(1.) By giving unto him “all power in heaven and in earth” upon
260 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
his exaltation. This power, and the collation of it, we have dis- coursed of on the first chapter. It was as if God had said unto him, ‘My work is done, my will perfectly accomplished, my name fully manifested,—I have no more to do in the world: take now, then, possession of all my glory,—sit at my right hand; for in thee is my soul well pleased.’ °
(2.) In the command that he hath given unto angels and men, to worship, honour, and adore him, even as they honour the Father; whereof we have elsewhere treated. By these ways, I say, doth God declare his plenary rest and soul-satisfaction in Jesus Christ, the author of this gospel rest, and as he is so.
Secondly, It is God’s rest, because he will never institute any new kind or sort of worship amongst men, but only what is already or- dained and appointed by him in the gospel. God dwells among men in and by his solemn worship: Exod. xxv. 8, “ Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” God dwells in the place of his worship, by it. Hence, when he fixed his worship amongst the people for a season in the land of Canaan, he called it his rest. Thence was that prayer on the motions of the ark, “ Arise, O Lorp, into thy rest, thou, and the ark of thy strength,” Ps. exxxil. 8; 2 Chron. vi. 41: which was the principal thing aimed at in all God’s dealings with that people, the end of all his mighty works, Exod. xv. 17. And in this worship of the gospel, the taber- nacle which he hath made for himself to dwell in, the sanctuary which his hands have established, is again with men, Rev. xxi. 3. He hath in it set up again the tabernacle of David, so that it shall fall no more, Acts xv. 16. This worship he will neither add to, nor alter, nor take from; but this is his rest and his habitation amongst men for ever. He is pleased and satisfied with it by Christ.
Thirdly, God also is at peace with the worshippers, and rests in them. He sets up his tabernacle amongst men, that he may “dwell amongst them, and be their God, and that they may be his people,” Rev. xxi. 3; and herein “ he rejoiceth over them with joy, and rest- eth in his love,” Zeph. iii. 17. Thus the whole work of God’s grace in Christ being accomplished, he ceaseth from his labour, and enter- eth into his rest.
I have added these things to show that it is God’s rest which believers do enter into, as it is here declared. For the nature of the rest itself, as it is by them enjoyed, it hath fully been opened on the first verse, and need not here be again insisted on. And this is that rest which is principally intended both here and in the whole chapter. It is not, indeed, absolutely intended, or exclusively unto all other spiritual rests, or to an increase and progress in the same kind; but it is principally so: for this rest itself is not absolute, ulti- mate, and complete, but it is initial, and suited to the state of be-
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lievers in this world. And because it hath its fulness and perfection in eternal rest, in the immediate enjoyment of God, that also may seem to be included therein, but consequentially only.
There remains, for the full explication of this assertion of the apostle, only that we show what it is to enter into this rest. And these two things may be observed to that purpose:—1. That it is an entrance which is asserted. 2. That it is but an entrance.
1. It is an entrance, which denotes a right executed. There was a right proposed in the promise, and served therein for believers indefinitely. But it is not executed, nor is possession given but by believing. “A rest remaineth for the people of God,”’—that is, in the promise; and “we who have believed do enter into it.” It is faith which gives us “jus in re,” a right in possession, an actual, personal interest, both in the promises and in the rest contained in them, with all the privileges wherewith it is attended.
2. It is but an entrance into rest,—(1.) Because the rest itself is not absolute and complete, as we have declared. Look to what is past, what we are delivered and secured from, and it is a glorious rest. Look unto what is to come, and it is itself but a passage into a more glorious rest. It is an “abundant ministration of an entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” 2 Pet.i11. (2.) Because we meet with contests and oppositions in this state: as the Israelites after they had passed over Jordan, and, according to the promise, were entered into the rest of God, yet had great work to do in securing and preserving the possession which they had taken by faith; yea, they had great enemies to contend withal and to subdue. Much diligence and wisdom were yet to be used for their settlement. And it is not otherwise with us as to our entrance into the rest of God in this world. We have yet spiri- tual adversaries to conflict withal; and the utmost of our spiritual endeavours are required to secure our possession, and to carry us on to perfection.