Thomas Boston, Works, 1:453-454:
The sacrifice of Christ was fragrant and efficacious because of the great glory and honour which he thereby brought unto God. The glory of his Father was what he had in view as his main scope and aim in all his actions and sufferings, and that which he also actually perfected. The glory of all the divine attributes appeared in him in its highest lustre, 2 Cor. 4:6. They all centred in him, and shone forth in their greatest splendour, not only in his incarnation, but also and chiefly in his sacrifice. The mercy and justice of God appear in combination here, and act off one another’s lustre. Mercy could not be glorified unless justice had been satisfied; and justice had not been evidently discovered if the tokens of divine wrath had not been seen upon Christ. Grace had never sailed to us, but in the streams of the Mediator’s blood. “Without the shedding of blood” (says the apostle) “there is no remission.” Divine justice had not been so fully known in the eternal groans and shrieks of a world of guilty creatures; nor could sin have appeared so odious to the holiness of God by eternal scars upon devils and men, as by a deluge of blood from the heart of this sacrifice. Without the sufferings of Christ, the glory of the divine perfections had lain in the cabinet of the divine nature without the discovery of their full beams. And though they were active in the designing of it, yet they had not been declared to men or angels, without the bringing of Christ to the altar. By the stroke upon his soul, all the glories of God flashed out to the view of the creature. All the divine perfections were glorified in the sufferings of Christ: his mercy, justice, power, and wisdom. Here the unsearchable depths of manifold wisdom were unfolded. Such a wisdom of God shined in the cross, as the angels never beheld in his face upon his throne: wisdom to cure a desperate disease by the death of the physician; to turn the greatest evil to the greatest good; to bring forth mercy by the execution of justice and the shedding of blood. How surprising and astonishing is this! The ultimate end and design of Christ’s sacrifice was the honour of God in our redemption. Christ sought not his own glory, but the glory of him that sent him, John 8:50. He sought the glory of his Father in the salvation of men. Now, that must needs be fragrant and acceptable to God, which accomplished the triumph of all his attributes.
The sacrifice of Christ was fragrant and efficacious because of the great glory and honour which he thereby brought unto God. The glory of his Father was what he had in view as his main scope and aim in all his actions and sufferings, and that which he also actually perfected. The glory of all the divine attributes appeared in him in its highest lustre, 2 Cor. 4:6. They all centred in him, and shone forth in their greatest splendour, not only in his incarnation, but also and chiefly in his sacrifice. The mercy and justice of God appear in combination here, and act off one another’s lustre. Mercy could not be glorified unless justice had been satisfied; and justice had not been evidently discovered if the tokens of divine wrath had not been seen upon Christ. Grace had never sailed to us, but in the streams of the Mediator’s blood. “Without the shedding of blood” (says the apostle) “there is no remission.” Divine justice had not been so fully known in the eternal groans and shrieks of a world of guilty creatures; nor could sin have appeared so odious to the holiness of God by eternal scars upon devils and men, as by a deluge of blood from the heart of this sacrifice. Without the sufferings of Christ, the glory of the divine perfections had lain in the cabinet of the divine nature without the discovery of their full beams. And though they were active in the designing of it, yet they had not been declared to men or angels, without the bringing of Christ to the altar. By the stroke upon his soul, all the glories of God flashed out to the view of the creature. All the divine perfections were glorified in the sufferings of Christ: his mercy, justice, power, and wisdom. Here the unsearchable depths of manifold wisdom were unfolded. Such a wisdom of God shined in the cross, as the angels never beheld in his face upon his throne: wisdom to cure a desperate disease by the death of the physician; to turn the greatest evil to the greatest good; to bring forth mercy by the execution of justice and the shedding of blood. How surprising and astonishing is this! The ultimate end and design of Christ’s sacrifice was the honour of God in our redemption. Christ sought not his own glory, but the glory of him that sent him, John 8:50. He sought the glory of his Father in the salvation of men. Now, that must needs be fragrant and acceptable to God, which accomplished the triumph of all his attributes.
