2. To all. If Jesus Christ seek you, that are not worth the having, oh, what should you do to serve him, who is all desire, as the spouse calletli him, Cant. i. 16, enough to invite me and others !
[1.] Desire him : Ps. Ixxiii. 25, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee.' Christ, that had no need of you, thirsted after you ; and who would not but pant for Christ ? Disclaim all other things, they are nothing to his gain. What is it, so I may win Christ? Phil. iii. 8, all is uotiiing, all is but dung and dross. Who would leave the pearl of price, to trade for dung ?
[2.] Pursue hard after him. The Lord Christ sought you with bruises in his body and travail in his soul ; and will you begrudge him an hour in duty, a little time in prayer ? When Augustus refused the petition of one of his soldiers, he told him, I did not serve you so at the battle of Actium : so may Christ say to us. Though you gain him by meditation, prayci-, hearing, great endeavours against the unbelief of your souls ; though you search for him about the city as the spouse doth, Cant. v. 2, which is spoken in allusion to Jerusalem, where God was worshipped in his ordinances ; though you go from duty to duty, yet still seek him ; Christ will recompense all the endeavours that are laid out in the pursuit of him.
[3.] Value him in the enjoyment. Alas! your travail is nothing to your gain : if Christ be sati.siied, you should much more be satisfied. Say then, as Jacob, ' It is enough, 1 have seen Joseph ; ' so say. It is enough, I have Christ : Ps. xvi. 5, G, ' The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance: the lines have fallen to me in a pleasant place; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' It is like the trade with the Indians, you have gold for a toy, a glass, or a bason. Therefore you may well be satisfied; this labour is well spent, these carnal desires well renounced : Oh, it is all made up abundantly above whatever I could part with for it. Therefore say as the psalmist, Ps. ciii. 2, ' Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits,' as it is in the Hebrew. You may say, Here is a wonderful recompense indeed.
ISA. LIII. 11.] THE FirTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 415
By Jiis knoivledge shall my righteous servant justify many. We are now come to that clause wherein one particular glorious effect of God's covenant with Christ, and his obedience answerable thereunto, is mentioned ; to wit, justification, which is here set out to us by most of its considerable causes. Here is the efficient cause ; the instrumental cause on God's part, the doctrine of the gospel. On our part, the knowledge of God ; for it may be taken either way, hy his knoivledge, or hy the knoivledge of him. The meritorious cause ; and that is the satisfaction of Christ. The subject of it, many.
The first thing that is offered to us in the order of the words is the instrumental cause of justification : bedaato, ' by his knowledge.' There is some little difference about the opening of this word. The Septuagint do plainly pervert the sense of it, while they reflect upon the person spoken of in this chapter, and render it thus : That God would show him light, and form his mind with knowledge, and justify his righteous servant that served many. But we need not stay upon that among Christians.
1. Some take it actively, for the knowledge which he shall give out concerning himself, the doctrine of the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation, because it containeth the revelation of the righteousness of Christ: Kom. i. 16, ' I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' And it is contradistinguished to the law, which holdeth out a discovery of sin : Kom. iii. 20, ' By the law is the knowledge of sin ; ' and so worketh wrath, as it is said, Kom. iv. 15 ; that is, all that we can get out of the law is guilt and wrath ; and that will show us that we are in a condition not to be justified, and the sadness and misery of that condition. But now the gospel, that discovereth a way of justi- fication, even for the justification of sinners. 'By his knowledge;' that is, by his doctrine, by his gospel, he shall discover a way of justification.
2. It is taken passively, for our apprehension of Christ ; for so it may be rendered : ' By the knowledge of him shall he justify them.' And this I conceive to be most proi)er to this place, though I cannot wholly exclude the other. The other without this is nothing ; the gospel condemneth rather than justifieth, where it is not apprehended and embraced by faith. Christ saith, they had no sin if he had not spoken to them, John xv. 22 ; that is, not so much sin. And it is said, John iii. 19, ' This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light ; ' that is, the light of the gospel by accident proveth the cause of the greatest con- demnation. Therefore you must take in this ; and besides, the words will bear it. First, it must be so, for the prophet speaketh not only of a way of justification, but of actual justification. But then all the difficulty will be, why we are said to be justified by knowledge, since everywhere the scripture carries it for faith, and usually faith is made the instrument in our justification. We apprehend the righteousness of Christ for justification. There may be divers reasons given for the expression.