The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 300

be; and yet it is still true of many, "He is despised and rejected ; n "They bide their faces from him." II. THE FITNESS OF CHRIST TO MEET THE DEEPEST HUMAN NEEDS, The needs of man as man; and the needs of man as fa lien, sinful man. There are two th ino-s we can think of as left in our nature, relics of the old Eden-glory-the wish to kno; God, and the desire to find what is good. Wherever there is the conception of God there ie the inquiry, "Who is he? What is he? Where is he?" The gods many of heathen lands are attempted answers t.o man's cry after God. Christ met this want., and be alone has met it. In his Person he brings God down to the sphere of our human scenes, human thoughts, human language. He offers his earth-life to men and says to them " Behold your God!" You see men pursuing all kinds of ends; they are seeking th; supply of :the great want of t~eir nature, they are trying to :find what is gooil. But th~ pure, the !true, the self-denying, was never so set before men as in the earthly life of the Lord !Jesus. Virtue then clothed herself in human garb. It is only half a truth to say," He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," for he was the positive embodiment of all truth and grace and goodness. And, further than this, Christ also met the con- ·ditions and needs of man as fallen and sinful. The "Fall" has left on man a sense of 1Separat.ion from God. We have not, now, a consciousness of near relations and happy ifellowship with God ; Christ came to restore it to us, by taking away the hindrances ,outside us and in us. When Jesus came to our world, the needs of fallen sinful man .were being felt more pressingly than ever before; the world was anxiously looking for ,a Revealer and Redeemer. Jew and Gentile united in the out-looking: Jews from the )helplessness of a ceremonial out of which the life and meaning had gone; Gentiles from _itbe dissatisfaction of multiplying senseless idols. And yet, though Christ brought the 'supply of the deepest need men knew, the fact remains, "he was despised and rejected ,of men." Humanity is usually keen in its endeavour to secure its own interests, but there it straDgely, sadly fails. It it be asked why it fails here, we can only say, because !Christ brings the humbling conviction of sin, and the pride of men resists. We are all ,willing to have our nee~ met and supplied; but we resist the idea that, as guilty, help- 'less sinners before God, we mnst I\Sk for mercy, free, sovereign mercy.-R. T. Vers. 4, 5.-Man's thm,ghts of God's Sujfere'f'. The prophet sets before us an unusual Bufferer, and bids us t.hink what can be the explanation of such sufferings. 1. It might 'be punishment for sin; as was David's bitter trial in the matter of Absalom. 2. It 'might be discipline of character; as was the suffering of Job. Neither of these will ,suffice for the case that Isaiah presents. 3. It might be vicarious, a burden-bearing for others. This only will suffice to explain the unusual woes of Messiah. Treating the subject more fully, we note- ' L MAN's EXPLANATIONS OF THE MYSTERY OF CnBIST'B BUFFEnINOS. "We did esteem ,him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." 1. Take the case of a man who was told of our Lord's sufferings and death, but had no knowledge of his personal innocence. 1 ,Such a man would know that God has established a direct connection between sin and 1 suffering. Suffering is the universal and necessary consequence of sin. The association lis plain in regard to our bodily nature. Disregard of the nlles of health, exposure to changing seasons, or indulgence in unwholesome food, are certainly followed by bodily ,suffering and peril. Adam sinned, and at once suffering came, in the upwelliag of passion, the hiding of God's favour, and the loss of Eden. Cain sinned, and suffering ,came, as remorse and disgrace. David sinned, and bis "bones waxed old through his 'roaring." Such a man, then, would have good grounds for suspecting sin wherever he found suffering, and for arguing that there must be unusual sin if there is unusual suffering. Job's friends argued thus; and, so far as surface-truth is concerned, they argued fairly enough. We cannot wonder if the man should say that Christ's sufferings must be explained on the ground that Christ has sinned, and is bearing the nat11ral and necessary consequences of hie transgressions. To the casual observer there was nothing so extraordinary about Christ's sufferings as to make his an exceptional case, requiring an exceptional explanation. He was condemned after trial by Pilate; he was only treated in accordance with the cust.om of the age; he made high pretensions, he called himself "King of the Jews," and so, when he was condemned, the Roman soldiers taunted him, and Jewish fanatics insulted him. .And such a man would have a further cnr. Lm. 1-12.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 311