2. The glory in the kingdom of heaven will be fully perfected at the resurrection, and general day of judgment; then the bo- dies and souls of believers will be reunited. What joy will there be at the reunion and meeting together of the soul and body of a saint ! O what a welcome will the soul give to the body ! " O my dear body, thou didst often join with me in ])rayer, and now thou shalt join with me in jn'aise ; thou wert wil- ling to suffer with me, and now thou shalt reign with me ; thou wert sown a vile body, but now thou art made like Christ's glori- ous body ; we were once for a time divorc- ed, but now we are married, and crowned together in a kingdom, and shall mutually congratulate each other's felicity !"
Quest. 5. Wherein appears the certainty and in/all ihility of this kingdom of ghry ?
Ans. That this blessed kingdom shall be bestowed on the saints, is beyond all dis- pute.
1. God halh promised it, Luke xii. 32., " It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdi>m ;" Luke xxii. 29., '• I ap- j)oint unto you a kingdom." [(ir. dialitlie- jnui^ ' I be((ueath it as my last will aiul tes- tament.' Hath God j)roniised a kingdom, and will he not make it good ? God's pro- mise is better than any bond. Tit. i. 2., " In hope of eternal life, which (Jod that cannot lie, hath promised " The whole earth hangs upon the word of God's powei ; and cannot
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our faitli liang upon tlie word of liis pro- mise ?
2. There is a price laid down for tliis kingdom. Heaven is not only a kingdom wliicli Ciod hath promised, but which Christ hath ])uichased ; it is called a ' purchased possession,' Eph. i. 14. Though this king- dom is given us freely, yet Christ bought it with the price of his blood ; Christ's blood is an heaven procuring blood, Ileb. x. 19., " Having boldness to enter into the lioliest («. e. into heaven) by the blood of Jesus." Crux Christi clavis paradisi, — Christ's blood is the key that opens the gates of heaven. Should not the saints have this kingdom, then Christ should lose his purchase. Christ on the cross was in hard travail, Isa. liii. 11. He travailed to bring forth salvation to the elect ; should not they possess the kingdom when they die, Christ should lose his tra- vail, all his pangs and agonies of soul upon the cross should be in vain.
3. Christ prays that the saints may have this kingdom settled upon them, John xvii. 2 k, " Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am," t. e. in heaven. This is Christ's prayer that the saints may be with him in his kingdom, and be bespangled with some of the beams of his glory : now, if they should not go into this heavenly kingdom, then Christ's prayer would be frustrated; but that cannot be, for he is God's favourite, John xi. 42., " I know thou hearest me always;" and besides, what Christ prays for, lie hath power to give. Observe the manner of Christ's prayer, " Father, I will ;" Father, there he prays as man ; " / ivil/f" there he gives as God.
4. The saints must have this blessed king- dom by virtue of Christ's ascension, John xx. 17., " I ascend unto my Father and vour Father, to my God and your God." Where lies the comfort of this? Here it lies, Jesus Christ ascended to take posses- sion of heaven for all believers. As an hus- l)and takes up land in another country in the belialr of his wife, so Christ went to take ])osses>i()n of heaven, in the behalf of all believers, John xiv. 2., " I go to prepare a |)lace lor you." INIy ascension is to make all things ready against your coming : I go to prepare the heavenly mansions for you.
The flesh that Christ hath taken into hea- ven is a sin-e pledge that our flesh and bo- dies shall be where he is ere long. Christ did not ascend to heaven, .is a private per- son, but as a public ])ers«>n, for the good of all believers ; his ascension was a certain forerunner of the saints ascending into hea- ven.