Works (theological treatises)

Secondly, As the Lord Christ was glorious in the susception of his office, so was he also in its discharge.

An unseen glory accompanied him in all that he did, in all that he suffered. Unseen it was unto the eyes of the world, but not in His who alone can judge of it. Had men seen it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet to some of them it was made manifest. Hence they testified that, in the discharge of his office, they "beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father," John i. 14; and that when others could see neither "form nor comeliness in him that he should be desired," Isa. liii. 2. And so it is at this day. I shall only make some few observations; first, on what he did in a way of obedience; and then on what he suffered in the discharge of his office so undertaken by him.

I. 1. What he did, what obedience he yielded unto the law of God in the discharge of his office (with respect whereunto he said, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God; yea, thy law is in my heart"), it was all on his own free choice or election, and was resolved thereinto alone. It is our duty to endeavour after freedom, willingness, and cheerfulness in all our obedience. Obedience has its formal nature from our wills. So much as there is of our wills in what we do towards God, so much there is of obedience, and no more. Howbeit we are, antecedently unto all acts of our own wills, obliged unto all that is called obedience. From the very constitution of our natures we are necessarily subject unto the law of God. All that is left unto us is a voluntary compliance with unavoidable commands; with him it was not so. An act of his own will and choice preceded all obligation as unto obedience. He obeyed because he would, before because he ought. He said, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," before he was obliged to do that will. By his own choice, and that in an act of infinite condescension and love, as we have showed, he was "made of a woman," and thereby "made under the law." In his divine person he was Lord of the law, — above it, — no more obnoxious unto its commands than its curse. Neither was he afterwards in himself, on his own account, unobnoxious unto its curse merely because he was innocent, but also because he was every way above the law itself, and all its force.

This was the original glory of his obedience. This wisdom, the grace, the love, the condescension that was in this choice, animated every act, every duty of his obedience, — rendering it amiable in the sight of God, and useful unto us. So, when he went to John to be baptised, he, who knew he had no need of it on his own account, would have declined the duty of administering that ordinance unto him; but he replied, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," Matt. iii. 15. This I have undertaken willingly, of my own accord, without any need of it for myself, and therefore will discharge it. For him, who was Lord of all universally, thus to submit himself to universal obedience, carrieth along with it an evidence of glorious grace.

2. This obedience, as unto the use and end of it, was not for himself, but for us. We were obliged unto it, and could not perform it; — he was not obliged unto it any otherwise but by a free act of his own will, and did perform it. God gave him this honour, that he should obey for the whole church, — that by "his obedience many should be made righteous," Rom. v. 19. Herein, I say, did God give him honour and glory, that his obedience should stand in the stead of the perfect obedience of the church as unto justification.

3. His obedience being absolutely universal, and absolutely perfect, was the great representative of the holiness of God in the law. It was represented glorious when the ten words were written by the finger of God in tables of stone; it appears yet more eminently in the spiritual transcription of it in the hearts of believers: but absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the holiness and obedience of Christ, which answered it unto the utmost. And this is no small part of his glory in obedience, that the holiness of God in the law was therein, and therein alone, in that one instance, as unto human nature, fully represented.

4. He wrought out this obedience against all difficulties and oppositions. For although he was absolutely free from that disorder which in us has invaded our whole natures, which internally renders all obedience difficult unto us, and perfect obedience impossible; yet as unto opposition from without, in temptations, sufferings, reproaches, contradictions, he met with more than we all. Hence is that glorious word, "although he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered," Heb. v. 8. See our exposition of that place. But, —

5. The glory of this obedience ariseth principally from the consideration of the person who thus yielded it unto God. This was no other but the Son of God made man, — God and man in one person. He who was in heaven, above all, Lord of all, at the same time lived in the world in a condition of no reputation, and a course of the strictest obedience unto the whole law of God. He unto whom prayer was made, prayed himself night and day. He whom all the angels of heaven and all creatures worshipped, was continually conversant in all the duties of the worship of God. He who was over the house, diligently observed the meanest office of the house. He that made all men, in whose hand they are all as clay in the hand of the potter, observed amongst them the strictest rules of justice, in giving unto every one his due; and of charity, in giving good things that were not so due. This is that which renders the obedience of Christ in the discharge of his office both mysterious and glorious.

II. Again, the glory of Christ is proposed unto us in what he suffered in the discharge of the office which he had undertaken. There belonged, indeed, unto his office, victory, success, and triumph with great glory, Isa. lxiii. 1-5; but there were sufferings also required of him antecedently thereunto: "Ought not Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?"

But such were these sufferings of Christ, as that in our thoughts about them our minds quickly recoil in a sense of their insufficiency to conceive aright of them. Never any one launched into this ocean with his meditations, but he quickly found himself unable to fathom the depths of it; nor shall I here undertake an inquiry into them. I shall only point at this spring of glory, and leave it under a veil.

We might here look on him as under the weight of the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; taking on himself, and on his whole soul, the utmost of evil that God had ever threatened to sin or sinners. We might look on him in his agony and bloody sweat, in his strong cries and supplications, when he was sorrowful unto the death, and began to be amazed, in apprehensions of the things that were coming on him, — of that dreadful trial which he was entering into. We might look upon him conflicting with all the powers of darkness, the rage and madness of men, — suffering in his soul, his body, his name, his reputation, his goods, his life; some of these sufferings being immediate from God above, others from devils and wicked men, acting according to the determinate counsel of God. We might look on him praying, weeping, crying out, bleeding, dying, — in all things making his soul an offering for sin; so was he "taken from prison, and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off from the land of the living: for the transgression," says God, "of my people was he smitten," Isa. liii. 8. But these things I shall not insist on in particular, but leave them under such a veil as may give us a prospect into them, so far as to fill our souls with holy admiration.

Lord, what is man, that thou art thus mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Who has known thy mind, or who has been thy counsellor? O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! What shall we say unto these things? That God spared not his only Son, but gave him up unto death, and all the evils included therein, for such poor, lost sinners as we were; — that for our sakes the eternal Son of God should submit himself unto all the evils that our natures are obnoxious unto, and that our sins had deserved, that we might be delivered!

How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account, in the eyes of believers! When Adam had sinned, and thereby eternally, according unto the sanction of the law, ruined himself and all his posterity, he stood ashamed, afraid, trembling, as one ready to perish for ever, under the displeasure of God. Death was that which he had deserved, and immediate death was that which he looked for. In this state the Lord Christ in the promise comes unto him, and says, Poor creature! how woeful is thy condition! how deformed is thy appearance! What is become of the beauty, of the glory of that image of God wherein thou wast created? how hast thou taken on thee the monstrous shape and image of Satan? And yet thy present misery, thy entrance into dust and darkness, is no way to be compared with what is to ensue. Eternal distress lies at the door. But yet look up once more, and behold me, that thou mayest have some glimpse of what is in the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and grace. Come forth from thy vain shelter, thy hiding-place I will put myself into thy condition. I will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment which would sink thee eternally into the bottom of hell. I will pay that which I never took; and be made temporally a curse for thee, that thou mayest attain unto eternal blessedness. To the same purpose he speaks unto convinced sinners, in the invitation he gives them to come unto him.

Thus is the Lord Christ set forth in the Gospel, "evidently crucified" before our eyes, Gal. iii. 1, — namely, in the representation that is made of his glory, — in the sufferings he underwent for the discharge of the office he had undertaken. Let us, then, behold him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree, — in all, labouring under a sense of the wrath of God due unto our sins. Unto this end are they recorded in the gospel, — read, preached, and presented unto us. But what can we see herein? — what glory is in these things? Are not these the things which all the world of Jews and Gentiles stumbled and took offence at? — those wherein he was appointed to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence? Was it not esteemed a foolish thing, to look for help and deliverance by the miseries of another? — to look for life by his death? The apostle declares at large that such it was esteemed, 1 Cor. i. So was it in the wisdom of the world. But even on the account of these things is he honourable, glorious, and precious in the sight of them that do believe, 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7. For even herein he was "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," 1 Cor. i. 24. And the apostle declares at large the grounds and reasons of the different thoughts and apprehensions of men concerning the cross and sufferings of Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 3-6.

Chapter VII. The glory of Christ in his exaltation after the accomplishment of the work of mediation in this world.

We may, in the next place, behold the glory of Christ, with respect unto his office, in the actings of God towards him which ensued on his discharge of it in this world, in his own exaltation.

These are the two heads whereunto all the prophecies and predictions concerning Jesus Christ under the Old Testament are referred, — namely, his sufferings, and the glory that ensued thereon, 1 Peter i. 11. All the prophets testified beforehand "of the Sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." So when he himself opened the Scriptures unto his disciples, he gave them this as the sum of the doctrine contained in them, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" Luke xxiv. 26. The same is frequently expressed elsewhere, Rom. xiv. 9; Phil. ii. 5-9.

So much as we know of Christ, his sufferings, and his glory, so much do we understand of the Scripture, and no more.

These are the two heads of the mediation of Christ and his kingdom, and this is their order which they communicate unto the church, — first sufferings, and then glory: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him," 2 Tim. ii. 12. They do but deceive themselves who design any other method of these things. Some would reign here in this world; and we may say, with the apostle, "Would you did reign, that we might reign with you." But the members of the mystical body must be conformed unto the Head. In him sufferings went before glory; and so they must in them. The order in the kingdom of Satan and the world is contrary hereunto. First the good things of this life, and then eternal misery, is the method of that kingdom, Luke xvi. 25.

These are the two springs of the salvation of the church, — the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole earth, from which all the golden oil, whereby the church is dedicated unto God and sanctified, does flow. This glory of Christ in his exaltation, which followed on his sufferings, is that which we now inquire into. And we shall state our apprehensions of it in the ensuing observations:—

1. This is peculiarly that glory which the Lord Christ prays that his disciples may be where he is to behold it. It is not solely so, as it is considered absolutely; but it is that wherein all the other parts of his glory are made manifest. It is the evidence, the pledge, the means of the manifestation of them all. As unto all the instances of his glory before insisted on, there was a veil drawn over them whilst he was in this world. Hence the most saw nothing of it, and the best saw it but obscurely. But in this glory that veil is taken off, whereby the whole glory of his person in itself and in the work of mediation is most illustriously manifested. When we shall immediately behold this glory, we shall see him as he is. This is that glory whereof the Father made grant unto him before the foundation of the world, and wherewith he was actually invested upon his ascension.

2. By this glory of Christ I do not understand the essential glory of his divine nature, or his being absolutely in his own person "over all, God blessed for ever;" but the manifestation of this glory in particular, after it had been veiled in this world under the "form of a servant," belongs hereunto. The divine glory of Christ in his person belongs not unto his exaltation; but the manifestation of it does so. It was not given him by free donation; but the declaration of it unto the church of angels and men after his humiliation was so. He left it not whilst he was in this world; but the direct evidence and declaration of it he laid aside, until he was "declared to be the Son of God with power," by the resurrection from the dead.

When the sun is under a total eclipse, he loseth nothing of his native beauty, light, and glory. He is still the same that he was from the beginning, — a "great light to rule the day." To us he appears as a dark, useless meteor; but when he comes by his course to free himself from the lunar interposition, unto his proper aspect towards us, he manifests again his native light and glory. So was it with the divine nature of Christ, as we have before declared. He veiled the glory of it by the interposition of the flesh, or the assumption of our nature to be his own; with this addition, that therein he took on him the "form of a servant," — of a person of mean and low degree. But this temporary eclipse being past and over, it now shines forth in its infinite lustre and beauty, which belongs unto the present exaltation of his person. And when those who beheld him here as a poor, sorrowful, persecuted man, dying on the cross, came to see him in all the infinite, untreated glories of the divine nature, manifesting themselves in his person, it could not but fill their souls with transcendent joy and admiration. And this is one reason of his prayer for them whilst he was on the earth, that they might be where he is to behold his glory; for he knew what ineffable satisfaction it would be unto them for evermore.

3. I do not understand absolutely the glorification of the human nature of Christ, — that very soul and body wherein he lived and died, suffered and rose again, — though that also be included herein. This also were a subject meet for our contemplation, especially as it is the exemplar of that glory which he will bring all those unto who believe in him. But because at present we look somewhat farther, I shall observe only one or two things concerning it.

(1.) That very nature itself which he took on him in this world, is exalted into glory. Some under a pretence of great subtlety and accuracy, do deny that he has either flesh or blood in heaven; that is, as to the substance of them, however you may suppose that they are changed, purified, glorified. The great foundation of the church and all gospel faith, is, that he was made flesh, that he did partake of flesh and blood, even as did the children. That he has forsaken that flesh and blood which he was made in the womb of the blessed Virgin, — wherein he lived and died, which he offered unto God in sacrifice, and wherein he rose from the dead, — is a Socinian fiction. What is the true nature of the glorification of the humanity of Christ, neither those who thus surmise, nor we, can perfectly comprehend. It does not yet appear what we ourselves shall be; much less is it evident unto us what he is, whom we shall be like. But that he is still in the same human nature wherein he was on the earth, that he has the same rational soul and the same body, is a fundamental article of the Christian faith.

(2.) This nature of the man Christ Jesus is filled with all the divine graces and perfections whereof a limited, created nature is capable. It is not deified, it is not made a god; — it does not in heaven coalesce into one nature with the divine by a composition of them, — it has not any essential property of the Deity communicated unto it, so as subjectively to reside in it; — it is not made omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent; but it is exalted in a fulness of all Divine perfection ineffably above the glory of angels and men. It is incomprehensibly nearer God than they all, — hath communications from God, in glorious light, love, and power, ineffably above them all; but it is still a creature.

For the substance of this glory of the human nature of Christ, believers shall be made partakers of it; for when we see him as he is, we shall be like him; but as unto the degrees and measures of it, his glory is above all that we can be made partakers of. "There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; and one star differeth from another in glory," as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. xv. 41. And if there be a difference in glory among the stars themselves as to some degrees of the same glory, how much more is there between the glory of the sun and that of any star whatever! Such is the difference that is, and will be unto eternity, between the human nature of Christ and what glorified believers do attain unto. But yet this is not that properly wherein the glory of Christ in his exaltation, after his humiliation and death, does consist. The things that belong unto it may be reduced unto the ensuing heads.

1. It consisteth in the exaltation of the human nature, as subsisting in the divine person, above the whole creation of God in power, dignity, authority, and rule, with all things that the wisdom of God has appointed to render the glory of it illustrious. I have so largely insisted on the explication and confirmation of this part of the present glory of Christ, in the exposition of Heb. i. 2, 3, that I have nothing more to add thereunto.

2. It does so in the evidence given of the infinite love of God the Father unto him, and his delight in him, with the eternal approbation of his discharge of the office committed unto him. Hence he is said "to sit at the right hand of God," or at "the right hand of the majesty on high." That the glory and dignity of Christ in his exaltation is singular, the highest that can be given to a creature, incomprehensible; — that he is, with respect unto the discharge of his office, under the eternal approbation of God; — that, as so gloriously exalted, he is proclaimed unto the whole creation, — are all contained in this expression.

3. Hereunto is added the full manifestation of his own divine wisdom, love, and grace, in the work of mediation and redemption of the church. This glory is absolutely singular and peculiar unto him. Neither angels nor men have the least interest in it. Here, we see it darkly as in a glass; above, it shines forth in its brightness, to the eternal joy of them who behold him.

This is that glory which our Lord Jesus Christ in an especial manner prayed that his disciples might behold. This is that whereof we ought to endeavour a prospect by faith; — by faith, I say, and not by imagination. Vain and foolish men, having general notions of this glory of Christ, knowing nothing of the real nature of it, have endeavoured to represent it in pictures and images, with all that lustre and beauty which the art of painting, with the ornaments of gold and jewels, can give unto them. This is that representation of the present glory of Christ, which, being made and proposed unto the imagination and carnal affections of superstitious persons, carrieth such a show of devotion and veneration in the Papal Church. But they err, not knowing the Scripture, nor the eternal glory of the Son of God.

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations herein. The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual possession of in heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this world, but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation. To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing unto ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description made of this glory of Christ in the Scripture, is the ground, rule, and measure, of all divine meditations thereon.

Hereon our duty it is to call ourselves to an account as unto our endeavour after a gracious view of this glory of Christ:— When did we steadily behold it? when had we such a view of it as wherein our souls have been satisfied and refreshed? It is declared and represented unto us as one of the chief props of our faith, as a help of our joy, as an object of our hope, as a ground of our consolation, — as our greatest encouragement unto obedience and suffering. Are our minds every day conversant with thoughts hereof? or do we think ourselves not much concerned herein? Do we look upon it as that which is without us and above us, — that which we shall have time enough to consider when we come to heaven? So is it with many. They care neither where Christ is nor what he is, so that one way or other they may be saved by him. They hope, as they pretend, that they shall see him and his glory in heaven, — and that they suppose to be time enough; but in vain do they pretend a desire thereof, — in vain are their expectations of any such thing. They who endeavour not to behold the glory of Christ in this world, as has been often said, shall never behold him in glory hereafter unto their satisfaction; nor do they desire so to do, only they suppose it a part of that relief which they would have when they are gone out of this world. For what should beget such a desire in them? Nothing can do it but some view of it here by faith; which they despise, or totally neglect. Every pretence of a desire of heaven, and of the presence of Christ therein, that does not arise from, that is not resolved into, that prospect which we have of the glory of Christ in this world by faith, is mere fancy and imagination.

Our constant exercise in meditation on this glory of Christ will fill us with joy on his account; which is an effectual motive unto the duty itself. We are for the most part selfish, and look no farther than our own concernments. So we may be pardoned and saved by him, we care not much how it is with himself, but only presume it is well enough. We find not any concernment of our own therein. But this frame is directly opposite unto the genius of divine faith and love. For their principal actings consist in preferring Christ above ourselves, and our concerns in him above all our own. Let this, then, stir us up unto the contemplation of this glory. Who is it that is thus exalted over all? Who is thus encompassed with glory, majesty, and power? Who is it that sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, — all his enemies being made his footstool? Is it not he who in this world was poor, despised, persecuted, and slain, — all for our sakes? Is it not the same Jesus who loved us, and gave himself for us, and washed us in his own blood? So the apostle told the Jews that the same "Jesus whom they slew and hanged on a tree, God had exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and the forgiveness of sins," Acts v. 30, 31. If we have any valuation of his love, if we have any concernment in what he has done and suffered for the church, we cannot but rejoice in his present state and glory.

Let the world rage whilst it pleaseth; let it set itself with all its power and craft against every thing of Christ that is in it, — which, whatever is by some otherwise pretended, proceeds from a hatred unto his person; let men make themselves drunk with the blood of his saints; we have this to oppose unto all their attempts, unto our supportment, — namely, what he says of himself: "Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death," Rev. i. 17, 18.

Blessed Jesus! we can add nothing to thee, nothing to thy glory; but it is a joy of heart unto us that thou art what thou art, — that thou art so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God; and we do long more fully and clearly to behold that glory, according to thy prayer and promise.