Lord, what is man, that thou art thus mindful of him ? and the son of man, that thou visitest him ? Who hath kno'wn thy mind, or who hath been thy counsellor ? 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judg- ments, and his ways past finding out ! What shall we say unto these things ? That God spared not his only Son, but gave him up unto death, and all the evils included therein, for such poor, lost sinners as we were ; — that for our sakes the eternal Son of God should submit himself unto all the evils that our natures are obnoxious unto, and that our sins had deserved, that wfe might be delivered !
How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account, in the eyes of believers ! When Adam had sinned, and thereby eternally, according unto the sanction of the law, rained himself and all his posterity, he stood ashamed, afraid, trembling, as one ready to perish for ever, under the displeasure of God. Death was that which he had deserved, and immediate death was that which he looked for. In this state the Lord Christ in the promise comes unto him, and says. Poor creature ! how woful is thy condition ! how deformed is thy appearance ! What is become of the beauty, of the glory of that image of God wherein thou wast created ? how hast thou taken on thee the mon- strous shape and image of Satan ? And yet thy present misery, thy entrance into dust and darkness, is no way to be compared with what is to ensue. Eternal distress lies at the door. But yet look up once more, and behold me, that thou mayest have some glimpse of what is in the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and gi'ace. Come forth from
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thy vain shelter, thy hiding-place. I will put myself into thy con- dition. I will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment which would sink thee eternally into the bottom of hell. I will pay that which I never took ; and be made temporally a curse for thee, that thou mayest attain unto eternal blessedness. To the same pur- pose he speaks unto convinced sinners, in the invitation he gives them to come unto him.
Thus is the Lord Chi'ist set forth in the Gospel, " evidently cruci- fied" before our eyes, Gal. iii. 1, — namely, in the representation that is made of his glory, — in the sufferings he underwent for the discharge of the office he had undertaken. Let us, then, behold him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree,— in all, labouring under a sense of the wrath of God due unto our sins. Unto this end are they recorded in the Gospel, — read, preached, and repre- sented unto us. But what can we see herein ?— what glory is in these thinjis ? Are not these the things which all the world of Jews and Gentiles stumbled and took offence at ? — those wherein he was ap- pointed to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ? Was it not esteemed a foolish thing, to look for help and deliverance by the mi- series of another? — to look for life by his death? The apostle declares at large that such it was esteemed, 1 Cor. i. So was it in the wisdom of the world. But even on the account of these things is he honour- able, glorious, and precious in the sight of them that do believe, 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7. For even herein he was "the power of God, and the wisdom of God," 1 Cor. i. 24. And the apostle declares at large the grounds and reasons of the different thoughts and apprehensions of men concerning the cross and sufferings of Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 3-6,
CHAPTER VIL
The Glory of Christ in his Exaltation after the Accomplishment of the Work of Mediation in this World.
We may, in the next place, behold the glory of Christ, with respect unto his office, in the actings of God towards him which ensued on his discharge of it in this world, in his OWN exaltation.
These are the two heads whereunto all the prophecies and predic- tions concerning Jesus Christ under the Old Testament are referred, — namely, his sufferings, and the glory that ensued thereon, 1 Peter i. 1 1. All the prophets testified beforehand " of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." So when he himself opened the Scriptures unto his disciples, he gave them this as the sum of the doctrine contained in them, " Ought not Christ to have suffered
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tiiese things, and to enter into his gloiy V Luke xxiv. 26. The same is frequently expressed elsewhere, Rom. xiv. 9 ; Phil. ii. 5-9.
So much as we know of Christ, his sufferings, and his glory, so much do we understand of the Scripture, and no more.
These are the two heads of the mediation of Christ and his king- dom, and this is their order which they communicate unto the church, — first sufferings, and then glory : " If we suffer, we shall also reign with him," 2 Tim. ii. 12. They do but deceive themselves who de- sign any other method of these things. Some would reign here in this world ; and we may say, with the apostle, " Would you did reign, that we might reign with you." But the members of the mystical body must be conformed unto the Head. In him sufferings went be- fore glory ; and so they must in them. The order in the kingdom of Satan and the world is contrary hereunto. First the good things of this life, and then eternal misery, is the method of that kingdom, Luke xvi. 25.