Christ's sufferings fore-ordained.
Acts iv. 27, 28. Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom
thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
A COMPARISON of events with prophecy is a source of the strongest conviction and consolation to the mind. So the Apostles found it in the hour of trial, when, for the Gospel's sake, they had been im- prisoned, and menaced with the severest punishment that could be inflicted on them. They saw that the prophecies relating to their Divine Master had all been unwittingly fulfilled, even by his bitterest ene- mies : and they comforted themselves with the thought, that the same God, who had so accomplished his own gracious purposes in relation to him, would in like manner bring glory to himself out of the sufferings which they also were called to endure. They cite before God the prediction brought to their minds ; and they declare, that, in all which had been done to the holy child Jesus, they saw nothing less than a complete accomplishment of God's eternal counsels and decrees.
In discoursing on these words, I will,
I. Confirm their assertion —
The assertion is made in the form of an appeal to God : and it relates to the sufferings of Christ,
1. As fore-ordained of God — [All of them were fore-ordained, when God determined to give up his only dear Son to die for the sins of men. Man had merited condemnation : and Jesus must be condemned by a legal process, and be " numbered with transgressors." Man had incurred the penalty of God's law, and was to be accursed from God : and Christ must die a death which God's law pro- nounced accursed, even the death of the cross a. In executing this judgment, there must be a concurrence of all orders of men,
a Gal. iii. 13.
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Jews and Gentiles, the highest rulers and the lowest populace ; Jews, to accuse him according to their law ; and Gentiles, to adjudge him to a death which was not recognised by that law, and which could be inflicted by Gentiles only. Man had deserved the utmost shame and contempt : and to these must Jesus be exposed, even as one " worthy to be abhorred" by all man- kind1'. He must be scourged alsoc, though that was no part of the punishment connected with crucifixion. A vast number of very minute circumstances, also, were to attend his cruci- fixion. He was to be betrayed by one of his own Disciples ; sold for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave ; and, whilst yet upon the cross, to be taunted by the populace, and chal- lenged, if he were not an impostor, to save himself. Vinegar was to be offered to him, instead of a draught that should assuage his anguish : lots were to be cast for his vesture : and though no bone of his was to be broken, he was to be pierced in his hands and feet, and in his side even to the heart d. Together with these, and a multitude of other minute circum- stances which were ordained of God to be attendant on his death, it was appointed that he should " make his grave with the rich."
And all these things the Apostles speak of,]
2. As executed by man —
[The Psalmist clearly predicts the union of all manner of persons, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, in the execution of this bloody tragedy. And the Apostles call God to witness, that the prophecy adduced had been literally fulfilled in Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentile soldiers and the people Israel e. Yea, so exactly had every prophecy been fulfilled, that it seemed as if all the different classes had been called together, to examine carefully into the predictions; and each person had had his part assigned him, so that not one jot or tittle of them might remain unfulfilled. Judas shall betray him. The chief priests, unable, by reason of their subjection to the Romans, to execute their own law, shall deliver him to Pilate, the Roman governor. He, willing to pacify them, shall have him scourged ; but afterwards shall be constrained, by their clamour, to give orders for his crucifixion. The populace shall be ready enough, each in his place, to fulfil the rest ; and the Roman soldier, to ascertain, or complete, his death, shall pierce him with the spear. All shall be as active as if they had conspired together to per- form their respective parts, and to accomplish every prediction respecting him. Thus it had been ordained of God that it should be : and thus, in fact, it was ; every one acting an