It is my design in these citations, to remove every shadow of doubt, and every degree of hesitation from your minds, concerning the meaning of the words "The Lamb of God." The honour of the divine law and government, and the satisfaction of the divine justice in saving sinners, required an atonement of infinite value. The wisdom of God therefore planned this method of redemption, and Christ is the Lamb of God's appointment. "When he cometh into the "world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest "not, but a body hast thou prepared me, in burnt"offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume "of the book," in the opening of the roll of scripture," it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. *” All other methods of expiating guilt and rendering the salvation of sinners honourable to God, were unavailing but when the Lamb of God came, and offered himself as an atoning sacrifice, the required satisfaction was made, and no further oblations were necessary. But this appointed atonement was likewise of God's providing. The plan of redemption by a sacrifice of infinite value would not have profited us sinners; if everlasting love had not provided such an oblation. The whole universe could not have supplied a single individual, whose dignity and excellency qualified him for such an undertaking; or whose love was so immense, as to influence him to interpose in our behalf. But "God spared not his own Son." He gave him Heb. x. 4-10. to be the propitiation for our sins; he accepted the oblation which he had appointed and provided; and in all these respects, Christ is "the Lamb of God."We proceed, II. To consider the import of the words, " Which "taketh away the sin of the world.” The unblemished harmless lambs, which were sacrificed from the beginning, had no guilt of their own; yet they suffered as if they had been guilty. They were substituted in the place of the criminals; and the guilt or desert of punishment was typically transferred from the sinner to the sacrifice. It was imputed to the animal, who bare the punishment, while the offerer escaped: and it took away his sin by expiating the guilt of it. Thus the Lord Jesus was substituted in our place; our guilt was transferred to him by imputation. He was sinless himself, and yet suffered as a sinner, in order" that whosoever believeth "in him should not perish but have everlasting life:" and in this manner he taketh away sin. We are not, however, left to deduce this conclusion, from types and shadows, or our own reasonings concerning them: for the sacred writers have most explicitly and energetically declared the same great truth. The prophet Isaiah, in his most wonderful prediction of the sufferings and glory of the Redeemer, says, "He was wounded for our transgressions, "he was bruised for our iniquities.-All we like "sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one "to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on him the "iniquity of us all." "It pleased the LORD to bruise "him, and to put him to grief: thou shalt make his "soul an offering for sin-He shall bear their iniqui "ties. He bare the sin of many." You see, my brethren, that Christ not only bare our punishment, but our iniquities: and this can imply nothing less, than actual translation of guilt from the sinner to the sacrifice. It was exacted, and he became answerable. He willingly consented to become our Surety, to assume our flesh, and expiate our sins by his own suffering and death upon the cross. He was capable of doing this, and willing to do it. ture he assumed was preserved free from all contamination of sin: so that his life was not forfeited, or suffering deserved, by any personal transgression. He had power to lay down his life, and power to take it again, and no mere creature ever was or can be placed in a similar situation. "He loved "He loved us, and gave him"self for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God for The human na a sweet smelling savour." The imputation of guilt no more implied criminality or pollution, than the sacrificing of the harmless lamb rendered it sinful and defiled: or than a man becomes chargeable with the extravagance and profligacy of the poor insolven whom he liberates from prison by paying his debt, ou of the most generous compassion. And let us not suppose, that this language con cerning Christ bearing our sins, was merely that prophecy or poetry: for the writers of the New Te tament, in didactive prose, are equally decisive, even more so. "He was made sin for us, who kne no sin; that we might be made the righteousness "of God in him." This certainly implies a recip rocal imputation of our sin to Christ, and of his righteousness to us. "Christ hath redeemed us from the "curse of the law, being made a curse for us.†” "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."-" He suffered once for sins, the "just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption, that is in Christ Jesus, "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous"ness for the remission of sins-that he might be "just and the justifier of him that believeth in Je"sus."-These and many similar expressions, as connected with the institutions of the ceremonial law, and the reasonings of the apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews, are abundantly sufficient, to prove; not only that the doctrine of an atonement by the vicarious sufferings of Emmanuel is contained in scripture, but that it is the most prominent and central part of revelation. This is confirmed by the appointment of the Lord's supper, in perpetual remembrance of the death of Christ; and for a constant representation of the life of faith, under the figure of "eating the "flesh and drinking the blood of Christ." We may therefore confidently affirm, that they who deny or explain away this doctrine, prefer their own reasonings to the sure testimony of God, and endeavour to • 2 Cor. v. 21. VOL. II. + Gal. iii. 13. Pet. ji. 24. iii. 18, remove the key-stone of an arch, the whole of which would at length fall down, if they could succeed. So that mere natural religion, which palliates and flatters human pride, will uniformly be preferred to the religion of the Bible, by all who lose sight of this fundamental doctrine and facts do fully demonstrate that, this has always in process of time been the consequence, when persons have argued themselves and others, out of the ancient and orthodox interpretation of redemption by the Saviour's atoning blood. But the present occasion admits not a fuller discussion of this important subject. The propitiatory oblation made by the Lamb of God, being of infinite value, was sufficient to take away the original and actual sin of mankind, even as if it had been but one complex transgression. Millions in every age have received the benefit of it; and if the whole human race should at once apply for pardon and salvation by the blood of Christ; it would suffice to take away all their sin. The efficacy of the typical sacrifices was confined wholly to the Jewish nation: but that of the one atoning sacrifice of Christ, extends equally to other nations. It is sent to them all without exception: and we can assure any sinner throughout the earth, that if he believe in the Son of God he shall be saved. So that none perish, because there is no help for them; but because pride, love of sin, and aver. sion to the spiritual service of God, harden their hearts in unbelief, and they "will not come to Christ "that they might have life." In this sense" The "Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world.” |