glory,
* ver. 1—4. * ver. 5, 6. * ver. 7 — 12.
^ Heb. V. 7. with ver. 2, 4. * John i. 1, 18. & xvii, 5. ' Phil. ii. 6—8. VOL. IV. B
glory, and worshipped and adored by all thehostsot heaven — — — Great indeed was the glory that now accrued to him, and great
*' the majesty that was now laid upon him^" and, as it
had proceeded from his Father'', so he justly acknowledges it as his Father's gift.
But it was not to himself only that Jesus had respect : he blesses his Father also for the blessedness which he ivas em- powered to bestow on others. The words, " Thou hast made him most blessed for ever," are translated in the margin of our Bibles, " Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever." This version opens a new and important view of the subject, a view which particularly accords with all the prophecies respecting Christ. It is said again and again concerning him, that " in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed :" and we are well assured, that to communicate blessings to a ruined world is a source of inconceivable happiness to himself. We apprehend that to have been a very principal idea in the mind of the Apostle, when, speaking of Christ, he said, " Wlio for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God'."
With what joy must he behold the myriads ivho had lean exalted to glory through the virtue of his sacrifice, whilst yet it remained to be offered ! It was through " his obedience unto death " that all the ante-diluvian and patriarchal saints were saved. Our first Parents looked to him as " the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head." To him right- eous Abel had respect, in the offering which was honoured with visible tokens of God's acceptance. To him Noah looked, when he offered the burnt-offerings, from which " God smelled a sweet savour"^." In a word, it is through his righteousness that forbearance and forgiveness were exercised from the beginning, just as they will be exercised even to the end : and all who were saved before his advent are in that respect on the same level with those who have been saved since : there is but one song amongst all the glorified saints in heaven ', they are all harmonious in singing " to Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, &c." What a joy must it be to Christ to see in so many myriads the travail of his soul, who '* were brought forth, as it were, to God even before he travailed!" With what joy too did he then take upon him to dispense his blessings to the myriads yet iinhorn! He is " Head over all things," not for his own sake merely, but " for the Church's sake." Knowing then how many of his most cruel enemies were given to him by the Father, with what pleasure would he look down upon them, (even while their hands were yet reeking with his blood,) and anticipate their conversion to God by the
influence
^ver. 5. •'Phil. ii. 9— 11.
' Heb. xii. 2. ^ Gen. viii. 20, 21.
342.1 KINGDOM OF DAVID AND OF CHRIST. 5l
influence of his Spirit on the day of Pentecost ! Every child of man that shall at any period of the world participate his grace. Was at that moment before his eyes : and with what delight would he view them, as drawn by his word, as nourished by his grace, as comforted by his Spirit, as made more than con(|uerors
over all their enemies' At that moment he saw, as it
were, the whole company of the Redeemed, the multitudes which no man can number, all enthroned around him, the monuments of his love, the heirs of his glory, the partners of his throne