REIGNING WITH CHRIST.

309

with Him, of sitting on thrones, standing at his right hand, and the Apostles are to sit on thrones with Him, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, I apprehend that these and all such expressions are figurative. They mean identity of will and communion with Him. They approve of and rejoice in His government and in His glory, as if it were their own. When it is said believers are "partakers of the Divine nature," the meaning is not that they become infinite as God is infinite. The only sense possible to such a phrase is that they are partakers of Divine things, not in degree and quality, but in kind—they are assimilated in a small degree to His likeness.

The words, then, "sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God," express the glory of our Lord, which is common to Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit; and they set forth at the same time the peculiar glory which, according to the mystery of the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, is to be ascribed to the person and offices of Christ as Mediator. We do not read anywhere in the Bible that the Holy Spirit sits at the right hand of God. Nor do we read of the Holy Spirit being born of a woman, or sent into the world to suffer and die. As it was the Son of God, the person Christ Jesus, who fills the office of Mediator, so the glory of that office belongs only to Him. He therefore sits at the right hand of the Throne. You have observed, doubtless, that the term HOLY is an eminent specialty of the third person of the ineffable Trinity. Why is this? Not because the third person is more holy than the first or the second; but simply, because it is the divine economy that the third person shall operate on the human heart, and make it holy by applying to it the benefits purchased by the death of Christ. And hence the third person is called the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit, because it is his office to make

men holy. And as Christ is the Mediator between God and men, so his person and offices are peculiarly glorified by his ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of the Throne of God. His own glorified body is there in the glory which, as God's own Son, he had with the Father before the world was. And in respect to his office, He fills it by sitting at the right hand of God the Father-that is, He is reigning, ruling, ministering, and governing all things for his Church. As Peter said: "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." of God exalted."

"Being by the right hand

III. In the third place, let us inquire, WHY is Christ thus sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God in heaven?

1. To show the glory of God the Father. "God hath highly exalted him," Phil. ii. 9. In his resurrection from the dead, our Lord received his discharge for the full payment of the debt He assumed for us; and in his ascension the Father recalls him, as an ambassador who has accomplished his mission in a foreign country is called home to his native land to enjoy the honors and fruits of his labors. As God's only Son, He has essentially a kingdom and glory, but it is in his mediatorial or personal kingdom as God-man that we see him sitting at the Father's right hand. In his humiliation, he emptied himself of his glory, took on himself our nature. In his exaltation He takes human nature with him to his eternal glory, and in it is exalted, that in all things He might. have the pre-eminence. For He is the Head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead.

CHRIST INTERCEDING.

311

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

"But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 6-11.

In the work of redemption Christ glorifies the truth, holiness, justice, and mercy of God. The Father is glorified in the Son.

2. One part of His office as our High Priest is to appear before God to make intercession for us. You remember that when Solomon had caused his mother to be seated at his right hand, he assured her that none of her requests should be denied. But how much more may we rely on the interceding requests of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Throne of God? He upholdeth all things by the word of his power, and having made an atonement by the sacrifice of himself to satisfy Divine Justice, He then sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, to make intercession for us. "For Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the pres

ence of God for us." Heb. ix. 24. "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Heb. x. 12, 13.

3. Again, Christ is thus exalted at the right hand of God to protect His Church and vindicate His people, and complete their salvation. The Father gave him to be the Head over all things to the Church. He is a King who rules in the midst of his enemies. He will maintain the right of His people, and powerfully defend their cause against all their enemies; for their enemies are His enemies.

4. And is there no terror in the consideration of this Article to the ungodly? Who is this that is seated in glory ineffable at the right hand of the Throne of God? Is it not He whom the Jews rejected, saying: "We will not have this man to reign over us?" But He does not now wear the mock robe of royalty, but is clothed with the majesty of the Eternal Throne. The sceptre in his hand is no reed, but the rod of His Power, with which He keeps the universe in awe. Vain are the efforts of men and devils to keep Christ from reigning. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." In spite of the feeble rage of the ungodly, and the fury of demons, our Jesus reigns still, and shall reign forever. He shall put down all rule, all authority and power, and bring every thing into subjection. And with Him His Church is exalted and reigns in spite of all her foes.

SECURITY WITH CHRIST.

313

Let the potsherd of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth, but woe unto him that striveth with his Maker. However rich or powerful his adversaries may be, Jehovah will break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. He will beat them like dust before the wind, and reduce them to powder like the mire of the streets. "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."

Are you indeed, my dear brethren, subjects of such a King? Are you followers of the Lord Jesus? With what fervor, then, should you adore Him! How earnestly should you serve Him! What is there on earth, among all its joys, honors, or pursuits to be compared to the riches of the glory of the inheritance of His saints? Are you, then, living for His glory? Are you praying and laboring that His kingdom may come? Are you toiling in anticipation of that unfading crown of glory which He will put on your heads, and which is to encircle them forever? May you be faithful unto death, and enter into life eternal. Amen.