6. Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of
the Old Testament, a passage in which the incarnate Son of God is seen not
through a glass darkly, but as it were face to face. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. In themselves considered, and for their own sakes, the
Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various offerings of the ceremonial law.
When Jesus, the Antitype, came into the world, they ceased to be of value. Mine ears hast thou opened. Our Lord was quick to hear and perform his Father’s
will. The prompt obedience of our Lord is here the first idea. However, the
digging of the ear here intended may refer to the boring of the ear of the
servant, who refused out of love to his master to take his liberty at the year
of jubilee; his perforated ear, the token of perpetual service, is a true
picture of our blessed Lord’s fidelity to his Father’s business, and his love
to his Father’s children. Jesus irrevocably gave himself to being the servant
of servants for our sake and God’s glory. The Greek from which Paul quoted
translated this passage: “A body
hast thou prepared me.” How
this reading arose it is not easy to imagine, but since apostolical authority
has sanctioned the variation, we accept it as no mistake, but as an instance of
various readings equally inspired. In any case, the passage represents the Only
Begotten as coming into the world equipped for service; and in a real and
material body, by actual life and death, putting aside all the shadows of the
Mosaic law. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Neither the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded. What
need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present? We learn from this
verse that Jehovah values far more the obedience of the heart than all the
imposing ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not to us
as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the effect of our great
Substitute’s obedience to the will of Jehovah.
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