indeed desired, yet I do comfort and bear up my heart with this, that my heavenly Father knows that in the office and place wherein he hath set me, I have faithfully done all that could be done for the • salvation of poor sinners' souls, and for the securing of them from wrath to come : ' And my work,' or reward, ' with my God;' that is, the reward of my work, or my wages for my work, which God will render unto me, not according to the issue or success of my labours, but ac- cording to my pains therein taken, and the faithful discharge of my office and duty therein. What, saith Christ, though the Jews believe not, repent not, return not to the Most High, yet my labour is not lost, for my God will really, he wUl signally reward me. Upon this, God the Father comes (y& more freely and roundly, and opens his heart more abundantly to Jesus Christ, and tells him in the fifth and sixth verses following, that he will give him full, complete, and honourable satis- faction for all his pains and labours in preaching, in doing, in suffer- ing, in dying, that he might bring many sons to glory. Ver. 5, ' And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel is not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.' In this verse you have a further encouragement to our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father engaging himself not only to support him and protect him in the work of his ministry, but of making him glorious in it and by it also ; and that though his work should not prove so successful among his own people as he desired, yet his ministry should become very glorious and efficacious upon the Gentiles, far and near, throughout the whole world, i Jesus Christ is very confident of his being high in the esteem of his Father for the faithful discharge of his duty ; and that, notwithstanding all the hard measure that he met with from the body of the Jews, that yet his Father would crown him with honour and glory, and that he would enable him to go through the work that is incumbent upon him, and that he would protect him and defend him in his work, against all might and malice, all power and policy, that should make head against him. Ver. 6, ' And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth.' Thus you see that God the Father still goes on to shew that the labours of Christ should be very glorious, not only in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of all the world. You know else- where Christ is called ' the way, the truth, and the life,' John xiv. 6 ; and here he is called the light and salvation of the Gentiles. God the Father, speaking to Jesus Christ, tells him that it was but a small matter, a mean thing — Heb., it is too light — for him to have such happy and ample success as to i-educe and win the Jews, in compari- son of that further work that he intended to effect by him, even the salvation of the Gentiles unto the ends of the earth. God the Father seems to say thus to Jesus Christ, The dignity and worthiness of thy person, thou being the eternal and only Son of God, as also the high office whereunto I have called thee, requireth more excellent things than that thou shouldest only raise up and restore the people of Israel
1 John V. 20, 23, x. 15, 17, and xvii. 1, 5 ; Phil. ii. 9.
336 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
to their right ; I have also appoiDted and ordained thee for a Saviour to the G-entiles, even to the ends of the earth ; therefore though the greatest part among the Jews will not receive thee nor submit unto thee, yet the Gentiles they shall own thee and honour thee, they shall embrace thee and give themselves up unto thee. I shall be briber in the remaining proofs ; and therefore,
(4,) The fourth scripture is that, Isa. lii. 13, 14, ' Behold, my ser- vant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.' i The three last verses of this chapter, with the next chapter, do jointly make up an entire prophecy concerning Christ his person, parentage, condition, manner of life, sufferings, humiliation, exaltation, &c., with the noble benefits that redound to us, and the great honour that redounds to himself. In these two verses you have — (1.) The two parties contracting, viz., G6d the Father, and Jesus Christ : ' Behold my servant,' saith God the Father. This title is several times given by the Father to Jesus Christ, because he did the Father great service in the work of man's redemption, freeing fallen man from the thraldom of sin and Satan. (2.) Both parties are very sure and confident of the event of the paction, and of the accom- plishment of the whole work of redemption : ' Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.' Here are divers terms heaped up to express in part the trans- cendent and unexpressible advancement of Jesus Christ. When men are raised from a mean and low estate to some honourable condition, when men are furnished with such parts and endowments of prudence, wisdom, and understanding as makes them admirable in the eyes of others, and when they are enabled to do and suffer great things whereby they become famous and renowned far and near, then we say they are highly exalted. Now in all these respects our Lord Jesus Christ was most eminently exalted above all creatures in heaven and earth, as is most evident throughout the Scriptures. (3.) He tells you of the price which Jesus Christ should pay for the redemption of his people, agreed upon by paction, viz., the humbling of himself to the death of the cross, as you may see in ver. 14 : ' As many were astonished at thee ; his visage was so marred, more than any man's, and his form more than the sons of men.' This is the speech of the Father to Jesus Christ ; his visage was so marred that the Jews were ashamed to own him for their King and Messiah. The astonishment here spoken of is such an astonishment as ariseth from the contempla- tion of some strange, uncouth, and rueful spectacle of desolation, de- formity, and misery. And no wonder if many were astonished at the sight of our Saviour's condition, in regard of those base, disgraceful, and despiteful usages that were offered and done to him in the time of his humiliation here on earth, when his own followers were so amazed at the relation of them when they were foretold of them. Mat. x. 32-34. 0 sirs ! the words last cited are not so to be understood as if our blessed Saviour had, in regard of his bodily person or presence, been some strange, deformed, or misshapen creature, Isa. liii. 3, but in regard of his outward estate, coming of mean and obscure parents,