Christ Glorified
(No. 3436)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 4, 1869.
"He has glorified You." Isaiah 55:5.
GOD has glorified His Son. How deeply we ought to regret that we
glorify Christ so little, bought with His precious blood, owing all we
have to Him. We make but a very poor return and even when we are helped
by the Spirit of God to glorify Christ, yet I am sure we should always
feel an insatiable desire to do it yet more. To glorify Christ is so
sweet a thing that when a man has once tasted of it, he pants and pants
within his spirit for a greater capacity to glorify Christ– and this
is one of his griefs, that he cannot praise his Savior as he
would–hence it is that oftentimes the Prophet and the Psalmist, when
they were most full of praise, would bid the earth, the sea, the
heavens, and the Heaven of heavens, help to praise the King in whom
they saw such ravishing beauties and delights! Hence it is that godly
men, whenever they are stirred up and feel that they could magnify and
bless the Lord, always want their fellow creatures to join them–and
their sorrow is that Jesus does not reign in every heart and that He
has not a throne in every soul!
Now it must be a great comfort to lovers of Christ, who mourn that He
is not honored as He should be, that God has taken care of His Son's
honor. "He has glorified You," and you know when God glorifies, He does
the work perfectly! He does it after His own Spirit and that an
Infinite One, so that the Glory of Christ, after all, is safe. And
though He is blasphemed by rebels, dishonored by apostates and grieved
by ourselves, yet God, after all, shall not suffer Christ's fame to be
tarnished for a single moment by all this, for He has said, "He has
glorified You." I don't know that I can preach from the text, but I do
know what I can do. I can feel thrice happy at the thoughts which it
raises in my mind! It is so delightful to think that the crown is safe
upon His head, though the nations rebel and the kings take counsel
against Him, that his shield is forever glorified and untarnished, let
men do what they may! Him has God the Father exalted and given Him a
name which is above every name, which is first and chief and shall
never be second, but shall forever reign and must reign till He has put
all His enemies under His feet.
Now glancing across the subject, as some skiff flies over the sea, we
will talk about what God has done by way of glorifying His Son, Jesus–
I. GOD HAS GLORIFIED HIM IN THE ENTIRE ECONOMY OF SALVATION.
From first to last, Christ glorifies His Father, and the Father
glorifies Him. Begin with that which has no beginning, namely,
everlasting love, and we find that we are chosen in Christ Jesus from
before the foundation of the world. The love of God which comes to us
through Jesus Christ always is the channel–and it is connected with
Jesus Christ before the heavens were stretched abroad! He was glorified
in our election! Now with Christ Jesus in the mind of the Eternal
Father, there is no election to eternal love except through Jesus
Christ! And if you and I are chosen, it is–
"Because Christ is My first elect, He said, He chose our souls in
Christ our Head." We dare not look into that council chamber unless we
knew that Christ was there. We dare not think of the Infinite Wisdom of
God in the arrangement of all things from the beginning, if we did not
remember that Christ was the center of these arrangements and that as
many as have believed on Him were represented in Him in those days
before the daystar knew its place, or planets ran their round. God has
been pleased to glorify Christ afterwards in all the promises which,
one by one, revealed the glorious Grace of God, from that first promise
at the gates of Eden concerning the Seed of the woman, right on until
He appeared–the hand that drew back the black curtain that hid the
face of God was always thehand of the Crucified–and whenever men come
to see anything of the marvelous love and goodness of God, they always
behold it in connection with the Messiah, the Anointed One yet to come.
God has glorified His Son in the matter of redemption. There is no
redemption out of Christ, and there is none to help Christ in the
matter of redemption. Albeit that Calvary seems to have a black cloud
of shame hanging over it, yet is there no spot on earth or Heaven more
glorious, for there it was that God permitted His Son to bear, without
assistance, the Divine Wrath which was due to our sins, allowed Him to
tread the winepress alone and would not permit that of the people there
should be one with Him, lest the glory should in any way be divided.
Christ, and Christ, alone, must pay the price of our souls with His own
soul!
So onward, if you come to the matter of our justification or our
acceptance which sprang out of redemption, God glorified His Son. We
are, if pardoned, only forgiven through His blood! If justified,
entirely by virtue of His righteousness! If accepted, it is always in
the Beloved! If perfected, we are completed in Him, perfect in Christ
Jesus! There is not a single Covenant blessing–as I begin at the
beginning so may I continue to the close–there is not a single
blessing in the economy of Christ which comes to us apart from Christ!
And as we receive these gifts, one by one, the Holy Spirit takes care
to make us know this–He empties us of self that we may see the
fullness of Christ. He kills our pride that we may see the excellence
of Christ. He takes away our strength that we may behold the power of
Christ. In the operations of the Holy Spirit within our soul, while
they aim at destroying sin and at many other blessed results, yet they
have for their first and chief purpose, the making Christ glorified in
the heart of all His people, in every gift that comes from the hand of
the Most High! Brothers and Sisters, our preservation, our final
perseverance and every other blessing which is secured to us, and about
which we have no doubt–all this comes to us in Him! We are preserved
in Christ Jesus. Because He lives, we live, also, and only because He
lives and by virtue of our union with Him–we who are the branches
continue to bring forth fruit–but if we were separated from Him, we
should be only fit to be cast into the fire to be burned! Right away
from the gates of Hell, up to the pearly gates of Heaven, it is Christ
Jesus who is glorified! In every step the Believer takes, right out of
the slough of despondency, up to the Beulah hilltop of full assurance
and still onward beyond the clouds, and beyond the stars in the palace
of eternal glory, it will be Christ, and Christ Jesus, alone, who shall
have all the praise! God has taken care in the planning of the whole
economy of Christ, that Jesus Christ should have the pre-eminence.
There is much to talk of here, but think of it–that will be better
than my speaking. Turn it over as Abraham Booth wrote a book showing
the Grace of God in all the ways of salvation, so somebody else might
write a book showing the glory of Christ in every single part of the
way. And if we cannot write such a book, yet at least we must feel
precious emotions as we contemplate the whole. In the next place, God
has glorified His Son–
II. IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH.
The Church is to Christ what Eve was to Adam. She was taken out of
Christ–she is bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. As the Apostle
says, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
shall cleave unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." This is a
great mystery, but I speak concerning what? Concerning matrimony? Yes,
in one sense, but not in another sense. Concerning Christ and His
Church, for your cause did Christ leave His Father and He came into
your world that He might be one flesh with His Church–she owes all to
Him–her very existence is owing to Christ. As Eve springs from Adam,
the Church springs out of the loins of Jesus Chris!.
Now, Beloved, it is meet that seeing this is the case, Christ should
have no secondplace in His Church, and certainly no such place has been
allotted to Him by the eternal Father. As I can now but speak of the
Church of God, at large, I think I am guided for a moment by an evil
spirit standing at my left hand, who points with black fingers over to
the city of the Seven Hills, and he says to me, "There is one great
supreme ruler, the Vicar of God on earth–behold his splendors! See how
they bear him through the streets of Rome upon the shoulders of men,
with canopies of silk, smothered with jewels and with peacock and
ostrich feathers! Mark how they swing their censers and how the
multitudes fall down before him, for him has God exalted, for him has
God glorified." Ah, but this is a vain and idle boast, for we read not
in any page of this Book of any such exaltation to any being! And where
will be found the being that shall dare to take it, unless he shall
first become the victim of Satan? Satan said to Christ, "All this will
I give You if You will fall down and worship me." And he that has it,
must have first fallen down and worshipped Satan, or he has no such
power among the sons of men!
Now, Beloved, Christ did not redeem His Church with His blood that the
Pope might come in and steal away the glory! He never came from Heaven
to earth and poured out His very heart that He might purchase His
people so that a poor sinner, a mere man, should be set upon high to be
admired by all the nations and to call himself God's representative on
earth! Christ has always been the Head of His Church. Why, we have read
in history that kings at different times have wished to play the Head
of the Church, and that we owe our Protestantism, as we call it over
here–that we owe much of that to the desire of a certain crowned head
to become a little Pope over certain dominions! This is very true, but
not Henry the Eighth, nor his successor, nor any of those who now live,
are more the Head of the Church than he is God, Himself! It is not
possible for any to be Head in the Church of Christ, but Jesus! Has God
exalted Him and made Him to be the Head over all things–and it is
usurping the prerogative of Christ for any to suppose they can be Head
of the Church of Christ, for Jesus Christ is the Head and He, alone,
holds power over ecclesiastical organizations! Over the sacred
mystical, blood-bought, redeemed, regenerated Church of Christ there
never can, by any possibility, be any other Head but Jesus Christ, the
Lord Himself! Now mark, God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ in the
government of His Church All authority, all authoritative rules in Zion
come through Jesus Christ. All true teaching in Zion comes from His
lips. We call no man, master, upon earth, for One is our Master, and
that One is Christ. No man is Rabbi in the Church, but He is our
Rabboni, our Teacher, and all other teachers are thieves and robbers if
they teach on their own authority. They only are accepted as the Lord's
shepherds, who speak Christ's Truth in Christ's name–and in the power
of His own Spirit. God has made Christ to rule supremely throughout the
Church, and in this He has glorified Him!
He has made Him the Head of the Church in another respect–He is the
head of all light in the Church. There is no true light in the
Christian Church, not a single spark of it, but what comes from Christ.
All life comes to us from Him. There may be energy in the Church of a
carnal and fleshly sort–she may have force and power which she derives
from men–but this will die and perish, like the grass and the flower
of the fields. Vital godliness always proceeds from Jesus Christ, as
the branch's life comes from the vine. "Without Me, you can do nothing,
but because I live, you shall live, also." He is the life of men! He
quickens whom He will and it is not possible that there should exist
even a grain of spiritual life in any human heart, but that which comes
to that heart through Jesus Christ! He is also the Head over all things
in the Church–all spiritual things. The Spirit of God resides in
Christ without measure–and He sends forth the Spirit– He gives a
Comforter to us. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness
dwell," and the continuance of the Church, and the growth of the
Church, and the edification of the Church–all sorts of beneficial
influences which come to the Church–proceed to us through Jesus
Christ, the Church's covenanted Head!
Now I wish that we should form parts of the true Church of Christ to
whatever denominations we may belong. Let us cling closer and closer to
our blessed Master, for the secret of union in the Church is union with
Christ. It is utterly hopeless, Brothers and Sisters, for us to expect,
as the world now is, and as men now are, that we shall ever, all of us,
agree in our opinions about all things. God never made us such
creatures that we could agree in all things. He has so constituted us,
and wisely so, that we, some of us, catch one angle of the Truth of
God, and others another. To me one Doctrine, perhaps, will always stand
out much more clearly than certain others. I wish it were not so. I
should like to have a mind comprehensive enough to grasp all Truth–to
attain the completed picture of the Truth of God without ever
caricaturing a single feature. But I am deeply conscious I am far from
being able to do that! And I think, without being censorious, I may say
I do not know any of my fellow creatures who do! But there is in them a
warp somewhere or other in the judgment of good men. Some mistake of
some man which is not an offensive mistake at all. This is rather an
infirmity than a sin, for he follows what he thinks is the Truth of
God. His eyes are not right. He has got a little squint and he thinks
Truth is a thing that it is not. He shoots well, mark you, if the mark
were where he thinks it is, but it is not just there and, therefore,
his arrow does not quite hit the center of the target. The true place
of union will be, mark you, never in the Creed but in Him who is the
Truth! If we believe in Him, love Him, cling to Him, follow Him,
imitate Him, glorify Him, we shall get nearer each other than ever we
were, closer to the common center! We must be closer to one another. "I
would preach up nothing but Christ and preach nothing down but sin,"
said a good old Divine, and the good man was right! Some old lady who
heard of certain high Calvinistic preachers coming to a certain place
did not know who they were, or what they were, but she said she thought
she liked them because of their names. She misunderstood the words–she
thought they were high Calvarypreachers–and anybody who preached high
Calvary would suit her if they lifted up the Cross of Jesus, preached
up the Master and glorified His name! If in doubt, this should be the
test of the Doctrine–does it glorify Christ? This should be the test
of all our opinions–do they glorify Christ? For nothing is fit to be
within the walls of Zion but that which bows down before Zion's King!
To change the tone, again, ringing the same peal of bells, in the third
place– III. GOD HAS HIGHLY EXALTED HIS DEAR SON IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
THE CROSS.
Oh, for a poet's mind and seraph's tongue to speak of the wonders of
the Cross where Christ, the Savior, hung and died! He died in
shame–this never dimmed His Glory–it reveals it to the admiring eyes
of all the aged saints who delight to look thereon. What did Jesus, by
His dying a painful death, do for us? Why, first, as you all know, He
put away all His people's sins. There are some that think that Christ
died to make all men salvable. They may keep their doctrine–it has no
charms for me! That Christ died, some think, for all men, and it is a
death for every man, I know the Word of God declares, but there is a
Redemption, there is a Redemption far other than that which is
universal. He laid down His life for His sheep. He loved His Church and
gave Himself for it–and there is a people spoken of who are redeemed
from among men in quite another sense in which any redemption was ever
made for all men. Now, Beloved, as many as Christ stood for as a
Substitute, for so many did He take their sins. And although it is
written, "The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all," for, "He
was made sin for us," says the Apostle, and the sin of His people was
actually laid upon Him–imputed to Him, though it was not His–yet He
took it for His people and here is the Glory, that all that mass of sin
no longer exists! It is gone! He has vanquished the tyrant and "made an
end of sin." What a wonderful word–made an end of it, and brought in
everlasting righteousness! He has cast our iniquities into the depths
of the sea. The blood of Christ exterminated our sins when He stood in
the place of His people! He suffered an equivalent for all that was due
by them and from them to God, and the debts have ceased to be, for they
are all paid and disposed of, no charge being brought against Christ's
elect, for, says the Apostle, "It is Christ that died; yes, rather that
has risen again." In the morning when the Father raised His Son from
the dead, and Jesus stood once more upon earth, no more to die–in that
day the sentence went forth–"None shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect." Oh, what a blessed work was this to do, to take sin away
where it never can be found again! To make it to cease to be! To cover
it over forever! To blot it out! But this was not all–our Lord, by His
death, destroyed death and he that has the power over it–the devil!
But let us think–He disposed of death first of all. He slept in the
tomb. When the morning came, the prison door was opened and He rose,
the First-Born from the dead, the First Fruits of them that sleep and
the harvest sheaf of all who shall come henceforth from the sepulcher!
And so now the tomb is no more a prison, a place of ruin! The big
imprisoning stone is rolled away. "He that lives and believes in Christ
shall never die, and he that believes in Him, though he were dead, yet
shall he live." Over yonder cemetery with its holy memories and long
lamented departed, I hear a voice ringing, "Blessed are the dead that
die in the Lord; yes, says the Spirit, for they rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them." And in another case, Beloved, "I am
the resurrection and the life; death is dead." Jesus Christ has
accomplished this and the Father has glorified Him!
And now He has also vanquished, once and for all, for His people, all
the hosts of Hell. Satan is a cruel enemy to the Lord's people. He
molests them, he worries whom he cannot devour. But here is our
consolation, that he has an invincible enemy. Christ gave Satan every
advantage. He met him, as an old Divine says, "on his own dunghill." He
bearded the lion in his den–no, He bearded him on his own hill. "This
is your own hour," He said–Satan's own hour, and the hour of
darkness–but Jesus triumphed, triumphed when the whole artillery of
Hell was discharged against Him–when all the floods out of the mouth
of the dragon were vented forth upon Him! He vanquished all the hosts,
and bears the banner of a glorious triumph this day, "having led
captivity captive, and ascended up on high."
To tell of all the wonders of the Cross of Calvary would take far
longer than the time we can allot to it now, but we may sum it all up
in the words of the text, "He has glorified You." The Father has put
many crowns upon the head of Him that wore the crown of thorns!
I wish to ask a minute's attention to the next, namely, that the Father
has glorified Christ in His present power.The Father sustains Him in
the highest heavens among the saints. It is no small glory that Christ
should sit at the right hand of the Father, as He does. He was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but now is
crowned with Glory, honor and the loftiest created beings delight to do
His commands! He reigns in Heaven with scepter undisputed. He says to
this one, "Go, and he goes! To another, come, and he comes!" His
intercession in Heaven is part of the Glory He has received. As He
pleads there like a high priest, He pleads with authority, with a power
that is always felt. The blood of Jesus Christ speaks to the heart of
God, and no desire of Christ's is ungranted when heard. A case put into
Christ's hands always speeds–if we ask the Father in Christ's name, He
will do it for us. I am sure very few of us know this, that if we ask
in Christ's name, we ask for Christ's sake, and that is right and good,
and that is as far as we get. But do you know the difference? If you go
to a man and say, "Give me such-and-such for the sake of such a friend,
he deserves it of you," that is a good plea. But suppose that friend
arms you with this power, and he says, "Now you may go and askfor it in
my name–say I sent you–use my name," why, that is more powerful by
far! And when each Christian becomes clothed, as it were, with that
power from Christ, so that he asks God in Christ's name as though
Christ asked, what power is there! And it is part of the Glory of
Christ that His intercession should thus be so powerful for His people
this day.
And, Brothers and Sisters, think how the Father has exalted Christ in
that at this time He is receiving every hour some of the purchase of
His blood. I have sometimes tried to picture in my eyes the delight of
Christ, the gleaming of His eyes of love, as His blood-bought ones come
Home one by one. You know it is His prayer, "Father, I will that they,
also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am." Here they come,
one after another! Some from this Church–one yesterday–usually two or
three a week they go up into the bosom of Christ! You know how the
farmer rejoices as he sees the loaded wagons coming, one by one, to the
barn–but he has sowed, not with blood, though he may have sowed with
tears. You know how you and I rejoice as we think we have been the
means of the conversion of someone–but what is the joy of Christ as He
sees the perfection of His goodness? Christ is exalted, fresh crowns
are laid at His feet–the Eternal Spirit, as He brings and conducts the
chosen spirit up to Christ, glorifies Him! And here, below, Brothers
and Sisters, let us add, as we leave this point, Jesus Christ is
glorified in the power which He possesses in the conversion of souls.
Wherever His name is preached, it becomes like ointment poured forth. I
have no belief in the preaching of Christ unsuccessfully. I think a
dear Brother may preach the Gospel for years and see no conversions
and, perhaps, there may be none just then, but they will come! I won't
say this to myself to comfort myself. I would be afraid I was on the
wrong tack if I did not see them, and I would say to those who preach
the Master's Word faithfully, "It shall not return unto Him void."
Christ is greatly glorified when His Gospel becomes a heart-breaker,
like a hammer when it dashes the rock in pieces and becomes like a
fire. Christ is glorified when a harlot gives up her evil trade, when
the thief casts down the tools of his infamy, when the drunk lifts his
last dram to his lips, when the blasphemer washes out his mouth and
resolves to drink no more of the wine of cursing! God grant us that we
may always pray that God will glorify Christ in marvelous and manifest
conversions of extraordinary sinners being snatched from between the
teeth of the old lion and made to dedicate the rest of their days to
King Jesus! Now to close–
IV. GOD HAS GLORIFIED CHRIST IN HIS KINGDOM.
We have already said that Christ is glorified in His spiritual Kingdom
in the midst of Zion. One is tempted to enlarge on that. The King is
always glorious when he rules his people by good laws, when he has a
happy and prosperous people. And our Lord Jesus Christ rules us with
the best of laws, and happy are the citizens of the new Jerusalem–
"The King is glorious, When in war He is victorious." And when He is
beloved of His subjects, He certainly is victorious in war. The spoils
belong to Him. All the virgins love Him and the saintly sons consecrate
their purest affections to Him. Jesus Christ is exalted in His Church,
then, as a King upon His Throne–and there God gives Him Glory for the
present among the nations. Christ's Glory is not revealed as we desire
it, though He rules by moral influence and the government is upon His
shoulders. Perhaps if our eyes were opened, we would see in the
progress of civilization and the various changes which have taken place
in this world, much more of the influences of Christianity and
certainly more of the power of Christ than we have been able to
perceive at all times. Perhaps God is now writing and has been, during
this last 6,000 years, a wonderful drama at the clearing up of which it
will be seen from the first stroke of His pen to the last, God has
glorified Christ! It may be so that the shaking of the nations, the
revolutions and even the bloody wars shall all be compassed, and the
one great whole of which it might be said at the commencement, as
Virgil does in song–
"Arms and the man I sing."
It may be that He has written a great epic concerning the warfare of
the righteous against evil, and the conquest of the mighty men. He has
yet to restore this world and make it brighter than it was before and,
Beloved, that God will exalt Christ in the latter days, let us never
doubt that for a moment! And though men prophesy, making a profit by
their prophecies and are always muddling and unsettling weak minds by
their silly predictions, let us still hold to it that this world
belongs to Christ, who bought it with His precious blood! And He will
have it, every inch, and there is not a corner where the dark places of
cruelty shall remain, not a spot where an idol shall hold its throne,
not a hill or valley where superstition shall be permitted to linger!
We have but to wait. Maybe we shall be gathered to our Father to wait
in seren-er places than this, for it is ordained and none shall stay
its coming, when Christ shall reign upon earth with His ancient Glory,
and the whole earth, once an Augean stable, shall be cleansed by its
Hercules, who shall make the stream of Hisblood to run through it, and
make it pure, glorified and consecrated! And in that day the scepters
shall be gathered with them who remain and crowns of kings shall be
joyfully laid at His feet–and we shall understand the full meaning of
the title, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Oh, how we will salute
Him in that day when we shall rise to participate in the splendors with
those who are alive and remain! Dear Friends, those who are asleep
shall rise to participate in all the splendor of that blessed land of
King Jesus! My Father has exalted You! To You, Your Master's children
bow! The sun and the moon bow down before You! You shall reign and we
shall reign with You–our reign being to behold Your reign–our glory
being to participate in Your Glory! We shall be like You, for we shall
see You as You are! May God grant us Grace to have our share in that
blessed Advent and He shall be blessed!
But now just one more word. God will glorify Christ, mark you, as He
has done. Are we prepared to do the same, my dear Brothers and Sisters?
Let us aim to glorify Christ–and shall I tell you how you may do it,
for there are many small ways of doing it, not small in themselves, but
only small comparatively? You can glorify Christ by your holy living,
by your labors for His Kingdom, by your generosity, or, if you want to
do the greatest work to glorify Christ, you know what it is! Why, it is
to trust Him altogether with all your concerns! Nothing glorifies
Christ more than that. Now just lean your whole weight on Him and, with
a faith that does not stagger, rely on the efficacy of His blood, the
power of His arm, the love of His heart, the immutability of His
affections and the divinity of His Presence! Lean on Him! Rest on Him!
A poor dependent creature cannot glorify God any better than by
trusting Him! This is the work of God, you know–this is a Hebraism,
for the greatest work of all, this is the work of God, the God-like
work, the work! But what a mercy it is that there is such a way for
poor creatures like we are, of glorifying Christ by trusting Him–
"The best return for one like me,
So wretched and so poor,
Is from His gifts to draw a plea,
And ask Him still for more."
One other remark, and that is, if you don't glorify Jesus Christ
willingly and cheerfully by such a trust, He will be glorified even in
your condemnation! In the day of His appearing, you that have heard the
Gospel–for I speak to you, only, if you reject Him, you will have yet
to minister to His honor. "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you
perish from the way if His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are
all they that put their trust in Him." But if you trust Him not, here
is the alternative–"He shall break the nations with a rod of iron, He
shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." How stands it with
you? Will you be able to endure that iron rod? Will you be able to
endure the breaking, when first the body shall be broken, and then the
soul to shivers, like a potter's vessel? Be wise, therefore, oh you
kings and you men, sons of the earth! Be wise, bow before Him, accept
Him as your King! God will thus be glorified by the work of Christ, and
if it is not so, He will be glorified by the aid of justice, which may
the Lord forbid in the case of any one of us! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH53.
Verse 1. Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
LORD revealed?The Prophet seems to speak in the name of all the
Prophets, lamenting the general unbelief concerning Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. The report concerning Him is very clear. It comes from
God–it is for our salvation–and yet how many disbelieve it! In fact,
all do until the arm of the Lord is revealed–until He works upon the
hearts of men and they are led to believe in Jesus. And here is the
difficulty of belief.
2. For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out
of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There was nothing
about Jesus Christ to attract the attention of those who look for pomp
and splendor. His religion is all simplicity. It is the plain Truth of
God–there is nothing about it that is gorgeous to attract those who
look after ritualistic vanities. To the most of men there is no beauty
in Him that they 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.It was so with Jesus when He was here. He was
the greatest of all sufferers–there were few that followed Him–some
of those who did, betrayed Him. There were few who would stand up for
Him. He met everywhere with a repulse, and yet He came on an errand of
love. He needed not to have come at all.
Heaven surely was large enough for Him, but such was His pity for the
dying sons of men that He must strip off His royal robes and put on the
robes of our mortal flesh!
4, 5. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we
did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. He had not a pang to suffer on His own account, nothing to
cause Him grief in anything He had done–
"For sins not His own, He died to atone–
Was love or was sorrow like this ever known?" Scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet, perhaps, for a good man some would even dare to
die. But God commends His love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
6. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned, everyone, to
his own way and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all Taken
the full load of sin, the whole mass of human guilt, and placed it upon
Him! He was perfectly innocent, and yet was the sin of man heaped upon
Him. He was our Substitute, standing in our place–a wondrous Truth of
God is this!
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 opens not His mouth. And you know right well
that our Master would not speak when He was charged before Pilate and
Herod. He was eloquent–more eloquent in His silence than if He had
used His ordinary language, which was amazing, for, "never man spoke
like this Man," and yet never man was silent as He for our sake.
8-10. He was taken fromprison and from judgment: and who shall declare
His generation? For He was cut offout of the land of the living: for
the transgression of My people was He stricken. 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. 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
thepleasure ofthe Lord shall prosper in His hand. Our blessed Lord and
Master is to have a full reward for all His griefs–and an earnest of
that reward is here tonight! He will receive, this very night, some
born unto Him by the new birth, who shall henceforth be His children
and who shall gladly say, "Here, Lord, I come myself to You, for You
have bought me with Your precious blood." It is the joy of some of us
that we belong altogether to Christ. We would not have another
honor–we wish to live to Him, loving Him and serving Him as long as we
have any being! And there are some here tonight who have not felt this,
whom God, nevertheless, will make to feel it, for so runs the promise–
11. He shall see ofthe travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By
His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall
bear their iniquities. That is the way He justifies them–takes their
iniquities upon Himself–and since a thing cannot be in two places at
one time, when Christ takes our iniquities, they are gone and we are
just in the sight of God! He takes the burden, and we are unloaded,
blessed be His name! "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. The dying Christ has risen again, and
He is now a great conqueror and divides the spoil. Those spoils are
human hearts, and the true love and deep devotion of those He has
redeemed. He shall have this–
12. Because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered
with the transgressors: and He bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors. And He is doing it now–pleading
this very night that old prayer of His, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Oh, let you and I be pardoned with that plea!