Reading: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”—Isaiah 53:10

The offering Christ made for sin, was not the blood of beasts but His own blood (Hebrews 9:12). And herein he transcended all other priests, for He had something of His own to offer; He had a body given him to be at His own disposal. He offered His body, yea, not only His body, but His “soul was made an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10).

The blood that he shed is invaluably precious, so the apostle says (1 Peter 1:19). And yet I dare not affirm, as some do, that by reason of the infinite preciousness of Christ’s blood, one drop thereof had been sufficient to have redeemed the whole world.

If one drop had been enough, why was all the rest, even to the last drop, shed? Was God cruel, to exact more from Him than was needful and sufficient? Besides, we must remember, that the passions of Christ, which were inflicted on Him as the curse of the law, these only are the passions which are sufficient for our redemption from the curse of the law.

Now it was not a drop of blood, but death which was contained in the curse; this therefore was necessary to be inflicted. But surely as none but God can estimate the weight and evil of sin, so none but He can comprehend the worth and preciousness of the blood of Christ, shed to expiate it.

(Taken from “The Fountain of Life” in The Works of John Flavel, 1:156–157)

 

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood-bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.

—William Cowper