This was the foundation of the Father’s speaking in the Son as incarnate. He spake in him by his Spirit; so he did in the pro- phets of old, 2 Pet. i. 21.. And herein in general the prophecy of Christ and theirs did agree. It remaineth, then, to show wherein his pre-eminence above them did consist, so that the “ word spoken” by him is principally and eminently to be attended unto; which is the argument of that which the apostle hath in hand in this place.
8. The pre-eminences of the prophecy of Christ above that of Moses and all other prophets were of two sorts:—(1.) Such as arose from his person who was the prophet; (2.) Such as accompanied the nature and manner of the revelation made unto him.
(1.) They arise from the infinite eaxcellency of his person above theirs. This is that which the apostle from the close of this verse insists upon to the very end of the chapter, making his discourse upon it the basis of his ensuing exhortations. I shall therefeze remit the consideration of it unto its proper place.
_ (2.) There were sundry excellencies that attended the very revela- tion itself made unto him, or his prophecy as such; for,—
[1] Not receiving the Spirit by measure, John iii. 34, as they all did, he had given unto him altogether a comprehension of the whole will and mind of God, as to whatever he would have revealed of himself, with the mystery of our salvation, and all that obedience
and worship which in this world he would require of his church.
“Tt pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell,” Col. i, 19, that is, of “grace and truth,” Johni.17: not granting him a transient irradiation by them, but a permanency and constant abode of them with him in their fulness, all “treasures of wisdom and know- ledge” being hid in him, Col. ii. 3, as their home and proper abiding place; which made him of “quick understanding in the fear of the Lorp,” Isa. xi. 8.. All the mysteries of the counsel between the Father and the eternal Word for the salvation of the elect, with all the way whereby it was to be accomplished, through his own blood, were known unto him; as also were all the bounds, the whole extent of that worship which his church was to render unto God, with the assistance of the Spirit that was to be afforded unto them
32 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
for that end and purpose. Hence the only reason why he did not at once reveal unto his disciples the whole counsel of God was, not because all the treasures of it were not committed unto him, but because they could bear no other but that gradual communication of it which he used towards them, John xvi. 12. But he himself dwelt in the midst of those treasures, seeing to the bottom of them. All other prophets, even Moses himself, receiving their revelations by transient irradiations of their minds, had no treasure of truth dwell- ing in them, but apprehended only that particular wherein they were enlightened, and that not clearly neither, in its fulness and per- fection, but in a measure of light accommodated unto the age wherein they lived, 1 Pet.i.11,12. Hence the Spirit is said to “rest upon him,” Isa. xi. 2, 3; and to “abide upon him,” John i. 32; who did only in a transient act affect the minds of other prophets, and by an actual motion, which had not a habitual spring in themselves, cause them to speak or write the will of God, as an instrument of music gives forth a sound according to the skill of him that strikes it, and that only when it is so stricken or used. Hence,—
[2.] The prophets receiving their revelations as it were by nwm- ber and tale from the Holy Ghost, when they had spoken or written what in particular at any season they had received from him, could not add one word or syllable of the same infallibility and authority with what they had so received. But the Lord Christ having all the treasures of wisdom, knowledge, and truth hid and laid up in him, did at all times, in all places, with equal infallibility and autho- rity, give forth the mind and will of God even as he would, what he so spake having its whole authority from his speaking of it, and not from its consonancy unto any thing otherwise revealed.
[3.] The prophets of old were so barely instrumental in receiv- ing and revealing the will of God, being only servants in the house, Heb. iii. 6, for the good of others, 1 Pet. 1. 11, 12, that they saw not to the bottom of the things by themselves revealed; and did therefore both diligently read and study the books of them that wrote before their time, Dan. ix. 2; and meditated upon the things which the Spirit uttered by themselves, to obtain an understanding in them, 1 Pet. i. 10-12. But the Lord Jesus, the Lord over his own house, had an absolutely perfect comprehension of all the mysteries revealed to him and by him by that divine wisdom which always dwelt in him.
[4.] The difference was no less between them in respect of the revelations themselves made to them and by them; for although the substance of the will and mind of God concerning salvation by the Messiah was made known unto them all, yet it was done so obscurely