BY THE PASSION OF THE CROSS THE LORD DID NOT TAKE AWAY SINS, BUT BORE THEM

There are some within the Church who believe that, by the passion of the cross, the Lord took away sins and made satisfaction to the Father, and thus redeemed mankind. Some also believe that He transferred to Himself the sins of those who have faith in Him, and that He bore them and cast them into the depth of the sea, that is, into hell. These beliefs they confirm in themselves by the words of John concerning Jesus:

Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world! John i 29;

and by the Lord's words in Isaiah:

He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His wound (A.V. stripes) we are healed. Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge ... shall He justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isa. liii 4 to end.

Both these passages relate to the temptations and passion of the Lord; and by His taking away sins and griefs, and by the iniquities of us all being laid upon Him, the same is meant as by bearing sorrows and iniquities.

[2] First, therefore, it shall be stated what is meant by bearing iniquities, and afterwards, what is meant by taking them away. By bearing iniquities nothing else is meant than enduring grievous temptations; also suffering the Jews to do with Him as they had done with the Word, and to treat Him in the same manner because He was the Word. For the Church, which was at that time with the Jews, was utterly devastated; and it was devastated in consequence of their having perverted all things of the Word to such an extent that there was no truth left; and for this reason they did not acknowledge the Lord. This is meant and signified by all the circumstances of the Lord's passion. The prophets were also treated in a similar manner, because they represented the Lord as to the Word, and thence as to the Church: and the Lord was Himself the Prophet.

[3] That the Lord was Himself the Prophet may appear from these passages:

Jesus said, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. Matt. xiii 57; Mark vi 4; Luke iv 24.

Jesus said, It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. Luke xiii 33.

They said of Jesus, This is He, the prophet of Nazareth. Mark xxi 11; John vii 40.

And there came a fear on all; and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet was risen up among them. Luke vii 16.

That a prophet should be raised out of the midst of their brethren, whose words they should obey. Deut. xviii 15-19.

It is evident from what follows that the like was done with the prophets.

The prophet Isaiah was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By loosing the sackcloth from off his loins, by putting off the shoe from his foot, and by going naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and a wonder. Isa. xx 2, 3.

[4] The prophet Jeremiah was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By buying for himself a girdle, and putting it upon his loins; and he was commanded not to draw it through the water, but to hide it in the hole of a rock near the Euphrates. And after some days he found it rotten. Jer. xiii 1-7.

The same prophet also represented the state of the Church,

By not taking to himself a wife in that place, nor entering the house of mourning, nor going to make lamentation, nor entering the house of feasting. Jer. xvi 2, 5, 8.

[5] The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By drawing a barber's razor upon his head, and upon his beard; and afterwards, by dividing the shorn hair, and burning a third part in the centre of the city, smiting a third part with a sword, and scattering a third part in the wind; and by binding a few of the hairs in his skirts and then casting them into the midst of the fire and burning them. Ezek. v 1-5.

The same prophet was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By preparing stuff for removal, and removing into another place in the sight of the Children of Israel; by bringing out the stuff by day, and going forth in the evening through a hole dug in the wall, covering his face that he might not see the ground. That thus he should be a sign to the house of Israel, and should say, Lo, I am your sign; as I have done, so shall it be done unto you. Ezek. xii 3-7, 11.

[6] The prophet Hosea was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By taking to himself a harlot for a wife. Having done so she bare him three children, one of whom was named Jezreel; the second, She that hath not obtained mercy; and the third, Not my people. Hosea i 2-9.

Again he was commanded

To go and love a woman beloved by her friend, yet a harlot; whom he bought for himself for fifteen pieces of silver. Hosea iii 1, 2.

[7] The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the Church,

By taking a tile and carving upon it the city Jerusalem: then by laying siege to it and casting a trench and a mound against it; by putting an iron pan between himself and the city, and lying upon his left side three hundred and ninety days, and afterwards on his right side [forty days]. Then by taking wheat, barley, lentils, millet and fitches, and making bread for himself of them, which he should then eat by measure; and also by making for himself a cake of barley with human ordure. Because, however, be prayed that it might not be so, he was commanded to make it with cow's dung. Ezek. iv 1-15. Moreover, the prophets afforded other representations, as Zedekiah,

By the horns of iron which he made for himself. 1 Kings xxii 11;

And another prophet,

By being smitten and wounded, and by putting ashes on his eyes. I Kings xx 35, 38.

[8] In general, the prophets represented the Word in the ultimate sense, which is the sense of the Letter, by [wearing] a garment of hair. Zech. xiii 4.

Therefore Elijah

Was clothed with such a garment, and was girt about his loins with a leathern girdle. 2 Kings i 8.

Likewise John the Baptist,

who had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and who ate locusts and wild honey. Matt. iii 4.

From these things it is evident that the prophets represented the state of the Church, and the Word; as he who represents the one, represents the other also, for the Church is from the Word, and is according to its reception of the Word in life and faith. Therefore also by the prophets, wherever they are mentioned in both Testaments, is signified the doctrine of the Church derived from the Word. By the Lord, however, as the greatest Prophet, is signified the Church itself, and the Word itself.