Such was the condition imposed on God's only dear Son, when he undertook to mediate for fallen man : "He must make his own soul an offering for sin," and die in the stead of those whom he would redeem.
The benefit arising from his performance of that condition is seen in,
vol. viii. D D
II. The promises suspended on it —
Those specified in my text refer to three things ; the furtherance of man's welfare ; the advancement of Christ's glory ; and the accomplishment of the Fathers eternal purposes.
The furtherance of man's welfare entirely depended on Christ's performance of this condition. He could never have " seen a seed," nor could one of all the human race ever have been saved, without it. Our Lord himself both confirms and illustrates this by a beautiful comparison. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone : but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit a." But by dying he was to obtain a peo- ple whom he was to have for ever as his " purchased possession." It had been foretold respecting him that " a seed should serve him ; that all the ends of the earth should remember themselves and turn unto him ; and that they should be counted to him for a generation13." By conversion they were to stand re- lated to him as his children, as being begotten by his word and Spirit, and as receiving through him a hea- venly inheritance. These he was to " see." And be- hold, while he was yet in the very act of offering himself, he did see the earnest and first-fruits of his future harvest : in the very hour of death he con- verted the dying thief, and took him that very day to dwell with him in Paradise, as a monument of his victorious grace, and of his redeeming love. Nor had he long poured out his soul, when lo, another convert was born to God ! No sooner did the Centurion, who had been ordered to superintend the execution, behold the manner of his death, and the signs and wonders that attended it, than he exclaimed, " Truly this was a righteous man, this was the Son of God!" In the space of a few days thousands confessed his power, and through the operation of his Spirit, became sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Soon the hand- ful of corn cast on the top of the mountains sprang up like the piles of grass for number, and the cedars of
* John xii. 24. b Ps. xxii. 27, 30.
973.1 ciirtst's death a condition of salvation. 40.3
Lebanon for strength0. Even to the present hour his family is increasing in every quarter of the globe : and soon the time shall arrive, when " a nation shall be born in a day," and that word of his shall be lite- rally fulfilled, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." And when all the number of his elect shall have been gathered to him in successive ages, he will come and summon them all into his presence, that he may rejoice in them, and they in him, for ever and ever.
The advancement of his own glory was to be another fruit of the accomplishment of his engagements : " He shall prolong his days." This cannot relate to him as God, seeing that his divine nature necessarily exists in one unsuccessive eternity. But as man and as Mediator, he was to " prolong his days " in a state of glorious advancement, as a reward for terminating his days on earth under such circumstances of humi- liation and abasement. This also had been foretold in the inspired volume; " he shall live ; his name shall endure forever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun ; and men shall be blessed in him ; all na- tions shall call him blessed V Again, in another Psalm, " Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness ; thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever6." Accordingly, in spite of the stone, the seal, the watch, he rose tri- umphant, and ascended up far above all principalities and powers, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There shall he remain seated on his glorious throne, the one source of blessedness to all his creatures, till he shall come in the clouds of heaven, and take them to himself, that they may be one fold under one Shepherd for evermore. But all this glory was conditionally promised : he was first to become " obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ; and then he was to be highly exalted, and to have a name given him above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every