-22 Chapter 22. Of the Death of Christ.

1-22 Chapter 22. Of the Death of Christ.

1. The Death of Christ is the last act of his humiliation, whereby he underwent extreme, horrible, and the greatest pains for the sins of men.
2. It was an act of Christ, and not a mere suffering, because he purposely disposed himself to undergo and sustain it. John 10:11, I am that good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. John 10:11, No man takes it from me, but I lay it down by myself. For the same reason, it was also voluntary, not compelled; it was done out of power, not out of infirmity only; it was done out of obedience to his Father, and love toward us, not out of his own guilt or desert; it was done unto satisfaction by overcoming, not unto perdition by yielding.
3. It contained the greatest punishments, because it equalled all that misery which the sins of men deserved. From this come those plenteous words and phrases by which this death is set forth in Scriptures. For it is not simply called a death, but also a cutting off, casting away, treading under feet, curse, heaping up of sorrows, and the like, Isaiah 53:1-12; Psalms 22:1-31.
4. But it so contained these punishments, that their continuance, and holding under, and those like circumstances which accompany the punishments of the sins of all the damned, were removed from this death. Acts 2:24, He could not be held under by death. The reason is first, because such circumstances as these are not of the essence of the punishment itself; but they are adjuncts following and accompanying that punishment in those who cannot so suffer punishment, that by suffering they would satisfy [their debt]. Secondly, because there was in Christ both worthiness and power to overcome by this means the punishment imposed. 1 Corinthians 15:54; 1 Corinthians 15:57. Death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be given to God who has given us victory by our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. There was in this death the consummation of all humiliation, of which that was also the far greater part; this why often in Scriptures, by a Synecdoche of the member, the death of Christ itself represents all that satisfaction which is contained in his whole humiliation.
6. These limitations being had, this death of Christ was the same in kind and proportion as that death which in justice was due to the sins of men, representing the very same degrees, members, and kinds.
7. The beginning of the spiritual death of Christ, in matter of LOSS, was loosing that joy and delight which the enjoyment of God and the fulness of grace usually bring. But he did not loose this spiritual joy as touching the principle and habit of it, but as touching the act and sense of it.
8. The beginning of spiritual death in matter of SENSE, was tasting the wrath of God, and a certain subjection to the power of darkness. But that wrath of God was most properly that Cup which was given to Christ to be drunk. Matthew 26:39, My Father, if it is possible, let this Cup pass from me.
9. But the object of this anger was Christ, not absolutely, but only as touching the punishment which is brought by this anger, and which he underwent as our surety.
10. That subjection to the power of darkness was not to bondage, but to vexation, which Christ felt in his mind.
11. From these, the soul of Christ was affected with sorrow, grief, fear, and horror, in an agony. Matthew 26:38; John 12:27; Hebrews 5:7; Luke 22:44.
12. In this manner, the soul of Christ was affected not only in that part which some call the inferior, but also in the superior part; not only or chiefly out of a fellow-feeling which it had with the body, but properly and immediately; not chiefly out of compassion which it had in respect to others, but out of a proper suffering which it underwent in our name; lastly, not out of a horror of temporal death, which many of Christ’s servants have also overcome by his power, but out of a certain sense of supernatural and spiritual death.
13. There were two effects of this agony. First, a vehement deprecation,357 showing a mind astonished, and a nature flying from the bitterness of death, yet under a condition, and with subjection to his Father’s will. Mark 14:35, He prayed that if it might be, that hour might pass from him. John 12:27, My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father keep me from this hour? Secondly, a watery sweat having clots of blood mixed with it dropping down to the ground. Luke 22:44, Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was like drops of blood falling down to the ground.
14. In this beginning of spiritual death, there was a certain moderation and mitigation, that in the meanwhile there might be a place for those duties which were to be finished before his death: namely, prayers, conferences, admonitions, answers.
15. This moderation was inward or outward.
16. The INWARD moderation was by having spaces of time when the pressure and vexation which he felt in his soul slackened. Hence, in his understanding he attended to the course of the office he had undertaken, to the glory that would arise from it to his Father and to himself; and to the salvation of those whom his Father had given to him. In his will also, he chose and embraced all the miseries of death to obtain those ends.
17. The OUTWARD mitigation of this death was by an Angel who strengthened him in talking with him. Luke 22:43, And an Angel from Heaven appeared to him, comforting him.
18. There was no inward beginning of the bodily death of Christ besides that natural mortality and weakening which the outward force brought.
19. The external beginning was manifold, both in matter of loss, and matter of sense.
20. In matter of LOSS, he was rejected by his own people, counted worse than a murderer, forsaken by his closest Disciples, denied and betrayed by all kinds of men, especially by the chief ones, those who were counted more wise; he was called a madman, a deceiver, a blasphemer, someone having a devil in him, an invader of another great man’s kingdom; he was stripped of his garments, and made destitute of necessary food.
21. In matter of SENSE, First there was shameful apprehending. Second, a violent taking away. Thirdly, unjust judgments, both ecclesiastical and civil. Fourthly, in being worked, whipped, and crucified with reproaches, and with injuries of all kinds joined with them. Yet there was some MITIGATION of this death. First, by the manifestation of the Divine Majesty in the working of certain miracles, as in casting the Soldiers down to the ground with his sight and voice, and in healing the ear of Malchus.358 Secondly, by the operation of Divine providence, whereby it came to pass that he was justified by the Judge before he was condemned. Matthew 27:24, I am innocent of the blood of this just man.
22. The CONSUMMATION of the Death of Christ was in the highest degree of the punishment appointed, where the death itself is to be considered, and its continuance.
23. The consummation of spiritual death in matter of LOSS, was that forsaking of the Father whereby Christ was deprived of all sense of consolation. Matthew 27:46, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
24. The consummation of the death of Christ in matter of SENSE was the curse, whereby he endured the full sense of God’s judgment upon man’s sin. Galatians 3:13, He was made a curse for us.359 Hanging on the Cross was not a cause and reason for this curse, but a sign and symbol of it, ibid.
25. The consummation of bodily death was in breathing out his soul with greatest torment and bodily pain.360
26. In this death, there was a separation made of the soul from the body; but the union of both remained with the Divine nature, so that a dissolution of the person did not follow from it.
27. This death of Christ was true, not feigned; it was natural, or from natural causes working to bring it about, not supernatural; it was voluntary, not altogether compelled; yet it was violent, not of inward principles.361 It was also in a certain manner supernatural and miraculous, because Christ kept his life and strength for as long as he willed; and when he willed, he laid it down, John 10:18.362
28. The continuance of this death was in respect to the state of lowest humiliation, not in respect to the punishment or affliction; for when Christ said, it is finished, it is to be understood of those punishments.
29. The continuance of death was his remaining under the dominion of death for the space of three days, Acts 2:24. This state is usually set forth properly as “descending into Hell.”363
30. Christ being buried three days was a witness and a certain representation of this state.