thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel." And Christ, as our Redeemer, is such a king. Isa. xxxiii. 22, "The Lord is our king, he will save us, Zech. vi. 13, "Even he (the Branch) shall sit and rule upon his throne." The difference betwixt Christ and these other kings lay here, that their kingdom was but a temporal kingdom, for the temporal safety of their people; Christ's kingdom is a spiritual and eternal kingdom, for the eternal salvation of his: John xviii. 36,"Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." Luke i. 33, "And he (the Son of the Highest) shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Isa. xlv. 17, " Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." Our Redeemer was qualified for such a kingdom by his infinite wisdom and power, and the Father's committing the kingdom of providence throughout the whole world into his hand Isa. ix. 6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called-Counseller, The Mighty God." Eph. i. 22, " God hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." 1 Cor. xi. 3, “The head of every man is Christ." Matth. xxviii. 18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Compared with ver. 19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." John v. 22, 23, "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Compared with Isa. xliii. 14, 15, "Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King." Compare 2 Sam. viii. 1, 2, " And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines and subdued them and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground: even with two lines measured he, to put to death; and with one full line to keep alive and so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts." Ver. 6, "Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts: and the Lord preserved David whithersover he went." Vers. 14, 15, " And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom : became David's servants and the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. And David reigned over all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people." And Psalm xviii. 43, "Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me." Christ had a right to his mediatory kingdom, by his own purchase, and his Father's grant: Acts xx. 28, "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Psalm ii. 6, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." The office of a king belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by power: Psalm xlv. 1, "I speak of the things which I have made touching the king." Verse 3, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty with thy glory and thy majesty." And in it he redeems or rescues by strength of hand: Isa. xl. 10, "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him." Psalm. xxiv. 8, "Who is this King of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Those whom he redeems or rescues by strength of hand, are they whom he hath redeemed by the price of his blood: Zech. ix. 11, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." He redeems or rescues them from all his and their enemies: Luke i. 69, "The Lord hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David:" ver. 71, "That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us." His and our enemies are sin, death, the devil, and the world: Heb. xii. 4, " Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." 1 Cor. xv. 26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." Matth. xiii. 30, "The enemy that sowed them, is the devil." James iv. 4, " Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." These are Christ's enemies, in that they are opposite to his kingdom, though they can hurt him no more. They are our enemies, in that they tend to our destruction. He begins our rescue from them, rescuing us from their bondage and dominion: Col. i. 13, "The father hath delivered us from the power of darkness," &c. We are by nature under the bondage and dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world: Rom. v. 21, "Sin hath reigned unto death." ver. 17, "By one man's offence, death reigned by one." Acts xxvi. 18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." 1 John v. 4, 5, "Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" He rescues us from their bondage and dominion, by subduing us to himself; Acts xv. 14. "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." Psal. cx. 3, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." There is need of his subduing us by strength of hand, because by nature we are utterly averse from coming away from them, and submitting to him: Luke xix. 14, " But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." Prov. viii. ult. "All they that hate me, love death." He subdues us to himself, by the sword of his word in the hand of his spirit: Rev. i. 16, "Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." Eph. vi. 17, "Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," &c. The word so managed by the Spirit, operates as a sword, piercing the soul, and conquering our obstinacy, and making us willing to yield: Heb. iv. 12, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Psal. cx. 3, forecited. He opens the house of our bondage, and breaks their yoke from off our neck, by his Spirit applying to us his satisfaction: Zech. ix. 11, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." The applying of Christ's satisfaction to us, hath that effect, inasmuch as thereby the law hath full satisfaction, as to us; and the law being satisfied the strength of sin is broken; the strength of sin being broken, the sting of death is taken away; the sting of death being taken away the devil loseth his power over us; and his power over us being lost the present evil world, his kingdom loseth its power over us too: 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57, "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Heb. ii. 14, 15, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage." 2 Cor. iv. 4, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The state, then, that all whom Christ hath redeemed by power are in, with respect to sin, death, the devil, and the world, is, that they are rescued from the bondage and dominion of them all: Rom. vi. 14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." John v. 24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Acts xxvi. 11, “To turn them from the power of Satan unto God." Gal. i. 4, "Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world." Compared with 1 John v. 19, "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." He secures us from going back of our own accord, to their bondage and dominion, by ruling us: Micah v. 2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel." Ver. 4, "And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide." He so rules us, in the capacity of head of the church, Eph. v. 23, Hos. i. ult., "Then shall the children of Judah, and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land." The Church is the society of us whom he hath called unto himself, out of the world, wherein sin, death, and the devil reign: Acts xv. 14, "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name." And the supremacy and headship over the church, is competent to no man nor angel, but Christ himself alone: Col. i. 18, " And he [the son of God] is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." Eph. iv. 5, "There is one Lord." 1 Cor. viii. 6, "To us there is but one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." He rules us, as he is head of the church, both externally and internally. He rules us, as head of the church, externally, giving us laws, and ordinances, and officers to see to our observing of them. His laws are the laws of the ten commands: Isa. xxxiii. 22, "The Lord is our lawgiver," &c. compared with Exod. xx. 2, 3—17, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. &c." His ordinances are the ordinances of worship, and of discipline, and government: 1 Cor. xi. 2, "Now I praise you, brethren, that you keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you." Ver. 23, “I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread," &c. Matth. xviii. 17, 18, “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." 1 Cor. xii. 28, "God hath set in the church, governments," &c. His officers are pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons Eph. iv. 11, "And he gave some, apostles: and some, prophets: and some, evangelists: and some, pastors and teachers." 1 Tim. v. 17, "Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word. and doctrine." Chap. iii. 10, "Let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless." He rules us, as head of the church, internally, by his Spirit within us writing his laws in our hearts, and making us obedient: Ezek. xxxvi. 27, " And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Heb. viii. 10, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." He carries on his rule over us, in this life, graciously rewarding our obedience with his royal favours, and correcting us for our sins: Psal. xix. 11, "In keeping of them [the judgments of the Lord] there is great reward." Rev. iii. 19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." He consummates his rule over us, in the life to come, by making us perfectly holy and happy, 2 Tim. iv. 8, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." : He secures us from being carried back, by the force of his and our enemies, to their bondage and dominion, again, by defending us, and restraining them: Psalm lxxxix. 18, "The Lord is our defence and the holy One of Israel is our King." And lxxvi. 10, 'Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." We need his defence, because they war against us continually, and we are unable to defend ourselves against them: 1 Pet. v. 8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." 2 Cor. iii. 5, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves so think any thing as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God." Christ's defence against them is extended to the whole church, and to every particular believer. He defends the church against them, so far that they shall never prevail so but there shall |
