“He spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb. He takes our place of banishment that we may take His place of honor and glory in the home of His Father and our Father. Such is the exchange between the exile and the exile’s divine substitute. Though rich, for our sakes He becomes poor. Though at home, He comes into banishment, that we may not be expelled forever.”
—Horatius Bonar, “The Restoration of the Banished”
First off, let me say how much I love your ministry and how uplifted I am by what you all do! And I guess my issue is with Bonar, not the quoters. Even there, it is only one phrase that bothered me. Isn’t Jesus burial — coming, as it does, after His finished work on the Cross and the statement, “It is done.” — part of his exaltation, not his humiliation. His tomb belongs to a wanderer, but it is new, freshly hewn and never used.
Thank you all so much for posting these great encouragements!
Interesting thoughts there, Robert.
It would seem that the death and burial of Christ belong to his humiliation (Isa 53:9) and the exaltation of Christ begins with his resurrection (Rom 1:4).
Notice too that even though Jesus’ death itself occurs after he says, “It is finished”, it is clearly part of his humiliation (Phi 2:8).
The burial of Christ is still part of his downward movement. The disciples despaired while he was in the tomb; they rejoiced when he arose from it.