Our Savior Justified

“He is near that justifieth me...” (Isaiah 50:8)

When wicked and evil men condemned Christ to die, no one stood with him. Even His disciples were scattered from Him. Yet, with confidence He could say, “He is near that justifieth me.”The word ‘justifieth’ here is not used in the sense in which it is often in the Scriptures, to denote the act by which a sinner is justified before God but in the proper, judicial sense that He would declare Him to be righteous, Who knew no sin; although tempted in all things, Hebrews 4:15. The Father would vindicate His character and show Him to be perfect before His law and justice.

All the testimonies of God the Father were in His favor - by the Voice which spake from Heaven at His baptism - by the miracles which He performed, showing that He was commissioned and approved by God - by the fact that even Pilate was constrained to declare Him innocent - by the wonders that attended His crucifixion, showing that 'He was a Righteous Man' even in the view of the Roman centurion [Luke 23:47] and ultimately by the fact that He was raised from the dead and was taken to Heaven and placed at the right hand of the Father - thus showing that His whole work was approved by God and furnishing the most ample vindication of His character from all the accusations of His foes.

In all of His suffering as the Substitute of His people, the LORD Jesus did not open His mouth to defend Himself but He willingly and patiently submitted Himself to God the Father to justify Him through His sacrificial death for His own, 1 Peter 2:23. Peter declared that although they had by wicked hands taken and crucified Him, yet it was ALL by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Acts. 2:23. Therefore, all the while the LORD Jesus suffered and cried, ‘My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me,” yet His confidence was, “He is near that justifieth me!”

It is the Father Who sent Him into the world. It was the Father Who purposed to save a great number of sinners by a Just Payment for their sins. It was the Father Who raised Christ from the dead, having done ALL that was required for Him to be just and justify, Romans 3:26. By His death, the Son satisfied every just demand of the Father. He laid down His life willingly and sacrificially in the place of those sinners the Father gave Him to save. He came in the flesh as their Substitute to completely satisfy God’s law and justice on their behalf. There is no other way that God has ever granted pardon to sinners and declared them righteous, except through the death and imputed righteousness of the LORD Jesus there at the cross. God must grant us repentance of thinking it is in any other way. If Christ was justified as the Effectual Substitute, having finished the work and being raised from the dead, it must be that His people were justified in Him at the same time and therefore can, by the Spirit of God say: “He is near that justifieth me.” (Isaiah 50:8)