The Excellency of Christ (Part 2)

Jonathan Edwards

DATED AUGUST 1736. (ADAPTED FROM THREE SERMONS)

E. In the person of Christ are both a spirit of obedience and supreme dominion over heaven and earth. (Cont’d)

Yet in the same person is found the greatest spirit of obedience to the commands and laws of God that ever was in the universe, evidenced by His obedience here in this world. John 14:31, “As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.” john 15:10, “Even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” The greatness of His obedience appears in its perfection, and in His obeying commands of such exceeding difficulty.

Never had anyone received commands from God of such difficulty and so great a trial of obedience, as Jesus Christ. One of God’s commands to Him was that He should yield Himself to those dreadful sufferings that He underwent. See John 10:18, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself … This commandment received I of my Father.” Christ was thoroughly obedient to this command of God. Hebrews 5:8, “Though he were a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered.” Philemon 2:8, “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, evevn the death of the cross.”

Never was there such an instance of obedience in man or angel as this, though He was at the same time supreme Lord of both angels and men.

F. In the person of Christ are together absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation. This is another unparalleled comparison. Christ, because He is God, is the absolute Sovereign of the world, the sovereign Disposer of all events. The decrees of God are all His sovereign decrees, and the work of creation and all God’s works of providence are His sovereign works. It is He that works all things according to the counsel of His own will. Colossians 1:16-17, “By him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” John 5:17, “The Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Matthew 8:3, “I will, be thou clean.”

Yet Christ was the most wonderful instance of resignation that ever appeared in the world. He was absolutely and perfectly reigned when He had a near and immediate prospect of His terrible sufferings, and the dreadful cup that He was to drink. The idea and expectation of this made His soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and put Him into such an agony that His sweat was as it were great drops or clots of blood falling down to the ground. But in such circumstances He was wholly resigned to the will of God. Matthew 26:39, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:42, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”

G. In Christ we find self-sufficiency, and an entire trust and reliance on God, which is another attribute peculiar to the person of Christ. As He is a divine Person, He is self-sufficient, standing in need of nothing. All creatures are dependent on Him, but He is dependent on none, and is absolutely independent. His proceeding from the Father in His eternal generation or relationship argues no proper dependence on the will of the Father. For that proceeding was natural and necessary, and not arbitrary. But yet Christ entirely trusted in God. His enemies say of Him, “He trusted in God that he would deliver him,” Matthew 27:43, And the apostle testifies in 1 Peter 2:23, “That he committed himself God.”

Third, such diverse excellencies are expressed in Him towards men, that otherwise would have semed impossible to be exercised toward the same object, as particularly these three: justice, mercy, and truth. The same that are mentioned in Psalms 85:10, “Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” The strict justice of God and His reevenging justice against the sins of men were never so gloriously manifested as in Christ.

He manifested an infinite regard to the attribute of God’s justice, in that when He had a mind to save sinners, He was willing to undergo such extreme sufferings, rather than that their salvation should be to the injury of the honor of that attribute. And as He is the Judge of the world, He does Himself exercise strict justice. He will not clear the guilty, nor at all acquit the wicked in judgment.

Yet how wonderfully is infinite mercy towards sinners displayed in Him! Oh, how glorious and ineffable grace and love have been and are exercised by Him towards sinful men! Though He is the just Judge of a sinful world, yet He is also the Savior of the world. Though He is a consumming fire to sin, yet He is the light and life of sinners. Romans 3:25-26, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

So the unchangable truth of God, in the threats of His law against the sins of men, has never been so manifested as it is in Jesus Christ. For there never was so great a trial of the unalterableness of the truth of Glod in those threats, as when sin came to be imputed to His own Son.

In Christ, as has been seen already, is an actual complete accomplishment of those threats. This has never been nor will be seen in any other way, because eternity will be taken up in fulfilling those threats on others, and never will be finished. Christ shows an infinite regard to this truth of God in His sufferings. And in His judging the world, He makes the covenant of works that contains those dreadful threats, His rule of judgment.

He will see to it that it is not compromised in the least jot or tittle. He will do nothing contrary to the punishments of the law, and will see it completely fulfilled. Yet in Him we have many great and precious promises of perfect deliverance from the penalty of the law. We have the promise of eternal life. In Him are all the promises of God, yea, and Amen.

Having shown where there is an admirable comparison of excellencies in Jesus Christ, I now proceed,

SECTION 2
To show how this comparison of Christ’s excellencies appears in Christ’s life.

First, it appears in what Christ did in taking on Him our nature. In this act, His infinite humility wonderfully appeared, that He who was God should become man. That the word should be made flesh, and should take on Him a nature infinitely below His original nature! It appears even more remarkably in the low circumstances of His incarnation. He was conceived in the womb of a poor young woman, whose poverty can be seen: when she came to offer sacrifices or her purification, she brought what was allowed by law only in case of poverty. Luke 2:24, “According to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.” This was allowed only in case the person was so poor that she was not able to offer a lamb (Leviticus 12:8).

His infinite humility appeared in the manner of His incarnation. His divine dignity also appeared in it. For though He was conceived in the womb of a poor virgin, yet He was conceived there by the power of the Holy Ghost.

His divine dignity also appeared in the holiness of His conception and birth. Though He was conceived in the womb of one of the corrupt race of mankind, yet He was conceived and born without sin. As the angel said to the blessed Virgin in Luke 1:35, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.”

His infinite humility marvelously appeared in the manner of His birth. He was born in a stable because there was no room for them in the inn. The inn was taken up by others who were looked upon as persons of greater account. The blessed Virgin, being poor and despised, was turned or shut out. Even though she was pregnant those that counted themselves better than she would not give anything up for her.

In the time of her travail, she was forced to give birth in a stable, and when the child was born, He was trapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. There Christ lay, a little infant, born thus in a stable and laid in a manger, was born to conquer and triumph over Satan, that roaring lion. He came to subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make show of them openly. He was born to restore peace on earth, to display God’s goodwill towards men, and to bring glory to God in the highest. His birth was declared by the joyful songs of the glorious hosts of angels, who appeared to the shepherds at the same time that the infant Jesus lay in the manger, whereby His divine dignity was manifested.

Second, this admirable comparison of Christ’s excellencies appears in the acts and various passages of Christ’s life. Though Christ dwelt in lowly outward circumstances, and His majesty was veiled, yet His divine divinity and glory showed many of the things that He did. His deeds shine through His veil, and it appeared that He was not only the Son of man, but the great God.

In the circumstances of His infancy, His outward humility was apparent. Yet even then, there was a glimpse of His divine dignity. The wise men were stirred up to come from the east to give honor to Him. Being led by a miraculous star, they came to Him, bowed down and worshipped Him, and presented Him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. His humlity and meekness wonderfully appeared in His subjection to His mother and reputed father when He was a child. He was the Lamb. Yet His divine glory broke forth and shone when, at twelve year old, He disputed with doctors in the temple. There was a glimpse of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

After Christ entered on His public ministry, His marvelous humility and meekness were demonstrated in His choosing to appear in such poor outward circumstances. He was completely content in them. He was so poor that He had no place to lay His subsistence, as is seen Luke 8 at the beginning. How meek and humble was His treatment of His disciples. In His discussions with them, He treated them as a father would his children. He was their friend and companion.

How patient He was in bearing such affliction and reproach. He suffered many injuries from the scribes and Pharisees, and others. In all these things He appeared as a Lamb. Yet at the same time and in many ways He showed forth His divine majesty and glory. The miracles He did were clear evidence of divine works. He showed omnipotent power, thus revealing Himself to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

His wonderful and miraculous works plainly showed Him to be the God of nature. He had all nature in His hands and could stop and change its course any way He pleased. In healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, and healing the lame, He showed that He was God. He showed that He framed the eye, created the ear, and was the author of the lame man’s body. By raising the dead at His own command He proved that He was the Author and Fountain of life, and the very “Lord, to whom belong the issues of death.” By His walking on the sea in a storm when the saves were rough, He showed Himself to be that God spoken of in Job 9:8, “That treadeth on the waves of the sea.” By calming the storm, and the rage of the sea by His powerful command, saying, “Peace, be still,” He showed that He has the command of the universe, and that He is that God who brings things to pass by the word of His power, who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast. Psalms 65:7, “Who stilleth the noise of the sea, the noise of their waves.” And Psalms 107″29, “That maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” And Psalms 89:8-9, “O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the saves thereof arise, thou stillest them.”

Christ, by casting out devils, remarkably appeared as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and showed that He was stronger than the roaring lion that seeks to devour. He commanded them to come out, and they were forced to obey. They were terrribly afraid of Him. They fell down before Him, and begged Him not to torment them. By His powerful word, He forced an entire legion of them to forsake their hold. He showed the glory of His omniscience by telling the thoughts of men, as we have often an account. He is the one that God who speaks of in Amos 4:13, “That declareth unto man what is his thought.” Thus, in the midst of His meanness and humiliation, His divine glory appeared in His miracles. John 2:11, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory.”

Though Christ ordinarily appeared without outward glory, yet at certain times He threw off the veil and appeared in His divine majesty. He was transfigured at the mount. The apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:16-17) was an “eye-witness of his majesty, when he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; which voice that came from heaven they heard, when they were with him in the holy mount.”

At the same time that Christ appeared in such meekness, condescension, and humility in His familiar discourses with his disciples, appearing therein as the Lamb of God, He also appeared as the Lion of the tribe of Judah with divine authority and majesty in His so sharply rebuking the scribes and Pharisees and other hypocrites.

Third, this comparison of excellencies remarkably appeared in His offering up Himself a sacrifice for sinners in His last sufferings. As this was the greatest thing in all the works of redemption, the gretaest act of Christ in that work, the comparison is most clear. Christ never appeared more as a Lamb, as when He was slain: “He came like a lamb to the slaughter,” Isaiah 53:7. Then He was offered up to God as a Lamb without blemish or spot, then especially did He appear to be the anti-type of the lamb of the Passover. We read in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us.”

Yet also in His death, He appeared as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

1. Christ was in the greatest degree of His humiliation, and yet His divine glory appeared. Christ’s humiliation was great, in being born in such a low condition, of a poor virgin, and in a stable. His humiliation was great in being subject to Joseph the carpenter and Mary His mother, and afterwards living in poverty, not having a place to lay His head, and in suffering all the reproaches as He suffered. Yet at the same time He went about preaching and working miracles. His humiliation was never so great as it was in His last sufferings, from His glory in the garden until He died on the cross. Never was He subject to such humiliation as then, never did He suffer so much pain in His body or with so thick and dark a veil. Never did He so empty Himself and make Himself of no reputation, as at this time. Yet, never was His divine glory so apparent by any act of His, as in yielding Himself up to these sufferings
   
   When completed, His glory would appear! It appeared as the most glorious act of Christ that ever He exercised towards the creature. This act was celebrated by the angels and hosts of heaven with peculiar praises, above all other glorious acts. Revelation 5:9-12, “And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”
2. He never in any other act gave so great a demonstration of love to God or the enemies of God. This wa the greatest expression of His love to sinful men who were enemies to God. Romans 5:10, “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his Son.” The greatness of Christ’s love to us appears in nothing so much as in its being a dying love.
   
   The blood of Christ that fell in grest drops to the ground was shed in agony from love to God’s enemies and His own. From love for rebels, to save them from hell, and to purchase for them eternal glory, He underwent shame and spitting, the torment of His body, and His sorrow even unto death.
   
   Never did Christ so eminently show His regard to God’s honor as He did in offering up Himself as a victim to justice. Yet in this above all, He showed His love to them who dishonored God, to bring such guilt on themselves, that nothing less than His blood could atone for it.
   
   (To be continued …)