117. Jesus Christ--His Generation

Jesus Christ--His Generation Isa 53:8. Who shall declare his generation? The history of countries generally commences with a geographical account of their situation and extent; of the climate and soil; of the names and the reason of imposing such names; of the era and the means of discovery; of the original inhabitants, and of outer circumstances tending either to communicate useful information or to gratify curiosity. The biographer, in like manner, in delineating the life of his prince, statesman, hero, or philosopher, usually begins with tracing his pedigree and parentage, and enables the reader to form some acquaintance with his ancestors, in order to introduce the personage himself with greater advantage and effect. But both the general historian and the biographer quickly lose themselves in research. The origin of no nation or individual can be traced up to its source. The light becomes fainter and fainter as we proceed, the object is rendered more obscure and uncertain, till time at length spreads his sable mantle over it, and we behold it no more. Who then shall declare his generation, who “was in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made and without whom was not any thing made that is made.”

We are advancing, men and brethren, upon holy ground, ground sacred as Eden’s blissful plains, as the region which surrounded the bush that burned with fire, as Sinai’s awful summit. Borne aloft on the pinions of the celestial dove, we are aiming a bold, adventurous flight into the heaven of heavens, to expatiate through the boundless regions of eternity, to contemplate objects which “angels desire to look into,” to search into the “great mystery of godliness,” to lose ourselves in seeking “to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.”

We are going to attempt a delineation of the Life and History of Jesus Christ, the Savior of Men. My heart fails at the thought of the task which I have undertaken; my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth. Spirit of Grace, establish thou my heart-- --“O then my voice inspire,
Who touch’d Isaiah’s hallow’d lips with fire!” The question of the prophet which has now been read, and which suggested the idea that we mean to pursue through this Lecture, is interwoven with a variety of pointed and striking predictions which, whether taken separately or in their combination, can apply only to one person; and who that person is, no doubt can possibly be entertained, when we consider, that this is the very passage of Scripture to which Philip the evangelist was providentially directed, as a text for “preaching Jesus,” to the Ethiopian eunuch. I shall not employ any part of your time in detailing the various opinions which have been entertained respecting the meaning of the passage in general, or the precise import of the term “generation” in particular. The question appears simply to be a bold defiance given to all-created wisdom to investigate, to unfold the generations, the origin, the essence of that wonderful Person concerning whom such singular circumstances and events are predicted; it amounts to a strong and positive affirmation, that it is impossible to declare Him as he is, to trace his existence through the successive periods of duration up to its commencement, as you may do that of a mere man from the moment of his birth, or, through a series of ancestors. What in this view is the obvious doctrine of the text? That the generation of Him who the Spirit of prophecy, and the corresponding history represent as an innocent, patient, vicarious sufferer, extends beyond the sphere of created nature, eludes pursuit, spreads the glory of eternity around it, and conceals it from mortal eyes. It is worthy of remark, that the genealogy of our blessed Lord’s humanity is more clear and distinct, and extended, than that of any other person. Two several evangelists have declared it, pursuing it, through two different but parallel channels, up to Abraham, and from him up to the common Father of the human race. In this respect, therefore, “the Spirit himself helpeth our infirmity;” and he who by the mouth of Isaiah seems to forbid and defy all inquiry, by the pen of Matthew and Luke, makes a clear and full discovery, and enables us to trace the pedigree of Jesus Christ, like that of any other man. It is the peculiar privilege of the sacred volume to unfold the real history of human nature, of the globe, of the universe, to follow nature up to the hour of her birth, to declare “the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created; in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens;” to exhibit the first man Adam in the plastic bands of the Creator springing out of the dust of the ground, and, inspired with the breath of life, becoming “a living soul.” The same inspired volume represents to our attention one person, and one event, as of peculiar importance; as pervading, influencing, and affecting the whole course of Nature and Providence; as contemporary with every generation of men, as looked unto, and longed for by successive ages. In order that the truth of God might be fully justified and have its complete effect, the relation, in which this illustrious person stood to those who had received the promises of his corning, is distinctly ascertained and minutely described; so that at every period of the world we can say, to He is here, and to He is there. But the inspired volume likewise represents him as before all and above all.--If therefore this book be a Revelation from Heaven, it must contain real and important truth, and that truth clothed in plain, simple, and intelligible language; we must perceive, of consequence, in the “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” a person whose generation no one is able to declare, who is “before all and by whom all things do consist:” whom all the angels of God are commanded to worship, “the heir of all things,” by whom the worlds were made and are upheld, whose “throne is for ever and ever:” in one word Christ Jesus, “who is over all, God blessed for ever.”

You are well aware that the doctrine, which we wish to establish, is in the present day violently opposed; and while it is maintained in this place, it may be perhaps in the next street the subject of profane mirth, or of serious argumentation. Thinking as we do, we will not enter the lists of controversy. We will not employ your time, nor endeavor to enlist your passions, by running down one name, party, or opinion, and exalting another; but will simply and humbly, though at the same time, firmly and unreservedly, propose for your instruction and improvement, what appears to be the meaning and object of Scripture; and, considering the divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the first leading object of all Revelation, we will uniformly bring it forward in every discourse. If therefore these exercises are at all frequented, or attended unto, it will be by such as expect, and are well pleased, to hear of the great Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, in his original, everlasting, unchanging glory, and in his humiliation, as the son of man, to the form of a servant, to the death of the cross, a propitiation for sin. To this, we trust, notunknown God, our altar is erected, and dedicated, and on it we would again present our whole selves a living sacrifice unto the one true God, and “our Savior Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.”

“Who shall declare his generation?” Incapable thou art, O man, to trace back the short and slender thread of thy own existence and descent. Thou mayest have some faint recollection of weak and dependent childhood; of a father’s early care, and of a mother’s tenderness; of the amusements, the companions, the solicitudes, the sorrows and joys of thy boyish days. But all beyond is a blank; to thee creation began a few years ago; the second or third, at most, of thy own immediate progenitors, is blended with the men who lived beyond the flood. We are ignorant of and unknown to each other. How much more so are the men of distant nations and of times more remote? But family tradition, national record, the inspired page can supply the want of personal knowledge, can carry us back to departed forefathers, and bring them down to us. But what recollection, what tradition, what record, can carry us beyond the birth of nature, can convey us to a state of existence previous to the lapse of time? Now the person of whom the prophet speaks, as we saw in the preceding Lecture, is the Word who spoke all things into existence, who built the world, who spread the flood, who set time a flowing, who “breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.” Who then of the sons of men, which of the angels of God shall declare the generation of Him who made them what they are, who placed them in their stations, who prescribed to them bounds which they cannot pass? The slightest detail of nature, O man, presents a mystery which thou cannot solve, a world which thou cannot comprehend unto perfection. That seed cast into the ground cannot be “quickened except it die;” canst thou declare the generation of this insect, today a butterfly, yesterday a moth, the third day a mere lifeless incrustation, and presumest thou to explain the great mystery of godliness, “God made manifest in the flesh;” at so many different times, in such divers manners made known unto the Fathers by the prophets; and in these last days unveiled to us in the person of the Son, the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person? We repeat the question, understandest thou, and art thou able to unfold, the union that exists in thy own frame, between the clay tabernacle and the immortal mind; earth and heaven blended in thine own person? And shall “it be thought a thing incredible,” that He who, in the uninterrupted course of his Providence, produces this union which everyone is conscious of existing, though no one is capable of explaining, should form other combinations, unite other natures, to declare his power and manifest his glory? Wherefore should “it be thought a thing incredible,” that He who unites himself to everyone of us, through the medium of reason and conscience, for carrying on the plan of nature, should have united humanity to himself in the person of the Redeemer, in a manner still more incomprehensible, for perfecting the plan of redemption? Shall I reject as untrue or absurd whatever I do not clearly understand or am unable perfectly to explain? The consciousness which I have of my own being must be renounced them among the first, and everything within and around us must be reduced to darkness, doubt, and uncertainty.

Blessed Jesus, we cannot declare thy generation, and would not be wise above what is written, but we adore in silent wonder, we rejoice that, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and that men “beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” We rejoice that what we know not now we shall know hereafter. Suffice it now that “we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man:” that “it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” We can form no conception of a state pre-existent to this frame of nature, for imagination itself must draw its ideas from reality; and to give scope to a faculty so fantastical, in treating a subject of such high moment, were presumptuous and profane. Let us reply then to the prophet’s challenge, with the modesty and humility becoming creatures so ignorant, so limited, and so imperfect. We presume not to explore the records of eternity, to pry into the counsels of peace, to measure the infinite Jehovah, his nature, his decrees, his operations, by the contracted line of our finite understanding; but, taking Scripture for our instructer and guide, we will with reverence and joy contemplate the manifestation of the Son of God in the likeness of man, the mystery of the incarnation, his generation as one of our brethren. In the next Lecture, therefore, if God permit, we will endeavor to lead your attention to some of the remarkable circumstances which immediately preceded the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and which give celebrity and notoriety to that illustrious event, and mark the interest which eternal Providence took in it, and the importance thereby, stamped upon it to every serious and reflecting mind.

We conclude at present, with suggesting, from what has been said, and from every view which is given us in Scripture of the person of the Savior, that there is spread around it at once an effulgence that dazzles and repels, and a mildness and simplicity which composes and attracts. Is he spoken of as a man, we are sent to Bethlehem to behold a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, to Nazareth to converse with the carpenter’s son, to Cana of Galilee to join with him in the innocent festivity of a marriage solemnity, to Bethany to witness the endearments of private friendship, to Gethsemane to sympathize with the agonizing mourner, to scenes such as daily occur in human life; but we are never left long to consider a mere man in situations and employments like our own, a man of like passions with ourselves; the glory of the Lord arises, the Son of God stands confessed, a generation not to be declared, a power that nothing can resist, at which devils tremble, which winds and seas obey, to which death and the grave are, subservient. He speaks as never man spake, legions of angels are continually on the wing to minister unto him.--Prophecy and history represent him in the self-same lights, in alternate humiliation, and majesty, obscurity, and splendor. What a contrast does the description of our prophet present? “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” The progress of his history, in every particular stage of it, will elucidate the same observation, and therefore it shall not now be farther prosecuted.

Again, this subject seems much calculated to correct the prejudices which prevail among men in the matter of pedigree. There is in reality no such thing as mean and high birth: or if there be a distinction, to be born perfect in every limb and feature, with a sound and vigorous constitution, with a mind complete in all its faculties, this is to be nobly born; as, on the contrary, to come into the world diseased and debilitated, with a constitution undermined and destroyed by the vice of parents, is to have the disadvantage of being meanly born; a distinction which, if founded in reason, truth, and justice, leaves the great, in general, little to glory in, and the poor little at which to repine. Have we not all one father? What genealogy is pure from every stain of infirmity, folly, or vice? Is it any diminution of our Savior’s dignity, any impeachment of his perfect purity, or any imputation on his great public character, that in the roll of his ancestry after the flesh, we find the name of Rahab the harlot, and of her who had been the wife of Uriah, and that he was brought up under the roof, perhaps to the occupation, of an obscure craftsman? Virtue and vice are personal not hereditary, and nothing but vice is a just round of shame. Shall I call myself a disciple of Jesus then, and think it a reproach to be called a carpenter’s son, despised because I am a Galilean, lightly esteemed because my parents were poor and ignoble, because a paltry monosyllable introduces not my name? Real worth ennobles itself independent of the breath of kings, it draws obscure progenitors into light, and leaves a fair and honorable inheritance to posterity--in a bright example, and a respectable name.

Once more, whatever may be our pretensions or our want of pretension as citizens of this world, we have all equal right and encouragement to aspire after the title, and the spirit, and the privileges of the sons of God. He whose generation cannot be declared, is not ashamed to call the humblest of you, brethren. The end of his coming into the world, of his humbling himself to death, of shedding his blood, was to make you “kings and priests unto God and his Father.” What he is by eternal generation, that he is making you by redemption, by the spirit of adoption, by the hope of glory to be revealed. Support the honor of your heavenly Father’s name, prove your relation, preserve unclouded your prospects. You are now in a state of depression, “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” your title lies dormant, your possession is at a distance, but “your life is hid with Christ in God, and when he shall appear, you shall appear with him in glory. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” “Fear not,” then, “little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”