DISCOURSE VII. 243 He asserts his own divinity in the words of my text. I am Godand there is none else. Whether the Divine Being speaks this in the person of the Father, or in the person of Jesus Christ the Son, is not of absolute necessity to be determined in this place. Perhaps it could not be expounded under the Old Tes- tament any otherwise than concerning the great God, considered as the Father of all, the only true God, whose name is Jehovah, andwho was then chieflyknown to theJews as the Godof Israel. It is the God of the Jews calling the Gentiles to partake of his salvation. He is their strength and their Saviour, and their righteousness is derived fromhim, as in the foregoing and fol- lowing verses. But when under the New Testamentweexplainthesewords, we must rather consider God in Christ reconciling the world of Jews and Gentiles to himself: It is the same one godhead which dwells bodily in the man Christ Jesus; for the Father and the Son are not two Gods. It is God, the only true God, manifest in the flesh : It is ILmnanuel, or God with us, who speaks these words: It is Christ Jesus the Lord, who is one with the Father, and in whom thefulness of thegodhead dwells, who call the ends of the earth to look unto himdud he saved. And there are some special reasons that incline me to suppose thesewords of the pro-. phet should chiefly be applied in the New Testament toour Lord Jesus Christ, who makes this blessedoffer of grace. (1.) It is the same person to whom the salvation of Israelis ascribed, and who is called a Saviour so often in the context, ver. 15, 17, 21. which is the very meaning of the name Jesus, and the frequent appellation of Christ in the New Testament, and his particular office is to be a Saviour, and to bring sal- vation. (2.) It is he who is appointed to be the righteousness and the strength of his people. Ver. 24, 25. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all the seedof Israelbe .justified. Now this is the very name of the Messiah ; Jer. xxiii. 6. TheLord our righteousness: And it is Christ who is made righteousness unto us: 1 Cor. i. 23. And by and in whom all the saints are to be justified in the language of the gospel. It is from him also that his people derive strength. St. Paul bids Timothy be strong in the grace which is in Christ ; Tim. ii. 1. The Ephesian converts must be strong in the Lori Eph. vi. 10. And the apostle himselfcould do all things through Christ, who strengthened' him; Phil. iv. 13. Now the New Tes- tament (to which times the words of my text chiefly refer) does not usually represent God, under the idea 'of the Father, as the strength of believers, nor is he ever described there as their righteousness. Again, (3:) This is the person that brings salvation to the R 2
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