Required reading
The Works (Vol 4) of John Newton (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Sermon XXIV (Messiah's innocence vindicated).
My summary
This week Newton preaches on 'He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken' (Isaiah 53:8)
Newton teaches us about the Messiah's innocence. Christ's innocence is established by:
(i) Judas;
(ii) Pilate;
(iii) the thief on the cross;
(iv) the heavenly Father.
What grabbed me
I liked Newton's comments on the testimony of the Father to Christ's innocence: 'Though the salvation of men, and the honour of the law of God, required, that when Messiah undertook to make an atonement for our sins, he should be thus given up to the rage and cruelty of his enemies, suffer all the infamy due to the worst and vilest trans- gressors, and be deserted by God and man ; yet his heavenly Father bore a signal and solemn testimony to his character. The frame of nature sympathized with her suffering Lord. The heavens were clothed with sackcloth ; the sun withdrew his shining ; the sanctuary was laid open, by the rending of the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom ; the earth trembled greatly ; the rocks were rent ; the graves opened ; and the dead arose. These events, in connexion with what had passed before, extorted an acknowledgment of his innocence from the Roman centurion, who was appointed to attend his execution.'
Christ's death was not ordinary by any stretch of the imagination.
Next week's reading
Read Sermon XXV (Messiah rising from the dead).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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