Section 3

I now proceed to speak more particularly of those things which Christ did, and was the subject of, during the time of his humiliation, whereby this purchase was made. The nature of the purchase of Christ, as it has been explained, leads us to consider these things under a twofold view, namely:

First, with respect to his righteousness, which appeared in them.

Second, with respect to the sufferings and humiliation that he was subject to in them in our stead.

I will consider the things that passed during the time of Christ's humiliation, with respect to the obedience and righteousness that he exercised in them. And this is subject to a threefold distribution. I shall therefore consider his obedience,

First, with respect to the laws which he obeyed.

Second, with respect to the different stages of his life in which he performed it.

Third, with respect to the virtues he exercised in his obedience.

The first distribution of the acts of Christ's righteousness is with respect to the laws which Christ obeyed in that righteousness which he performed. But here it must be observed in general, that all the precepts which Christ obeyed may be reduced to one law; and that is that which the Apostle calls the law of works. Romans 3:27. Every command that Christ obeyed may be reduced to that great and everlasting law of God that is contained in the covenant of works, that eternal rule of right which God had established between himself and mankind. Christ came into the world to fulfill and answer the covenant of works; that is, the covenant that is to stand forever as a rule of judgment; and that is the covenant that we had broken, and that was the covenant that must be fulfilled.

This law of works indeed includes all the laws of God which ever have been given to mankind; for it is a general rule of the law of works, and indeed of the law of nature, that God is to be obeyed, and that he must be submitted to in whatever positive precept he is pleased to give us. It is a rule of the law of works, that men should obey their earthly parents: and it is certainly as much a rule of the same law, that we should obey our heavenly Father: and so the law of works requires obedience to all positive commands of God. It required Adam's obedience to that positive command, not to eat of the forbidden fruit; and it required obedience of the Jews to all the positive commands of their institution. When God commanded Jonah to arise and go to Nineveh, the law of works required him to obey: and so it required Christ's obedience to all the positive commands which God gave him.

But more particularly, the commands of God which Christ obeyed, were of three kinds; they were either such as he was subject to merely as man, or such as he was subject to as he was a Jew, or such as he was subject to purely as Mediator.

First, he obeyed those commands which he was subject to merely as man: and they were the commands of the moral law, which was the same with that which was given at Mount Sinai, written in two tables of stone, which are obligatory on mankind of all nations and all ages of the world.

Second, he obeyed all those laws he was subject to as he was a Jew. Thus he was subject to the ceremonial law, and was conformed to it. He was conformed to it in his being circumcised the eighth day; and he strictly obeyed it in going up to Jerusalem to the temple three times a year; at least after he was come to the age of twelve years, which seems to have been the age when the males began to go up to the temple. And so Christ constantly attended the service of the temple, and of the synagogues.

To this head of his obedience to the law that he was subject to as a Jew, may be reduced his submission to John's baptism. For it was a special command to the Jews, to go forth to John the Baptist, and be baptized of him; and therefore Christ being a Jew, was subject to this command: and therefore, when he came to be baptized of John, and John objected, that he had more need to come to him to be baptized of him, he gives this reason for it, that it was needful that he should do it, that he might fulfill all righteousness. See Matthew 3:13, 14, and 15.

Third, another law that Christ was subject to, was the mediatorial law, which contained those commands of God to which he was subject, not merely as man, nor yet as a Jew, but which related purely to his mediatorial office. Such were the commands which the Father gave him, to teach such doctrines, to preach the gospel, to work such miracles, to call such disciples, to appoint such ordinances, and finally to lay down his life: for he did all these things in obedience to commands he had received of the Father, as he often tells us. And these commands he was not subject to merely as man; for they did not belong to other men: nor yet was he subject to them as a Jew; for they were no part of the Mosaic law; but they were commands that he had received of the Father, that purely respected the work he was to do in the world in his mediatorial office.

It is to be observed, that Christ's righteousness, by which he merited heaven for himself, and all who believe in him, consists principally in his obedience to this mediatorial law: for in fulfilling this law consisted his chief work and business in the world. The history of the evangelists is chiefly taken up in giving an account of his obedience to this law: and this part of his obedience was that which was attended with the greatest difficulty of all; and therefore his obedience in it was most meritorious. What Christ had to do in the world by virtue of his being Mediator, was infinitely more difficult than what he had to do merely as a man, or as a Jew. To his obedience to this mediatorial law belongs his going through his last sufferings, beginning with his agony in the garden, and ending with his resurrection.

As the obedience of the first Adam, wherein his righteousness would have consisted, if he had stood, would have mainly consisted, not in his obedience to the moral law, to which he was subject merely as man, but in his obedience to that special law that he was subject to as moral head and surety of mankind, even the command of abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so the obedience of the second Adam, wherein his righteousness consists, lies mainly, not in his obedience of the law that he was subject to merely as man, but to that special law which he was subject to in his office as Mediator and surety for man.

Before I proceed to the next distribution of Christ's righteousness, I would observe three things concerning Christ's obedience to these laws.

First, he performed that obedience to them which was in every respect perfect. It was universal as to the kinds of laws that he was subject to; he obeyed each of these three laws; and it was universal with respect to every individual precept contained in these laws, and it was perfect as to each command. It was perfect as to positive transgressions avoided: for he never transgressed in one instance; he was guilty of no sin of commission. It was perfect with respect to the work commanded: he perfected the whole work at each command required, and never was guilty of any sin of omission. It was perfect with respect to the principles from which he obeyed: his heart and principles were wholly right, there was no corruption in his heart. It was perfect with respect to the ends he acted for: for he never had any by-ends, but aimed perfectly at such ends as the law of God required. It was perfect with respect to the manner of performance: every circumstance of each act was perfectly conformed to the command. It was perfect with respect to the degree of the performance: he acted wholly up to the rule. It was perfect with respect to the constancy of obedience: he did not only perfectly obey sometimes, but constantly without any interruption. It was perfect with respect to perseverance: he held out in perfect obedience to the very end, through all the changes he passed through, and all the trials that were before him.

The meritoriousness of Christ's obedience, depends on the perfection of it. If it had failed in any instance of perfection, it could not have been meritorious: for an imperfect obedience is not an obedience at all in the sight of the law of works, which was the law that Christ was subject to; for that is not accepted as an obedience to a law that does not answer that law.

Second, the next thing I would observe of Christ's obedience is, that it was performed through the greatest trials and temptations that ever there was. His obedience was attended with the greatest difficulties, and most extreme abasement and suffering that ever any obedience was; which was another thing that rendered it more meritorious and thank-worthy. To obey another when his commands are easy, is not so worthy, as it is to obey when it cannot be done without great difficulty.

Third, he performed this obedience with infinite respect to God, and the honor of his law. The obedience he performed was with infinitely greater love to God, and regard to his authority, than the angels perform their obedience with. The angels perform their obedience with that love which is perfect, with sinless perfection; but Christ did not do so, but he performed his obedience with much greater love than the angels do theirs, even infinite love; for though the human nature of Christ was not capable of love absolutely infinite, yet Christ's obedience that was performed in that human nature, is not to be looked upon as merely the obedience of the human nature, but the obedience of his person, as God-man; and there was infinite love of the person of Christ manifest in that obedience. And this together with the infinite dignity of the person that obeyed, rendered his obedience infinitely meritorious.

The second distribution of the acts of Christ's obedience, is with respect to the different parts of his life, wherein they were performed. And in this respect they may be divided into those which were performed in private life, and those which were performed in his public ministry.

First, those acts he performed during his private life. He was perfectly obedient in his childhood. He infinitely differed from other children, who, as soon as they begin to act, begin to sin and rebel. He was subject to his earthly parents, though he was Lord of all, Luke 2:51. He was found about his Father's business at twelve years of age in the temple, Luke 2:42. He then began that work that he had to do in fulfillment of the mediatorial law, which the Father had given him. He continued his private life for about thirty years, dwelling at Nazareth in the house of his reputed father Joseph, where he served God in a private capacity, and in following the mechanical trade, the business of a carpenter.

Secondly, those acts which he performed during his public ministry which began when he was about thirty years of age, and continued for the three last years and a half of his life. Most of the history of the evangelists is taken up in giving an account of what passed during these three years and a half; so is all the history of the Evangelist Matthew, excepting the two first chapters. So is the whole of the history of the Evangelist Mark; it begins and ends with it. And so also is all the gospel of John, and all the gospel of Luke, excepting the two first chapters; excepting also what we find in the evangelists concerning the ministry of John the Baptist. Christ's first appearing in his public ministry, is what is often called his coming, in scripture. Thus John speaks of Christ's coming as what is yet to be, though he had been born long before.

Concerning the public ministry of Christ, I would observe the following things. First, the forerunner of it. Second, the manner of his first entering upon it. Third, the works in which he was employed during the course of it; and, Fourth, the manner of his finishing it.

1. The forerunner of Christ's coming in his public ministry was John the Baptist. He came preaching repentance for the remission of sins, to make way for Christ's coming, agreeable to the prophecies of him, Isaiah 40:3, 4, 5, and Matthew 4:5, 6. It is supposed that John the Baptist began the ministry about three years and an half before Christ. So that John's ministry and Christ's put together, made seven years, which was the last of Daniel's weeks. And this time is intended in Daniel 9:27. "He will confirm the covenant with many for one week." Christ came in the midst of this week, namely, in the beginning of the last half of it, or the last three years and an half, as Daniel foretold, as in the verse just now quoted: "And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." John Baptist's ministry consisted principally in preaching the law, to awaken men and convince them of sin, to prepare men for the coming of Christ, to comfort them, as the law is to prepare the heart for the entertainment of the gospel.

A very remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God attended John's ministry. And the effect of it was, that Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, were awakened, convinced, went out to him, and submitted to him baptism, confessing their sins. John is spoken of as the greatest of all the prophets who came before Christ: Matthew 11:11. "Among those that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist;" that is, he had the most honorable office. He was as the morning star, which is the harbinger of the approaching day, and forerunner of the rising sun. The other prophets were stars that were to give light in the night; but we have heard how those stars went out on the approach of the gospel day. But now the coming of Christ being very nigh, the morning star comes before him, the brightest of all the stars, as John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets.

When Christ came in this public ministry, the light of that morning star decreased too: as we see, when the sun rises, it diminishes the light of the morning star. So John the Baptist says of himself, John 3:30. "He must increase, but I must decrease." And soon after Christ began his public ministry, John the Baptist was put to death; as the morning star is visible a little while after the sun is risen, yet soon goes out.

2. The next thing to be taken notice of is Christ's entrance on his public ministry, which was by baptism, followed with the temptation in the wilderness. His baptism was as it were his solemn inauguration, by which he entered on his ministry; and was attended with his being anointed with the Holy Ghost, in a solemn and visible manner, the Holy Ghost descending upon him in a visible shape like a dove, attended with a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matthew 3:16, 17.

After this he was led by the devil into the wilderness. Satan made a violent onset upon him at his first entrance on his work; and now he had a remarkable trial of his obedience; but he got the victory. He who had such success with the first Adam, had none with the second.

3. I would take notice of the work in which Christ was employed during his ministry. And here are three things chiefly to be taken notice of, namely, his preaching, his working miracles, and his calling and appointing disciples and ministers of his kingdom.

(1.) His preaching the gospel. Great part of the work of his public ministry consisted in this; and much of that obedience by which he purchased salvation for us, was in his speaking those things which the Father commanded him. He more clearly and abundantly revealed the mind and will of God, than ever it had been revealed before. He came from the bosom of the Father, and perfectly knew his mind, and was in the best capacity to reveal it. As the sun, as soon as it is risen, begins to shine; so Christ, as soon as he came into his public ministry, began to enlighten the world with his doctrine. As the law was given at Mount Sinai, so Christ delivered this evangelical doctrine, full of blessings, and not curses, to a multitude on a mountain, as we have an account in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew.

When he preached, he did not teach as the scribes, but he taught as one having authority; so that his hearers were astonished at his doctrine. He did not reveal the mind and will of God in the style in which the prophets used to preach, as not speaking their own words, but the words of another; and used to speak in such a style as this, "Thus saith the Lord;" but Christ, in such a style as this, "I say unto you," thus or thus; "Verily, verily, I say unto you." He delivered his doctrines, not only as the doctrines of God the Father, but as his own doctrines. He gave forth his commands, not as the prophets were wont to do, as God's commands but as his own commands. He spake in such a style as this, "This is my commandment," John 15:12. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you," verse 14.

(2.) Another thing that Christ was employed in during the course of his ministry, was working miracles. Concerning which we may observe several things.

Their multitude. Besides particular instances, we often have an account of multitudes coming at once with diseases, and his healing them.

They were works of mercy. In them was displayed not only his infinite power and greatness, but his infinite mercy and goodness. He went about doing good, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and the proper use of their limbs to the lame and halt; feeding the hungry, cleansing the leprous and raising the dead.

They were almost all of them such as had been spoken of as the peculiar works of God, in the Old Testament. So with respect to stilling the sea, Psalm 107:29. "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still." So as to walking on the sea in a storm: Job 9:8. "Which alone—treadeth upon the waves of the sea." So as to casting out devils: Psalm 74:14. "Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces." So as to feeding a multitude in a wilderness: Deuteronomy 8:16. "Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna." So as to telling man's thoughts: Amos 4:13. "Lo, he that—declareth unto man what is his thought—the Lord, the God of hosts is his name." So as to raising the dead: Psalm 68:20. "Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death." So as to opening the eyes of the blind: Psalm 146:8. "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind." So as to healing the sick: Psalm 103:3. "Who healeth all thy diseases." So as to lifting up those who are bowed together: Psalm 146:8. "The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down."

They were in general such works as were images of the great work which he came to work on man's heart; representing that inward, spiritual cleansing, healing, renovation, and resurrection, which all his redeemed are the subjects of.

He wrought them in such a manner as to show, that he did them by his own power, and not by the power of another, as the other prophets did. They were wont to work all their miracles in the name of the Lord: but Christ wrought in his own name. Moses was forbidden to enter into Canaan, because he seemed by his speech to assume the honor of working only one miracle to himself. Nor did Christ work miracles as the apostles did, who wrought them all in the name of Christ; but he wrought them in his own name, and by his own authority and will: Thus, saith he, "I will be thou clean," Matthew 8:3. And in the same strain he put the question, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" Matthew 9:28.

(3.) Another thing that Christ did in the course of his ministry, was to call his disciples. He called many disciples. There were many that he employed as ministers; he sent seventy disciples at one time in this work: but there were twelve that he set apart as apostles, who were the grand ministers of his kingdom, and as it were the twelve foundations of his church, See Revelation 21:14. These were the main instruments of setting up his kingdom in the world, and therefore shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

4. I would observe how he finished his ministry. And this was

(1.) In giving his dying counsels to his disciples, and all that should be his disciples, which we have recorded particularly in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John's gospel.

(2.) In instituting a solemn memorial of his death. This he did in instituting the sacrament of the Lord's supper, wherein we have a representation of his body broken, and of his blood shed.

(3) In offering up himself, as God's high priest, a sacrifice to God, which he did in his last sufferings. This act he did as God's minister, as God's anointed priest; and it was the greatest act of his public ministry, the greatest act of his obedience, by which he purchased heaven for believers. The priests of old used to do many other things as God's ministers; but then were they in the highest execution of their office when they were actually offering sacrifice on the altar. So the greatest thing that Christ did in the execution of his priestly office, and the greatest thing that he ever did, and the greatest thing that ever was done, was the offering up himself a sacrifice to God. Herein he was the antitype of all that had been done by all the priests, and in all their sacrifices and offerings, from the beginning of the world.

III. THE third distribution of the acts by which Christ purchased redemption, regards the virtues that Christ exercised and manifested in them. And here I would observe, that Christ in doing the work that he had to do here in the world for our redemption, exercised every possible virtue and grace. Indeed there are some particular virtues that sinful man may have, that were not in Christ, not from any want or defect of virtue, but because his virtue was perfect and without defect. Such is the virtue of repentance, and brokenness of heart for sin, and mortification, and denying of lust. Those virtues were not in Christ, because he had no sin of his own to repent of, nor any lust to deny. But all virtues which do not presuppose sin, were in him, and that in a higher degree than ever they were in any other man, or any mere creature. Every virtue in him was perfect. Virtue itself was greater in him than in any other; and it was under greater advantages to shine in him than in any other. Strict virtue shines most when most tried: but never any virtue had such trials as Christ's had.

The virtue that Christ exercised in the work he did, may be divided into three sorts, namely, the virtues which more immediately respect God, those which immediately respect himself, and those which immediately respect men.

1. Those virtues which more immediately respect God, appeared in Christ in the work that he did for our redemption. There appeared in him an holy fear and reverence towards God the Father. Christ had a greater trial of his virtue in this respect than any other had, from the honorableness of his person. This was the temptation of the angels that fell, to cast off their worship of God, and reverence of his majesty, that they were beings of such exalted dignity and worthiness themselves. But Christ was infinitely more worthy and honorable than they; for he was the eternal Son of God, and his person was equal to the person of God the Father: and yet, as he had taken on him the office of mediator, and the nature of man, he was full of reverence towards God. He adored him in the most reverential manner time after time. So he manifested a wonderful love towards God. The angels give great testimonies of their love towards God, in their constancy and agility in doing the will of God; and many saints have given great testimonies of their love, who, from love to God, have endured great labors and sufferings; but none ever gave such testimonies of love to God as Christ has given; none ever performed such a labor of love as he, and suffered so much from love to God. So he manifested the most wonderful submission to the will of God. Never was any one's submission so tried as his was. So he manifested the most wonderful spirit of obedience that ever was manifested.

2. In this work he most wonderfully manifested those virtues which more immediately respected himself; as particularly humility, patience, and contempt of the world. Christ, though he was the most excellent and honorable of all men, yet was the most humble; yea, he was the most humble of all creatures. No angel or man ever equalled him in humility, though he was the highest of all creatures in dignity and honorableness. Christ would have been under the greatest temptations to pride, if it had been possible for any thing to be a temptation to him. The temptation of the angels that fell was the dignity of their nature, and the honorableness of their circumstances; but Christ was infinitely more honorable than they. The human nature of Christ was so honored as to be in the same person with the eternal Son of God, who was equal with God; and yet that human nature was not at all lifted up with pride. Nor was the man Christ Jesus at all lifted up with pride with all those wonderful works which he wrought, of healing the sick, curing the blind, lame, and maimed, and raising the dead. Though he knew that God had appointed him to be the king over heaven and earth, angels and men, as he says, Matthew 11:27, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father;" though he knew he was such an infinitely honorable person, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God; and though he knew he was the heir of God the Father's kingdom: yet such was his humility, that he did not disdain to be abased and depressed down into lower and viler circumstances and sufferings than ever any other elect creature was; so that he became least of all, and lowest of all. The proper trial and evidence of humility, is stooping or complying with those acts or circumstances, when called to it, which are very low, and contain great abasement. But none ever stooped so low as Christ, if we consider either the infinite height that he stooped from, or the great depth to which he stood. Such was his humility, that though he knew his infinite worthiness of honor, and of being honored ten thousand times as much as the highest prince on earth, or angel in heaven; yet he did not think it too much when called to it, to be bound as a cursed malefactor, and to become the laughing-stock and spitting-stock of the vilest of men, and to be crowned with thorns, and to have a mock robe put upon him, and to be crucified like a slave and malefactor, and as one of the meanest and worst of vagabonds and miscreants, and an accursed enemy of God and men, who was not fit to live on earth; and this not for himself, but for some of the meanest and vilest of creatures, some of those accursed wretches that crucified him. Was not this a wonderful manifestation of humility, when he cheerfully and most freely submitted to this abasement?

How did his patience shine forth under all the terrible sufferings which he endured, when he was dumb, and opened not his mouth, but went as a lamb to the slaughter, and was like a patient lamb under all the sufferings he endured from first to last.

What contempt of the glory of this world was there, when he rather chose this contempt, and meanness, and suffering, than to wear a temporal crown, and be invested with the external glories of an earthly prince, as the multitude often solicited him?

3. Christ, in the work which he wrought out, in a wonderful manner exercised those virtues which more immediately respect other men. These may be summed up under two heads, namely, meekness, and love.

Christ's meekness was his humble calmness of spirit under the provocations that he met with. None ever met with so great provocations as he did. The greatness of provocation lies in two things, namely, in the degree of opposition by which the provocation is given; and, secondly, in the degree of the unreasonableness of that opposition, or in its being very causeless, and without reason, and the great degree of obligation to the contrary. Now, if we consider both these things, no man ever met with such provocations as Christ did, when he was upon earth. If we consider how much he was hated, what abuses he suffered from the vilest of men, how great his sufferings from men were, and how spiteful and how contemptuous they were, in offering him these abuses; and also consider how causeless and unreasonable these abuses were, how undeserving he was of them, and how much deserving of the contrary, namely, of love, and honor, and good treatment at their hands: I say, if we consider these things, no man ever met with a thousandth part of the provocation that Christ met with from men: and yet how meek was he under all! How composed and quiet his spirit! How far from being in a ruffle and tumult! When he was reviled, he reviled not again; and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. No appearance was there of a revengeful spirit: on the contrary, what a spirit of forgiveness did he exhibit! So that he fervently and effectually prayed for their forgiveness, when they were in the highest act of provocation that ever they perpetrated namely, nailing him to the cross: Luke 23:34, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Never did there appear such an instance of love to men. Christ's love to men that he showed when on earth, and especially in going through his last sufferings, and offering up his life and soul under those sufferings, which was his greatest act of love, was far beyond all parallel. There have been very remarkable manifestations of love in some of the saints, as in the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John, and others: but the love to men that Christ showed when on earth, as much exceeded the love of all other men, as the ocean exceeds a small stream.

It is to be observed, that all the virtues which appeared in Christ shone brightest in the close of his life, under the trials he met with then. Eminent virtue always shows brightest in the fire. Pure gold shows its purity chiefly in the furnace. It was chiefly under those trials which Christ underwent in the close of his life, that his love to God, his honor of God's majesty, and his regard to the honor of his law, and his spirit of obedience, and his humility, and contempt of the world, and his patience, and his meekness, and his spirit of forgiveness towards men, appeared. Indeed every thing that Christ did to work out redemption for us appears mainly in the close of his life. Here mainly is his satisfaction for sin, and here chiefly is his merit of eternal life for sinners, and here chiefly appear the brightness of his example, which he has set us to follow.

THUS we have taken a brief view of the things whereby the purchase of redemption was made with respect to his righteousness that appeared in them. I proceed now,

Section 2. To take a view of them with respect to the satisfaction that he thereby made for sin, or the sufferings or humiliation that he was the subject of in them on our account. And here,

1. He was subject to uncommon humiliation and sufferings in his infancy. He was born to that end that he might die; and therefore he did as it were begin to die as soon as he was born. His mother suffered in an uncommon manner in bearing him. When her travail came upon her, it is said, "there was no room in the inn," Luke 2:7. She was forced to betake herself to a stable; and therefore Christ was born in the place of the bringing forth of the beasts. Thus he suffered in his birth, as though he had been meaner and viler than a man, and not possessed of the dignity of the human nature, but had been of the rank of the brute creatures. And we may conclude, that his mother's circumstances in other respects were proportionably strait and difficult, and that she was destitute of the conveniences necessary for so young an infant which others were wont to have; for want of which the new-born babe without doubt suffered much.

Besides, he was persecuted in his infancy. They began to seek his life as soon as he was born. Herod, the chief man of the land, was so engaged to him, that, in order to it, he killed all the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under. Christ suffered banishment in his infancy, was driven out of his native country into Egypt, and without doubt suffered much by being carried so long a journey, when he was so young, into a strange country.

2. Christ was subject to great humiliation in his private life at Nazareth. He there led a servile obscure life, in a mean laborious occupation: for he is called not only the carpenter's son, but the carpenter: Mark 6:3. "Is not this the carpenter, the brother of James and Joses, and Juda, and Simon?" He, by hard labor, earned his bread before he ate it, and so suffered that curse which God pronounced on Adam, Genesis 3:13, "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread." Let us consider how great a degree of humiliation the glorious Son of God, the creator of heaven and earth, was subject to in this, that for about thirty years he should live a private obscure life among laboring men, and all this while be overlooked, and not taken notice of in the world, as more than other common laborers. Christ's humiliation in some respects was greater in private life than in the time of his public ministry. There were many manifestations of his glory in the word he preached, and the great miracles he wrought; but the first thirty years of his life he spent among mean ordinary men, as it were in silence, without those manifestations of his glory, or any thing to make him to be taken notice of more than any ordinary mechanic, but only the spotless purity and eminent holiness of his life; and that was in a great measure hid in obscurity; so that he was little taken notice of till after his baptism.

3. Christ was the subject of great humiliation and suffering during his public life, from his baptism till the night wherein he was betrayed. As particularly,

1. He suffered great poverty, so that he had not "where to lay his head," Matthew 8:20, and commonly used to lodge abroad in the open air, for want of a shelter to betake himself to; as you will see is manifest, if you compare the following places together, which I shall but name to you, even Matthew 8:20, and John 18:1-2, and Luke 21:37, and chapter 22:39. So that what was spoken of Christ in Song of Solomon 5:2, "My head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night," was literally fulfilled. Through his poverty he doubtless was often pinched with hunger, and thirst, and cold. We read, Matthew 4:2 that he was an hungred; and so again in Matthew 21:18. His mother and natural relations were poor, and not able to help him: and he was maintained by the charity of some of his disciples while he lived. So we read in Luke 8, at the beginning, of certain women that followed him, and ministered to him of their substance. He was so poor, that he was not able to pay the tribute that was demanded of him, without the miraculous coming of a fish to bring him the money out of the sea in his mouth. See Matthew 18:27. And when he ate his last passover, it was not at his own charge, but at the charge of another, as appears by Luke 22:7, etc. From his poverty he had no grave of his own to be buried in. It was the manner of the Jews, unless they were very poor, and were not able, to prepare themselves a sepulcher while they lived. But Christ had no land of his own, though he was possessor of heaven and earth; and therefore was buried by Joseph of Arimathea's charity, and in his own tomb, which he had prepared for himself.

2. He suffered great hatred and reproach, He was despised and rejected of men. He was by most esteemed a poor insignificant person; one of little account, slighted for his low parentage, and his mean city Nazareth. He was reproached as a glutton and drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners; was called a deceiver of the people; sometimes was called a madman, and a Samaritan, and one possessed with a devil, John 7.20. and 8.48 and 10.20. He was called a blasphemer, and was accounted by many a wizard, or one that wrought miracles by the black art, and communication with Beelzebub. They excommunicated him, and agreed to excommunicate any man that should own him, as, John 9.22. They wished him dead, and were continually seeking to murder him; sometimes by force and sometimes by craft. They often took up stones to stone him, and once led him to the brow of a hill, intending to throw him down the precipice, to dash him in pieces against the rocks.

He was thus hated and reproached by his own visible people. John 1.11. "He came to his own, and his own received him not." He was principally despised and hated by those who were in chief repute, their greatest men. And the hatred wherewith he was hated was general. Into whatever part of the land he went, he met with hatred and contempt. He met with these in Capernaum, and when he went to Jericho, when he went to Jerusalem, which was the holy city, when he went to the temple to worship, and also in Nazareth, his own city, and among his own relations and his old neighbors.

3. He suffered the buffetings of Satan in an uncommon manner. We read of one time in particular, when he had a long conflict with the devil, when he was in the wilderness forty days, with nothing but wild beasts and devils; and was so exposed to the devil's power, that he was bodily carried about by him from place to place, while he was otherwise in a very suffering state.

So much for the humiliation and suffering of Christ's public life from his baptism to the night wherein he was betrayed.

4. I come now to his last humiliation and sufferings, from the evening of the night wherein he was betrayed to his resurrection. Here was his greatest humiliation and suffering, by which principally he made satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of men. First, his life was sold by one of his own disciples for thirty pieces of silver, which was the price of the life of a servant, as you may see in Exodus 21.32. Then he was in that dreadful agony in the garden. There came such a dismal gloom upon his soul, that he began to be sorrowful and very heavy, and said, his "soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death, and was sore amazed." So violent was the gloom of his soul, as to force the blood through the pores of his skin; so that while his soul was overwhelmed with amazing sorrow, his body was all clotted with blood. The disciples, who used to be as his friends and family, at this time above all appeared cold towards him, and unconcerned for him, at the same time that his Father's face was hid from him. Judas, to whom Christ had been so very merciful, and treated as one of his family or familiar friends, comes and betrays him in the most deceitful, and treacherous manner. The officers and soldiers apprehend and bind him; his disciples forsake him, and flee; his own best friends do not stand by him to comfort him in this time of his distress. He is led away as a malefactor to appear before the priests and scribes, his venomous, mortal enemies, that they might sit as his judges who sat up all night, to have the pleasure of insulting him, now they had got him into their hands. But because they aimed at nothing short of his life, they set themselves to find some colour to put him to death, and seek for witnesses against him. When none appeared, they set some to bear false witness; and when their witness did not agree together, then they go to examining him, to catch something out of his own mouth. They hoped he would say, that he was the Son of God, and then they thought they should have enough. But because they see they are not like to obtain it without it, they then go to force him to say it, by adjuring him, in the name of God, to say whether he was or not: and when he confessed that he was, then they supposed they had enough; and then it was time of rejoicing with them, which they show, by falling upon him, and spitting in his face, and blindfolding him, and striking Christ in the face with the palms of their hands, and then bidding him prophesy who it was that struck him; thus ridiculing him for pretending to be a prophet. And the very servants have a hand in the sport: Mark, 14.65. "And the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands."

During the sufferings of that night, Peter, one of the chief of his own disciples, instead of standing by him to comfort him, appears ashamed to own him, and denies and renounces him with oaths and curses. And after the chief priests and elders had finished the night in so shamefully abusing him, when the morning was come, which was the morning of the most wonderful day that ever was, they led him away to Pilate, to be condemned to death by him, because they had not the power of life and death in their own hands. He is brought before Pilate's judgment-seat, and there the priests and elders accuse him as a traitor. When Pilate, upon examining into the matter, declared he found no fault in him, the Jews were but the more fierce and violent to have him condemned. Upon which Pilate, after clearing him, very unjustly brings him upon a second trial; and then not finding any thing against him acquits him again. Pilate treats him as a poor worthless fellow; but is ashamed on so little pretense to condemn him as a traitor.

Then he was sent to Herod to be tried by him, and was brought before Herod's judgment-seat; and his enemies followed, and virulently accused him before Herod. Herod does not condemn him as a traitor, or one that would set up for a king, but looks upon him as Pilate did, as a poor worthless creature, not worthy to be taken notice of, and does but make a mere laugh of the Jews accusing him as a dangerous person to Caesar, as one that was in danger of setting up to be a king against him; and therefore, in derision, dresses him up in a mock robe, and makes sport of him, and sends him back through the streets of Jerusalem to Pilate with the mock robe on.

Then the Jews prefer Barabbas before him, and are instant and violent with loud voices to Pilate, to crucify him. So Pilate, after he had cleared him twice, and Herod once, very unrighteously brings him on trial the third time, to try if he could not find something against him sufficient to crucify him. Christ was stripped and scourged: thus he gave his back to the smiter. After that, though Pilate still declared that he found no fault in him; yet so unjust was he, that for fear of the Jews he delivered Christ to be crucified. But before they execute the sentence, his spiteful and cruel enemies take the pleasure of another spell of mocking him; they get round him, and make a set business of it. They stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe, and a reed in his hand, and a crown of thorns on his head. Both Jews and Roman soldiers were united in the transaction; they bow the knee before him, and in derision cry, "Hail, king of the Jews." They spit upon him also, and take the reed out of his hand, and smite him on the head. After this they led him away to crucify him, and made him carry his own cross, till he sunk under it, his strength being spent; and then they laid it on one Simon a Cyrenian.

At length, being come to Mount Calvary, they execute the sentence which Pilate had so unrighteously pronounced. They nail him to his cross by his hands and feet, then raise it erect, and fix one end in the ground, he being still suspended on it by the nails which pierced his hands and feet. Now Christ's sufferings are come to the extremity: now the cup, which he so earnestly prayed that it might pass from him, is come, and he must, he does drink it. In those days crucifixion was the most tormenting kind of death by which any were wont to be executed. There was no death wherein the person expired so much of mere torment: and hence the Roman word, which signifies torment, is taken from this kind of death. —Besides what our Lord endured in his excruciating death in his body, he endured vastly more in his soul. Now was that travail of his soul, of which we read in the prophet; now it pleased God to bruise him, and to put him to grief; now he poured out his soul unto death, as in Isaiah 53. If the mere forethought of this cup made him sweat blood, how much more dreadful and excruciating must the drinking of it have been! Many martyrs have endured much in their bodies, while their souls have been joyful, and have sung for joy, whereby they have been supported under the sufferings of their outward man, and have triumphed over them. But this was not the case with Christ; he had no such support; but his sufferings were chiefly those of the mind, though the other were extremely great. In his crucifixion Christ did not sweat blood, as he had before, because his blood had vent otherwise, and not because his agony was now not so great. But though he did not sweat blood, yet such was the suffering of his soul, that probably it rent his vitals; as seems probable by this that when his side was pierced, there came forth blood and water. And so here was a kind of literal fulfillment of that in Psalm 22.14. "I am poured out like water:—my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels."

Now under all these sufferings the Jews still mock him; and wagging their heads say, "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." And even the chief priests, scribes, and elders, joined in the cry, saying, "He saved others, himself he cannot save." Probably the devil at the same time tormented him to the utmost of his power; and hence it is said, Luke 22.53. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."

Under these sufferings, Christ having cried out once and again with a loud voice, at last he said, "It is finished," (John 19.30), "and bowed the head, and gave up the ghost." And thus was finished the greatest and most wonderful thing that ever was done. Now the angels beheld the most wonderful sight that ever they saw. Now was accomplished the main thing that had been pointed at by the various institutions of the ceremonial law, and by all the typical dispensation, and by all the sacrifices from the beginning of the world.

Christ being thus brought under the power of death, continued under it till the morning of the next day but one; and then was finished that great work, the purchase of our redemption, for which such great preparation had been made from the beginning of the world. Then was finished all that was required in order to satisfy the threatenings of the law, and all that was necessary in order to satisfy divine justice; then the utmost that vindictive justice demanded, even the whole debt was paid. Then was finished the whole of the purchase of eternal life. Now there is no need of any thing more to be done towards a purchase of salvation for sinners; nor has ever any thing been done since, nor will any thing more be done for ever and ever.

I now turn to speak more specifically about what Christ did and experienced during the time of His humiliation — the things by which this purchase was made. The nature of Christ's purchase, as explained above, leads us to consider these things from two angles:

First, with respect to the righteousness He displayed in them.

Second, with respect to the suffering and humiliation He was subject to in them on our behalf.

I will consider what occurred during the time of Christ's humiliation with respect to the obedience and righteousness He exercised in it. This is organized under three headings. I will consider His obedience:

First, with respect to the laws He obeyed.

Second, with respect to the different stages of His life in which He performed it.

Third, with respect to the virtues He exercised in His obedience.

The first way of organizing Christ's righteous acts is with respect to the laws He obeyed in that righteousness. All the commands Christ obeyed can be gathered under one law — what the apostle Paul calls the law of works in Romans 3:27. Every command Christ obeyed can be traced back to that great and eternal law of God contained in the covenant of works — the eternal standard of right that God established between Himself and humanity. Christ came into the world to fulfill and satisfy the covenant of works — the covenant that stands forever as the standard of judgment, the covenant humanity had broken, and the covenant that had to be fulfilled.

This law of works includes all the laws God has ever given to humanity, for it is a basic rule of the law of works — and indeed of the law of nature — that God is to be obeyed and that we must submit to whatever positive command He chooses to give us. It is a rule of the law of works that people should obey their earthly parents, and it is certainly just as much a rule of that same law that we should obey our heavenly Father. The law of works therefore requires obedience to all of God's positive commands. It required Adam's obedience to the command not to eat the forbidden fruit, and it required the Jewish people's obedience to all the positive commands of their institutions. When God commanded Jonah to rise and go to Nineveh, the law of works required him to obey — and in the same way it required Christ's obedience to all the positive commands God gave Him.

More specifically, the commands of God that Christ obeyed fell into three categories: those He was subject to simply as a man, those He was subject to as a Jew, and those He was subject to purely as Mediator.

First, He obeyed those commands He was subject to simply as a man. These were the commands of the moral law — the same law given at Mount Sinai written on two tablets of stone, which is binding on all people of all nations in every age.

Second, He obeyed all the laws He was subject to as a Jew. This included the ceremonial law, which He conformed to — being circumcised on the eighth day and going up to Jerusalem to the temple three times a year, at least from the age of twelve, which appears to have been when Jewish males began going to the temple. Christ also regularly attended the services of the temple and the synagogues.

His submission to John's baptism also falls under this heading — His obedience to the laws He was subject to as a Jew. God gave a special command to the Jewish people to go out to John the Baptist and be baptized by him, and since Christ was a Jew, He was subject to this command. When He came to be baptized by John and John objected — saying Christ should be baptizing him instead — Christ gave this reason: it was necessary for Him to do it in order to fulfill all righteousness. See Matthew 3:13-15.

Third, Christ was also subject to the mediatorial law — those commands of God that applied to Him not simply as a man or as a Jew, but specifically in relation to His office as Mediator. These included the Father's commands to Him to teach certain doctrines, to preach the Gospel, to perform miracles, to call certain disciples, to establish certain ordinances, and ultimately to lay down His life. He did all of these things in obedience to commands He had received from the Father, as He repeatedly tells us. These commands did not apply to Him simply as a man — they were not given to other men. Nor did they come to Him as a Jew — they were not part of the Mosaic law. They were commands the Father had given Him that related directly to the work He was to accomplish in the world as Mediator.

It is important to note that Christ's righteousness — through which He merited heaven for Himself and for all who believe in Him — consists primarily in His obedience to this mediatorial law. Fulfilling this law was His chief work and purpose in the world. The accounts in the Gospels are primarily records of His obedience to this law, and this part of His obedience was the most difficult of all. Therefore His obedience in this area was most meritorious. What Christ was required to do by virtue of being the Mediator was infinitely more demanding than what was required of Him simply as a man or as a Jew. His obedience to this mediatorial law includes His endurance of His final sufferings — beginning with His agony in the garden and ending with His resurrection.

Just as the obedience of the first Adam — in which his righteousness would have consisted if he had stood — would have consisted primarily not in his obedience to the moral law as a man, but in his obedience to the special command he was subject to as the moral head and representative of humanity (the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), so the obedience of the second Adam consists primarily not in His obedience to the law He was subject to simply as a man, but in His obedience to the special law He was subject to in His office as Mediator and substitute for humanity.

Before moving to the next category of Christ's righteousness, I want to note three things about His obedience to these laws.

First, His obedience was perfect in every respect. It was universal with respect to the kinds of laws He was subject to — He obeyed all three categories. It was universal with respect to every individual command within those laws, and it was perfect in obeying each one. It was perfect in avoiding transgression: He never violated a single command; He was guilty of no sin of commission. It was perfect in performing what was required: He fully completed every duty commanded and was never guilty of any sin of omission. It was perfect in the principles from which He obeyed: His heart and motives were entirely right; there was no corruption in Him. It was perfect in the ends He pursued: He never acted for mixed motives or hidden purposes but aimed exactly at the ends God's law requires. It was perfect in the manner of performance: every detail of each act was perfectly in conformity with the command. It was perfect in the degree of performance: He acted fully up to the standard in every case. It was perfect in consistency: He did not obey perfectly only sometimes but constantly and without interruption. It was perfect in perseverance: He held to perfect obedience all the way to the end, through all the changes He passed through and all the trials He faced.

The merit of Christ's obedience depends on its perfection. If it had fallen short in any single point, it could not have been meritorious. An imperfect obedience is no obedience at all in the sight of the law of works — which was the law Christ was subject to — because what does not fully satisfy the law cannot be counted as obedience to it.

Second, Christ's obedience was performed through the greatest trials and temptations anyone has ever faced. His obedience was accompanied by the greatest difficulty, the most extreme humiliation, and the most severe suffering ever endured. This is another factor that made it all the more meritorious and praiseworthy. Obeying when a command is easy is not nearly as worthy as obeying when it can only be done at great cost.

Third, He performed this obedience with infinite regard for God and the honor of His law. The obedience He rendered was accompanied by incomparably greater love for God and respect for His authority than the angels bring to their obedience. The angels obey with perfect, sinless love — yet Christ's obedience was marked by far greater love than theirs, even infinite love. Although Christ's human nature was not capable of love that is infinite in an absolute sense, His obedience performed in that human nature is not to be regarded as merely the obedience of His human nature but as the obedience of His person as the God-man. In that obedience the infinite love of Christ's person was displayed. Together with the infinite dignity of the person who obeyed, this rendered His obedience infinitely meritorious.

The second way of organizing Christ's obedience is with respect to the different stages of His life in which it was performed. In this respect it divides into what He did during His private life and what He did during His public ministry.

First, what He did during His private life. He was perfectly obedient throughout His childhood. He was infinitely different from other children, who begin to sin and rebel as soon as they are capable of acting. He was subject to His earthly parents, though He was Lord of all, as Luke 2:51 records. He was found in the temple attending to His Father's business at the age of twelve, as Luke 2:42 shows. At that age He began the work the Father had given Him, in fulfillment of the mediatorial law. He continued His private life for about thirty years, living in Nazareth in the house of Joseph, His reputed father, where He served God in a private capacity and worked as a carpenter.

Second, what He did during His public ministry, which began when He was about thirty years old and continued for the final three and a half years of His life. Most of the Gospel accounts cover this period of three and a half years — including all of Matthew except the first two chapters, the entire Gospel of Mark, all of John, and all of Luke except the first two chapters (and in all four Gospels, setting aside what relates to the ministry of John the Baptist). Christ's first appearing in His public ministry is what Scripture often calls His coming. This is why John speaks of Christ's coming as still future even though He had already been born.

Concerning Christ's public ministry, I want to note the following things. First, its forerunner. Second, the manner in which He first entered upon it. Third, the works He was engaged in throughout the course of it; and Fourth, the manner in which He brought it to a close.

1. The forerunner of Christ's coming in His public ministry was John the Baptist. He came preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins, to prepare the way for Christ's coming — in fulfillment of the prophecies about him in Isaiah 40:3-5 and Matthew 4:5-6. John the Baptist is thought to have begun his ministry about three and a half years before Christ began His. Together, John's ministry and Christ's made up seven years — the final week of Daniel's seventy weeks. This is the period referred to in Daniel 9:27: "He will confirm the covenant with many for one week." Christ came in the middle of this week — at the beginning of the last half, the final three and a half years, as Daniel foretold in the same verse: "And in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering." John the Baptist's ministry consisted primarily in preaching the law — awakening people, convicting them of sin, and preparing their hearts for the coming of Christ — for the law prepares the heart to receive the Gospel.

A remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God accompanied John's ministry. The result was that Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan were stirred, convicted, came out to him, and submitted to baptism confessing their sins. John is described as the greatest of all the prophets who came before Christ, as Matthew 11:11 says: "Among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist" — meaning he held the most honorable office. He was like the morning star — the herald of the approaching day, the forerunner of the rising sun. The earlier prophets were stars giving light in the night. We have seen how those stars faded as the Gospel day approached. But now, with Christ's coming very near, the morning star appeared before Him — the brightest of all the stars, as John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets.

When Christ entered His public ministry, the light of that morning star faded too — just as the sun's rising diminishes the light of the morning star. John the Baptist himself said, as John 3:30 records, "He must increase, but I must decrease." And shortly after Christ began His public ministry, John the Baptist was put to death — just as the morning star is visible briefly after sunrise but soon disappears.

2. The next thing to note is Christ's entrance into His public ministry, which was through His baptism, followed by the temptation in the wilderness. His baptism was, in effect, His solemn inauguration into His ministry — accompanied by His being anointed with the Holy Spirit in a visible and formal way, the Spirit descending upon Him in the visible form of a dove, with a voice from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased," as Matthew 3:16-17 records.

After this He was led out to the wilderness where the devil attacked Him. Satan launched a fierce assault on Him at the very start of His public work, subjecting Him to a remarkable test of His obedience — but Christ won the victory. The one who had succeeded so devastatingly with the first Adam had no success at all with the second.

3. I want to note the work Christ was engaged in during His ministry. Three things are chiefly worth noting: His preaching, His miracles, and His calling and appointing disciples and ministers of His kingdom.

(1.) His preaching of the Gospel. A large part of His public ministry consisted in this, and much of the obedience by which He purchased salvation for us was in His speaking the things the Father commanded Him. He revealed the mind and will of God more clearly and fully than it had ever been revealed before. He came from the very presence of the Father, perfectly knew His mind, and was uniquely qualified to reveal it. As the sun begins to shine as soon as it rises, so Christ began to enlighten the world with His teaching as soon as He entered His public ministry. Just as the law was given at Mount Sinai, Christ delivered His Gospel teaching — full of blessing, not of curses — to a multitude on a mountain, as recorded in Matthew 5 through 7.

When He preached, He did not teach as the scribes did — He taught as one who had authority, so that His hearers were astonished at His teaching. He did not reveal the mind and will of God in the way the prophets had spoken — speaking not their own words but another's, and using phrases like "Thus says the Lord." Instead Christ spoke in phrases like "I say to you" — "Truly, truly, I say to you." He presented His teachings not merely as God the Father's doctrines, but as His own. He gave His commands not as the prophets used to give commands — as God's commands delivered through them — but as His own commands. He spoke in phrases like "This is My commandment" in John 15:12, and "You are My friends if you do what I command you" in verse 14.

(2.) Another work Christ was engaged in throughout His ministry was performing miracles. Several things deserve notice about these.

Their sheer number. Beyond the specific instances recorded, we repeatedly read of crowds coming to Him at once with all kinds of diseases, and His healing them all.

They were acts of mercy. Through them He displayed not only His infinite power and greatness but His infinite mercy and goodness. He went about doing good — healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and the use of their limbs to those who were lame. He fed the hungry, cleansed those with leprosy, and raised the dead.

Nearly all of His miracles were works that had been specifically associated with God Himself in the Old Testament. Stilling the sea — Psalm 107:29: "He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed." Walking on the sea in a storm — Job 9:8: "Who alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea." Driving out demons — Psalm 74:14: "You crushed the heads of Leviathan." Feeding a multitude in the wilderness — Deuteronomy 8:16: "In the wilderness He fed you manna." Knowing the thoughts of men — Amos 4:13: "He who declares to man what are His thoughts — the Lord God of hosts is His name." Raising the dead — Psalm 68:20: "To God the Lord belong escapes from death." Opening the eyes of the blind — Psalm 146:8: "The Lord opens the eyes of the blind." Healing the sick — Psalm 103:3: "Who heals all your diseases." Lifting up those who are bent down — Psalm 146:8: "The Lord raises up those who are bowed down."

In general, His miracles were pictures of the great work He came to do in the human heart — representing the inward spiritual cleansing, healing, renewal, and resurrection that all His redeemed people experience.

He performed these miracles in a way that made clear He was acting by His own power, not by the power of another as the prophets had done. The other prophets always performed their miracles in the name of the Lord. But Christ worked in His own name. Moses was forbidden to enter Canaan because his words seemed to take credit for only one miracle as if by his own power. Nor did Christ work miracles as the apostles did — they performed them all in Christ's name. He performed them by His own authority and will: saying, for example, "I am willing; be cleansed," in Matthew 8:3, and asking, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" in Matthew 9:28.

(3.) Another thing Christ did during His ministry was to call His disciples. He called many followers. He sent out seventy disciples at one point to do His work, but He set apart twelve as apostles — the principal ministers of His kingdom and, in a sense, the twelve foundations of His church. See Revelation 21:14. These were the chief instruments of establishing His kingdom in the world, and therefore shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

4. I want to note how He brought His ministry to its close. He did this

(1.) By giving His parting counsel to His disciples and to all who would ever be His disciples — recorded in detail in John 14 through 16.

(2.) By establishing a lasting memorial of His death — the Lord's Supper, in which the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood are represented.

(3.) By offering Himself as God's high priest — a sacrifice to God in His final sufferings. He did this as God's appointed servant and anointed priest, and it was the greatest act of His public ministry — the greatest act of His obedience, by which He purchased heaven for all who believe. The priests of old performed many other duties as God's ministers, but they were most fully exercising their office at the moment of actually offering sacrifice on the altar. So the greatest thing Christ did in the exercise of His priestly office — the greatest thing He ever did, the greatest thing that has ever been done — was offering Himself as a sacrifice to God. In this He was the fulfillment of everything done by all the priests in all their sacrifices and offerings since the beginning of the world.

III. The third way of organizing the acts by which Christ purchased redemption is with respect to the virtues He exercised and displayed in them. Christ, in doing the work He came to do for our redemption, exercised every possible virtue and grace. There are some specific virtues that sinful people can have that were not present in Christ — not because He was lacking in any virtue, but because His virtue was perfect and without defect. These include repentance, a broken heart over sin, and the mortification and denial of sinful desires. These virtues were absent in Christ not because He lacked virtue but because He had no sin of His own to repent of and no sinful desire to resist. But every virtue that does not presuppose sin was present in Him, and to a greater degree than in any other man or created being. Every virtue in Him was perfect. Virtue itself was greater in Him than in anyone else, and it had greater opportunity to shine in Him than in anyone else. Authentic virtue shows most brightly when most tested — and no one's virtue was ever tested as Christ's was.

The virtues Christ exercised in His work can be grouped into three kinds: those that directly relate to God, those that directly relate to Himself, and those that directly relate to other people.

1. The virtues that directly relate to God were displayed in Christ in the work He did for our redemption. He showed a holy fear and reverence toward God the Father. His virtue in this respect was tested more severely than anyone else's, because of His own personal greatness. This was the very temptation that caused the angels who fell to fall — the temptation to discard worship and reverence for God, because they themselves were beings of such exalted dignity and worth. But Christ was infinitely greater and more worthy than they — for He was the eternal Son of God, equal in person to God the Father. And yet, having taken on the office of Mediator and the nature of man, He was full of reverence toward God. He worshiped Him in the most reverent manner, again and again. He also displayed a wonderful love for God. The angels bear great witness to their love for God through their constant and eager performance of His will. Many saints have given great evidence of their love through the labors and sufferings they have endured for God. But no one has ever given testimony of love for God like Christ — no one has ever performed a labor of love so great as His, or suffered so much out of love for God. He also showed the most wonderful submission to the will of God that has ever been seen. No one's submission was ever tested as His was. And He showed the most extraordinary spirit of obedience ever displayed.

2. In this work Christ also displayed in a wonderful way those virtues that most directly relate to Himself — particularly humility, patience, and contempt for worldly glory. Though Christ was the most excellent and honorable of all people, He was also the most humble — indeed the most humble of all creatures. No angel or human being has ever matched Him in humility, even though He surpassed all created beings in dignity and honor. Christ would have been under the greatest imaginable temptation to pride, if anything could have been a temptation to Him. The temptation that caused the fallen angels to fall was the dignity of their nature and the greatness of their standing. But Christ was infinitely more honorable than they. His human nature was so exalted as to be united in one person with the eternal Son of God, who is equal with the Father — and yet that human nature was not at all inflated with pride. Nor was the man Christ Jesus lifted up with pride by all the wonderful works He performed — healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, restoring limbs to the lame, and raising the dead. Though He knew God had appointed Him as ruler over heaven and earth, angels and men, as He says in Matthew 11:27, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father" — though He knew He was an infinitely honorable person and did not regard equality with God as something to exploit — and though He knew He was the heir of God the Father's kingdom — yet such was His humility that He did not refuse to be brought down into lower and more degraded circumstances and sufferings than any other elect creature has ever endured. He became the least and lowest of all. True humility is proved and demonstrated by willingly descending to very low and deeply humbling acts and conditions when called to do so. But no one has ever stooped so low as Christ — whether we consider the infinite height He stooped from, or the depths to which He descended. Such was His humility that, though He knew His infinite worthiness to be honored far more than the greatest earthly king or angel in heaven, when the time came He did not consider it too much to be bound as a condemned criminal, to be mocked and spat upon by the vilest of men, to be crowned with thorns and dressed in a mockery of royal robes, to be crucified like a slave and treated as the meanest and most despised of outcasts — as one accursed by God and humanity, unfit to live on earth. And He endured all this not for Himself but for some of the most degraded creatures alive — the very people who crucified Him. Was this not a wonderful display of humility, when He freely and willingly accepted this degradation?

How His patience shone under all the terrible suffering He endured — silent and not opening His mouth, going as a lamb to the slaughter, patient as a lamb under all He suffered from beginning to end.

What contempt He showed for worldly glory — choosing humiliation, lowliness, and suffering rather than accepting a temporal crown and the external splendors of an earthly prince, as the crowds so often urged Him to do.

3. In the work He accomplished, Christ also displayed in a wonderful way those virtues that most directly relate to other people. These can be summed up under two headings: meekness and love.

Christ's meekness was His quiet, humble composure of spirit in the face of the provocations He encountered. No one has ever faced such provocations as He did. The greatness of a provocation is determined by two things: the degree of opposition given, and the degree to which that opposition is unjust and undeserved — how completely causeless it is, and how much the person deserved the opposite treatment. If we consider both of these, no one who has ever lived encountered anything close to the provocation Christ faced. Consider how intensely He was hated, the abuse He suffered from the cruelest of men, the severity of the mistreatment, and the spite and contempt behind it. Then consider how completely unjustified all of it was — how utterly undeserving He was of it, and how much He deserved the opposite — love, honor, and gratitude. No one else has ever faced a thousandth part of the provocation He did. And yet how meek He was through it all. How composed and still His spirit remained. Far from agitation or disturbance. When insulted, He did not insult in return. Like a sheep before its shearers He was silent, and did not open His mouth. There was no sign of a vengeful spirit — quite the opposite: He showed a spirit of forgiveness. At the highest moment of provocation anyone had ever committed against Him — as they nailed Him to the cross — He fervently prayed for their forgiveness. Luke 23:34: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

No one has ever displayed such love for humanity. The love for people that Christ showed while on earth — and especially in going through His final sufferings and offering up His life and soul — was His greatest act of love and was entirely without parallel. Some of the saints have shown remarkable love — the apostle Paul, the apostle John, and others — but Christ's love for humanity as displayed during His life on earth surpassed all of theirs as the ocean surpasses a small stream.

It is worth noting that all the virtues that appeared in Christ shone most brilliantly at the end of His life, under the trials He faced there. Outstanding virtue always shows most brightly in the fire. Pure gold reveals its purity most in the furnace. It was chiefly under the trials of the closing period of His life that His love for God, His honor of God's majesty, His concern for the honor of God's law, His spirit of obedience, His humility, His contempt for the world, His patience, His meekness, and His spirit of forgiveness toward others were most clearly seen. Indeed everything Christ did to work out redemption for us is most fully seen at the end of His life. Here is the heart of His satisfaction for sin, here is the chief ground of His merit of eternal life for sinners, and here most clearly shines the example He has set for us to follow.

We have now briefly examined the things by which the purchase of redemption was made, looking at the righteousness Christ displayed in them. I turn now to the second aspect.

Section 2 considers the same acts from the angle of the satisfaction Christ made for sin — that is, the sufferings and humiliation He endured in them on our behalf.

1. Christ was subject to remarkable humiliation and suffering in His infancy. He was born for the purpose of dying, and so in a sense He began to die the moment He was born. His mother suffered in an extraordinary way in giving birth to Him. When her labor came, there was no room at the inn, as Luke 2:7 records. She was forced to take shelter in a stable, and so Christ was born in a place meant for animals. In this way He suffered in His very birth as though He were lower than a man — as though He did not possess the dignity of human nature but belonged to the rank of beasts. We can also reasonably conclude that His mother's circumstances were cramped and difficult in other respects, and that she lacked the basic provisions normally available for a newborn. Without a doubt the infant suffered much as a result.

Beyond this, He was persecuted as an infant. People began seeking His life from the moment He was born. Herod, the leading ruler of the land, was so set against Him that he killed all the children in Bethlehem and its surrounding regions, every boy two years old and younger. Christ suffered exile as an infant — He was driven out of His homeland into Egypt, and He undoubtedly suffered greatly from being carried on such a long journey, at so young an age, into a foreign country.

2. Christ was subject to great humiliation during His private life at Nazareth. He lived there in lowly obscurity, engaged in hard, ordinary labor. Scripture calls Him not only the carpenter's son but the carpenter Himself: Mark 6:3 — 'Is not this the carpenter, the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?' He earned His bread through hard labor before He ate it, enduring the very curse God pronounced on Adam in Genesis 3:19: 'By the sweat of your face you will eat bread.' Consider what a degree of humiliation it was for the glorious Son of God — the creator of heaven and earth — to spend about thirty years living a private, obscure life among working men, overlooked by the world as nothing more than an ordinary laborer. In some ways Christ's humiliation was actually greater during His private life than during His public ministry. During His ministry, His glory broke through in the words He preached and the miracles He performed. But for the first thirty years of His life He lived among ordinary people in near-total silence, with no display of His glory and nothing to distinguish Him from any common craftsman — except the spotless purity and outstanding holiness of His life, which itself remained largely hidden in obscurity. He was largely unnoticed until after His baptism.

3. Christ was also subject to great humiliation and suffering during His public life — from His baptism until the night He was betrayed. Specifically:

1. He suffered great poverty. He had nowhere to lay His head, as Matthew 8:20 says, and He commonly lodged outdoors in the open air for lack of shelter. This is clear when you compare Matthew 8:20, John 18:1-2, Luke 21:37, and Luke 22:39 together. The words spoken of Christ in Song of Solomon 5:2 — 'My head is drenched with dew, my locks with the drops of the night' — were literally fulfilled. Because of His poverty He was undoubtedly often hungry, thirsty, and cold. We read in Matthew 4:2 that He was hungry, and again in Matthew 21:18. His mother and relatives were poor and unable to help Him. He was supported by the generosity of some of His disciples throughout His life. Luke 8 at the beginning tells of certain women who followed Him and supported Him out of their own means. He was so poor that He could not pay the required tribute without a miracle — a fish came to Him carrying the coin in its mouth. See Matthew 17:27. When He ate His last Passover, it was not at His own expense but at someone else's, as Luke 22:7 and following makes clear. Because of His poverty He had no tomb of His own to be buried in. It was the Jewish custom, unless a person was very poor, to prepare a burial tomb during their lifetime. But Christ owned no land of His own, though He was the ruler of heaven and earth. He was buried through the charity of Joseph of Arimathea, in a tomb Joseph had prepared for himself.

2. He suffered great hatred and contempt. He was despised and rejected by people. Most regarded Him as a poor, insignificant man — looked down on for His lowly background and His hometown of Nazareth. He was mocked as a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He was called a deceiver of the people, a madman, a Samaritan, and one possessed by a demon — as in John 7:20, John 8:48, and John 10:20. He was charged with blasphemy and widely regarded as a sorcerer who performed miracles by dark arts and through Beelzebub. They excommunicated Him and agreed to excommunicate anyone who acknowledged Him, as John 9:22 records. They wished Him dead and were constantly plotting to kill Him — sometimes by force, sometimes by scheming. They repeatedly took up stones to stone Him, and once led Him to the edge of a cliff intending to throw Him down onto the rocks below.

This hatred and contempt came from His own people — those who were outwardly God's covenant nation. John 1:11 says, 'He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.' He was especially despised and hated by those held in the highest regard — the leading men of the nation. And the hatred directed at Him was widespread. Wherever He went throughout the land, He met with hatred and contempt. He encountered it in Capernaum, in Jericho, in Jerusalem the holy city, in the temple itself when He went to worship, and even in Nazareth — His own hometown — among His own relatives and former neighbors.

3. He also suffered the attacks of Satan in an extraordinary way. We read of one occasion in particular when He engaged in a prolonged conflict with the devil — forty days in the wilderness, surrounded by nothing but wild animals and evil spirits. During this time He was so exposed to the devil's power that he was physically carried from place to place by him, while already in a deeply suffering condition.

That covers the humiliation and suffering of Christ's public life from His baptism to the night He was betrayed.

4. I come now to His final humiliation and sufferings — from the evening of the night He was betrayed until His resurrection. This was His greatest humiliation and suffering, and it is chiefly through this that He made satisfaction to the justice of God for the sins of people. First, His life was sold by one of His own disciples for thirty pieces of silver — the price set for a servant's life, as Exodus 21:32 shows. Then He endured that terrible agony in the garden. A dreadful darkness came over His soul. He began to be sorrowful and overwhelmed with grief, saying that His 'soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death,' and that He was 'distressed.' The anguish of His soul was so intense that blood was forced through the pores of His skin. While His soul was crushed with overwhelming sorrow, His body was covered in blood. The disciples, who had been like His close friends and family, appeared cold and indifferent toward Him at the very moment when His Father's face was also hidden from Him. Judas — to whom Christ had shown such great kindness, treating him as one of His own household — came and betrayed Him in the most deceitful and treacherous manner imaginable. The officers and soldiers seized Him and bound Him. His disciples abandoned Him and fled. His closest friends did not stand by Him to offer any comfort in His moment of distress. He was led away like a criminal before the priests and scribes — His bitter, deadly enemies — who sat up through the night for the satisfaction of mocking Him now that they had Him in their power. Their aim was nothing less than His death, so they looked for any justification to condemn Him and searched for witnesses against Him. When no valid witnesses came forward, they brought in false ones. When even the false witnesses contradicted each other, they turned to questioning Him directly, hoping to find something in His own words to use against Him. They hoped He would claim to be the Son of God — then they thought they would have what they needed. When they could not get Him to say it without pressing Him, they adjured Him in the name of God to answer whether He was or not. When He confessed that He was, they believed they had enough. Then their celebration began — they fell on Him, spat in His face, blindfolded Him, struck Him with their hands, and told Him to prophesy who had hit Him. In this way they ridiculed His claim to be a prophet. Even the servants joined in the abuse, as Mark 14:65 records: 'The servants also beat Him with their hands.'

During the sufferings of that night, Peter — one of His chief disciples — instead of standing by Him in comfort, was ashamed to acknowledge Him and denied and renounced Him with oaths and curses. After the chief priests and elders had spent the night shamefully abusing Him, morning came — the morning of the most remarkable day in history — and they led Him to Pilate to be condemned to death, since they did not have the legal authority to execute anyone themselves. He was brought before Pilate's judgment seat, where the priests and elders accused Him of treason. When Pilate examined the matter and declared he found no fault in Him, the Jews only became more fierce and insistent in demanding His condemnation. Pilate, having cleared Him, then unjustly put Him through a second trial, and again found nothing against Him and acquitted Him. Pilate treated Him as a poor, worthless man, but was too embarrassed to condemn Him as a traitor on such flimsy grounds.

He was then sent to Herod to be tried, and was brought before Herod's judgment seat while His enemies followed and accused Him bitterly. Herod did not condemn Him as a traitor or a would-be king. Like Pilate, he regarded Him as a poor, insignificant man — not worth taking seriously. He found it laughable that the Jews were accusing this man as a threat to Caesar, as someone likely to rise up as a rival king. So, in mockery, Herod dressed Him in a robe of ridicule, made sport of Him, and sent Him back through the streets of Jerusalem to Pilate still wearing the mock robe.

Then the Jews chose Barabbas over Him and pressed Pilate loudly and violently to crucify Him. So Pilate — though he had cleared Him twice and Herod once — unjustly brought Him to trial a third time, trying to find some sufficient charge for crucifixion. Christ was stripped and flogged — giving His back to those who struck Him. After that, even though Pilate again declared he found no fault in Him, he was so unjust that out of fear of the Jews he handed Christ over to be crucified. But before the sentence was carried out, His spiteful enemies seized the opportunity to mock Him again — gathering around Him and making a deliberate occasion of it. They stripped Him, put a scarlet robe on Him, placed a reed in His hand, and pressed a crown of thorns onto His head. Both Jews and Roman soldiers united in the mockery, kneeling before Him and crying in derision, 'Hail, King of the Jews.' They also spat on Him, took the reed from His hand, and struck Him on the head with it. After this they led Him away to be crucified and made Him carry His own cross, until He collapsed under its weight from exhaustion. Then they laid it on a man named Simon of Cyrene.

When they finally arrived at Mount Calvary, they carried out the sentence Pilate had so unjustly pronounced. They nailed Him to the cross through His hands and feet, raised it upright, and drove one end into the ground, leaving Him suspended by the nails. Now Christ's sufferings reached their most extreme point. The cup He had prayed so earnestly would pass from Him had come — and He drank it. In those days crucifixion was the most agonizing form of execution known. No other form of death caused a person to die by sheer torment to the same degree — and indeed the Latin word for torment itself comes from this kind of death. But beyond the excruciating physical pain of His death, He endured vastly greater suffering in His soul. This was the travail of His soul spoken of by the prophet. Now it pleased God to bruise Him and to put Him to grief. Now He poured out His soul unto death, as Isaiah 53 describes. If merely anticipating this cup caused Him to sweat blood, how much more dreadful and agonizing must the actual drinking of it have been. Many martyrs have endured great physical suffering with joyful souls, singing for joy — and that inward joy sustained them through their outward pain, allowing them to triumph over it. This was not the case with Christ. He had no such support. His sufferings were primarily those of the soul, though the physical suffering was also extreme. During His crucifixion Christ did not sweat blood as He had in the garden — not because His agony was less, but because His blood was now being shed through the wounds in His body. But even without sweating blood, the suffering of His soul was so severe that it apparently ruptured something within Him — which seems likely from the fact that when His side was pierced, both blood and water flowed out. In this there was a kind of literal fulfillment of Psalm 22:14: 'I am poured out like water — my heart is like wax; it is melted within me.'

Even under all these sufferings the Jews continued to mock Him, shaking their heads and saying, 'You who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' Even the chief priests, scribes, and elders joined in, saying, 'He saved others; He cannot save Himself.' The devil was also likely tormenting Him to the fullest extent of his power at that moment — which is why Jesus said, as Luke 22:53 records, 'This is your hour, and the power of darkness.'

Under these sufferings, after crying out repeatedly with a loud voice, Christ finally said, 'It is finished' (John 19:30), 'and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.' And so was finished the greatest and most wonderful thing ever done. The angels witnessed the most extraordinary sight they had ever seen. Everything that had been pointed toward by the various institutions of the ceremonial law, by all the typical dispensations, and by all the sacrifices from the beginning of the world — was now accomplished.

Christ came under the power of death and remained in that state until the morning of the third day — and then was finished that great work, the purchase of our redemption, for which such vast preparation had been made from the beginning of the world. Everything required to satisfy the threatenings of the law was now complete. Everything necessary to satisfy divine justice was now done. The full demand of retributive justice had been met — the entire debt was paid. The entire purchase of eternal life was finished. Nothing more has ever needed to be done to purchase salvation for sinners. Nothing has been done since, and nothing more ever will be done.