Alan Gross
Well-Known Member
"But thou hast cast off and abhorred,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed." Psalm 89:38.
Adapted from:
The Passive Obedience of Christ, or of His Sufferings and Death, by John Gill.
"The death of Christ was "real," not in appearance only,
as some of the ancient heretics affirmed;
nor was he taken down from the cross alive;
but was really dead, as appears by the testimony of the centurion
that guarded the cross, to Pilate; by the soldiers not breaking his legs,
with the others crucified with him, perceiving he was dead;
and by one of them piercing his side, the "pericardium,"
from whence flowed blood and water;
after which, had he not been dead before, he must have died then.
"And lastly, his death was "voluntary;"
for though his life was taken from the earth,
seemingly in a violent manner, with respect to men, being cut off in a judicial way;
yet not without his full will and consent;
he laid it down of himself, and gave himself freely and voluntarily
to be a sacrifice, through his death, for the sins of his people.
"Now, besides this corporal death which Christ endured,
there was a death in his soul, though not of it,
which answered to a spiritual and an eternal death;
"for as the transgression of the first Adam, involved him and all his posterity in,
and exposed them to, not only a corporal death, but to a moral or spiritual,
and an eternal one;
"so the second Adam, as the surety of his people,
in order to make satisfaction for that transgression, and all others of theirs,
must undergo death, in every sense of the threatening (Genesis 2:17).
"And though a moral or spiritual death, as it lies in a loss of the image of God;
in a privation of original righteousness;
in impotence to that which is good,
and in an inclination, bias, and servitude of the mind to that which is evil;
"could not fall upon the pure and holy soul of Christ;
which must have made him unfit for his mediatorial work;
"yet there was something similar to it, so as to be without sin and pollution;
as darkness of soul, disquietude, distress, want of spiritual joy and comfort,
amazement, agony, his soul being sorrowful even unto death,
pressed with the weight of the sins of his people on him,
and a sense of divine wrath on account of them;
"and what he endured both in the garden
and on the cross, especially when he was made sin and a curse,
and his soul was made an offering for sin,
was tantamount to an eternal death,
or the sufferings of the wicked in Hell;
"for though they differ as to circumstance of time and place;
the persons being different, the one finite, the other infinite;
"yet, as to the essence of them, the same:
eternal death consists in these two things,
punishment of loss, and punishment of sense:
"the former lies in an eternal separation from God,
or a deprivation of his presence forever;
"Depart from me, you cursed":
"the latter is an everlasting sense of the wrath of God,
expressed by "everlasting fire".
"Now Christ endured what was answerable to these;
"for a while he suffered the loss of his Father's gracious presence,
when he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!"
"And he endured the punishment of sense,
when God was wroth with him, his anointed;
"when his wrath was poured out like fire upon him;
"and his heart melted like wax within him, under it;
"and "the sorrows of Hell" compassed him about
Psalm 89:38;
"But thou hast cast off and abhorred,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed."
22:14;
"I am poured out like water,
"And all my bones are out of joint:
"My heart is like wax;
"It is melted in the midst of my bowels."
18:5;
"The sorrows of hell compassed me about:
"The snares of death prevented me."
"Eternity it not of the essence of punishment;
and only takes place when the person punished
cannot bear the whole at once: and being finite, as sinful man is,
cannot make satisfaction to the infinite Majesty of God, injured by sin,
the demerit of which is infinite punishment:
and as that cannot be bore at once by a finite creature,
it is continued ad infinitum;
"but Christ being an infinite Person,
was able to bear the whole at once;
"and the infinity of his Person abundantly compensates
for the eternity of the punishment."
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed." Psalm 89:38.
Adapted from:
The Passive Obedience of Christ, or of His Sufferings and Death, by John Gill.
"The death of Christ was "real," not in appearance only,
as some of the ancient heretics affirmed;
nor was he taken down from the cross alive;
but was really dead, as appears by the testimony of the centurion
that guarded the cross, to Pilate; by the soldiers not breaking his legs,
with the others crucified with him, perceiving he was dead;
and by one of them piercing his side, the "pericardium,"
from whence flowed blood and water;
after which, had he not been dead before, he must have died then.
"And lastly, his death was "voluntary;"
for though his life was taken from the earth,
seemingly in a violent manner, with respect to men, being cut off in a judicial way;
yet not without his full will and consent;
he laid it down of himself, and gave himself freely and voluntarily
to be a sacrifice, through his death, for the sins of his people.
"Now, besides this corporal death which Christ endured,
there was a death in his soul, though not of it,
which answered to a spiritual and an eternal death;
"for as the transgression of the first Adam, involved him and all his posterity in,
and exposed them to, not only a corporal death, but to a moral or spiritual,
and an eternal one;
"so the second Adam, as the surety of his people,
in order to make satisfaction for that transgression, and all others of theirs,
must undergo death, in every sense of the threatening (Genesis 2:17).
"And though a moral or spiritual death, as it lies in a loss of the image of God;
in a privation of original righteousness;
in impotence to that which is good,
and in an inclination, bias, and servitude of the mind to that which is evil;
"could not fall upon the pure and holy soul of Christ;
which must have made him unfit for his mediatorial work;
"yet there was something similar to it, so as to be without sin and pollution;
as darkness of soul, disquietude, distress, want of spiritual joy and comfort,
amazement, agony, his soul being sorrowful even unto death,
pressed with the weight of the sins of his people on him,
and a sense of divine wrath on account of them;
"and what he endured both in the garden
and on the cross, especially when he was made sin and a curse,
and his soul was made an offering for sin,
was tantamount to an eternal death,
or the sufferings of the wicked in Hell;
"for though they differ as to circumstance of time and place;
the persons being different, the one finite, the other infinite;
"yet, as to the essence of them, the same:
eternal death consists in these two things,
punishment of loss, and punishment of sense:
"the former lies in an eternal separation from God,
or a deprivation of his presence forever;
"Depart from me, you cursed":
"the latter is an everlasting sense of the wrath of God,
expressed by "everlasting fire".
"Now Christ endured what was answerable to these;
"for a while he suffered the loss of his Father's gracious presence,
when he said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!"
"And he endured the punishment of sense,
when God was wroth with him, his anointed;
"when his wrath was poured out like fire upon him;
"and his heart melted like wax within him, under it;
"and "the sorrows of Hell" compassed him about
Psalm 89:38;
"But thou hast cast off and abhorred,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed."
22:14;
"I am poured out like water,
"And all my bones are out of joint:
"My heart is like wax;
"It is melted in the midst of my bowels."
18:5;
"The sorrows of hell compassed me about:
"The snares of death prevented me."
"Eternity it not of the essence of punishment;
and only takes place when the person punished
cannot bear the whole at once: and being finite, as sinful man is,
cannot make satisfaction to the infinite Majesty of God, injured by sin,
the demerit of which is infinite punishment:
and as that cannot be bore at once by a finite creature,
it is continued ad infinitum;
"but Christ being an infinite Person,
was able to bear the whole at once;
"and the infinity of his Person abundantly compensates
for the eternity of the punishment."