The Severity of God's Justice to Jesus Christ
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| John Flavel |
The
Severity of God's Justice to Jesus Christ, informs us what a dreadful
evil sin is, which so incenses the Wrath of God, even against his own
Son, when he bare our sins, and stood before the Bar of God as our
Surety.
Come hither hard hearts, (hard indeed, if this cannot
break them) you complain you cannot see the evil of sin, so as to be
deeply humbled for it; fix your eyes a while here, and intently
consider the point in hand: Suppose you saw a tender and pitiful Father
come into open Court with fury in his face, to charge his own, his
only, and his most beloved Son; and prosecute him to death, and nothing
able to satisfie him, but his blood; and be well pleased when he sees it
shed: Would you not say, O, what horrid evil hath he done! it must be
some deep wrong, some heinous crime that he is guilty of, else it could
never be that his own Father could forget his bowels of pity and mercy;
yet thus did the Wrath of God break forth against his dear Son, when he
stood before the Bar charged as our Surety with the guilt of our sins.
Secondly: Learn hence what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands
of the living God. Well might Luther cry out, Nolo Deum absolutum, Let
me have nothing to do with an absolute God. Woe to them that stand
before God in their own persons, without Christ; how will Justice handle
them! For if these things were done in the green Tree, what shall be
done in the dry Tree? Luke 23.31. Did the Son of God fear, tremble,
sweat clods of Blood? Did he stand amaz'd, and fall into such an Agony
of soul when he drank that Cup, which he knew in a few hours he should
drink up, and then never taste the bitterness of it more: How sad is
their case, that must drink of that Cup for ever, a Cup that hath
Eternity to the bottom!
Thirdly: How incomprehensible and
ravishing is the love of God to men, that would rather be so severe to
Jesus Christ, the darling of his soul, than make us the objects of his
Wrath for ever! Which of you (though there be infinitely less tenderness
in your hearts than in God's) would lay your hands upon a Child, the
worst Child you have, and put him to death, for the sake of the best
Friend you have in the world! But God, with his own hand, delivered his
Son, his only Son, that from everlasting was the delight of his soul,
who never offended him, to death, the most cursed and cruel death, and
all this for Enemies; how unspeakable is this love, and past finding
out!
Fourthly: Did not God spare his own Son? then let none of
us spare our own sins. Sin was that Sword which pierced Christ: O let
sorrow for sin pierce your hearts! if you spare sin, God will not spare
you, Deut. 29. 20. We spare sin, when we faintly oppose it, when we
excuse, cover, and defend it; when we are impatient under just rebukes
and reproofs for it; but all kindness to sin, is cruelty to our own
souls.
Fifthly and lastly: If God did not spare Christ, certainly he intends to spare Believers for his sake.
The Surety could not be spar'd, that the Principal might be spar'd for
ever. If God had spared him, he could not have spared us; if he afflicts
his People, it is not for satisfaction to himself, but profit to us,
Heb. 12.10. Should God spare the Rod of Affliction, it would not be for
our advantage. So many sanctified Afflictions as are spar'd or abated,
so many mercies and spiritual advantages are with-held from us. But as
for those strokes of Justice that are the effects of God's Vindictive
Wrath, they shall never be felt by Believers for ever. All the Wrath,
all the Curse, all the Gall and Wormwood was squeez'd into Christ's Cup,
and not one dropt left to imbitter ours.
~John Flavel
