The Fountain of Life
The Fountain of Life opened up: or, a display
of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory.
by John Flavel
The Solemn Consecration of the Mediator
"And for their sakes I sanctify myself." John 17:19
Jesus Christ being fitted with a body, and authorized by
a commission, now actually devotes, and sets himself apart to his work. In
the former sermon you heard what the Father did; in this you shall hear what
the Son has done towards the farther advancement of that glorious design of
our salvation: He sanctified himself for our sakes. Wherein observe, (1.)
Christ's sanctifying of himself. (2.) The end or design of his so doing.
1. You have Christ's sanctifying of himself. The word "hagiadzo"
is not here to be understood for the cleansing, purifying, or making holy
that which was before unclean and unholy, either in a moral sense, as we are
cleansed from sin by sanctification; or in a ceremonial sense, as persons
and things were sanctified under the law; though here is a plain allusion to
those legal rites; But Christ's sanctifying himself, imports, (1.) His
separation, or setting apart to be an oblation or sacrifice--as the priest
and sacrifice. I sanctify myself, imports, (2.) His consecration, or
dedication of himself to this holy use and service. So the Dutch
Annotations, I sanctify myself, (That is,) I give up myself for a holy
sacrifice. And so our English Annotations, I sanctify, (That is,) I
consecrate and voluntarily offer myself a holy and unblemished sacrifice to
you for their redemption. And thus under the Law, when any day, person, or
vessel, was consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, it was so entirely for
his use and service, that to use it afterward in any common service, was to
profane and pollute it, as you see Dan. 5:3.
2. The end of his so sanctifying himself [for their
sakes, and that they might be sanctified, where you have the Finis cujus,
the end for whom, for their (that is,) for the elect's sake, for them whom
you gave me; and the Finis cui, the end for which, that they might be
sanctified. Where you also see that the death of Christ wholly respects us;
he offered not for himself as other priests did, but for us, that we may be
sanctified. Christ is so in love with holiness, that at the price of his
blood he will buy it for us. Hence the observation is;
DOCTRINE. That Jesus Christ did dedicate, and wholly set
himself apart to the work of a Mediator, for the elect's sake.
This point is a glass, wherein the eye of your faith may
see Jesus Christ preparing himself to be offered up to God for us, fitting
himself to die. And to keep a clear method, I shall open these two things,
in the doctrinal part; First, what his sanctifying himself implies:
Secondly, How it respects us.
First, What is implied in this phrase, "I sanctify
myself". And there are seven things carried in it.
1. This phrase "I sanctify myself" implies the personal
union of the two natures in Christ; for what is that which he here calls
himself, but the same that was consecrated to be a sacrifice, even his human
nature? This was the sacrifice. And this also was himself: So the apostle
speaks, Heb. 9:14. "He through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself to
God, without spot." So that our nature, by that assumption, is become
himself. Greater honor cannot be done it, or greater ground of comfort
proposed to us. But having spoken of that union in the former sermon, shall
remit the reader there.
2. This sanctifying, or consecrating himself to be a
sacrifice for us, implies, the greatness and dreadfulness of that breach
which sin made between God and us. You see no less a sacrifice than Christ
himself must be sanctified to make atonement. Judge of the greatness of the
wound by the breadth of the plaister. "Sacrifice and offering, and
burnt-offering for sin, you would not; but a body have you prepared me,"
Heb. 10:5. All our repentance, could we shed as many tears for sin, as there
have fallen drops of rain since the creation, could not have been our
atonement: "But God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." And
had he not sanctified Christ to this end, he would have sanctified himself
upon us, in judgement and fury forever.
3. This his sanctifying Himself, implies his free and
voluntary undertaking of the work. It is not, I am sanctified, as if he had
been merely passive in it, as the lambs that typed him out were, when
plucked from the fold, but it is an active verb he uses here, I sanctify
myself; he would have none think that he died out of a necessity of
compulsion, but out of choice: therefore he is solid to "offer up himself to
God", Heb. 10:14. And John 9:18, "I lay down my life of myself; no man takes
it from me." And although it is often said "his Father sent him, and gave
him"; yet his heart was as much set on that work, as if there had been
nothing but story, ease, and comfort in it; he was under no constraint, but
that of his own love. Therefore, as when the scripture would set forth the
willingness of the Father to this work, it says, God sent his Son, and God
gave his Son; so when it would set forth Christ's willingness to it, it
says, he offered himself, gave himself; and, here in the text, sanctified
himself: The sacrifice that struggled, and came not without force to the
altar, was reckoned ominous and unlucky by the Heathen: our Sacrifice
dedicated himself; he died out of choice, and was a free-will offering
4. His sanctifying himself implies his pure and perfect
holiness, that he had no spot or blemish in him. Those beasts that
prefigured him, were to be without blemish, and none else were consecrated
to that service. So, and more than so, it behaved Christ to be, Heb. 7:26.
"Such an High-Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners:" And what it became him to be, he was. Therefore in allusion
to the lambs offered under the law, the apostle calls him a Lamb without
blemish, or spot, 1 Pet. 1:19. Every other man has a double spot on him, the
heart spot, and the life-spot; the spot of original, and the spots of actual
sin. But Christ was without either, he had net the spot of original sin, for
he was not by man; he came in a peculiar way into the world, and so escaped
that: nor yet of actual sins; for, as his nature, so his life was spotless
and pure, Isa. 53:9. "He did no iniquity." And though tempted to sin
externally, yet he was never defiled in heart or practice; he came as near
as he could for our sakes, yet still without sin, Heb. 4:15. If he
sanctifies himself for a sacrifice, he must be as the law required, pure and
spotless.
5. His sanctifying himself for our sakes, speaks the
strength of his love, and largeness of his heart to poor sinners, thus to
set himself wholly and entirely apart for us: so that what he did and
suffered, must all of it have a respect and relation to us. He did not (when
consecrated for us) live a moment, do an act, or speak a word, but it had
some tendency to promote the great design of our salvation. He was only and
wholly, and always doing your work, when consecrated for your sakes. His
incarnation respects you; Isa. 9:6. "For to us a child is born, to us a son
is given." And he would never have been the son of man, but to make you the
sons and daughters of God. God would not have come down in the likeness of
sinful flesh, in the habit of a man, but to raise up sinful man unto the
likeness of God. All the miracles he wrought Were for you, to confirm your
faith. When he raised up Lazarus, John 11:42. "Because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they might believe that you had sent me." While he
lived on earth, he lived as one wholly set apart for us: and when he died,
he died for us, Gal. 3:13. "he was made a curse for us." When he hanged on
that cursed tree, he hanged there in our room, and did but fill our place.
When he was buried, he was buried for us: for the end of it was, to perfume
our graves, against we come to lie down in them. And when he rose again, it
was, as the apostle says, "for our justification," Rom. 4:25. When he
ascended into glory, he protested it was about our business, that he went to
prepare places for us: and if it had not been so, he would have told us,
John 14:2. And now he is there, it is for us that he there lives; for he
"ever lives to make intercession for us," Heb. 7:25. And when he shall
return again to judge the world, he will come for us too. "He comes
(whenever it be) to be glorified in his saints, and admired in them that
believe," 2 Thess. 1:10. He comes to gather his saints home to himself, that
where he is, there they all may be in soul and body with him forever. Thus
you see how, as his consecration for us does speak him set apart for our
use; so he did wholly bestow himself, time, life, death, and all upon us;
living and dying for no other end, but to accomplish this great work of
salvation for us.
6. His sanctifying himself for us plainly speaks the
vicegerency of his death, that it was in our room or stead. When the priest
consecrated the sacrifice, it was set apart for the people. So it is said of
the scapegoat; "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live
goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and
all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of
the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the
wilderness," Levit. 16:21. Thus Isa. 53:6, 7. He stood in our room, to bear
our burden. And as Aaron laid the iniquities of the people upon the goat, so
were ours laid on Christ; it was said to him in that day, On you be their
pride, their unbelief, their hardness of heart, their vain thoughts, their
earthly-mindedness, etc. You are consecrated for them, to be the sacrifice
in their room. His death was in our stead, as well as for our good. And so
much his sanctifying himself [for us] imports.
7. His sanctifying himself, imparts the extraordinariness
of his person: for it speaks him to be both Priest, Sacrifice, and altar,
all in one: a thing unheard of in the world before. So that this name might
well be called Wonderful. I sanctify myself: I sanctify, according to both
natures; myself, That is, my human nature, which was the sacrifice upon the
altar of my divine nature; for it is the altar that sanctifies the gift. As
the three offices never met in one person before, so these three things
never met in one priest before. The priests indeed consecrated the bodies of
beasts for sacrifices, but never offered up their own souls and bodies as a
whole burnt offering, as Christ did. And thus you have the import of this
phrase, I sanctify myself for their sakes.
Secondly, I shall show you briefly the habitude and
respect that all this has to us; for unto us the scriptures everywhere refer
it. So in 1 Cor. 5:7. "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Eph. 5:2.
"He loved the church, and gave himself for it." See Tit. 2:14. This will be
made out, by a threefold consideration of Christ's death. And,
1. Let it be considered, that he was not offered up to
God for his own sins for he was most holy. Isa. 53:9. No iniquity was found
in him. Indeed, the priests under the law offered for themselves, as well as
the people; but Christ did not so, Heb. 7:27. "He needed not daily, as those
High-priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for
the people's." And indeed had he been a sinner, what value or efficacy could
have been in his sacrifice? He could not have been the sacrifice, but would
have needed one. Now, if Christ were most holy, and yet put to death, and
cruel sufferings, either his death or sufferings must be an act of injustice
and cruelty, or it must respect others, whose persons and cause he sustained
in that suffering capacity. He could never have suffered or died by the
Father's hand, had he not been a sinner by imputation. And in that respect,
as Luther speaks, he was the greatest of sinners; or, as the prophet Isaiah
speaks, all our sins were made to meet upon Him; not that he was
intrinsically, but was made so, so, by imputation, as is clear from 2 Cor.
5:21. "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin." So that hence it is
evident, that Christ's death, or sacrifice, is wholly a respective or
relative thing.
2. It is not to be forgotten here, that the scriptures
frequently call the death of Christ a price, 1 Cor. 6:20, and a ransom,
Matt. 20:28, or counterprice. To whom then does it relate, but to them that
were, and are in bondage and captivity? If it was to redeem any, it must be
captives: but Christ himself was never in captivity; he was always in his
Father's bosom, as you have heard; but we were in cruel bondage and thraldom,
under the tyranny of sin and Satan: and it is we only that have the benefit
of this ransom.
3. Either the death of Christ must relate to believers,
or else he must die in vain. As for the angels, those that stood in their
integrity needed no sacrifice, and those that fell, are totally excluded
from any benefit by it: he is not a Mediator for them. And among men that
have need of it, unbelievers have no share in it, they reject it; such have
no part in it. If then he neither died for himself, as I proved before, nor
for angels, nor unbelievers; either his blood must be shed with respect to
believers, or, which is most absurd, and never to be imagined, shed as water
upon the ground, and totally cast away, so that you see by all this, it was
for our sakes, as the text speaks, that he sanctified himself. And now we
may say, Lord, the condemnation was your, that the justification might be
mine; the agony your, that the victory might be mine; the pain was your, and
the ease mine; the stripes your, and the healing balm issuing from them
mine; the vinegar and gall were your, that the honey and sweet might be
mine; the curse was your, that the blessing might be mine; the crown of
thorns was your, that the crown of glory might be mine; the death was your,
the life purchased by it mine; you paid the price that I might enjoy the
inheritance.
We come next to the inferences of truth deducible from
this point, which follow.
INFERENCE 1. If Jesus Christ did wholly set himself apart
for believers, how reasonable is it that believers should consecrate and set
themselves apart wholly for Christ? Is he all for us, and shall we be
nothing for him? What he was, he was for you? Whatever he did, was done for
you; and all that he suffered, was suffered for you. O then, "I beseech you,
brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies,", That is, your whole
selves, (for so body is there synecdochically put to signify the whole
person) I say, "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service," Rom. 12:1. As your good was Christ's
end, so let his glory be your end. Let Christ be the "end of your
conversation," Heb. 13:7. As Christ could say, To me to live is you; so do
you say, "For us to live is Christ," Phil. 1:21. O that all who profess
faith in Christ, could subscribe cordially to that profession, Rom. 14:8.
"None of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself; but whether we
live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord; so then
whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." This is to be a Christian
indeed. What is a Christian, but an holy dedicated thing to the Lord? And
what greater evidence can there be, that Christ set himself apart for you,
than your setting yourselves apart for him?
This is the marriage covenant, Hos. 3:3 "You shall be for
me, and not for another; so will I be for you." Ah, what a life is the life
of a Christian; Christ all for you, and you all for him. Blessed exchange!
Soul, (says Christ) all I have is your, Lord, (says the soul) and all I have
is your. Soul, (says Christ) my person is wonderful, but what I am, I am for
you: my life was spent in labor and travail, but lived for you. And Lord,
(says the believers, my person is vile, and not worth your accepting; but
such as it is, it is your; my soul, with all and every faculty; my body, and
every member of it, my gifts, time, and all my talents are your.
And see that as Christ bequeathed and made over himself
to you, so you, in like manner, bestow and make over yourselves to him. He
lived not, neither died (as you hear) for himself, but you. O that you, in
like manner, would down with self, and exalt Christ in the room of it. 'Woe,
woe is me, (says one) that the holy profession of Christ is made a showy
garment by many to bring home a vain fame; and Christ is made to serve men's
ends. This is to stop an oven with a king's robes. Except men martyr and
slay the body of sin, in sanctified self-denial, they shall never be
Christ's martyrs and faithful witnesses. O if I could be master of that
house-idol, myself, mine own, mine own wit, will, credit, and ease, how
blessed were I! O but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves, rather
than from the devil and the world. Learn to put out yourselves, and to put
in Christ for yourselves. I should make a sweet bargain, and give old for
new, if I could shuffle out self, and substitute Christ my Lord in place of
myself; to say, not I, but Christ; not my will, but Christ's; not my ease,
not my lusts, not my credit, but Christ, Christ. - O wretched idol, myself,
when shall I see you wholly decourted, and Christ wholly put in your room? O
if Christ had the full place and room of myself, that all aims, purposes,
thoughts and desires would coast and land upon Christ, and not upon myself.'
He set himself apart for you believers, and no others:
no, not for angels but for you: Will you also set yourselves apart
peculiarly for Christ? be his, and no others? Let not Christ and the world
share anal divide your hearts in two halves between them; let not the world
step in and say, half mine. You will never do Christ right, nor answer this
grace, until you can say, as it is, Psalm. 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but
you? and on earth there is none that I desire in comparison of you." None
but Christ, none but Christ, is a proper motto for a Christian.
He left the highest and best enjoyments, even those in
his Father's bosom, to set himself apart for death and suffering for you:
Are you ready to leave the bosom of the best and sweetest enjoyments, you
have in this world, to serve him? If you stand not habitually ready to leave
father, mother, wife, children, lands, yes, and life too, to serve him, you
are not worthy of him, Matt. 10:37.
He was so wholly given up to your service, that he
refused not the worst and hardest part of it, even bleeding, groaning, dying
work; his love to you sweetened all this to him; Can you say so too; do you
"account the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt, as Moses did?" Heb. 11:26.
He had so entirely devoted himself to your work, that He
could not be at rest until it was finished: he was so intent upon it, that
he "forgot to eat bread," John 4:31`,32. So it should be with you; his
service should be meat and drink to you. To conclude:
He was so wholly given up to your work and service, that
he would not suffer himself to be in the least diverted, or taken off from
it: and if Peter himself counsel him to favor himself, he shall hear, "Get
you behind me, Satan." O happy were it if our hearts were but so engaged for
Christ! In Galen's time it was proverbial, when they would express the
impossibility of a thing, You may as soon take off a Christian from Christ.
Thus you see what use you should make of Christ's sanctifying himself for
you.
INFERENCE. 2. If Christ has sanctified or consecrated
himself for us; learn hence, what a horrid evil it is, to use Christ or his
blood, as a common and unsanctified thing. Yet so some do, as the apostle
speaks, Heb. 10:29. The apostate is said to tread upon the Son of God, as if
he were no better than the dirt under his feet, and to count his blood an
unholy (or common) thing. But woe to them that do so, they shall be counted
worthy of something worse than dying without mercy, as the apostle there
speaks.
And as this is the sin of the apostate, so it is also the
sin of all those that without faith approach, and so profane the table of
the Lord, unbelievingly and unworthily handling those awful things. Such
"eat and drink judgement to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body," 1
Cor. 11:29. Whereas the body of Christ was a thing of the deepest
sanctification that ever God created; sanctified (as the text tells us) to a
far more excellent and glorious purpose than ever any creature in heaven or
earth was sanctified. It was therefore the great sin of those Corinthians,
not to discern it, and not to behave themselves towards it, when they saw
and handled the signs of it, as became so holy a thing.
And as it was their great sin, so God declared his just
indignation against it, in those sore strokes inflicted for it. As they
discerned not the Lord's body, so neither did the Lord discern their bodies
from others in the judgements that were inflicted. And, as one well
observes, God drew the model and platform of their punishment, from the
structure and proportion of their sin. And truly, if the moral and spiritual
seeds and originals of many of our outward afflictions and sicknesses were
but duly sifted out, possibly we might find a great part of them in the
affections of this sin.
The just and righteous God will build up the breaches we
make upon the honor of his Son, with the ruins of that beauty, strength and
honor which he has given our bodies. O then, when you draw near to God in
that ordinance, take heed to sanctify his name, by a spiritual discerning of
this most holy, and most deeply sanctified body of the Lord; sanctified
beyond all creatures, angels or men, not only in respect of the Spirit which
filled him, without measure with inherent holiness, but also in respect of
its dedication to such a service as this, it being set apart by him to such
holy, solemn ends and uses, as you have heard.
And let it, forever, be a warning to such as have lifted
up their hands to Christ in a holy profession, that they never lift up their
heel against him afterwards by apostasy. The apostate treads on God's dear
Son, and God will tread upon him for it. "You have trodden down all that err
from your statutes," Psalm. 119:118.
INFERENCE. 3. What a choice pattern of love to saints
have we here before us! Calling all that are in Christ to an imitation of
him, even to give up ourselves to their service, as Christ did; not in the
same kind, so none can give himself for them, but as we are capable. You see
here how his heart was affected to them, that he would sanctify himself as a
sacrifice for them. See to what a height of duty the apostle improves this
example of Christ, 1 John 3:16. "hereby perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us, and we ought also to lay down our lives for
the brethren." Some Christians came up fairly to this pattern in primitive
times; Priscilla and Aquila laid down their necks for Paul, Rom. 16:4. That
is, eminently hazarded their lives for him; and he himself could "rejoice,
if he were offered up upon the sacrifice and service of their faith," Phil.
2:17. And in the next times, what more known, even to the enemies of
Christianity, than their fervent love one to another? See how they love one
another, and are willing to die one for another!
But alas! the primitive spirit is almost lost in this
degenerate age: instead of laving down life, how few will lay down twelve
pence for them? I remember, it is the observation of a late Worthy, upon
Mat. 5:44. That he is persuaded there is hardly that man to be found this
day alive, that fully understands and fully believes that scripture. O, did
men think what they do for them, is done for Christ himself, it would
produce other effects than are yet visible.
INFERENCE 4. Lastly, If Christ sanctified himself, that
we might be sanctified by [or in] the truth; then it will follow, by sound
consequence, That true sanctification is a good evidence that Christ set
apart himself to die for us. In vain did he sanctify himself (as to you)
unless you be sanctified. Holy souls only can claim the benefit of the great
Sacrifice. O try then, whether true holiness (and that is only to be judged
by its conformity to its pattern, 1 Pet. 1:15. "As he that called you is
holy, so be you holy"); whether such a holiness as is, and acts (according
to its measure) like God's holiness, in the following particulars, be found
in you.
1. God is universally holy in all his ways; so Psalm.
145:17. "His works are all holy:" whatever he does, it is still done as
becomes a holy God: he is not only holy in all things, but at all times
unchangeably holy. Be you therefore holy in all things and at all times too,
if ever you expect the benefit of Christ's sanctifying himself to die for
you.
O brethren, let not the feet of your conversation be as
the feet of a lame man, which are unequal, Prov. 20:7. Be not sometimes hot,
and sometimes cold; at one time careful, at another time careless; one day
in a spiritual rapture, and the next in a fleshly frolic: but be you holy
"en pase anastrofe", 1 Pet. 1:15. "in all manner of conversation," in every
creek and turning of your lives: and let your holiness hold out to the end.
"Let him that is holy, be holy still," Rev. 21:11. Not like the hypocrite's
paint, but as a true natural completion.
2. God is exemplarily holy, Jesus Christ is the great
pattern of holiness. Be you examples of holiness too, unto all that are
about you. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works," Matth. 5:16. As wicked men infect one another by their examples, and
diffuse their poison and malignity, wherever they come; so do you
disseminate godliness in all places and companies; and let those that
frequently converse with you, especially those of your own families, receive
a deeper dye and tincture of heavenliness every time they come near you, as
the cloth does by every new dipping into the vat.
3. God delights in nothing but holiness, and holy ones;
he has set all his pleasure in the saints. Be you holy herein, as God is
holy. Indeed, there is this difference between God's choice and yours; he
chooses not men, because they are holy, but that they may be so; so you are
to chose them for your delightful companions, that God has chosen and made
holy. "Let all your delights be in the saints, even them that excel in
virtue," Psalm. 16:3.
4. God abhors and hates all unholiness; do you so
likewise that you may be like your Father which is in heaven. And when the
Spirit of holiness runs down this upon you, a sweeter evidence the world
cannot give, that Christ was sanctified for you. Holy ones may confidently
lay the hand of their faith on the head of this great sacrifice, and say,
"Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."