[1.] The assaults of spiritual wickednesses. The'devil, seeing Christ under great agonies, thought he had a great advantage upon him, and therefore was very busy with him. Now God gave him leave,, and Christ offered as it were the occasion, being stirred with passions ; though, as a glass of clean water that is shaken, there was no filth to arise. God gave Satan leave, the chains of his providence being taken, off from him, as in that place, Luke xxii. 53, ' This is your hour, and the power of darkness : ' 77 o)pa, koI rj i^ovala rod ctkotov?. Hell's licentious time, — it was, as it were, let loose to do what it would. The devil, who would tempt Christ in his fasting, would now much more in his dissolution and desertion : hell had a kind of license to tempt Christ, so far as it might stand with the innocency of his person.
[2.] The desertion of God the Father, whereby all comfort was eclipsed and hidden from his soul ; he was sequestered from all sense of comfort, though the union w^re not dissolved. Therefore, he crieth out, Mat. xxvii. 46, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Though he lost his Father's love, it was not as if he had apprehensions that there was any change in God towards him ; God was the same to Christ still, though not appearing in the same way : as the sun is the same, whether it shine through a red or green glass, and so castetli sometimes a comfortable and sometimes a bloody reflection.
[3.] He suffered inwardly the impressions of his Father's wrath, and that was a heavy burden indeed ; and, therefore, he saith, Mat. xxvi. 38, ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' It is said. Gal. iii. 13, He was ' made a curse for us ; ' not only deprived of love, but made a curse. He suffered so much of the wrath of God, and underwent the curse of the law, so far forth as it might stand with hifc; office and person, that, if he had not been God, he would have re- mained under that curse to all eternity.
2. How he suffered. It was with a great deal of reluctancy and consternation expressed in his prayers, fears, grief, insomuch that he needed an angel to comfort him ; and yet, notwithstanding, he was in so great an agony, that he sweat great drops of blood : the Avord is 6p6jjL/3oL, crumbs and clots of blood, Luke xxii. 44. That implieth a great deal of consternation of mind. Ordinarily, men, when they are in a great passion, emit sweat ; but the impression of it was so strong upon Christ that he emitted blood, — nay, thick clots of blood, a sign.
268 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [IsA. LIII. 4.
tliat his soul laboured under the violence of strong passions. How poorly, then, do tliey ])rovide for tlie honour of our Saviour that say he suffered no more than the cruelty and malice of men ! The mar- tyrs have suffered a great deal of more outward cruelty from men cheerfully, when they have been sawed, burned, melted, roasted, har- rowed, boiled in lead or oil. They never felt much agonies and con- sternations, and, therefore, there was more in Christ's suffering than man's cruelty.
3. Let us consider why he sufifered, and how that will clear the con- clusion we have in hand.
[1.] He suffered to free us from the wrath which he endured, that was one end : 1 Thes. i. 10, ' Even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.' Therefore, he underwent it in his own person ; and the pains of hell did in a maimer compass him round ;about. The ground of this reason lieth in this, that Christ was our surety and sub- stitute, and, therefore, was to subject himself to that wrath which we had deserved by our sins, and should have endured in our persons, if he had not redeemed us from it. Our surety must carry our sorrows. He was to suffer not only for us, but in our name and stead ; and the surety was to pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth : Heb. vii. 22, Jesus was ' made a surety of a better testament.' The debt of punishment was to be exacted of him, as well as the debt of obedience. Jesus was made our surety, and he fully satisfied God's justice for that punishment that we owed to him by sufi'ering it in his own ])erson.
[2.J He was to suffer to satisfy for our sins that he had taken upon him ; for our sins were really put upon Christ, as was shown in the former point. And if tlie sins and the i)unisliment, which was the wrath of God, it followelh by a necessary consequence, that he who bore our griefs should also carry our sorrows. The ground of this reason is, because, as God meant to magnify his mercy at this time, .so also his justice. He would not pardon sin without satisfaction for sin in us, or in our surety : Ps. cxvi. 5, ' Gracious is the Lord, and righteous.' Now, if God had restored mankind without requiring our sins of Christ, he liad oidy discovered his mercy. Nay, if an ordinary death had been accepted, as some dream of an acceptation, it had been all grace still. Now, it was God's design to ex})ress his justice as well as his mercy: Rom. iii. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a pro- pitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins.' And the ajjostle repeateth it, ver. 2G, ' To declare, I say, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ; ' that is, that he might be acknow- ledged just, even while of mercy he forgave sins. This is what the light of nature teacheth men, that justice must be satisfied before mercy could have a free passage. And, indeed, in the business of be- lieving, the soul sticketh here : God is a just God, and this was what made the mo.st seeing and knowing heathens to be at a loss how divine justice could be satisfied ; and, therefore, to expiate guilt, they would give all that was near and dear to them, — tlie fruit of their bodies for the sin of their souls. Whereas the gosj)el, you see, liold- ctli it forth in a sweet way, — Christ suffering the infinite wrath of his