THE BEAUTY OF ZIOK.
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And this is the fourfold relation wherein the Lord Christ stands unto this house, as it is a spiritual building.
[2,] In respect of state and condition, Jesus Christ stands in a fivefold relation to this house, viz. 1st. As the owner; 2dly. The builder; Sdly. The watchman, or keeper ; 4thly. The inhabiter ; 5thly. The avenger : each of which I shall unfold in order.
1st. He is the owner of it. He calls it his: 'Upon this rock will I build my church;' Matt. xvi. 18. 'Moses was faithful in all his house, as a servant; but Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house are we;' Heb. iii. 4, 5. And that you may see that he doth not own it as his, with- out good right and title, know that in the great economy of grace Jesus Christ hath a threefold right and title to this house.
(1st.) Of inheritance. He is by his Father ' appointed heir of all things:' Heb. i. 3. By inheritance he obtains this excellent name, to be Lord of this house. God sends him to the vineyard as the heir, after his servants were re- fused. And he hath an engagement from his Father, that he shall enjoy his whole inheritance upon demand ; Psal. ii. 8. For the Father appointed, ' in the fulness of time, to gather together ail these things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth, in him;' Eph. i. 10. So that as Christ ' is the first- begotten of the Father,' Heb. i. 6. and 'the first-born of every creature,' Col. i. 15. the right of heirship is his. But this will not do : for,
(2dly.) When he should come to take possession of this house, he finds that it is mortgaged, and that a great debt lies upon it, which he must pay to the uttermost farthing, if ever he intend to have it. To the former title there must also be added a right of purchase. He must purchase this house, and pay a great price for it. And what is this price ? what is required of him? No less than his ' dearest blood ;' Acts XX. 28. Yea, he must make his soul an offering for sin, and charge himself with the whole debt; all the curse and punishment which this house had in part actually contracted upon itself, and wholly deserved. He must put his shoulders under the burden due to it, and his back to the stripes pre- pared for it. A hard task ! But Jesus Christ being the heir, the right of redemption belonged unto him. It was not for
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his honour that it should lie unredeemed. Full well he knew that if he did it not, the whole creation was too beg- garly to make this purchase. It is true, that nature of ours, which he assumed to pay that by, which he never took, was startled for a while, and would have deprecated this grievous price, crying out, ' If it be possible let this cup pass from me :' but he recollects himself, and says, ' I am content to do thy will, O God:' and so, through the eternal Spirit, he offered himself up unto God for a ransom. He likes the house, and will have it to dwell in, whatever it cost him. ' Here/ saith he, ' shall be my habitation, and my dwelling for ever;' Psal. cxxxiii. 'Know you not,' saith the apostle, * that you are the temple of the Spirit of Christ?' Well, and how come we so to be? 'You are bought with a price;' 1 Cor. vi. 19. They who affirm that he also purchased the unclean sties of the devil, wot not what they say.
(3dly.) Unto purchase he must also add conquest. An unjust usurper had taken possession of this house, and kept it in bondage : Satan had seized on it, and brought it, through the wrath of God, under his power. He then must be conquered, that the Lord Christ may have complete pos- session of his own house, ' For this purpose, then, was the Son of God made manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil;' I John iii. 8. And how doth he do it? He overpowers him, and destroys him, in that 'through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;' Heb. ii. 14. And he spoiled him, having overcome him ; ' He bound the strong man, and then spoiled his goods ;' Matt, xii.27. All that darkness, unbelief, sin, and hardness, that he had stuffed this house withal, Christ spoils and scatters them all away. And to make his conquest complete, he triumphs over his enemy, and like a mighty conqueror makes an open show of him to his everlasting shame. Col. ii. 15. 'Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross :' and by this means strengthens his title to his inheritance.
I might also farther insist on the donation of his Father, and the actual possession he takes of it by his Spirit; but these are sufficient to prove this house to be Christ's. I shall take some observations hence.