did Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in infinite wisdom, love, and grace, interpose himself in our behalf, in our stead, to do, answer, and perform, all that God, in infinite wisdom, holiness, and righte- ousness, required unto that end. And we may observe, that—
Obs. XIV. There is a signal glory put upon the undertaking of Christ to make reconciliation for the church by the sacrifice of himself.
3. This undertaking of Christ is signalized by the remark that is put on the declaration of it, ’Id0d, “ Behold.” A glorious spectacle it was, to God, to angels, and to men. To God, as it was.filled with the highest effects of infinite goodness, wisdom, and grace; which all shone forth in their greatest elevation and were glorified therein, It was so unto angels, as that whereon their confirmation and estab- lishment in glory did depend, Eph. i. 10; which therefore they endeavoured with fear and reverence to look into, 1 Pet. i. 12. And as unto men, that is, the church of the elect, nothing could be so glorious in their sight, nothing so desirable. , By this call of Christ, “ Behold, I come,” the eyes of all creatures in heaven and earth ought to be fixed on him, to behold the glorious work he had undertaken, and the accomplishment of it.
4. There is what he thus proposed himself for, saying, “Behold me,”
(1.) This in general is expressed by himself, “I come.’ This coming of Christ, what it was and wherein it did consist, was declared before. It was by assuming the body that was prepared for him. ‘This was the foundation of the whole work he had to do, wherein he came forth like the rising sun, with light in his wings, or as a giant rejoicing to run a race,
‘The faith of the old testament was, that he was thus to come: and this is the life of the new, that he is come. They by whom this is denied do overthrow the faith of the gospel. This is the spirit of antichrist, 1 John iv. 1-3. And this may be done two ways: [1.] Directly and expressly; [2.] By just consequence. Di- rectly it is done by them who deny the reality of his human nature,
as many did of old, affirming that he had only an ethereal, aerial, or phantastical body; for if he came not in the flesh, he is not
Ors.
Me he, a“
470 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. xX.
come at all. So also it is by them who deny the divine person of Christ, and his pre-existence therein, before the assumption of the human nature; for they deny that these are the words of him when resolved, and spoken before his coming. He that did not exist before in the divine nature, could not promise to, come in the human. And indirectly it is denied by all those who, either in doctrines or practices, deny the ends of his coming; and they are many,—which I shall not now mention.
It may be objected against this fundamental truth, ‘That if the Son of God would undertake this work of reconciliation between God and man, why did he not do the will of God by his mighty power and grace, and not by this way of coming in the flesh, which was attended with all dishonour, reproaches, sufferings, and death itself?’ But besides what I have at large elsewhere discoursed con- cerning the necessity and suitableness of this way of his coming unto the manifestation of all the glorious properties of the nature of God, I shall only say, that God, and he alone, knew what was necessary unto the accomplishment of his will; and if it might have been otherwise effected, he would have spared his only Son, and not have given him up unto death.
tH oon, (2.) The end for which he thus promiseth to come, 5 Oss, «3 St- is to do the will of God: “ Lo, I come to do thy will, Ree aa O God.”
The will of God is taken two ways: First, for his eternal purpose and design, called “the counsel of his will,” Eph. 1.11; and most commonly his “ will” itself,—the will of God as unto what he will do, or cause to be done. Secondly, for the declaration of his will and pleasure as unto what he will have us to do in a way of duty and obedience; that is, the rule of our obedience. It is the will of God in the former sense that is here intended; as is evident from the next verse, where it is said that “by this will of God we are sanctified ;” that is, our sins were expiated according to the will of God. But neither is the other sense absolutely excluded; for the Lord Christ came so to fulfil the will of God’s purpose, as that we may be enabled to fulfil the will of his command. Yea, and he himself had a command from God to lay down his life for the accomplishment of this work.
Wherefore this will of God, which Christ came to fulfil, is that which elsewhere is expressed by evdon/a, wxpddeoic, BovrAn rod Jergqwaros, Eph. i. 5, 11, etc. ;—his “good pleasure,” his “ purpose,” the “counsel of his will,” his “good pleasure which he purposed im himself ;” that is, freely, without any cause or reason taken from us, to call, justify, sanctify, and save to the uttermost, or to bring them unto eternal glory. ‘This he had purposed from eternity, to the praise of the glory of his grace. How this might be effected and accom-