A Sermon by Finlay Cook
Isaiah 53:11. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.
On this day set apart as a preparation day for the Sabbath, especially one which will see the solemn ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, you have in this chapter set before you the nature of the Lord’s Supper, what you are to remember there. It would be good for you and me to be meditating upon it this evening and to get into this prophecy, as there is a mystery in it. Here we have a promise of Christ; His travail was not to be in vain. He was to have numerous offspring. Are you a converted sinner? What does Christ see of the travail of His soul in you? It cost Him the pangs of His soul, it cost Him the anguish of His soul.
1. Christ’s soul travail. Christ needed to have a soul and a body, just as you do. Here is the mystery of godliness: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful”, a holy soul; the image of God was on that soul. The second Adam had a soul and body, He brought back what the first covenant head had taken away. This soul and body was the workmanship of the Holy Ghost; it was not simply created as Adam was created. He was formed in the Virgin’s womb by the power of the Holy Ghost. “The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).
But not only was His soul formed as holy, harmless, undefiled, this soul was in union with God. It was in union with the Second Person of the Godhead. This was the greatest mystery of godliness. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). He assumed our nature and this is the soul that was suffering for sinners. The holy soul of Jesus, united to Jehovah, was anointed by the Holy Spirit with the oil of 1Finlay Cook, the Free Church minister of Reay in Caithness, and Alexander Moody Stuart were the assisting ministers at a communion season in April 1848 in John Knox Free Church, Glasgow, where Jonathan Ranken Anderson was the minister. This sermon was preached on the Saturday before the communion Sabbath and is preserved in a hearer’s notes; they have never before been published. The notes of Finlay Cook’s sermon on the Friday of the same communion season, dealing with self-examination, were printed in the October issue of The Free Presbyterian Magazine. RM
Sidelights on Two Notable Ministries (those of Finlay Cook and his brother Archibald) is still available as a paperback from Free Presbyterian Publications for £3.50.
gladness. The Spirit was in Jesus’ soul continually pouring out a blessing.
His soul must have travail, the text speaks of travail of soul. What had He but travail all the time He was in this world? He travailed. Why? So that He might have sinners. It was done to bring sinners back to God. He had to answer all the demands of the law, and the curse of the law was imputed to Him. Thus He had travail of soul. You will never see the evil of sin and the holiness of the law until you see it in the work that Jesus Christ finished, in the travail of His soul. You see the evil of sin as you will see it nowhere else. The law must be magnified in all its demands, and justice must be satisfied. Hence the Shepherd must be smitten before the hand of mercy is turned to the little ones. “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones” (Zec 13:7). Think of it – a sword in the soul.
He opened a door for mercy, for redeeming love, for free grace. His body was broken and His soul was wounded. He shall see His seed – that is, souls would be born to Him. The divine nature supported the holy soul of Jesus when He gave it as an offering for sin. This is the altar that sanctified the gift and that gave this sacrifice a sweet-smelling saviour. It was travail of soul that no creature can comprehend. Behold Him as a Lamb. Behold Him on Calvary a sacrifice there. What there was between the Father and the Son none can tell. He was drinking a bitter cup, and neither men nor angels can tell what was in it. There is dreadful evil in sin. A ransom must be given and what a ransom! That was life for life, soul for soul, body for body.
2. Christ seeing of His travail. “He shall see of the travail of His soul”, or the fruit of the travail of His soul. It was not in vain. He shall see it. The Father gave the Son. Christ did travail for them and He must see them. He must see them brought back, restored to the love, favour and friendship of God. Jesus will have a reward for His suffering – in seeing sinners brought from darkness to light. When the gospel is preached, good news is sent out to the world. This is the fruit of His soul’s travail. As the gospel goes out among sinners, He sees of the travail of His soul. He sees it when the Spirit is sent as showers from heaven.
Jesus never sees of the travail of His soul, but as the Holy Ghost applies His redemption to the souls of sinners. He sees it in every sinner’s conversion. The soul must have travail; until you have soul travail for your sins you will not appreciate what Christ did – you cannot form a right idea of it till you have soul travail for your own sins. The poor sinner must travail as in birth till he is brought out of the womb of nature and from darkness to light, from the old covenant back into the favour of God.
Jesus sees of His travail – and this promise is fulfilled – when He sees poor sinners crying for mercy. Whenever you are concerned for your soul, Jesus sees of His travail. It is by knowledge, by faith in Him – gracious faith and knowledge of Him as a Saviour for sinners, as a Prophet sent from God, as a Priest offering a sacrifice and as a King on His holy hill of Zion – that souls are saved. It is by knowledge of the work which He finished, of His suitability to be a Saviour, of His power to save to the uttermost, and by the sinner seeing himself as poor, miserable, wretched, blind and naked.
Whenever you receive Christ by faith, God will justify you. God looks upon His Son, the Surety, upon His travail, and receives into His favour the very chief of sinners on this foundation. He imputes to you what Christ did. You did not suffer for sin! No. You did not pay the debt! No. But the Surety paid it. Then the Creditor looks upon the Surety and receives payment from Him; then Christ sees of the travail of His soul. The Holy Spirit enables you to receive Him by faith, as the Lord your righteousness. “Behold the Lamb of God.” Look at Him, poor sinner – guilty, hell-deserving sinner. Come to Him with the burden of sin. You have a soul and body out of hell because Christ travailed for such sinners, and He shall see the fruit of His travail. God preserves His seed in the world, the fruit of Jesus’ soul travail. He shall have a numerous offspring. He shall see it. He must see it. He deserves to see it and He shall see it to all eternity.
3. He is satisfied. The Saviour does not repent of what He undertook. The Father was satisfied when Christ finished His work on Calvary. He needed no more pardon; everything was done, and a new and living way was opened. The debt is now paid and the prisoner set at liberty.
Thus it was proved that the Father was satisfied. Hence the Son was satisfied; He is satisfied as He is crowned with glory and honour. He is satisfied when He sees of the travail of His soul in sinners. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:9-11). There is the satisfaction that Christ has made.
But the work is not perfected until the sinner is satisfied, and when the sinner comes to this satisfaction, O happy sinner! When is he satisfied? “When God revealed His Son in me”. All professions, preparations, knowledge and education will not satisfy a hungry soul, but the Father is satisfied and the Son is satisfied. And the sinner, when brought back by the
power of the Holy Ghost, is brought to this satisfaction too. Do not be satisfied with a mere profession. What will it do to you? He is satisfied when He is in possession of His property; He purchased His Church with His blood. He takes possession of the soul.
The strong man is cast out and Jesus takes the throne. He is Prophet, Priest and King in the soul and He is satisfied. Much did it cost Him. O the travail of soul that He had, but now He is satisfied when He is in possession of His own property. A father is satisfied when he sees his children about the table. Now you will have a table spread here on Sabbath. Are you true communicants? He will be satisfied in seeing His children. Do not come there in filthy rags; seek the wedding garment. The garment Christ asks of you all is love to Him. You must be clothed with redeeming love before you are welcome to this table. Yes, redeeming love. Pray for this; wait for it and He will give it to you. Love to the Bridegroom must gain your heart from every other object. The teacher is satisfied when he sees his scholars improving, so Jesus is satisfied when He sees you improving under the gospel, growing in grace, in humility, in love, in experience, in knowledge. Then Jesus is satisfied – satisfied when He sees His people in the world walking according to their profession and bearing witness for Him.
If you are on Christ’s side, He is satisfied; and He is satisfied that you are among those for whom His soul travailed. Poor sinners under the cross, poor comforted sinners, He is satisfied when you come to Him for help and for deliverance. He is satisfied in every victory His poor people have over the world, the devil and the flesh. O cry to Him for mercy, for the preparation of your heart for tomorrow – to prepare you to sit at this table as a poor sinner. Christ can do it. Be advised to flee to Him for refuge, to the life set before you. Cry for the Spirit this night.
O pray for the Church of God, for ministers of the gospel. Pray particularly for this place, for this congregation, for speakers and hearers, for the rising generation, that God will raise up a seed to serve Him.
You young ones going forward for the first time to the Lord’s table, you are taking up the cross; come under His yoke. You are advised to sit down and count the cost. Do not go in your own thoughts; be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus and you need not fear. You cannot begin too soon to profess Christ. Give in your heart to Him, or you will soon go back to the world. And seek from Him the grace to help you in every time of need.
In the experience of the unregenerate a painful sense of degradation and defilement may, and often does, coexist with a prevailing wish to continue in it. Why? Because the man loves the very thing which he acknowledges, and really feels, to be degrading.
J A Alexander