Isaiah 53:12

REFLECTIONS

MY soul! ponder well this blessed, this glorious, this divine chapter; and do not dismiss it, until the Lord hath both taught thee the many gracious things contained in it, and brought home all that is said of Jesus to thine own experience and joy. And when dismissing it from thy present review, dismiss it but for a short season, and let thy frequent return to it, in solemn meditation, testify how very precious every part and portion of it is in thy esteem.

Behold here, my soul, thy Jesus, under his twofold character, in which the Spirit of Christ, which was in the Prophets, did signify, when testifying of his sufferings, and the glory that should follow. And as thou passest over the several parts of the chapter, see whether thou art not constrained to cry out, in the same words as the Lord Jesus himself did, when he made the hearts of his disciples burn within them in the account: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

And oh! thou precious Jesus! who art the sum and substance of this chapter, and of the whole Bible, give me to enter into an heartfelt enjoyment of the greatness of what is here related of thee, in the all-sufficiency of thy sacrifice, and of my personal interest in it. Yea, Lord! I see that thou hast, by the dignity of thy person, and the glory of thy work, made full satisfaction, yea, more than satisfaction, for all the injuries which sin hath occasioned among the works of God! The glory of God's holy law, which sin had darkened, is more than restored by the perfect obedience of the Lord, our righteousness. And the image of God, which sin had defaced in man, is more than brought back to perfection in that nature which thou hast taken, in a pure and holy portion of it, and which, by being united to the Godhead, gives to all thine actions and sufferings the merit of the Godhead. Oh! for grace then to believe, and to stand in that belief, eternally secure, that God the Father's covenant promise is and must be fulfilled: Thou shalt see of the travail of thy soul, and be satisfied. The dew of thy birth shall he as the womb of the morning. Thy people shall all be righteous in thy righteousness; and in thee and thy glory they shall shine as the stars forever and ever. Amen.