01.17. The work of Christ in His humiliation.

17. The work of Christ in His humiliation. The Incarnation is the beginning and the introduction of Christ’s work on earth, but it is not the whole nor the main content of that work. It is good to form a correct idea and a clear understanding of this in relation to all those who consider that the complete reconciliation and fusion of God and man has already been accomplished in the adoption of human nature. Starting from the idea that religion is a such communion of God and man, in which both need and complement each other, they then reason that this communion, disturbed by sin or not yet attainable for mankind at a lower, sensual level, was first expressed and realized in history by Christ. The peculiarity of Christianity, then, lies in the fact that the idea of religion, given as a disposition and seed in human nature, has reached its fulfilment in the person of Christ.

It is without doubt a great honor for mankind that the only begotten Son, who was in the form of God and the Father, has taken on the form of a man. Christ is therefore related to all human beings; he is of the same flesh and blood and they have in common with him soul and body, head and heart, mind and will, perceptions and feelings. In this natural sense Christ is our brother, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. But this natural (phy- sic) communion, important as it is, must not be identified or confused with the spiritual and moral communion. Already among people it is possible, and often happens, that family members and blood relatives are spiritually distanced from one another and are sharply opposed to one another. Jesus Himself says that He came to earth to make man two against his father, and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and that man’s enemies shall be those of his household. Matthew 10:35-36. So natural descent does not decide anything about spiritual kinship; the communion of blood and the communion of souls are often far apart.

If Jesus had done nothing else than take on human nature and declare the oneness of God and man, it would be completely incomprehensible how we could thereby enter into spiritual fellowship with Him and be reconciled to God. Rather, by taking on a sinless human nature and by living in an uninterrupted communion with God, He would have distanced us from Himself and would have depressed us deeply under the impression of our powerlessness, because we, weak, sinful creatures, could never follow His exalted example. The incarnation of the Son of God, without more, cannot therefore have been the act of reconciliation and redemption; it is the beginning, the preparation and the introduction, but it is not the act itself.

Besides, if the Incarnation in itself had already brought about the reconciliation and the joining of God and man, there would have been no place for a life and especially for a death of Jesus. It would then have sufficed that He, whether in the way of conception and birth or not, had taken on human nature, walked around on earth with it for a shorter or longer time and then returned to heaven. Then there would have been no need for the complete and profound humiliation of Christ. But Scripture teaches us differently. It says that the Son of God not only became a man, equal to us in everything except sin, but that He also took the form of a servant, humbled Himself and became obedient to death, yes to the death of the cross, Php 2:7-8. It befitted Him to fulfil all the righteousness of the law, Matthew 3:15, and to be sanctified by suffering Himself, Hebrews 2:10. It was written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, Luke 24:46, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. The Father sent Him to accomplish His work on earth, John 4:34, and even gave Him a commandment to lay down His life and take it again, John 10:18. Everything that happened to Christ was therefore the execution of what God’s hand and counsel had previously determined should happen, Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28. It was not until the cross that Christ could say that all was accomplished and that He had finished the work that the Father had given Him to do, John 17:4, John 19:30. While the life of Jesus is sketched relatively briefly in the Gospels, His last suffering and death are recounted at length; and likewise, the Apostolic preaching seldom goes back to the conception and birth of Jesus, but only emphasizes the Cross, the death and blood of Christ. Not by the birth, but by the death of his Son have we been reconciled to God, Romans 5:10.

Through this consideration of Scripture, the whole life of Christ acquires for us a wholly unique significance and a surpassing value. It is one perfect work that the Father has commissioned Him to do. It can be viewed from different angles and from different sides, and we must do this in order to obtain an overview of the content and scope of that work. But we must never forget that it is a single work; it encompasses and fills his whole life, from conception to the death of the cross; just as the person of Christ is one in the diversity of his natures, so also his work is one; it is God’s work on earth par excellence. Yes, even more, it is backwardly connected with the counsel and foreknowledge of God, with His revelation among Israel and His guidance of the nations; and forward it continues in a modified way in the work that Christ is still accomplishing today in the state of His exaltation. It is a work that has its center in time on this earth, but that arises from eternity, takes root in eternity, and extends into eternity. From time immemorial, this one work of Christ has been summarized under the doctrine of three offices, and it is thanks to Calvin in particular that this scheme has become generally accepted in the treatment of Christ’s work in the doctrine of faith. Nevertheless, objections have repeatedly been raised, and in some cases the objection that the three offices were indistinguishable in the life of Jesus and that their activities were intertwined has been raised. This objection, however, is valid against a wrong interpretation of the three offices, but not against this one.

If Jesus had intended the three offices of prophet, priest and king to be exercised separately, or temporarily one after the other, such a division and separation in the work of Christ would indeed be impossible to carry out. It is true that sometimes one ministry is more prominent than the other, so that, for example, His public preaching is more reminiscent of the prophetic, His final suffering and death more of the priestly, and His exaltation at the right hand of the Father more of the royal; but essentially Jesus was always and everywhere active in His three ministries simultaneously. When He spoke, He proclaimed God’s words as a prophet, but in doing so He also demonstrated His priestly mercy and His royal power, for through His word He healed the sick, forgave sins, calmed the storm; He was the King of truth. His miracles were signs of his divine mission and of the truth of his word, but at the same time they were also revelations of his compassion on all kinds of wretched people and of his rule over sickness and death and the violence of Satan. His death was a seal of his life, but also a sacrifice of perfect obedience and a willing act of power to give up life. In a word, his whole appearance, word and work always carries a prophetic, priestly and royal character at the same time. But having put this in the foreground, it remains of the utmost importance to look at the person and work of Christ from the point of view of the three offices. There are advantages to this which would otherwise be lost. In the first place, this treatment gives us the advantage that Christ’s coming and entire life on earth becomes the exercise of a ministry that has been entrusted to him by the Father. With Jesus we cannot speak of a business, a craft, nor even a moral profession, which He chose for Himself.

According to the Holy Scriptures, He was appointed to an office. Office differs from craft and profession in that one cannot choose and take it oneself, but can only receive it through appointment by a power that stands above us. It is true that He is different from Moses in that He, not like a servant, but like the Son over His own house, has been faithful to the Father in everything, Hebrews 3:5-6. But then He has been faithful to the One who made Him an Apostle and High Priest to our confession, Hebrews 3:2. He did not accept the honor of becoming an archpriest Himself, but He was glorified for it by God Himself, who spoke to Him: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee" (Hebrews 5:5). Jesus himself repeatedly emphasizes that the Father has sent Him, that His food is the Father’s will, that He has a commandment from the Father as to what He will do and say, that He has completed the Father’s work on earth, etc., John 4:34, John 5:20, John 5:30, John 6:38, John 7:16, John 8:28, John 10:18, John 12:4-50, John 14:10, John 14:24, John 17:4. This appointment to the ministry evidently predates the time in which Christ became a man. Not only does Scripture teach that Christ was with God and God Himself from the beginning, but in Hebrews 10:5-7 we also read expressly that when He came into the world, that is, when He was about to come into the world, He already said: burnt offerings and sacrifices have not pleased thee; but when thou didst prepare a body for me, (in order to accomplish the will of God in this body by giving it up to death); burnt offerings and sacrifices have not pleased thee; but when thou didst prepare a body for me, I said according to the word of prophecy, Behold, I come to do thy will, O God. The coming into the world, the incarnation, was thus already part of the execution of the work that the Father had commissioned Him to do; the commission preceded it, not falling into time after the incarnation, but before it in eternity. That is why it is said elsewhere that Christ was foreseen before the foundation of the world, 1 Peter 1:20, that election is taken and grace is given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of ages, Ephesians 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:9, and that the book of life, which has been before God from the foundation of the world, is the property of the slaughtered Lamb, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8. The conception of Christ’s work as the exercise of a ministry links that work to God’s eternal counsel. He bears the name of Messiah, Christ, Anointed One, because He was predestined by the Father from eternity and anointed by Him with the Holy Spirit in time.

Secondly, the three offices that were conferred upon Christ refer back to man’s original calling and destiny. It is by no means accidental or arbitrary that Christ was appointed to precisely these three offices of Prophet, Priest and King, and to no other or greater offices; rather, it is based on God’s intention for the human race and, therefore, on human nature itself. Adam was created in the image of God, in true knowledge, righteousness and holiness, that as a prophet he might preach the words of God; as a king rule in righteousness over all things; and as a priest consecrate himself and all his possessions to God for a sacrifice pleasing to Him. He received a head to know; a hand to rule; and a heart to encompass all in love. In the unfolding of the image of God, in the harmonious development of all his gifts and powers, in the exercise of the three offices of prophet, priest and king, lay man’s destiny. But that calling has been trampled on by mankind. And that is precisely why Christ came to earth, in order to show once again the true image of mankind and to fulfil his destiny. The doctrine of the three offices establishes a fixed connection between nature and grace, creation and re-creation, Adam and Christ. The first Adam is the type, preparation and prophecy of the last, and this one is the image and fulfillment of genes.

Third, the doctrine of the three offices in Christ is directly related to revelation in the Old Testament. When humanity, fallen in Adam, lost its way more and more, God chose a special people to be His property. In connection with this, Israel as a people was again given a prophetic, priestly and royal task; it was to be a priestly kingdom and an holy nation to the Lord, Exodus 19:6. But in a special sense this task was given to the men who were called by God and who worked among Israel as prophets, priests and kings. Although Israel as a whole, as a people, could be called the Anointed One of the Lord, this name belongs especially to the prophets, priests and kings, Psalms 105:15, Exodus 28:41, 1 Samuel 2:10, etc. But all these men were sinners, and therefore could not fulfil their office truthfully; they turned away from themselves, together with the whole people, and went to another one, who would be prophet, priest and king at the same time and would be called the Anointed One of the Lord in a completely unique sense, Isaiah 61:1. Christ is the fulfillment of all Old Testament revelation; He is the counterpart of all Israel and of all its prophets, priests and kings. It is He Himself who in and through them testifies of Himself and prepares His coming.

Finally, only when treated under the three offices does the work of Christ come into its fullness. There have always been unilateralists in the Christian Church who, like the rationalists, saw in Him only the prophet, or who, like the mystics, were only interested in His priestly sufferings, or who, like the chiliasts, only wanted to know of Him as King. But we need a Christ who is all three at once. We need a prophet, who declares God to us, a priest, who reconciles us to God, a king, who rules and preserves us in the name of God. The whole image of God must be restored in man; knowledge, but also holiness and righteousness. The whole man must be saved, soul and body, head and heart and hand. We need a Saviour, who redeems us completely and fully and realizes our original purpose in us. And that is what Christ does; because He Himself is prophet, priest and king, He makes us again prophets, kings and priests, to God and His Father, Revelation 1:6, Revelation 22:4.

Although anointed from eternity and already working in preparation as mediator of the covenant of grace in the days of the Old Testament, Christ first fully and truly assumed the offices of prophet, priest and king when He came into the world and said: Behold, I come to do Your will, O God. It was then that He first assumed human nature, which enabled Him to perform His mediumistic work. He had to be human in order to be able to reveal God’s name to mankind, to suffer and die on the Cross, to bear witness to the truth as the King of Truth.... .. His reception of the Holy Spirit was therefore at the same time already an initial qualification of Christ’s human nature for the task to which He would later be called. In recent times, the confession that Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary has been the subject of many objections, and many attempts have been made to explain away the story of Matthew and Luke as a Jewish or Pagan infiltration of the original Gospel. But the result has been that the truth of this history has been confirmed and revealed more clearly than before. It is not to be inferred from Judaism or Paganism, but is based on the testimony of Joseph and Mary, as is clear from the language in which it is written in Matthew and Luke. Of course, for a long time this miraculous conception was only to Joseph and Mary and perhaps to a few trusted ones. But by its very nature it did not lend itself to public communication.

Only later, when the words and deeds, and especially the resurrection of Christ had revealed who and what He was, did Mary decide to share the secret of Jesus’ conception with the disciples. Yet even after that, the reception of the Holy Spirit never came to the fore in the apostolic preaching; it is perhaps mentioned in Mark 6:4 John 1:13 (John 7:41-42), Romans 1:3-4, Romans 9:5, Php 2:7, Galatians 4:4, but except in Matthew and Luke nowhere explicitly mentioned. Nevertheless, it is an essential element of the Gospel and corresponds to all the teaching of the Scriptures concerning the person of Christ. He was, after all, the One-born Son, who, as the Word, was with God from the beginning and God Himself, who actively intervened at conception and, through the activity of the Holy Spirit, prepared Himself a true and complete human nature in Mary’s womb. Luke 2:6-7. The prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:5, cf. Matthew 1:28, was fulfilled in Him, that a virgin (a young, unmarried woman) would become pregnant and give birth to a son, who would be Immanuel and bear the names of Wonderful, Counselor, Strong God, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace.

Through this reception of the Holy Spirit, the human nature of Christ was completely free from all sin from the very beginning. Since the Zone of God had already existed as a person and had not united Himself with an existing human being, but had prepared His human nature Himself out of Mary’s womb through the activity of the Holy Spirit, He was not included in the covenant of works, had no inheritance debt to bear and was therefore not allowed to be defiled by any stain of sin. The doctrine of Rome, that Mary would have been received already unstained and would have lived sinless, is unnecessary, unfounded and - even with what the Scriptures testify about Mary, John 2:4, Mark 3:31, Luke 11:28. Mary enjoyed a high honor, greater than was ever given to prophets or apostles; she is the most blessed of women and the mother of the Lord, Luke 1:42-43. But she was in herself equal to all men; and the Holy One who was born of her,

Luke 1:35, was not due to the purity of her nature, but to the creative and sanctifying activity of the Holy Spirit in her womb.

Although the human nature which Christ took from Mary was a holy one, it was nevertheless a weak human nature. This is expressed in Scripture by the fact that He became flesh, not man, John 1:14, that He was sent in the likeness of the sinful flesh, Romans 8:3, that He assumed the form of a servant, Php 2:7, and that He became like us in everything, except for sin alone, Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 4:15. Such a weak human nature Christ had to accept, in order to be tempted, to learn obedience from suffering, to be able to fight and be sanctified in battle, to have compassion on our weaknesses and be a merciful and faithful High Priest, in a word, to suffer and die. Although in this respect He was like Adam before the fall, in that He was without sin, He was very different from him in other respects. For Adam was created all at once, but Christ was conceived in Mary’s womb and born as a helpless child. When Adam came, everything was ready for him, but when Christ came to earth, no one had counted on Him and there was not even room for Him in the inn. Adam came to rule and to subdue the whole earth: Christ came, not to be served, but to serve and to give His soul as a ransom for many. The incarnation of the Son of God was therefore not only an act of humble goodness, as it still is in the state of exaltation, but at the same time and in one act it was also an act of deep humiliation. Humiliation began with the conception itself and continued throughout life until death and the grave. Christ was not a human hero who has the motto ’Excelsior’, overcomes all obstacles and finally stands at the pinnacle of his fame; but, on the contrary, he has always descended deeper and deeper into our community. He descended, as it were, along various stages, from conception and birth, hidden and humble life in Nazareth, baptism and temptation, opposition, denial and persecution, suffering in Gethsemane, condemnation by Caiaphas and Pilate, crucifixion, death and burial, Ever further from the Father’s house, ever closer to us in the fellowship of our sin and death, until at last, in the deepest depths, he uttered his anguished complaint about his abandonment by God, but then he could also give the victorious cry of : it is finished! This humiliation includes, besides the conception and birth itself, also the simple circumstances under which Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem, the persecution to which He was exposed by Herod, the flight to Egypt to which He was forced to go with His parents, but also the quiet hidden life that was led by Jesus in Nazareth during His childhood and youth. There is very little of this recorded in the Gospels, because they do not aim at all to write a ״life of Jesus’ in the new-fashioned sense of the word, but they intend to make us know Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world and the Only Begotten of the Father. In connection with this goal the little that is told us about Jesus’ youth is sufficient.

Matthew tells us that Jesus, after returning from Egypt, went to live with his parents in Nazareth in Galilee, Matthew 2:23. His mother had lived there before, Luke 1:26, and there Jesus spent his life until his public appearance among Israel, Luke 2:39, Luke 2:51, Mark 1:9. Only after He had entered their synagogue and been cast out by His fellow townsmen did He settle in Capernaum, Luke 4:28 ff, Matthew 4:13. But He still Matthew saw in it a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, Matthew 2:23; but not of a single statement, for Nazareth and Nazarene do not occur anywhere in the Old Testament, but of the prophecy in its entirety, as it is to be found with all the prophets, that n. the Christ is a humble, holy man, and that he is a man of God. The Christ would have a lowly, humble origin, Isa. 11: 1, and that the light would rise over the nations in the darkness of Galilee of the Gentiles, Isa. 8:23, Isaiah 9:1. From the quiet life that Jesus led for years in Nazareth, we now know that He was a child, submissive to His parents, Luke 2:51. As a child He grew up physically and mentally, He increased in wisdom and in favor with God and mankind, Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52. At the age of twelve He went with His parents, for the first or for another time, to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover, Luke 2:41 ff. On the Sabbath day He went to the synagogue according to his custom, Luke 4:16, and during the week He may have helped his father in his trade; at least later He is called the carpenter himself, Mark 6:3. His later life sheds light on these quiet years to the extent that we know that he could read and write, was imbued with the Old Testament, was aware of the nature of the Pharisaic and Sadducee sects, knew the moral needs of the people, was familiar with civil and social life, loved nature, and often spent time alone in community with God. However small all these details may be, they all indicate that in the hidden years of His life Jesus was preparing Himself for the task that would later await Him in public. More and more clearly He became aware of what He was and what He had to do. His Sonship and His Messianic nature, with all that was connected with it and ensued from it, became clearer and clearer in His mind. And finally, at the age of thirty, the day came on which He would be revealed to Israel (John 1:31). The occasion of this public appearance was the preaching that John the Baptist had begun in the desert south of Judea. He was sent by God to tell Israel that in spite of their descent from Abraham, their circumcision and their own righteousness they were guilty and unclean, and needed the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Many went to him, from Jerusalem and Judea and the whole country around the Jordan, to be baptized by him, confessing their sins. Jesus also left Galilee from this preaching and went to Judea to be baptized by John, just like others. Although John objected, because he recognized the Messiah in Jesus, who himself could only baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, and had no need of baptism for his own person, Jesus urged him on, saying that he had to be baptized, because it was fitting for him to fulfill all righteousness.

Jesus did not say that He had to be baptized because He needed repentance and forgiveness; nor did He, like the others, make a confession of sins. But He saw in John a prophet, indeed much more than a prophet, His own forerunner and wayfarer, Matthew 11:7-14, and in His baptism not an arbitrary ceremony devised by John Himself, but a grace that He had received from heaven, Mark 11:30. The baptism of John was thus based on God’s will and was a piece of righteousness that Jesus had to fulfill. When Jesus undergoes this baptism, He on the one hand submits Himself completely to the will of His Father, and on the other hand He places Himself in the most intimate fellowship with that people, who in baptism receive repentance and forgiveness of sins. Baptism by John is for Jesus the solemn surrender to the whole will of the Father, the public entrance into the community with all His people, the royal entrance into His Messianic career. That is why for Him baptism had a meaning that differed from that of all others. He did not personally receive the sign and seal of his conversion and forgiveness, but he was baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, as only he can give it. In later times some sects have believed that it was not until the moment of baptism that the divine nature or power (the Christ) was united with Jesus. This view is an error because it ignores the incarnation of the Word at conception. But it is certain that the baptism of Jesus was the full qualification for His ministry. For when He came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Him, and a voice was heard from the heavens, saying: This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am well pleased, Matthew 3:16-17. Although few understood it, the day of Jesus’ baptism was the day of His revelation to Israel and the beginning of His public activity as Messiah.

Yet, before beginning this activity, He withdrew into the solitude of the desert for a few days. He met no one, was surrounded only by silent nature and wild animals, and gave Himself up to fasting, contemplation and prayer Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2. The nature of this contemplation becomes somewhat clear from the story of the temptation. The temptation by Satan, which took place at the end of the forty days and which is recounted in detail by Matthew and Mark, was a high point in the battle that Jesus had to fight, but it was by no means the only one. Luke says explicitly that He was tempted by the devil all those forty days, Luke 4:2, and that the devil, after having completed all the temptations, departed from Him for a time, Jesus was also tempted in all things, as we are, yet without sin, Hebrews 4:15. But the temptation in the desert ran over the plan of His public activity. After His baptism He was now full of the Holy Spirit Matthew 4:1, and He Himself led Him into the desert to be tempted by the devil, Matthew 4:1. Furthermore, Jesus was now fully and clearly aware that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, and could dispose of divine powers. But how would He use that power? Would He use it to selfishly satisfy His own needs, - or to win over the people by glorious miracles, or by bowing to worldly power to acquire an earthly kingdom? The tempter tries Him successively on these three points. But Jesus remains standing in all those temptations; He clings to and rejects them all with the Word of God, He submits Himself to the will and the way of the Father, He confirms Himself in His obedience and He sanctifies Himself as an offering to God. In this way He not only knows from His own experience what it is to be tempted, and can have compassion on our weaknesses; but, because He did not collapse like Adam but stood firm, He can also come to the aid of those who are tempted, Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15. In this way Jesus was prepared for the public exercise of His ministry and was introduced to it. Of these ministries, prophetic work came to the fore in the first period. Soon after He began His public activity, the people recognized Him not only as a teacher (rabbi, master), but also as a prophet; after the raising of the young man in Naïn, the crowd cried out: a great prophet has risen among us, and God has visited His people, Luke 7:16. And so it remained to the end of His life; because of His words and His miracles many considered Him a prophet, although they had no knowledge of His priesthood and kingship and were even averse to them. Yes, as a prophet, as a man who can teach us more than others about God and divine things, he is honored to this day by all those who still attach any value to religion. That Christ was a priest and a king is contested by them and considered an outdated Jewish idea; but He is gladly called a prophet, and even Muhammad grants Him this dignity in the Koran. But Jesus Himself wanted to be a prophet in a different and higher sense than many Jews recognized Him as such. When He returned to Galilee after being baptized by John and tempted in the desert, He soon after entered the synagogue at Nazareth and applied the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1 to Himself; the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to preach the Gospel to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted. He did not present Himself as a -prophet next to, but high above all others; the former prophets were servants, but He is the Son, Matthew 21:37; He is the only Master, Matthew 23:8, Matthew 23:10, John 13:13-14. But He still rises high above them all and is exalted far above them. His calling and anointing are already in eternity; His separation and empowerment already began in the miraculous reception of the Holy Spirit; at His baptism He receives the Spirit not in moderation, and He is proclaimed by a voice from heaven as the beloved Son in whom the Father has His pleasure; He does not receive a few revelations from time to time, but He Himself is the full revelation of God, the Word, which was with God and was God Himself and became flesh in time; He was and remained continually in the bosom of the Father and never spoke or did anything in His entire life except what He had received a commandment to do; therefore, He did not give a piece of revelation to be completed later by others, but is at the same time the complete and final revelation of God, fulfilling and concluding all previous prophecy. In the past God spoke to the fathers many times and in many different ways through the prophets, but He has spoken to us in these last days through the Son (Hebrews 1:1). Yes, the prophecy that went out to the fathers in the old days is thanks to Him; it was the Spirit of Christ who testified in the prophets, 1 Peter 1:11, and His testimony had Christ as its content, Revelation 19:10. The preaching of Christ was therefore in the deepest sense self-preaching, a proclamation of His own person and work. When He arose, He joined John and the Old Testament prophets in saying: "The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel" (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17). But the former prophets and also John the Baptist were wayfarers and saw the kingdom of God still in the future, Matthew 11:10-11; but now the time is fulfilled and in the person of Christ the kingdom itself has come down from heaven to earth. For God is the King and Father of it, Matthew 5:16, Matthew 5:35, Matthew 5:45 etc., but the Father has given it to Him. But the Father has ordained it for Him, that He should give it to His disciples according to the Father’s good pleasure, Matthew 11:27, Luke 12:32, Luke 22:29. In His sermon Christ unfolded the origin and nature of that kingdom, the way that leads to it and the goods it contains, its slow development and its final completion. He did not do this in the form of philosophical reasoning or scholarly discourse, but used proverbs and parables, derived His images from natural phenomena or everyday occurrences, and always spoke to the crowds in such a vivid and visual manner that they could hear and understand. Mark 4:33. If many did not understand his words ׳ and resisted, it was a proof of the hardness of their hearts and also of the good pleasure of the Father, who hides the things of the kingdom from the wise and prudent and reveals them to the children, Matthew 11:27, Matthew 13:13-15. But in themselves they were always simple and intelligible, even though they dealt with the deepest mysteries of the kingdom of God. For he himself in his person is the Son and the heir, the dispenser and the distributor, the revealer and the dispenser of it. Jesus declared the Father to us in his appearance, in his word and in his work, John 1:18, John 19:6. He who has seen Him has seen the Father, John 14:9. The word which Christ proclaimed was therefore in the essence no other than that which had already been made known in the days of the Old Testament. It contained both law and gospel; but Jesus was not a new giver of law, supplementing and correcting the law of God in the Old Testament; and the gospel proclaimed by Him was no other than that which had already been revealed by God from paradise. Jesus did not come to earth to dispense with the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). And He fulfilled them by cleansing them of all false interpretations and human additions, and by bringing them to their full realization in His own person and work. Therefore Christ stands in a different relation to the Law than Moses, and in a different relation to the Gospel than the prophets. For the Law was given by Moses, and the Gospel was proclaimed by the prophets, but grace and truth were given by Jesus Christ, John 1:17. Moses carried the law on two stone tablets in his hand and could very well have been replaced by another at the time of the transfer. And likewise the prophets were preachers of the Gospel, but they were not the Gospel itself. Christ, however, carried the law within His bowels, and accomplished the will of God completely and without any defect; and He was not merely a preacher of the Gospel, but the very substance of that Gospel, the greatest gift which God has given to the world. Grace and truth were made through Him, and inseparable from His person, The words of Jesus are accompanied and confirmed by his works. These also belonged to his office, to the accomplishment of the will of the Father, John 4:34. He did them not of Himself, but the Father gave Him all things in His hand, Matthew 11:27, John 3:35, and the Son did nothing but what He saw the Father doing, John 5:19; it was the Father Himself, abiding in the Son, who accomplished these works, John 14:10. And as they were divine in origin, so also they all bore a divine character; not only because they were miracles and departed from the ordinary order of nature, but also because they were uncommon and were not performed by other men. For while these always follow their own will, Jesus never sought after himself or pleased himself, Romans 15:3, but, denying his own will, accomplished the will of the Father. Yet among all those works, miracles occupy a large place. On the one hand they are signs and proofs of Jesus’ divine mission and power, John 2:11, John 2:24, John 4:54, John 7:31, John 9:16, John 10:37, John 11:4, etc., and on the other hand they are always such acts, which have the purpose of man’s physical and spiritual salvation. The miracles of Christ are virtually all miracles of healing and redemption, and thus belong to the exercise of his priestly ministry. This is already evident from the self-limitation imposed by Christ in performing miracles. In the desert He had resisted Satan’s temptation to use His divine power for His own benefit. And all His life He rejected this same temptation. What He says in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He could pray to His Father and that He would send more than twelve legions to Him, Matthew 26:53, applies to His whole public activity. He continually refuses to make signs to satisfy the curiosity of the people, Matthew 12:38, Matthew 16:1, John 4:48; not infrequently He sees the revelation of His power limited by the unbelief which He encounters, Matthew 13:58; and again and again the people who are miraculously healed by Him are ordered not to tell anyone about it, Mark 1:34, Mark 1:44, Mark 3:12 etc. Jesus did not want to give food for the wrong thoughts that were cherished among the people concerning the Messiah and his works.

Furthermore, the works that Jesus performed also belong to his priestly ministry, because they are demonstrations of his inner compassion. We read about this again and again, Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14, Matthew 15:32 etc., and the evangelist Matthew sees in the healings a confirmation of Isaiah’s prophecy that He took our sicknesses upon Himself and carried them away, Matthew 8:17. Elsewhere this prophecy is applied to the death of Christ, through which He atoned for our sins, John 1:29, 1 Peter 2:24. But sin and sickness belong together. As the merciful High Priest, Christ has not only taken away our sin, but therein also the cause of all our misery. And in the various miracles that He performed, in the exorcism of the dead, in the healing of the blind and deaf, of the lame and crippled, in the raising of the dead and in the control of nature, He provides conclusive proof that He can completely deliver us from all our misery. There is no guilt so heavy, no sin so great, no misery so deep, or He can remove it by His priestly mercy and His royal power. Of course the priestly activity is especially evident in His last suffering and death, but the surrender of His soul as a ransom for many, is a completion of the service to which He came on earth, and which He practiced throughout His life, Matthew 20:28. As the Lamb of God He bore the sin of the world always, John 1:29. His humiliation began with the incarnation, has been a continuing life of obedience out of suffering, and has been completed in the death of the cross, Php 2:8, Hebrews 5:8. Christ was ordained by the Father not only as a prophet but also as a priest; and like his prophetic office, he also fulfilled his priestly office throughout his life.

Yet it is remarkable that Christ never mentions the name of priest in the New Testament, except in the letter to the Hebrews. His life and death are indeed repeatedly presented as a sacrifice, but the name of priest is only used in that letter. There is a good reason for this. Christ is certainly a priest, but He is a priest in a completely different sense than the priests under the Old Testament and according to the Law of Moses. They were priests only, but not prophets and kings; they lived and served for a short time, and then had to be replaced by others; they offered sacrifices of swine and goats, which could not take away sins. But all this does not apply to Christ; even He was descended from the tribe of Judah and therefore, according to the law of Moses, had no claim to the priesthood, Hebrews 7:14.

According to the letter to the Hebrews, Christ was not a priest after the order of Aaron, but after that of Melchizedek. This was already foretold in the 1 Oth Psalm: the Messiah would be a priest, who would attach royal dignity to himself and would remain a priest forever. The letter to the Hebrews elaborates on this and explains at length that Christ, not according to the order of Aaron but according to that of Melchizedek, is a priest, because He is at the same time king; is completely righteous and sinless. He is a King of righteousness; He remains a priest forever and is never replaced by another; He brings an offering, not of heifers or goats, but of His own body and blood; thereby acquiring perfect salvation for His people; and thus He brings an everlasting peace and is a King of peace, Hebrews 7:1-28, Hebrews 8:1-13, Hebrews 9:1-28, Hebrews 10:1-39. The practical admonition, which is derived from this for the Jewish Christians, who were exposed to the danger of apostasy, is this, that they have no reason to go back, but rather have the calling to go forward, Hebrews 6:1. What the Old Testament priests represented only symbolically and typically through their sacrifices and intercessions, namely to open up the access of the people to God’s presence, has been completely and eternally accomplished by Christ. There, through Him, a new and living way has been opened that leads to eternal life, through which Christians may approach the throne of grace with complete boldness and assurance of faith.

Just as the priestly ministry is closely connected with the prophetic ministry, so with the priestly again is the royal ministry of Christ. One of the peculiarities of the priesthood of Christ is that it is connected with the kingship, Psalms 110:4, Hebrews 7:17. It was, after all, Israel’s calling to be a priestly kingdom to the Lord, Exodus 19:6; and though the offices among Israel were separate, the prophecy held out the prospect that the Messiah, the sprout that would come forth out of his own place and build the temple of the Lord, would bear the jewel (the royal majesty), and in this majesty sit on his throne and reign. He would be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace would be between the two, that is, between his priestly and his kingly office there would be complete agreement and unanimous deliberation about the peace that had to be established for his people. The Messiah, who combines the royal and priestly office within himself, will thus bring about that perfect peace which his people need (Zechariah 6:13). This union with the priestly office gives the Messiah’s kingship its own character. He will come forth from the house of David, 2 Samuel 7:16, but at a time when it will have come to its decline, Micah 5:1. And He Himself shall be a king, righteous, endowed with help and salvation by God, but also humble, and for the sign of His humility riding on a donkey, yes on a colt, a donkey’s young, Zechariah 9:9. And just as the Messiah will not display earthly glory and power in his appearance, so also his kingdom will not be established by force of arms. On the contrary, the Lord will ’in his days remove the chariots from Ephraim and the horses from Jerusalem, and the bow shall be removed; and Messiah shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion shall be from the sea to the sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, Zechariah 9:10, cf. Psalms 72:1-20. This prophecy of the future Messiah has been completely fulfilled in Christ. The New Testament repeatedly and emphatically states that He is of the house of David, and therefore has a right to His throne, also according to the laws of the Kingdom of Israel. Both genealogies, Matthew 1:1-25 and Luke 3:1-38, make Him known as the Son of David. The angel announced to Mary that God the Lord would give her son, who would be called the Son of the Highest, the throne of his father David and would appoint him king over the house of Jacob for all eternity, Luke 1:32-33. He is universally recognized as the son of David, Matthew 9:27, Matthew 12:23, Matthew 15:22, Matthew 20:30, Matthew 21:9, Romans 1:3. And with this Davidic descent is connected the idea, that He is a king and has the right to a kingdom, Luke 23:42.

Also in His own consciousness Jesus is a king. It is true that He preaches about the kingdom of God, and He repeatedly says that God is the king of that kingdom, Matthew 5:35, Matthew 18:23, Matthew 22:2. But then He is, in distinction from the servants, the Son of the King, Matthew 21:37, yes also King Himself, Matthew 25:31 f. But He is still King in another sense than that in which the Jews of that time expected their Messiah to be. He never asserted before the authorities of the Jewish people, before King Herod or before the Roman emperor his legitimate claims to the throne of his father David. He resists the temptation to gain dominion over the world by worldly means, Matthew 4:8-10. When, after the miraculous feeding, the multitudes wanted to take Him by the horns and make Him their king, He avoided them and sought the solitude of the mountain for prayer, John 6:15, Matthew 14:23. He did indeed repeatedly profess His royal power, but He showed it״not in wielding power, like the rulers of the nations, but in serving and giving His soul as a ransom for many, Matthew 20:25-28. His kingship was manifested in the power with which He spoke, proclaimed His laws for the kingdom of heaven, subdued the people, commanded sickness and death to be spared, and Himself gave up His life on the cross, in order to take it again, and once as King and Judge to judge the living and the dead. But this spiritual significance which Christ, in accordance with the prophecy of the Old Testament, attributes to his kingship, must not lead us to think that he was not actually a king and that he only carried this name metaphorically. Just as He is not according to the order of Aaron but according to that of Melchizedek, and for that very reason is a better priest than the priests of the Old Testament, so He is also, because He is a different king from the rulers of the nations, not a lesser but a better king. He is the true king, the real king, and the kings of the earth are but in image and likeness. He is the King of kings, the chief of the kings of the earth, the King who reigns in and out, spiritually and physically, in heaven and on earth, to the ends of the earth and forever.

He never forsakes His rightful claim to this perfect and eternal kingship, neither for God nor for man. Also during His stay on earth He has never renounced His divine nor His human rights. He did not try to obtain it by force, but only in the way of perfect obedience to God. But in so doing He has strengthened His claims. In His humiliation He proved to be the Son of God and must therefore also be the heir of all things. To show that He is king in this true sense, He entered Jerusalem on the Sunday that opens the week of suffering. There was now no danger that the nature of His kingship would be misunderstood. For a life of servile obedience, in which He had repelled all earthly power by word and deed, now lay behind Him; the enmity between Him and the people was already at its height; and this, the same week, they would lay their hands on Him and deliver Him to death. Whereas in the past he had evaded the attempt to make him king, now he takes the initiative in his royal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 22:1). Before he dies, he must therefore once more, openly, make himself known to all the people as the Messiah born of David and sent by God. But then, in accordance with the prophecy, he also made himself known to them as a king who was humble and rode on the foal of a donkey. He was condemned by the Sanhedrin and Pilate for his Messianic character, for his divine sonship and his Davidic kingship; he was a King, Matthew 27:11; the inscription above his cross testified to this, against the will of the Jews, John 19:19-22. The whole of Jesus’ life, both in His prophetic and royal activity and in His priestly activity, ends in death. Death is the end of His life; Jesus came to die. He himself was clearly aware of this. Already at His first, public appearance in the synagogue of Nazareth, He applied to Himself the prophecy about the suffering servant of the Lord, Luke 4:16 ff, and was thus clearly aware that He would be led to the slaughter like a lamb. He was the Lamb who bore the sin of the world, John 1:29. The temple of his body was to be torn down, but also raised up again after three days, John 2:19. Just as Moses exalted the serpent in the wilderness, so according to God’s counsel the Son of Man must be exalted on the Cross, John 3:14, cf. John 12:32-33. He was the grain of wheat that had to fall into the earth and die in order to bear fruit, John 12:24.

Thus Jesus, from the very beginning of his public activity, indicates death as the end of his life in pictures and parables. But as that end came nearer, He expressed Himself more clearly and unequivocally. Especially after Peter, in the name of all the disciples, had confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, at a decisive hour near Caesarea Philippi, He began to show them that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer a lot from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day (Matthew 16:21). The disciples did not understand this and did not want to know anything about it. Peter even took Him aside confidentially and began to chastise Him, saying : 1 But Jesus saw this as a temptation and answered him sternly: Get away from me, Satan; you are a stumbling block to me, for you do not consider the things that are God’s, but man’s. Matthew 16:22-23. Christ’s steadfastness in surrendering to death received the seal of divine approval a few days later on the Mount of Transfiguration; his going to Jerusalem was in accordance with the law and the prophets (Moses and Elijah) and with the will of the Father; he remained the beloved Son in whom the Father was pleased, and the disciples were not, like Peter, to rebuke him, but to listen to him respectfully and in submission. Matthew 17:1-8.

Yet this death is not sought by Jesus. He did not challenge the Pharisees and the Scriptures to lay hands on Him. Although He knew that His hour had come (John 12:23, John 17:1), it was still Judas who voluntarily sold and betrayed Him, it was the servants of the chief priests and Pharisees who imprisoned Him, the members of the Sanhedrin and the governor Pontius Pilate who sentenced Him and put Him to death. God’s counsel does not exclude historical circumstances and does not cancel out man’s guilt. On the contrary, He was given by God’s determinate counsel and foreknowledge, but in such a way that the Jews took Him and attached Him to the Cross by the hands of the unrighteous and killed Him (Acts 2:23 and Acts 4:28). This death of Christ is at the center of the Apostolic proclamation, not only later but from the very beginning, Acts 2:23 ff, 3:28, 2: 23 ff, 3: 14 ff, 4: 10 ff etc., and not only with Paul but with all the apostles. Only after the resurrection of Christ was the necessity and significance of Jesus’ suffering and death understood through the instruction of the Holy Spirit. That suffering and death was certainly also a fulfillment of His prophetic activity, a proof of the truth of His teaching, and a seal of His whole life. After all, under Pontius Pilate he made a good confession, 1 Timothy 6:13, and in his innocent and patient suffering he left us an example, so that we would follow in his footsteps, 1 Peter 2:21. He is the faithful Witness, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 3:14, who as apostle and high priest is the workman and the substance of our confession, Hebrews 3:1, and begets and completes faith in us, Hebrews 12:2. And likewise the death of Christ is a revelation of His royal power, for His death was not a fate that He had to suffer, but an act that He Himself willingly and voluntarily performed, John 10:17-18; His death on the cross was an exaltation above the earth and a triumph over His enemies, John 3:14, John 8:28, John 12:32, John 12:34, because it was the most perfect obedience to the commandment of the Father, John 14:31. But we must not stop at this significance of Christ’s death, according to the Apostolic teaching. In his death, Jesus was not only a witness and a guide, a martyr and a hero, a prophet and a king. But above all he was also active as a priest; his high priestly office comes most strongly and clearly to the fore in his death; according to the teachings of the entire Holy Scripture, his death was a voluntary sacrifice, offered by him to the Father. According to the teachings of the entire Holy Scripture, his death was a voluntary offering to the Father. When the New Testament presents the death of Christ under this name, it is in close connection with the Old Testament. Sacrifices have existed from ׳ the oldest times; they occur with Cain and Abel, with Noah and the patriarchs, and are found with all peoples and in all religions. Generally speaking, their purpose is to secure or regain the favor and fellowship of the Godhead by offering a material gift, consisting of living or inanimate objects which are destroyed in a ceremonial way. The Lord also included these sacrifices in the legislation for His people Israel. But here they were given a different place and a modified meaning.

First of all they were limited to the offering of cattle (cattle, sheep, lambs, goats, goats, pigeons) and fruits of the land (flour, oil, wine, incense, spices) and were to be brought only to Jehovah, the God of Israel; the offering of human beings, the drinking of blood, mutilation of the body was forbidden, Genesis 22:11, Deuteronomy 12:23, Deuteronomy 14:1, Deuteronomy 18:10, etc., and likewise all sacrifices to Jehovah, the God of Israel, were forbidden, And likewise all sacrifices to idols, to the dead, to holy animals were contrary to God’s will, Exodus 32:4 ff, Numbers 25:2 ff, Hosea 11:2, Jeremiah 11:12, Ezekiel 8:10, Psalms 106:28. In the other place, they were far behind in value to the moral commandments; obedience is better than sacrifice and notice than the fat of rams; the Lord has pleasure in beneficence and not in sacrifice, in the knowledge of God more than in burnt offerings, 1 Samuel 15:22, Hosea 6:6, Hosea 14:2, Micah 6:6, Micah 6:8, Psalms 40:7, Psalms 50:7-14, Psalms 51:18-19, Proverbs 21:3. In the third place, the sacrifices were in the service of the promise, just like the priesthood, the temple, the altar and the whole legal dispensation. They did not bring about the covenant of grace, for this rests solely on God’s gracious election, but only, served to maintain and confirm this covenant among Israel. As the whole nation of Israel was by virtue of God’s election and calling a kingdom of priests, Exod. 19 : 6, and the priesthood was but a subordinate and temporary institution, the sacrifices (especially the burnt offerings, sin offerings and trespass offerings) were but the ceremonial indication of the way in which the sins committed by the Israelites within the covenant, that is to say, not with a raised hand but by error (unknowing, unforeseen), could be atoned for, Leviticus 4:22, Leviticus 4:27, Leviticus 5:15, Leviticus 5:18. Numbers 15:25, Numbers 35:11, Numbers 35:15, Joshua 20:3, Joshua 20:9. For the serious, deliberate sins which broke the covenant and incurred God’s wrath, although they were often punished civilly, there was only an appeal to the mercy of God, who then, though also through the intervention of persons such as Abraham, Genesis 18:23-33, Moses, Exodus 32:11-14, Numbers 14:15-20, Pinehas, Numbers 25:11, Amos, Amos 7:4-6, cf. Jeremiah 15:1, for his name’s sake forgive, Exodus 33:19, Exodus 34:6, Psalms 78:38, Psalms 79:8-9, Isaiah 43:25, Ezek. 36:52, Micah 7:18 etc. By this whole service, God taught his people in the first place, that the covenant of grace, with all its goods and benefits, was due solely to his mercy; it had its origin and basis in his undeserved mercy: I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, Exod. But furthermore, through the ceremonial institutions and laws, the Lord made His people understand that He could not bestow the benefit of the forgiveness of sins except by the way of reconciliation. Sin is always of such a nature that it arouses God’s wrath and makes man guilty and unclean. Therefore, in general, a sacrifice is necessary to appease God’s wrath, to free man from his guilt and impurity, and to restore him to the favor and fellowship of God. In the case of sins for which the law does not specify a particular sacrifice as the means of atonement, that atonement is, as it were, rarely left to God; it is then He Himself who atones for the sins and in that way forgives them; forgiveness presupposes atonement and includes it, Psalms 65:4, Psalms 78:38, Psalms 79:9, Proverbs 16:6, Isaiah 27:9, Jeremiah 18:23, Ezekiel 16:63, etc. But even in the case of sins that have gone astray and can be atoned for in accordance with the law by a certain offering, it is God Himself who, by means of the sacrifice, priest and altar, covers and takes away the sins, Leviticus 17:11, Numbers 8:19; the whole service of atonement emanates from Him and is ordained by Him. The blood of the sacrificial animal serves as the actual means of atonement. The blood is the seat of the soul, the seat of the animal life principle, and was therefore given by the Lord on the altar to make atonement for the souls, Leviticus 17:11. But in order to be a means of atonement this blood first had to be poured out in death by the slaughter of the sacrificial animal, which the sinning man brought to the temple and on which he had laid his hands, and then sprinkled all around the altar by the priest, Exodus 29:15-16, Exodus 29:19-20 etc.; the laying on of hands, the slaughter and the sprinkling of the altar indicated the way in which the blood as the seat of the soul became a means of atonement. And when the blood had thus atoned for, covered, and taken away the sins, then the guilt was forgiven, the blemish cleansed, the fellowship of the covenant with God restored. Priesthood and people, temple and altar and all the instruments of service were appropriated to the Lord through the blood; they were all sanctified, that the Lord might dwell in the midst of the children of Israel and be their God. Exodus 29:43-46. But the whole of this sacrificial service was provisional, and possessed only a shadow of the future goods, Hebrews 10:1. The tabernacle in the wilderness was but a picture of the true sanctuary, Hebrews 8:5. The priests were sinners themselves, who had to make atonement not only for the people’s sins, but also for their own, Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:7, and were prevented by death from ever remaining, Hebrews 7:23. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away the sins nor cleanse the consciences, Hebrews 9:9, Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 10:4; therefore they had to be brought again and again, Hebrews 10:1. In a word, it was all external, weak, unprofitable, not un- risible, Hebrews 7:18, Hebrews 8:7, and pointed to a better future. Pious Israel learned to understand this better and better in the course of the centuries; they eagerly looked forward to the day when the Lord would establish a new covenant, would Himself bring about true atonement and would allow His people to share in the full enjoyment of the benefits of forgiveness and renewal, Jeremiah 31:33 ff, Jeremiah 33:8, Ezekiel 11:20, Ezekiel 36:25 ff. This expectation receives its most beautiful expression, especially in Isaiah; his book of comfort begins with the proclamation to Jerusalem that her struggle is fulfilled, that her iniquity is forgiven, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins, Isaiah 40:2, and then unfolds the prophecy of the servant of the Lord, who takes our sicknesses and sorrows, our transgression and punishment upon himself, and thereby brings us healing and peace, Isaiah 53:2 ff. In line with the Old Testament, the New Testament sees the death of Christ as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus did not only say that He had come to fulfill the law and the prophets and all God’s righteousness (Matthew 3:15), but He also applied the sacrifice to our sins, Matthew 5:17. He also applied to Himself the prophecy of Isaiah and saw Himself as the servant of the Lord, who was anointed with His Spirit and had to preach the Gospel to the poor, Luke 4:17 ff. He came, according to the commandment of the Father, to lay down his life and take it again, to give life to his sheep and through death to prepare his flesh and his blood for a food and drink that shall last unto eternal life, John 2:19, John 3:14, His death is the true sacrifice and the perfect fulfilment of all the sacrifices that were offered in accordance with the law in the days of the Old Testament.

Christ’s death is the fullest surrender to the Father’s will, a proof that He came not to be served but to serve, and in this way He becomes a ransom, a ransom price, by which many are ransomed from the power of sin under which they were captives, Matthew 20:28. It is the fulfillment of the covenant sacrifice, by which the Old Covenant was inaugurated, Exodus 24:8, and lays the foundation for the New Covenant, Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 9:15-22. It is called a victim and an offering, Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 9:26, and is the realisation of the thought of the paschal sacrifice, John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6 etc., of the sin and guilt offering, Romans 8:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 13:11, 1 Peter 3:18, and of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 9:12. And not only the sacrifices of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in Christ, but also all the requirements to which they had to conform and all the actions that took place. The priest who sacrificed had to be a man without defect, Leviticus 21:17 f., and so is Christ a high priest, holy, without defect, undefiled and separate from sinners, Hebrews 7:26. The animal that was sacrificed had to be without blemish and perfect, Leviticus 22:20 ff, and Christ is therefore a lamb, unsanctified and without blemish, 1 Peter 1:19. Just as the sacrificial animal had to be slaughtered by the hand of the priest, Exodus 29:11 ff, so Christ was also slaughtered as a lamb and bought us with His blood, Revelation 5:6, Revelation 5:9. No leg was to be broken on the paschal lamb, Exodus 12:46; therefore Christ also died without a leg being broken, John 19:36. After the slaughter, the priest took the blood of the sacrificial animal and sprinkled it into the sanctuary at the sin offering, Leviticus 16:15, Numbers 19:4, and on the people at the covenant offering, Exodus 24:8; thus Christ also entered once into the true sanctuary by His own blood, Hebrews 9:13, and sprinkled it on His people, 1 Peter 1:2, Hebrews 12:24. At the sin offering the blood of the animal was brought into the sanctuary, but the body was burned with fire outside the camp, Leviticus 16:27; in the same way Christ, to sanctify the people by His own blood, suffered outside the gate, Hebrews 13:13. And just as in the Old Testament cult the blood, as the seat of life, by its outpouring in death and its sprinkling on the altar, was the actual means of kissing, so also in the New Covenant the blood of Christ is the working cause of the atonement, forgiveness and purification of our sins, Matthew 26:28, Acts 20:28, Romans 3:25, Romans 5:9, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 12:24, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 1:6, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 5:9, etc. When the New Testament speaks of Christ’s suffering and death as an offering in this sense, it does use an image and derives the words and expressions from the sacrificial cult of the Old Testament; but it must not be inferred from this that this image is accidental and unreal, and can be surrendered by us without harm. On the contrary, Scripture proceeds from the idea that the sacrifices in the days of the Old Testament were image and shadow and received their fulfillment in the sacrifice of Christ. Just as Christ was not a prophet, priest and king by way of comparison but in a true sense, so too his surrender in death was not a sacrifice in a figurative but in the most essential and true sense of the word. We cannot, therefore, do without the designation of Christ’s death as a sacrifice, but with the word we immediately lose the matter itself. And that matter is of the greatest value to us; it is the source of our salvation.

After all, if Christ’s death is called a sacrifice, it means that He gave Himself up as a sacrifice and a victim, to please God (Ephesians 5:2). Certainly, Christ was a gift and proof of God’s love, John 3:16; God confirmed His love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5:8; He did not even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, Romans 8:32. The birth, life and also suffering and death of Christ indicate and assure us of the love of God. But this love of God does not set aside His righteousness, but rather incorporates it. It is a love that does not rob sin of its character as sin, but opens a way to its forgiveness through reconciliation. It was according to the commandment of the Father that Christ should die, Matthew 26:54, Luke 24:25, Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28, and by his death he fulfilled God’s justice, Matthew 3:15, Matthew 5:17, John 10:17-18, Romans 3:25-26. In the death of Christ, God, in forgiving the sins that had previously taken place under His forbearance, maintained His perfect justice, and at the same time paved the way for Himself, while maintaining His justice, to justify all those who are of the faith of Jesus. In the second place, Christ’s sacrifice is a demonstration, both of his ״lateral’ and ״perpetual’ obedience. In former times, passive obedience was so emphasized that the immediate obedience almost disappeared behind it; but nowadays, so much emphasis is placed on the latter that the former cannot come into its own. According to Scripture, however, the two go together and are to be regarded as two sides of the same thing. From the moment of his conception and birth Christ has always been obedient to the Father; his whole life is to be regarded as the fulfilment of God’s righteousness, of his law and commandment, Matthew 3:15, Matthew 5:17, John 4:34, John 6:38, Romans 9:19; coming into the world he said: Behold, I come to do your will, O God, Hebrews 10:5-9. But this obedience was first fully manifested in death, and then in the death of the cross, Php 2:8; the New Testa¬ment is full of it, that first through the suffering and death of Christ sin was atoned for, forgiven, taken away. Not only the fulfilment of the Law, but also the punishment belonged to the Father’s will, which Christ had to fulfil.

Thus, in the third place, the sacrifice of Christ is connected with us and our sins. Already in the Old Testament we read that Abraham offered a ram for a burnt offering in his son’s place (Genesis 22:13), that the Israelite laid hands on a sacrificial animal in his place (Leviticus 16:21), and that the Lord’s servant was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). In the same way the New Testament makes a very close connection between Christ’s sacrifice and our sins. The Son of man came into the world to give his soul (his life) as a ransom in the place of many (Matthew 20:28, 1 Timothy 2:6). He was delivered up for, or the sake of our sins, Romans 4:25, died in respect of our sins, Romans 8:3, Hebrews 10:6, Hebrews 10:18 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10, or, as it is usually expressed, for our sakes or our sins, Luke 22:19-20, John 10:15, Romans 5:8, Romans 8:32, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:10, Hebrews 2:9, 1 Peter 2:21, John 3:16, etc. The fellowship into which Christ entered according to these testimonies of Scripture is so profound and deep that we cannot even conceive of it or understand it. The word ’vicarious suffering’ expresses it only in a weak and inadequate way, and it goes far beyond our imagination and thought. There are some analogies (similarities) among people who can convince us of its possibility. We know of parents who suffer for and with their children, of heroes who sacrifice themselves for their fatherland, of noble men and women who sow what others will reap after them. Everywhere the law continues that some work, suffer, fight, so that others may enter into their labor and enjoy the fruit. The death of one is the bread for another. The grain of wheat must die in order to bear fruit. The mother gives life to her child in childbirth. But all these examples are mere comparisons and cannot be equated with the community in which Christ entered us. Hardly anyone will die for a righteous person, although it remains possible that someone will die for a good person. But God confirms His love for us, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:7-8).

There was actually no fellowship between Christ and us, but only separation and opposition. For He was the only begotten and beloved Son of the Father, and we were all like the prodigal son. He was righteous and holy and without sin, and we were sinners, guilty before God and unclean from head to foot. Nevertheless, Christ has communed with us, not only in the physical sense, by taking on our nature, our flesh and blood, but also in the juridical and ethical sense, by entering into communion with our sin and death. He stands in our place; He puts Himself in that relation to the law of God in which we stood to it; He takes upon Himself our guilt, our sickness, our pain, our punishment; He, who knew no sin, is made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians 5:21. He became a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law. He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them. 2 Corinthians 5:15.

Here is the mystery of godliness, the mystery of divine love. We do not understand the vicarious suffering of Christ, because we, being haters of God and hating each other, cannot even remotely calculate what love is capable of and what eternal, infinite, divine love can do. But we do not need to understand this mystery: we may believe it, rest in it, glory in it and rejoice. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brings us peace was upon Him, and through His wounds we are healed. We all erred like sheep; we turned every one to his own way; but the Lord hath made all our iniquities to run to Him, Isaiah 53:5-6.

What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who will be against us? Who also did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him give us all things? Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? It is God who justifies: who is it that condemns? It is Christ who died, yea what is more, who was also raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also prays for us, Romans 8:31-34.