The just One

—The just One. The second appellation given to the glorious Sufferer spoken of in the text is, the just, or the righteous, One. “The just One,” as well as the anointed One, is an appellation given to the great promised Deliverer in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. In the last prophetic words of David, he speaks of his Son and Lord under this name. “The just One ruleth among men;” for so do the best Scripture critics render the words translated in our version, “He that ruleth among men must be just.” It is of him of whom it was predicted that a bone of him should not be broken, that it is said by the same inspired writer, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” or just One. The prophet Isaiah speaks of Him as Jehovah's “righteous servant;” and the prophet Zechariah, congratulating the church on his appearance, exclaims, “Behold, thy King cometh. He is just, having salvation.” In obvious allusion to such passages, we find the appellation not unfrequently given by the New Testament writers to our Lord Jesus. “Your fathers,” says Stephen, “have slain them who spake before of the coming of the just One.” “Ye denied,” says the Apostle Peter to his countrymen, “the Holy One and the just.” “The God of our fathers,” said Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, “hath chosen thee to see that just One, and to hear the words of his mouth.” “Ye have condemned and killed the just One,” says the Apostle James to his unbelieving countrymen. “We have an advocate with the Father,” says the Apostle John, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” The appellation is most accurately descriptive, both personally and officially, of Him who wears it. Personally our Lord is absolutely free from sin, and in heart and life completely conformed to the requisitions of the holy, just, and good law of God. The man Christ Jesus came into the world free from every taint or tendency to evil; and if the questions be asked, in reference to him, “What is man, that he should be clean? or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” the evangelist will answer them: “The Holy Ghost came upon his virgin mother, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her; and that which was born of her was a Holy thing, and was called,” “and was indeed,” “the Son of God.” This original purity was never in the slightest degree stained. Though exposed to the assaults of the great author of evil, that adversary did not prevail against, that son of mischief did not overcome, him. Though in a world full of temptation and sin, he remained untainted; though tried both by its smiles and its frowns, its terrors and its allurements, he never, in the slightest degree, imbibed its spirit, or imitated its manners. He kept himself “unspotted from the world,” being “in it, not of it;” and he died, as he lived, a stranger to guilt and depravity. No action, no word, ever escaped from him, no thought, no desire, ever arose in his bosom, inconsistent with the requisitions or with the spirit of the Divine law. He left this world as he entered it, “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” But the character of our Lord was not merely free from faults, it was distinguished by every possible moral excellence. Every holy principle in absolute perfection reigned in his mind; and his conduct was a uniform tenor of perfect obedience to that law which was in his heart. He fulfilled the law in both of its great requisitions. “He loved the Lord his God with all his heart, and soul, and strength, and mind; and he loved his neighbor as himself.” He “did justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God.” He fully did all that God required, and cheerfully suffered all that God appointed. In principle, in extent, in continuance, his obedience completely answered the demands of the holy law, which is spiritual and exceeding broad. “His meat was to do the will of him who sent him, and to finish his work.” All excellences were found in him, and found in their due proportion; and they wrought together in uninterrupted harmony. “He was all fair; there was no spot in him.” “The just One” is an appellation equally applicable to him in his official administration as in his personal character; no less applicable to him as the Christ, than as the man Jesus. He is “faithful to him who appointed him.” He was appointed to glorify God in the salvation of an innumerable multitude of mankind; and, in the accomplishment of this great work, “righteousness has been the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” He has shown in every part of his work that “he loves righteousness and hates iniquity.” As a Prophet, he has faithfully delivered the message he has received from his Father; he has “declared him whom no man has seen at any time;” he has “manifested his name.” His “mouth spoke truth; wickedness was an abomination to his lips.” “All the words of his mouth were in righteousness; there was nothing froward or perverse in them.” As a Priest, he has “fulfilled all righteousness.” He has fully satisfied all the demands of the Divine law on those in whose room he stood. When exaction was made, he answered it. There was not one requisition of the law, but he readily and completely met it. He obeyed the whole precept; he bare the entire penalty of the violated law. He “finished transgression, made an end of sin, brought in an everlasting righteousness.” He “gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savor;” and thus “magnified the law and made it honorable.” And as a King, he “reigns in righteousness,” and rules in judgment. “Justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.” “The sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre.” He is the true Melchizedek, the King of righteousness, as well as the Prince of peace. “In majesty he rides prosperously in the cause of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.” His administration in reference to his own people, is an administration of pure grace; but it is “grace reigning through righteousness unto everlasting life;” and ruling, as he does, in the midst of his enemies, his royal style and appellation is, “FAITHFUL AND TRUE, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” While it is obvious, from these remarks, that the appellation, the just One, is admirably descriptive both of the personal character, and the official administration of our Lord, there can be but little doubt that the great design of the inspired writer in using it here, is to fix our minds on the facts, that our Lord Jesus Christ, of all the sons of Adam, is the only just One; all the rest are unjust; and that, from the spotlessness of his nature, the perfection of his obedience to the preceptive part of the law, and the cheerfulness of his submission to its sanctionary enactments, all infinitely dignified by that divine nature which was in personal union with the human nature in which he obeyed and suffered, there is in the sacrifice which, by the appointment of his Father, he offered up, an infinity of merit or righteousness, which, for all the purposes of law and justice, more than compensates for all the demerit and unrighteousness of those innumerable offences of the innumerable multitude of unjust ones in whose room he stood; so that He, the righteous One, “who knew no sin,” having been “made sin” for them, they who were nothing but sin “might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The just One here, is just equivalent to Isaiah's “Jehovah's righteous servant, who justifies many, having borne their iniquities;” or Jeremiah's, “Jehovah our righteousness,” in whom, in whom alone, any unrighteous sinner can find righteousness; in whom every sinner, however unrighteous, will assuredly find righteousness, believing in Him.