[As] for the " ascending into heaven," mentioned in the begin- ning of the verse, that it cannot be meant of a local ascent of Christ in his human nature antecedent to his resurrection is evident, in that he had not yet " descended into the lower parts of the earth," which he was to do before his local ascent, Eph. iv. 9, 10. The ascent there mentioned answers the discourse that our Saviour was then upon ; which was to inform Nicodemus in heavenly things. To this end he tells him (verse 12) that they were so slow of believing that they could not receive the plainest doctrine, nor understand even the visible things of the earth, as the blowing of the wind, nor the causes and issue of it ; much less did they understand the heavenly things of the gospel, which none (saith he, verse 13) hath pierced into, is acquainted withal, hath ascended into heaven, in the know- ledge of, but he who is in heaven, and is sent of God into the world to instruct you. He who is in heaven in his divine nature, who is come down from heaven, being sent of God, having taken flesh, that he might reveal and do the will of God, he, and none but he, hath so ascended into heaven as to have the full knowledge of the heavenly things whereof I speak. Of a local ascent, to the end and purpose mentioned, there is not the least syllable.
Thus, I say, the context of the discourse seems to exact a meta- phorical interpretation of the words, our Saviour in them inform- ing Nicodemus of his acquaintance with heavenly things, whereof he was ignorant. But yet the propriety of the words may be observed without the least advantage to our adversaries, for it is evident that the words are elliptical: OlhTg avaQs^^rjxiv e/g tIv oupavov, ii firi 6 v'ldg. "Ascend" must be repeated again to make the sense complete; and
OF chkist's prophetical office. 359
why may not yAKkzi avaZnvat be inserted as well as dvaCsCjjxE? So are the words rendered by Theophylact ; ^ and in that sense [they] relate not to what was before, but what was to be. And an instance of the necessity of an alike supplement is given in Matt. xi. 27. More- over, some suppose that avaZiZri-/.iv, affirming the want of a potential conjunction, as av, or the like (which the following exceptive a /j^t) require), in the place, is not to be taken for the act done, but for the power of doing it, of which examples may be given: so that the pro- priety of the words may also be preserved without the least counte- nance afforded to the figment under consideration.
The remaining place is John vi. 62, " What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" " Ottou nv to 'xponpov. That Christ was in heaven before his local ascent thither in his human nature is part of our plea to prove his divine nature, and what will thence be obtained I know not.
And this is the first attempt that these gentlemen make upon the prophetical office of Christ: " He did not know the will of God as the only-begotten Son of the Father in his bosom ; he was not fur- nished for the declaring of it in his own immediate ministry by the unction of the Holy Ghost, and his being filled therewith; he was not solemnly inaugurated thereinto by the glorious presence of the Father and the Holy Ghost with him, one in a voice, and the other in a bodily shape, bearing witness to him to be the prophet sent from God; but being for many years ignorant of the gospel and the will of God, or what he came into the world to do, he was, no man knows where, when, nor how, rapt into heaven, and there taught and instructed in the mind of God (as Mohammed pretended he was also), and so sent into the world, after he had been sent into the world many a year."
Here the Racovians add; —
Q. What is that will of Ood which by Christ is revealed? A. It is the new covenant, which Christ, in the name of God, made with human kind; whence also he is called " the mediator of the new covenant."*
1. It seems, then, that Christ was taken into heaven to be taught the new covenant, of which before he was ignorant ; though the very name that was given him before he was born contained the substance of it, Matt. i. 21. 2. Christ did not make the covenant with us as mediator, but confirmed and ratified it, Heb. ix. 1 5-1 7. God gave him in the covenant which he made, and therefore is said to "give him for a covenant," Isa. xlii. 6. 3. The covenant of grace is not made with all mankind, but with the seed of the woman, Gen. iii. 15 ;
OiSs/j Taiv Tpo<pr]Ta/v duccS-Syixif lis '''ov oufuyov, li fih iyu fiiWu dvuSyivai, xa) xarriXfo*.
Theoph. in loc.
2 " Quoe vero est ilia voluntas Dei per Jesum nobis patefacta ? — Est illud foedus novum, quod cum genere humano Christus nomine Dei pepigit, unde etiam mediator novi foederis vocatur, Pleb. viii. 6, 1 Tim. 11. 6." — Cat. Rao. de prophet, mun. Chri&ti.