they are one in essence and in operation. The God of Israel pervades the
universe of matter, and fills the immensity of space. There is no room
for another God, possessing the same ubiquity. “There is one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” In
him alone, all things live, move, and have their being.
This doctrine is stamped on all the works of nature. They all exhibit
unity of design, and must have been contrived by the same infinite
wisdom, and executed by the same infinite power. The hand which created
and arranged them is constantly seen in their preservation. The Maker of
all things continues to uphold all things by the word of his power. The
great Architect still presides over the immense fabric which he has
reared. The universe, from age to age, is governed by the same unvarying
laws. All things remain as they were from the beginning. The earth, the
air, and the sea, sustain the same mutual relations, and answer the same
important ends; and the sun, the moon, and the stars, shine on for ever.
The same order and regularity everywhere prevail, as when the chorus of
the morning stars welcomed the new creation into being. Nature proclaims
aloud: “There is one God.”
The same doctrine is impressed upon the Bible. It is not only the book
of God, but evidently the book of “one God.” It is a series of Divine
Revelations, reaching from Eden to Calvary, and from Calvary onward to
the end of the world. It is a golden chain, passing through all time,
and uniting the two eternities; and all its links are similar, and depend
upon each other. Its several parts are perfectly harmonious, proving
them to have emanated from the same infinite mind. Everywhere we find
the same character of God and of man; the same description of the law and
of sin; the same way of pardon, and holiness, and immortal life. The
same Eternal Spirit, that inspired the Historian of Creation, speaks in
the Apocalypse of St. John, and in all the intervenient books of the
Bible. It was the same Sun of Righteousness, that rose in Eden, and set
on Calvary; and thence rose again the third day, to set no more for ever.
“The world by wisdom knew not God.” The heathen lost the doctrine of the
unity of God; not because it was difficult to preserve, but because they
did not love the character of God, “did not like to retain God in their
knowledge.” The pride of the carnal mind led them to turn away from the
light of heaven, to walk amid sparks of their own kindling. They boasted
of their wisdom; they boasted of their philosophy. And what gained they
by the exchange? The most absurd and stupid notions of the Great First
Cause; almost total ignorance of his attributes. “Professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made with hands, like unto corruptible man, and to
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” Shame to
philosophic Greece and Rome!
No nation, having once lost the doctrine of the unity of God, ever
regained it by the light of nature. If the light of nature is sufficient
to preserve it in possession, it is not sufficient to restore it lost.
It is restored only by the gospel. The gospel has restored it in India,
in Otaheite, and other heathen lands. It has done more; it has revealed
to the savage the only way of salvation; it has “brought life and
immortality to light.”
“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel!
Win and conquer! never cease!”
Lift up thy voice with strength, and proclaim to Greece and Rome, and to
all the ends of the earth, as well as to the cities of Judah, that the
Son of Mary is the God of Israel, “God manifest in the flesh,” “God
blessed forever!” “The man Christ Jesus” is “the brightness of the
Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily;” “in whom also we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
his grace.”
II. But this leads us to our second topic: “And one Mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus.” The two doctrines, you perceive, are
intimately related to each other. “One God”—“One Mediator.” As we have
but “one God,” we need but “one Mediator.” As that Mediator is himself
God, the merit of his mediation is sufficient for the salvation of all
them that believe.
The office of a Mediator supposes two parties at variance, between whom
he interposes to produce a reconciliation. It is thus “between God and
man.” God gave man a law, “holy, and just, and good;” man revolted, and
“there is wrath.” Reconciliation is impossible, without the intervention
of a mediator. Let us look at the parties engaged in this dreadful
controversy.
On one side we see Jehovah, possessed of infinite perfections, and
clothed with uncreated excellence and glory. He is self-existent,
independent and eternal. Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Almightiness are
his. He is great in wisdom, full of goodness, slow to anger, and ready
to pardon. His love is ineffable, and “his mercy endureth for ever.” He
is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” These
perfections are the pearls and diamonds in his crown. “With him also is
terrible majesty.” Life and joy are in his smile, but the angel of
destruction waits upon his frown. One beam of his love can raise
thousands of men to heaven: one glance of his anger, sink myriads of
angels to hell. “He sitteth upon the circles of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” “All nations before him are as
nothing; they are counted less than nothing and vanity.” “He doeth
according to his will among the children of men, and ruleth the armies of
heaven.” “At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall
not be able to abide his indignation.” O what majesty and power belong
unto the Lord our God!
With this imperfect view, contrast the impotence and insignificance of
sinful man. What is he? A being of yesterday, “whose breath is in his
nostrils,” and “whose foundation is in the dust.” A frail, helpless,
perishing thing; dependent upon God, the Creator, for all his comforts,
for life itself. What is man? A fool; an alien from all good; an
embodiment of all evil. His understanding is dark; his will perverse;
his affections carnal. His “throat is an open sepulchre;” swallowing up
“whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, or of good report;” emitting a
pestilential vapor, which withers every green herb, and sweet flower, and
delicious fruit, of honor to God, and happiness to man. “The poison of
asps is under his tongue;” an inflaming poison, affecting all the
members, and “setting on fire the whole course of nature, and it is set
on fire of hell.” “His heart is fully set in him to do evil;” “deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked.” He is an enemy to his Maker;
a rebel against Jehovah; a blank—nay, worse—a blot in God’s creation;
dead to every virtue, dead to every thing but sin; lost to every gracious
purpose of his being; a withered branch, fit only to be plucked off, and
cast into the fire; stubble, ready for the burning. “Let him alone!”
said Reason. “Cut him down!” cried Justice. “I hate the workers of
iniquity!” added Holiness. “He or I must perish!” exclaimed Truth.
“Spare him! Spare him! Spare him!” pleaded weeping Mercy. And Wisdom
came forth, leading the Son of God, and said: “I have found a ransom!
Behold the Mediator!” And all the attributes met and embraced at the
manger, and kissed each other at the cross!
It was man’s place, as the offender, to seek a reconciliation. God was
under no obligation. But, alas! man had neither the means nor the
inclination. What could be done? Hear, O ye heavens! and be astonished!
Listen, O earth! and wonder and adore! While man was far from God, an
enemy in his heart by wicked works, rushing on in determined hostility to
his Maker’s government, and there was no sacrifice found for his sin, and
no disposition in him to seek a sacrifice, God sought within himself the
adequate and only means of pardon and peace. He found in his own bosom
the Lamb for the altar; exhibited him to Israel in the predictions and
promises of the Old Testament; and in the fulness of time, sent him forth
to expiate sin, by the offering of himself, once for all. “For the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the Cross.”
God provided a Mediator. Why? Did he fear that the deserved ruin of the
human race would dethrone eternal Justice? No. Eternal Justice would
have been honored as much in their destruction as in their salvation.
The law would have been as fully vindicated in the infliction of its
penalty upon the transgressor, as in the reparation of its breach by a
vicarious atonement. The glory of the Divine government would have been
untarnished, as when the rebel angels were cast down from heaven, and
locked up in everlasting darkness. This wondrous provision was not the
result of necessity, but the prompting of Infinite Love. Divine Mercy
sought to remove the barrier interposed by Divine Justice. The sinner
cannot be pardoned, till his Great Substitute has met the demands of the
law. There must be a full satisfaction and settlement of its claims, as
the only ground on which the rebel can be acquitted.
Love is the “Alpha and Omega” of redemption, the love of God to man.
Read it in the journey of the Mediator from heaven to earth! Read it in
his pilgrimage through the land of sorrow! Behold him “nailed to the
shameful tree!” See the blood and water gushing from his side! Hear the
sound of the water-spouts, as the floods of wrath rollover him! Then ask
the reason. The answer is: “God is love.” “He is not willing that any
should perish.” It seemed good in his sight to save his rebel children,
whatever it might cost him. “God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God”—no; we hated
him; we were his sworn, inveterate foes; “but that he loved us”—loved us
while we were yet enemies—loved us with an ineffable love; “and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Wonderful must be the qualifications of such a Mediator. He fills with
his own merit the gap between two worlds. He bows the heavens, and lifts
up the earth to meet them. He takes hold of God and man, and brings them
together in himself. He reconciles the rebel and the law, glorifies the
Father by humbling himself, and his cross becomes our life, and his tomb
the birthplace of our immortality.
England and Wales could not be united till the son of the king of England
was born in Wales, and became Prince of Wales. The English regarded him
as heir to the throne of England; while the Welsh claimed him as their
brother, a native of their own country, born in the castle of Caernarvon.
Behold “the well beloved”—“the only begotten of the Father,” “heir of all
things,” “Lord of lords, and King of kings,” born “in Bethlehem of
Judea;” “the Son of God—the Son of man;” partaking of both natures, and
representing both parties in the great controversy. He is “the Mighty
God, and the Everlasting Father;” yet he is our near kinsman—bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh. In his person, heaven and earth are
joined; by his blood, God and man are reconciled. Heaven is his throne,
for God is his father; earth is his principality, for it is the land of
his nativity. In him angels recognise their King, and men behold their
brother.
I gaze on the cross, and methinks I hear the victim say: “Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and beside me
there is none else. I opened a way for my people of old, by dividing the
waters, to the Canaan of Promise; I am now preparing a path for
believers, through the red sea of my blood, to the inheritance in heaven.
I gave the law amid fire and smoke on Sinai, and thundered forth my curse
upon its violater; I am here on Calvary, to honor that violated law, and
remove that curse from its violater by taking it upon myself. Behold my
hands, my feet, my side! This blood, O men! is your sacrifice. I will
expiate your sin by my sufferings. I will magnify the law, and make it
honorable. And though in your nature I hang on this tree to-day, I will
revive, and live for ever, to make intercession for the transgressors,
and save to the uttermost all that come unto God by me!”
The mediatorial office of “the man Christ Jesus” consists of two parts,
sacrifice and intercession. They are equally important, and mutually
dependent. Without sacrifice, there is no ground of intercession;
without intercession, there is no benefit in sacrifice. The former
renders the latter influential with God; the latter renders the former
available to man. The one removes the obstacles to reconciliation, the
other brings the adverse parties together.
The first part of the mediatorial office is sacrifice. In order to
understand this aright, we must have correct views of God, of man, and of
sin. We must consider God as the lawgiver and governor of the universe,
eternally hostile to all iniquity, and determined to sustain his just
administration. We must consider man as a guilty and polluted creature,
a rebel in arms against his Maker, a prisoner under sentence and
deserving punishment. We must consider sin as an inexcusable omission of
duty, and a flagrant transgression of the law, under circumstances of
peculiar aggravation. The debt must be paid, or the sinner must perish.
An atonement must be made, of merit equal to the turpitude of our crimes.
The stain which we have cast upon the law, must be washed out by blood of
infinite preciousness. This is the work of our Mediator. He “gave
himself a ransom for all.” He made a perfect satisfaction for our sins.
“He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities;
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are
healed.” It is not by blood of bulls and goats, slain on Jewish altars,
but by a nobler and costlier sacrifice—the paschal “Lamb of God,” that
heaven and earth are reconciled—God and man united.
The second part of the mediatorial office is intercession. It was
through the High-priest, the typical mediator, that God communicated with
Israel, and Israel communicated with God; it is through “the man Christ
Jesus,” the real Mediator, that God speaks to the world, and receives the
prayers of his people. Having “borne the sins of many,” he “maketh
intercession for the transgressors.” “He hath entered into heaven
himself, there to appear in the presence of God for us.” He has gone
into the holy of holies, with “the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh
better things than the blood of Abel.” “If any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “Through him we
both”—that is, both Jews and Gentiles—“have access by one Spirit unto the
Father.” He holds in his hand the golden censer, and offers much incense
before the throne. It is this that perfumes our prayers, and renders
them acceptable to God. He pleaded for his murderers when he hung upon
the cross, and now he pleads in heaven for those who crucify him afresh.
And what is the ground of his plea? Not the merit of our works, but the
merit of his own sufferings. Not the infinitude of the Father’s mercy,
but the sufficiency of his own sacrifice. This is the sure foundation of
a sinner’s hope. If Satan suggests that his crimes are too great to be
forgiven, he may reply: “The man Christ Jesus” is my advocate, the
advocate of “the chief of sinners;
And should I die with mercy sought,
When I his grace have tried,
I sure should die—delightful thought!—
Where sinner never died!”
“One Mediator.” There is no choice. You must accept of him, or remain
unreconciled, and be cast into hell. Israel found but one path through
the Red Sea; the church shall never find more than one way to the
heavenly Canaan. It is only by faith in the “One Mediator,” that you can
obtain the favor of the “One God.” He is the elect and beloved of the
Father, the appointed medium of man’s approach, the designated channel of
God’s communication. “Neither is there salvation in any other.” No
other has been provided. No other is suited to our necessities. O
sinner! come through this “new and living way!” Christ invites your
confidence.
“Venture on him; venture freely;
Let no other trust intrude!
None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.”
These glorious truths, we cannot read too often, or meditate too much.
They represent to us the great evil of sin, the infinite mercy of God,
the inflexible character of the law, and the incalculable preciousness of
the gospel. Such is the Father’s estimate of the Mediator, that he will
be reconciled to sinners only through his blood. He is well pleased with
his Son, and well pleased with all who seek him through his Son, and
nothing is more offensive to him than the rejection of his Son. May
these remarks preserve you from despair under a sense of your guilt and
wretchedness; drive you from all false refuges to the cross, with a
penitent and grateful heart; induce you to trust; not in your own
strength, or wisdom, or righteousness, but in the adorable name of Jesus;
to live a life of faith in him, of love towards him, and of patient
waiting for his mercy unto eternal salvation!
If you are already partakers of these blessings, how transcendent is your
privilege! “Ye are come unto mount Zion, the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; and to the
spirits of just men made perfect; and to the general assembly and church
of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God, the judge of
all; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Follow the
Captain of your salvation. Cleave to him in the fire and the flood.
Turn not aside to the lying vanities of the world, lest you drink the cup
of its eternal sorrows. Remember that those who suffer with the
crucified shall reign with the glorified; that such as are faithful unto
death shall receive the crown of life. Be careful to “keep the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace.” Endure unto the end, and ye shall be
saved.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in
you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever.” Amen.
SERMON VI.
THE LIVING REDEEMER.
“_Oh that my words were now written_! _oh that they were printed in a
book_! _that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock
for ever_! _For I know that my Redeemer liveth_, _and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth_: _and though after my skin
worms destroy this body_, _yet in my flesh shall I see God_: _whom I
shall see for myself_, _and mine eyes shall behold_, _and not
another_; _though my reins be consumed within me_.”—Job xix. 23–27.
IT is the common opinion of learned divines, that Job was an ancient
prince in some part of Arabia, known in his day by the name of Uz. His
three friends also—“Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar
the Naamathite”—were neighboring princes. In their visit of condolence,
they were accompanied by Elihu, who seems to have been a young man of
extraordinary intelligence and virtue. The occasion of this visit was
the apparent judgments of God upon the patriarch. They held a long
controversy with him, in which they insisted that his unparalleled
calamities and sufferings proved him the chief of hypocrites. Job as
strenuously maintained his innocence and integrity, and argued that his
providential afflictions were intended only for the proof and the
improvement of his piety; and that when this purpose should be
accomplished, he would come forth as gold purified from the furnace.
God, answering out of the whirlwind, settled the dispute, deciding in
favor of his servant Job; his three friends were required to offer
sacrifice for their faults, and Job must pray for their forgiveness.
Then the wheel of fortune turned in his favor, and he was restored to his
former prosperity.
Job and his friends evidently had a clear understanding of the evil of
sin, the wickedness of hypocrisy, the importance of the fear of God, and
the doctrine of an allwise superintending providence; and knew how to
approach Jehovah through sacrifice, in anticipation of the promised
Messiah.
We shall offer a few general remarks on Job’s faith in a living Redeemer,
as expressed in our text.
I. Our minds are struck with wonder and pleasure, in beholding the
patriarchs and prophets of ancient times, moved by the Spirit of God,
searching diligently for the person and grace of the Messiah; like
miners, opening an entrance to a precious treasure, which is to redeem
them and their brethren from bondage.
Job has no reference here to any temporal deliverer, nor to any other
than the Messiah himself. He evidently saw what he needed, when he was
speaking of the Daysman, the Umpire, one that might argue and settle the
case between him and his Maker, one that might lay his hand alike on God
and man. With the eye of faith, he saw the Messiah, setting one foot on
the continent of eternity, and the other on the sea of human misery, and
lifting up his hand and saying—“Time and eternity are mine! I am God,
and beside me there is no Saviour!” Elihu also speaks of the same
person, under the name of “a messenger,” “an interpreter,” “one of a
thousand,” that might commune with both God and man, concerning
atonement, and justifying righteousness, and deliverance from the pit of
eternal destruction.
The promise of a Redeemer descended from Eden like a precious ark,
containing, for all mankind, the bread of life, and the unsearchable
riches of Divine grace. It was conveyed from the house of Adam to the
house of Seth, from the house of Seth to the house of Noah, from the
house of Noah to the house of Abraham, and thence down through successive
generations to the time of Messiah’s advent. The patriarchs, before
their departure, received from this ark invaluable spiritual blessings,
and a passport to the everlasting city; but the ark itself they left
behind for the benefit of their posterity, who found therein the balm of
life, and died in the faith of a Saviour to come, according to the
promise.
Job’s living Redeemer is none other than the promised “Seed,” that should
“bruise the serpent’s head”—Jacob’s “Lion,” “stooping down” to the “new
tomb hewn out of a rock,” aiming at the King of Terrors, and on the third
morning leaping and “rushing upon the prey,” and becoming the plague of
death, and the destruction of the grave—the “Jehovah-jireh” of
Abraham—the “I Am,” who appeared to Moses in the burning bush—the
“Wonderful,” the “Councillor,” the “Child-born,” and “the Everlasting
Father,” predicted by Isaiah—Jeremiah’s “Jehovah our Righteousness”—the
“Branch” and “Fountain” of Zachariah—the “Shepherd and Stone of
Israel”—the “Shiloh,” to whom should be “the gathering of the people”—the
“Governor,” who should “come out of Bethlehem”—Malachi’s “Sun of
Righteousness”—Paul’s “Captain of our Salvation,” “bringing many sons to
glory;” opening a tunnel under the river of his own sufferings, and the
seas of human guilt and wo, through which his redeemed might go home to
their Father’s house—Peter’s “Prince of Life,” “slain and hung on a
tree”—John’s “Word,” that “was in the beginning with God, and was God;”
but “was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”
II. The word here rendered Redeemer, is Goel in the original; and in the
book of Ruth, is translated kinsman, one who has a right to redeem. The
Redeemer is our near kinsman; for “he that sanctifieth, and they that are
sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren.”