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“Has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?” Isaiah 27:7
WE cannot doubt, I think, but these words have special reference unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and having reference to him, they at the same time may apply to the people of God, that they are subjects of tribulations, and become smitten in a variety of ways, even by the Lord himself, as it is written, “He has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know:” and if our experience be real, and be of the Spirit of God, whatever things we neglect beside, we shall not neglect that one thing of following on “to know the Lord;” and the day will come when we shall realize that which embodies everything we can need; we shall know that “his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth;” encircling us with nothing but mercy, lovingkindness, and gentleness; “Your gentleness has made me great.” Now, we have this morning fairly two things to notice in our text. First, the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, the contrast between his destiny and that of his enemies.
First, then, just a word upon the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. “Has he smitten him?” This term leads us to the suffering of the Savior. The sword of the law smote him in a way I shall presently have to notice. Let me first just then, have a word or two upon the infinitely delightful theme of the substitutional suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we are, as the 33rd of Isaiah says, and, indeed, as our own experience has shown us, and as observation shows us, that, we are by nature so besotted that we despised and rejected him in his substitutional work; there was no comeliness to us, and when we saw him in the light of mere intellect and the letter of the word, there was no beauty that we should desire him. But by-and-bye, when we were brought under griefs, when the pains of hell got somewhat hold of us, that is, the fears of hell got somewhat hold of us, and the sorrows of death began somewhat to compass us about, we then began to call upon the name of the Lord. Then comes in the substitutional suffering of the dear Savior. “Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;” and “yet,” while we were in a state of nature, “we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,” Just so now that which represents him on earth, namely, the truth, it has no beauty in the eyes of the carnal mind, and the ministers and people of God have no real beauty in the eyes of the carnal mind. “Nevertheless, his delights were with the sons of men.” “Surely he has borne our griefs;” we who are sinners, we who despised him; in the face of all this our blind enmity, “he has borne our griefs; he was wounded for our transgressions.” That must be your hope; you will never get rid of your transgressions; you cannot get rid of them by undoing them, because they are done, and they cannot be undone; you cannot get rid of your transgressions by eradicating them from your nature; for “The transgression of the wicked,” said David, “within my heart says, there is no fear of God before his eyes.” You have a nature in which dwells no good thing, consequently, not the fear of God; therefore, you cannot get rid of your transgressions by anything you can do. But Jesus Christ, precious faith in him gets rid of the whole; “he was wounded for our transgressions.” He has done the work, God help you to honor him with your confidence; he has done the work, God help you to honor him with your best affection; he has done the work, God help you to honor him with your heart and soul decision for him. “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Here, then, is the great remedy; here is God's greatest of all appointments; here is God's greatest of all objects, the freeing of all his people from all their sin, and causing them to rise by this Spotless One into that light which no natural man has seen, nor can see, unto which no natural man has approached, or can approach; it is a light above the brightness of the sun; and into this light, the term light meaning everything that is blessed, we come by the substitutional suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just see what is connected with this. Here is his substitutional suffering as the way in which we have peace with God. Now, let us see in what way his people are connected with this, whether they are connected with what he has done by anything that is good on their part; because, if they are connected with his death, and with what he has achieved in his suffering, by something good on their part, then, of course, it is conditional, and salvation is not free. Let us, therefore, see in what character they are connected with what Christ has suffered, as there set forth in the 53rd chapter of this beautiful book, Isaiah. Notice the next words to those I have just quoted; that “with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;” nothing good there; “we have turned everyone to his own way.” And how, then, did the Lord, in the face of this, deal with us? The next sentence is worth more than a thousand worlds; it dropped into my soul this morning like honey from the Rock of ages; “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Of all whom? All who are brought to know their need of him; all who are brought to see him as the Substitute and the Surety; all who are brought to receive him in what he has done. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And, says Peter to those that are brought in by electing grace, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God;” to those that are brought in by the Father's abundant mercy; to those that are brought in by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; to those that are brought in by the power of God; to those that are brought into that order of things in sweet accordance with, and expressive of, indeed, the new covenant; he says, “For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” The word bishop, as you are aware, simply signifies an overseer, one that oversees the people. “You are now returned unto the Shepherd aid Bishop of your souls.” Here then, is the suffering of Christ, and here is the relation in which the people stand to that suffering. I need not remind you, but I cannot help stopping for a moment just to breathe out an expression of love to the blessed God for sending such a Savior; love to the dear Savior that he has wrought such a wondrous work as this. I need not, then, remind you of the 5th chapter of Romans, where the apostle enlarges upon the death of Christ, and in every instance in that lovely paragraph, the first part of the 5th chapter of Romans, he sets nothing in the creature over against the death of Christ but the badness of the creature. I will venture to say, that if there had been any goodness in the creature, the Holy Ghost would not have done the creature the injustice to have denied it. Therefore, it is, if Christ died, it was for them that were without strength; if he suffered, it was for the ungodly; if he suffered, it was for sinners; if he suffered, it was for enemies. Then what a glorious gospel is that of the blessed God. Here, then, is the substitutional suffering of Christ. That is a beautiful scripture I just now mentioned in prayer, “The life that I now live is by the faith of the Son of God, and for me to live is Christ.” The idea there is, that the apostle was enabled to take Christ in his substitutional life and make that his life. I do not live by my own righteousness, my own strength, or by anything of my own; I live by his righteousness, I wear that; as though he should say, That is my life. And if we see. that the Lord deals with us according to the worth and worthiness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then we are enabled to take his death, his precious blood, and that is to be our life. How beautifully was this typified under the Old Testament dispensation! the lamb in the morning, the lamb in the evening, every day the sacrifice. Just so now. Where is our daily bread, and what is our daily bread, but Christ Jesus the Lord? Thus, then, he was smitten of God as our Surety; smitten of man blasphemously, maliciously, persecutingly. But “has God smitten him as he smote those that smote him?” Let us take another step in this. He was slain, the Lord Jesus Christ was slain. “Awake, O sword, smite the shepherd.” What are we to understand there by the sword smiting him? The ninth of Daniel explains it: “The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.” Now the sword of the law came between Christ and God; if I can point out to you his position here, that the sword of the law came between Christ and God, and that Christ had not a particle of hope out of himself. I say he had not a particle of hope only from what he himself was. If he could have found one fault in his nature; if he could have found one fault, in himself, in his life; if he could have found one weakness, one drawback, in his sacrificial death, that did not carry out the prediction of the new covenant, all must have failed. He was a Priest forever, and he could remain a Priest forever, only by obtaining, by his sacrifice for his people, eternal perfection. This was the position of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was slain. He looked and wondered, as man, that there was none to help; but then his own arm brought salvation unto him. I would not, because it cannot be done, try to explain to you precisely, when he was thus cut off from all hope and help out of himself, what his sufferings were; but he certainly embodied in his death the deepest pains of hell, the most agonizing pangs of hell; he certainly embodied in his death all the bitterness that sin could bring, and all the bitterness that death itself could produce. He was God as well as man. I never did and I never can consent to own that Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption as man without Deity, nor as God without man. Though we distinguish between his two natures, we must not separate the two. You will find that he is set forth in his life in the oneness of his person, and hence, in one place you read that “by one man many shall be made righteous;” in another place you read that this righteousness is the righteousness of God; and if that be not enough, he is called Jehovah our righteousness. So that what must be, shall I say, the texture of that righteousness which he wrought? Then, when we come to a dying hour, when we come to his death, the oneness of his person is kept up here also. In the scripture I just now named, “His own arm brought salvation unto him;” “Feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.” Therefore, while his human nature was a finite nature, yet, if I take his whole person, there was an infinity in his deity, so that he compassed in his death all the sins of the people; he compassed in his death all the pains of that hell that the millions for whom he died would have writhed forever under; he compassed within his death all the bitterness of death. Hence that beautiful scripture, “Swallowed up death in victory.” Here then, my hearer, if you would love God, it must be by this acquaintance with his dear Son; if you would hold God the Father in the highest estimation, and would have him enthroned highly in your affection, without a drawback, it must be by being well acquainted with what his dear Son has done; and if you would glorify the Holy Spirit, honor his testimony, and live in peace, I mean with God, and live in freedom, and live in happiness, it must be in acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a good thing to have religion enough to make us miserable, and all the Lord's people have; they have all of them religion enough to make them miserable, all of them have grace enough to turn them into mourners. And happy for us that there is a blessing for the mourner; happy for us that he will hear the prayer of the destitute. But while I thus speak, think I shall not be out of order if I just say to you that while grace does, in mercy, make us miserable, and turn us into mourners after the Lord, at the same time there is such a thing as being made exceedingly joyful, and that is by a clear and experimental and sweet acquaintance with what Jesus Christ has done. Now if what he has done be endeared to you, though you cannot see the Holy Spirit, he is invisible, but if what Christ has done be endeared to you, it is the Holy Spirit that has done this. If you see and feel that those for whom he died are connected with that death, not by anything good about them, but as sheep having gone astray, having turned everyone to his own way, and as sinners, lost sinners, he came to save sinners, and came to save that which was lost, if you see this and realize this, you will increasingly live this kind of life. It is not that you were a lost sinner merely when he found you, but your experience will increasingly confirm you in this, the workings of a fallen nature and various trials, for the Lord would rather hold you up, in his dealings with you, to universal scorn from men, than he would allow you to wrap yourself up in your own righteousness, than he would allow you to wrap yourself up in your own supposed goodness, than he would allow you to indulge in false hopes, and so delude your soul, and that, while he has ordained you to life, when death comes for you, you are not found in that life, that while he has ordained you to heaven, when the judgment comes, hell has you instead of heaven, that while he has ordained you to be one with Jesus, by eternal union one, you have worked yourself into an everlasting separation from him. And therefore God will break the neck of your pride, God will lay your haughtiness low, and he will make you think less and less of human applause, human praise, human opinion, creature approbation, and more and more of heaven's approbation, and the more the world and proud professors reject you, the more you will be driven to the throne of grace, and the more you will prize the friendship of the blessed God. And while he leads you about the wilderness, and thus humbles you, it is, I say, to show you that you are connected with the death of Christ, not by anything good about you, but connected with that death as a creature needing that death; he died for you, he died for sinners, died for poor, helpless sinners. Here, then, the dear Savior's substitutional suffering comes in as our deliverance, as that foundation upon which we may rest for time and for eternity.
The Lord not only thus reveals to us the substitutional suffering of the Savior as the way in which we get rid of all our sin, the way by which the adversary is slain, by which the victory is wrought, but you will always find, wherever the death of Christ is named with an intention to set forth the experience that brings the people of God to that death, you will always find there is a description of the work of the Holy Spirit in connection with that death. Hence you have here, “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.” Now go to the 1st chapter of Hebrews, 3rd verse. “Brightness of the Father's glory” bless his holy name, he is, “and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Here, then, by the Savior's being smitten, and by his having suffered, hereby Jacob is purged of his sin. “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin.” Now what will his dealings be with a people that shall be interested in this great work? “When he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.” Here we are to understand these chalkstone altars to mean human inventions, human doctrines, human devices; they shall all be swept away; and, of course, by the groves we are to understand that pleasant scene of things that people set up. Hence a great many religionists go on through their formalities from year to year as pleasantly as can be and the image that they set up is self, either in the shape of duty-faith or free-will in some shape or other. But when God takes a sinner in hand, all these inventions are scattered to the four winds, and the sinner's confidences are swept away, and he is brought savingly to feel this: Well, if Jesus Christ's work be perfect, if he is a priest by an immutable oath, and if his sheep can never perish, if that be true, then there is hope for me but as the Lord lives, there is no hope for me in any other way. Can you say that, and can you say that you do cleave to it? Remember, there is an infinity of value in this. We are not to cleave to it in a commonplace way, but in an especial way, in an earnest way, in a decisive way. Why, it is that that delivers us from the lowest hell; it is that that conforms us to the blessed God; it is that that defies every foe; it is that that gives us eternal life; it is that that shall bring us into the glorious liberty of sons of God. Thus, then, Jesus Christ was cut off from all hope of help except in himself; his hope arose from what he was. And what does he say about it? “My flesh shall rest in hope.” He saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. His hope arose from what he was, and our hope must arise from what he is. And therefore, as his flesh rested in hope, because he knew his life should not be left in the grave, “You will not suffer your Holy One to see corruption.” “You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” These were the Savior's prospects; these are our prospects, if brought into a right understanding and a right acquaintance with what he has done.
But, passing by many things, after just showing that Christ's substitutional suffering is our foundation; that Jesus Christ was cut off from all hope out of himself, and yet accomplished salvation, but I must have one more word here too. Now it says, in the 53rd of Isaiah, “Who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Now the word generation there means two things: First, it means his genealogy, from whom, as man, he descended; 1st chapter of Matthew, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ;” and then Matthew goes on to give his genealogy. But who could have kept up that genealogy, and given us that pure genealogy that is given? it does not say that no one could declare his generation; it says, Who shall declare it? As it says in the beginning, “Who has believed our report” that does not mean that none believed that report, for as many as were ordained to eternal life did and do believe that report. And “who shall declare his generation?” I come to the 1st of Matthew, there I get the genealogyMatthew, there I get the genealogy of Christ. That is one thing meant by generation. Second, generation means his people. “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” But who shall declare that generation? Who could tell, when you were in a state of nature, whether you were out of the generation of the righteous or not, whether you were out of the generation of the blessed or not, whether you were out of the generation registered in heaven's archives, in the Lamb's book of eternal life, or not? Who could have declared your generation when you were in a state of nature? The Holy Ghost, when he brought you to a knowledge of the great High Priest, and the great High Priest stands up with Urim and Thummim, that, is lights and perfections; and in Christ you have the light, and in Christ you have the perfection; and now you prove your genealogy; and you are of the generation of the righteous; justified by faith, you have peace with God. Astonishing that even learned men have inferred from that scripture, “Who shall declare his generation?” that there is something about Jesus Christ called eternal generation. Dr. Watts has fallen into that error when he says,
“Your generation who can tell,
Or count the number of your years?”
That's a good piece of poetry, but very bad divinity. Eternal generation1, I have before said, and say it again, is eternal nonsense; there is an absurdity about it. Why, if it be generated, it must have had a beginning. You might as well talk of eternal creation, which is a contradiction in terms, because that which is created must have had a beginning. You might as well talk of eternal birth, which also is a contradiction in terms, because if a creature is born it had a beginning. So, the doctrine of Christ's deity eternally generating is a heathen fable, unworthy the Christian name, unscriptural, derogatory to the deity of Christ; it puts his manhood out of its place. The Holy Ghost declared, “That holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.” How dare you take his sonship from his manhood, where the Holy Ghost has placed it and place it in his deity, where the Holy Ghost has not placed it? No, my hearer, let us hold fast the truth that that which was born at Bethlehem, that that which was baptized, that that which was transfigured, that that which died on the cross, that that which rose from the dead, that that which sits at God's right hand, is the Son of God; but at the same time let us abide by the delightful truth that he was also God absolute, as well as the Son of God. “Who,” then, “shall declare his generation?” generation there meaning two things, as explained by the Scriptures, his genealogy, and his people when they become distinguished from all others.
I will now hasten to the contrast. Now, then, this wonderful person, who is at once God and the Son of God, was smitten for us, was slain for us, died for us, and here God rests, and here the believer may rest; here is the victory, and here is the help. Why should we be afraid to live, and why should we be afraid to die? It is a good thing to be hardened in sorrow. Job says, “I will harden myself in sorrow.” Well, say you, I don't like that doctrine at all, I do, and I like the experience of it too. What! hardened in sorrow? I don't like it at all. Well, suppose you were a soldier, you would have to go on short commons sometimes, and very hard fare, and very rough usage, and a great deal of sharp discipline. Now if you were always wiping your eyes over it, you know, and pining, and crying, and making a great to do about it, so tender and so delicate, why, you would make a pretty soldier, would you not, fainthearted? Whereas, if you met it boldly, and endured it willingly, this is a good soldier, hardened in sorrow. Well, say you, I don't mind a rough night's lodging; I don't mind a little knocking about; I don't mind a little short commons; I don't mind this, no. So, the prophets, so the apostles; they were hardened in sorrow; that is, they got used to it. If anything came, Well, it is what the Lord has said, “Tribulations shall come.” I know the Lord means us to feel and to be cast down by some things; but at the same time we may go on pining till we become so faint-hearted, so weak-hearted, that we cannot stand a little knocking about, and face it as we ought. Let us have fellowship with the blessed God by what the Savior has done, then we are hardened in sorrow, and willingly endure hardness as good soldiers. Better that than to be at ease in Zion; for “Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion!”
Now, “has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?” Let me notice a fourfold contrast; after just asking the question and answering it, what was it in Jesus Christ, what were the things in Jesus Christ, what were the things in Jesus Christ that gave such offence to the world, especially to the professing world? Now what were the main things? Was it that he was not a man, supposed to be not a man of letters? No, that was only an excuse. Was it the lowliness of life in which he was? That was only an excuse. Men are generally very cunning; when they reproach the truth or the people of God, they never assign the real cause, never; they are sure to assign some false reason or another. Now the two main things that made the Savior so offensive to the professing world were those spoken of in the 1st of John, grace and truth; in other words, vital godliness, as described in the 3rd of John, “You must be born again.” The Savior there at one fell swoop sweeps away all ceremonies and all creature doings, views the creature as dead, and unless he be born again, quickened by the Almighty Spirit of the blessed God, and vitally grafted into the true vine, vitally placed in mercy's building, and brought vitally and experimentally into the grace of God, nothing short of that can save the soul. That is one main thing that gave offence. And the other was doctrine, such as in the 6th chapter of John, “went back and walked no more with him;” and such as in the 17th of John. And those are the two things that give offence to the professing world now, vital godliness, that brings to light what the creature is, makes him feel his need of the boundless grace of God; and then that doctrinal framework of the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Those were the two things that made the Savior so offensive to me. I will not now dwell upon their blasphemous treatment of him; leaving you to judge whether you are a lover of vital godliness, or whether you are going on in hatred to it; whether you are a lover of God's truth, for grace and truth go together, and if you have grace you will never rest until you find out the truth that belongs to that grace. A sinner may have grace, and receive doctrines that do not belong to that grace, and those doctrines will not unite with that grace, the oil and the water won't mingle; and the sinner will wonder what is the matter; he wanders about, and wanders about, and by-and-bye he finds out the doctrines that belong to the grace; and then, when he finds out the doctrines that belong to sovereign grace, free grace, then grace and truth go together, then the soul is married to God in a covenant ordered in all things and sure. There is a fourfold contrast between the slaying of Jesus Christ and the slaying of his enemies. He was slain by the sword of the law as our surety; but his enemies are slain as being personally guilty. Jesus Christ was not personally guilty, he had no guilt of his own; he was therefore slain as the surety; in honor, not in dishonor, whereas the sinner, the enemy, personally guilty, is slain in dishonor, for his own personal guilt. Second, the enemy is slain in wrath; Jesus Christ was not slain in wrath; he was slain by wrath, but not in wrath. God loved him in his death as much as he ever did in his life, or as he does now. “Therefore, does my Father love me.” I am not dying in his personal wrath to me; there is no hate to me, there is no ill will to me, there is no sentence against me; I am suffering the wrath that is due to your sins; I am dying in love to you, and God is putting me to death in love to you. But the sinner not only is slain as personally guilty, he is slain not only by wrath, but in wrath, God hates that man. “Esau have I hated” my soul loathed them whereas Jesus Christ was always loved. Third, the enemy is slain as worthless; not worthy to live. “The wicked shall be as chaff;” lightly esteemed, or rather, not esteemed at all, esteemed as straw, like the stubble, fit only for the fire of hell. But the Savior, I tremble to apply the word in any shape or form anywhere within an infinity of distance of this wonderful Person, he was not slain as worthless; oh no, no, no; there was in his death an infinity of value. Oh, what a price was that which he paid! He was slain, the all-sufficient ransom; bless his dear name! “Worthy, worthy, worthy to take the book, for you was slain,” what! as something worthless? No, no, no; embodying in himself an infinity of value; “and has redeemed us to God by your blood, out of all kindreds, nations, and tongues.” Fourth, the enemy is slain, to survive no more; they are banished forever, cut off forever, sent away forever, the smoke of their torment ascends for ever and ever. Not so with Jesus, he is cut off, it is true, but not for ever. He himself foresaw that he should not lie in the grave even three days and three nights complete, but that it should be only three days and three nights current; and that he should then rise from the dead. And so, bless his dear and precious name, he has risen from the dead, become the first-fruits of them that slept, and is at God's right hand, saying, “Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” Thus, then, was Jesus smitten. “Has he smitten him as he smote those that smote him?” No, no, no.
Now let us apply this to the Christian. First, the Christian is smitten by rebukes. “Blessed is the man whom you chastise, O Lord, and teach him out of your law; that you may give him rest from the days of adversity,” that shall come upon all them that are not thus chastened by the Lord. Second, the Christian is tried only in apparent wrath, not in real wrath, only in apparent wrath. “In a little wrath have I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you.” Third, the Christian is not smitten as something worthless, as though the Lord looked upon the Christian as of no value; whereas one Christian is more to God than the whole globe that we inhabit.
The time will come when the earth that we inhabit and the works therein shall be burned up; but the time will never come when the Christian shall be burned up; he shall be gathered into the garner, and taken eternal care of. Has he smitten Jacob, I am now applying it to the church, or to Jacob as representing the church and people of God, “Has he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according; to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?” The people of God virtually slay all that Christ slew, because they sit with Christ in judgment; “this honor have all his saints.” And the enemy is slain forever; but is the Christian, when he seems to be slain, slain forever? No, no, no; we can by Jesus Christ see the end of all our troubles.
Thus, then, I have tried this morning, in the little time I have had, I should like to have had two hours instead of one, to point out the substitutional suffering and death of the dear Redeemer; the contrast between the way in which he was slain and the way in which the enemy is slain; and then to show that if we belong not to the enemy, but to him, we shall not die, but shall live, and forever enjoy and declare the works of the Lord our God. He has slain Satan, sin, and death; but himself lived forever; and because he lived, they who love him shall live also.
I think that it is important to highlight the fact that there has been and will continue to be a great deal of
controversy over the subject of “Eternal Generation”. I would encourage any interested reader to study the subject for themselves. Both sides, those for and those against, hold strongly to the divinity and perfection of Christ as God. Richard Schadle