Let us next inquire into,
II. The grounds and reasons of this commission —
It was the Father's purpose to exercise mercy to- wards our fallen race : but he would do it in a way that should be consistent with his own perfections. Hence he gave us his only-begotten Son to be our substitute and surety : and against him, when stand- ing in that capacity, he called forth the sword ;
1. To shew his indignation against sin —
[We presume not to say what God might have done, if it had pleased him : but we are sure that " it became him, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their sal- vation perfect through sufferings0." As the Moral Governor of the Universe, it became him to vindicate the honour of his broken law, and to mark his utter abhorrence of iniquity : and this he did more strongly and effectually in smiting his only- begotten Son, than if he had smitten the whole human race. As for the children of men, they are but worms of the earth, far inferior to the angels that fell : but Christ was his co-equal, co-eternal Son, his fellow, his equal. O what an evil must sin be, when God would not suffer it to pass unpunished even in the person of his own Son, on whom it was found only by imputa- tion! We may be well assured, that, on whomsoever it be found in the last day, it will be visited with " wrath to the uttermost."]
2. To reconcile justice with mercy in the salvation
of sinners —
[Had sin been pardoned without any atonement, the claims of justice must have been superseded. But God would not exalt mercy at the expense of justice ; and therefore he devised a way of satisfying the demands of justice, whilst he listened with complacency to the voice of mercy. " He laid our iniquities upon " his only dear Son, and exacted of him the debt which had been incurred by us : and that debt he paid to the utter- most farthing ; so that justice itself has nothing more to require of us, provided only we plead what Christ has done and suffered in our behalf. Thus has God become "a just God and a Saviour," or, as St. Paul expresses it, he is "just, and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus."]
Such being the reasons for this mysterious com- mission, we proceed to notice,
III. The effects and consequences of it —
0 Heb. ii. 11.