The Greatest Gift in Time or Eternity
(No. 2534)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
20, 1884.
"Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people, a Leader and
Commander to the people. Behold, You shall call a nation that You know
not, and nations that knew not You shall run unto You because ofthe
LORD Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified
You. Seek you the LORRD while He may be found, call upon Him while He
is near." Isaiah 55:4-6.
We are met together with two objectives. First, there is the preacher's
objective, that is, to set forth and to proclaim the blessings of the
Covenant of Grace. It is my duty and it is my delight to stand here and
cry, "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that
has no money, come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." Then, there is the objective of the
hearers–oh, that everyone here were heartily in pursuit of it! No,
what is even better, I would that everyone here might attain this
objective, for it is that you may feed upon the blessed Covenant
provisions mentioned in our text. If there is water, my Brothers and
Sisters, let us drink it! If there is wine and milk, let us be
satisfied with it. Let us pray that every soul in this place may even
now delight itself in fatness!
You who have already partaken of the provisions of the Covenant,
receive them again! Come once more to the table which the Lord's Grace
has so richly spread. You have a daily hunger–let that hunger be again
appeased. Your appetite grows if you are in good spiritual
health–come, then, and let the appetite be again satisfied! If you do,
it will grow again, and again you will want still more of the same
heavenly food, for you will still hunger–blessedly hunger–after the
royal dainties which the Lord has so bountifully provided for you! And
oh, that some here, who have never feasted on the luxuries of true
godliness, might get a taste of them while I am talking about them! It
is my design to speak very plainly–not to try to say anything of my
own, but just to set forth the Master's words, explaining them and
making them as clear as I can, that all who run may read, and yet
speaking of them so earnestly that those who read may straightway run!
Why do we come to our places of worship? What is the objective of our
Sunday gatherings? Surely not merely to hear a man talk and then to go
away and ourselves talk about that talk! But this is a place of
heavenly business where something real is to be done! Where men are to
be lifted into a higher life and where those who as yet have not been
quickened may come and receive that life! I pray that some may receive
it this very hour! Time is flying. Death is near. Eternity is close at
hand. It is time that we should be in earnest about these things if we
have trifled up to now! It is time that we should come to a right and
wise decision and partake of what God has so graciously provided!
Without any further preface, I bid you notice that the three verses of
my text speak of a Divine gift, a Divine promise and a Divine
exhortation. These will be the three divisions of my subject.
I. First, here is A DIVINE GIFT–"Behold, I have given Him for a
Witness to the people, a Leader and Commander to the people." We are
not now talking about payments or about what people deserve–the Gospel
and all that it brings must be regarded as a gift Men rightly say that
there is nothing freer than a gift and, truly, there is nothing freer
than the free gift of God! What is that Divine gift of which our text
speaks?
Well, first, the Father has given His Son. The words I have just spoken
are very simple, but there is an infinite meaning in them. So great is
sin, so tremendous is evil as to be unfathomable. So great is the ruin
which sin has brought upon us that it is truly indescribable! And
equally great, yes, even greater is the Remedy for the evil! He who
made all things and who fills all things, willed not that we should
perish and, therefore, He must give a redemption price to ransom us out
of bondage. He must provide a Sacrifice to take away our guilt and, to
do this, He gave His Son. He had but one, His Well-Beloved, equal with
Himself, and One with Himself in all things. Yet He gave us His Son!
What if I say He gave us Himself? That is also true, for there is such
a mysterious Unity between the Father and the Son that, in giving the
Son, the Father gave us Himself! Oh, listen, then, you who are lost in
sin, and seem to be helpless! Must there not be hope for you when such
a gift as this is given? Not simply, mark you, a gift of Grace, or a
gift of love, or a gift of power, but the gift of the Godhead's own
Self, the gift of all there is in Him of whom we read, It pleased the
Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." "Behold," says the
Father, "I have given Him."
When Isaiah wrote those words, they could not be read quite as clearly
as you and I can read them, for now, holding up this Scripture to the
light of the Cross, and reading it by the lamps of those five wounds, I
can see a marvelous meaning in it–"I have given Him." Yes, the Father
has given a Redemption for the bond-slave! He has given a Sacrifice for
the guilty! He has given His Son! The words in which I speak of this
great fact are very simple and they may seem very poverty-stricken, but
the Truth of God, itself, is such as made the angels stand in
amazement! All Heaven was bewildered with wonder that God, the
Infinite, should give His Son for poor, sinful, dying worms like
ourselves! It seemed too much to give–the infinitely-holy God to die
for guilty sinners! The everlasting and eternal Son of God to suffer
that His feeble, finite creatures might not perish!
And if it is a wonder that God the Father should give His Son, it is an
equal wonder that the Son consented to be given. The Father said, "I
have given Him," yet it is equally true of the Son, "He loved me, and
gave Himselfior me." The Father's gift was no violation of the will of
the Son, but the Son said, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is
written of Me, I delight to do Your will, O My God: yes, Your Law is
within My heart." Oh, to think that Jesus should give Himself for you
and for me! To take our nature, to descend from Heaven to the manger
was a great stoop–but to take our sin, to come down from the Throne of
Glory to the Cross of Calvary was a still greater proof of His
condescending love!
Oh, think of this, Beloved! He so completely gave Himself that He gave
to us His Deity and His Humanity–His soul and His body, His life and
His death–and though He is now risen from the dead, He still gives
Himself to us, for He has never recalled the gift He once bestowed! And
this is the very glory of His gift–that He is still ours by a constant
gift of Himself to us! Clutch at this blessed Truth of God, you
despairing ones! God has given His Son and the Son has given Himself
and if, by an act of faith, you trust Him, He is at once yours! And He
is yours forever. What more can you possibly need?
In this fourth verse, we also have the purposes of this gift avowed. '
'I have given Him for a Witness to the people, a Leader and Commander
to the people." First, Christ is given for a Witness. What does that
mean?
Surely, Christ is given, first, to show us what God is. If you want to
know what God is, study the life of Christ, for Jesus said, "He that
has seen Me, has seen the Father." In Christ, the Godhead shines, as it
were, through a merciful medium, so that the excessive Glory of the
Deity is toned down to meet the weakness of our poor minds, lest we
should be blinded by the ineffable splendor! God in human flesh is a
Witness to human flesh of what God is.
Next, Christ is a Witness in this sense–that He bears His testimony to
us concerning the Father's will, the Father's love and the Father's
Grace. He declares what He has seen in secret of the Father's purposes
of mercy, so that what He testifies, He speaks not of Himself, but what
He has seen with the Father, that He declares unto us. He is the
Witness of what God is and of what God has done for us. His name is put
to the Everlasting Covenant in many ways–as the Surety of it, and as a
Partner in it, but also as a Witness to it. He bears witness to us that
in His Person, God has entered into covenant with men, saying to them,
"Inasmuch as you have broken the first Covenant of Works and now cannot
possibly keep it, I have made another and a better Covenant. Christ has
undertaken to magnify My Law and to satisfy My Justice. And I have
undertaken to save all those whom I have given to Him." And Jesus bears
witness that it is so! He is, Himself, the Pledge and Seal of the
Covenant! I am so glad that I have not to talk with an invisible,
impalpable God who has never been seen of man–it seems too much for
one, veiled in human flesh, to be able to speak with the unseen
Jehovah, the God who is a Spirit! But I can speak to the Man, Christ
Jesus. I feel now that I have Mediator, one of a thousand, who can lay
His hands upon both parties to the Covenant because He belongs to both
of us, and is both God and Man. My heart rejoices as I behold God in
human flesh, the Witness for God to the people! O poor Sinners, be
glad, be glad! God has given
His dear Son to bear witness to you that He wills that you should be
saved, that He is able to save you without a violation of His Justice,
that He is willing to save you, and willing to save you now, if you
will but trust His Son!
Our text also tells us that the Father gives Christ, not only as a
Witness, but as a Leader and a Commander. That is just what we need!
Men in any country where they are greatly oppressed, sigh for a leader.
"Grant a leader bold and brave," is the prayer that has gone up from
many a down-trodden nation. Well, the Lord has appointed His Son to be
a Leader and a Commander, and if we will but yield to Him, to be led by
Him, to be commanded by Him, He will lead us safely. He will lead us on
to victory and to conquest–and Heaven, itself, shall be ours in due
time! He who puts himself under this Leader shall go forth conquering
and to conquer. He shall war against his sin and win the day. He shall
fight against the devil and overcome him by the blood of the Lamb! He
shall do battle with Death, itself, and be more than a conqueror over
the last enemy! I would to God that as I speak some of you would say,
"Christ is given as a Leader and a Commander, therefore we will enlist
beneath His banner. Henceforth, the Son of David, the Son of God, shall
be both Leader and Commander to us." Happy, happy, happy day for you
and for all of whom that shall be true!
Now notice who are the persons thus favored. To whom is the Lord Jesus
given as a Witness and a Leader and Commander? Twice we are told that
it is to the people–"A Witness to the people, a Leader and Commander
to the people." I have known some people sneer at "the common people."
Ah, yes, but it was the common people who gladly heard Christ, and it
is for the people that He died! "I," says God, "have exalted One chosen
out of the people." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christ of common
people! If any of you are so high and mighty that you must go to Heaven
fashionably, you will be lost! The unfashionable way to Heaven, by
trusting in Jesus Christ, is the only way that will take you there. He
is the people's Witness, the people's Leader, the people's Commander!
That means, does it not, that He is the Leader and Commander of a great
host, not merely of a select few? Perhaps you have read about us poor
Calvinists–what a wretched, miserable sect we are–how we are always
trying to keep salvation to ourselves and how we believe that only a
very few will ever be saved! Put all that down among the lies that our
enemies tell about us! It is not true and it never was true, for there
are no people under Heaven who are more anxious that all men should be
saved than are we who believe that, nevertheless, the Lord has a people
whom He will save. Our hearts, we trust, are full of love to men,
despite all that is said about us. It is my hope that the Lord Jesus
Christ will save so many, that at the last, those who are lost will
bear no greater proportion to the whole mass of mankind than do the
persons in prison to the multitudes that are outside of it in any
well-ordered state!
"There will have to be a great change," says somebody, "to bring that
about." Yes, there will be a great change! There are glorious times yet
coming, notwithstanding all that tends to the contrary! There is a day
to dawn when the Lord Jesus shall be acknowledged as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords and, "He shall reign forever and ever"–and the
overwhelming multitudes of His redeemed shall prove that He is not the
Witness and Leader and Commander to a miserable few, a mere
handful–but that He is Witness and Leader and Commander to the people!
In all things He shall have the pre-eminence.
"To the people." Then, surely, that means all sorts of people? It does.
Our Lord is a Leader and Commander to all classes and conditions of
men! Kings may follow Him if they will. And peasants and paupers do
follow Him in great multitudes! He is willing to receive the lost and
the low, the poorest of the poor. He is willing to lift up the most
sunken. "Whoever will," He says, "let Him take the water of life
freely." He is a Leader and a Commander to the people! Then follow Him,
my Friend, obey Him! You never thought of doing so, before, but may
God's Grace move you to say, "If He is a Leader and Commander to the
people, I am one of them, and I will go with Him. He shall be my Leader
and my Commander." If it is really so with you, Heaven shall be yours!
Christ will bring you to Heaven and you shall bring glory to His name
forever and ever as you bless and praise Him who has saved you by His
Grace!
So much, then, upon the Divine Gift–God has given His own Son to be a
Savior to men, and Christ has given Himself to be a Witness, and
Leader, and Commander! Oh, that none of us may refuse Him, but may all
accept Him as God's Gift to us!
II. The second thing in our text is A DIVINE PROMISE made to this
Leader and Commander.
It is, first, a promise to call those whom He does not know. "Behold,
You shall call a nation that You know not." That must be a strange
nation, must it not, which Christ does not know? There will be people
at the last to whom Christ will say, "I never knew you." And there are
such people, now, whom Christ has never known in this sense. He never
spoke with them, He never heard their voice in prayer, He never heard
their hearts cry to Him, He never had anything to do with them. He
never knew them by mutual acquaintance. And there are nations of this
kind of people. I might almost say that there is a nation of this sort
in London whom Christ does not know–millions with whom He has had no
dealings at all! They never come near His courts, they do not recognize
His day, they scarcely even know His name. What a promise this is to
Christ–"You shall call a nation that You know not!" The people are so
far sunk in sin that it seems as if Christ, Himself, never knew them!
Did you ever cross the threshold of a house–or if not of a whole
house, perhaps of one room–where there was a number of persons herded
together in poverty and misery? Drunkenness was there, vice was there,
filth was there. Perhaps you were the first visitor who ever went there
upon an errand of mercy and you said to yourself, "What a dreadful
place this is! Surely, the blessed Savior has never been here, there is
no trace of His footprints here." I think it is a most blessed thing
that the Father should say to Christ, "You shall call this sort of
people." Such degraded and sinful men and women as these are yet to be
called and yet to be saved! Oh, be of good courage, you who try to
labor in the very worst parts of London–or, for that matter, in the
worst parts of Africa, or wherever you may go! The people may seem to
be so far gone in sin and degradation that even the great Lover of
Souls does not know them, yet the promise is that He shall call
them–and call them effectually–and they shall come unto Him!
The next part of the promise declares that Christ is to make run those
who do not know Him–"and nations that knew not You shall run unto
You." People who did not know anything about Christ and who did not
want to know about Him, shall, all of a sudden, hear of Him, and they
shall run to Him! I have often noticed that when such people do come to
Christ, they always run to Him. I hope that some of you who have been
hearing me for many years, will yet come to Christ though you have long
stayed away from Him. And if you do, it will be, with you, pretty much
as it was with the snail that got into the ark! I think he must have
started very early to be able to get in before the door was shut, for
he traveled so slowly. And you hearers of the Gospel who have grown
accustomed to it, are as slow in coming to Christ as some boys are when
they are going to school. But when a man has never heard the Gospel
and, at last, somebody has induced him to come in and sit in the aisle,
or in a back seat, it is all so new to him that he begins talking to
himself about it. "Christ died for the guilty? I have only to trust Him
and my sins shall be pardoned, and I shall be saved?" He jumps at the
idea! It is the very thing he needs and he grasps it at once! He is
saved in a moment and he rejoices with a joy unspeakable in the Christ
whom he has found in the space of half-an-hour–while others have for
years been hearing in vain the glad tidings of salvation! "Nations that
knew not You shall run unto You."
Do you notice how God talks here? He speaks like a God! Who is this
that says, "They shall"? someone asks. "Man has a free will, has he
not?" Yes, and God has a free will, too, and when these two come into
conflict, it is God'sfree will that wins the day! Man will do what God
wills that man shall do–the will of the Eternal shall get the victory
over the poor transient human will! When I come to preach in this
pulpit, I do not say to myself, "Perhaps somebody will make himself
willing to be saved." No, but I think to myself, "I shall have a picked
congregation to listen to my Master's message. The Lord will pick them
out and bring the right people to hear His Word and, when I preach it,
His Word shall not return unto Him void. Those whom He has determined
to bless shall be blessed, whatever the devil may try to do to the
contrary. God will have His way and storm their hearts and carry all
before Him." "Well, but," asks someone, "you do believe in man's free
will, don't you?" Yes, I do. As much as you do and perhaps more! But I
also believe in God's eternal purpose and in God's all-conquering will,
so that, without violating the will of man, He can still have His own
way and He can make this promise true to Christ, "Nations that knew not
You shall run unto You because of the LORD Your God."
Now, lastly on this point, here is a Divine promise to exert an amazing
motive power What is it that makes people run to Christ? The text tells
us, "Nations that knew not You shall run unto You because of the LORD
Your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified You." A
glorified Christ makes men run to Him! When Christ is glorified in your
hearts, dear Friends, you will run to Him! The Son of God, to whom you
have been an enemy, nevertheless, out of mighty love, came here, lived,
labored and died, giving His whole life away that the ungodly might be
saved through Him. Not to gain anything for Himself, but out of sheer
pity and abounding love, He passed under His Father's rod. He sweat, as
it were, great drops of blood. He suffered anguish even unto death for
men's redemption. And it was the Son of God who did this–God over all
blessed forever! Having died, He was buried. He rose again and now all
power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth–"Therefore He is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He
ever lives to make intercession for them." He can save the drunk, the
swearer, the profligate, the 80 year-old sinner steeped up to his neck
in filthiness and vice! He is able, with a word, to deliver the most
corrupt from the power of sin! He can make the most abandoned pure and
chaste, and clean. Through His precious blood, He can save them from
all the guilt of their sin and all the power of their sin, and all the
penalty of their sin! Yes, and ultimately, from the very existence of
their sin, so that even those who were all black from head to foot
shall be "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Oh, that the
Holy Spirit would, with one glorious ray, light up the Cross till you
could all see it! Oh, for one beam of light to let the sin-bitten see
the bronze serpent lifted high! There is life in a look at Christ!
O Friends, I wish that you would all believe this as I say it, for I
would say it not only with my lips, but with my heart! It is the best
news that mortals did ever tell. Yes, even angels from their glory
never descended to earth with a message so sweet as this–Christ is
lifted high to be a great Savior of great sinners! Help is laid upon
One who is mighty! He sits upon the Throne of God above that He may
reign over sinners! He holds the scepter of all worlds that He may
stretch it out in mercy towards the guiltiest of the guilty! Only trust
Him, fall at His feet in penitence, confess your transgression, ask to
be delivered from it, for this is God's promise to His Son–that you
and such as you shall come to Him and, coming to Him, shall be drawn by
the fact that He is such a glorious Christ, so every way adapted to
your need! God give us Grace to rightly set forth a glorified Christ!
Then shall we soon have saved sinners who have been made to run to Him!
EI. And now, finally, the last verse of the text furnishes A DIVINE
EXHORTATION. "Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you upon
Him while He is near."
Notice the connection between verses five and six–"Nations that knew
not You shall run unto You." There is the absolute, unconditional
promise. And then the very next verse says, "Seek you the Lord while He
maybe found." There is the unlimited exhortation to men, so that an
exhortation to men is not inconsistent with the strongest Doctrine of
Grace, Yes, more, the decree of God in no sense renders the effort of
man unnecessary.' 'Nations shall run unto You," says the Father to His
Son. And when He has said that, He turns round to the nations and He
says to them, "Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you upon
Him while He is near." Salvation is free and it is the gift of God's
Grace, but oh, my Hearer, you must seek it, you must call upon God for
itand I would, in God's name, stir you up to seek Him and call upon Him
now! Before you go to your bed, seek Him who is ready to be found! Call
upon Him who is waiting to hear!
Notice that there is put here a plea of a very encouraging kind–"Seek
you the Lord while He may be found, " that is the Gospel day! "Call you
upon Him while He is near," that is Mercy's day. I believe that in such
a congregation as this, when the Gospel is being earnestly preached,
there is a kind of propitious interval allowed to men. There is in
Grace, as well as in the matter of making a fortune, a "tide" which
must be "taken at the flood," and I think that there is a flood-tide
just now for some of you! Listen to the music of the waters–"He may be
found." It is not true that Christ has gone away and shut the door of
Mercy–"He may be found!" "Seek you the Lord while He may be found,
call you upon Him!" He is not far off! He has not gone away, shut the
door behind Him and declared that He will never hear prayer again–
"Call you upon Him while He is near!" He is very near you just now! He
is pleading with you! He has been blessing your neighbor! He has, by
His Grace, called one who sits in the same pew with you! "Call you upon
Him while He is near!"
There is also a warning, as well as an encouragement, in these words,
"While He is near." While Mercy's sun has not yet set. While yet the 12
hours of the day are not all counted out–I mean, the day of the Lord's
long-suffering mercy– seek Him, I pray you, for there is a day coming
when you shall seek in vain! There is a day coming when you shall knock
in vain–when once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the
door. That is clearly implied in our text, "Seek you the Lord while He
may be found." There will come a time when He cannotbe found–I do not
believe such a time is ever reached in this life or, if so, very
rarely–but this life is very frail and may end at any moment.
Therefore, while it lasts, seek the Lord. For when this life is once
over, you can never find Him.
I, at least, will have no complicity in that atrocious treason against
God's Word which leads men to believe that they may, perhaps, seek and
find Him in another state. I believe that of all lies that were ever
preached, this is the most dangerous and likely to do the most hurt to
men's souls! It is very popular, I know, but what do I care about that?
God's servant is not to preach smooth things, but true things! It is
this which we have to preach and we dare not go an inch beyond it–"He
that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes
not"–shall have another chance in a future state? Not so said the lips
of perfect Love and Mercy–the lips of Christ, Himself! He said, "Go
you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall
be damned."
There it stands in His Word and there is nothing after it! There is no
hope–smaller or "larger"–offered to any man who believes not in the
Lord Jesus Christ! Reject the Son of God and what hope can there be for
you? "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" God
Incarnate bleeds and dies and yet you will not be saved by Him? Then
what can become of you? What must await you but "a certain fearful
looking for judgment and fiery indignation"? He who will not have God,
Himself, to save him has deliberately committed spiritual suicide–and
on his own head must be his blood! Therefore, I pray you, heed the
message of the text, "Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you
upon Him while He is near."
Make sure work of it and do it at once! Trust Jesus! Trust Him wholly!
Trust Him fully! Leave your sin, leave your self-righteousness, quit it
all! Give yourself up to Christ to be made holy, to be taught to do His
will and to be His servant all your days! Then, blessed be His name, He
will save you, for God gave Him on purpose that He might do so, and He
will, and the will of the Lord shall be done in you! Amen and Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH 53; 55:1-7.
Isaiah 53:1. Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? It is no new thing for Gospel ministers to be
disappointed. Even Isaiah, the most evangelical of all the Prophets,
who might well be placed at the head of the College of Preachers, feels
compelled to say, in the name of all that sacred brotherhood, "Who has
believed our report?" The report was a very plain one, a very earnest
one and full of noble matter. Men ought to have believed it, but they
did not, and they never will unless God's arm is revealed, for faith is
the product of Omnipotence– and men never believe in Christ till God
stretches out His arm! Where was the difficulty of believing the report
about Christ? Isaiah tells us about Him and, as we listen, we
understand why so many believe not on Him.
2. For He shall grow up before Him–That is, the Messiah shall grow up
before God–
2. 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. When Christ came, He was very lovely to those who
could judge of spiritual beauty. In form and comeliness, He was
unrivalled, but not to carnal men! They said, "Where is His royal
splendor? Where is the majesty of His Kingdom?" As they looked upon the
carpenter's Son, they said, "Where are His riches?" They heard Him say
that He had no where to lay His head and they despised such a Messiah!
As He spoke in simple parables to the people, they asked, "Where is His
wisdom?" So, to carnal eyes, the Savior had "no form nor comeliness."
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 Oh, how sad it is that the Son of the
Most High God, when He condescended to wear our nature, received such
base treatment as this from the hands of men! How equally sad is it
that His glorious and ever-blessed Gospel should still be the object of
contempt to multitudes of men! They will not have it! They will have
their own philosophy–rather their own lies, let us say–but Christ
they despise and they esteem not His Gospel.
4. Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Listen, you
sad ones, you sorrowful ones! Let this sweet note charm you into
joy–"He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows."
4. Yet we. We, for whom He was the Substitute, for whom He
smarted–"Yet we"–
4, 5. 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. Wonderful medicine! Marvelous healing! Where shall we find the
like? The Physician drinks the bitter draught and so cures the patient!
Who ever heard of such a wonder as this? The Physician is put to death
and that great Sacrifice heals the patient! Who ever heard of such a
thing as this? The whole Gospel, in a nutshell, lies in this verse–"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." Now comes another wonderful verse, such as Luther was
accustomed to call "a little Bible." It begins with, "all," and it ends
with, "all."
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. There is
your only hope of eternal life, Sinner! You are among the, "all," who
went astray. If you are a Believer in Christ, you will be found among
the, "all," whose iniquities were laid upon Him and carried away by
Him.
7. He was oppressed, andHe was afflicted, yet He openednot His mouth:
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Oh, the majesty of His
silence! Never was eloquence equal to this–"He opened not His mouth."
8. He was taken fromprison and from judgment: and who shall declare His
generation? For He was cut offout ofthe land ofthe living: for the
transgression of My people was He stricken. They ought to have been
stricken–their transgressions deserved the heavy blows of the rod of
God's wrath! Yet, "for the transgression of My people was He stricken."
9. AndHe made His grave with the wicked.–He was crucified between two
malefactors. 9. And with the rich in His death. He was buried in the
tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
9. Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His
mouth. For that very reason He was qualified to bear our sin! Because
He had no sin of His own, therefore He could bear ours, and He did bear
ours, and died, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to
God."
10. 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 shallsee His seed, He
shallprolong His days, and thepleasure ofthe Lord shall prosper in His
hands. Do not be afraid, then, about the Kingdom of Christ. Its
interests are safe enough, for they are in His hands, and God has given
the promise that His pleasure shall prosper there.
11. He shall see ofthe travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. His
death-pangs were our birth-pangs and Christ shall see that which is
born of His soul-anguish and, "shall be satisfied."
11. By His knowledge. Or, "By the knowledge of Him."
11. Shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shal1 bear their
iniquities. There is no meaning at all in this chapter if it does not
teach that Christ took upon Himself the sin of His people and suffered
in their place. Let who will object to this doctrine–it is the Gospel,
the very heart and marrow of it–and there is nothing that can make a
heavy heart glad until it sees sin removed by the death of Christ! "He
shall bear their iniquities."
12. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul
unto death. He not only died, but He poured out His very soul unto
death.
12. And He was numbered with the transgressors: and He bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors. We shall also do
well to read part of the 55th chapter of Isaiah after this 53rd–the
one is an admirable preparation for the other
Isaiah 55:1. Ho, everyone that thirsts; come you to the waters. To the
waters which flowed from that smitten Rock of which we have been
reading.
1-3. And he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money
for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat you that which is good, and
let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come
unto Me. See, the way of salvation is through Ear-Gate? We must hear
the Gospel, for it is not what we are to do, but what we are to receive
that will save us. And we must come to God to hear it before we can
receive it. "Faith comes by hearing." Give a very earnest ear, then, to
the preaching of the Gospel of Christ! "Hearken diligently unto Me, and
eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness." Again the Lord says, "Incline your ear, and come unto
Me."
3. Hear, and your soul shall live; andI will make an everlasting
Covenant with you, even the sure mercies ofDavid. Says someone, "I can
understand God making a Covenant with David, but will He make a
Covenant with me?" Yes, and after the same sure tenor, too–"I will
make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
God will promise to bless you, save you, keep you and present you in
Glory in the day of Christ's appearing. And this shall be a Covenant
which shall never be broken. Though all things else are changed, yet
that Covenant shall stand secure forever. It will fill you with joy
when you understand that such a Covenant as this is made with you and
you will say, as David did, "Although my house is not so with God; yet
He has made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and
sure." Oh, what a blessing it is to have a share in this Covenant!
4. Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people, a Leader and
Commander to the people.' 'I have given him," that is, David's greater
Son, the true David, "l have given Him for a Witness to the people, a
Leader and Commander to the people."
5. Behold, you–That is, Jesus, the Son of David: "Behold, You–
5-7. Shall call a nation that You know not, and nations that knew not
You shall run unto You because of the Lord Your God, and for the Holy
One of Israel; for He has glorified You. Seek you the Lord while He may
be found, call you upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake
his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto
the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon. Oh, that many may put this blessed promise to the
proof even now, for Christ's sake! Amen.