CHAP. VI. The Glory of Christ in the Discharge of his Mediatory Office.

As the Lord Christ was glorious in the taking up of his office, so also was he in its discharge. An unseen glory accompanied him in all that he did and in all that he suffered. Unseen it was to the eyes of the world, but not to him who alone can judge of it. Had men seen it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet to some of them it was made manifest. Hence they testified that in the discharge of his office they "beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14), even when others could see neither form nor comeliness in him that he should be desired (Isaiah 53:2). And so it is at this day. I shall make only a few observations: first, on what he did in a way of obedience, and then on what he suffered in the discharge of his office.

1. What he did, what obedience he yielded to the law of God in the discharge of his office (with respect to which he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God; your law is within my heart") — it was all of his own free choice or election, and resolved into that alone. It is our duty to endeavor after freedom, willingness, and cheerfulness in all our obedience. Obedience has its formal nature from our wills. As much as there is of our wills in what we do toward God, so much there is of obedience, and no more. However, we are, prior to all acts of our own wills, obliged to all that is called obedience. From the very constitution of our natures, we are necessarily subject to the law of God. All that is left to us is a voluntary compliance with unavoidable commands. With him it was not so. An act of his own will and choice preceded all obligation as to obedience. He obeyed because he would, before he obeyed because he ought. He said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God," before he was obliged to do that will. By his own choice — and that in an act of infinite condescension and love, as we have shown — he was made of a woman, and thereby made under the law. In his divine person he was Lord of the law, above it, no more subject to its commands than to its curse. Nor was he afterwards in himself on his own account exempt from its curse merely because he was innocent, but also because he was in every way above the law itself and all its force.

This was the original glory of his obedience. The wisdom, the grace, the love, the condescension that was in this choice animated every act, every duty of his obedience, rendering it gracious in the sight of God and useful to us. So when he went to John to be baptized, he who knew he had no need of it on his own account would have declined administering that ordinance to him; but he replied, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). "This I have undertaken willingly of my own accord without any need of it for myself, and therefore will discharge it." For him who was Lord of all universally to submit himself in this way to universal obedience carries with it evidence of glorious grace.

2. This obedience, as to its use and end, was not for himself, but for us. We were obliged to it and could not perform it; he was not obliged to it in any way except by a free act of his own will, and he did perform it. God gave him this honor, that he should obey on behalf of the whole church, that by his obedience we should be made righteous (Romans 5:19). In this, I say, God gave him honor and glory — that his obedience should stand in the place of the perfect obedience of the church as to justification.

3. His obedience, being absolutely universal and absolutely perfect, was the great representation of the holiness of God in the law. It was represented gloriously when the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on tablets of stone; it appears yet more prominently in the spiritual transcription of it in the hearts of believers; but absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the holiness and obedience of Christ, which answered it to the utmost. And this is no small part of his glory in obedience — that the holiness of God in the law was therein, and therein alone in that one instance as to human nature, fully represented.

4. He worked out this obedience against all difficulties and oppressions. For although he was absolutely free from that disorder which in us has invaded our whole natures, which internally renders all obedience difficult to us and perfect obedience impossible, yet as to opposition from without — in temptations, sufferings, reproaches, contradictions — he met with more than we all. Hence that glorious word: "Although he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). But,

5. The glory of this obedience arises principally from the consideration of the person who thus yielded it to God. This was none other but the Son of God made man — God and man in one person. He who was in heaven, above all, Lord of all, at the same time lived in the world in a condition of no reputation, in a course of the strictest obedience to the whole law of God. He to whom prayer was made prayed himself night and day. He whom all the angels of heaven and all creatures worshiped was continually engaged in all the duties of the worship of God. He who was over the household diligently observed the humblest office of the household. He who made all men, in whose hand they are all as clay in the hand of the potter, observed among them the strictest rules of justice in giving to every one his due, and of charity in giving good things that were not so due. This is what renders the obedience of Christ in the discharge of his office both mysterious and glorious.

2. Again, the glory of Christ is set before us in what he suffered in the discharge of the office he had undertaken. There belonged indeed to his office victory, success, and triumph with great glory (Isaiah 63:1–5), but there were sufferings also required of him as prerequisites to that. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?"

But such were the sufferings of Christ that in our thoughts about them our minds quickly recoil with a sense of their insufficiency to conceive rightly of them. No one has ever launched into this ocean with his meditations without quickly finding himself unable to fathom its depths. Nor shall I here undertake an inquiry into them. I shall only point at this spring of glory, and leave it under a veil.

We might here look on him as under the weight of the wrath of God and the curse of the law, taking on himself and on his whole soul the utmost of evil that God had ever threatened to sin or sinners. We might look on him in his agony and bloody sweat, in his strong cries and supplications, when he was sorrowful to the point of death and began to be overwhelmed in apprehension of the things that were coming on him — that dreadful trial he was entering into. We might look on him conflicting with all the powers of darkness and the rage and madness of men, suffering in his soul, his body, his name, his reputation, his goods, his life — some of these sufferings being immediate from God above, others from devils and wicked men acting according to the determinate counsel of God. We might look on him praying, weeping, crying out, bleeding, dying, in all things making his soul an offering for sin. "So he was taken from prison and judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people," says God, "was he stricken" (Isaiah 53:8). But these things I shall not dwell on in particular, but leave them under such a veil as may give us a prospect into them, sufficient to fill our souls with holy admiration.

Lord! What is man that you are thus mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him? Who has known your mind, or who has been your counselor? O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! What shall we say to these things — that God did not spare his only Son, but gave him up to death and all the evils included in it, for such poor, lost sinners as we were; that for our sakes the eternal Son of God submitted himself to all the evils to which our natures are subject and which our sins had deserved, that we might be delivered?

How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account in the eyes of believers! When Adam had sinned and thereby eternally — according to the sanction of the law — ruined himself and all his posterity, he stood ashamed, afraid, trembling, as one ready to perish forever under the displeasure of God. Death was what he had deserved, and immediate death was what he looked for. In this state the Lord Christ, in the promise, comes to him and says: "Poor creature! How woeful is your condition! How deformed is your appearance! What has become of the beauty, the glory of that image of God in which you were created? How have you taken on yourself the monstrous shape and image of Satan! And yet your present misery, your entrance into dust and darkness, is no way to be compared with what is to come. Eternal distress lies at the door. But yet look up once more and behold me, that you may have some glimpse of what lies in the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and grace. Come out from your vain shelter, your hiding place. I will put myself into your condition. I will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment which would sink you eternally into the bottom of hell. I will pay what I never took; and be made temporally a curse for you, that you may attain to eternal blessedness." To the same purpose he speaks to convicted sinners in the invitation he gives them to come to him.

Thus is the Lord Christ set forth in the gospel, evidently crucified before our eyes (Galatians 3:1) — namely, in the representation made of his glory in the sufferings he underwent for the discharge of the office he had undertaken. Let us then behold him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree — in all this labouring under a sense of the wrath of God due to our sins. To this end are these things recorded in the gospel, read, preached, and represented to us. But what can we see in them? What glory is there in these things? Are not these the very things at which all the world of Jews and Gentiles stumbled and took offense — those in which he was appointed to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense? Was it not counted a foolish thing to look for help and deliverance through the miseries of another, to look for life through his death? The apostle declares at length that such it was esteemed (1 Corinthians 1). So it was in the wisdom of the world. But even on account of these things is he honorable, glorious, and precious in the sight of those who believe (1 Peter 2:6–7), for even herein he was the wisdom of God and the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). And the apostle declares at length the grounds and reasons for the different thoughts and apprehensions men have concerning the cross and sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3–6).

Just as the Lord Christ was glorious in taking up His office, so also was He glorious in carrying it out. An unseen glory accompanied Him in everything He did and in everything He suffered. Unseen it was to the eyes of the world, but not to the One who alone can rightly judge of it. Had people truly seen it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet to some it was made plain. So they testified that in the discharge of His office they 'beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father' (John 1:14) — even while others could see no beauty or desirability in Him (Isaiah 53:2). So it is to this day. I will make only a few observations: first, on what He did in obedience, and then on what He suffered in the discharge of His office.

First, everything He did — every act of obedience He rendered to the law of God in the discharge of His office (concerning which He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God; Your law is within My heart') — sprang entirely from His own free choice. It is our duty to seek freedom, willingness, and cheerfulness in all our obedience. Obedience has its essential character from our wills — as much of our will as there is in what we do toward God, that much is obedience and no more. Yet prior to any act of our own will, we are obligated to everything called obedience. By the very constitution of our natures, we are necessarily subject to the law of God. All that is left to us is voluntary compliance with unavoidable commands. With Him it was not so. An act of His own will and choice preceded all obligation as to obedience. He obeyed because He chose to, before He obeyed because He was obligated. He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God,' before He was bound to do that will. By His own free choice — an act of infinite condescension and love, as we have shown — He was made of a woman, and thereby made under the law. In His divine person He was Lord of the law, above it, no more subject to its commands than to its curse. Nor was He afterward exempt from its curse merely because He was innocent, but also because in every way He was above the law itself and all its power.

This was the original glory of His obedience. The wisdom, grace, love, and condescension that were in this choice gave life and color to every act and duty of His obedience, making it beautiful in the sight of God and beneficial to us. So when He went to John to be baptized — John, who knew He had no need of it for His own sake, would have declined to administer it to Him — He replied, 'Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness' (Matthew 3:15). In effect: 'This I have undertaken willingly and of My own accord, without any need of it for Myself, and therefore I will carry it through.' For the One who is Lord of all to submit Himself in this way to universal obedience carries with it clear evidence of glorious grace.

Second, this obedience — as to its purpose and benefit — was not for Himself but for us. We were obligated to it and could not perform it; He was not obligated to it by anything except a free act of His own will, and He performed it. God gave Him the honor that He should obey on behalf of the whole church, so that by His obedience we would be made righteous (Romans 5:19). In this, I say, God gave Him honor and glory: that His obedience would stand in the place of the perfect obedience of the church in justification.

Third, His obedience — being absolutely universal and absolutely perfect — was the supreme representation of the holiness of God in the law. It was displayed gloriously when the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on stone tablets; it appears yet more fully in the spiritual writing of the law on the hearts of believers; but absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the holiness and obedience of Christ, which met the law's demands completely. And this is no small part of His glory in obedience — that the holiness of God in the law was there, and there alone in that one instance in human nature, fully represented.

Fourth, He worked out this obedience against every difficulty and obstacle. Although He was completely free from the internal disorder that has invaded our entire natures — the disorder that makes all obedience difficult and perfect obedience impossible for us — He faced far more external opposition, in the form of temptations, sufferings, reproaches, and contradictions, than all of us combined. Hence that glorious statement: 'Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered' (Hebrews 5:8). But:

Fifth, the glory of this obedience arises chiefly from the person who rendered it to God. He was none other than the Son of God made man — God and man in one person. He who was in heaven, above all, Lord of all, at the same time lived in the world in a condition of no reputation, walking in the strictest obedience to the whole law of God. He to whom prayer was made prayed Himself, night and day. He whom all the angels of heaven and all creatures worshiped was continually engaged in all the duties of the worship of God. He who was Lord over the household diligently fulfilled the humblest role in the household. He who made all people — in whose hand they all are as clay in the hand of the potter — observed among them the strictest rules of justice, giving to everyone what was due, and of charity, giving good things that were not owed. This is what makes the obedience of Christ in the discharge of His office both mysterious and glorious.

Second, the glory of Christ is also set before us in what He suffered in the discharge of the office He had undertaken. His office certainly entailed victory, triumph, and great glory (Isaiah 63:1-5), but sufferings were required of Him as the necessary path to that. 'Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and then enter into His glory?'

But the sufferings of Christ are such that in contemplating them, our minds quickly pull back with a sense of how inadequate they are to grasp them rightly. No one has ever launched his meditations into this ocean without soon finding himself unable to sound its depths. I will not undertake a full inquiry into them here. I will only point toward this spring of glory and leave it under a veil.

We might look on Him bearing the weight of the wrath of God and the curse of the law, taking upon Himself and upon His whole soul the full measure of evil that God had ever threatened against sin and sinners. We might look on Him in His agony and bloody sweat, in His strong cries and prayers, when He was sorrowful to the point of death and began to be overwhelmed in anticipation of what was coming upon Him — that dreadful trial He was entering. We might look on Him wrestling with all the powers of darkness and the rage and madness of men, suffering in His soul, His body, His name, His reputation, and His life — some of these sufferings coming directly from God above, others from devils and wicked men acting according to God's determined purpose. We might look on Him praying, weeping, crying out, bleeding, dying — in all of it making His soul an offering for sin. 'He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people,' says God, 'He was stricken' (Isaiah 53:8). But I will not dwell on these particulars individually, but leave them under a veil that still offers enough of a glimpse to fill our souls with holy wonder.

Lord! What is man that You are thus mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? Who has known Your mind, or who has been Your counselor? O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! What shall we say to these things — that God did not spare His only Son but gave Him up to death and all the evils involved in it, for such poor, lost sinners as we were? That for our sakes the eternal Son of God submitted Himself to all the evils to which our nature is subject and which our sins had deserved, so that we might be delivered?

How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account in the eyes of believers! When Adam had sinned and thereby — according to the sentence of the law — eternally ruined himself and all his descendants, he stood ashamed, afraid, and trembling, as one ready to perish forever under the displeasure of God. Death was what he had deserved, and immediate death was what he expected. In this condition the Lord Christ comes to him in the promise and says: 'Poor creature! How wretched is your condition! How disfigured is your appearance! What has become of the beauty and glory of that image of God in which you were created? How you have taken on the monstrous likeness of Satan! And yet your present misery — your entry into dust and darkness — is nothing compared to what lies ahead. Eternal ruin is at the door. But look up once more and see Me, that you may have some glimpse of what lies within the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and grace. Come out from your vain shelter, your hiding place. I will put Myself in your condition. I will bear that burden of guilt and punishment that would sink you eternally to the bottom of hell. I will pay what I never owed, and be made temporarily a curse for you, so that you may attain eternal blessedness.' To the same effect He speaks to convicted sinners in the invitation He extends to come to Him.

This is how the Lord Christ is presented in the Gospel — plainly crucified before our eyes (Galatians 3:1) — through the representation of His glory in the sufferings He bore in the discharge of the office He had undertaken. Let us then behold Him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree — through all of it laboring under a sense of the wrath of God due to our sins. This is why these things are recorded in the Gospel, read, preached, and set before us. But what can we see in them? What glory is there in these things? Are these not the very things at which the whole world of Jews and Gentiles stumbled and took offense — the things in which He was appointed to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense? Was it not counted foolish to look for help and deliverance through another's misery — to look for life through His death? The apostle explains at length how it was so esteemed (1 Corinthians 1). So it seemed in the wisdom of the world. But even on account of these very things He is honorable, glorious, and precious in the sight of those who believe (1 Peter 2:6-7) — for in them He was the wisdom of God and the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). And the apostle explains at length the grounds for the very different ways people think about the cross and sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).