Docl. That Jesus Christ taketh an infinite contentment and satis- faction in the salvation of sinners.
I shall give you — (1.) Evidences of it; (2.) The reasons of it.
1. For the evidences : —
[1.] Christ pleased and entertained himself in the thought of it be- fore the world was: Prov. viii. 31, 'Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.' But why the habitable parts ? The inhabitable are also the work of God's hands. There are objects of wonder — there is the great leviathan, and there is the sun, moon, and stars ; but no men there with whom he was to dwell, or whom he was to save. Next to the complacency he took in God tiie Father, this was the delight of Christ, that he should come into the world and recover a people to himself.
IsA. LIII. 11.] THE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 409
[2.] This was the end and aim of his coming into the world ; and it is pleasant when a man hath attained his end, especially if it be greatly desired and much laboured for. For delight is according to the degree of the desire and labour.
(1.) Desires : Luke xii. .50, ' I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ! ' Luke xxii, 15, * With desire have I desired to eat this passover ; ' that was immedi- ately before his death. And it is remarkable, when Peter dissuaded him from suffering, Christ rebuked him with the same words that he did Satan tempting him to idolatry : Mat. xvi. 23, with iv. 10, ' He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.'
(2.) Labour. According to the labour in the means, so is the joy in the end : ' God hath made me forget all my toil,' saith Joseph, Gen. xli. 51, when advanced after all his hardships and sorrows ; Ps. cxxviii. 2, * Thou shalt eat of the labour of thine hands, and happy shalt thou be.' These were the wished, longed, laboured-for fruits of his mediation : no such sorrows as his sorrows, therefore no such satis- fying joys ; things that are the purchase of his blood — things dearly bought, are highly prized. Rachel is brought in mourning because she had a son in sorrows, Jer. xxxi. 15 ; John xvi. 21, 'A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come ; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more her anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.' This was Christ's travail, and the end that he pursued the salvation of poor, lost, and undone sinners.
[3.] Now, in heaven it is his rejoicing to see the work thrive : Luke XV. 7, ' Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth ; ' and ver. 10, ' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth ; ' that the lost sheep is found, and the lost son returned : John xv. 11, ' These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.' There is our joy and Christ's joy ; these are distinct things, joy in us and for us. It is not only matter of rejoicing to us to be taken to grace, but a rejoicing to Christ. When he seeth the gospel prevail, when sins are pardoned, hearts are sanctified, their spirits comforted, he is more pleased in this, and rejoiced in this than you can be, when he heareth in heaven and knoweth how it is with your souls on earth.
[4.] When he shall come from heaven to judge the world, oh, with what triumph and rejoicing will he come, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father ! 1 Cor. xv. 24 ; Heb. ii. 13, ' Behold I and the children which thou hast given me.' Ee will present them and show them to God as the fruit and proof of his death. See what joy and rejoicing Paul had as a subordinate instrument : 1 Thes. ii. 19, ' For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?' They are the fruit of his ministerial labours. Paul had not such an interest in them as Christ had ; the main virtue came from his death.
But to determine the point, what this contentment and satisfaction is — negatively and positively : —
1. Negatively. It is not only that complacency which God taketh in acts of grace and mercy : Micah vii. 18, ' He delighteth in mercy.'
410 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 11.
It is a native act. Justice is as natural to God as mercy ; yet the exercise of justice in a punitive way presupposeth a foregoing act of ours ; and the due desert of the creatures' punishment is wrested and extorted from him, and therefore called his ' strange work,' Isa. xxviii. 21 : but mercy, like live honey, dropj)eth of its own accord ; the exer- cise of it is more pleasing to him : Lara. iii. 33, ' He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.' It is not from 'his heart ; for when the rod is in his hand, tears are in his eyes ; but, on the other side, Jer. xxxii. 41, ' I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart and whole soul.' It is an act most suitable to the nature of God, which goetli before, and is done without any regard to the creatures' desert ; this is part of it.