christ from age to age, from country to country; and blessed be his name, the succession is not yet at an end—but will run on as long as the sun endures! Spiritual children are daily begotten by his Word in one part of the world or other; and even of this place it may be said, "that this and that man was born here." And are there none among you now, who feel the pangs of the new birth, and are about to be added to the number of his children? Oh that many may be born to him this day! Oh that this day we may feel the prolific virtue of that blood which was shed over 1700 years ago!

"He shall see his seed." It is a comfort to a dying man to see a numerous offspring to keep up his name, and inherit his estate. This comfort Jesus had in all the calamities of his life, and in all the agonies of death; and this animated him to endure all with patience. He saw some of his spiritual children weeping around him while hanging on the cross. He looked forward to the end of time, and saw a numerous offspring rising up from age to age to call him blessed, to bear up his name in the world, and to share in his heavenly inheritance. And oh! may we not indulge the pleasing hope, that from his cross he cast a look towards this assembly in Hanover!

In his last agonies he was revived with this reflection: "I shall not die in vain! I see my seed dispersed over the world, and reaching the wilds of America! I foresee that a number of them, towards the end of the world, will meet in Hanover, gratefully to commemorate the sufferings I am now enduring, and devote themselves to me forever."

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