The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 2, Section 6
SECT. VI. Of the Kingly Office of our Saviour.
WHen I first entred upon this Argument of the particular Offices of our Mediator, I proposed to handle them in the same order that he performed and executed them; and accordingly, as he began with his Prophetick Office, of which his whole life was a continued Ministry, so I have treated of this Office in the first place; and as from his Prophetick he proceeded to his Priestly Office, one part of which he executed on the Cross, where he offered himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the World, and the other upon his Ascension into Heaven, where he presented, and still continues to present his Sacrifice to the Father by way of intercession for us, so I proceeded in the next place to treat of his Priesthood in both the parts of it; and now in the last place, in pursuit of the same order, I proceed to his Regal or Kingly Office, which was the last he entered upon, after he had finished his Prophecy, offered his Sacrifice, and presented it to his Father in Heaven. For so in Scripture the Regality of Christ is always spoken of as successive to both his Prophetick and Priestly Office, and as the fruit and reward of his faithful discharge and execution of them. So Phil. 2.8, 9, 10. it was because he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross, that God highly exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth▪ And Rom. 14.9. the Apostle tells us, that it was for this end that Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living; and accordingly the Angels in St. Iohn's Vision, attribute his advancement to his Regal dignity to the merit of his Death and Sacrifice, Rev. 5.12. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Glory, and Blessing. And hence his sitting at the right hand of God, which is the great Scripture-Metaphor by which his Regal Authority is expressed (of the sense and meaning of which vide Pearson's Exposition of the Creed, p. 277, 278, 279.) is mentioned as the fruit and consequence of his Death and Intercession. So Heb. 1.3. When he had by himself purged our sins, i. e. by dying for us on Earth, and presenting his Sacrifice in Heaven, he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; and Heb. 10.12. But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever, sate down on the right hand of God; and so also 1 Pet. 3.22. we are told, that it was upon his going into Heaven, i. e. to present his Sacrifice to his Father there, that he was advanced to the right hand of God, and that Angels, and Authorities, and Powers were made subject to him. For his going into Heaven was a Priestly Act, corresponding to the High Priest's going into the Holy of Holies, to present his Sacrifice to God there; so that Christ's first arrival into Heaven, and presenting his Sacrifice there, is the beginning and commencement of his Intercession, in answer to which he first received of his Father that Royal Power and Authority which he exercises both in Heaven and Earth; and it is by vertue of the continuance of that his Priestly Intercession, that this his Royal power is continued and perpetuated to him. So that as he is a Royal Priest, i. e. a Priest invested with Regal power to bestow the blessings he intercedes for, so he is a Sacerdotal King, i. e. a King that holds his Regal power in the right and virtue of his Priestly Intercession. For it is by the continuance of his Intercession that he obttains the continuance of his Royal Authority to bestow those blessings on us which he intercedes for. So that as Christ intercedes in the vertue of his Sacrifice, so he rules in the vertue of his Intercession. And accordingly you find in Scripture his Ascension into Heaven, there to intercede for us, represented as a Triumphal progress to his Coronation, wherein, after the manner of Princes in that glorious Solemnity, he scatters a Royal Largess among his Subjects, Ephes. 4.8. It is true, before his Ascension he tells his Disciples, that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth, Matth. 28.18. but this it is evident he spake by way of Prolepsis or Anticipation, a very usual Scheme of speech in Scripture, which is to express things of certain futurity as if they were actually existing; according to which Scheme all power is given me imports no more than all power is shortly to be given me, i. e. upon my Ascension into Heaven. For so it is evident our Saviour must be understood in that parallel expression, Iohn 5.22. The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; which words he spake long before his Death, when it is evident, that all judgment, i. e. Vniversal, Regal authority was not actually committed to him ▪ but there was only a certain futurity of it. For so he himself tells us, that his sitting down with his Father on his Throne, or investiture with that Regal Authority which he now exercises, was the reward and consequence of his overcoming, or consummate victory on the Cross, Rev. 3.21. By all which it is evident, that it was upon his Ascension into Heaven, and Oblation of his Sacrifice there, by way of Intercession, that Christ was installed in his Vniversal, Mediatorial Kingdom. It is true, our Saviour had a particular Kingdom in this World, viz. the Iewish Church, not only before his Ascension, but before his Incarnation, as I shall shew hereafter; but as for that Right of Dominion over the Gentile world too, by which he became universal Lord and King, he was not invested with it till his Ascension into Heaven. And therefore he himself tells us, that his Mission into this world was purely to the lost Sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. 15.24. and accordingly in the pursuance of this his Mission, when he sent forth his Ministers to preach his Gospel, he orders them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor to enter into the City of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. 10.5, 6. which implies that at that time he was not actually authorized to subdue and reduce the Gentiles under his dominion, but that his Authority extended only to the Iewish Nation: but when he had told his Disciples, in that proleptical speech after his Resurrection, that all power was given him in Heaven and Earth, it immediately follows, go ye therefore and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, &c. as if he had said, now my Commission and Authority is inlarged, and I am made Vniversal Lord and King, go ye therefore in pursuance of it, and by your Ministry endeavour to reduce all Nations under my dominion. And hence it was that the Mystery of the calling of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of Christ was not revealed till after his Ascension ▪ vid. Acts 11.18. because it was upon his Ascension that he received his Vniversal, Kingly Authority over them, and till then it was to no purpose to reveal it. So that it was over the Gentile world peculiarly that he received Power and Dominion upon his Ascension into Heaven; he was King of the Iews long before, but upon his Ascension he was invested with a right of Dominion over the Gentiles too, and thereupon became the Vniversal Lord and Monarch of the World under the most High God and Father of all things: but this I shall have occasion farther to explain hereafter.
In the prosecution of this great Argument I shall endeavour these six things:
First, To give an account of the Beginning and Progress of this Kingdom of Christ.
Secondly, To explain the Nature and Constitution of it.
Thirdly, To shew who are the Ministers of it under Christ.
Fourthly, To assign and explain the Regal Acts which Christ hath, and doth, and will hereafter exercise in it.
Fifthly, To give an account of the End and Conclusion of it.
Sixthly, and lastly, To shew the reason and wisdom of this method of God's governing sinful men by this his Mediatorial King Christ Iesus.