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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>M A T T H E W.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXVII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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It is a very affecting story which is recorded in this chapter
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concerning the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus. Considering the
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thing itself, there cannot be a more tragical story told us; common
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humanity would melt the heart, to find an innocent and excellent person
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thus misused. But considering the design and fruit of Christ's
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sufferings, it is gospel, it is good news, that Jesus Christ was thus
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delivered for our offences; and there is nothing we have more reason to
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glory in than the cross of Christ. In this chapter, observe,
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I. How he was prosecuted.
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1. The delivering of him to Pilate,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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2. The despair of Judas,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:3-10">ver. 3-10</A>.
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3. The arraignment and trial of Christ before Pilate,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:11-14">ver. 11-14</A>.
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4. The clamours of the people against him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:15-25">ver. 15-25</A>.
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5. Sentence passed, and the warrant signed for his execution,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:26">ver. 26</A>.
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II. How he was executed.
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1. He was barbarously used,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:27-30">ver. 27-30</A>.
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2. Led to the place of execution,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:31-33">ver. 31-33</A>.
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3. There he had all possible indignities done him, and reproaches cast
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upon him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:34-44">ver. 34-44</A>.
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4. Heaven frowned upon him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:45-49">ver. 45-49</A>.
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5. Many remarkable things attended his death,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:50-56">ver. 50-56</A>.
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He was buried and a watch set on his grave,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:57-66">ver. 57-66</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Mt27_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Mt27_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Repentance of Judas; The Confession of Judas; The Death of Judas; Disposal of the Thirty Pieces of Silver.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders
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of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
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2 And when they had bound him, they led <I>him</I> away, and
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delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
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3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was
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condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces
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of silver to the chief priests and elders,
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4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
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blood. And they said, What <I>is that</I> to us? see thou <I>to that.</I>
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5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
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departed, and went and hanged himself.
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6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is
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not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the
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price of blood.
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7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's
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field, to bury strangers in.
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8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto
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this day.
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9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the
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prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the
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price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel
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did value;
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10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We left Christ in the hands of the chief priests and elders, condemned
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to die, but they could only show their teeth; about two years before
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this the Romans had taken from the Jews the power of capital
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punishment; they could put no man to death, and therefore early in the
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morning another council is held, to consider what is to be done. And
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here we are told what was done in that morning-council, after they had
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been for two or three hours consulting with their pillows.</P>
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<P>
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I. Christ is delivered up to Pilate, that he might execute the sentence
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they had passed upon him. Judea having been almost one hundred years
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before this conquered by Pompey, had ever since been tributary to Rome,
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and was lately made part of the province of Syria, and subject to the
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government of the president of Syria, under whom there were several
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<I>procurators,</I> who chiefly attended the business of the
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<I>revenues,</I> but sometimes, as Pilate particularly, had the whole
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power of the president lodged in them. This was a plain evidence that
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<I>the sceptre was departed from Judah,</I> and that therefore now
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<I>the Shiloh must come,</I> according to Jacob's prophecy,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:10">Gen. xlix. 10</A>.
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Pilate is characterized by the Roman writers of that time, as a man of
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a rough and haughty spirit, wilful and implacable, and extremely
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covetous and oppressive; the Jews had a great enmity to his person, and
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were weary of his government, and yet they made use of him as the tool
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of their malice against Christ.</P>
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<P>
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1. They <I>bound</I> Jesus. He was bound when he was first seized; but
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either they took off these bonds when he was before the council, or now
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they added to them. Having found him guilty, they tied his hands behind
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him, as they usually do with convicted criminals. He was already bound
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with the bonds of love to man, and of his own undertaking, else he had
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soon broken these bonds, as Samson did his. We were fettered with the
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<I>bond of iniquity,</I> held in the cords of our sins
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+10:22">Prov. x. 22</A>);
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but God had bound the <I>yoke of our transgressions</I> upon the neck
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of the Lord Jesus
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:14">Isa. l. 14</A>),
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that we might be loosed by his bonds, as we are <I>healed by his
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stripes.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. <I>They led him away</I> in a sort of triumph, led him <I>as a lamb
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to the slaughter;</I> so <I>was he taken from prison and from
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judgment,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:7,8">Isa. liii. 7, 8</A>.
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It was nearly a mile from Caiaphas's house to Pilate's. All that way
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they led him through the streets of Jerusalem, when in the morning they
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began to fill, to make him a spectacle to the world.</P>
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<P>
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3. They <I>delivered him to Pontius Pilate;</I> according to that which
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Christ had often said, that he should be <I>delivered to the
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Gentiles.</I> Both Jews and Gentiles were obnoxious to the judgment of
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God, and <I>concluded under sin,</I> and Christ was to be the Saviour
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both of Jews and Gentiles; and therefore Christ was brought into the
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judgment both of Jews and Gentiles, and both had a hand in his death.
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See how these corrupt church-rulers abused the civil magistrate, making
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use of him to execute their unrighteous decrees, and <I>inflict the
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grievance which they had prescribed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:1">Isa. x. 1</A>.
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Thus have the kings of the earth been wretchedly imposed upon by the
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papal powers, and condemned to the drudgery of extirpating with the
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sword of war, as well as that of justice, those whom they have marked
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for heretics, right or wrong, to the great prejudice of their own
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interests.</P>
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<P>
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II. The money which they had paid to Judas for betraying Christ, is by
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him delivered back to them, and Judas, in despair, hangs himself. The
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chief priests and elders supported themselves with <I>this,</I> in
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prosecuting Christ, that his own disciple betrayed him to them; but
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now, in the midst of the prosecution, that string failed them, and even
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<I>he</I> is made to them a <I>witness</I> of Christ's innocency and a
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monument of God's justice; which served,
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1. For glory to Christ in the midst of his sufferings, and a specimen
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of his victory over Satan who had entered into Judas.
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2. For warning to his persecutors, and to leave them the more
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inexcusable. If their heart had not been fully set in them to do this
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evil, what Judas said and did, one would think, should have stopped the
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prosecution.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) See here how Judas <I>repented:</I> not like Peter, who repented,
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believed, and was pardoned: no, he repented, despaired, and was ruined.
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Now observe here,</P>
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<P>
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[1.] What induced him to repent. It was <I>when he saw that he was
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condemned.</I> Judas, it is probable, expected that either Christ would
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have made his escape out of their hands, or would so have pleaded his
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own cause at their bar as to have come off, and then Christ would have
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had the honour, the Jews the shame, and he the money, and no harm done.
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This he had no reason to expect, because he had so often heard his
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Master say that he must be <I>crucified;</I> yet it is probable that he
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did expect it, and when the event did not answer his vain fancy, then
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he fell into this horror, when he saw the stream strong against Christ,
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and him yielding to it. Note, Those who measure actions by the
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consequences of them rather than by the divine law, will find
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themselves mistaken in their measures. The way of sin is down-hill; and
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if we cannot easily stop ourselves, much less can we stop others whom
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we have set a going in a sinful way. He <I>repented himself;</I> that
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is, he was filled with grief, anguish, and indignation, at himself,
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when reflecting upon what he had done. When he was tempted to betray
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his Master, the thirty pieces of silver looked very fine and
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glittering, like the <I>wine, when it is red, and gives its colour in
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the cup.</I> But when the thing was done, and the money paid, the
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silver was become dross, it <I>bit like a serpent, and stung like an
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adder.</I> Now his conscience flew in his face; "What have I done! What
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a fool, what a wretch, am I, to sell my Master, and all my comfort and
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happiness in him, for such a trifle! All these abuses and indignities
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done him are chargeable upon me; it is owing to me, that he is bound
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and condemned, spit upon and buffeted. I little thought it would have
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come to this, when I made that wicked bargain; so foolish was I, and
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ignorant, and so like a beast." Now he curses the bag he carried, the
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money he coveted, the priests he dealt with, and the day that he was
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born. The remembrance of his Master's goodness to him, which he had so
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basely requited, the bowels of mercy he had spurned at, and the fair
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warnings he had slighted, steeled his convictions, and made them the
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more piercing. Now he found his Master's words true; <I>It were better
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for that man, that he had never been born.</I> Note, Sin will soon
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change its taste. Though it be <I>rolled under the tongue</I> as a
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<I>sweet morsel,</I> in the bowels it will be turned into the <I>gall
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of asps</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:12-14">Job xx. 12-14</A>),
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like John's book,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+10:9">Rev. x. 9</A>.</P>
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<P>
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[2.] What were the indications of his repentance.</P>
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<P>
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<I>First,</I> He made restitution; <I>He brought again the thirty
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pieces of silver to the chief priests,</I> when they were all together
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publicly. Now the money burned in his conscience, and he was as sick of
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it as ever he had been fond of it. Note, That which is ill gotten, will
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never do good to those that get it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+13:10,Job+20:15">Jer. xiii. 10; Job xx. 15</A>.
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If he had repented, and brought the money back before he had betrayed
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Christ, he might have done it with comfort, then he had <I>agreed while
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yet in the way;</I> but now it was too late, now he cannot do it
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without horror, wishing ten thousand times he had never meddled with
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it. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:3">Jam. v. 3</A>.
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He brought it again. Note, what is unjustly gotten, must not be kept;
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for that is a continuance in the sin by which it was got, and such an
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avowing of it as is not consistent with repentance. He brought it to
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those from whom he had it, to let them know that he repented his
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bargain. Note, Those who have served and hardened others in their sin,
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when God gives them repentance, should let them know it whose sins they
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have been partakers in, that it may be a means to bring them to
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repentance.</P>
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<P>
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<I>Secondly,</I> He made confession
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
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<I>I have sinner, in that I have betrayed innocent blood.</I>
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1. To the <I>honour of Christ,</I> he pronounces his blood
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<I>innocent.</I> If he had been guilty of any sinful practices, Judas,
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as his disciple, would certainly have know it, and, as his betrayer,
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would certainly have discovered it; but he, freely and without being
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urged to it, pronounces him innocent, to the face of those who had
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pronounced him <I>guilty.</I>
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2. To <I>his own shame,</I> he confesses that he had sinned, in
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betraying this blood. He does not lay the blame on any one else; does
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not say, "You have sinned, in hiring me to do it;" but takes it all to
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himself; "I have sinned, in doing it." Thus far Judas went toward his
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repentance, yet it was <I>not to salvation.</I> He confessed, but not
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to God, did not go to him, and say, <I>I have sinned, Father, against
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heaven.</I> He confessed the betraying of innocent blood, but did not
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confess that wicked love of money, which was the root of this evil.
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There are those who betray Christ, and yet justify themselves in it,
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and so come short of Judas.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) See here how the chief priests and elders entertained Judas's
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penitential confession; they said, <I>What is that to us? See thou to
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that.</I> He made them his confessors, and that was the
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<I>absolution</I> they gave him; more like the priests of devils than
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like the priests of the holy living God.</P>
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<P>
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[1.] See here how carelessly they speak of the betraying of Christ.
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Judas had told them that the blood of Christ was innocent blood; and
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they said, <I>What is that to us?</I> Was it nothing to them that they
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had thirsted after this blood, and hired Judas to betray it, and had
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now condemned it to be shed unjustly? Is this nothing to them? Does it
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give no check to the violence of their prosecution, no warning to take
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need what they do to this just man? Thus do fools make a mock at sin,
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as if no harm were done, no hazard run, by the commission of the
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greatest wickedness. Thus light do many make of Christ crucified; what
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is it to them, that he suffered such things?</P>
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<P>
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[2.] See here how carelessly they speak of the sin of Judas; he said,
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<I>I have sinned,</I> and they said, "<I>What is that to us?</I> What
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are we concerned in thy sin, that thou tellest us of it?" Note, It is
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folly for us to think that the sins of others are nothing to us,
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especially those sins that we are any way accessary to, or partakers
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in. Is it nothing to us, that God is dishonoured, souls wounded, Satan
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gratified and his interests served, and that we have aided and abetted
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it? If the elders of Jezreel, to please Jezebel, murder Naboth, is that
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nothing to Ahab? Yes, <I>he has killed,</I> for he has <I>taken
|
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possession,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+21:19">1 Kings xxi. 19</A>.
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The guilt of sin is not so easily transferred as some people think it
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is. If there were guilt in the matter, they tell Judas that he must
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<I>look to it,</I> he must <I>bear it. First,</I> Because he had
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betrayed him to them. His was indeed <I>the greater sin</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+19:11">John xix. 11</A>);
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but it did not therefore follow, that theirs was no sin. It is a common
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instance of the deceitfulness of our hearts, to extenuate our own sin
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by the aggravation of other people's sins. But the judgment of God is
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according to truth, not according to comparison. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
Because he knew and believed him to be innocent. "If he be innocent,
|
|
see thou to it, that is more than we know; we have adjudged him
|
|
<I>guilty,</I> and therefore may justly prosecute him as such," Wicked
|
|
practices are buoyed up by wicked principles, and particularly by this,
|
|
That sin is sin only to those that think it to be so; that it is no
|
|
harm to persecute a good man, if we take him to be a bad man; but those
|
|
who thus think to mock God, will but deceive and destroy
|
|
themselves.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] See how carelessly they speak of the conviction, terror, and
|
|
remorse, that Judas was under. They were glad to make use of him in the
|
|
sin, and were then very fond of him; none more welcome to them than
|
|
Judas, when he said, <I>What will ye give me, and I will betray him to
|
|
you?</I> They did not say, <I>What is that to us?</I> But now that his
|
|
sin had put him into a fright, now they slighted him, had nothing to
|
|
say to him, but turned him over to his own terrors; why did he come to
|
|
trouble them with his melancholy fancies? They had something else to do
|
|
than to heed him. But why so shy? <I>First,</I> Perhaps they were in
|
|
some fear lest the sparks of his conviction, brought too near, should
|
|
kindle a fire in their own consciences, and lest his moans, listened
|
|
to, should give an alarm to their own convictions. Note, Obstinate
|
|
sinners stand upon their guard against convictions; and those that are
|
|
resolvedly impenitent, look with disdain upon the penitent.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> However, they were in no concern to succour Judas;
|
|
when they had brought him into the snare, they not only left him, but
|
|
laughed at him. Note, Sinners, under convictions, will find their old
|
|
companions in sin but miserable comforters. It is usual for those that
|
|
love the treason, to hate the traitor.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Here is the utter despair that Judas was hereby driven into. If
|
|
the chief priests had promised him to stay the prosecution, it would
|
|
have been some comfort to him; but, seeing no hopes of that, he grew
|
|
desperate,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>He cast down the pieces of silver in the temple.</I> The chief
|
|
priests would not take the money, for fear of taking thereby the whole
|
|
guilt to themselves, which they were willing that Judas should bear the
|
|
load of; Judas would not keep it, it was too hot for him to hold, he
|
|
therefore threw it down in the temple, that, whether they would or no,
|
|
it might fall into the hands of the chief priests. See what a
|
|
<I>drug</I> money was, when the guilt of <I>sin</I> was tacked to it,
|
|
or was thought to be so.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>He went, and hanged himself. First, He
|
|
retired</I>--<B><I>anechorese</I></B>; he withdrew into some solitary
|
|
place, like the possessed man that was drawn by the devil into the
|
|
wilderness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+8:29">Luke viii. 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
Woe to him that is in despair, and is alone. If Judas had gone to
|
|
Christ, or to some of the disciples, perhaps he might have had relief,
|
|
bad as the case was; but, missing of it with the chief priests, he
|
|
abandoned himself to despair: and the same devil that with the help of
|
|
the priests drew him to the sin, with their help drove him to despair.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> He became his own executioner; <I>He hanged
|
|
himself;</I> he was <I>suffocated</I> with grief, so Dr. Hammond: but
|
|
Dr. Whitby is clear that our translation is right. Judas had a
|
|
<I>sight</I> and <I>sense</I> of sin, but no apprehension of the mercy
|
|
of God in Christ, and so <I>he pined away in his iniquity.</I> His sin,
|
|
we may suppose, was not in its own nature unpardonable: there were some
|
|
of those saved, that had been Christ's betrayers and murderers; but he
|
|
concluded, as Cain, that his iniquity was greater than could be
|
|
forgiven, and would rather throw himself on the devil's mercy than
|
|
God's. And some have said, that Judas sinned more in <I>despairing</I>
|
|
of the mercy of God, than in <I>betraying</I> his Master's blood. Now
|
|
the terrors of the Almighty set themselves in array against him. All
|
|
the curses written in God's book now <I>came into his bowels like
|
|
water, and like oil into his bones,</I> as was foretold concerning him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:18,19">Ps. cix. 18, 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
and drove him to this desperate shift, for the escaping of a
|
|
<I>hell</I> within him, to leap into <I>that</I> before him, which was
|
|
but the perfection and perpetuity of this horror and despair. He throws
|
|
himself into the fire, to avoid the flame; but miserable is the case
|
|
when a man must go to hell for ease.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now, in this story,
|
|
|
|
1. We have an instance of the wretched end of those into whom Satan
|
|
enters, and particularly those that are given up to the love of money.
|
|
This is the destruction in which many are drowned by it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+6:9,10">1 Tim. vi. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Remember what became of the swine into which, and of the traitor into
|
|
whom, <I>the devil enters;</I> and <I>give not place to the devil.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. We have an instance of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against
|
|
the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:18">Rom. i. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
As in the story of Peter we behold the goodness of God, and the
|
|
triumphs of Christ's grace in the conversion of some sinners; so in the
|
|
story of Judas we behold the severity of God, and the triumphs of
|
|
Christ's power and justice in the confusion of other sinners. When
|
|
Judas, into whom Satan entered, was thus <I>hung up,</I> Christ made an
|
|
open show of the principalities and powers he undertook the <I>spoiling
|
|
of,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+2:15">Col. ii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. We have an instance of the direful effects of despair; it often ends
|
|
in self-murder. <I>Sorrow,</I> even that for sin, if not <I>according
|
|
to God, worketh death</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+7:10">2 Cor. vii. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
the worst kind of death; for <I>a wounded spirit, who can bear?</I> Let
|
|
us think as bad as we can of sin, provided we do not think it
|
|
unpardonable; let us despair of help in ourselves, but not of help in
|
|
God. He that thinks to ease his conscience by destroying his life,
|
|
doth, in effect, dare God Almighty to do his worst. And self-murder,
|
|
though prescribed by some of the heathen moralists, is certainly a
|
|
remedy worse than the disease, how bad soever the disease may be. Let
|
|
us watch against the beginnings of melancholy, and pray, Lord, <I>lead
|
|
us not into temptation.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) The disposal of the money which Judas brought back,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:6-10"><I>v.</I> 6-10</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was laid out in the purchase of a field, called <I>the potter's
|
|
field;</I> because some potter had owned it, or occupied it, or lived
|
|
near it, or because broken potters' vessels were thrown into it. And
|
|
this field was to be a burying-place for strangers, that is, proselytes
|
|
to the Jewish religion, who were of other nations, and, coming to
|
|
Jerusalem to worship, happened to die there.
|
|
|
|
[1.] It looks like an instance of their humanity, that they took care
|
|
for the <I>burying of strangers;</I> and it intimates that they
|
|
themselves allowed (as St. Paul saith,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:15">Acts xxiv. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
|
|
of the unjust;</I> for we <I>therefore</I> take care of the dead body,
|
|
not only because it has been the habitation of a rational soul, but
|
|
because it must be so again. But,
|
|
|
|
[2.] It was no instance of their humility that they would bury
|
|
strangers in a place by themselves, as if they were not worthy to be
|
|
laid in their burying-places; strangers must keep their distance, alive
|
|
and dead, and that principle must go down to the grace, <I>Stand by
|
|
thyself, come not near me, I am holier than thou,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:5">Isa. lxv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
The sons of Seth were better affected towards Abraham, though a
|
|
stranger among them, when they offered him the choicest of their own
|
|
sepulchres,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+23:6">Gen. xxiii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
But <I>the sons of the stranger, that have joined themselves to the
|
|
Lord,</I> though buried by themselves, shall rise with all that are
|
|
<I>dead in Christ.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This buying of the potter's field did not take place on the day that
|
|
Christ died (they were then too busy to mind any thing else but hunting
|
|
him down); but it took place not long after; for Peter speaks of it
|
|
soon after Christ's ascension; yet it is here recorded.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> To show the hypocrisy of the chief priests and elders.
|
|
They were maliciously persecuting the blessed Jesus, and now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They scruple to put that money into the treasury, or <I>corban,</I>
|
|
of the temple, with which they had hired the traitor. Though perhaps
|
|
they had taken it out of the treasury, pretending it was for the public
|
|
good, and though they were great sticklers for the <I>corban,</I> and
|
|
laboured to draw all the wealth of the nation into it, yet they would
|
|
not put that money into it, which was the price of blood. The hire of a
|
|
traitor they thought parallel to the hire of a whore, and the price of
|
|
a malefactor (such a one they made Christ to be) equivalent to the
|
|
price of a dog, neither of which was to be <I>brought into the house of
|
|
the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:18">Deut. xxiii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
They would thus save their credit with the people, by possessing them
|
|
with an opinion of their great reverence for the temple. Thus they that
|
|
<I>swallowed a camel, strained at a gnat.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They think to <I>atone</I> for what they had done, by this public
|
|
good act of providing a burying-place for strangers, though not at
|
|
their own charge. Thus in times of ignorance people were made to
|
|
believe that building churches and endowing monasteries would make
|
|
amends for immoralities.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> To signify the favour intended by the blood of Christ
|
|
to <I>strangers,</I> and sinners of the Gentiles. Through the price of
|
|
his blood, a resting place is provided for them after death. Thus many
|
|
of the ancients apply this passage. The <I>grave</I> is the potter's
|
|
field, where the bodies are thrown as despised broken vessels; but
|
|
Christ by his blood <I>purchased</I> it for those who by confessing
|
|
themselves <I>strangers</I> on earth seek the better country; he has
|
|
altered the property of it (as a purchaser doth), so that now death is
|
|
ours, the grave is ours, a bed of rest for us. The Germans, in their
|
|
language, call burying-places <I>God's fields;</I> for in them God
|
|
<I>sows</I> his people as a <I>corn of wheat,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+12:24">John xii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:23,Isa+26:19">Hos. ii. 23; Isa. xxvi. 19</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> To perpetuate the infamy of those that bought and sold
|
|
the blood of Christ. This field was commonly called <I>Aceldama--the
|
|
field of blood;</I> not by the chief priests, they hoped in this
|
|
burying-place to bury the remembrance of their own crime; but by the
|
|
people; who took notice of Judas's acknowledgment that he had betrayed
|
|
the innocent blood, though the chief priests made nothing of it. They
|
|
fastened this name upon the field <I>in perpetuam rei memoriam--for a
|
|
perpetual memorial.</I> Note, Divine Providence has many ways of
|
|
entailing disgrace upon the wicked practices even of great men, who,
|
|
though they seek to cover their shame, are <I>put to a perpetual
|
|
reproach.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Fourthly,</I> That we may see how the scripture was fulfilled
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet.</I>
|
|
The words quoted are found in the prophecy of Zechariah,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:12"><I>ch.</I> xi. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
How they are here said to be spoken by Jeremy is a difficult question;
|
|
but the credit of Christ's doctrine does not depend upon it; for that
|
|
proves itself perfectly divine, though there should appear something
|
|
human as to small circumstances in the penmen of it. The Syriac
|
|
version, which is ancient, reads only, <I>It was spoken by the
|
|
prophet,</I> not naming any, whence some have thought that
|
|
<I>Jeremy</I> was added by some scribe; some think that the whole
|
|
volume of the prophets, being in one book, and the prophecy of Jeremiah
|
|
put first, it might not be improper, <I>currente calamo--for a
|
|
transcriber</I> to quote any passage out of that volume, under his
|
|
name. The Jews used to say, <I>The spirit of Jeremiah was in
|
|
Zechariah,</I> and so they were as one prophet. Some suggest that it
|
|
was <I>spoken</I> by Jeremiah, but written by Zechariah; or that
|
|
Jeremiah wrote the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of Zechariah.
|
|
Now this passage in the prophet is a representation of the great
|
|
contempt of God, that was found among the Jews, and the poor returns
|
|
they made to him for rich receivings from him. But here that is really
|
|
acted, which was there but figuratively expressed. The sum of money is
|
|
the same--<I>thirty pieces of silver;</I> this they <I>weighed for his
|
|
price,</I> at this rate they valued him; a goodly price; and this was
|
|
<I>cast to the potter in the house of the Lord;</I> which was here
|
|
literally accomplished. Note, We should better understand the events of
|
|
Providence, if we were better acquainted even with the language and
|
|
expressions of scripture; for even those also are sometimes written
|
|
upon the dispensations of Providence so plainly, that <I>he who runs
|
|
may read them.</I> What David spoke figuratively
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:7">Ps. xlii. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
Jonah made a literal application of; <I>All thy waves and thy billows
|
|
are gone over me,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+3:3">Jonah iii. 3</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The giving of the price of him that was valued, not for him, but for
|
|
the <I>potter's field,</I> bespeaks,
|
|
|
|
1. The high value that ought to be put upon Christ. The price was
|
|
given, not for him; no, when it was given for him, it was soon brought
|
|
back again with disdain, as infinitely below his worth; he cannot be
|
|
<I>valued with the gold of Ophir,</I> nor this unspeakable Gift
|
|
<I>brought with money.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. The low value that was put upon him. <I>They of the children of
|
|
Israel</I> did strangely undervalue him, when his price did but reach
|
|
to buy a potter's field, a pitiful sorry spot of ground, not worth
|
|
looking upon. It added to the reproach of his being bought and sold,
|
|
that it was at so low a rate. <I>Cast it to the potter,</I> so it is in
|
|
Zechariah; a contemptible petty chapman, not the merchant that deals in
|
|
things of value. And observe, <I>They of the children of Israel</I>
|
|
thus <I>undervalued him;</I> they who were his own people, that should
|
|
have known better what estimate to put upon him, they to whom he was
|
|
first sent, whose glory he was, and whom he had valued so highly, and
|
|
bought so dear. He gave kings' ransoms for them, and the richest
|
|
countries (so <I>precious were they in his sight,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+43:3,4">Isa. xliii. 3, 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Seba; but they gave a slave's ransom for him
|
|
(see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+21:32">Exod. xxi. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
and valued him but at the rate of a potter's field; so was that blood
|
|
trodden under foot, which bought the kingdom of heaven for us. But all
|
|
this was <I>as the Lord appointed;</I> so the prophetic vision was,
|
|
which typified this event, and so the event itself, as the other
|
|
instances of Christ's sufferings, was <I>by the determinate counsel and
|
|
foreknowledge of God.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Christ at the Bar of Pilate.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked
|
|
him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto
|
|
him, Thou sayest.
|
|
12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he
|
|
answered nothing.
|
|
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things
|
|
they witness against thee?
|
|
14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the
|
|
governor marvelled greatly.
|
|
15 Now at <I>that</I> feast the governor was wont to release unto
|
|
the people a prisoner, whom they would.
|
|
16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
|
|
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto
|
|
them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus
|
|
which is called Christ?
|
|
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
|
|
19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent
|
|
unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for
|
|
I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
|
|
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude
|
|
that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
|
|
21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the
|
|
twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
|
|
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus
|
|
which is called Christ? <I>They</I> all say unto him, Let him be
|
|
crucified.
|
|
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they
|
|
cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
|
|
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but <I>that</I>
|
|
rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed <I>his</I> hands
|
|
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this
|
|
just person: see ye <I>to it.</I>
|
|
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood <I>be</I> on
|
|
us, and on our children.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here an account of what passed in Pilate's judgment-hall, when
|
|
the blessed Jesus was brought thither betimes in the morning. Though it
|
|
was no court-day, Pilate immediately took his case before him. We have
|
|
there,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The trial Christ had before Pilate.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. His arraignment; <I>Jesus stood before the governor,</I> as the
|
|
prisoner before the judge. We could not stand before God because of our
|
|
sins, nor lift up our face in his presence, if Christ had not been thus
|
|
made sin for us. He was arraigned that we might be discharged. Some
|
|
think that this bespeaks his courage and boldness; he stood
|
|
<I>undaunted,</I> unmoved by all their rage. He thus stood in this
|
|
judgment, that we might stand in God's judgment. He stood for a
|
|
<I>spectacle,</I> as Naboth, when he was arraigned, was <I>set on high
|
|
among the people.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. His indictment; <I>Art thou the king of the Jews?</I> The Jews were
|
|
now not only under the government, but under the very jealous
|
|
inspection, of the Roman powers, which they were themselves to the
|
|
highest degree disaffected to, and yet now pretended a concern for, to
|
|
serve this turn; accusing Jesus as an Enemy to Cæsar
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:2">Luke xxiii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
which they could produce no other proof of, than that he himself had
|
|
newly owned he was <I>the Christ.</I> Now they thought that whoever was
|
|
the Christ, must be the <I>king of the Jews,</I> and must deliver them
|
|
from the Roman power, and restore to them a temporal dominion, and
|
|
enable them to trample upon all their neighbours. According to this
|
|
chimera of their own, they accused our Lord Jesus, as making himself
|
|
king of the Jews, in opposition to the Roman yoke; whereas, though he
|
|
said that he was the Christ, he meant not such a Christ as this. Note,
|
|
Many oppose Christ's holy religion, upon a mistake of the nature of it;
|
|
they dress it up in false colours, and then fight against it. They
|
|
assuring the governor that, if he made himself Christ, he made himself
|
|
king of the Jews, the governor takes it for granted, that he goes about
|
|
to pervert the nation, and subvert the government. <I>Art thou a
|
|
king?</I> It was plain that he was not so <I>de facto--actually;</I>
|
|
"But dost thou lay any claim to the government, or pretend a right to
|
|
rule the Jews?" Note, It has often been the hard fate of Christ's holy
|
|
religion, unjustly to fall under the suspicions of the civil powers, as
|
|
if it were hurtful to kings and provinces, whereas it tends mightily to
|
|
the benefit of both.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. His plea; <I>Jesus said unto him, "Thou sayest.</I> It is as thou
|
|
sayest, though not as thou meanest; I am a king, but not such a king as
|
|
thou dost suspect me to be." Thus before Pilate he witnessed a good
|
|
confession, and was not ashamed to own himself a king, though it looked
|
|
ridiculous, nor afraid, though at this time it was dangerous.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The evidence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
He was <I>accused of the chief priests.</I> Pilate found <I>no fault in
|
|
him;</I> whatever was said, nothing was proved, and therefore what was
|
|
wanting in matter they made up in noise and violence, and followed him
|
|
with repeated accusations, the same as they had given in before; but by
|
|
the repetition they thought to force a belief from the governor. They
|
|
had learned, not only <I>calumniari--to calumniate,</I> but <I>fortiter
|
|
calumniari--to calumniate stoutly.</I> The best men have often been
|
|
accused of the worst crimes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. The prisoner's silence as to the prosecutors' accusations; <I>He
|
|
answered nothing,</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Because there was no occasion; nothing was alleged but what
|
|
carried its own confutation along with it.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He was now taken up with the great concern that lay between him
|
|
and his Father, to whom he was offering up himself a Sacrifice, to
|
|
answer the demands of his justice, which he was so intent upon, that he
|
|
minded not what they said against him.
|
|
|
|
(3.) His hour was come, and he submitted to his Father's will; <I>Not
|
|
as I will, but as thou wilt.</I> He knew what his Father's will was,
|
|
and therefore silently <I>committed himself to him that judgeth
|
|
righteously. We</I> must not thus by our silence throw away our lives,
|
|
because we are not lords of our lives, as Christ was of his; nor can we
|
|
know, as he did, when our hour is come. But hence we must learn,
|
|
<I>not to render railing for railing,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:23">1 Pet. ii. 23</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Pilate pressed him to make some reply
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?</I> What
|
|
these things were, may be gathered from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:3,5,Joh+19:7">Luke xxiii. 3, 5, and John xix. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Pilate, having no malice at all against him, was desirous he should
|
|
clear himself, urges him to it, and believes he could do it; <I>Hearest
|
|
thou not?</I> Yes, he did hear; and still he hears all that is
|
|
witnessed unjustly against his truths and ways; but he keeps silence,
|
|
because it is the day of his patience, and doth not answer, as he will
|
|
shortly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:3">Ps. l. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He wondered at his silence; which was not interpreted so much into
|
|
a contempt of the court, as a contempt of himself. And therefore Pilate
|
|
is not said to be angry at it, but to have <I>marvelled greatly</I> at
|
|
it, as a thing very unusual. He believed him to be innocent, and had
|
|
heard perhaps that <I>never man spake like him;</I> and therefore he
|
|
thought it strange that he had not one word to say for himself. We
|
|
have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The outrage and violence of the people, in pressing the governor to
|
|
crucify Christ. The chief priests had a great interest in the people,
|
|
they called them <I>Rabbi, Rabbi,</I> made idols of them, and oracles
|
|
of all they said; and they made use of this to incense them against
|
|
him, and by the power of the mob gained the point which they could not
|
|
otherwise carry. Now here are two instances of their outrage.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Their preferring Barabbas before him, and choosing to have him
|
|
released rather than Jesus.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) It seems it was grown into a custom with the Roman governors, for
|
|
the honouring of the Jews, to grace the feast of the passover with the
|
|
release of a prisoner,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
This, they thought, did honour to the feast, and was agreeable to the
|
|
commemoration of their deliverance; but it was an invention of their
|
|
own, and no divine institution; though some think that it was ancient,
|
|
and kept up by the Jewish princes, before they became a province of the
|
|
empire. However, it was a bad custom, an obstruction to justice, and an
|
|
encouragement to wickedness. But our gospel-passover is celebrated
|
|
with the release of prisoners, by him who hath <I>power on earth to
|
|
forgive sins.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The prisoner put in competition with our Lord Jesus was Barabbas;
|
|
he is here called a <I>notable</I> prisoner
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
either because by birth and breeding he was of some note and quality,
|
|
or because he had signalized himself by something remarkable in his
|
|
crimes; whether he was so <I>notable</I> as to recommend himself the
|
|
more to the favours of the people, and so the more likely to be
|
|
interceded for, or whether so <I>notable</I> as to make himself more
|
|
liable to their age, is uncertain. Some think the latter, and therefore
|
|
Pilate mentioned him, as taking it for granted that they would have
|
|
desired any one's release rather than his. <I>Treason, murder,</I> and
|
|
<I>felony,</I> are the three most enormous crimes that are usually
|
|
punished by the sword of justice; and Barabbas was guilty of all three,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:19,Joh+18:40">Luke xxiii. 19; John xviii. 40</A>.
|
|
|
|
A <I>notable prisoner</I> indeed, whose crimes were so complicated.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) The proposal was made by Pilate the governor
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Whom will ye that I release unto you?</I> It is probable that the
|
|
judge had the nomination of two, one of which the people were to
|
|
<I>choose.</I> Pilate proposed to them to have Jesus <I>released;</I>
|
|
he was convinced of his innocency, and that the prosecution was
|
|
malicious; yet had not the courage to acquit him, as he ought to have
|
|
done, by his own power, but would have him released by the people's
|
|
election, and so he hoped to satisfy both his own <I>conscience,</I>
|
|
and the <I>people</I> too; whereas, finding no fault in him, he ought
|
|
not to have <I>put him upon the country,</I> or brought him <I>into
|
|
peril of his life.</I> But such little tricks and artifices as these,
|
|
to trim the matter, and to keep in with conscience and the world too,
|
|
are the common practice of those that seek more to please men than God.
|
|
<I>What shall I do then,</I> saith Pilate, <I>with Jesus, who is called
|
|
Christ?</I> He puts the people in mind of this, that this <I>Jesus,</I>
|
|
whose release he proposed, was looked upon by some among them as the
|
|
Messiah, and had given pregnant proofs of his being so; "Do not
|
|
<I>reject</I> one of whom your nation has professed such an
|
|
expectation."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The reason why Pilate <I>laboured</I> thus to get Jesus
|
|
<I>discharged</I> was because he knew that <I>for envy the chief
|
|
priests had delivered him up</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
that it was not his <I>guilt,</I> but his goodness, that they were
|
|
provoked at; and for this reason he <I>hoped</I> to bring him off by
|
|
the people's act, and that they would be for his release. When David
|
|
was <I>envied</I> by Saul, he was the <I>darling of the people;</I> and
|
|
any one that heard the <I>hosannas</I> with which Christ was but a few
|
|
days ago brought into Jerusalem, would have thought that he had been
|
|
so, and that Pilate might safely have referred this matter to the
|
|
commonalty, especially when so notorious a rogue was set up as a rival
|
|
with him for their favours. But it proved otherwise.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) While Pilate was thus labouring the matter, he was confirmed in
|
|
his unwillingness to condemn Jesus, by a message sent him from his wife
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
by way of caution; <I>Have thou nothing to do with that just man</I>
|
|
(together with the reason), <I>for I have suffered many things this day
|
|
in a cream because of him.</I> Probably, this message was delivered to
|
|
Pilate publicly, in the hearing of all that were present, for it was
|
|
intended to be a warning not to him only, but to the prosecutors.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The special providence of God, in sending this dream to Pilate's
|
|
wife; it is not likely that she had heard any thing, before, concerning
|
|
Christ, at least not so as to occasion her dreaming of him, but it was
|
|
immediately from God: perhaps she was one of the <I>devout and
|
|
honourable women,</I> and had some sense of religion; yet God revealed
|
|
himself by dreams to some that had not, as to Nebuchadnezzar. She
|
|
<I>suffered many things</I> in this dream; whether she dreamed of the
|
|
cruel usage of an innocent person, or of the judgments that would fall
|
|
upon those that had any hand in his death, or both, it seems that it
|
|
was a frightful dream, and her thoughts <I>troubled her,</I> as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+2:1,4:5">Dan. ii. 1; iv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The Father of spirits has many ways of access to the spirits of
|
|
men, and can <I>seal their instruction in a dream, or vision of the
|
|
night,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:15,16">Job xxxiii. 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet to those who have the written word, God more ordinarily speaks by
|
|
conscience on a waking bed, than by dreams, when <I>deep sleep falls
|
|
upon men.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The tenderness and care of Pilate's wife, in sending this caution,
|
|
thereupon, to her husband; <I>Have nothing to do with that just man.
|
|
First,</I> This was an honourable testimony to our Lord Jesus,
|
|
witnessing for him that he was a <I>just man,</I> even then when he was
|
|
persecuted as the worst of malefactors: when his friends were afraid to
|
|
appear in defence of him, God made even those that were strangers and
|
|
enemies, to speak in his favour; when Peter denied him, Judas confessed
|
|
him; when the chief priests pronounced him guilty of death, Pilate
|
|
declared he <I>found no fault</I> in him; when the women that loved him
|
|
stood afar off, Pilate's wife, who knew little of him, showed a concern
|
|
for him. Note, God will not leave himself without witnesses to the
|
|
truth and equity of his cause, even when it seems to be most spitefully
|
|
run down by its enemies, and most shamefully deserted by its friends.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> It was a fair warning to Pilate; <I>Have nothing to do
|
|
with him.</I> Note, God has many ways of giving checks to sinners in
|
|
their sinful pursuits, and it is a great mercy to have such checks from
|
|
Providence, from faithful friends, and from our own consciences; it is
|
|
also our great duty to hearken to them. <I>O do not this abominable
|
|
thing which the Lord hates,</I> is what we may hear said to us, when we
|
|
are entering into temptation, if we will but regard it. Pilate's lady
|
|
sent him this warning, out of the love she had to him; she feared not a
|
|
rebuke from him for meddling with that which belonged not to her; but,
|
|
let him take it how he would, she would give him the caution. Note, It
|
|
is an instance of true love to our friends and relations, to do what we
|
|
can to keep them from sin; and the nearer any are to us, and the
|
|
greater affection we have for them, the more solicitous we should be
|
|
not to suffer sin to come or lie upon them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+19:17">Lev. xix. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
The best friendship is friendship to the soul. We are not told how
|
|
Pilate turned this off, probably with a jest; but by his proceeding
|
|
against the just man it appears that he did not regard it. Thus
|
|
faithful admonitions are made light of, when they are given as warnings
|
|
against sin, but will not be so easily made light of, when they shall
|
|
be reflected upon as aggravations of sin.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) The chief priests and the elders were busy, all this while, to
|
|
influence the people in favour of Barabbas,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
They <I>persuaded the multitude,</I> both by themselves and their
|
|
emissaries, whom they sent abroad among them, <I>that they should ask
|
|
Barabbas, and destroy Jesus;</I> suggesting that this Jesus was a
|
|
deceiver, in league with Satan, an enemy to their church and temple;
|
|
that, if he were let alone, the Romans would come, and take away their
|
|
place and nation; that Barabbas, though a bad man, yet, having not the
|
|
interest that Jesus had, could not do so much mischief. Thus they
|
|
managed the mob, who otherwise were well affected to Jesus, and, if
|
|
they had not been so much at the beck of their priests, would never
|
|
have done such a preposterous thing as to prefer Barabbas before Jesus.
|
|
Here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] We cannot but look upon these wicked priests with indignation; by
|
|
the law, in <I>matters of controversy between blood and blood,</I> the
|
|
people were to be guided by the priests, and to do as they informed
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+17:8,9">Deut. xvii. 8, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
This great power put into their hands they wretchedly abused, and the
|
|
leaders of the people caused them to err.
|
|
|
|
[2.] We cannot but look upon the deluded people with pity; <I>I have
|
|
compassion on the multitude,</I> to see them hurried thus violently to
|
|
so great wickedness, to see them thus priest-ridden, and falling in the
|
|
ditch with their <I>blind leaders.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(6.) Being thus over-ruled by the priests, at length they made their
|
|
choice,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Whether of the twain</I> (saith Pilate) <I>will ye that I release
|
|
unto you?</I> He hoped that he had gained his point, to have Jesus
|
|
released. But, to his great surprise, they said <I>Barabbas;</I> as if
|
|
his <I>crimes</I> were <I>less,</I> and therefore he less <I>deserved
|
|
to die;</I> or as if his <I>merits</I> were <I>greater,</I> and
|
|
therefore he better <I>deserved to live.</I> The cry for Barabbas was
|
|
so universal, one and all, that there was no colour to demand a poll
|
|
between the candidates. <I>Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and, thou
|
|
earth, be horribly afraid!</I> Were ever men that pretended to reason
|
|
or religion, guilty of such prodigious madness, such horrid wickedness!
|
|
This was it that Peter charged so home upon them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:14">Acts iii. 14</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Ye desired a murderer to be granted to you;</I> yet multitudes who
|
|
choose the world, rather than God, for their ruler and portion, thus
|
|
<I>choose their own delusions.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Their pressing earnestly to have Jesus crucified,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:22,23"><I>v.</I> 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Pilate, being amazed at their choice of Barabbas, was willing to hope
|
|
that it was rather from a fondness for him than from an enmity to
|
|
Jesus; and therefore he puts it to them, "<I>What shall I do then with
|
|
Jesus?</I> Shall I release him likewise, for the greater honour of your
|
|
feast, or will you leave it to me?" No, <I>they all said, Let him be
|
|
crucified.</I> That death they desired he might die, because it was
|
|
looked upon as the most scandalous and ignominious; and they hoped
|
|
thereby to make his followers ashamed to own him, and their relation to
|
|
him. It was absurd for them to prescribe to the judge what sentence he
|
|
should pass; but their malice and rage made them forget all rules of
|
|
order and decency, and turned a court of justice into a <I>riotous,
|
|
tumultuous,</I> and <I>seditious assembly.</I> Now was truth fallen in
|
|
the street, and equity could not enter; where one <I>looked for
|
|
judgment, behold, oppression,</I> the worst kind of oppression; for
|
|
righteousness, behold, a cry, the worse cry that ever was, <I>Crucify,
|
|
crucify</I> the Lord of glory. Though they that cried thus, perhaps,
|
|
were not the same persons that the other day cried <I>Hosanna,</I> yet
|
|
see what a change was made upon the mind of the populace in a little
|
|
time: when he <I>rode in triumph</I> into Jerusalem, so <I>general</I>
|
|
were the <I>acclamations of praise,</I> that one would have thought he
|
|
had <I>no enemies;</I> but now when he was <I>led in triumph</I> to
|
|
Pilate's judgment-seat, so <I>general</I> were the <I>outcries</I> of
|
|
enmity, that one would think he had <I>no friends.</I> Such revolutions
|
|
are there in this changeable world, through which our way to heaven
|
|
lies, as our Master's did, <I>by honour and dishonour, by evil report,
|
|
and good report,</I> counter-changed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+6:8">2 Cor. vi. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
that we may not be lifted up by honour, as if, when we were applauded
|
|
and caressed, we had <I>made our nest among the stars,</I> and should
|
|
<I>die in that nest;</I> nor yet be dejected or discouraged by
|
|
dishonour, as if, when we were trodden to the lowest hell, from which
|
|
there is <I>no redemption. Bides tu istos qui te laudant; omnes aut
|
|
sunt hostes, aut (quod in æquo est) esse possunt--You observe
|
|
those who applaud you; either they are all your enemies, or, which is
|
|
equivalent, they may become so.</I> Seneca de Vita Beat.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now, as to this demand, we are further told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) How Pilate objected against it; <I>Why, what evil hath he
|
|
done?</I> A proper question to ask before we censure any in common
|
|
discourse, much more for a judge to ask before he pass a sentence of
|
|
death. Note, It is much for the honour of the Lord Jesus, that, though
|
|
he suffered as an evil-doer, yet neither his judge nor his prosecutors
|
|
could find that he had done any evil. Had he done any evil <I>against
|
|
God?</I> No, he <I>always did those things that pleased him.</I> Had he
|
|
done any evil against the <I>civil government?</I> No, as he did
|
|
himself, so he taught others, to <I>render to Cæsar the things that
|
|
were Cæsar's.</I> Had he done any evil against the <I>public
|
|
peace?</I> No, he did not <I>strive or cry,</I> nor did his kingdom
|
|
<I>come with observation.</I> Had he done any evil to particular
|
|
persons? <I>Whose ox had he taken, or whom had he defrauded?</I> No, so
|
|
far from that, that he <I>went about doing good.</I> This repeated
|
|
assertion of his unspotted innocency, plainly intimates that he died to
|
|
satisfy for the sins of others; for if it had not been for our
|
|
transgressions that he was thus wounded, and for our offences that he
|
|
was delivered up, and that upon his own voluntary undertaking to atone
|
|
for them, I see not how these extraordinary sufferings of a person that
|
|
had never thought, said, or done, any thing amiss, could be reconciled
|
|
with the justice and equity of that providence that governs the world,
|
|
and at least <I>permitted</I> this to be done in it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How they <I>insisted</I> upon it; <I>They cried out the more, Let
|
|
him be crucified.</I> They do not go about to show any evil he had
|
|
done, but, right or wrong, he must be <I>crucified.</I> Quitting all
|
|
pretensions to the proof of the premises, they resolve to hold the
|
|
conclusion, and what was wanting in evidence to make up in clamour;
|
|
this unjust judge was wearied by importunity into an unjust sentence,
|
|
as he in the parable into a just one
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+18:4,5">Luke xviii. 4, 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the cause carried purely by noise.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Here is the <I>devolving</I> of the <I>guilt</I> of Christ's blood
|
|
upon the <I>people</I> and <I>priests.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Pilate endeavours to transfer it from himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He sees it <I>to no purpose to contend.</I> What he said,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Would do no good; <I>he could prevail nothing;</I> he could not
|
|
convince them what an unjust unreasonable thing it was for him to
|
|
condemn a man whom he believed innocent, and whom they could not prove
|
|
guilty. See how strong the stream of lust and rage sometimes is;
|
|
neither authority nor reason will prevail to give check to it. Nay,
|
|
|
|
[2.] It was more likely to <I>do hurt;</I> he saw that rather a
|
|
<I>tumult was made.</I> This rude and brutish people fell to high
|
|
words, and began to threaten Pilate what they would do if he did not
|
|
gratify them; and how great a matter might this fire kindle, especially
|
|
when the priests, those great incendiaries, blew the coals! Now this
|
|
turbulent tumultuous temper of the Jews, by which Pilate was awed to
|
|
condemn Christ against his conscience, contributed more than any thing
|
|
to the ruin of that nation not long after; for their frequent
|
|
insurrections provoked the Romans to destroy them, though they had
|
|
reduced them, and their inveterate quarrels among themselves made them
|
|
an easy prey to the common enemy. Thus their sin was their ruin.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Observe how easily we may be mistaken in the inclination of the common
|
|
people; the priests were apprehensive that their endeavours to
|
|
<I>seize</I> Christ would have caused an uproar, especially <I>on the
|
|
feast day;</I> but it proved that Pilate's endeavour to <I>save</I>
|
|
him, caused an uproar, and that on the feast day; so uncertain are the
|
|
sentiments of the crowd.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) This puts him into a <I>great strait,</I> betwixt the peace of his
|
|
own mind, and the peace of the city; he is loth to condemn an innocent
|
|
man, and yet loth to <I>disoblige</I> the people, and raise a devil
|
|
that would not be soon laid. Had he steadily and resolutely adhered to
|
|
the sacred laws of justice, as a judge ought to do, he had not been in
|
|
any perplexity; the matter was plain and past dispute, that a man in
|
|
whom was found <I>no faulty,</I> ought not to be crucified, upon any
|
|
pretence whatsoever, nor must an unjust thing be done, to gratify any
|
|
man or company of men in the world; the cause is soon decided; <I>Let
|
|
justice be done, though heaven and earth come together--Fiat justitia,
|
|
ruat cœlum.</I> If <I>wickedness proceed from the wicked,</I> though
|
|
they be priests, yet <I>my hand shall not be upon him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Pilate thinks to trim the matter, and to pacify both the people
|
|
and his own conscience too, by <I>doing it,</I> and yet
|
|
<I>disowning</I> it, <I>acting</I> the thing, and yet <I>acquitting</I>
|
|
himself from it at the same time. Such absurdities and
|
|
self-contradictions do <I>they</I> run upon, whose convictions are
|
|
<I>strong,</I> but their corruptions <I>stronger. Happy is he</I>
|
|
(saith the apostle,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+14:22">Rom. xiv. 22</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth;</I> or,
|
|
which is all one, that <I>allows</I> not himself in that thing which he
|
|
<I>condemns.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now Pilate endeavours to clear himself from the guilt,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] By a <I>sign;</I> He <I>took water, and washed his hands before
|
|
the multitude;</I> not as if he thought thereby to cleanse himself from
|
|
any guilt contracted before God, but to acquit himself before the
|
|
people, from so much as contracting any guilt in this matter; as if he
|
|
had said, "If it be done, bear witness that it is none of my doing." He
|
|
<I>borrowed</I> the ceremony from that law which appointed it to be
|
|
used for the clearing of the country from the guilt of an undiscovered
|
|
murder
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:6,7">Deut. xxi. 6, 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
and he used it the more to affect the people with the conviction he was
|
|
under of the prisoner's innocency; and, probably, such was the noise of
|
|
the rabble, that, if he had not used some such surprising sign, in the
|
|
view of them all, he could not have been heard.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] By a <I>saying;</I> in which, <I>First,</I> He <I>clears</I>
|
|
himself; <I>I am innocent of the blood of this just person.</I> What
|
|
nonsense was this, to condemn him, and yet protest that he was innocent
|
|
of his blood! For men to protest against a thing, and yet to practise
|
|
it, is only to proclaim that they sin against their consciences. Though
|
|
Pilate professed his innocency, God charges him with guilt,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+4:27">Acts iv. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some think to justify themselves, by pleading that their <I>hands</I>
|
|
were not in the sin; but David kills by the sword of the children of
|
|
Ammon, and Ahab by the elders of Jezreel. Pilate here thinks to justify
|
|
himself, by pleading that his <I>heart</I> was not in the action; but
|
|
this is an averment which will never be admitted. <I>Protestatio non
|
|
valet contra factum--In vain does he protest against the deed which at
|
|
the same time he perpetrates. Secondly,</I> He casts it upon the
|
|
priests and people; "<I>See ye to it;</I> if it must be done, I cannot
|
|
help it, do you answer it before God and the world." Note, Sin is a
|
|
brat that nobody is willing to own; and many deceive themselves with
|
|
this, that they shall bear no blame if they can but find any to lay the
|
|
blame upon; but it is not so easy a thing to transfer the guilt of sin
|
|
as many think it is. The condition of him that is infected with the
|
|
plague is not the less dangerous, either for his catching the infection
|
|
from others, or his communicating the infection to others; we may be
|
|
<I>tempted</I> to sin, but cannot be <I>forced.</I> The priests threw
|
|
it upon Judas; <I>See thou to it;</I> and now Pilate throws it upon
|
|
them; <I>See ye to it; for with what measure ye mete, it shall be
|
|
measured to you.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The priests and people<I> consented</I> to take the guilt <I>upon
|
|
themselves;</I> they all said, "<I>His blood be on us, and one our
|
|
children;</I> we are so well assured that there is neither sin nor
|
|
danger in putting him to death, that we are willing to run the hazard
|
|
of it;" as if the guilt would do no harm to them or theirs. They saw
|
|
that it was the dread of guilt that made Pilate hesitate, and that he
|
|
was getting over this difficulty by a fancy of transferring it; to
|
|
prevent the return of his hesitation, and to confirm him in that fancy,
|
|
they, in the heat of their rage, agreed to it, rather than lose the
|
|
prey they had in their hands, and cried, <I>His blood be upon us.</I>
|
|
Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) By this they designed to indemnify Pilate, that is, to make him
|
|
think himself indemnified, by becoming bound to divine justice, to save
|
|
him harmless. But those that are themselves bankrupts and beggars will
|
|
never be admitted security for others, nor taken as a bail for them.
|
|
None could bear the sin of others, except him that had none of his own
|
|
to answer for; it is a bold undertaking, and too big for any creature,
|
|
to become bound for a sinner to Almighty God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) But they did really imprecate wrath and vengeance upon themselves
|
|
and their posterity. What a desperate word was this, and how little did
|
|
they think what as the direful import of it, or to what an abyss of
|
|
misery it would bring them and theirs! Christ had lately told them,
|
|
that upon them would come <I>all the righteous blood shed upon the
|
|
earth,</I> from that of the righteous Abel; but as if that were too
|
|
little, they here imprecate upon themselves the guilt of that blood
|
|
which was more precious than all the rest, and the guilt of which would
|
|
lie heavier. O the daring presumption of wilful sinners, that <I>run
|
|
upon God, upon his neck,</I> and defy his justice!
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+15:25,26">Job xv. 25, 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] How <I>cruel</I> they were in their <I>imprecation.</I> They
|
|
imprecated the punishment of this sin, not only upon themselves, but
|
|
upon <I>their children</I> too, even those that were yet unborn,
|
|
without so much as limiting the entail of the curse, as God himself had
|
|
been pleased to limit it, to the <I>third and fourth generation.</I> It
|
|
was madness to pull it upon themselves, but the height of barbarity to
|
|
entail it on their posterity. Surely they were like the ostrich; they
|
|
were <I>hardened against their young ones,</I> as though they were not
|
|
<I>theirs.</I> What a dreadful conveyance was this of guilt and wrath
|
|
to them and their heirs for ever, and this delivered by <I>joint
|
|
consent, nemine contradicents--unanimously,</I> as their own <I>act and
|
|
deed;</I> which certainly amounted to a forfeiture and defeasance of
|
|
that ancient charter, <I>I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed.</I>
|
|
Their entailing the curse of the Messiah's blood upon their nation, cut
|
|
off the entail of the blessings of that blood from <I>their</I>
|
|
families, that, according to another promise made to Abraham, in him
|
|
<I>all the families of the earth</I> might be blessed. See what enemies
|
|
wicked men are to their own children and families; those that damn
|
|
their own souls, care not how many they take to hell with them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] How righteous God was, in his retribution according to this
|
|
imprecation; they said, <I>His blood be on us, and on our children;</I>
|
|
and God said <I>Amen</I> to it, so shall thy doom be; as they <I>loved
|
|
cursing,</I> so it came upon them. The wretched remains of that
|
|
abandoned people feel it to this day; from the time they imprecated
|
|
this blood upon them, they were followed with one judgment after
|
|
another, till they were quite laid waste, and made an astonishment, a
|
|
hissing, and a byword; yet on some of them, and some of theirs, this
|
|
blood came, not to <I>condemn</I> them, but to <I>save</I> them; divine
|
|
mercy, upon their repenting and believing, cut off this entail, and
|
|
then <I>the promise</I> was again <I>to them, and to their
|
|
children.</I> God is better to us and ours than we are.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_32"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Christ Scourged and Derided; Christ Mocked by the Soldiers.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had
|
|
scourged Jesus, he delivered <I>him</I> to be crucified.
|
|
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common
|
|
hall, and gathered unto him the whole band <I>of soldiers.</I>
|
|
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
|
|
29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put <I>it</I>
|
|
upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the
|
|
knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
|
|
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on
|
|
the head.
|
|
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off
|
|
from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to
|
|
crucify <I>him.</I>
|
|
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by
|
|
name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
In these verses we have the <I>preparatives</I> for, and
|
|
<I>prefaces</I> to, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The sentence passed, and the warrant signed for his execution; and
|
|
this <I>immediately,</I> the same hour.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Barabbas was released, that notorious criminal: if he had not been
|
|
put in competition with Christ for the favour of the people, it is
|
|
probable that he had died for his crimes; but that proved the means of
|
|
his escape; to intimate that Christ was condemned for this purpose,
|
|
that sinners, even the chief of sinners, might be <I>released;</I> he
|
|
was <I>delivered up,</I> that we might be delivered; whereas the
|
|
<I>common instance</I> of divine Providence, is, that <I>the wicked is
|
|
a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+21:18,Pr+11:18">Prov. xxi. 18; xi. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
In this <I>unparalleled instance</I> of divine grace, the
|
|
<I>upright</I> is a <I>ransom for the transgressors,</I> the just for
|
|
the unjust.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Jesus was <I>scourged;</I> this was an ignominious cruel punishment,
|
|
especially as is was inflicted by the Romans, who were not under the
|
|
moderation of the Jewish law, which forbade scourgings, above forty
|
|
stripes; this punishment was most unreasonably inflicted on one that
|
|
was sentenced to die: the <I>rods</I> were not to introduce the axes,
|
|
but to supersede them. Thus the scripture was fulfilled, <I>The
|
|
ploughers ploughed upon my back</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+129:3">Ps. cxxix. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>I gave my back to the smiters</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:6">Isa. l. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, <I>By his stripes we are healed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:5">Isa. liii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was <I>chastised with whips,</I> that we might not be for ever
|
|
<I>chastised with scorpions.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He was then <I>delivered to be crucified;</I> though his
|
|
chastisement was in order to our peace, yet there is no peace made but
|
|
by the <I>blood of his cross</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+1:20">Col. i. 20</A>);
|
|
|
|
therefore the scourging is not enough, he must be <I>crucified;</I> a
|
|
kind of death used only among the Romans; the manner of it is such,
|
|
that it seems to be the result of wit and cruelty in combination, each
|
|
putting forth itself to the utmost, to make death in the highest degree
|
|
terrible and miserable. A cross was set up in the ground, to which the
|
|
hands and feet were nailed, on which nails the weight of the body hung,
|
|
till it died of the pain. This was the death to which Christ was
|
|
condemned, that he might answer the type of the brazen serpent lifted
|
|
up upon a pole. It was a bloody death, a painful, shameful, cursed
|
|
death; it was so miserable a death, that merciful princes appointed
|
|
those who were condemned to it by the law, to be strangled first, and
|
|
then nailed to the cross; so Julius Cæsar did by some pirates,
|
|
<I>Sueton. lib.</I> 1. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, by an
|
|
edict abolished the use of that punishment among the Romans,
|
|
<I>Sozomen, Hist. lib.</I> 1. <I>ch.</I> 8. <I>Ne salutare signum
|
|
subserviret ad perniciem--That the symbol of salvation might not be
|
|
subservient to the victim's destruction.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The barbarous treatment which the soldiers gave him, while things
|
|
were getting ready for his execution. When he was condemned, he ought
|
|
to have had some time allowed him to prepare for death. There was a law
|
|
made by the Roman senate, in Tiberius's time, perhaps upon complaint of
|
|
this and the like precipitation, that the execution of criminals should
|
|
be deferred at least <I>ten days</I> after sentence. <I>Sueton in
|
|
Tiber. cap.</I> 25. But there were scarcely allowed so many minutes to
|
|
our Lord Jesus; nor had he any breathing-time during those minutes; it
|
|
was a <I>crisis,</I> and there were no <I>lucid intervals</I> allowed
|
|
him; <I>deep called unto deep,</I> and the storm continued without any
|
|
intermission.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
When he was <I>delivered</I> to be <I>crucified,</I> that was enough;
|
|
they that <I>kill the body,</I> yield that there is no more that they
|
|
<I>can do,</I> but Christ's enemies will <I>do more,</I> and, if it be
|
|
possible, wrap up a thousand deaths in one. Though Pilate pronounced
|
|
him innocent, yet his soldiers, his guards, set themselves to abuse
|
|
him, being swayed more by the fury of the people <I>against him,</I>
|
|
than by their master's testimony <I>for him;</I> the Jewish
|
|
<I>rabble</I> infected the Roman soldiery, or perhaps it was not so
|
|
much in spite to him, as to make <I>sport</I> for themselves, that they
|
|
thus abused him. They understood that he <I>pretended to a crown; to
|
|
taunt</I> him with that gave them some diversion, and an opportunity to
|
|
make themselves and one another merry. Note, It is an argument of a
|
|
base, servile, sordid spirit, to insult over those that are in misery,
|
|
and to make the calamities of any matter of sport and merriment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. <I>Where</I> this was done--in the <I>common hall.</I> The
|
|
<I>governor's house,</I> which should have been a shelter to the
|
|
wronged and abused, is made the theatre of this barbarity. I wonder
|
|
that the governor, who was so desirous to acquit himself from the blood
|
|
of this just person, would suffer this to be done in <I>his</I> house.
|
|
Perhaps he did not order it to be done, but he <I>connived</I> at it;
|
|
and those in authority will be accountable, not only for the wickedness
|
|
which they <I>do,</I> or <I>appoint,</I> but for that which they do not
|
|
restrain, when it is in the power of their hands. Masters of families
|
|
should not suffer their houses to be places of abuse to any, nor their
|
|
servants to make sport with the sins, or miseries, or religion, of
|
|
others.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. <I>Who</I> were concerned in it. They gathered the <I>whole
|
|
band,</I> the soldiers that were to attend the execution, would have
|
|
the whole regiment (at least five hundred, some think twelve or
|
|
thirteen hundred) to share in the diversion. If Christ was thus made a
|
|
<I>spectacle,</I> let none of his followers think it strange to be so
|
|
used,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+4:9,Heb+10:33">1 Cor. iv. 9; Heb. x. 33</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. What particular indignities were done him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) They <I>stripped him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
The shame of nakedness came in with sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:7">Gen. iii. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
and therefore Christ, when he came to satisfy for sin, and take it
|
|
away, was <I>made naked,</I> and submitted to <I>that shame,</I> that
|
|
he might prepare for us <I>white raiment, to cover us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+3:18">Rev. iii. 18</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) They <I>put on him a scarlet robe,</I> some old red cloak, such as
|
|
the Roman soldiers wore, in imitation of the <I>scarlet robes</I> which
|
|
kings and emperors wore; thus upbraiding him with his being called <I>a
|
|
King.</I> This <I>sham</I> of majesty they put upon him in his dress,
|
|
when nothing but meanness and misery appeared in his countenance, only
|
|
to expose him to the spectators, as the more <I>ridiculous;</I> yet
|
|
there was something of <I>mystery</I> in it; this was he that was
|
|
<I>red in his apparel</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:1,2">Isa. lxiii. 1, 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
that <I>washed his garments in wine</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:11">Gen. xlix. 11</A>);
|
|
|
|
therefore he was dressed in a <I>scarlet robe.</I> Our sins were as
|
|
<I>scarlet and crimson.</I> Christ being clad in a <I>scarlet robe,</I>
|
|
signified his bearing our sins, to his shame, in his own body upon the
|
|
tree; that we might wash our robes, and make them white, in the blood
|
|
of the Lamb.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) They <I>platted a crown of thorns, and put it upon his head,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was to carry on the humour of making him a <I>mock-king;</I> yet,
|
|
had they intended it only for a <I>reproach,</I> they might have
|
|
<I>platted a crown of straw,</I> or <I>rushes,</I> but they designed it
|
|
to be painful to him, and to be <I>literally,</I> what crowns are said
|
|
to be figuratively, lined with thorns; he that invented this abuse, it
|
|
is likely, valued himself upon the wit of it; but there was a mystery
|
|
in it.
|
|
|
|
[1.] Thorns came in with sin, and were part of the curse that was the
|
|
product of sin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:18">Gen. iii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Therefore Christ, being made a <I>curse for us,</I> and dying to remove
|
|
the curse from us, felt the pain and smart of those thorns, nay, and
|
|
<I>binds them as a crown</I> to him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+31:36">Job xxxi. 36</A>);
|
|
|
|
for his sufferings for us were <I>his glory.</I>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Now he answered to the type of Abraham's ram that was <I>caught in
|
|
the thicket,</I> and so offered up instead of Isaac,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+22:13">Gen. xxii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Thorns signify afflictions,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+33:11">2 Chron. xxxiii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
These Christ put into a <I>crown;</I> so much did he alter the property
|
|
of them to them that are his, giving them cause to <I>glory in
|
|
tribulation,</I> and making it to work for them a weight of glory.
|
|
|
|
[4.] Christ was crowned with thorns, to show that <I>his kingdom was
|
|
not of this world,</I> nor the glory of it worldly glory, but is
|
|
attended here with bonds and afflictions, while the glory of it is
|
|
<I>to be revealed.</I>
|
|
|
|
[5.] It was the custom of some heathen nations, to bring their
|
|
sacrifices to the altars, crowned with garlands; these thorns were the
|
|
garlands with which this great Sacrifice was crowned.
|
|
|
|
[6.] these thorns, it is likely, fetched blood from his blessed head,
|
|
which trickled down his face, <I>like the previous ointment</I>
|
|
(typifying the blood of Christ with which he consecrated himself)
|
|
<I>upon the head, which ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
|
|
beard,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+133:2">Ps. cxxxiii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus, when he came to espouse to himself his love, his dove, his
|
|
undefiled church, his <I>head was filled with dew,</I> and his <I>locks
|
|
with the drops of the night,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+5:2">Cant. v. 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) They <I>put a reed in his right hand;</I> this was intended for a
|
|
<I>mock-sceptre,</I> another of the <I>insignia</I> of the majesty they
|
|
jeered him with; as if this were a sceptre good enough for such a King,
|
|
as was like <I>a reed shaken with the wind</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:7"><I>ch.</I> xi. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
like sceptre, like kingdom, both weak and wavering, and withering and
|
|
worthless; but they were quite mistaken, for his throne is <I>for ever
|
|
and ever,</I> and the <I>sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+45:6">Ps. xlv. 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) <I>They bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail,
|
|
King of the Jews!</I> Having made him a sham King, they thus make a
|
|
jest of doing homage to him, thus ridiculing his pretensions to
|
|
sovereignty, as Joseph's brethren
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+37:8">Gen. xxxvii. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Shalt thou indeed reign over us?</I> But as they were afterward
|
|
compelled to do obeisance to him, and enrich his dreams, so these here
|
|
bowed the knee, in scorn to him who was, soon after this, exalted to
|
|
the right hand of God, that <I>at his name every knee might bow,</I> or
|
|
break before him; it is ill jesting with that which, sooner or later,
|
|
will come in earnest.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(6.) They <I>spit upon him;</I> thus he had been abused in the High
|
|
Priest's hall,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+26:67"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 67</A>.
|
|
|
|
In doing homage, the subject kissed the sovereign, in token of his
|
|
allegiance; thus Samuel kissed Saul, and we are bid to <I>kiss the
|
|
Son:</I> but they, in this mock-homage, instead of kissing him, spit in
|
|
his face; that blessed face which outshines the sun, and before which
|
|
the angels cover theirs, was thus polluted. It is strange that the sons
|
|
of men should ever do such a piece of <I>villany,</I> and that the Son
|
|
of God should ever <I>suffer</I> such a piece of <I>ignominy.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(7.) They <I>took the reed, and smote him on the head.</I> That which
|
|
they had made the <I>mock-ensign</I> of his royalty, they now make the
|
|
real instrument of <I>their</I> cruelty, and <I>his pain.</I> They
|
|
smote him, it is probable, upon the <I>crown of thorns,</I> and so
|
|
struck them into his head, that they might wound it the deeper, which
|
|
made the more sport for them, to whom his pain was the greatest
|
|
pleasure. Thus was he <I>despised and rejected of men; a man of
|
|
sorrows, and acquainted with grief.</I> All this misery and shame he
|
|
underwent, that he might purchase for us everlasting life, and joy, and
|
|
glory.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The conveying of him to the place of execution. After they had
|
|
mocked and abused him, as long as they thought fit, they then <I>took
|
|
the robe off from him;</I> to signify their divesting him of all the
|
|
kingly authority they had invested him with, by putting it on him; and
|
|
they put his own raiment on him, because that was to fall to the
|
|
soldiers' share, that were employed in the execution. They took off the
|
|
robe, but no mention is made of their taking off the <I>crown of
|
|
thorns,</I> whence it is commonly supposed (though there is no
|
|
certainty of it) that he was crucified with that on his head; for as he
|
|
is a Priest upon his throne, so he was a King upon his cross. Christ
|
|
was led to be crucified in <I>his own raiment,</I> because he himself
|
|
was to <I>bear our sins in his own body upon the tree.</I> And
|
|
here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They <I>led him away</I> to be <I>crucified;</I> he was led <I>as a
|
|
lamb to the slaughter,</I> as a sacrifice to the altar. We may well
|
|
imagine how they hurried him on, and dragged him along, with all the
|
|
speed possible, lest any thing should intervene to prevent the glutting
|
|
of their cruel rage with his precious blood. It is probable that they
|
|
now loaded him with taunts and reproaches, and treated him as the
|
|
off-scouring of all things. They led him away <I>out of the city;</I>
|
|
for Christ, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
|
|
<I>suffered without the gate</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:12">Heb. xiii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
as if he that was the glory of them that <I>waited for redemption</I>
|
|
in Jerusalem was not worthy to live among them. To this he himself had
|
|
an eye, when in the parable he speaks of his being <I>cast out of the
|
|
vineyard,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:39"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 39</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They compelled Simon of Cyrene <I>to bear his cross,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
It seems, at first he <I>carried the cross</I> himself, as Isaac
|
|
carried the wood for the burnt-offering, which was to burn him. And
|
|
this was intended, as other things, both for pain and shame to him. But
|
|
after a while they <I>took the cross</I> off from him, either,
|
|
|
|
(1.) In compassion to him, because they saw it was too great a load for
|
|
him. We can hardly think that they had any consideration of that, yet
|
|
it teaches us that God <I>considers the frame</I> of his people, and
|
|
will not <I>suffer them to be tempted above what they are able;</I> he
|
|
gives them some breathing-time, but they must expect that the cross
|
|
will return, and the lucid intervals only give them space to prepare
|
|
for the next fit. But,
|
|
|
|
(2.) Perhaps it was because he could not, with the cross on his back,
|
|
go forward so fast as they would have him. Or,
|
|
|
|
(3.) They were afraid, lest he should faint away under the load of his
|
|
cross, and die, and so prevent what their malice further intended to do
|
|
against him: thus even the <I>tender mercies of the wicked</I> (which
|
|
seem to be so) <I>are</I> really <I>cruel.</I> Taking the cross off
|
|
from him, they <I>compelled</I> one Simon of Cyrene to bear it,
|
|
pressing him to the service by the authority of the governor or the
|
|
priests. It was a reproach, and none would do it but by compulsion.
|
|
Some think that this Simon was a disciple of Christ, at least a
|
|
well-wisher to him, and that they knew it, and therefore put this upon
|
|
him. Note, All that will approve themselves disciples indeed, must
|
|
follow Christ, <I>bearing his cross</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:24"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>bearing his reproach,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:13">Heb. xiii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must know the <I>fellowship of his sufferings for us,</I> and
|
|
patiently submit to all the sufferings for him we are called out to;
|
|
for those only shall <I>reign with him,</I> that <I>suffer with
|
|
him;</I> shall sit with him in his kingdom, that drink of <I>his
|
|
cup,</I> and are baptized with <I>his baptism.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_33"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_34"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_35"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_36"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_37"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_38"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_39"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_40"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_41"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_42"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_43"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_44"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_45"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_46"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_47"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_48"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_49"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Crucifixion.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that
|
|
is to say, a place of a skull,
|
|
34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when
|
|
he had tasted <I>thereof,</I> he would not drink.
|
|
35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting
|
|
lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
|
|
They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they
|
|
cast lots.
|
|
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
|
|
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS
|
|
JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
|
|
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the
|
|
right hand, and another on the left.
|
|
39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
|
|
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest
|
|
<I>it</I> in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
|
|
down from the cross.
|
|
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking <I>him,</I> with the
|
|
scribes and elders, said,
|
|
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King
|
|
of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will
|
|
believe him.
|
|
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have
|
|
him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
|
|
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the
|
|
same in his teeth.
|
|
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land
|
|
unto the ninth hour.
|
|
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
|
|
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my
|
|
God, why hast thou forsaken me?
|
|
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard <I>that,</I> said,
|
|
This <I>man</I> calleth for Elias.
|
|
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and
|
|
filled <I>it</I> with vinegar, and put <I>it</I> on a reed, and gave him to
|
|
drink.
|
|
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to
|
|
save him.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The place where our Lord Jesus was put to death.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They came to a place called <I>Golgotha,</I> near adjoining to
|
|
Jerusalem, probably the common place of execution. If he had had a
|
|
house of his own in Jerusalem, probably, for his greater disgrace, they
|
|
would have crucified him before his own door. But now in the same
|
|
place where criminals were sacrificed to the justice of the government,
|
|
was our Lord Jesus sacrificed to the justice of God. Some think that it
|
|
was called <I>the place of a skull,</I> because it was the common
|
|
charnel-house, where the bones and skulls of dead men were laid
|
|
together out of the way, lest people should touch them, and be defiled
|
|
thereby. Here lay the trophies of death's victory over multitudes of
|
|
the children of men; and when by dying Christ would destroy death, he
|
|
added this circumstance of honour to his victory, that he triumphed
|
|
over death upon his own dunghill.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. There they <I>crucified</I> him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>),
|
|
|
|
nailed his hands and feet to the cross, and then reared it up, and him
|
|
hanging on it; for so the manner of the Romans was to crucify. Let our
|
|
hearts be touched with the feeling of that exquisite pain which our
|
|
blessed Saviour now endured, and let us look upon him who was thus
|
|
pierced, and mourn. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? And when we
|
|
behold what manner of death he died, let us in that behold with <I>what
|
|
manner of love</I> he <I>loved us.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The barbarous and abusive treatment they gave him, in which their
|
|
wit and malice vied which should excel. As if death, so great a death,
|
|
were not bad enough, they contrived to add to the bitterness and terror
|
|
of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. By the drink they provided for him before he was nailed to the
|
|
cross,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was usual to have a cup of spiced wine for those to drink of, that
|
|
were to be put to death, according to Solomon's direction
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:6,7">Prov. xxxi. 6, 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish;</I> but with that
|
|
cup which Christ was to drink of, they mingled <I>vinegar and gall,</I>
|
|
to make it sour and bitter. This signified,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The <I>sin of man,</I> which is a <I>root of bitterness, bearing
|
|
gall and wormwood,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+29:18">Deut. xxix. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
The sinner perhaps rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, but to
|
|
God it is <I>grapes of gall,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:32">Deut. xxxii. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was so to the Lord Jesus, when he bare our sins, and sooner or later
|
|
it will be so to the sinner himself, <I>bitterness at the latter end,
|
|
more bitter than death,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:26">Eccl. vii. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It signified the <I>wrath of God,</I> that cup which is Father
|
|
<I>put into his hand,</I> a bitter cup indeed, like the <I>bitter water
|
|
which caused the curse,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+5:18">Num. v. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
This drink they offered him, as was literally foretold,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+69:21">Ps. lxix. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
And,
|
|
|
|
[1.] He <I>tasted thereof,</I> and so had the <I>worst</I> of it, took
|
|
the bitter taste into his mouth; he let no bitter cup go by him
|
|
untasted, when he was making atonement for all our sinful tasting of
|
|
forbidden fruit; now he was <I>tasting</I> death in its full
|
|
bitterness.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He <I>would not drink it,</I> because he would not have the
|
|
<I>best of it;</I> would have nothing like an opiate to lessen his
|
|
sense of pain, for he would die so as to <I>feel himself die,</I>
|
|
because he had so much <I>work</I> to <I>do,</I> as our High Priest, in
|
|
his suffering work.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. By the dividing of his garments,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
When they nailed him to the cross, they <I>stripped</I> him of his
|
|
garments, at least his <I>upper garments;</I> for by sin we were made
|
|
naked, to our shame, and thus he purchased for us white raiment to
|
|
cover us. If we be at any time stripped of our comforts for Christ, let
|
|
us bear it patiently; he was stripped for us. Enemies may strip us of
|
|
our <I>clothes,</I> but cannot strip us of our <I>best comforts;</I>
|
|
cannot take from us the <I>garments of praise.</I> The clothes of those
|
|
that are executed are the executioner's fee: four soldiers were
|
|
employed in crucifying Christ, and they must each of them have a share:
|
|
his upper garment, if it were divided, would be of no use to any of
|
|
them, and therefore they agreed to <I>cast lots</I> for it.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Some think that the garment was so fine and rich, that it was
|
|
worth contending for; but that agreed not with the poverty Christ
|
|
appeared in.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Perhaps they had heard of those that had been cured by touching
|
|
the hem of his garment, and they thought it valuable for some magic
|
|
virtue in it. Or,
|
|
|
|
(3.) They hoped to get money of his friends for such a sacred relic.
|
|
Or,
|
|
|
|
(4.) Because, in derision, they would seem to put a value upon it, as
|
|
royal clothing. Or,
|
|
|
|
(5.) It was for diversion; to pass away the time while they waited for
|
|
his death, they would play a game at dice for the clothes; but,
|
|
whatever they designed, the word of God is herein accomplished. In that
|
|
famous <I>psalm,</I> the first words of which Christ made use of upon
|
|
the cross, it was said, <I>They parted my garments among them, and cast
|
|
lots upon my vesture,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:18">Ps. xxii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was never true of David, but looks <I>primarily</I> at Christ, of
|
|
whom David, in spirit, spoke. Then is the offence of this part of the
|
|
cross ceased; for it appears to have been by the <I>determinate counsel
|
|
and foreknowledge of God.</I> Christ stripped himself of his glories,
|
|
to divide them among us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
They now <I>sat down, and watched him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
The chief priests were careful, no doubt, in setting this guard, lest
|
|
the people, whom they still stood in awe of, should rise, and rescue
|
|
him. But Providence so ordered it, that those who were appointed to
|
|
<I>watch</I> him, thereby became unexceptionable witnesses for him;
|
|
having the opportunity to see and hear that which extorted from them
|
|
that noble confession
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:54"><I>v.</I> 54</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Truly this was the Son of God.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. By the <I>title</I> set up over his head,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was usual for the vindicating of public justice, and putting the
|
|
greater shame upon malefactors that were executed, not only by a crier
|
|
to proclaim before them, but by a writing also over their heads to
|
|
notify what was the crime for which they suffered; so they set up over
|
|
Christ's head his accusation written, to give public notice of the
|
|
charge against him; <I>This is Jesus the King of the Jews.</I> This
|
|
they designed for his reproach, but God so overruled it, that even his
|
|
accusation redounded to his honour. For,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Here was no crime alleged against him. It is not said that he was
|
|
a pretended Saviour, or a usurping King, though they would have it
|
|
thought so
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+19:21">John xix. 21</A>);
|
|
|
|
but, <I>This is Jesus, a Saviour;</I> surely that was no crime; and,
|
|
<I>This is the King of the Jews;</I> nor was that a crime; for they
|
|
expected that the Messiah should be so: so that, his enemies themselves
|
|
being judges, he <I>did no evil.</I> Nay,
|
|
|
|
(2.) Here was a very glorious truth asserted concerning him--that he is
|
|
<I>Jesus the King of the Jews,</I> that King whom the Jews expected and
|
|
ought to have submitted to; so that his accusation amounts to this,
|
|
That he was the true Messiah and Saviour of the world; as Balaam, when
|
|
he was sent for to curse Israel, blessed them all together, and that
|
|
three times
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+24:10">Num. xxiv. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
so Pilate, instead of accusing Christ as a Criminal, proclaimed him a
|
|
<I>King,</I> and that <I>three times,</I> in three inscriptions. Thus
|
|
God makes men to serve <I>his</I> purposes, quite beyond <I>their
|
|
own.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. By his companions with him in suffering,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:38"><I>v.</I> 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
There were <I>two thieves crucified with him</I> at the same time, in
|
|
the same place, under the same guard; two highway-men, or robbers upon
|
|
the road, as the word properly signifies. It is probable that this was
|
|
appointed to be <I>execution-day;</I> and therefore they hurried the
|
|
prosecution of Christ in the morning, that they might have him ready to
|
|
be executed with the other criminals. Some think that Pilate ordered it
|
|
thus, that this piece of necessary justice, in executing these thieves,
|
|
might atone for his injustice in condemning Christ; others, that the
|
|
Jews contrived it, to add to the ignominy of the sufferings of our Lord
|
|
Jesus; however it was, the scripture was fulfilled in it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:12">Isa. liii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>He was numbered with the transgressors.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) It was a reproach to him, that he was <I>crucified with them.</I>
|
|
Though, while he lived, he was <I>separate from sinners,</I> yet <I>in
|
|
their deaths they were not divided,</I> but he was made to partake with
|
|
the vilest malefactors in their plagues, as if he had been a partaker
|
|
with them in their sins; for he was made sin for us, and took upon him
|
|
the <I>likeness of sinful flesh.</I> He was, at his death, numbered
|
|
among the transgressors, and had his lot with the wicked, that we, at
|
|
our death, might be <I>numbered among the saints,</I> and have our
|
|
<I>lot among the chosen.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) It was an additional reproach, that he was crucified <I>in the
|
|
midst, between them,</I> as if he had been the worst of the three, the
|
|
principal malefactor; for among <I>three</I> the <I>middle</I> is the
|
|
place for the chief. Every circumstance was contrived to his dishonour,
|
|
as if the great Saviour were of all others the <I>greatest sinner.</I>
|
|
It was also intended to ruffle and discompose him, in his last moments,
|
|
with the shrieks, and groans, and blasphemies, of these malefactors,
|
|
who, it is likely, made a hideous outcry when they were nailed to the
|
|
cross; but thus would Christ affect himself with the miseries of
|
|
sinners, when he was suffering for their salvation. Some of Christ's
|
|
apostles were afterwards crucified, as Peter, and Andrew, but none of
|
|
them were crucified <I>with him,</I> lest it should have looked as if
|
|
they had been joint undertakers with him, in satisfying for man's sin,
|
|
and joint purchasers of life and glory; therefore he was crucified
|
|
between two malefactors, who could not be supposed to contribute any
|
|
thing to the merit of his death; for he himself bare our sins <I>in his
|
|
own body.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. By the blasphemies and revilings with which they loaded him when he
|
|
was hanging upon the cross; though we read not that they cast any
|
|
reflections on the thieves that were crucified with him. One would have
|
|
thought that, when they had nailed him to the cross, they had done
|
|
their worst, and malice itself had been exhausted: indeed if a criminal
|
|
be put into the pillory, or carted, because it is a punishment less
|
|
than death, it is usually attended with such expressions of abuse; but
|
|
a dying man, though an infamous man, should be treated with compassion.
|
|
It is an insatiable revenge indeed which will not be satisfied with
|
|
death, <I>so great a death.</I> But, to complete the humiliation of the
|
|
Lord Jesus, and to show that, when he was dying, he was <I>bearing
|
|
iniquity,</I> he was then <I>loaded with reproach,</I> and, for aught
|
|
that appears, not one of his friends, who the other day cried
|
|
<I>Hosanna</I> to him, durst be seen to show him any respect.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The common <I>people, that passed by, reviled him.</I> His extreme
|
|
misery and exemplary patience under it, did not mollify them, or make
|
|
them to relent; but they who by their outcries brought him to this, now
|
|
think to justify themselves in it by their reproaches, as if they
|
|
<I>did well to condemn</I> him. They <I>reviled</I> him:
|
|
<B><I>eblasphemoun</I></B>--<I>they blasphemed</I> him; and
|
|
<I>blasphemy</I> it was, in the strictest sense, speaking evil of him
|
|
who <I>thought it not robbery to be equal with God.</I> Observe
|
|
here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The persons that reviled him; <I>they that passed by,</I> the
|
|
travellers that went along the road, and it was a great <I>road,</I>
|
|
leading from Jerusalem to Gibeon; they were possessed with prejudices
|
|
against him by the reports and clamours of the High Priest's creatures.
|
|
It is a hard thing, and requires more application and resolution than
|
|
is ordinarily met with, to keep up a good opinion of persons and things
|
|
that are <I>every where</I> run down, and spoken against. Every one is
|
|
apt to say as the most say, and to throw a stone at that which is put
|
|
into an ill name. <I>Turba Remi sequitur fortunam semper et odit
|
|
damnatos--The Roman rabble fluctuate with a man's fluctuating fortunes,
|
|
and fail not to depress those that are sinking.</I> Juvenal.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] The gesture they used, in contempt of him--<I>wagging their
|
|
heads;</I> which signifies their triumph in his fall, and their
|
|
insulting over him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+37:22,Jer+18:16,La+2:15">Isa. xxxvii. 22;
|
|
Jer. xviii. 16; Lam. ii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
The language of it was, <I>Aha, so would we have it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:25">Ps. xxxv. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus they insulted over him that was the Saviour of their country, as
|
|
the Philistines did over Samson the destroyer of their country. This
|
|
very gesture was prophesied of
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:7">Ps. xxii. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>They shake the head at me.</I> And
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:25">Ps. cix. 25</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] The taunts and jeers they uttered. These are here recorded.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> They upbraided him with his <I>destroying of the
|
|
temple.</I> Though the judges themselves were sensible that what he had
|
|
said of that was misrepresented (as appears
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+14:59">Mark xiv. 59</A>),
|
|
|
|
yet they industriously spread it among the people, to bring an
|
|
<I>odium</I> upon him, that he had a design to destroy the temple; than
|
|
which nothing would more <I>incense</I> the people against him. And
|
|
this was not the only time that the enemies of Christ had laboured to
|
|
<I>make others believe</I> that of religion and the people of God,
|
|
which they themselves have known to be <I>false,</I> and the charge
|
|
<I>unjust "Thou that destroyest the temple,</I> that vast and strong
|
|
fabric, try thy strength now in plucking up that <I>cross,</I> and
|
|
drawing those <I>nails,</I> and so <I>save thyself;</I> if thou hast
|
|
the power thou hast boasted of, this is a proper time to exert it, and
|
|
give proof of it; for it is supposed that every man will do his utmost
|
|
to <I>save himself.</I>" This made the cross of Christ such a
|
|
<I>stumbling-block</I> to the Jews, that they looked upon it to be
|
|
inconsistent with the <I>power</I> of the Messiah; he was <I>crucified
|
|
in weakness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+13:4">2 Cor. xiii. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
so it seemed to them; but indeed Christ crucified is the <I>Power of
|
|
God.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> They upbraided him with his saying that he was <I>the
|
|
Son of God;</I> If thou be so, say they, <I>come down from the
|
|
cross.</I> Now they take the devil's words out of his mouth, with which
|
|
he tempted him in the wilderness
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+4:3,6"><I>ch.</I> iv. 3, 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and renew the same assault; <I>If thou be the Son of God.</I> They
|
|
think that now, or never, he must prove himself to be the <I>Son of
|
|
God;</I> forgetting that he had proved it by the miracles he wrought,
|
|
particularly his raising of the dead; and unwilling to wait for the
|
|
complete proof of it by his own resurrection, to which he had so often
|
|
referred himself and them; which, if they had observed it, would have
|
|
anticipated the offence of the cross. This comes of judging things by
|
|
the present aspect of them, without a due remembrance of what is
|
|
<I>past,</I> and a patient expectation of <I>what may further be
|
|
produced.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The <I>chief priests and scribes,</I> the church rulers, and the
|
|
<I>elders,</I> the state rulers, they mocked him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>.
|
|
|
|
They did not think it enough to invite the rabble to do it, but gave
|
|
Christ the dishonour, and themselves the diversion, or reproaching him
|
|
in their own proper persons. They should have been in the temple at
|
|
their devotion, for it was the first day of the feast of unleavened
|
|
bread, when there was to be a <I>holy convocation</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+23:7">Lev. xxiii. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
but they were here at the place of execution, spitting their venom at
|
|
the Lord Jesus. How much below the grandeur and gravity of their
|
|
character was this! Could any thing tend more to make them
|
|
<I>contemptible and base before the people?</I> One would have thought,
|
|
that, though they neither feared God nor regarded man, yet common
|
|
prudence should have taught them who had so great a hand in Christ's
|
|
death, to keep as much as might be behind the curtain, and to play
|
|
least in sight; but nothing is so mean as that malice may stick at it.
|
|
Did they disparage themselves thus, to do despite to Christ, and shall
|
|
we be afraid of disparaging ourselves, by joining with the multitude to
|
|
<I>do him honour,</I> and not rather say, <I>If this be to be vile, I
|
|
will be yet more vile?</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Two things the priests and elders upbraided him with.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] That he could not <I>save himself,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:42"><I>v.</I> 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had been before abused in his prophetical and kingly office, and now
|
|
in his priestly office as a Saviour. <I>First,</I> They take it for
|
|
granted that he <I>could not</I> save himself, and therefore had not
|
|
the power he pretended to, when really he <I>would not</I> save
|
|
himself, because he would die to <I>save us.</I> They should have
|
|
argued, "He <I>saved others,</I> therefore he <I>could</I> save
|
|
himself, and if he do not, it is for some good reason." But,
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> They would insinuate, that, because he did not now
|
|
save himself, therefore all his pretence to save others was but sham
|
|
and delusion, and was never really done; though the truth of his
|
|
miracles was demonstrated beyond contradiction. <I>Thirdly,</I> They
|
|
upbraid him with being <I>the King of Israel.</I> They dreamed of the
|
|
external pomp and power of the Messiah, and therefore thought <I>the
|
|
cross</I> altogether disagreeable to the King of Israel, and
|
|
inconsistent with that character. Many people would like the <I>King of
|
|
Israel</I> well enough, if he would but <I>come down from the
|
|
cross,</I> if they could have his kingdom without the tribulation
|
|
through which they must <I>enter into</I> it. But the matter is
|
|
settled; if no cross, then no Christ, no crown. Those that would reign
|
|
with him, must be willing to suffer with him, for Christ and his cross
|
|
are <I>nailed together</I> in this world. <I>Fourthly,</I> They
|
|
challenged him to <I>come down from the cross.</I> And what had become
|
|
of us then, and the work of our redemption and salvation? If he had
|
|
been provoked by these scoffs to <I>come down from the cross,</I> and
|
|
so to have left his undertaking <I>unfinished,</I> we had been for ever
|
|
<I>undone.</I> But his unchangeable love and resolution set him above,
|
|
and fortified him against, this temptation, so that he did not
|
|
<I>fail,</I> nor was <I>discouraged. Fifthly,</I> They promised that,
|
|
if he would <I>come down from the cross, they would believe him.</I>
|
|
Let him give them that proof of his being the Messiah, and they will
|
|
own him to be so. When they had formerly demanded a sign, he told them
|
|
that the sign he would give them, should be not his <I>coming down from
|
|
the cross,</I> but, which was a greater instance of his power, his
|
|
<I>coming up from the grave,</I> which they had not patience to wait
|
|
two or three days for. If he had <I>come down from the cross,</I> they
|
|
might with as much reason have said that the soldiers had juggled in
|
|
nailing him to it, as they said, when he was raised from the dead, that
|
|
the <I>disciples came by night, and stole him away.</I> But to promise
|
|
ourselves that we would believe, if we had such and such means and
|
|
motives of faith as we ourselves would prescribe, when we do not
|
|
improve what God has appointed, is not only a gross instance of the
|
|
deceitfulness of our hearts, but the sorry <I>refuge,</I> or
|
|
<I>subterfuge</I> rather, of an obstinate destroying infidelity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] That God, <I>his Father,</I> would <I>not save him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:43"><I>v.</I> 43</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>He trusted in God,</I> that is, he pretended to do so; for he said,
|
|
<I>I am the Son of God.</I> Those who call God <I>Father,</I> and
|
|
themselves <I>his children,</I> thereby profess to put a confidence in
|
|
him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+9:10">Ps. ix. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now they suggest, that he did but deceive himself and others, when he
|
|
made himself so much the <I>darling of heaven;</I> for, if he had been
|
|
the Son of God (as <I>Job's</I> friends argued concerning him), he
|
|
would not have been <I>abandoned to</I> all this misery, much less
|
|
<I>abandoned in</I> it. This was a <I>sword in his bones,</I> as David
|
|
complains of the like
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:10">Ps. xlii. 10</A>);
|
|
|
|
and it was a <I>two-edged</I> sword, for it was intended, <I>First,</I>
|
|
To <I>vilify</I> him, and to make the standers-by think him a deceiver
|
|
and an impostor; as if his saying, that he was the <I>Son of God,</I>
|
|
were now effectually <I>disproved. Secondly,</I> To <I>terrify</I>
|
|
him, and drive him to distrust and despair of his Father's power and
|
|
love; which some think, was the thing <I>he feared, religiously
|
|
feared,</I> prayed against, and was <I>delivered from,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+5:7">Heb. v. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
David complained more of the endeavours of his persecutors to <I>shake
|
|
his faith,</I> and drive him from his hope in God, than of their
|
|
attempts to <I>shake his throne,</I> and drive him from his kingdom;
|
|
their saying, There is <I>no help for him in God</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+3:2">Ps. iii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, <I>God has forsaken him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+71:11">Ps. lxxi. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
In this, as in other things, he was a type of Christ. Nay, these very
|
|
words David, in that famous prophecy of Christ, mentions, as spoken by
|
|
<I>his enemies</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:8">Ps. xxii. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
He <I>trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him.</I> Surely these
|
|
priests and scribes had forgotten their psalter, or they would not have
|
|
used the same words, so exactly to answer the type and prophecy: but
|
|
the <I>scriptures must be fulfilled.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) To complete the reproach, the <I>thieves also that were crucified
|
|
with him</I> were not only not reviled as he was, as if they had been
|
|
saints compared with him, but, though fellow-sufferers with him, joined
|
|
in with his prosecutors, and <I>cast the same in his teeth;</I> that
|
|
is, one of them did, who said, <I>If thou be the Christ, save thyself
|
|
and us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:39">Luke xxiii. 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
One would think that of all people this thief had <I>least cause,</I>
|
|
and should have had <I>least mind,</I> to banter Christ. Partners in
|
|
suffering, though for different causes, usually commiserate one
|
|
another; and few, whatever they have done before, will breathe their
|
|
last in revilings. But, it seems, the greatest mortifications of the
|
|
body, and the most humbling rebukes of Providence, will not of
|
|
themselves mortify the corruptions of the soul, nor suppress the
|
|
wickedness of the wicked, without the grace of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Well, thus our Lord Jesus having undertaken to satisfy the justice of
|
|
God for the wrong done him in his honour by sin, he did it by suffering
|
|
<I>in his honour;</I> not only by divesting himself of that which was
|
|
due to him as the Son of God, but by submitting to the utmost indignity
|
|
that could be done to the worst of men; because he was made sin for us,
|
|
he was thus made a curse for us, to make reproach easy to us, if at any
|
|
time we suffer it, and have all manner of evil said against us falsely,
|
|
for righteousness' sake.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. We have here the frowns of heaven, which our Lord Jesus was under,
|
|
in the midst of all these injuries and indignities from men. Concerning
|
|
which, observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How this was signified--by an extraordinary and miraculous eclipse of
|
|
the sun, which continued for <I>three hours,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:45"><I>v.</I> 45</A>.
|
|
|
|
There was darkness <B><I>epi pasan ten gen</I></B>--<I>over all the
|
|
earth;</I> so most interpreters understand it, though our translation
|
|
confines it to <I>that land.</I> Some of the ancients appealed to the
|
|
annals of the nation concerning this extraordinary eclipse at the death
|
|
of Christ, as a thing well known, and which gave notice to those parts
|
|
of the world of something great then in doing; as the sun's going back
|
|
in Hezekiah's time did. It is reported that Dionysius, at Heliopolis in
|
|
Egypt, took notice of this darkness, and said, <I>Aut Deus naturæ
|
|
patitur, aut mundi machina dissolvitur--Either the God of nature is
|
|
suffering, or the machine of the world is tumbling into ruin.</I> An
|
|
extraordinary light gave intelligence of the birth of Christ
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+2:2"><I>ch.</I> ii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
and therefore it was proper that an extraordinary darkness should
|
|
notify his death, for he is the <I>Light of the world.</I> The
|
|
indignities done to our Lord Jesus, made the <I>heavens astonished,</I>
|
|
and <I>horribly afraid,</I> and even put them into disorder and
|
|
confusion; such wickedness as this the sun never saw before, and
|
|
therefore withdrew, and would not see this. This surprising, amazing,
|
|
darkness was designed to stop the mouths of those blasphemers, who were
|
|
reviling Christ as he hung on the cross; and it should seem that, for
|
|
the present, it struck such a terror upon them, that though their
|
|
hearts were not changed, yet they were silent, and stood doubting what
|
|
this should mean, till after <I>three hours</I> the darkness
|
|
<I>scattered,</I> and then (as appears by
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:47"><I>v.</I> 47</A>),
|
|
|
|
like Pharaoh when the plague was over, they hardened their hearts. But
|
|
that which was principally intended in this darkness, was,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Christ's present <I>conflict</I> with the <I>powers of
|
|
darkness.</I> Now the prince of this world, and his forces, the
|
|
<I>rulers of the darkness of this world,</I> were to be cast out, to be
|
|
spoiled and vanquished; and to make his victory the more illustrious,
|
|
he fights them on their own ground; gives them all the advantage they
|
|
could have against him by this darkness, lets them take the <I>wind</I>
|
|
and <I>sun,</I> and yet baffles them, and so becomes more than a
|
|
conqueror.
|
|
|
|
(2.) His present want of heavenly comforts. This darkness signified
|
|
that dark cloud which the human soul of our Lord Jesus was now under.
|
|
God makes his sun to shine upon the just and upon the unjust; but even
|
|
the light of the sun was withheld from our Saviour, when he was <I>made
|
|
sin for us. A pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun;</I>
|
|
but because now his soul was exceeding sorrowful, and the cup of divine
|
|
displeasure was filled to him without mixture, even the light of the
|
|
sun was suspended. When earth denied him a drop of cold water, heaven
|
|
denied him a beam of light; having to deliver us from <I>utter
|
|
darkness,</I> he did himself, in the depth of his sufferings, walk in
|
|
darkness, and had no light,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:10">Isa. l. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
During the <I>three hours</I> that this darkness continued, we do not
|
|
find that he said <I>one word,</I> but passed this time in a silent
|
|
retirement into his own soul, which was now in agony, wrestling with
|
|
the powers of darkness, and taking in the impressions of his Father's
|
|
displeasure, not against himself, but the sin of man, which he was now
|
|
<I>making his soul an offering for.</I> Never were there three such
|
|
hours since the day that God created man upon the earth, never such a
|
|
dark and awful scene; the <I>crisis</I> of that great affair of man's
|
|
redemption and salvation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. How he complained of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:46"><I>v.</I> 46</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>About the ninth hour,</I> when it began to clear up, after a long
|
|
and silent conflict. <I>Jesus cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?</I>
|
|
The words are related in the Syriac tongue, in which they were spoken,
|
|
because worthy of double remark, and for the sake of the perverse
|
|
construction which his enemies put upon them, in putting <I>Elias</I>
|
|
for <I>Eli.</I> Now observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Whence he borrowed this complaint--from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:1">Ps. xxii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is not probable (as some have thought) that he repeated the whole
|
|
psalm; yet hereby he intimated that the whole was to be applied to him,
|
|
and that David, in spirit, there spoke of his humiliation and
|
|
exaltation. This, and that other word, <I>Into thy hands I commit my
|
|
spirit,</I> he fetched from David's psalms (though he could have
|
|
expressed himself in his own words), to teach us of what use the word
|
|
of God is to us, to direct us in prayer, and to recommend to us the use
|
|
of scripture-expressions in prayer, which will <I>help our
|
|
infirmities.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How he uttered it--<I>with a loud voice;</I> which bespeaks the
|
|
extremity of his pain and anguish, the strength of nature remaining in
|
|
him, and the great earnestness of his spirit in this expostulation. Now
|
|
the scripture was fulfilled
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+3:15,16">Joel iii. 15, 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>The sun and the moon shall be darkened. The Lord shall also roar out
|
|
of Zion, and utter his voice form Jerusalem.</I> David often speaks of
|
|
his <I>crying aloud</I> in prayer,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+55:17">Ps. lv. 17</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) What the complaint was--<I>My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
|
|
me?</I> A strange complaint to come from the mouth of our Lord Jesus,
|
|
who, we are sure, was <I>God's elect, in whom his soul delighted</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+42:1">Isa. xlii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and one in whom he was always <I>well pleased.</I> The Father now loved
|
|
him, nay, he knew that <I>therefore he loved him, because he laid down
|
|
his life for the sheep;</I> what, and yet forsaken of him, and in the
|
|
midst of his sufferings too! Surely never sorrow was like unto that
|
|
sorrow which extorted such a complaint as this from one who, being
|
|
perfectly free from sin, could never be a terror to himself; but the
|
|
heart knows its own bitterness. No wonder that such a complaint as this
|
|
made the earth to quake, and rent the rocks; for it is enough to make
|
|
both the <I>ears of every one that hears it to tingle,</I> and ought to
|
|
be spoken of with great reverence.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Note,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That our Lord Jesus was, in his sufferings, for a time,
|
|
<I>forsaken by his Father.</I> So he saith himself, who we are sure was
|
|
under no mistake concerning his own case. Not that the union between
|
|
the divine and human nature was in the least weakened or shocked; no,
|
|
he was <I>now by the eternal Spirit offering himself:</I> nor as if
|
|
there were any abatement of his Father's love to him, or his to his
|
|
Father; we are sure that there was upon his mind no horror of God, or
|
|
despair of his favour, nor any thing of the torments of hell; but his
|
|
Father forsook him; that is, <I>First,</I> He delivered him up into the
|
|
hands of his enemies, and did not appear to deliver him out of their
|
|
hands. He let loose the powers of darkness against him, and suffered
|
|
them to do their worst, worse than against Job. Now was that scripture
|
|
fulfilled
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:11">Job xvi. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>God hath turned me over into the hands of the wicked;</I> and no
|
|
angel is sent from heaven to deliver him, no friend on earth raised up
|
|
to appear for him. <I>Secondly,</I> He withdrew from him the present
|
|
comfortable sense of his complacency in him. When <I>his soul</I> was
|
|
first <I>troubled,</I> he had a <I>voice from heaven</I> to comfort him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+12:27">John xii. 27, 28</A>);
|
|
|
|
when he was in his agony in the garden, there appeared an angel from
|
|
heaven strengthening him; but now he had neither the one nor the other.
|
|
God hid his face from him, and for awhile withdrew his rod and staff in
|
|
the darksome valley. God <I>forsook</I> him, not as he forsook Saul,
|
|
leaving him to an endless despair, but as sometimes he forsook David,
|
|
leaving him to a present despondency. <I>Thirdly,</I> He let out upon
|
|
his soul an afflicting sense of his wrath against man for sin. Christ
|
|
was made <I>Sin</I> for us, a <I>Curse</I> for us; and therefore,
|
|
though God loved him as a Son, he frowned upon him as a Surety. These
|
|
impressions he was pleased to <I>admit,</I> and to <I>waive</I> that
|
|
<I>resistance</I> of them which he <I>could have made;</I> because he
|
|
would accommodate himself to this part of his undertaking, as he had
|
|
done to all the rest, when it was in his power to have avoided it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] That Christ's being <I>forsaken</I> of his Father was the most
|
|
grievous of his sufferings, and that which he complained most of. Here
|
|
he laid the most doleful accents; he did not say, "Why am I scourged?
|
|
And why spit upon? And why nailed to the cross?" Nor did he say to his
|
|
disciples, when they turned their back upon him, <I>Why have ye
|
|
forsaken me?</I> But when his Father stood at a distance, he cried out
|
|
thus; for this as it that <I>put wormwood and gall</I> into the
|
|
affliction and misery. This brought the <I>waters into the soul,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+69:1-3">Ps. lxix. 1-3</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] That our Lord Jesus, even when he was thus forsaken of his Father,
|
|
kept hold of him as his God, notwithstanding; <I>My God, my God;</I>
|
|
though forsaking me, yet <I>mine.</I> Christ was God's <I>servant</I>
|
|
in carrying on the work of redemption, to him he was to make
|
|
satisfaction, and by him to be carried through and crowned, and upon
|
|
that account he calls him <I>his God;</I> for he was now <I>doing his
|
|
will.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+49:5-9">Isa. xlix. 5-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
This supported him, and bore him up, that even in the depth of his
|
|
sufferings God was his God, and this he resolves to keep fast hold
|
|
of.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) See how his enemies impiously bantered and ridiculed this
|
|
complaint
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:47"><I>v.</I> 47</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>They said, This man calleth for Elias.</I> Some think that this was
|
|
the ignorant mistake of the Roman soldiers, who had heard talk of
|
|
Elias, and of the Jews' expectation of the coming of Elias, but knew
|
|
not the signification of <I>Eli, Eli,</I> and so made this blundering
|
|
comment upon these words of Christ, perhaps not hearing the latter part
|
|
of what he said, for the noise of the people. Note, Many of the
|
|
reproaches cast upon the word of God and the people of God, take rise
|
|
from gross mistakes. Divine truths are often corrupted by ignorance of
|
|
the language and style of the scripture. Those that hear by the halves,
|
|
pervert what they hear. But others think that it was the wilful mistake
|
|
of some of the Jews, who knew very well what he said, but were disposed
|
|
to abuse him, and make themselves and their companions merry, and to
|
|
misrepresent him as one who, being forsaken of God, was driven to trust
|
|
in creatures; perhaps hinting also, that he who had pretended to be
|
|
himself the Messiah, would now be glad to be beholden to Elias, who was
|
|
expected to be only the harbinger and forerunner of the Messiah. Note,
|
|
It is no new thing for the most pious devotions of the best men to be
|
|
ridiculed and abused by profane scoffers; nor are we to think it
|
|
strange if what is well said in praying and preaching be misconstrued,
|
|
and turned to our reproach; Christ's words were so, though he spoke as
|
|
never man spoke.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The cold comfort which his enemies ministered to him in this agony,
|
|
which was like all the rest.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Some <I>gave him vinegar to drink</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:48"><I>v.</I> 48</A>);
|
|
|
|
instead of some cordial-water to revive and refresh him under this
|
|
heavy burthen, they tantalized him with that which did not only add to
|
|
the reproach they were loading him with, but did too sensibly represent
|
|
that cup of trembling which his Father had <I>put into his hand. One of
|
|
them ran</I> to fetch it, seeming to be officious to him, but really
|
|
glad of an opportunity to abuse and affront him, and afraid lest any
|
|
one should take it out of his hands.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Others, which the same purpose of disturbing and abusing him, refer
|
|
him to Elias
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:49"><I>v.</I> 49</A>);
|
|
|
|
"<I>Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.</I> Come,
|
|
let him alone, his case is desperate, neither heaven nor earth can help
|
|
him; let us do nothing either to hasten his death, or to retard it; he
|
|
has appealed to Elias, and <I>to Elias let him go.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_50"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_51"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_52"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_53"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_54"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_55"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_56"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Crucifixion; The Death of Christ.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up
|
|
the ghost.
|
|
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from
|
|
the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks
|
|
rent;
|
|
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
|
|
which slept arose,
|
|
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went
|
|
into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
|
|
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him,
|
|
watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were
|
|
done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
|
|
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed
|
|
Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
|
|
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James
|
|
and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here, at length, an account of the death of Christ, and several
|
|
remarkable passages that attended it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The <I>manner</I> how he breathed his last
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:50"><I>v.</I> 50</A>);
|
|
|
|
between the third and the sixth hour, that is, between nine and twelve
|
|
o'clock, as we reckon, he was nailed to the cross, and soon after the
|
|
ninth hour, that is, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon,
|
|
he <I>died.</I> That was the time of the offering of the evening
|
|
sacrifice, and the time when the paschal lamb was killed; and Christ
|
|
our Passover was sacrificed for us and offered himself in the evening
|
|
of the world a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour. It was at
|
|
that time of the day, that the angel Gabriel delivered to Daniel that
|
|
glorious prediction of the Messiah,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:21,24">Dan. ix. 21, 24</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. And some think that from that very time when the angel spoke it, to
|
|
this time when Christ died, was just seventy weeks, that is, four
|
|
hundred and ninety years to a day, to an hour; as the departure of
|
|
<I>Israel</I> out of Egypt was at the end of the four hundred and
|
|
thirty years, <I>even the self-same day,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+12:41">Exod. xii. 41</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Two things are here noted concerning the manner of Christ's dying.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. That he <I>cried with a loud voice,</I> as before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:46"><I>v.</I> 46</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) This was a sign, that, after all his pains and fatigues, his life
|
|
was <I>whole</I> in him, and nature <I>strong.</I> The voice of dying
|
|
men is one of the first things that fails; with a panting breath and a
|
|
faltering tongue, a few broken words are hardly spoken, and more hardly
|
|
heard. But Christ, just before he expired, spoke like a man <I>in his
|
|
full strength,</I> to show that his life was not forced from him, but
|
|
was freely <I>delivered</I> by him into his Father's hands, as <I>his
|
|
own act and deed.</I> He that had strength to cry thus when he died,
|
|
could have got loose from the arrest he was under, and have bid
|
|
defiance to the powers of death; but to show that <I>by the eternal
|
|
Spirit he offered himself,</I> being the Priest as well as the
|
|
Sacrifice, he <I>cried with a loud voice.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) It was significant. This <I>loud voice</I> shows that he attacked
|
|
our spiritual enemies with an undaunted courage, and such a bravery of
|
|
resolution as bespeaks him hearty in the cause and daring in the
|
|
encounter. He was now <I>spoiling principalities and powers,</I> and in
|
|
this loud voice he did, as it were, <I>shout for mastery,</I> as one
|
|
<I>mighty to save,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:1">Isa. lxiii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare with this,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+62:13,14">Isa. lxxii. 13, 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
He now bowed himself with all his might, as Samson did, when he said,
|
|
<I>Let me die with the Philistines,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+16:30">Judg. xvi. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Animamque in vulnere ponit--And lays down his life.</I> His crying
|
|
with a loud voice when he died, signified that his death should be
|
|
published and proclaimed to all the world; all mankind being concerned
|
|
in it, and obliged to take notice of it. Christ's loud cry was like a
|
|
trumpet blown over the sacrifices.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That then he <I>yielded up the ghost.</I> This is the usual
|
|
periphrasis of dying; to show that the Son of God upon the cross did
|
|
truly and properly die by the violence of the pain he was put to. His
|
|
<I>soul</I> was separated from his <I>body,</I> and so his body was
|
|
left really and truly dead. It was certain that he <I>did die,</I> for
|
|
it was requisite that he should die; <I>thus it was written,</I> both
|
|
in the <I>close rolls</I> of the <I>divine counsels,</I> and in the
|
|
<I>letters patent of</I> the <I>divine predictions,</I> and therefore
|
|
thus <I>it behoved him to suffer.</I> Death being the penalty for the
|
|
breach of the first covenant (<I>Thou shalt surely die</I>), the
|
|
Mediator of the new covenant must make atonement <I>by means of
|
|
death,</I> otherwise no remission,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:15">Heb. ix. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had undertaken to make his soul an <I>offering for sin;</I> and he
|
|
did it, when he <I>yielded up the ghost,</I> and voluntarily resigned
|
|
it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The miracles that attended his death. So many miracles being
|
|
wrought <I>by him</I> in his life, we might well expect some to be
|
|
wrought concerning him at his death, for his name was called
|
|
<I>Wonderful.</I> Had he been fetched away as Elijah in a <I>fiery
|
|
chariot,</I> that had itself been miracle enough; but, being sent for
|
|
away by an ignominious cross, it was requisite that his humiliation
|
|
should be attended with some signal emanations of the divine glory.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. <I>Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain.</I> This
|
|
relation is ushered in with <I>Behold;</I> "Turn aside, and see this
|
|
great sight, and be astonished at it." Just as our Lord Jesus expired,
|
|
at the time of the offering of the evening-sacrifice, and upon a solemn
|
|
day, when the priests were officiating in the temple, and might
|
|
themselves be eyewitnesses of it, <I>the veil of the temple was
|
|
rent</I> by an invisible power; that veil which parted between the
|
|
<I>holy place</I> and the <I>most holy.</I> They had condemned him for
|
|
saying, <I>I will destroy this temple,</I> understanding it literally;
|
|
now by this specimen of his power he let them know that, if he had
|
|
pleased, he could have made his words good. In this, as in others of
|
|
Christ's miracles, there was a mystery.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) It was in correspondence with the temple of Christ's body, which
|
|
was now in the dissolving. This was the true temple, in which dwelt
|
|
<I>the fulness of the Godhead;</I> when Christ <I>cried with a loud
|
|
voice, and gave up the ghost,</I> and so dissolved that temple, the
|
|
literal temple did, as it were, echo to that cry, and answer the
|
|
stroke, by <I>rending its veil.</I> Note, Death is the rending of the
|
|
veil of flesh which interposes between us and the holy of holies; the
|
|
death of Christ was so, the death of true Christians is so.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) It signified the revealing and unfolding of the mysteries of the
|
|
Old Testament. The veil of the temple was for concealment, as was that
|
|
on the face of Moses, therefore it was called the <I>veil of the
|
|
covering;</I> for it was highly penal for any person to see the
|
|
furniture of the most holy place, except the High-Priest, and he but
|
|
once a year, with great ceremony and through a cloud of smoke; all
|
|
which signified the darkness of that dispensation;
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+3:13">2 Cor. iii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But now, at the death of Christ, all was laid open, the mysteries were
|
|
unveiled, so that now he that runs may read the meaning of them. Now we
|
|
see that the mercy-seat signified <I>Christ</I> the great
|
|
<I>Propitiation;</I> the pot of <I>manna</I> signified Christ the Bread
|
|
of life. Thus <I>we all with open face behold, as in a glass</I> (which
|
|
helps the sight, as the veil hindered it), <I>the glory of the Lord.
|
|
Our eyes see the salvation.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) It signified the uniting of Jew and Gentile, by the removing of
|
|
the partition wall between them, which was the ceremonial law, by which
|
|
the Jews were distinguished from all other people (as a <I>garden
|
|
enclosed</I>), were brought near to God, while others were made to
|
|
<I>keep their distance.</I> Christ, in his death, repealed the
|
|
ceremonial law, cancelled that <I>hand-writing of ordinances,</I> took
|
|
it out of the way, nailed it to his cross, and so <I>broke down the
|
|
middle wall of partition;</I> and by abolishing those institutions
|
|
<I>abolished the enmity,</I> and <I>made in himself of twain one new
|
|
man</I> (as two rooms are made one, and that large and lightsome, by
|
|
taking down the partition), so <I>making peace,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:14-16">Eph. ii. 14-16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ died, to rend all dividing veils, and to make all his one,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+17:21">John xvii. 21</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) It signified the consecrating and laying open of <I>a new and
|
|
living way</I> to God. The veil kept people off from drawing near to
|
|
the most holy place, where the <I>Shechinah</I> was. But the rending of
|
|
it signified that Christ by his death opened a way to God,
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>For himself.</I> This was the great <I>day of atonement,</I>
|
|
when our Lord Jesus, as the great <I>High-Priest,</I> not <I>by the
|
|
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, entered once for all
|
|
into the holy place;</I> in token of which the veil was rent,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:7">Heb. ix. 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. Having offered his sacrifice in the outer court, the blood of it
|
|
was now to be sprinkled upon the mercy-seat within the veil; wherefore
|
|
<I>lift up your heads, O ye gates,</I> and <I>be ye lift up, ye
|
|
everlasting doors; for the King of glory,</I> the Priest of glory,
|
|
<I>shall come in.</I> Now was he caused to draw near, and made to
|
|
approach,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+30:21">Jer. xxx. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though he did not personally ascend into the holy place not made with
|
|
hands till above forty days after, yet he immediately acquired a right
|
|
to enter, and had a virtual admission.
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>For us in him:</I> so the apostle applies it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:19,20">Heb. x. 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
We have <I>boldness to enter into the holiest, by that new and living
|
|
way which he has consecrated for us through the veil.</I> He died, to
|
|
<I>bring us to God,</I> and, in order thereunto, to rend that veil of
|
|
guilt and wrath which interposed between us and him, to take away the
|
|
<I>cherubim</I> and <I>flaming sword,</I> and to open the way to <I>the
|
|
tree of life.</I> We have free access through Christ to the throne of
|
|
grace, or mercy-seat, now, and to the throne of glory hereafter,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+4:16,6:20">Heb. iv. 16; vi. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
The rending of the veil signified (as that ancient hymn excellently
|
|
expresses it), that, <I>when Christ had overcome the sharpness of
|
|
death, he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.</I> Nothing
|
|
can obstruct or discourage our access to heaven, for the veil is rent;
|
|
<I>a door is opened in heaven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:1">Rev. iv. 1</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The <I>earth did quake;</I> not only mount Calvary, where Christ was
|
|
crucified, but the <I>whole land,</I> and the adjacent countries. This
|
|
earthquake signified two things.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The <I>horrible</I> wickedness of <I>Christ's crucifiers.</I> The
|
|
earth, by trembling under such a load, bore its testimony to the
|
|
innocency of him that was persecuted, and against the impiety of those
|
|
that persecuted him. Never did the whole creation, before, groan under
|
|
such a burthen as the Son of God crucified, and the guilty wretches
|
|
that crucified him. The earth <I>quaked,</I> as if it <I>feared to open
|
|
its mouth</I> to <I>receive</I> the blood of Christ, so much more
|
|
precious than that of Abel, which it had received, and was
|
|
<I>cursed</I> for it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:11,12">Gen. iv. 11, 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
and as if it <I>fain would open its mouth,</I> to swallow up those
|
|
rebels that put him to death, as it had swallowed up Dathan and Abiram
|
|
for a much less crime. When the prophet would express God's great
|
|
displeasure against the wickedness of the wicked, he asks, <I>Shall not
|
|
the land tremble for this?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+8:8">Amos viii. 8</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The <I>glorious</I> achievements of <I>Christ's cross.</I> This
|
|
<I>earthquake</I> signified the mighty shock, nay, the fatal blow, now
|
|
given to the devil's kingdom. So vigorous was the assault Christ now
|
|
made upon the infernal powers, that (as of old, <I>when he went out of
|
|
Seir, when he marched through the field of Edom</I>) the <I>earth
|
|
trembled,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+5:4,Ps+68:7,8">Judg. v. 4; Ps. lxviii. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
God shakes all nations, when the Desire of all nations is to come; and
|
|
there is a <I>yet once more,</I> which perhaps refers to this shaking,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hag+2:6,21">Hag. ii. 6, 21</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The <I>rocks rent;</I> the hardest and firmest part of the earth was
|
|
made to feel this mighty shock. Christ had said, that if the children
|
|
should cease to cry <I>Hosanna, the stones would immediately cry
|
|
out;</I> and now, in effect, they did so, proclaiming the glory of the
|
|
suffering Jesus, and themselves more sensible of the wrong done him
|
|
than the hard-hearted Jews were, who yet will shortly be glad to find a
|
|
<I>hole in the rocks, and a cleft in the ragged rocks,</I> to hide them
|
|
from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:16,Isa+2:21">Rev. vi. 16; Isa. ii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
But when God's <I>fury is poured out like fire, the rocks are thrown
|
|
down by him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Na+1:6">Nah. i. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Jesus Christ is <I>the Rock;</I> and the rending of <I>these</I> rocks,
|
|
signified the rending of <I>that</I> rock,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That in the clefts of it was may be <I>hid,</I> as Moses in the
|
|
cleft of the rock at Horeb, that there we may <I>behold the glory of
|
|
the Lord,</I> as he did,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+33:22">Exod. xxxiii. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ's dove is said to be <I>hid in the clefts of the rock</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+2:14">Cant. ii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
that is, as some make the allusion, sheltered in the wounds of our Lord
|
|
Jesus, the Rock rent.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That from the cleft of it rivers of living water may flow, and
|
|
follow us in this wilderness, as from the rock which Moses <I>smote</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+17:6">Exod. xvii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and which God clave
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:15">Ps. lxxviii. 15</A>);
|
|
|
|
and <I>that rock was Christ,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:4">1 Cor. x. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
When we celebrate the memorial of Christ's death, our hard and rocky
|
|
hearts must be <I>rent</I>--the heart, and not the garments. That heart
|
|
is harder than a rock, that will not <I>yield,</I> that will not
|
|
<I>melt,</I> where Jesus Christ is <I>evidently set forth
|
|
crucified.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The <I>graves were opened.</I> This matter is not related so fully
|
|
as our curiosity would wish; for the scripture was not intended to
|
|
gratify that; it should seem, that same earthquake that rent the rocks,
|
|
<I>opened the graves,</I> and many bodies of <I>saints which slept,
|
|
arose.</I> Death to the saints is but the <I>sleep</I> of the body, and
|
|
the <I>grave</I> the bed it <I>sleeps in;</I> they awoke by the power
|
|
of the Lord Jesus, and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:53"><I>v.</I> 53</A>)
|
|
|
|
came <I>out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
|
|
Jerusalem, the holy city, and appeared unto many.</I> Now here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) We may raise many enquiries concerning it, which we cannot
|
|
resolve: as,
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>Who</I> these <I>saints</I> were, that <I>did arise.</I> Some
|
|
think, the <I>ancient patriarchs,</I> that were in such care to be
|
|
buried in the land of Canaan, perhaps in the believing foresight of the
|
|
advantage of this early resurrection. Christ had lately proved the
|
|
doctrine of the resurrection from the instance of the patriarchs
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:32"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
and here was a speedy confirmation of his argument. Others think,
|
|
these that arose were <I>modern saints,</I> such as had been Christ in
|
|
the flesh, but died before him; as his father Joseph, Zecharias,
|
|
Simeon, John Baptist, and others, that had been known to the disciples,
|
|
while they lived, and therefore were the fitter to be witnesses to them
|
|
in an <I>apparition</I> after. What if we should suppose that they were
|
|
the <I>martyrs,</I> who in the Old-Testament times had sealed the
|
|
truths of God with their blood, that were thus <I>dignified</I> and
|
|
<I>distinguished?</I> Christ particularly points at them as his
|
|
forerunners,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
And we find
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+20:4,5">Rev. xx. 4, 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
that those who were <I>beheaded for the testimony of Jesus,</I> arose
|
|
<I>before the rest of the dead.</I> Sufferers with Christ shall
|
|
<I>first</I> reign with him.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is uncertain whether (as some think) they arose to life, now at
|
|
the death of Christ, and disposed of themselves elsewhere, but did not
|
|
<I>go into the city</I> till after his resurrection; or whether (as
|
|
others think), though <I>their sepulchres</I> (which the
|
|
<I>Pharisees</I> had <I>built</I> and <I>varnished,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:29"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so made remarkable, were shattered now by the earthquake (so little
|
|
did God regard that hypocritical respect), yet they did not
|
|
<I>revive</I> and <I>rise</I> till after the resurrection; only, for
|
|
brevity-sake, it is mentioned here, upon the mention of the <I>opening
|
|
of the graves,</I> which seems more probable.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Some think that they arose only to bear witness of Christ's
|
|
resurrection to those to whom they appeared, and, having finished their
|
|
testimony, retired to their graves again. But it is more agreeable,
|
|
both to Christ's honour and theirs, to <I>suppose,</I> though we cannot
|
|
<I>prove,</I> that they arose as Christ did, to <I>die no more,</I> and
|
|
therefore ascended with him to glory. Surely on them who did partake of
|
|
his first resurrection, a <I>second</I> death had no power.
|
|
|
|
[4.] To whom they appeared (not <I>to all the people</I> it is certain,
|
|
but to <I>many</I>), whether enemies or friends, in what manner they
|
|
appeared, how often, what they said and did, and how they disappeared,
|
|
are secret things which belong not to us; we must not covet to be
|
|
<I>wise above what is written.</I> The relating of this matter so
|
|
briefly, is a plain intimation to us, that we must not look that way
|
|
for a confirmation of our faith; we have a more sure word of prophecy.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+16:31">Luke xvi. 31</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Yet we may learn many good lessons from it.
|
|
|
|
[1.] That even those who lived and died before the death and
|
|
resurrection of Christ, had saving benefit thereby, as well as those
|
|
who have lived since; for he <I>was</I> the same <I>yesterday</I> that
|
|
he is <I>to-day,</I> and will be <I>for ever,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:8">Heb. xiii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That Jesus Christ, by dying, conquered, disarmed, and disabled,
|
|
death. These saints that arose, were the present trophies of the
|
|
victory of Christ's cross over the powers of <I>death,</I> which he
|
|
thus <I>made a show of openly.</I> Having by death destroyed him that
|
|
had the power of death, he thus <I>led captivity captive,</I> and
|
|
gloried in these <I>re-taken prizes,</I> in them fulfilling that
|
|
scripture, <I>I will ransom them from the power of the grave.</I>
|
|
|
|
[3.] That, in virtue of Christ's resurrection, the bodies of all the
|
|
saints shall, in the fulness of time, <I>rise again.</I> This was an
|
|
earnest of the general resurrection at the last day, when <I>all that
|
|
are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God.</I> And
|
|
perhaps Jerusalem is <I>therefore</I> called here the <I>holy city,</I>
|
|
because the saints, at the general resurrection, shall enter into the
|
|
<I>new Jerusalem;</I> which will be indeed what the other was in name
|
|
and type only, the <I>holy city,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:2">Rev. xxi. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
[4.] That all the saints do, by the influence of Christ's death, and in
|
|
conformity to it, rise from the <I>death of sin</I> to the <I>life of
|
|
righteousness.</I> They are <I>raised up with him</I> to a divine and
|
|
spiritual life; they go <I>into the holy city,</I> become
|
|
<I>citizens</I> of it, have their conversation in it, and <I>appear to
|
|
many,</I> as persons not of this world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The conviction of his enemies that were employed in the execution
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:54"><I>v.</I> 54</A>),
|
|
|
|
which some make no less than another miracle, all things considered.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The persons convinced; <I>the centurion, and they that were with him
|
|
watching Jesus;</I> a captain and his company, that were set on the
|
|
guard on this occasion.
|
|
|
|
(1.) They were <I>soldiers,</I> whose profession is commonly hardening,
|
|
and whose breasts are commonly not so susceptible as some others of the
|
|
impressions either of fear or pity. But there is no spirit too big,
|
|
too bold, for the power of Christ to break and humble.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They ware <I>Romans, Gentiles,</I> who knew not the scriptures
|
|
which were now fulfilled; yet they only were convinced. A sad presage
|
|
of the <I>blindness</I> that should <I>happen to Israel,</I> when the
|
|
gospel should be sent to the Gentiles, to open their eyes. Here were
|
|
the Gentiles <I>softened,</I> and the Jews <I>hardened.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) They were the persecutors of Christ, and those that but just
|
|
before had reviled him, as appears
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:36">Luke xxiii. 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
How soon can God, by the power he has over men's consciences, alter
|
|
their language, and fetch confessions of his truths, to his own glory,
|
|
out of the mouths of those that have <I>breathed</I> nothing but
|
|
<I>threatenings, and slaughter,</I> and blasphemies!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The means of their conviction; they perceived <I>the earthquake,</I>
|
|
which frightened them, and saw the other <I>things that were done.</I>
|
|
These were designed to assert the honour of Christ in his sufferings,
|
|
and had their end on these soldiers, whatever they had on others. Note,
|
|
The dreadful appearances of God in his providence sometimes work
|
|
strangely for the conviction and awakening of sinners.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The expressions of this conviction, in two things.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The <I>terror</I> that was <I>struck</I> upon them; they <I>feared
|
|
greatly;</I> feared lest they should have been buried in the darkness,
|
|
or swallowed up in the earthquake. Note, God can easily frighten the
|
|
most daring of his adversaries, and make them know themselves to be but
|
|
men. Guilt puts men into fear. He that, when iniquity abounds, doth not
|
|
<I>fear always,</I> with a fear of <I>caution,</I> when judgments are
|
|
abroad, cannot but <I>fear greatly,</I> with a fear of
|
|
<I>amazement;</I> whereas there are those who will not fear, <I>though
|
|
the earth be removed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:1,2">Ps. xlvi. 1, 2</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The <I>testimony</I> that was <I>extorted</I> from them; they
|
|
said, <I>Truly this was the Son of God;</I> a noble confession; Peter
|
|
was blessed for it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+16:16,17"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was the great matter now in dispute, the point upon which he and his
|
|
enemies had <I>joined issue,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+26"63,64"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 63, 64</A>.
|
|
|
|
His disciples believed it, but at this time durst not confess it; our
|
|
Saviour himself was tempted to question it, when he said, <I>Why hast
|
|
thou forsaken me?</I> The Jews, now that he was dying upon the cross,
|
|
looked upon it as plainly determined against him, that he was not the
|
|
Son of God, because he did not come down from the cross. And yet now
|
|
this centurion and the soldiers make this voluntary confession of the
|
|
Christian faith, <I>Truly this was the Son of God.</I> The best of his
|
|
disciples could not have said more at any time, and at this time they
|
|
had not faith and courage enough to say thus much. Note, God can
|
|
maintain and assert the honour of a truth then when it seems to be
|
|
crushed, and run down; for <I>great is the truth, and will
|
|
prevail.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The attendance of his friends, that were witnesses of his death,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:55,56"><I>v.</I> 55, 56</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Who they were; <I>many women who followed him from Galilee.</I> Not
|
|
his apostles (only elsewhere we find John by the cross,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+19:26">John xix. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
their hearts failed them, they durst not appear, for fear of coming
|
|
under the same condemnation. But here were a company of women, some
|
|
would have called them <I>silly</I> women, that <I>boldly</I> stuck to
|
|
Christ, when the rest of his disciples had basely deserted him. Note,
|
|
Even those of the weaker sex are often, by the grace of God, made
|
|
strong in faith, that Christ's strength may be made perfect in
|
|
weakness. There have been women martyrs, famous for courage and
|
|
resolution in Christ's cause. Now of these women it is said,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That they had <I>followed Jesus from Galilee,</I> out of the great
|
|
love they had to him, and a desire to hear him preach; otherwise, the
|
|
males only were obliged to come up, to worship at the feast. Now having
|
|
followed him such a long journey as from Galilee to Jerusalem, eighty
|
|
or a hundred miles, they resolved not to forsake him now. Note, Our
|
|
former services and sufferings for Christ should be an argument with
|
|
us, faithfully to persevere to the end in our attendance on him. Have
|
|
we followed him <I>so far</I> and so long, done so much, and laid out
|
|
so much for him, and shall we forsake him now?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:3,4">Gal. iii. 3, 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That they <I>ministered to him</I> of their substance, for his
|
|
necessary subsistence. How gladly would they have ministered to him
|
|
now, if they might have been admitted! But, being forbidden that, they
|
|
resolved to <I>follow him.</I> Note, When we are restrained from doing
|
|
what we <I>would,</I> we must do what we can, in the service of Christ.
|
|
Now that he is <I>in heaven,</I> though he is out of the reach of our
|
|
<I>ministration,</I> he is not out of the reach of our <I>believing
|
|
views.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Some of them are particularly named; for God will <I>honour</I>
|
|
those that <I>honour</I> Christ. They were such as we have several
|
|
times met with <I>before,</I> and it was their praise, that we meet
|
|
with them <I>to the last.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What they did; they were <I>beholding afar off.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) They stood <I>afar off.</I> Whether their own fear or their
|
|
enemies' fury kept them at a distance, is not certain; however, it was
|
|
an aggravation of the sufferings of Christ, that his <I>lovers and
|
|
friends stood aloof from his sore,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+38:11,Job+19:13">Ps. xxxviii. 11; Job xix. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Perhaps they might have come nearer, if they would; but good people,
|
|
when they are in sufferings, must not think it strange, if some of
|
|
their best friends be shy of them. When Paul's danger was imminent,
|
|
<I>no man stood by him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+4:16">2 Tim. iv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
If we be thus looked strangely upon, remember, our Master was so before
|
|
us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) They were there <I>beholding,</I> in which they showed a concern
|
|
and kindness for Christ; when they were debarred from doing any other
|
|
office of love to him, they looked a look of love toward him.
|
|
|
|
[1.] It was a <I>sorrowful</I> look; they looked unto him who was now
|
|
pierced, and <I>mourned;</I> and no doubt, were <I>in bitterness</I>
|
|
for him. We may well imagine how it cut them to the heart, to see him
|
|
in this torment; and what floods of tears it fetched from their eyes.
|
|
Let us with an eye of faith behold Christ and him crucified, and be
|
|
affected with that great love wherewith he loved us. But,
|
|
|
|
[2.] It was no more than a look; they beheld him, but they could not
|
|
<I>help him.</I> Note, When Christ was in his sufferings, the best of
|
|
his friends were but spectators and lookers on, even the <I>angelic
|
|
guards stood trembling by,</I> saith Mr. Norris, for he <I>trod the
|
|
wine-press alone,</I> and of the people there was none with him; so
|
|
<I>his own arm wrought salvation.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_57"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_58"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_59"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_60"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_61"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_62"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_63"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_64"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_65"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt27_66"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec6"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Burial of Christ.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathæa,
|
|
named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
|
|
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate
|
|
commanded the body to be delivered.
|
|
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean
|
|
linen cloth,
|
|
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in
|
|
the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the
|
|
sepulchre, and departed.
|
|
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting
|
|
over against the sepulchre.
|
|
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation,
|
|
the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
|
|
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he
|
|
was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
|
|
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the
|
|
third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away,
|
|
and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last
|
|
error shall be worse than the first.
|
|
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make
|
|
<I>it</I> as sure as ye can.
|
|
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the
|
|
stone, and setting a watch.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here an account of Christ's <I>burial,</I> and the manner and
|
|
circumstances of it, concerning which observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The <I>kindness</I> and <I>good will</I> of his friends that <I>laid
|
|
him in the grave.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. The <I>malice</I> and <I>ill will</I> of his enemies that were very
|
|
solicitous to keep him there.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. His friends gave him a <I>decent burial.</I> Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. In general, that Jesus Christ was <I>buried;</I> when his precious
|
|
soul was gone to paradise, his blessed body was deposited in the
|
|
chambers of the grave, that he might answer the type of Jonas, and
|
|
fulfil the prophecy of Isaias; he <I>made his grave with the
|
|
wicked.</I> Thus in all things he must be made <I>like unto his
|
|
brethren,</I> sin only excepted, and, like us, unto dust <I>he must
|
|
return.</I> He was buried, to make his death the more certain, and his
|
|
resurrection the more illustrious. Pilate would not deliver his body
|
|
to be buried, till he was well assured that he was really dead; while
|
|
the witnesses lay <I>unburied,</I> there were some hopes concerning
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+11:8">Rev. xi. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
But Christ, the great Witness, is as one <I>free among the dead, like
|
|
the slain that lie in the grave.</I> He was <I>buried,</I> that he
|
|
might take off the terror of the grave, and make it easy to us, might
|
|
warm and perfume that cold noisome bed for us, and that we might be
|
|
<I>buried with him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The particular circumstances of his burial here related.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The time <I>when</I> he was buried; <I>when the evening was
|
|
come;</I> the same evening that he died, before sun-set, as is usual in
|
|
burying malefactors. It was not deferred till the next day, because it
|
|
was <I>the sabbath;</I> for burying the dead is not proper work either
|
|
for a day of rest or for a day of rejoicing, as the sabbath is.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The person that took care of the funeral was Joseph of Arimathea.
|
|
The apostles had all fled, and none of them appeared to show this
|
|
respect to their Master, which the disciples of John <I>showed</I> to
|
|
him after he was beheaded, who <I>took up his body, and buried it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+14:12"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
The women that followed him durst not move in it; then did God stir up
|
|
this good man to do it; for what work God has to do, he will find out
|
|
instruments to do it. Joseph was a fit man, for,
|
|
|
|
[1.] He had wherewithal to do it, being a <I>rich man.</I> Most of
|
|
Christ's disciples were poor men, such were most fit to go about the
|
|
country to preach the gospel; but here was one that was a <I>rich
|
|
man,</I> ready to be employed in a piece of service which required <I>a
|
|
man of estate.</I> Note, Worldly wealth, though it is to many an
|
|
objection in religion's way, yet, in some services to be done for
|
|
Christ, it is an advantage and an opportunity, and it is well for those
|
|
who have it, if withal they have a heart to use it for God's glory.
|
|
|
|
[2.] He was well affected to our Lord Jesus, for he was himself <I>his
|
|
disciple,</I> believed in him, though he did not openly profess it.
|
|
Note, Christ has more secret disciples than we are aware of; seven
|
|
thousand in Israel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:4">Rom. xi. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) The grant of the dead body procured from Pilate,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:58"><I>v.</I> 58</A>.
|
|
|
|
Joseph <I>went to</I> Pilate, the proper person to be applied to on
|
|
this occasion, who had the disposal of the body; for in things wherein
|
|
the power of the magistrate is concerned, due regard must be had to
|
|
that power, and nothing done to break in upon it. What we do that is
|
|
good, must be done peaceably, and not tumultuously. Pilate was willing
|
|
to give the body to one that would inter it decently, that he might do
|
|
something towards atoning for the guilt his conscience charged him with
|
|
in condemning an innocent person. In Joseph's petition, and Pilate's
|
|
ready grant of it, <I>honour</I> was done to Christ, and a testimony
|
|
borne to his <I>integrity.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) The dressing of the body in its grave-clothes
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>);
|
|
|
|
though he was an honourable counsellor, yet he himself <I>took the
|
|
body,</I> as it should seem, into his own arms, from the infamous and
|
|
accursed tree
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+13:29">Acts xiii. 29</A>);
|
|
|
|
for where there is true love to Christ, no service will be thought too
|
|
mean to stoop to for him. Having taken it, he wrapped it in a <I>clean
|
|
linen cloth;</I> for burying in linen was then the common usage, which
|
|
Joseph complied with. Note, Care is to be taken of the dead bodies of
|
|
good men, for there is a glory intended for them at the resurrection,
|
|
which we must hereby testify our belief of, and wind up the dead body
|
|
as designed for a better place. This common act of humanity, if done
|
|
after a <I>godly sort,</I> may be made an acceptable piece of
|
|
Christianity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(5.) The depositing of it in the sepulchre,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:60"><I>v.</I> 60</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here there was nothing of that pomp and solemnity with which the
|
|
grandees of the world are <I>brought to the grave, and laid in the
|
|
tomb,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:32">Job xxi. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
A private funeral did best befit him whose kingdom came not with
|
|
observation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] He was laid in a <I>borrowed</I> tomb, in Joseph's burying place;
|
|
as he had not a house of his own, wherein to <I>lay his head</I> while
|
|
he lived, so he had not a grave of his own, wherein to <I>lay his
|
|
body</I> when he was dead, which was an instance of his poverty; yet in
|
|
this there might be somewhat of a mystery. The grave is the peculiar
|
|
heritage of a <I>sinner,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:19">Job xxiv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
There is nothing we can truly call our own but our sins and our graves;
|
|
he <I>returneth to his earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+146:4">Psalm cxlvi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
When we go to the grave, we go to our own place; but our Lord Jesus,
|
|
who had no sin of his own, had no grave of his own; dying under imputed
|
|
sin, it was fit that he should be buried in a <I>borrowed</I> grave;
|
|
the Jews designed that he should have <I>made his grave with the
|
|
wicked,</I> should have been buried with the thieves with whom he was
|
|
crucified, but God over-ruled it, so as that he should make it <I>with
|
|
the rich in his death,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+53:9">Isa. liii. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] He was laid in a <I>new tomb,</I> which Joseph, it is likely,
|
|
designed <I>for himself;</I> it would, however, be <I>never the
|
|
worse</I> for <I>his</I> lying in it, who was to rise so quickly, but a
|
|
<I>great deal the better</I> for <I>his</I> lying in it, who has
|
|
altered the property of the grave, and made it <I>anew</I> indeed, by
|
|
turning it into a <I>bed of rest,</I> nay into a <I>bed of spices,</I>
|
|
for all the saints.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] In a tomb that was <I>hewn out of a rock;</I> the ground about
|
|
Jerusalem was generally rocky. Shebna had his sepulchre hewn out
|
|
thereabouts <I>in a rock,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:16">Isa. xxii. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Providence ordered it that Christ's sepulchre should be in a solid
|
|
entire rock, that no room might be left to suspect his disciples had
|
|
access to it by some underground passage, or broke through the back
|
|
wall of it, to steal the body; for there was no access to it but by the
|
|
door, which was watched.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[4.] A <I>great stone was rolled to the door of his sepulchre;</I> this
|
|
also was according to the custom of the Jews in burying their dead, as
|
|
appears by the description of the grave of Lazarus
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:38">John xi. 38</A>),
|
|
|
|
signifying that those who are dead, are <I>separated</I> and <I>cut off
|
|
from all the living;</I> if the grave were his prison, now was the
|
|
prison-door locked and bolted. The rolling of the stone to the grave's
|
|
mouth, was with them as filling up the grave is with us, it completed
|
|
the funeral. Having thus in silence and sorrow deposited the previous
|
|
body of our Lord Jesus in the grave, the house <I>appointed for all
|
|
living,</I> they <I>departed</I> without any further ceremony. It is
|
|
the most melancholy circumstance in the funerals of our Christian
|
|
friends, when we have laid their bodies in the dark and silent grave,
|
|
to go home, and leave them behind; but alas, it is not we that <I>go
|
|
home,</I> and <I>leave them behind,</I> no, it is they that are gone to
|
|
the better home, and have left us behind.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(6.) The company that attended the funeral; and that was very
|
|
<I>small</I> and <I>mean.</I> Here were none of the relations in
|
|
mourning, to follow the corpse, no formalities to grace the solemnity,
|
|
but some good women that were true mourners--<I>Mary Magdalene, and the
|
|
other Mary,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:56"><I>v.</I> 56</A>.
|
|
|
|
These, as they had attended him <I>to the cross,</I> so they followed
|
|
him to <I>the grave;</I> as if they composed themselves to sorrow, they
|
|
<I>sat over against the sepulchre,</I> not so much to fill their eyes
|
|
with the sight of what was done, as to empty them in rivers of tears.
|
|
Note, True love to Christ will carry us through, to the utmost, in
|
|
following him. Death itself cannot quench that divine fire,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+8:6,7">Cant. viii. 6, 7</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. His enemies did what they could to prevent his resurrection; what
|
|
they did herein was <I>the next day that followed the day of the
|
|
preparation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:62"><I>v.</I> 62</A>.
|
|
|
|
That was the seventh day of the week, the Jewish <I>sabbath,</I> yet
|
|
not expressly called so, but described by this periphrasis, because it
|
|
was now shortly to give way to the Christian sabbath, which began the
|
|
day after. Now,
|
|
|
|
1. All that day, Christ lay dead in the grave; having for six days
|
|
laboured and done all his work, on the seventh day he <I>rested,</I>
|
|
and was <I>refreshed.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. On that day, the <I>chief priests and Pharisees,</I> when they
|
|
should have been at their devotions, asking pardon for the sins of the
|
|
week past, were dealing with Pilate about securing the sepulchre, and
|
|
so <I>adding rebellion to their sin.</I> They that had so often
|
|
quarrelled with Christ for works of the greatest mercy on that day,
|
|
were themselves busied in a work of the greatest malice. Observe
|
|
here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Their address to <I>Pilate;</I> they were vexed that the body was
|
|
given to one that would bury it decently; but, since it must be so,
|
|
they desire a guard may be set on the sepulchre.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] Their petition sets forth, that <I>that deceiver</I> (so they call
|
|
him who is truth itself) <I>had said, After three days I will rise
|
|
again.</I> He had said so, and his disciples <I>remembered</I> those
|
|
very words for the confirmation of their faith, but his persecutors
|
|
remember them for the provocation of their rage and malice. Thus the
|
|
same word of Christ to the one was a savour of life unto life, to the
|
|
other of death unto death. See how they compliment Pilate with the
|
|
title of <I>Sir,</I> while they reproach Christ with the title of
|
|
<I>Deceiver.</I> Thus the most malicious slanderers of <I>good men</I>
|
|
are commonly the most sordid flatterers of <I>great men.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] It further sets forth their jealousy; <I>lest his disciples come
|
|
by night, and steal him away, and say, He is risen.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> That which <I>really</I> they were afraid of, was, his
|
|
<I>resurrection;</I> that which is most Christ's honour and his
|
|
people's joy, is most the terror of his enemies. That which exasperated
|
|
Joseph's brethren against him, was the presage of his rise, and of his
|
|
having dominion over them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+37:8">Gen. xxxvii. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
and all they aimed at, in what they did against him, was, to prevent
|
|
that. Come, say they, let us <I>slay him,</I> and see <I>what will
|
|
become of his dreams.</I> So the chief priests and Pharisees laboured
|
|
to defeat the predictions of Christ's resurrection, saying, as David's
|
|
enemies of him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+41:8">Ps. xli. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more;</I> if he should rise,
|
|
that would break all their measures. Note, Christ's enemies, even when
|
|
they have gained their point, are still in fear of losing it again.
|
|
Perhaps the priests were surprised at the respect shown to Christ's
|
|
dead body by Joseph and Nicodemus, two honourable counsellors, and
|
|
looked upon it as an ill presage; nor can they forget his raising
|
|
Lazarus from <I>the dead,</I> which so confounded them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> That which they took on them to be afraid of, was,
|
|
lest <I>his disciples should come by night, and steal him away,</I>
|
|
which was a very improbable thing; for,
|
|
|
|
1. They had not the courage to own him while he lived, when they might
|
|
have done him and themselves real service; and it was not likely that
|
|
his death should put courage into such cowards.
|
|
|
|
2. What could they promise themselves by stealing away his body, and
|
|
making people believe he was risen; when, if he should not rise, and so
|
|
prove himself a deceiver, his disciples, who had left all for him in
|
|
this world, in dependence upon a recompence in the other world, would
|
|
of all others suffer most by the imposture, and would have had reason
|
|
to throw the first stone at his name? What good would it do them, to
|
|
carry on a cheat upon themselves, to steal away his body, and say,
|
|
<I>He is risen;</I> when, if he were not risen, their faith was vain,
|
|
and they were <I>of all men the most miserable?</I> The chief priests
|
|
apprehend that if the doctrine of Christ's resurrection be once
|
|
preached and believed, the <I>last error will be worse than the
|
|
first;</I> a proverbial expression, intimating no more than this, that
|
|
we shall all be routed, all undone. They think it was <I>their
|
|
error,</I> that they had so long connived at his preaching and
|
|
miracles, which <I>error</I> they thought they had <I>rectified</I> by
|
|
putting him to death; but if people should be persuaded of his
|
|
resurrection, that would <I>spoil all</I> again, his interest would
|
|
revive with him, and theirs must needs sink, who had so barbarously
|
|
murdered him. Note, Those that opposed Christ and his kingdom, will see
|
|
not only their attempts baffled, but themselves miserably
|
|
<I>plunged</I> and <I>embarrassed,</I> their errors each worse than
|
|
other, and the last worst of all,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:4,5">Ps. ii. 4, 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] In consideration hereof, they humbly move to have a guard set upon
|
|
the sepulchre till the third day; <I>Command that the sepulchre be made
|
|
sure.</I> Pilate must still be their drudge, his civil and military
|
|
power must both be engaged to serve their malice; one would think that
|
|
death's prisoners needed no other guard, and that the grave were
|
|
<I>security</I> enough to itself; but what will not those fear, who are
|
|
conscious to themselves both of <I>guilt</I> and <I>impotency,</I> in
|
|
opposing the Lord and his anointed?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Pilate's answer to this address
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:65"><I>v.</I> 65</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>He have a watch, make it sure, as sure as you can.</I> He was ready
|
|
to gratify Christ's friends, in allowing them the body, and his
|
|
enemies, in setting a guard upon it, being desirous to please all
|
|
sides, while perhaps he laughed in his sleeve at both for making such
|
|
ado, <I>pro</I> and <I>con,</I> about the dead body of a man, looking
|
|
upon the hopes of one side and the fears of the other to be alike
|
|
ridiculous. <I>Ye have a watch;</I> he means the constant guard that
|
|
was kept in the tower of Antonia, out of which the allows them to
|
|
detach as many as they pleased for that purpose, but, as if ashamed to
|
|
be himself seen in such a thing, he leaves the management of it wholly
|
|
to them. Methinks that word, <I>Make it as sure as you can,</I> looks
|
|
like a banter, either,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Of their <I>fears;</I> "Be sure to set a strong guard upon the
|
|
dead man;" or rather,
|
|
|
|
[2.] Of their <I>hopes;</I> "Do your worst, try your wit and strength
|
|
to the utmost; but if he be of God, he will rise, in spite of you and
|
|
all your guards." I am apt to think, that by this time Pilate had had
|
|
some talk with the centurion, his own officer, of whom he would be apt
|
|
to enquire how that <I>just man</I> died, whom he had condemned with
|
|
such reluctance; and that he gave him such an account of those things
|
|
as made him conclude that <I>truly he was the Son of God;</I> and
|
|
Pilate would give more credit to him than to a thousand of those
|
|
spiteful priests that called him a <I>Deceiver;</I> and if so, no
|
|
marvel that he tacitly derides their project, in thinking to secure the
|
|
sepulchre upon him who had so lately rent the rocks, and made the earth
|
|
to quake. Tertullion, speaking of Pilate, saith, <I>Ipse jam pro suâ
|
|
conscientiâ Christianus--In his conscience he was a Christian;</I> and
|
|
it is possible that he might be under such convictions at this time,
|
|
upon the centurion's report, and yet never be thoroughly persuaded, any
|
|
more than Agrippa or Felix was, to be a Christian.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) The wonderful care they took, hereupon, to secure the sepulchre
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:66"><I>v.</I> 66</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>They sealed the stone;</I> probably with the great seal of their
|
|
<I>sanhedrim,</I> whereby they interposed their authority, for who
|
|
durst break the public seal? But not trusting too much to that, withal
|
|
they <I>set a watch,</I> to keep <I>his disciples</I> from coming to
|
|
<I>steal him away,</I> and, if possible, to hinder <I>him</I> from
|
|
coming out of the grave. So they intended, but God brought this good
|
|
out of it, that they who were set to <I>oppose</I> his resurrection,
|
|
thereby had an opportunity to observe it, and did so, and told the
|
|
chief priests what they observed, who were thereby rendered the more
|
|
inexcusable. Here was all the power of earth and hell combined to keep
|
|
Christ a prisoner, but all in vain, when his hour was come; death, and
|
|
all those sons and heirs of death, could then no longer hold him, no
|
|
longer have dominion over him. To guard the sepulchre against the poor
|
|
weak disciples, was folly, because <I>needless;</I> but to think to
|
|
guard it against the power of God was folly, because <I>fruitless</I>
|
|
and to no purpose; and yet they thought they had <I>dealt
|
|
wisely.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
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