them, we behold a fitness and a beauty in them, which the people of God under the Jewish dispensa- tion could have no idea of. Let us illustrate this from the psalm before us. This psalm was written on the occasion of carrying up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion. The ark was the symbol of the Divine presence : and the carry- ing it up in so solemn and triumphant a way con- veyed to the spectators this important truth, that to have God nigh unto them, where he might be sought and consulted at all times, even in the very midst of them, was an inestimable privilege. But ive behold in that ceremony the ascension of our blessed Lord to the heavenly Zion, whither he is gone for the benefit of all his waiting people. The character by which he is described is infinitely more intelligible to us than it could be to those who lived before his advent, and the benefit to be derived from his ele- vation is proportionably more clear. This will appear whilst we consider,
L The character here given of our ascended Lord —
His ascension, as we have already said, was here represented —
[The Priests, with the Levites who bare the ark, demanded, in elevated strains, admission for it within the tabernacle that had been reared for its reception. The terms used, though not strictly applicable to the tabernacle, were proper to it in a figura- tive sense, as representing the heaven of heavens, the peculiar residence of the Deity. In this view it is said, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!" The Levites within the tabernacle, on hearing this demand, are repre- sented as inquiring in whose behalf it is made, and who this King of glory is. The reply being satisfactory to those who had the charge of the tabernacle, the ark is borne in, and deposited in the place prepared for it.
Agreeably to this representation we may conceive of Jesus at his ascension, attended by a host of ministering angels, who, on their arrival at the portals of heaven, demand admission for their divine Master. The angels within inquire who that man can be in whose behalf such a claim is made. Twice is the inquiry ijiade, and twice the answer is returned ; and on the entrance of the Lord into those heavenly mansions we may conceive that
62 PSALMS, XXIV. 7 — loV [S45l
the whoJ6 celestial choir unite in one exulting acclamation, " The King of glory! the King of glory !"]
But the character here given of him deserves more attentive consideration —
[The essential dignity of our Lord is that first mentioned. As " the King of glory," and " the Lord of glory," he could elaim heaven as his own. There he had from all eternity been *' in the bosom of the Father :" there he had " had a glory with the Father before the worlds were made." " From thence he had descended," for the purpose of executing the Father's wilL Though he had assumed our nature, and " was found in fashion as a man," yet was he from all eternity " in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God." He was " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person." He was " one with God," in glory equal, in majesty co-eternal : in a word, he was ^' the mighty God," " the great God and our Saviour," " God over all, blessed for evermore." Well therefore might his attendant angels call on the hosts of heaven to open wide the portals of those glorious mansions for his admission; since tlie heaven of heavens were from all eternity his proper, his peculiar residence.
But he is further described as " the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." The reason of his descent from heaven had been to rescue a ruined world from the dominion of sin and Satan, death and hell. " The god of this world" had his vassals in complete subjection : as " a strong man armed he kept his house, and all his goods were in peace." But Jesus en- tered into conflict with him, and " bound him and spoiled his goods;" or, in other words, delivered from his sway millions of the human race, who had not only been " led captive by him at his will," but would ultimately have been " bound with him in chains of everlasting darkness." True indeed, he himself received a wound in the engagement; ("his heel was bruised:") but he inflicted a deadly wound on " the head" of his enemy % and van- quished him for ever. It may be said indeed that he himself died in the conflict : he did so, and appeared to be " crucified through weakness:" but it was not through weakness that he died, but in compliance with his own engagement to " make his soul an of- fering for sin." His death was to be the very means of victory : it was " through death that he overcame him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage." On his cross he not only " spoiled all the principalities and powers of hell, but made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it:" and in his ascension " he led them captive," bound, as it were, to his chariot-wheels. This constituted a further claim