Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 947

OFFICES OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION

Isaiah 48:16. Now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

SO mysterious and important a doctrine as that of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead ought not to be founded on any grounds which are not clear, strong, adequate, convincing. But it may be illustrated from passages on which we could not altogether venture to establish it. Such is the passage which I have now brought before you. It might well be supposed, that so important a doctrine as this should pervade the Holy Scriptures, just in the way that all the fundamental doctrines of our religion do; and that there should be intimations of it in many places, where the express mention of it would not be expected to occur. And this we find throughout the whole Scriptures, as I shall presently take occasion to shew. In the whole chapter which precedes this, from whence my text is taken, God is declaring that he will destroy Babylon, and bring out from thence his captive people, and restore them to their own land: and, throughout the chapter which is before us, he warns his people to bear in remembrance, that he had foretold this event several hundred years before it should be accomplished; and that, consequently, when it should occur, they must trace it, not, as they would be ready to do, to their idols, but to Jehovah himself, who had foreordained it for the glory of his own name, and who had designed it to be a type of a yet greater deliverance, which he would in due season effect for a ruined world. It is in this connexion that the speaker says, “Now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me; “that is, hath commissioned me to announce to you these great events.

But it is a matter of doubt, who the speaker is. If it be the prophet, then the sense of the passage is clear: but if it be the same divine Person as is speaking throughout the whole context, namely, the Son of God, the Saviour of Israel, the Messiah, then a small alteration must be made in our translation; and the passage must be read, “Now the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit;” that is, hath sent me to effect this great deliverance, and his Spirit to reveal it to you; and both myself and the Holy Spirit, to accomplish that infinitely greater deliverance that is prefigured by it. This is the sense which the most approved expositors adopt, and which therefore I also shall follow: though, as far as respects the use which I shall make of the passage, it is of no moment which construction we prefer; since, in either case, a plurality of persons in the Godhead is clearly intimated. I propose, then, to consider,

I. The distinction of Persons in the Godhead—

I have already observed, that we might reasonably expect the doctrine of the Trinity, if it be indeed true, to pervade the Holy Scriptures throughout. Accordingly, we do find it more or less clearly intimated from the beginning. Let us trace it in the Scriptures,

1. Of the Old Testament—

[In the very first chapter of the Bible, where the creation of all things is declared, there is a plurality of persons mentioned, as determining to complete the whole by the formation of man: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness [Note: Genesis 1:26.].” So again, at the expulsion of man from Paradise, a similar representation of the Deity is given: “The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil [Note: Genesis 3:22.].” At the building of the Tower of Babel, also, the Deity speaks of himself in the same manner: “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech [Note: Genesis 11:7.].”

In like manner, when the Messiah is spoken of, a plurality of persons in the Godhead is almost always marked. Is his qualification for his work stated? It is said, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him [Note: Isaiah 11:2.].” Is his mission plainly declared? It is said, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek [Note: Isaiah 61:1.].” Is the effect of his mission foretold? It is said, “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee [Note: Zechariah 2:11.].”]

2. Of the New Testament—

[The Saviour’s incarnation was announced in these terms to his Virgin Mother: “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 [Note: Luke 1:35.].” Was he consecrated to his Mediatorial office at his baptism? The account given of it is, “Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and, lo! the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and, lo! a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased [Note: Matthew 3:16-17.].” Were disciples to be gathered to him by his Gospel? He said, “Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost [Note: Matthew 28:19.].” Were they to receive all kinds of blessings from God? They are instructed distinctly to acknowledge the Three Persons of the Godhead; and to pray, that “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, may be with them [Note: 2 Corinthians 13:14.].”]

But this distinction of Persons in the Godhead will more clearly appear, by considering,

II. The particular offices which they severally sustain in the economy of redemption—

God the Father is the fountain from whom the whole of salvation proceeds—

[It is he who “sends his Son,” and “delivers him up for us all.” It is he, also, who “sends the Holy Spirit,” to apply to our souls the benefits which Christ has purchased for us. On this part of our subject it is unnecessary to enlarge, because respecting it we are all agreed.]

The Lord Jesus Christ has come to procure salvation for us—

[As Mediator, God and man, he was the Father’s servant [Note: Isaiah 42:1.], sent to effect for us this great salvation. In undertaking the work, he voluntarily engaged to redeem us; saying, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy Law is within my heart [Note: Psalms 40:6-8.].” In executing the work, he acted freely throughout, “giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God of a sweet-smelling savour [Note: Ephesians 5:2.]:” yea, on the very cross “he, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto God [Note: Hebrews 9:14.].” And, as he voluntarily laid down his life for us, so by his own power he resumed it [Note: John 10:18.]; and went up to heaven to “intercede for us [Note: Hebrews 7:25.],” and “to prepare a place for us [Note: John 14:2.],” and to administer to us all needful grace [Note: Ephesians 1:22-23.]: and in due time he will come again, and take us to himself [Note: John 14:3.], and invest us with crowns and kingdoms like his own [Note: Luke 22:29.].]

The Holy Spirit applies to us what the Lord Jesus has procured—

[As by the Spirit’s agency the man Jesus was enabled to execute the whole of his work; so, when the Saviour was gone to heaven, the Spirit descended, to complete the work which Jesus had begun. “He testified of Christ,” by the miraculous powers which he imparted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost [Note: John 15:26.]. He also “glorified Christ, by taking of the things that were his, and shewing them unto his disciples [Note: John 16:14.].” To this very hour does he, by the mighty operation of his power on the souls of men, “convince them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment [Note: John 16:8.].” He “comforts them” in their sorrows [Note: John 14:16.].; he “sanctifies them throughout [Note: 1 Thessalonians 5:23.];” he “bears witness to them that they are the Lord’s [Note: Romans 8:16.]; and he “seals them unto the day of redemption [Note: Ephesians 1:13-14.].” And at the last day, “as he raised Christ himself from the dead, so will he raise us also ”to a final participation of his kingdom and glory [Note: Romans 8:11.].

And now, in all this, have I spoken too minutely, or too confidently? I have said no more than what St. Peter has spoken in one short verse; when he said of all true believers, that they are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ [Note: 1 Peter 1:2.].”]

Let me now proceed to shew,

III. The comfort which the knowledge of this fact is calculated to impart—

Were I to enter at all fully into this subject, I should not know where to begin, or where to end. But it must suffice to mention two things; which must, of necessity, present themselves to every reflecting mind.

Have the Sacred Three so concurred in the work of redemption? Then we may be assured of,

1. The readiness of God to save us—

[Men exceedingly mistake this matter. They think themselves willing to be saved: they doubt only of God’s willingness to save them. But were men as willing to accept salvation as God is to bestow it, not one would ever perish. Did God, unsolicited, provide us a Saviour? Did the Lord Jesus Christ undertake to effect salvation for us? Did the Holy Spirit engage to apply that salvation to us! and can we doubt whether God be willing to save even the very chief of sinners? I am well aware, that men will pretend to found their doubts only on their own unworthiness. But where is any worthiness to be found in man? Who was worthy, that God should devise this plan; or that Christ should execute it; or that the Holy Spirit should apply it? Or who will presume to stand on the footing of his own worthiness, even of the food he eats, or of the air he breathes? It is not as worthy that we are to come to God, but as unworthy: and the more we feel our unworthiness, the more acceptable shall we be to God; who bids us come to him for every thing, “without money and without price.” Only reflect on what God has already done for you; and you may well say, “He that hath sent his Son to die for me, and his Spirit to renew me, how shall he not with them also freely give me all things [Note: Romans 8:32.]?”]

2. The sufficiency of the salvation provided for us—

[What is there that the wisdom of the Father has overlooked? Wherein has the Lord Jesus Christ failed to accomplish the work assigned him? What is there which the Holy Spirit is unable or unwilling to impart? Find some flaw; find some defect; before you call in question either the suitableness or sufficiency of this salvation. If you were to be saved by your own power or goodness, you might well be filled with doubts and fears: but when all that the Father’s love, the Son’s merit, and the Spirit’s power can effect, is offered you freely, you must needs say, “All things are mine; and I um Christ’s; and Christ is God’s [Note: 1 Corinthians 3:22-23.].”]

Thus have we taken the passage according to a rendering somewhat different from that which our version has given us. But, for our application of it, we will take it in the sense in which the translators of our Bible understood it: and we will not only consider it as spoken by the prophet to the Church at his day, but we will even adopt it ourselves, as an address which we at this time are authorized and commissioned to deliver unto you: “Now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me,” yes, even me,

1. To testify to you of this redemption—

[Prophets and apostles had no other commission than that which is given to every faithful minister of Christ; which is, “to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.” They indeed were inspired; and were, many of them at least, endued with miraculous powers, to which we can make no pretensions: but the message borne by them and us is one and the same, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” This ministry of reconciliation, I say, is committed unto us: and “we, as ambassadors of God, beseech you in Christ’s stead, Be ye reconciled to God [Note: 2 Corinthians 5:20.]” — — —]

2. To urge your acceptance of it—

[Who amongst you does not need it? The captivity of Israel in Babylon is but a very faint image of your captivity to sin and Satan. And what is there under heaven to be compared with it? If you had crowns and kingdoms, they could not make you happy: and in a short time they would vanish away, and leave you more destitute than the most miserable man on earth. O let me remind you what stupendous efforts have been made by God for you! and let me entreat you not to receive this grace in vain!” — — —]

3. To remind you that all the glory of it must be God’s alone—

[This was the principal point which the prophet was ordered to inculcate. The people were in danger of ascribing to their idols what was done by Jehovah alone. And is there not the same tendency amongst you? Are not you prone to think that, in some respect, your own arm has saved you? Who has not often “sacrificed to his own net, and burned incense to his own drag?” O Brethren, remember that “Jehovah is a jealous God,” and “will not give his glory to another.” I demand of you, therefore, that you give all the glory to the Triune God; and that you begin on earth the song which is prepared for you in heaven, even “blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever [Note: Revelation 5:13.].”]

DISCOURSE: 948

GOD’S TENDER CONCERN FOR HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah 48:17-18. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the leaves of the sea.

THE reducing of religion to a system is not without some use; because, by an orderly arrangement of all its parts, we are enabled to attain both a comprehensive and distinct view of the whole. But, when we presume to wrest any passages, or to weaken their true meaning, merely because they do not seem to accord with our system, we usurp a power that belongs not to us, and deprive ourselves of many benefits, which, if duly humbled, we might enjoy. It cannot be denied that God is the sovereign disposer of all events, and that “the Spirit divided to every man severally as he will.” But shall we therefore imagine that nothing depends on ourselves; that nothing is gained by obedience, or lost by disobedience? “We have not so learned Christ;” nor have we such partial views of his word. We believe, that however free and undeserved the gifts of God are, they would come down to us in richer abundance, if we were more earnest in seeking them; and that the true reason of our possessing so little is, that we labour so little to obtain fresh communications, or to improve those we have already received. If we would not enervate, or rather destroy, the force of our text, we must subscribe to this sentiment: for there God expresses his regret that the obstinacy of his people prevented the descent of his blessings to them; which is a proof, that though his mercies are in some instances sovereignly and freely dispensed, yet they are not arbitrarily withheld from any; or, in other words, though some are elected to salvation, none are lost through an unmerited sentence of absolute and eternal reprobation.

To enter fully into the spirit of our text, it will be proper to consider,

I. Who it is that here addresses us—

When any thing is spoken to us by man, we involuntarily consider who it is that addresses us, and pay attention to the words in proportion to the wisdom, the goodness, or authority of the speaker. If he be a stranger, we feel a comparative indifference towards him; but if he be a friend, a benefactor, a father, we are more observant of every thing he says. Now God frequently expatiates on his own character, in order that he may arrest our attention, and make a deeper impression on our minds. In the words before us, he describes himself by,

1. The relation he bears to us—

[God was related to Israel in a peculiar manner. He had brought them out of Egypt; and they were the only people that acknowledged him: He was therefore properly “their Redeemer: the Holy One of Israel, their God.” The Christian Church, as a body, stand in a similar relation to him; and are in that respect distinguished, like the Jews, from all the idolatrous nations of the earth. But there are some, to whom, in a higher and more appropriate sense, he bears these relations. There are some whom he has really redeemed from sin and death; in whose hearts he reigns; and on whose behalf he exercises all his adorable perfections. Amongst this happy number we profess to be.

With what care and diligence then should we attend to the words before us, when we consider them as addressed to us by Him, who bought us with his own blood, and who has given himself to us as our God and portion for ever! — — —]

2. The kindness he exercises—

[As God gave unto Israel both the moral and ceremonial law for their instruction, and guided them through the wilderness for forty years, so is he now the instructor and leader of the Christian Church, who exclusively enjoy the light of revelation. But there are a favoured few, “a little flock,” to whom these blessings are vouchsafed in a more especial manner. While multitudes never receive any benefit from the ministration of the Gospel, some are “taught to profit” by it: they are instructed in the knowledge of their own hearts; and are enabled to discern the suitableness of Christ to their necessities, and to live by faith upon him as their only Saviour [Note: Acts 16:14. 1 John 5:20.]. They are also “led in the way that they should go:” they are brought from “the course of this world in which they were walking,” and are guided into the way of peace and holiness [Note: Acts 26:18. Ephesians 2:1-5. Titus 3:3-5.].

If we have experienced these blessings, surely we cannot but “give earnest heed to the things” spoken in the text, since they are spoken by Him, to whose gracious teaching we owe all the knowledge we possess, and to whose protecting care we are indebted for every step that we have taken in the way to Canaan — — —]

Let us listen then with the deepest reverence to the voice of our Benefactor: let us hear,

II. The regret he expresses on our account—

In his words we may notice,

1. The matter of his regret—

[God is not an unconcerned spectator of our conduct. He is not satisfied with giving us his commands, and leaving us to obey them or not, as we please: he longs to engage our most affectionate regards to him and his service: and, when all his efforts are in vain, he takes up a lamentation over us, as a father over a disobedient and incorrigible child [Note: Matthew 23:37 and Luke 19:42.]. And what abundant occasion has he for regret on our account! He has commanded us to come to him, to live in a state of holy fellowship with him, and to delight ourselves in him. But how deaf are we to his entreaties, and how slow of heart to obey his voice! It is not the ungodly alone over whom he has cause to lament, but even his own people: yes, even they, whose God he is, and whom he has redeemed with his own precious blood; they whom he has instructed by his word and Spirit, and whom he has led by his providential care; even they, I say, grieve him by their inattention, and provoke him to displeasure by their neglect: and so is he at times weighed down, as it were, by their misconduct, that he scarcely knows how to bear with them, or how to act towards them [Note: Amos 2:13. Jeremiah 3:19. Hosea 11:8.].]

2. The reason of it—

[And what is it that occasions his regret? Would he gain any thing by our obedience? or does he lose any thing by our disobedience [Note: Job 22:2-3.]? No: he knows how much we lose by our folly; and it grieves him, that, when he is so desirous of loading us with his richest benefits, we should be so regardless of our own interest and happiness.

If we were uniformly zealous and active in the service of our God, “our peace would flow down” in a serene, uninterrupted course, “like a river;” and “our righteousness,” or prosperity of soul, would “like the waves of the sea,” be exalted, irresistible, and boundless. We should find “the work of righteousness to be peace [Note: Isaiah 32:17.];” we should have great [Note: Psalms 119:165.], and abundant [Note: Psalms 72:7.] peace; and “in keeping God’s commandments we should have a rich reward [Note: Psalms 19:11.].” Is there not then cause for regret, that we should be such enemies to our own welfare; and that, instead of enjoying the felicity of God’s chosen, we should scarcely differ, either in comfort or holiness, from the ungodly world around us? Yes; if angels rejoice over our prosperity, they may well join with their Maker in pathetic lamentations over the greater part of the Christian Church.]

Infer—

1. How bitter will be the reflections of the ungodly in a future world!

[Now God laments over them; but they regard him not: then they will lament over their own state; and he will not regard them. Then they will adopt the very language of the text: “O that I had hearkened to God’s commandments! then would my peace at this moment have been constant as a river, and boundless as the sea.” I should not have been in this place of torment: I should not have been weeping and wailing and gnashing my teeth in hopeless agony, as I now do: no; I should have been like those in Abraham’s bosom; I should have been holy as God is holy, and happy to the utmost extent of my capacities or desires. O fool that I was! O that I had hearkened to God’s commandments! I was warned, but would not believe: I was exhorted, but would not comply: O that it were possible to obtain one more offer of mercy! But, alas! that is a fruitless wish ———

Beloved Brethren, Why will ye not consider these things before it be too late?]

2. How blessed may the ungodly yet become, if they will only seek after God!

[The words of the text were spoken in reference to the very people who were afterwards carried captive to Babylon; and therefore they may be considered as addressed to every individual amongst us. God is not willing that any of us should perish [Note: Ezekiel 33:11.]: he desires rather that we should come to repentance and live [Note: 2 Peter 3:9.]. He is as willing to be their Redeemer, and their God, as to be the God of any person in the universe. He would teach and guide them as cheerfully, and as effectually as he taught the Prophets and Apostles of old. “O that they were wise, and would consider these things! they should surely then understand the loving-kindness of the Lord [Note: Psalms 107:43.]:” they should be filled with “a peace that passeth all understanding,” and have, both in their purity and joy, a sweet foretaste of their heavenly inheritance.]