(1.) It is not likely that the limited mind of a short-sighted man should be able to fathom the eternal counsels of God, and reduce the divine purpose within the compass of his own intellect. If we once admit that the plan of salvation is divine, we must be prepared to meet with many things far beyond all human thought. So it is in this instance. The substitution of the spotless Redeemer for the guilty sinner has in it a breadth, and length, and depth, and height, that is utterly beyond all human capacity, and to the very last will pass all knowledge. (2.) We can see the fact throughout the history. Is there any other way of explaining either the agony in the garden, or the cry on the cross? Again and again do we see happy believers stepping down into the valley of the shadow of death in perfect peace, with a holy joy filling their hearts, and a holy calm lighting up their countenance; but the Lord Jesus, when He looked forward to it, was in agony. He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and He cried, ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.’ I confess I know no way of explaining the difference, except by the principle of substitution, as laid down in this passage, ‘Being made a curse for us.’ So, again, I never met with any other explanation of that most marvellous cry which He uttered on the cross, when He exclaimed, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ How can that cry be explained except by the doctrine of substitution? Contrast the dying prayer of Stephen with the dying cry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stephen said, as I trust you and I may be able to say, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,’ and so in perfect peace he fell asleep. But the Lord Jesus was forsaken of God, and so uttered that bitter cry. How can we explain the difference? How can we understand the marvellous contrast? I never could see any explanation but one, and that is, in the doctrine of substitution. The Lord Jesus was made a curse in the place of Stephen, so Stephen was free. The sin of Stephen was imputed to the Son of God, and the righteousness of the Son of God was imputed to Stephen; so the Lord Jesus cried under the burden of the curse, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ and Stephen prayed in the peaceful enjoyment of full reconciliation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ The burden of the curse was too awful for us to bear, and too righteous for God to set aside. So the Lord, in boundless mercy, and with His own full consent, laid it on Him. There was a transfer of the imputation of guilt, and thus by God’s marvellous grace, blessed be God, in Christ Jesus we are free.