The Righteousness of CHRIST, an everlasting Righteousness.
DANIEL ix. 24.
_And to bring in everlasting Righteousness._
ON reading these words, I cannot help addressing you in the language of
the angels to the poor shepherds, who kept watch over their flocks by
night, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy,” such tidings,
that if we have ears to hear, if we have eyes to see, and if our hearts
have indeed experienced the grace of GOD, must cause us to cry out with
the Virgin _Mary_, “My soul doth magnify the LORD, and my spirit doth
rejoice in GOD my Saviour.” The words which I have read to you, are
part of one of the most explicit revelations that was given of JESUS
CHRIST, before he made his public entrance into this our world. It has
been observed by some, and very properly too, that it is one mark of
the divine goodness to his creatures, that he is pleased to let light
come in gradually upon the natural world. If the sun from midnight
darkness, was immediately to shine forth in his full meridian blaze,
his great splendor would be apt to dazzle our eyes, and strike us blind
again: but GOD is pleased to make light come gradually in, and by that
means we are prepared to receive it. And as GOD is pleased to deal with
the natural, so he has dealt with the moral, with the spiritual world.
The LORD JESUS CHRIST did not appear in his full glory all at once,
but as the sun rises gradually, so did the LORD JESUS, the Sun of
righteousness, rise gradually upon men, with healing under his wings.
Hence it was, that our first parents had nothing to fix their faith
upon, but that first promise, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent’s head.” And in future ages, at sundry times, and after divers
manners, GOD was pleased to speak to our fathers by the prophets,
before he spake to us in these last days by his son; and the prophets
that were more peculiarly dear to GOD, it should seem had more peculiar
and extraordinary revelations vouchsafed to them, concerning JESUS
CHRIST.
It is plain from the accounts we have in Scripture, that the Prophet
_Daniel_ was one of these; he is stiled by the angel, not only a “man
that was beloved,” but a “man that was _greatly_ beloved,” or as it is
in the margin of your bibles, “he was a man of desires,” of large and
extensive desires to promote the glory of GOD; he was a desirable man,
a man that did much good in his generation, and therefore his life
was much to be desired by those who loved GOD. The words which I
have chosen for the subject of our present meditation, contain part
of a revelation made to this man. If you look back to the beginning
of this chapter, you will find how the good man was employed, when
GOD was pleased to give him this revelation; verse 2. “In the first
year of _Darius_’s reign, I _Daniel_ understood by books the number
of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to _Jeremiah_ the
prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
_Jerusalem_.” _Daniel_ was a great man, and withal a good man; great as
he was, it seems he was not above reading his Bible; he made the Bible
his constant study; for it is the Bible we are to understand by what
is here termed books, and elsewhere, the scriptures of truth. He found,
that the time for GOD’s people being delivered from the captivity,
was now at hand. Well, one would have thought, that therefore _Daniel_
needed not to pray; but this, instead of retarding, quickened him
in his prayers: and therefore we are told in the third verse, “I set
my face unto the LORD GOD, to seek by prayer and supplications, with
fasting and sackcloth, and ashes.” It is beautifully expressed: “he
set his face,” as though he was resolved never to let his eye go off
GOD, till GOD was pleased to give him an answer; he was resolved,
_Jacob_-like, to wrestle with the LORD GOD, until GOD should be pleased
to give him the desired blessing. We are told in the fourth verse,
that “he prayed unto the LORD, and made confession,” not only of his
own sins, but the sins of his people. And when ye retire home to your
houses, before ye go to bed, I would recommend to you the reading of
this prayer; every word of it bespeaks his exceeding concern for the
public good. It would take me up too much time, was I to make such
observations as indeed the prayer deserves; to bring you sooner to the
words of the text, let us go forward to the twentieth verse, and there
you will find the success that _Daniel_ met with, when praying. Says he,
“while I was praying and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people
_Israel_, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my GOD, for
the holy mountain of my GOD; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even
the man _Gabriel_, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning,
being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening
oblation.” The manner in which _Daniel_ expresses himself, is very
emphatical: “While I was _speaking in prayer_;” implying, that GOD
suffers us, when we draw near to him by faith in prayer, to lay all our
complaints before him; he suffers us to speak unto, and talk with him,
as a man talketh with his friend. _Daniel_ at this time too was making
_confession_ one part of his prayer; for we are never, never in a
better frame to receive answers from above, than when we are humbling
ourselves before the LORD. He was not only confessing his own sins,
but he was confessing the sins of his people; he was praying for those,
who perhaps seldom prayed for themselves; “while I was speaking in
prayer, the man _Gabriel_:” which word, by interpretation, signifies
_the strength of_ GOD; a very proper name, says Bishop _Hall_, for
that angel who was to come and bring the news to the world, of the GOD
of strength, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. This angel is here represented as
flying, and as flying swiftly; to show us how willing, how unspeakably
willing those blessed spirits are, to bring good news to men. And it is
upon this account, I suppose, that we are taught by our LORD to pray,
“that GOD’s will may be done by us on earth, as it is done in heaven,”
that we may imitate a little of that alacrity and vigour, which angels
employ, when they are sent on errands for GOD.
Well, here is not only mention made of the angel’s flying swiftly, but
there is mention made of the time that he came; “He came and touched me,
about the time of the evening oblation,” that is, about three o’clock
in the afternoon; at this time there was a sacrifice made to GOD,
and this sacrifice was in a peculiar manner a type of the LORD JESUS,
who in the evening of the world was to become a sacrifice for sinners.
We are told in the 22d verse, what message this angel delivered,
“He informed me, and talked with me, and said, O _Daniel_, I am now
come forth to give thee skill and understanding; at the beginning of
thy supplication, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show
thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter,
and consider the vision.” This passage, with such-like passages of
scripture, hath often comforted my soul, and may comfort the hearts of
all GOD’s people. There are a great many of you, perhaps, have prayed,
and prayed again to GOD, and probably you do not find any answer given
you: you pray for an enlarged heart, you pray for comfort, you pray for
deliverance; GOD is pleased to withhold it for a while; then the devil
strikes in, and says, GOD has shut out your prayers, GOD will never
hear, GOD will never regard you, therefore pray no more. But, my dear
friends, this is a mistake; a thousand years are with GOD as one day;
and the LORD JESUS has bid us, “to pray always, and not faint.” You
may have had your prayers heard, the very moment they went out of your
lips, though it may not please your GOD, (and it may not be proper
for you) to let you know that they are heard. “At the beginning of thy
supplication, the commandment went forth;” and this very angel some
hundred years after, told _Zacharias_, that his prayer was heard; a
prayer for what? a prayer for a child; it could not be supposed that
at the very time _Zacharias_ was praying for a child; but his prayer
he had put up forty years before, GOD was pleased to answer so long
afterwards.
But to proceed with _Gabriel_’s declaration, verse 24. “Seventy ♦weeks
are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish
transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,” I do not intend
to trouble you about the critical exposition of these _seventy weeks_;
commentators are divided exceedingly upon this subject; some of them
explain them one way, and some another, and perhaps we shall never
know till the day of judgment, till the glorious day spoken of in the
New Testament, which are right. My intention is to dwell upon this
particular part of the angel’s message, that some one person was to
do something _unspeakable_ for GOD’s people, even “to bring in an
everlasting righteousness.”
♦ “years” replaced with “weeks”
If you want to know who was the person that was to do this, look to
the 26th verse, and you will find the person mentioned, the LORD JESUS
CHRIST: “after threescore and two weeks shall the _Messiah_ be cut
off, but not for himself:” he is the person spoken of, he was “to put
an end to sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness.”
From these important words, I shall endeavour,
_First_, To shew you what we are to understand by the word,
“Righteousness.”
_Secondly_, I shall endeavour to shew you, upon what account it
is, that the righteousness mentioned in the text, is called an
“everlasting righteousness.”
_Thirdly_, I shall shew, what we are to understand by “bringing
it in.” And,
Then speak a word to saints and sinners. And while I am speaking to
your ears, may GOD, for the LORD JESUS CHRIST’s sake, speak to your
hearts!
_First_, To explain what we are to understand by the word,
“righteousness.” If I was to ask some people what we are to understand
by the word, righteousness; if the person was an _Arminian_, or an
enemy to the doctrine of free grace, he would answer me, it signifies
what we commonly call _moral honesty_, or doing justice between man
and man. And, indeed, in various passages of scripture, the word
righteousness has no other meaning, at least, it bears that meaning.
I suppose, we are to understand it in this sense, when we are told,
that _Paul_, preaching before _Felix_, “reasoned of temperance,
of righteousness, and of a judgment to come.” _Felix_ had been a
very unrighteous and unjust man, and therefore, to convince him of
his wickedness, to alarm his conscience, to put him upon seeking
help in the LORD JESUS, _Paul_ preached not only of temperance, (for
_Felix_ had been a very intemperate man) but he preached to him of
righteousness, of the necessity of doing justice, because he had been
an unjust man; and he puts before him the judgment to come, in order to
make him fly to JESUS CHRIST for deliverance from the bad consequences
of that judgment; and there are other places of scripture, where the
word righteousness may be understood in this sense.
It likewise signifies inward holiness, wrought in us by the blessed
Spirit of GOD. But, I believe, the word righteousness in my text
signifies, what, I trust most, I should be glad if I could say, all who
attend this night, will be glad to hear of: What is that? It is what
all reformed divines, that have clear heads and clear hearts, call an
_imputed righteousness_, or the righteousness of the LORD JESUS CHRIST
to be imputed to poor sinners upon their believing: and, if you ask me,
what I mean by an imputed righteousness; not to shoot over your heads,
but rather, if GOD shall be pleased to make me, to reach your hearts,
I will tell you, by this word “righteousness,” I understand all that
CHRIST hath done, and all that CHRIST hath suffered: or, to make use of
the term generally made use of by sound divines, “CHRIST’s active, and
CHRIST’s passive obedience;” put these two together, and they make up
the righteousness of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. My dear friends, thus stood
the case between GOD and man: at first GOD made man upright. _Moses_
gives us a short, but never was so full a description of the origin
and nature of man given by any other but himself. “In the image of GOD
made he man,” says that sacred historian, being inspired by the Spirit
of GOD. GOD said, and it was done; GOD commanded, and the world arose
before him; “Let there be light,” and instantaneously behold light
appeared: but when that lovely, that divine, that blessed creature Man,
the Lord of the creation, GOD’s vicegerent, was to be made, GOD calls
a council, and says, “Let us make man after our own image.” Now, this
image is to be understood, no doubt, in respect of man’s soul; for GOD
being no corporeal substance, man could not be made after his image
that way. Well, in this condition GOD made man. _Adam_ stood as our
representative. _Adam_ and _Eve_ had but one name originally, “GOD made
man, and called their name _Adam_.” GOD left _Adam_ to his own free
will; he was pleased to enter into a covenant with him, which, indeed,
is an amazing instance of GOD’s condescension. GOD might have ordered
man to do so and so, and not made him any promise of a reward: but
the great Creator was pleased to promise him, that if he performed an
unsinning obedience, if he abstained from eating a particular tree,
that he and his posterity should live for ever; but if He broke that
command, in the day that he ate thereof, he and all his posterity
were to die. Now, I verily believe, had you and I been there present,
however some people may object against GOD’s severity, in imputing
_Adam_’s sin to us; yet I believe, if you and I, and all the world
had been present, we should have heartily come into this agreement.
Supposing GOD had called the whole creation together, and had said,
“Ye, my creatures, I have made here a man after my own image, I have
breathed into him the breath of life, I have caused him to become a
living soul, I have filled him with righteousness and true holiness; he
has not the least propensity to sin, only he is a fallible and mutable
creature; all that I desire of this man is, that he abstain from yonder
tree: I have given to him all the trees of the garden, I have made
him, and planted for him a garden with mine own right hand, I desire he
may abstain from plucking yonder fruit: Will ye stand or fall by this
man, will ye let him be your representative, will ye be content that
his obedience or disobedience be imputed to you?” If we had been all
there, every one of us would have said, “LORD GOD, we will let him be
our representative;” the terms were so easy, the improbability of his
falling was so exceeding great, that I believe every one of us should
have all put our hand to the covenant. And supposing us alive, and that
we had agreed to that covenant, who is that man or woman that could
find fault with GOD’s imputing _Adam_’s sin to us. Well, my friends,
GOD made man in this condition; the devil envied his happiness; it is
supposed by some, that man was made to supply the places of the fallen
angels. But the devil envied man, and had leave to tempt him; _Eve_
soon reached out her hand and plucked of the forbidden fruit, and
afterwards _Adam_ transgressed also; and from that very moment, to make
use of Mr. _Boston_’s words, “Man’s name was _Ichabod_,” the glory of
the LORD departed from him. _Adam_ and _Eve_ then fell: you, and I, and
all their posterity (whom they represented) fell in them. Mankind had
but one neck; and GOD might have served mankind, as _Caligula_ would
have served _Rome_, according to his own words, “I wish it had but one
neck, and I would cut it off with one blow.” GOD, if he pleased, might
have sent us all to hell. Here _Calvin_ represents GOD’s attributes
as struggling one with another; Justice saying to GOD, seeing Justice
had framed the sanction, “Is the law broken, damn the offender, and
send him to hell.” The mercy of GOD, his darling attribute, cries out,
“Spare him, spare him.” The wisdom of GOD contrives a way, that justice
might be satisfied, and yet mercy be triumphant still. How was that?
The LORD JESUS interposes, the days-man, the dear Redeemer! he saw GOD
wielding his flaming sword, and his hand taking hold of vengeance; the
LORD JESUS CHRIST saw the sword ready to be sheathed in the blood of
the offender; when no eye could pity, when no angel or archangel could
rescue, just as GOD was, as it were, about to give the fatal blow, just
as the knife was put to the throat of the offender, the Son of GOD, the
eternal Logos, says, “Father, spare the sinner; let him not die; Father,
Father, O hold thy hand, withdraw thy sword, for I come to do thy will;
man has broken thy law, and violated thy covenant: I do not deny but
man deserves to be damned for ever; but, Father, what _Adam_ could not
do, if thou wilt prepare me a body, I in the fulness of time will go,
and die for him; he has broken thy law, but I will go and keep it, that
thy law may be honoured; I will give a perfect unsinning obedience to
all thy commandments; and that thou mayst justify ungodly creatures, I
will not only go down and obey thy law, but I will go down and bleed;
I will go down and die: here I am; I ♦will step in between thee and
sinners, and be glad to have thy sword sheathed in my heart’s blood for
them.”
♦ duplicate word “will” removed
In the fulness of time descends the eternal Logos, “In the fulness of
time GOD sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that are under the law from the curse of it, being made a
curse for us.” The LORD JESUS CHRIST being cloathed in human nature,
fulfilled all righteousness; he submitted to every institution of GOD,
and was pleased to obey the whole moral law; and afterwards, O can we
think of it, O can you hear of it, without a heart leaping with joy, at
last the LORD JESUS bled and died! and when he was just expiring, just
as he was about to bow down his head, and give up the ghost, what do ye
think he said? He said, “It is finished!” As much as to say, “Now the
arduous work, the difficult task I had undertaken, blessed be GOD, is
now completely over; all the demands of the law are finished; now GOD’s
justice is satisfied; now a new and living way is opened by my blood to
the holiest of all for poor sinners.”
So that when CHRIST’s righteousness is here spoken of, we are to
understand “CHRIST’s obedience and death,” all that CHRIST has done,
and all that CHRIST has suffered for an elect world, for all that will
believe on him. And blessed be GOD for this righteousness! blessed be
GOD for the epithet which in the text is put to this righteousness;
it might be called a _blessed_ righteousness, it might be called
a _glorious_ righteousness; it might be called an _invaluable_
righteousness; but the angel calls it an _everlasting righteousness_;
GOD give you to take the comfort of it!
_Secondly_, I am now to shew, on what account, this righteousness is
here called an _everlasting_ righteousness; and pray why do you think
is CHRIST’s righteousness called an everlasting righteousness?