There is also another scripture, in which the same word[93] is used, which seems to be applied to our Saviour, _viz._ in Jer. xxx. 21. _Their nobles_, or, as it ought to be rendered, in the singular number, their noble, or magnificent person, _shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach to me, saith the Lord?_ This sense of the text is very agreeable to several other prophecies, relating to the Messiah’s being of the seed of Israel; and when it is said, _I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me_, it implies, that he should sustain the character, and perform the work of a surety, in the behalf of his people, for that is the proper sense of the word there used; _for who is this that hath engaged his heart unto me?_ that is, who is there, among the sons of men, that dares engage in this work, or is qualified for it? Or it may be understood with a note of admiration; that is, how glorious a person is this, who hath engaged his heart, or (as it was determined that he should) has freely consented to approach unto me, that is, in so doing, to act as a surety with me for my people! And that this is a more probable sense of the text, than to suppose that it is meant either of Zerubbabel, or some other governor, that should be set over them, after the captivity, appears, if we compare it with ver. 9. in which it is said, _They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king_, which can be meant of none but Christ, inasmuch as David was dead; and none that sat on his throne, or descended from him, can be called David in this place, because divine worship is said to be performed to him, which could not be done without idolatry, which no true sense of scripture can give countenance to; and this is a character given of our Saviour in other scriptures: thus, in Ezek. xxxiv. 24. _I will be their God, and my servant David a Prince among them_; and, in Hos. iii. 5. _They shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter day_; that is, they shall adhere, and give divine worship, to the Messiah, whom their fathers rejected, when they are converted, in the latter days. Now it is this _David, their King_, who is said to have _engaged his heart to approach unto God_; and then, in the words immediately following, ver. 22. God reveals himself, as a covenant-God, to them, which is the consequence of Christ’s engaging his heart to approach unto him: _Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God_. Now this proves an eternal transaction between the Father and the Son, in that the Father wills, or determines, that he shall _draw near_, or _approach_ to him, as a surety, and the Son consents, in that he has _engaged his heart_ to do it; and all this with a design that his covenant should be established, and that he should be a God to his people.