Seventhly, God the Father promiseth highly to exalt Jesus Christ, and nobly to rewat^d him, and everlastingly to glorify him. ' And nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy Grod, and for the Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee/ Isa, xlix. 4-6, and xl. 10. These are the words of God the Father to his Son, promising of him to set such a crown of glory upon his head as should make the nations of the world run unto him. God the Father made Christ glorious in his birth, by the angels' doxology, ' Glory be to God on high ;' in his baptism, by his speaking of him from heaven, ' as his beloved Son ;' in his transfiguration on the mount, in his resurrection, and in his ascension into heaven. 2 So Isa. liii. 12, ' Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death ; and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.' The meaning is this : I will impart, saith God the Father, to my Son, such honour, glory, renown, and riches, after his sufferings, as con- querors use to have ; and he shall have them as a glorious reward of all his conflicts with my wrath, with temptations, with persecutions, with reproach, with contempt, with death, yea, and with hell itself. The words are a plain allusion to conquerors in war, who are com- monly exalted and greatly rewarded by their princes for venturing of their lives, and obtaining of conquests, as all histories will tell you. And, indeed, should not God the Father reward Jesus Christ for all his hard services, and his matchless sufferings, he would express less kindness to him than he has done to heathen princes ; for he gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as his hire, for his service at Tyre ; and to Cyrus he gave hidden treasure, Ezek. xxix. 18, 19 ; Isa. xlv. 1-3. But, alas, what were their services to Christ's services, or their suffer- ings to Christ's sufferings? I have read of Cyrus, how that in a great expedition against his enemies, the better to encourage his soldiers to fight, in an oration that he made at the head of his army, he promised, upon the victory, to make every foot soldier a horseman, and every horseman a commander, and that no officer that did vali-
^ This Jerome applies to the time of Christ's hanging on the cross. He cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' for God made it appear that he heard him, and forsook him not, in that he raised him from the dead, &c. See Heb. v. 7.
2 Luke ii. 13, 14; Mat. iii. 17, and xvii. 1-5 ; Rom. 1. 4; Acts i. 9-11.
VERT CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 385
antly sliould be unrewarded. And will God the Father let the Son of his dearest love, who has fought against all infernal powers, and conquered them, go without his reward ? Surely no ! Col. ii. 14, 15." So in Ps. ii. 7, ' I wdU declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto me. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' David was God's son by adoption and acceptation ; but Christ was his Son, Ps. Ixxxix. 26, 27, Prov. viii., and Heb. i. 5, (1.) By eternal generation; (2.) By hypostatical union ; and so God had one only Son, as Abra- ham had one only Isaac, though otherwise he was the father of many nations. Some by ' this day' do understand the day of eternity, where there is no time past nor to come, no beginning nor ending, but always one present day. Others by ' this day' do understand it of the day of Christ's incarnation, and coming into the world. Some again do understand it of the whole time of his manifestation in the world, when he was sent forth as a prophet to teach them, and was declared evidently to be the Son of God, both by his miracles and ministry, John i. 14, and by that voice that was heard from heaven, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Others do understand it of the day of Christ's resurrection, and with them I close, for this seems to be chiefly intended ; partly because it seems to be spoken of some solemn time of Christ's manifestation to be the Son of God, and
* he was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,' Kom. i. 4 ; that is, by the power and force of the Deity, sanctifying and quickening the flesh, he was raised from the dead, and so declared mightily to be the Son of God ; but mainly because the apostle doth clearly affirm that this was in Christ's resurrection : ' He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I be- gotten thee,' Acts xiii. 33. In the day of Christ's resurrection he seems to tell all the world, that though from the beginning he had been hid in the bosom of his Father, John i. 18, and that though in the law he had been but darkly shadowed out ; yet in the day of his resurrection they might plainly see that he had fully satisfied divine justice, finished his sufferings, and completed the redemption of his elect ; and that ac- cordingly his Father had arrayed him with that glory that was suitable to him. Before the resurrection the godhead was veiled under the infirmity of the flesh ; but in the resurrection, and after the resurrec- tion, the godhead did sparkle and shine forth very gloriously and wonderfully, 2 Cor. xiii. 4. Lest the human nature of Christ, upon its assumption, should shrink at the approach of sufferings, God the Father engages himself to give Jesus Christ a full and ample reward,
* and to exalt him far above all principality and power, and to put all things under his feet, and to make him head over all things to the church : ' and to ' give him a name above' every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ;' and all because, to give satis- faction to his Father, he ' made himself of no reputation, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ;' that is, to his dying day, Eph. i. 21, 22; Phil. ii. 9.i He went through many a little death, aU his life long, and at length underwent that cursed and pain-
^ Name is put for person, and bowing of the knee, a bodily ceremony, to express in- ward subjection. — Estius, Beza.
386 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION