(2.) For the grace of sanctification ; he rose that he might purchase the Spirit to raise us from the death of sin to the life of grace : Rom. vi. 4, ' That like as Christ was raised up from the dead l)y the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.' By the same glory of the Father both is done, that is, by the same glorious power that raised Jesus from the dead : Phil. iii. 10, the apostle speaketh of the power of Chiist's resurrection, that is, the virtue that goeth out from it unto believers.
(3.) Glorification. Christ rose before us to open the way ; and there- fore he is called 'the first-fruits of them that slept,' 1 Cor. xv. 20. Others rise as a single ear of corn, but Christ as the first-fruits. The first- fruits were conseciated in liuu of all the rest; so is Christ in your stead : Col. i. 18, Christ is called ' the first-born from the dead ; ' that is, the chiefest, and one that rose for us all, — the first that entered into heaven as a common person. There was a resurrection of some before the glorification of Christ's body, but he was the first-born that Btood for all : Ileb. vi. 20, ' Whither the forerunner is for us entered.'
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Jesus Christ is our forerunner, his resurrection doth make way for us to rise after him ; he is our harbinger that is gone before.
[3.] Consider what special thing there is in the resurrection of Cbrlst above the other acts of the mediatorship, since the scripture Jciyeth so much weight upon it. What is it that it contributes to the comfort of Christians above his death ? It will be necessary to inquire after that, because the scripture speaketh so much of this cir- cumstance, the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
I answer — First, By way of confirmation : it confirmeth the heart in the expectation of salvation by Christ. By this it appeareth that the whole contrivance of salvation was a true thing ; you have God's seal for it. It therefore confirmeth the heart in two things : — (1.) The person of Christ; and (2.) The office of Christ, upon which all hangeth.
1. The person of Christ. There can be no greater proof of his divinity than the resurrection : 1 Peter i. 21, 'Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.' And, indeed, there our faith begiuneth upon Christ's being God ; as Peter saith, ' Your faith is built on God.' Well, then, here is God's seal to the heart, about the person of the Messiah • Kom. i. 4, ' Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.' There the case was plainly and mightily decided that he was so, so as no man could contradict it : ' Truly this was the Son of God,' as the centurion cried. All were forced to say so by this instance. So Acts xiii. 33, he is said to be ' begotten of the Father.' He proveth it there to be at his resurrection, that is, declarative ; then it was evidently shown that he was begotten of the Father. Well, then, though the mercies of pardon, grace, and glory were merited by other acts of the mediatorship, yet they are confirmed and f-ealed by this, because this establisheth the soul in the ground of it — in the truth of the person of Christ.
2. It sealeth to us the truth of his office, that this was he that was sealed to be Mediator. When the Jews taxed Christ for usurpation, he would confirm his office to them by no other sign but the resurrec- tion : Mat. xii. 39, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas ;' that is, that which answereth to the type of Jonas; and what was that but his lying three days and three nights in the grave and rising again ? As if Christ had said, If you will have a miracle and a seal from heaven, that is all that I will give you. So you shall see upon another occasion, in John ii., when the Jews saw liim authoritatively purging the temple, and acting as an extraor- dinary person, ver. 18, ' What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou d( est these things ?' What confirmation hast thou from heaven to be the Messiah, that thou takest upon thee to reform the temple ? Ver. 19, ' Jesus answered and said unto them. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ; ' meaning ' the temple of his •body,' ver. 21. There was all the sign he would give them, viz.,
his resurrection ; this was the most proper confirmation of his office. Secondly, There is something by way of evidence, — it is a clearing
352 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 8.