First, It is the rest of God upon the account of the author of it, in whom his soul doth rest. This is Jesus Christ, his Son. Isa. xlii. 1, “Be- hold,” saith God the Father of him, “my servant, whom I uphold ;*?2 vb] MNS,” “mine elect; my soul delighteth (resteth) in him.” Matt. ii. 17, “This is my beloved Son, é 6 eddéxnou,” 12 *YBNTW, Both the words contain more than we can well express in our language. The full satisfaction of the mind of God, with that delight and rest which answer the propensity of the affections towards a most suitable object, is intended in them. The same with that of Prov. viii. 30, “Twas by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” In which words the infinite, intimate affection and mutual satisfaction between the Father and the Son are expressed. Now God is said to rest in Christ on a two-
fold account.
' 1, Because in him, in the glorious mystery of his person as God and man, he hath satisfied and glorified all the holy properties of his nature, in the exercise and manifestation of them. For all the effects of his wisdom, righteousness, holiness, grace, and good- ness, do centre in him, and are in him fully expressed. This is termed by our apostle, ‘H 4&4 rod Qt ev xpoowrw “Inood Xpiorod, 2 Cor. iv. 6;—“ The glory of God, in the face” (or “ person”) “ of Jesus Christ;” that is, a glorious representation of the holy pro- perties of the nature of God is made in him unto angels and men. For so “it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell,” Col. i. 19; that he might have “the pre-eminence in all things,” verse 18, especially in the perfect representation of God unto the creation. Yea, the “fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily,” Col. ii. 9, in the union of his person,—the highest and most myste- rious effect of divine wisdom and grace, 1 Tim. iii. 16; 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. In this sense is he said to be “ the image of the invisible God,” Col. i 15; which though it principally respects his divine nature, yet doth not so absolutely, but as he was incarnate. For an image must be in a sort aspectable, and represent that which in itself is not seen, which the divine nature of the Son, essentially the same
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with the Father’s, doth not do. God doth, maketh, worketh all things for himself, Prov. xvi. 4; that is, for the satisfaction of the holy perfections of his nature in acts suitable unto them, and the manifes- tation of his glory thereon. Hence in them all God in some sense doth rest. So when he had finished his works in the creation of the world, he saw that they were “good,”—that is, that they answered his greatness, wisdom, and power; and he rested from them, Gen. ii, 2. Which rest, as it doth not include an antecedent lassitude or weariness, as it doth in poor finite creatures, so it doth more than a mere cessa- tion from operation, namely, complacency and satisfaction in the works themselves. So it is said, Exod. xxxi. 17, that “on the seventh day God rested, and was refreshed;” which expresseth the complacency he had in his works. But this rest was but partial, not absolute and complete; for God in the works of nature had but partially acted and manifested his divine properties, and some of them, as his grace, patience, and love, not at all. But now, in the person of Christ, the author of the gospel, who is “ the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,” God doth absolutely and ultimately rest, and that in the manifestation of all his glorious properties, as hath been declared. Hence, in the sacrifices that were typical of him it is said M323 Ons AWN MI), Gen. viii. 21,— “God smelled a savour of rest,” as prefiguring that and foregoing it, wherein he would always rest; for,—
2. As in the person, so also in the work of Christ, doth God perfectly rest,—namely, in the work of his mediation. He so rests in it, that as it needeth not, so he will never admit of any addition to be made unto it, any help or assistance to be joined with it, for any ends of his glory. This is the design of our apostle to prove, Heb. x. 5-7. God designed the sacrifices of the law for the great ends of his glory in the typical expiation of sin; but he mani- fested by various means that he did never absolutely rest in them. Ofttimes he preferred his moral worship before them; ofttimes he rebuked the people for their carnal trust in them, and declared that he had appointed a time when he would utterly take them away, Heb. ix. 10. But as to the mediation and sacrifice of Christ things are absolutely otherwise. Nothing is once named in competition with it; nay, the adding of any thing unto it, the using of any thing with it to the same end and purpose, is, or would be, ruinous to the souls of men. And as for those who will not take up their rest herein, that accept not of the work that he hath wrought, and the atonement that he hath made, by faith, there remains no more sacrifice for their sin, but perish they must, and that for ever. Two ways there are whereby God manifesteth his absolute rest in the person and mediation of Christ :—