Secondly, He shall see his seed, notetli the increase that is implied in the phrase seed put indefinitely : it is put for a multitude, such a seed as is worth looking after. Observe then —
Second observation. That Jesus Christ hath a plenteous seed and numerous offspring. In the exposition I showed you it is plural, ' He shall see his seecZ-s'.' Itis parallel with that, 'He shall see his chil- dren's children.' A seed propagated through many successions of ages. This appeareth by the promises made to the types of Christ ; as —
1. To several of the patriarchs, &c., viz., Isaac, Ham, Jacob, David, whose posterity was a shadow of it : Jer. xxxii. 22, ' As the host of iieaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multii)ly the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.' Great shall be the number of those that are grafted into Christ, and made kings and priests to him. So to Abraham : Gen. xxviii. 14, ' And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south ; and in thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' It is meant principally of the holy and spiritual seed: Gen. xxxii. 12, 'I will surely do thee good, and make tliy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' Balaam says, Num. xxiii. 10, ' Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israeli' It is meant of Jacob's sons that are propagated ; and it is meant of Israel's sons among the Gentiles ])i-incipally, though not with exclusion of the other : Hosea i. 10, ' Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measuied nor numbered ; and it shall be said to them, Ye are the sons of the living God ;' which is applied by the apostle to the church among the Gentiles.
2. To the church : Isa. liv. 1,2,' Sing, 0 barren, thou that didst not bear ; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not
ISA. LIII. 10.] THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 395
travail with child : for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen tliy stakes.' It is said, the land should grow too little : Isa. xlix. 19, ' The land shall be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants ;' Isa. Ix. 8, ' Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to the windows ? ' Doves fly in flocks, so that they even darken the air.
3. To Christ ; as here, that he should see his seed : Ps. ii. 8, ' Ask of me, and I will give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- most parts of the earth for thy possession ;' Eev. vii. 9, 'After tliis I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb.'
Use 1. Be not discouraged at the church's paucity and fewness. Men say they are popular, and go against the whole world : Gen. xix. 9, 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge.' Elijah was zealous alone. Do not be discouraged. A grain of mus- tard-seed will grow into a tree. Mat. xiii. A little flock may increase, so that you must stretch forth the curtains, and strengthen the stakes. The little stone hewed out of the mountain filled the whole earth, Dan. ii. 35 ; and Job viii. 7, ' Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.'
2. Wait and pray for the increase of it, for the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, Kom. xi. 25. Pray that the waters of the sanctuary may go out to the former and latter sea, Zech. xiv. 8.
We are now come to the second fruit of the sufferings of Christ : ' He shall prolong his days ; ' that is, though he die, the term of his life shall never be the shorter for it ; he shall live for ever. Some apply this to the seed of Christ before mentioned ; as if the sense were, He shall prolong the days of his seed. And the Seventy favour this sense in their translation, for they render this clause with the former, ' He shall see his seed to be long-lived.' I confess the result is the same ; for if Christ be long-lived, we shall be long-lived ; our life and glory hang upon his life and glory. But I conceive this phrase more ex- pressly and properly doth concern Christ himself The point is then —
Doct. That the days of the Lord Jesus Christ were not shortened by his dying, but rather prolonged and lengthened out to eternity.
I cannot give you the full discussion, having spoken much concern- ing it upon that place which I shall now quote as the proof of it : Isa. liii. 8, ' Who shall declare his generation ? ' that is, who can count the number of his age and duration ? The reason is —