like ourselves, but of one who is " over all, God blessed for ever." (Rom. ix. 3.) We need not wonder that the sufferings of one person were a sufficient propitiation for the sin of a world, when we remember that He who suffered was the " Son of God."
Let believers cling to this doctrine with jealous watch- fulness. With it, they stand upon a rock. Without it, they have nothing solid beneath their feet. Our hearts are weak. Our sins are many. We ueed a Redeemer who is able to save to the uttermost, and deliver from the wrath to come. We have such a Redeemer in Jesus Christ. He is " the mighty God." (Isaiah ix. 6.)
Let us observe, in the second place, how the beginning of the Gospel ivas a fulfilment of Seripture. John the Baptist began his ministry, " as it is written in the prophets."
There was nothing unforeseen and suddenly contrived in the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. In the very beginning of Genesis we find it predicted that " the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." (Gen. iii. 15.) All through the Old Testament we find the same event foretold with constantly increasing clearness. It was a promise often renewed to patriarchs, and repeated by prophets, that a Deliverer and Redeemer should one day come. - His birth, His character, His life, His death, His resurrection, His forerunner, were all prophesied of, long before He came. Redemption was worked out and accomplished in every step, just "as it was written."
We should always read the Old Testament with a desire to find something in it about Jesus Christ. We study this portion of the Bible with little profit, if we can see in it