Part 2. CHAPTER XII.
James Dodson
The condition and Properties of the Covenant of Redemption
Christ being Man, required that he should be under a Covenant.
Q. What need is there of any condition to be performed by Christ, or of any Covenant?
Ans. The same Question may be of the need of an oath to Christ, Psal. 110. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a Priest, &c.
(2.) The same necessity, in regard of infinite wisdom that our Redeemer should be obedient to the death of the Crosse, Phil. 2:8. and be under the Law, Gal. 4:4. and keep his Fathers Commandments, and abide in his love, Joh. 15:10. requires also a Covenant of obedience upon the part of Christ-Man; for all men being born under the Law and Covenant of Works, Christ-Man also must be under the same. And then Christ the Mediator was to give obedience to a particular Commandment of laying down his life for sinners, and this required an engagement by way of Covenant, and so a condition of obedience to perform what this peculiar Law of Suretyship required of him, to wit, to lay down his life.
No such condition is required of Christ as of Adam or of us, nor was he under any threatening, but had confirming grace from the womb.
(3.) Its not a condition of indifferency which is required of Christ, such as is required of Adam, in which there is a hazard of failing and coming short of the reward. Adams Covenant had both threatenings and promises, and so hath our Covenant of Reconciliation, though in another way: see Psal. 89:30, 31, 32. But the Covenant of Suretyship hath promises most large that are made to Christ: but no threatenings are laid before the Man-Christ that are to be read in the Scripture. There was no hazard nor possibility, in regard of the Personal Union, that Christ could sin: yea, in regard that Christ from the womb was both a Traveler, a Viator and an enjoyer and Comprehensor, and had the Spirit above measure from his birth, as Man he had gifted to him the confirming grace which is now given to the Elect Angels in their Head Christ; And therefore there was somewhat like a condition necessary, and as the members enter to glory through obedience, so also the Covenanted Head, Luk. 24:26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
The paying of the price of blood, and dying for man was the formal condition of the Covenant of suretyship.
Q. 2. What was the special condition of the Covenant of Suretyship?
Ans. The Covenant being a bargain of buying a people to God, then the paid price and ransom must be the duly formal condition. As for obedience to the Moral Law, it was the condition of the Covenant of Works, to which the Man Christ, as Man, was obliged, that he might have right to Law-justification and life eternal, jure & merito foederali operum, by the Law and federal merit (I mean merit by paction and faithful Law-promise, not of condignity) of the Covenant of Works, that he might be saved.
Law-holiness in Christ did not exclude grace.
But this Law-holiness had influence in that most solemn act of obedience in offering himself a sacrifice to death for our sins.
And the Law-holiness of the Man Christ did not exclude supernatural grace as the Law-holiness of Adam: for it was the perfect conformity of Christ’s nature, his soul, understanding, will, affections, and all his actions internal and external with the holy Law of God.
The holy actings of Christ’s affections.
Hence the heart and inclinations of Christ stood ever right and straight to the Law. He exercised no affection in puris naturalibus [purely natural], his anger came not out in pure natural anger and no more, but it came out in acts of zeal; Nor his joy in pure natural joy, though sinless, but in joy of the Holy Ghost. And in the whole Man Christ was a perfect mass, and, as it were, a complete body of all gracious qualifications.
Christ’s wisdom.
Isai. 11. He received the Spirit of knowledge and was ignorant of nothing he ought to know: Disputed with the Doctors being of twelve years old: The world knew not his School or Teacher. Hence his wisdom and practical understanding of the Law of God and practical conclusions, He had the Spirit of counsel, as the greatest of Statesmen for Government, Isa. 52:13. Behold my Servant shall deal prudently. And so, when we are in perplexities and know not what to do, he can lead the blind in a way they know not, Isai. 11:1, 2.
Christ his undaunted boldness of faith.
He hath the Spirit of might and courage, an undaunted Spirit, yet conjoined with counsel, no fool hardiness, but the resolute venturousness of faith, Isai. 42:4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged: Heb. broken, till he have set judgement in the earth. Our softness of unbelief, at the blowing of a feather or stirring of a leaf, brings on falling of Spirit and swooning. He hath the boldness of faith to believe victory before the battle, Isa. 50:9. Lo they all shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.
His hope.
He hath hope from the womb, Psal. 22:9. Thou art he that took me out of the womb, thou didst make me hope when I was in my mother’s breasts. And for the joy set before him, he endured the crosse and despised the shame, Heb. 12:2.
His holy sagacity.
And the Spirit of the fear of the Lord made him quick in understanding, that is, the high and reverent apprehensions of God made him quick to smell or sent (so the word imports) the snares and temptations in the work of Redemption plotted by men and devils.
His righteousness.
So excelled he in righteousness, which as a girdle went about his loins, both in judging, and in discharging the trust put upon him by the Lord who laid the key of David and the Government upon his shoulder: his obedience to his Father, and continuing in his love, Joh. 15:10. and thirsting to do the will of the Father, Joh. 4:34. His zeal to his Father’s house should be a fair copy for us to follow.
His meekness.
He was meekness itself, Isa. 53:7; 1 Pet. 2:23, 24. much in praying, believing, rejoicing in spirit, Luk. 6:12; Psal. 16:9, 10, 11.
His tenderness to the weak.
[He was] tender to the weak of the flock, Isa. 40:11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and he shall gently lead these that are with young. Isa. 42:2. He shall not cry, nor lift up (a shout) nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.
His compassion to sinners.
He was most compassionate to sinners, inviting them to come, Mat. 11:28, 29. crying and shouting with a loud voice to the thirsty, Joh. 7:37. journeyed from heaven to seek and to save the lost, Luk. 19:10. came to serve them with his heart blood, Mat. 20:28. his bowels were turned with compassion to perishing souls that wanted the feeding Pastors, Mat. 9:36. He sighed deeply in his Spirit, at the perverse unbelief of his deadly enemies the Pharisees, Mar. 8:12. wept and shed tears at the foreseen destruction of Jerusalem, Mat. 23:37; Luk. 19:41, 42. and yet that City slew him. Loved as the tender Physician, to be much in company with sick sinners, Mat. 9:11, 12; Luk. 15:1, 2, 3; Luk. 19:1, 2, 3, 9, 10. O what rejoicing! when he lays the lost sheep on his shoulder, Luk. 15:5. When, v. 20. he sees the home-coming sinner, he ran, fell on his neck, and had compassion upon him, and kissed him, and made a feast, and sang and danced for joy.
His humility.
There is no humility like his, to wash the feet of his servants: there is no patience like his, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatned not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, 1 Pet. 2:23. As a lamb dumb before the sharer, Isa. 53.
His painful way of gaining of souls.
How gaining of souls was he, who preached in the Temple, in the Synagogues, in the Villages, in the Ship, at the Sea side, at every Table he came to, at every Feast, at every confluence of people, at every way side, and stood still and talked with a woman, and wanted his dinner upon that occasion? And thought he dined well when he gained to the Lord the soul of a woman, and of them of Samaria, who hated him and refused to lodge him?
His faithful & free teaching.
How faithful and free in rebuking the Pharisees and Rulers, and in declaring the truth of the Gospel, that he was the Son of God, though they attempted to stone him for his free Teaching?
His mortification.
None mortified to honour as he that refused to be a King, Joh. 6:15. and was willing to be worse lodged then birds and foxes, Mat. 8:20. and being rich, for our cause became poor. 2 Cor. 8:9. and endured the crosse, despised the shame, suffered the contradiction of sinners, Heb. 12. and did run and fainted not:
A pattern of love.
And was he not a pattern of love, who laid down his life for his friends, Joh. 15:10. even when we were enemies? Rom. 5:10.
Of obedience to God and to all to whom obedience is due.
He pleased not himself, Rom. 15:3. honoured his Father, Joh. 8. sought not his own glory, v. 49, 50. and saith true, Joh. 5:30. I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Joh. 8:29. I do always these things that please him. He faithfully expounded the Law, Mat. 5. refuted heresies, Mat. 22. glorified God with his miracles, he was subject to his Parents, Luk. 2:51. paid tribute to the Prince himself. Mat. 17:27. and taught others to obey lawful Governours, Mat. 22:21. would not usurp the place of a Judge, Luk. 12. v. 13, 14. and witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate, 1 Tim. 6:13. and was for that cause born, and for that end came he into the world, that he might bear witness unto the truth, Joh. 18:37. none so self-denied, he pleased not himself, sought not his own glory, nor his own ease, nor his own will, but submitted to the will of God.
Christ hath all these qualifications as the grace of head-ship, to be communicated to us, not as the grace of his person, to be personal and private endowments for himself only.
In all which, we are
1. to look upon Christ who went about doing good, Act. 10. as one who
(1.) was Covenant-wise designed of God and anointed with the Holy Ghost and power to do what he did, and to be what he was, for our good: and its much for the establishing of our faith, that Christ was all this for our salvation’s sake, by counsel and Covenant. These gracious qualifications Christ-God undertook to have for our good: and they were not given to Christ as personal and proper for himself, but as head; for we may here distinguish the grace of the person and the grace of head-ship, though they must not be divided. But as the light and heat of the Sun is not (if we may so speak) private or personal for the Sun itself, but for the earth, and all that live and grow out of the earth that need the influences of the Sun and have eyes to enjoy the light thereof. The water of the fountain is not for that hole or cave of the earth from whence the fountain doth issue, but it is very often to run in streams to be a river for the use of the whole land. All these excellencies and graces are in Christ, not as his (to speak so) personal endowments, but as the public treasure, that we may receive of his fullness.
We too much affect bastard graces, and too little the grace that is Christ, which hath a drawing desirableness to cause us follow these graces because they lodge in God Immanuel.
We should think it a strange exorbitancy in nature, if all the trees, flowers, herbs on earth, should refuse to receive influences and growing from the Sun, and deny to be obliged to the Sun for light and heat: and our unwillingness to receive from Christ the public grace that is made his by Covenant, when a public con[s]ignation [a sealing, or ratifying] by compact is made for our good, proclaims our unbelief and our wicked estrangement from Christ, as if we had said, let Christ be gracious for Christ, only I shall not be his debtor. Nor is it from the natural connexion between head and members, or because simply Christ is man as we are, though the humanity be ground thereof, nor is it because Christ simply is anointed with the fullness of the Spirit, for he is head of the body, and Lord, General, Captain of his people, now by nature only, not because of grace simply, but by Covenant-purchase. Rom. 14:9. εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ Χριστὸς, For this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. There’s a Covenant between the Father and the Son that Christ should die, not simply, but for, and in the name of the heirs of glory, such as are designed friends (for his dying is a relative and a legal binding and buying by Covenant of so many certain persons) and upon this he is made Head and Prince, and exalted to give of his fullness, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to the house of Israel, Act. 5:30, 31. Ah! how do we love to be beholden to nature? to self? for Heathen and Pagan virtues by education, and moral exercise, which is but wild corn? and we see not how unwilling we are to trade with Christ, or to buy from him fine gold, yet it was given to him without measure, as to the universal fountain and head, for all his.
The graces in Christ are more forceable patterns to us to follow, in some sense, then the Scripture itself.
2. All these are in Christ, that he should be a living copy which we must follow: And he is a more lively example then the Gospel itself, for Christ is the acted Gospel. And if ye look on Christ, loving, believing, hoping, praying, there comes more life and warmness from his actions, then from the word: when we consider that as God would have the human nature a chariot to convey to us the fullness of merit by satisfaction, so must it be the mean of carrying to us the fullness of grace by sanctification, and then, when God Covenants with the Man Christ, that love, faith, hope, meekness, humility and grace shall live, speak and act in Christ out to us we are more strongly convinced to follow the footsteps of so blessed a guide. Christ is a living glass in which we see the beauty of grace. As also his meekness and humility is the meekness and humility of God, and all these graces have a seat and lodging in our Immanuel God with us, they have a drawing and an alluring desirableness from the Person the Lord Jehovah our King, the mighty God, the Father of ages, in whom they reside.
The properties of the Covenant of Suretyship are,
(1.) Freedom.
(2.) Graciousness.
(3.) Eternity.
1. The freedom of the Covenant of suretyship.
As to the first: Nothing could compel, nothing could hire Christ for eternity to engage his Name in such a band, since he well knew what it should cost him, how dear it should stand him, and saw what indignity, shame, pain, curse, and all these conditions before him. And what could move the father, since he might have followed the Law-course of Works?
The grace in the Covenant of suretyship.
2. The first draughts, of free-grace and the Lord’s unsearchable riches appears in the sure mercies of David. in an everlasting Covenant, Isa. 55:3. and Ps. 89:1. I will sing the mercies of the Lord.—2. For I have said, mercy shall be built-up forever:—Why? v. 3. I have made a Covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. 4. Thy seed will I establish forever, &c.
(1.) The giving of the Covenant.
(2.) The design of a Redeemer.
(3.) The sending.
(4.) Anointing.
(5.) The consenting of Christ.
(6.) His coming.
(7.) Dying, are all acts of grace. God was no debtor to the Man Christ, or to any of his kindred and blood-friends, more than he was to David and his seed, but God would act grace in Christ and make him a samplar [example] and the first copy of free-grace to all his brethren, that they might share with him therein. But though he made Christ also a copy of his Justice, Rom. 3:25. and spared not his Son, Rom. 8:32. yet, Mal. 3:17. the Lord deals not so with us: And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son, that serveth him. And of Christ it is said, Ps. 72:13. He shall spare the poor and needy.
The more grace that is shown to us, the more should we serve, not with a servile, but with a godly fear.
And, O what riches of grace and mercy, and plenteous Redemption hath he manifested to us? and therefore the more grace he shews to us, the more freely and sonly should we serve him, with less hiredness [i.e., the character of a hireling] and servile disposition:
The godly fear and the other fear differenced.
If we could love God and Christ with a heart abstracted from heavens hire, at least the pleasure of it (for pleasure makes not any conform to God, but holiness doth) and the heart not legally fearing the burning torment of hell it were good: for since Christ hath freed us from the Law-wrath, he takes it not well that we dare approach too near to the mount burning with fire; nor does Christ allow our affections of fear and sorrow, & sadness to act upon feared everlasting wrath, (we being justified by faith) any other way, then in a Gospel-consideration, being casten down for our Law-deserving, but so as we highly value our ransom-payer, and serve him with godly fear, εὐλάβεια (fear of God), which word, Heb. 12:28. must note a difference between the fear and trembling and terrour upon devils, for the torment of hell, Mat. 8:29; Jam. 2:19. and the εὐλάβεια (fear of God), the godly fear of believers, Heb. 12:28. which is also given to Christ, Heb. 5:7. in whom there was no fear of hell torment, and therefore the fear of him that can cast both soul and body in hell (though it be another word, Mat. 10:28.) which Christ commands, cannot be a servile fear legal, for hell such as is in devils and men, but a godly fear, such as is consistent with the faith of deliverance from the wrath to come: for Christ, Mat. 10:28. commands that fear, fear (saith he) to deny Christ before men: Why? fear him who can cast soul and body in hell. And immediately, v. 31. Fear not therefore: the same word that is, v. 28. then he must forbid a fear opposite to servile fear, and which stands with the faith of sons who are to believe the care of a father, which is more toward his children then toward sparrows, v. 29, 30. And that the word noteth a godly fear, which is, Heb. 12. beside other Greek Authors. See Heb. 5:7. see Luk 2:25; Act. 2:5; Act. 8:2; Act. 23:10. and Heb. 11:7. Noah moved with fear, εὐλαβηθεὶς [moved with reverence], built and ark: sure the fear of everlasting torment in hell, moved not Noah to build the ark, for by faith which is saving, he builded it, v. 7.
3. Eternity is a special property of the Covenant of suretyship: For 1. the parties are eternal. Jehovah the Lord and the Son of God never began to agree upon the designation of the Redeemer for that work, it was a bargain closed from everlasting. Only the question is, when the Son shall render the Kingdom to the Father, 1 Cor. 15. whether or not the Covenant shall then cease. For 1. Christ shall then end his work of Redemption, and shall fully and finally have purchased what his soul desires, and shall have received his wages, and enjoy with his conquished [subdued] bride an eternal sabbath. 2. He shall intercede no more for sinners, for the sinning of his redeemed ones shall have an end.
The Son’s being subject to the Father how it is to be expounded, 1 Cor. 15.
2. The Son (saith [John] Camero [In Respons. ad Quaestio.]) shall leave off to reign, quod attinet ad regnandi actum, according to the act of reigning, but as touching the Kingdom itself, there shall be no end of the Kingdom.
But it may appear as there was a time when it was said of Christ, Phil. 2:7. ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε [He emptied Himself], He emptied himself, and took on him the form of a servant. So there is a time opposite to that, v. 9. Therefore God hath highly exalted him: which is not fulfilled in his resurrection, ascension, and sitting only at the right hand of God, but when all power, friends, and unfriends, and the Man Christ shall be subject to the Lord, yea even the Son, not as God, for Christ-God is equal with the Father, not as man, for so in the days of his flesh as man, he ever was, and is, and shall be subject to God, but the Son shall be subject, as touching the Office of a formal Mediatour.
Augustine, & Ambrose their mind touching Christ his being subject to the Father.
2. Another distinction is here needful, as Augustine and Ambrose: he shall render the Kingdom to the Father, not that he shall leave off to reign, but that he then shall declare that he reigns not of himself, but that he hath his power of reigning from the Father, and he shall profess this before men and Angels, and so shall glorify the Father. Its not to be rejected that Hilarius, lib. 1. de Trinit. 11. August. lib. 1. de Trinit. c. 8. he shall render the elect back to God, as now saved, and present to the Father his ransomed ones now perfected, so Eph. 5:27.
Christ his not exercising of some second acts of a Mediatory Head and King after the last Judgment, proves not but he is a Mediatory King even then.
3. Taking the word of reigning, for this, to excel in eminency of power above all, so Christ shall reign eternally, but taking the word of reigning as it notes the exercise of royal authority, so and so by gathering a Church, by the Preached word, fighting against enemies, and overcoming them, to make them his foot-stool, until which time he reigns, Ps. 110. And so it may be, and is said by some, he reigns, not after the day of the universal Judgement: but these are but the second acts of a King, and the not exercising of these acts proves not but Christ is a King, actu primo [first act], and essentially, for the exercise of such and such acts are often extrinsical to the office. But the question shall remain whether he be not for ever and ever a Mediatory King, and does retain his headship over the Church; so as the Angel say, Luk. 1:33. He shall reign, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας [unto eternity], and of his Kingdom there shall be no end. And as Dan. 7:14.
That Christ’s Kingdom is eternal only because it is not destroyed as worldly Kingdoms are by external violence, is said by some.
[John] Cameron, and others say, the meaning of that, that his Kingdom shall have no end: is only, it shall not be destroyed by external violence, as worldly Monarchies that are made away, and others rise in their place, but that Kingdom (say they) may well be called eternal, though the King leave off to reign, when he leaves off to reign through no weakness and want of power, but because he needs not reign, there being no need of laws, because the subjects are perfected, and there are no enemies to be subdued, and the King hath obtained that eternal end, a glorified people, for which he was fighting.
But yet this seems not to satisfy,
1. Circumcision, and the Ceremonies; and the Priest-hood, Exo. 40:15; Lev. 16:29. the fast in the seventh month, shall be a statute, עוֹלָ֑ם, forever. Lev. 6:18. All the mules of the sons of Aaron shall eat the remainder of the meat-offering, it shall be a statute forever in your generations: so Lev. 17:7; Lev. 7:34, 36; Lev. 23:14; Num. 23:11, 23. yet these Ordinances can hardly be called eternal, as the Kingdom of Christ is: And yet they cease when the body is come, and they are not destroyed as human inventions, the hay and the stubble that are builded upon the foundation Christ.
2. These reasons prove that Christ shall not exercise such and such acts of royalty upon such and such enemies, for they shall be no enemies: Yet we say not, as [John] Camero, that such a Prince leaves off to reign even as Mediatour.[1] Christ’s rendering of the Kingdom dispensatory or Œconomic to the Father may well be a rendering of an account of his subjects, and a presenting of them to God perfected, Eph. 5:26, 27. without spot and wrinkle: Christ having brought them out of danger, so as they need not Word, Sacraments, or a Temple. And so, 1 Cor. 15:24. He shall put down all rule, all power, and authority, all Magistracy and Government that now is in either Church or State, and so saith [David] Pareus, the Son shall be subject to the Father, having subdued all the rebels, as his Father’s Deputy, he shall return to his Father the Kingdom now reduced to subjection and made peaceable, and lay down his Mediatory Commission, and so be subject to the Father, having ended the deputed and delegated charge. And it is sure, the Son as Mediatour is sent, and is a Servant, an Angel, or Messenger of the Covenant, Mal. 3. and the laying down of his written Commission is a sort of subjection, and God doth not now actually reign in such a Mediatory way as in the days of Christ’s flesh: he did reign in Christ, but now after the last Judgement, God is all in all, that is, not because he is not now all in all, and is not the Lord of lords, and King of kings, but because it doth not so appear to be, many now rise against him and contradict him, and persecuting his Mystical body, do persecute Christ.
(2.) He shall be all in all by change of the Œconomic Government, then the Father, Son, and Spirit, shall immediately glorify the Church, Rev. 21:22. And I saw no Temple therein, for the Lord God. Almighty and the Lamb is their Temple.
(3.) And the City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine, in it, for the glory of God did enlighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Christ is ever, even after the universal Judgment a Mediatory Head, King, and Lord.
But that Christ shall leave off to be Mediatory King after the last Judgement, I deny.
There is a twofold Mediation.
For there is a twofold Mediation, one, of uniting sinners to God, and mediating between God and them. This shall cease, and all the royal acts thereof, but these, with reverence, are but second operations and acts of royalty. There is another Mediation substantial, by which our natures glorified, stand in a substantial union with God for ever, for to what end shall Christ stand glorified in our nature in heaven, but to be the substantial mid-man between God and us, glorified forever? If any say that Christ-God-Man after that day is no Mediatour of reconciliation, because there shall be no sin then: Its true. Nay, but even now in the interval between his ascension and second appearing to Judge the world, he acts not as Mediatour of reconciliation to expiate our sins, and to satisfy for them, for only he did upon the cross by dying for us, so mediate. And we will not say he is acting the part of a Priest formally by sacrificing for us in heaven, as Socinians teach: for he can offer no expiatory sacrifice for us in heaven, for he died but once, & that was on the earth only.
Christ acts not as a sacrificing Priest for us in heaven.
Obj. But now he Advocates for sinners, 1 Joh. 2:1. therefore as now in heaven glorified, he is a Mediatour for sinners.
Ans. True, he is a Mediatour and Intercessour now, applicatione, non expiatione, by applying his blood, but not by shedding of it:
How Christ appears for us now in heaven, as just, as well, as merciful.
And he is an Advocate, but called, δίκαιος [just, or righteous], Jesus the Righteous, and an Advocate as just and righteous, supposeth a right and just cause, and that sufficient satisfaction and payment is given to God for the sins of these for whom Christ intercedes; the Advocation of Christ is not to plead that believers may sin, or their sins may be excused as no sins: But his intercession is to plead,
(1.) that for his blood we may stand as accepted of God, and freed from condemnation.
Christ stands in our nature our Mediatory Head and King, after the last Judgement.
(2.) That the Spirit procured by the death of Christ, may be given to us, that we may repent and believe. But again, after the last Judgement Christ stands as Mediatour, not to apply his death, nor to intercede for sinners, when there shall be no sinners, but Christ eternally shall appear for us as a pawn of a perfect satisfaction once given, and as a pledge and hostage of peace, and Christ’s appearing for us forever is an allusion to the Ambassadours sent by foreign Princes, who standing in Court before the Prince they are sent unto, are speaking tokens that the confederacy of peace stands, and that no acts of hostility can be done by either of the States, and because God is eternally and not by fits just, as if he were now angry at sin, and then satisfied and pacified when the satisfaction is gone, therefore the Lord Christ stands in that Body and Nature in which he once suffered, before God, for the acquiescing of Justice for ever in the once paid ransom. As also, Christ remains the substantial and natural Head (though nature be now glorified) of the Mystical glorified body forever, and of these members under the Covenant of Redemption eternally, though all be done and performed in regard of the purchased redemption: yet we then glorified, once brake the Law, and therefore cannot even then stand in our Law-righteousness, but must stand in our Lord Jesus Christ’s Righteousness, which garment shall never cast the colour nor lustre.
Christ stands eternally well pleased and in love with his redeemed ones.
[2.] That love to redeemed ones, and the soul-satisfaction of Christ in his seed is eternal, looking back to the bargain he hath once made as Mediatour, he cannot leave off to be satisfied in soul with what he hath done, for that were a retracting of his love, and a repenting of his royal and Princely tenderness, that as King, he once did beat to his conquered subjects whom he hath made his own forever.
God stands eternally well pleased with what Christ hath done and suffered, & the once given Throne stands never empty.
[3.] The soul of God must be eternally well pleased with his Son eternally God-Man, and he stands resting in his love, Zeph. 3:17. and delighting forever in all his Sons actings and transactions in the work of Redemption, if therefore God have once given to him, God-Man, the Throne of David to reign over the house of Jacob, he must make empty that Throne, if he shall leave off to reign. And the Angel, Luk. 1. speaks of his birth and conception. 31. Thou shalt bring forth a son, and he shall be great, and the Lord God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever: And he speaks of the eternity of David’s Throne over Jacobs house, so that, as he shall be a man (and he shall never lay down our nature) so shall he be a King upon David’s Throne for ever and ever.
Christ’s Mediatory triumph is eternal.
[4.] To triumph eternally over enemies, the devils, Malignant opposers of his reign, sin, and hell is an act of a Mediatory King; when head and members do both triumph, no less then it is a part of his royal Mediatory power to crush them all, and make them his foot-stool, Psal. 110. But Christ and the Armies of heaven, when the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb shall come, shall ride upon white horses, and triumph over enemies forever, Rev. 19:7, 13, 14, 15. and the eternal living of Christ in our nature with all his, is a triumphing over the grave, and death. 1 Cor. 15. and who can prescribe a period and an end of that triumph?
The Throne of the Lamb is eternal.
[5.] The River of Water of Life shewed to John, Rev. 22. proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb; then hath the slain Lamb a Throne forever, v. 3. And there shall be no more curse there: the Law of Works as threatening a curse, shall no more be there, Gal. 3:10, 11, 13, 14; Deut. 27:26. but the Gospel-blessing shall be there, and the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. v. 5. And they shall reign for ever and ever.
[6.] If the glorified sit with the Lamb on a Throne, as he is set down with his Father upon his Throne, as is, promised, Luk. 22:29, 30; Rev. 3:21. If Christs Throne be removed, the Throne of the glorified cannot stand: And all alongs where the state of the triumphing Church is described, the Lord Jesus keeps the name of the Lamb, in reference to the Mediatory sacrifice of the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world, Joh. 1:29. as, Rev. 5. The Beasts and the Elders stand round about the Throne,—saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom, &c. Rev. 7:15. Therefore are they before the Throne, and serve him night and day in his Temple, and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them.—They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more:—17. For the Lamb that is in the midst of them shall lead them unto the living fountains of waters. Though this be expounded of the Church Militant, Isa. 49:10. yet it hath not its perfect accomplishment, but of the Church before the Throne: for all tears are wiped from that Church only. And whereas it is said, that Christ acts not as Mediatour in heaven, its true, he acts not as now he acteth for sinners; but even then the Lamb, v. 17. is the midst of them, and leads them, when they need neither Temple, nor Sun-light, beside that, the Lord God Almighty is their Temple, Rev. 21. The Lamb is their Temple, v. 22. And the Lamb is their light, v. 23. Now what sort of leading, and what influences of worship and light comes from the Lamb is another question. And it weighs much with me, that its impossible that the precious Ark, God-Man, and the union personal can be dissolved.
[7.] Christ saith, I will be a God to the overcomer, and he shall inherit all things, Rev. 21. And if he be the God of Abraham, being dead, in regard of the soul that lives, far more shall he be a God in an eternal Covenant with Abraham, in soul and body glorified, though the acts of Christ’s reigning, and the actings of his Covenanted people must be suitable to a glorified state. Come Lord Jesus.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Illius imperii princeps desiit regnare [The prince of that empire ceased to reign].