[2.] As to the perfection and blessedness of it, ' In that he liveth, he liveth unto God.' This is —
(1.) A pattern and copy of the spiritual life here upon earth.
(2.) A pledge and assurance of our glorious life in heaven. The one is our duty, the other is our reward.
(1.) The spiritual life is a living to God, as Christ liveth with God and to God. As mediator he liveth with God, is set down at his right hand ; so should we live in communion with God, be much and ollen in company with him ; in our whole course we should always
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set him before us, walking as in his eye and presence : Ps. xvi. 8, ' I have set the Lord always before me.' It is his law we live by, in his presence we stand, his work we do, his glory we seek ; for our great end is the pleasing and glorifying of God: Gal. ii. 19, ' For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God ; ' Rom. xiv. 7, 8, ' For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself ; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord ; whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's.' Christ gave us a pattern of a holy, obedient, and heavenly life in his conversation here on earth ; and in heaven we must still write after his copy ; we must be Christ's, as Christ is God's, and then all things are ours : 1 Cor. iii, 23, ' All are yours, for you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Wholly devote your time and strength and service to him. God must be your solace and your strength, and your begin- ning, end, way and all. When you awake, you should be still with him, Ps. cxxxix. 18 ; all the day long you should keep in his eye : Prov. xxiii. 17, ' Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.' In all your actions, your intention must be to please and glorify him : 1 Cor. X. 31, ' Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.'
(2.) Our glorious life in heaven ; that is a living unto God indeed, for there we have nothing else to mind but God. We are admitted before the throne of his glory, to be with him for evermore. Now, if Christ be there, we shall be there also ; for if we follow him, we shall fare as he fared : John xii. 26, ' Where I am, there shall my servant be ; ' John xvii. 24, ' Father, I will that those also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am.' So John xiv. 3, * If I go and pre- pare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.' Our Saviour desireth to have the faithful in heaven with himself ; it is a thing which his heart is set upon ; and he presents the efficacy of his merits and obedience to this end and purpose, that the great work of the restitution of lost man may obtain its end and effect, and his mystical body may be brought together to one place, that they may ever laud and praise and glorify God. Many in the world cannot endure the presence and company of the saints; Christ cannot be in heaven without them. Now the spiritual life issuing itself into the heavenly is a great encouragement to us to go on in our duty and obedience.
Use. Let us often and seriously think of him ' who died for our offences, and rose again for our justification,' Eom. iv. 25, and im- j)rove it —
1. For the destruction of sin. Christ died that he might destroy sin, and take away sin. If he had not fully done his work, he could not rise again, or, if risen, he needed to return once more to die. But Christ dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over him. By raising up Christ, God showeth that he received the death of his Son as a sufficient ransom for our sins, and all that believe in him shall have the comfort of it. If he had remained in death, or were still obnoxious to it, his satisfaction should not have been perfect, neither should he have been able to apply the virtue and comfort of it to us ; but now, who shall condemn when God justifieth ? wlien Christ is
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dead, 'yea, rather risen from the dead/ &c., Kom. viii. 33, 34. I{ Christ hath paid our debt and borne our sorrows so far that no more is required of him, surely God will never reverse that pardon which was sealed with Christ's blood. The curse and condemnation are ter- rible indeed, but he hath taken them away, and given us a free dis- charge.
2. For the new life ; Christ is both the cause and the pattern of it His Spirit is the cause of it, and his life in heaven is the copy aftei which we must write.