82G COMMENTARY ON
to give liiin \o be a curse for us, to satisfy bis justice in tliat luannor ? It is a niysti'iy that rcquiruth a lar<^e time, for herein shineth tlio gh)riou8 mercy of God, but especially Christ's love in giving of himself, and tho Father's in giving him. So you seo how the glory of God shineth in JesUB Christ.
Quest. But how doth Christ discover the Father to us ?
A)is. 1. He discovers his Father to us, in opoditif his Father s meaninfj, as a prophet teaching us, coming to be a minister of the circumcision to teach in our nature ; and to teach b}^ his Spirit in his apostles and ministers, to the end of the world. Therefore, John i. 18, it is said, that ' the only begotten Son of God, that licth in the bosom of the Father, hath revealed him to us.' Christ is the £^?!7^r?;g, the great expositor of the Father, the Xoyoc, for he lieth in the bosom of his Father, which implieth an intimate knowledge, because he lieth in the bosom, he knows the secrets of God's love to every particular believing soul. It implieth likewise a high valua- tion of Christ, to shew that the Father loveth him and honours bim.
Now ' lying in the Father's bosom,' that is, the Father being so intimate and familiar with his Son, there is knowledge of union (difi'erent from our knowledge of faith) which the human nature hath from the divine, by virtue of union, and he is fit to discover it, because he is in the bosom of the. Father, highly valued and prized by the Father.
2. Again, Christ is discovered not only as lying in his bosom, as an expositor and prophet ; but Christ discovers what his Father is hij his uJwh life and convermtion. For see Christ, and see the Father. See his meek- ness and humility in stooping low, his love, his fruitfuluess, his goodness, as a man ; for so he resembleth God, as his' human nature could do, every way shewing forth the gi-ace of God in his whole course, disposition, and conversation, he carrieth himself as the Son of God.
3. But the main w-ay w'hereby Christ laj'eth open God the Father to us, toas in his suffering. The Father w^as discovered in all that Christ did and suffered. For it was all done by the Father's authority. Christ did not only speak by words shewing what the Father was (as the son when he resembleth the disposition of the father, we say, you may in him see his father), but you may see the Father's authority in everything. So ' God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,' John iii. 16. It pleased the Father to reconcile the world to himself. So you see how the face of God is discovered in Christ, and how Christ discovers himself, John i. 18 ; it is an excellent place. ' No man hath seen the Father at au}^ time, but the only begotten Son he hath revealed him ;' and John xiv. 11, * Believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.' They both agree about the salvation of mankind. You not only see the love of the Son in our salvation, but the love of the Father in the Son. In Eph. i., Gal. i., these great mysteries are at large unfolded.
4. But one other way, and the most sweet of all, whereby Christ revealeth his Father to us, is by his Sjnrit, together uith the means of salvation ; for as it is excellently set down in Mat. xi. 27, * No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and him to whom the Son revealeth him,' that is, by the Spirit. None knoweth the Father to be his Father but by the Son, who hath begot him by the Spirit. None knoweth the Son but they that be begotten by the Spirit. We must have the Spirit both from the Father and the Son before we can have the Father and the Son, and therefore it is called communion of the Spirit ; because the Spirit of the Father and Son discovers the Father to be our Father, and the Son to be our Saviour.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. IV, VER. 6. 327
So that add this to all other discoveries, and you have a full discovery of Christ, as the Father is laid open by Christ to every particular Christian. You see then that God the Father hath shined in the face of Jesus Christ. God the Father liveth in light that no soul can approach to but only the Son. He is come out of his hidden light. Nay, the Father hath dis- covered the bowels of good Avill to mankind, and in his Son he discovers by his Spirit his particular good will to every particular Christian. So that we may with boldness go to the Father in the name of Christ.
Three things beget boldness :
First, When the matter of disagreement is taken away.
Secondly, Likeness of disposition.
Thirdh", Acquaintance and familiarity.
1. Now Christ, by his death and suffering, hath taken away the disagree- ment, that is, our sins. He hath borne our sins, and borne them away as the scape-goat did. Lev. xvi. 8. When we believe in him, he takes our sins and carrieth them away : Christus tihi crucifixus est, cum credis in Christum cnicijixum, Christ is then crucified to thee, when thou believest in Christ crucified. So that the sluice of mercy being open, it runneth amain on us.