3. Look upon a christian's privileges which we shall then enjoy, and certainly christians must needs desire Christ's coming. The day of judgment is the day of manifestation, the day of perfection, the day of congregation, and the day of glorification.
[1.] It is called a day of manifestation of the sons of God : Eom. viii. 19, ' The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the mani- festation of the sons of God.' All now is under a veil ; your Christ, your life, your glory is hid. Our persons are hid under obscurity and abasement : Col. iii. 3, 4, ' Your life is hid with Christ in God ; but when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' Look, as Moses told those rebels, when they would level the officers of the church, Num. xvi. 5, ' To-morrow the Lord will show who are his,' so when once the night of death is passed over, to-morrow, when we awake out of the dust of the grave, then Christ the natural Son will appear in all his royalty and glory, as the great God and Saviour of the world, and then also the adopted sous shall be mani- fested ; we shall put on our best robes, and be apparelled with glory,
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even as Christ is. In winter the tree appears not what it is, the Ufe and sap is hid in the root ; but when summer comes, all is discovered ; so now a christian, he is under a veil, but in this great day all shall be manifested.
[2.] It is a day of perfection. Everything tends to its perfect state, and so doth grace. We see the little seed that lies under ground breaks through the clods and works its way farther, because it is not come to the flower and perfection ; so grace still tends and longs for perfection ; then we shall hfeve perfect holiness and perfect freedom ; Christ to the glorified saints will be a perfect Saviour. Death, which is a fruit of sin, is still continued upon the body, therefore Christ is but a Saviour in part to the spirits of just men made perfect ; but then the body and soul shall be united and perfectly glorified, that we might praise God in the heavens. Christ's coming is to make an end of his redemption, of what he hath begun. At first he came to redeem our souls and break the power of sin, but then he comes to redeem our bodies from the hand of the grave and from the power of corruption ; the one is done by humiliation and abasement, the other by power. The scripture speaks as if all our privileges in Christ were imperfect till that day. Kegene- ration, adoption, union with Christ, they sufi'er a kind of imperfection till then. Kegeneration, the day of judgment is called by that name : Mat. xix. 28, ' In the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory.' Then all things are made new ; heaven and earth is new, bodies new, souls new. Then adoption is perfect: Eom. riii. 23, ' Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.' What is the meaning of the apostle's exj)ression ? As soon as we are planted into Christ are we not the sons of God .'* Yes ; now we are sons, but the heir is handled as a servant during his nonage : 1 John iii. 2, ' Beloved, now we are the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be; ' we wait for the adoption. Justification that is per- fect then : Acts iii. 19, ' Eepent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.' Then our pardon shall be proclaimed in the ears of all the world, and we shall have absolution out of Christ's own mouth ; then shall we come to understand what it is that the Lord saith, ' I will remember your sins no more, and your iniquity shall be blotted out.' Then for redemption : Eph. iv, 30, ' Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption ; ' Luke xxi. 28, ' Look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.' Oh ! how doth the captive long for his liberty ; so should we long for that day, for it is the day of our redemption. Kow the body is a captive, and when the soul is set at liberty the body is held under the chains of death. Ay ! but then Christ comes to loosen the bands and shackles of the grave, and free the bodies of the saints. Look, as the butler was not afraid when he was sent for by Pharaoh, because Joseph had assured him he should be set at liberty, so Christ comes to set you fully at liberty, not only the soul, but the body ; therefore to think and speak of that day with horror doth ill become them that expect such perfection of privileges, to be acquitted before all the world, and to be crowned with Christ's own hands.