require Him to pardon sin, to accept our person, to blot out the past, and to remove iniquity by the blood of Christ. Now let me always think that I have God behind me as well as before me, let not the memories of the past, though they cause me grief, cause me despair. CONCLUSION.-Are there any here to-day whose hearts God hath touched, who desire to join this great army? The past shall all be blotted out; God shall be thy rereward. And as for the future, thou chief of sinners, if now thou enlistest into the army of Christ by faith, thou shalt find the future shall be strewn with the gold of God's grace, and the silver of His temporal mercies; thou shalt have enough and to spare from this day forth even to the end, and at the last thou shalt be gathered in by the great arms of God, that constitute the rear-guard of His heavenly army.-C. H. Spurgeon: The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 230. THE PREDICTED CHARACTER AND TRIUMPH OF CHRIST. Our text is a distinct subject from that discussed in the previous parts of the chapter, and evidently ought to have formed a part of chapter liii. It is most clearly a prophecy concerning the Messiah. It relates both to His official character, sufferings, exaltation, and conquests; and, as such, is replete with deeply interesting matter for our profitable meditation. I. THE OFFICE OF CHRIST. God's servant. "My servant" (ch. xlii. 1). Christ, in His mediatorial character, was God's servant, while in His essential glory He was God blessed for evermore (see pp. 80-92). Hearken to His own declarations (Matt. xx. 28; John ix. 4, v. 30). His feeling at the beginning of life (Luke ii. 49). His declarations at its end (John xvii. 4). He ever recognised Himself as God's ser vant. Observe how he discharged the office of servant. (1.) His fidelity. He was faithful in all things-never omitted one of the requirements of His Father; did all His will, and that perfectly. (2.) His zeal. His Father's honour and glory ever melted His ardent soul. This feeling consumed His sacred spirit. How it burst forth in the Temple (John ii. 11-17). (3.) His perseverance. He held on His course with undeviating constancy; never turned aside; was faithful unto death. (4.) The text refers to His prudence. The word in the margin is "prosper," but our translation would 66 II. HIS SUFFERINGS. were astonished." Astonishing-that a personage so illustrious should be so abased (Ps. xxii. 6; Isa. liii. 3, 4). How bitterly was He calumniated! How maliciously He was persecuted! III. HIS EXALTATION. "He shall be exalted," &c. Christ was exalted, 1. In His resurrection from the dead. 2. By His elevation to the right hand of the throne of God. IV. HIS GLORIFICATION. "He shall be extolled." That is, praised, His character celebrated, &c. Angels extolled Him as their Lord, heralded Him back again to His kingdom and glory (Ps. xxiv. 7-10). John heard all the celestial hosts of heaven extolling Him in their anthems of praise (Rev. v. 11-14). His ministering servants and people extol Him on earth. He shall be extolled by His redeemed saints for ever. V. HIS GRACIOUS CONQUESTS. 1. "He shall sprinkle," &c. He does so, (1.) By His doctrines. His blessed word falls as the rain, distils as the dew, &c. (2.) By His blood. When these doctrines are received, then man partakes of the merits of His death, and the cleansing virtues of His blood. The blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling. (3.) By His spiritual blessings. The outpouring of His Holy Spirit, and the rich communications of His mercy and love. 2. He shall silence the opposition of kings. These shall oppose the Gospel, and employ worldly power and authority against it. But He shall overturn, &c. (Ps. ii. 12, lxxii. 10). 3. His achievements shall be unprecedented and wonderful. Two things shall particularly astonish. (1.) The simplicity of His means. Not by carnal weapons, not by human power, not by armies, &c., nor by science, but by the word of grace, and the messengers of salvation (1 Cor. i. 21). (2.) The completeness of the results. Effective, deep, and universal changes. Men renovated-society altered. Ignorance banished-crime annihilated-misery extinguished. Purity, joy, and bliss diffused. The days of heaven upon earth. APPLICATION. 1. Are we the friends or enemies of the Saviour? Do we despise, reject, deride, reproach, &c., or do we hail, receive, and delight in Him All men act now as His friends or foes. 2. Has He sprinkled your hearts with the blessings of His grace -His word-His blood-Spirit 3. Are you aiding Christ in His triumphal career? Accelerating the conversion of the world? The soldiers of His cross? 4. What bright visions are yet to distinguish the cause of the Saviour! "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel," &c.-The Pulpit Encyclopædia: vol. i. pp. 156-160. I. The work of Christ on earth, as this prophecy presents it. 1. He is called the "Servant of the Lord." 2. He is a servant "dealing prudently." 3. Yet was His visage marred more than any man. II. The glory of Christ upon His media torial throne. 1. He shall be exalted. This relates to His authority and power. 2. He shall be extolled. 3. He shall be very high (Phil. ii. 9–11). III. The works of mercy which the Saviour is accomplishing in His exalted state. 1. He sets forth His Gospel according to His promise. 2. He shall sprinkle many nations. This denotes the priestly office of Christ. The kings shall shut their mouths at Him, &c.-J. Stratten: The Pulpit, vol. iii. pp. 117-124. Modern Jewish writers refuse to see the Messiah in this passage, but their predecessors were not so blind. The Targum and the ancient Rabbins. interpreted it of the Messiah, and indeed all attempts to explain it apart from Him are palpable failures. Christian commentators in all ages have seen the Lord Jesus here. I. THE CHARACTER OF OUR LORD'S DEALINGS. He is called in the text, My servant," a title as honourable as it is condescending. Jesus has deigned to become the great servant of God under the present economy; He conducts the affairs of the household of God, and it is said that He deals prudently. He who took upon Him the form of a servant acts as a wise servant in everything. This prudence was manifest in the days of His flesh, from His childhood among the doctors in the Temple on to His confession before Pontius Pilate. Our Lord was enthusiastic (John ii. 17); but that enthusiasm never carried Him into rashness; He was as wise and prudent as the most cool-hearted calculator could have been. He was full of love, and that love made Him frank and open-hearted; but for all that He "committed Himself unto no man, for He knew what was in man." many who aspire to be leaders of the people study policy, craft, and diplomacy. The Friend of sinners had not a fraction of that thing about Him; and yet you see His wisdom when He baffles His adversaries; and when He deals with His friends (John xvi. 12). Too He who on earth became obedient unto death has now gone into His glory, but He is still over the house of God, conducting its affairs. He deals pru dently still. Our fears lead us to judge that the affairs of Christ's kingdom are going amiss, but we may rest assured that all is well. He has ultimate designs which are not apparent upon the surface, and these He never fails to accomplish. Another translation of the passage is, "my servant shall have prosperous success." Let us append that meaning to the other. Prosperity will grow out of our Lord's prudent dealings. The pleasure of the Lord prospers in the hands of Jesus. The Gospel will prosper in the thing whereto God has sent it. All along the line the Captain of our salvation will be victorious, and in every point and detail of the entire business the will of the Lord shall be done, and all heaven and earth shall be filled with praise as they see that it is so. In consequence of this, the Lord shall be exalted and extolled. How well He deserves to be exalted and extolled for His matchless prudence! The plans which the Lord has adopted are surely working out the growth of His kingdom, and will certainly result in bringing to the front His name, and person, and teaching. The star of Jesus rises higher every hour. He was despised and rejected of men, but now tens of thousands adore Him; and to Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord. II. THE STUMBLING-BLOCK IN THE WAY OF OUR LORD. It is His cross, which to Jew and Greek is ever a hindrance. As if the prophet saw Him in vision, he cries out, "As many were astonished at Thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.' When He was here, His personal position and condition and appearance were very much against the spread of His kingdom. He was the son of a carpenter, He wore the smock-frock of a peasant, He associated with publicans and sinners. Therefore the Jews re jected the meek and lowly prince of the house of David, and alas! they persist in their rejection of His claims. To-day He has risen from the grave and gone into His glory, but the offence of the cross has not ceased, for upon His Gospel there remains the image of His marred visage, and therefore men despise it. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to many. Men will tell you they could believe Christianity, if it were not for the atonement. Here stands the head and front of the difficulty-the cross, which is the soul of Christianity, is also its stumbling-block. (a) The practical part of the Gospel is equally a stumbling-block to ungodly men, for when men inquire what they must do to be saved, they are told that they must receive the Gospel as little children, that they must repent of sin, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Very humbling precepts for human selfsufficiency! "Be kindly affectioned one to another," "forgiving one another and forbearing one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you;" to the world which loves conquerors, and blasts of trumpets, and chaplets of laurel, this kind of teaching has a marred visage, and an uncomely form. What seems even more humbling, the Lord sends this Gospel among us by men who are neither great nor noble, nor even among the wise of this world. Very simple is what they say: "Believe and live; Christ in your stead suffered for you, trust Him;" they say this and little more. Is not this the fool's gospel? Is it not worthy to be called the foolishness of preaching? Men do not like this, it is an offence to their dignity. They would hear Cæsar if he would officiate in his purple, but they cannot endure Peter preaching in his fisherman's coat. Worse still, the people who become converted and follow the Saviour are generally of the poorer sort, and lightly esteemed. "Have any of the rulers believed?" is still the question. (8) III. THE CERTAINTY OF THE SPREAD OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM, As His face was marred, so surely "shall He sprinkle many nations." This sprinkling we must interpret according to the Mosaic ceremonies, and you know there was a sprinkling with blood, to set forth pardon of sin, and a sprinkling with water to set forth purification from the power of sin. Jesus Christ, with "The water and the blood From His riven side which flowed," has sprinkled not only men but many nations, and the day will come when all nations shall feel the blessed drops which are scattered from His hands, and know them to be "of sin the double cure," cleansing transgressors both from its guilt and power. The text claims for Christ that the influence of His grace and the power of His work shall be extended over many nations, and shall have power, not over the common people only, but over their rulers and leaders. "The kings shall shut their mouths at Him;" they shall have no word to say against Him; they shall be so subdued by the majesty of His power that they shall silently pay Him reverence, and prostrate themselves before His throne. The day will come when the mightiest prince shall count it his highest honour to have his name enrolled as a member of the Church of Christ (Ps. lxxii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 34). IV. THE MANNER OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THIS PROPHECY. How will it come to pass? Will there be a new machinery? Will the world be converted, and the kings be made to shut their mouths by some new mode of operation? No, the way which has been from the beginning of the dispensation will last to its close. It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. To conceive that our Lord will end the present mode of warfare, as though it were admitted that the evil could not be conquered by the use of that instrumentality, is to my mind to do Him great dishonour. To me it is plain that, as He has chosen to magnify His power by using feeble instru ments, He will continue to do so till the victory is won. According to this passage, these kings and nations are first of all to hear. "Faith cometh by hearing." Well, brethren, if they are to hear, we must preach and teach, so that our clear line of duty is to go on spreading the Gospel. These people appear not only to have heard, but to have seen. "That which had not been told them shall they see." This seeing is not with their bodily eyes, but by the perceptions of their minds. Faith comes by the soul perceiving what the Gospel means. We cannot believe in that which we do not perceive. Therefore we must go on telling people the Gospel till they see what the Gospel is. After they had seen, they considered. "That which they had not heard shall they consider." This is how men are saved: they hear the Gospel, they catch the meaning of it, and then they consider it. Let us pray that God would set unconverted people considering. If we can but get them to think, we have great hopes of them. (See vol. i. pp. 7-12.) It is clear that those people, when they had seen and considered silently, accepted the Lord as their Lord, for they shut their mouths at Him; they ceased from all opposition; they quietly resigned their wills, and paid allegiance to the great King of kings. Now then, let us spread abroad the Saviour's blessed name, for He is the world's only hope. The cross is the banner of our victory. God help us to look to it ourselves, and then to hold it up before the eyes of others, till our Lord shall come upon His throne.-C. H. Spurgeon: The Metropolitan Pulpit, No. 1231. (a) If any here are offended with Christ because of His cross, I beg them to dismiss the prejudice. Should it lead any man to doubt the Saviour, or withhold his heart from Him because He comes with a visage marred with sorrow? If He came to teach us to be unhappy, and to prescribe to us rules for increasing misery, we might be excused if we shunned His teaching; but if He comes bearing the grief Himself that we may not bear it, and if those lines of agony were wrought in His countenance because He carried our griefs and our sorrows, they ought to be to us the most attractive of all beauties. I reckon that the scar across the warrior's face, which he gained in defending his country, is no disfigurement to him; it is a beauty-spot. If my brother had, in saving my life, lost an arm, or received a hideous wound, he would be all the more beautiful in my esteem; certainly I could not shun him on that account. The wounds of Jesus are precious jewels which should charm our eyes, eloquent mouths which should win our hearts.Spurgeon. (8) With what scorn do your literary men speak of professed Christians! Have you ever seen the sneer upon the face of your "advanced thought" gentleman, and of the far-gone school of infidels, when they speak of the old women and the semi-idiots who listen to the pious platitudes of evangelical doctrines? They know how to despise us, if they know nothing else! But is such scorn worthy of men? It is only another version of the old sneer of the Pharisees when they said, "Hearest Thou what these say?" and pointed to the boys and the rabble, who shouted, "Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" Contempt has always followed at the heels of Jesus, and it always will till the day of His glory.-Spurgeon. THE HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION OF THE MESSIAH. (Missionary Sermon.) lii. 13-15. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, &c. I. THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO THE WORLD BY THE MYSTERIOUS SUFFERINGS OF ITS DIVINE FOUNDER. "Behold my servant! Many were astonished at Thee: His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." This "astonishment of many" evidently refers to the inconsistency apparent between the high pretensions and the depressed condition of this Servant of God. The prophecies concerning Him (Hag. ii. 7; Gen. xlix. 10; Isa. ix. 6, 7, &c.) A sordid and earthly interpretation had enshrined these promises in the hearts of the Jewish nation. The Jewish patriot hailed, in expectation, the brilliant hour in which the Messiah should break to shivers the chains which held his country in subjection to the Roman yoke; while the man of narrow and selfish ambition rejoiced in the vision that gleamed before his eyes, when the descendants of Abraham should hold dominion over the prostrate nations of the world. When, therefore, the Saviour of the world appeared in the lowly garb of the son of the carpenter of Nazareth; when He shunned every effort for personal aggrandisement-resisted every popu lar movement to advance His regal claims-put forth His power only to heal the diseased and comfort the wretched-and, with a humility without parallel, and a sympathy that knew no exclusion, constantly mingled with the meanest and most despised of His countrymen; then the mortified expectations of the Jewish rulers burst with tremendous efficacy upon His devoted head. The evidence in favour of His high claims was speedily examined; it was strong, clear, obvious (John vii. 46; Matt. ix. 33, xxvii. 42); but it was as speedily rejected. The union in Him of power and suffering-of dignity and contempt - of riches to others and poverty to Himself, was a source of astonishment to many. Angels looked on, and wondered, and adored. In truth, the plan of Christianity, with its introduction into the world, is far above the calculations of human sagacity (1 Cor. i. 23, 24). II. THE DECLARATION WITH REGARD TO THE UNIVERSAL DIFFUSION OF THE RELIGION OF CHRIST ON THE EARTH. "My servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high." 1. "He shall deal prudently" is in the margin translated "He shall prosper," and thus the whole clause is declarative of the same truth — the triumph and success of the Son of God. If many were astonished at His humiliation, a far greater number shall be astonished at, and rejoice in, His exaltation. He has already established |