[SECOND. The sufficiency of this redemption.]
An account of the sufficiency of this redemption. 'Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.' The sufficiency or plenteousness of it may be spoken to, as it respecteth the many difficulties and dangers that by sin we have brought ourselves into; or as it respecteth the superabundant worth that is found therein, let the dangers attending us be what they will, though we should not be acquainted with the half or the hundredth part thereof.
To speak to it as it respected those particular difficulties and dangers that by sin we have brought ourselves unto; and that, First. By showing the suitableness of it. Second. By showing the sufficiency of the suitableness thereof.
First, its suitability lies in its fit application to all the parts of thraldom and bondage. Have we sinned? Christ had our sins laid upon his back; yea, of God was made, that is, reputed, sin for us (Isa 53; 2 Cor 5:21). Were we under the curse of the law because of sin? Christ was made under the law and bore the curse thereof to redeem (Gal 4:4, 3:13; Rom 3:24). Had sin set us indefinitely from God? Christ has become, by the price of his redeeming blood, a reconciler of man to God again (Col 1:20). Were we by sin subject to death? Christ died the death to set us free therefrom (Rom 6:23). Had our sins betrayed us into and under Satan's slavery? Christ has spoiled and destroyed this work, and made us free citizens of heaven (Acts 26:18; 2 Tim 2:26; Heb 2:14; Eph 2:19). Thus was our Redeemer made, as to those things, a suitable recoverer, taking all and missing nothing that stood in the way of our happiness; according to that a little below the text, 'And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities,' that is, from them, together with their evil fruits. Second. Now as to the sufficiency that was in this suitableness, that is declared by his resurrection, by his ascension, by his exaltation to the right hand of God; that is also proclaimed by God's putting all things under his feet, and by giving of him to be head over all things for his redeemed's sake. It is also further declared that God now threatens none but those that refuse to take Jesus for their Saviour, and for that, he is resolved to make his foes his footstool. What are more natural consequences flowing from anything than that by these things is the sufficiency of the suitableness of redemption by Christ proved? For all these things followed Christ, for, or because he humbled himself to the death of the cross, that he might become a Redeemer; therefore God raised him up, took him to his throne, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God by him (Phil 2).
But, alas! What need we stand to prove the sun is light, the fire hot, the water wet? What was done by him was done by God, for he was the true God; and what comparison can there be betwixt God and the creature, betwixt the worth of God's acts, and the merit of the sin of poor man! And can death, or sin, or the grave hold us, when God saith, 'Give up?' Yea, where is that, or he, that shall call into question the superabounding sufficiency that is in the merit of Christ, when God continueth to discharge, day by day, yea, hourly, and every moment, sinners from their sin, and death, and hell, for the sake of the redemption that is obtained for us by Christ?
God be thanked, here is plenty, but no want of anything! Enough and to spare! It will be with the merit of Christ, even at the end of the world, as it was with the five loaves and two fishes, after the five thousand men, besides women and children, had sufficiently eaten thereof. There was, to the view of all, at last, more than showed itself at first. At first, there were but five loaves and two fishes, which a lad carried. At last, twelve baskets were complete, the weight of which not the strongest man could bear away. Nay, I am persuaded that at the end of the world, when the damned shall see what a sufficiency there is left of merit in Christ, besides what was bestowed upon them that were saved by him, they will run mad for anguish of heart to think what fools they were not to come to him, and trust in him that they might be saved, as their fellow-sinners did. But this is revealed in Israel, where the godly may hope and expect. Let Israel, therefore, hope in the Lord, for with him is plenteous redemption.
[Amplifying reasons as a conclusion of the whole.]
Now as this last clause, as I termed it, is the amplification of the reason going before; so itself yieldeth amplifying reasons as a conclusion of the whole. For,
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