A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 25
CHRIST the Mediator of the Covenant.
HEB. 12.24.
Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant, &c.
JEsus Christ is the Sum and Quintessence of the Gospel; the Wonder of Angels; the Joy and Triumph of Saints. The Name of Christ is sweet, it is as Musick in the Ear, Honey in the Mouth, and a Cordial at the Heart.
I shall wave the Context, and only speak of that which concerns our present Purpose: Having discours'd of the Covenant of Grace, I shall speak now of the Mediator of the Covenant, and the Restorer of lapsed Sinners, IESUS the Mediator of the Covenant.
There are several Names and Titles in Scripture given to Christ, as the Great Restorer of Mankind: 1. Sometimes he is called a Saviour, Matth. 1.21. His name shall be called Iesus. The Hebrew word for Jesus Ioshuang, signifies a Saviour; and whom he saves from Hell he saves from Sin: where Christ is a Saviour he is a Sanctifier, Matth. 1.21. He shall save his people from their sins. There is no other Saviour, Acts 4.12. foreign, Neither is there salvation in any other. As there was but one Ark to save the World from drowning, so there is but one Jesus to save Sinners from damning. As Naomi said to her Daughters-in-law, Ruth 1.11. Are there yet any more sons in my womb? So hath God any other Sons in the Womb of his Eternal Decree, to be Saviours to us, besides Christ? Job 28.13. Where shall wisdom be found? the deep saith it is not in me, and the sea saith it is not with me. Let me allude, Where shall Salvation be found? The Angel saith it is not in me; Morality saith it is not in me; the Ordinance saith it is not in me: Christ alone is the Well-spring of Life, the Ordinance is the Conduit-pipe that conveys Salvation, but Christ is the Spring that feeds it, Neither is there salvation in any other.
2. Sometimes Christ is called a Redeemer, Isa. 59.20. The redeemer shall come to Sion. Some understand it of Cyrus, others of an Angel, but the most ancient Iewish Doctors understand it of Christ the Redeemer of the Elect: Job 19.25. My redeemer liveth. The Hebrew word for Redeemer, Goel, signifies such an one as is near a Kin, and hath Right to redeem a Mortgage. So Christ is near a kin to us, being our Elder Brother, therefore hath the best right to redeem us.
3. Christ is called a Mediator in the Text, Iesus the mediator of the new covenant. The Greek word for Mediator foreign, signifies a middle Person, one that doth make up the breach between two disagreeing Parties. God and we were at Variance by Sin, now Christ doth Mediate and Umpire between us; he reconciles us to God through his Bloud, therefore is call'd the Mediator of the New Covenant. There is no way of Communion and Intercourse between God and Man, but in and through a Mediator: Christ takes away the Enmity in us, and the Wrath in God, and so makes Peace; nor is Christ only a Mediator of Reconciliation, but Intercession, Heb. 9.24. Christ is entred not into the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. The Priest when he had slain the Sacrifice was to go with the Bloud before the Altar and Mercy-seat, and show it to the Lord. Now in Christ our Blessed Mediator consider two things,
1. His Person.
2. His Graces.
1. His Person: His Person is amiable, he is foreign, all made up of Love and Beauty. He is the Effigies of his Father, Heb. 1.3. The express image of his person. Consider,
1. Christ's Person in two Natures.
2. His two Natures in one Person.
1. Christ's Person in two Natures: 1. Look upon his Humane Nature as Incarnate. The Valentinians deny his Humane Nature; but Joh. 1.14. The Word was made Flesh; foreign. 'Tis spoken of Christ, the promised Messiah. Christ took our Flesh that the same Nature which sinned might suffer; and foreign, The word made flesh, that through the Glass of his Humane Nature we might look upon God.
Quest. Why is Christ called foreign, the Word?
Resp. Because as a Word is the Interpreter of the Mind, and reveals what is in a Man's breast, so Jesus Christ reveals his Father's Mind to us, concerning the great Matters of our Salvation, Iohn 1.18. Were it not for CHRIST's Manhood, the sight of the Godhead would be formidable to us: but through Christ's Flesh we may look upon God without Terrour. And Christ took our Flesh that he might know how to pity us; he knows what it is to be faint, sorrowful, tempted, Psal. 103.14. He knows our frame. And he took our Flesh that he might (as Austin saith,) Ennoble our Humane Nature with Honour. Christ having married our Flesh, hath exalted it above the Angelical Nature.
2. Look upon Christ's Divine Nature: Christ may fitly be compared to Iacob's Ladder, Gen. 28.12. which reached from Earth to Heaven; Christ's Humane Nature was the foot of the Ladder which stood upon Earth, his Divine Nature the top of the Ladder, which reached to Heaven. This being a grand Article of our Faith, I shall amplifie: I know the Arians, Socinians, Ebionites would rob Christ of the best Jewel of his Crown, his Godhead; but the Apostolical, Nicene, Athanasian Creed, affirm Christ's Deity, to this the Churches of Helvetia, Bohemia, Wittembergh, Transylvania, &c. give their full Consent; and the Scripture is clear for it. He is call'd the Mighty God, Isa. 9.6. El Gibber; and in him dwells the fulness of the Godhead, Col. 2.9. He is not only foreign, but foreign, of the same Nature and Essence with the Father. So Athanasius, Basil, Chrysostom, 1. Is God the Father call'd Almighty, so is Christ, Rev. 1.8. foreign, the Almighty. 2. Is God the Father the Heart-searcher, so is Christ, Ioh. 2.25. He knew their thoughts. 3. Is God the Father Omnipresent, so is Christ, Joh. 3.13. The Son of man which is in heaven. Christ as God was then in Heaven, when as Man he was upon the Earth.
Quest. Is God Eternal?
Resp. Christ is the Everlasting Father, Isa. 9.6. which Scripture may be urged against the Cerinthian Hereticks who deny'd the Pre-existency of Christ's Godhead, and held that Christ had no being till he derived it from the Virgin Mary.
4. Doth foreign, Divine Worship belong to the first Person in the Trinity? so it doth to Christ, Ioh. 5.23. Heb. 1.6. Let all the angels of God worship him. 5. Is Creation proper to the Deity? This is a Flower of Christ's Crown, Col. 1.16. By him were all things created. 6. Is Invocation proper to the Deity? This is given to Christ, Acts 7. Lord Iesus receive my spirit. 7. Is Recumbency and Trust peculiar to God the Father? This is given to Christ, Joh. 14.1. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. Christ must needs be God, not only that the Divine Nature might support the Humane from sinking under God's Wrath, but also to give Value and Weight to his Sufferings.
Christ being God, his Death and Passion is Meritorious; Christ's Bloud is called Sanguis Dei, The Bloud of God, Acts 20.28. because the Person who was offered in Sacrifice was God as well as Man. This is an invincible Support to Believers; it was God who was offended, and it was God who satisfied. Thus Christ's Person in two Natures.
2. Consider Christ's two Natures in one Person: foreign, God-Man; 1 Tim. 3.16. God manifest in the flesh. Christ had a twofold Substance, Divine and Humane, yet not a twofold Subsistance, both Natures make but one Christ: A Siens may be grafted into another Tree, a Pear-tree into an Apple, which though it bear different Fruits is but one Tree: So Christ's Manhood is united to the Godhead in an ineffable manner; yet though here are two Natures, yet but one Person. This Union of the two Natures in Christ was not by Transmutation, the Divine Nature chang'd into the Humane, or the Humane into the Divine; nor by Mixture, the two Natures mingled together, as Wine and Water are mixed: Both the Natures of Christ remain distinct, yet make not two distinct Persons, but one Person, the Humane Nature not God, yet one with God.
3. Consider Christ our Mediator in his Graces: These are the sweet Savour of his Oyntments that make the Virgins love him. Christ our Blessed Mediator is said to be full of grace and truth, Joh. 1.14. He had the anointing of the Spirit without measure, Joh. 3.34. Grace in Christ is after a more eminent and glorious manner then it is in any of the Saints.
1. Jesus Christ our Mediator hath Perfection in every Grace: Col. 1.19. foreign; He is a Panoply, Magazine and Store-house of all Heavenly Treasure, all Fulness: This no Saint on Earth hath, he may excel in one Grace, but not in all; as Abraham was eminent for Faith; Moses for Meekness, but Christ excells in every Grace.
2. There is a never-failing Fulness of Grace in Christ: Grace in the Saints is Ebbing and Flowing, it is not always in the same degree and proportion: At one time David's Faith was strong, at another time so faint and weak, that you could hardly feel any Pulse, Psal. 31.22. I said I am cut off from before thine eyes; but Grace in Christ is a never-failing Fulness, it did never abate in the least degree; he never lost a drop of his Holiness. What was said of Ioseph, may more truly be applied to Christ, Gen. 49.23. The archers shot at him, but his bow abode in strength. Men and Devils shot at him, but his Grace remain'd in its full vigour and strength; His bow abode in strength.
3. Grace in Christ is Communicative: His Grace is for us; the holy Oyl of the Spirit was poured on the head of this Blessed Aaron, that it might run down upon us. The Saints have not Grace to bestow on others: when the foolish Virgins would have bought Oyl of their Neighbour-Virgins, Matth. 25.9. Give us of your oyl, for our lamps are gone out. The wise Virgins answer'd, Not so, least there be not enough for us and you. The Saints have no Grace to spare to others; but Christ diffuseth his Grace to others. Grace in the Saints is as Water in the Vessel, Grace in Christ is as Water in the Spring, Joh. 1.16. Of his fulness have we received grace for grace. Set a Glass under a Still or Limbeck, and it receives Water from the Limbeck drop by drop: So the Saints have the Drops and Influences of Christ's Grace distilling upon them. What a rich Consolation is this to those who either have no Grace, or their Stock is but low; they may go to Christ the Mediator, as to a Treasury of Grace; Lord, I am indigent, but whether should I carry my empty Vessel but to a full Fountain, Psal. 87.7. all my fresh Springs are in thee; I am guilty, thou hast Blood to pardon me; I am polluted, thou hast Grace to cleanse me; I am sick unto death, thou hast the Balm of Gilead to heal me, Gen. 41.56. Ioseph opened all the Store-houses of Corn: Christ is our Ioseph that opens all the Treasuries and Store-houses of Grace, and communicates to us. He is not only sweet as the Honey-comb, but drops as the Honey-comb. This is a great comfort, in Christ our Mediator there is a Cornucopia, and fulness of all Grace, and Christ is desirous that we should come to him for Grace, like the full Breast that akes till it be drawn.
Use 1. Admire the Glory of this Mediator, he is God-Man, he is co-essentially glorious with the Father. All the Jews that saw Christ in the Flesh, did not see his God-head: all that saw the Man, did not see the Messiah. The Temple of Solomon within was embellished with Gold: Travellers, as they passed along, might see the outside of the Temple, but only the Priests saw the Glory which sparkled within the Temple; only Believers, who are made Priests unto God, Rev. 1.6. see Christ's glorious inside, the God-head shining through the Manhood.
Use 2. If Christ be foreign, God Man in one Person, then look unto Iesus Christ alone for Salvation. There must be something of the Godhead to fasten our Hope upon; in Christ there's Godhead and Manhood Hypostatically united. If we could weep Rivers of Tears, out-fast Moses on the Mount, if we were exact Moralists, touching the Law blameless, if we could arrive at the highest degree of Sanctification in this Life, all this would not save us without looking to the Merits of him who is God: our perfect Holiness in Heaven is not the cause of our Salvation, but the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. To this therefore did Paul fly, as to the Horns of the Altar, Phil. 3.9. That I may be found in him, not having my own righteousness. 'Tis true we may look to our Graces as Evidences of Salvation, but Christ's Bloud only as the Cause. In the time of Noah's Flood, all that trusted to the high Hills and Trees, and not to the Ark, were drowned: Heb. 12.2. Looking unto Iesus; and so look unto him as to believe in him, that so Christ may not only be united to our Nature, but to our Persons, Joh. 20.31. That believing you may have life thorow his name.
Use 3. Is Jesus Christ God and Man in one Person? This as it shews the Dignity of Believers, that they are nearly related to one of the greatest Persons that is, Col. 2.9. In him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily; so it is of unspeakable Comfort, Christ's two Natures being married together, the Divine and Humane; all that Christ in either of his Natures can do for Believers, he will do: In his Humane Nature he Prays for them, in his Divine Nature he Merits for them. This for the Person of our Mediator.
Use 4. Admire the Love of Christ our Mediator; that he should humble himself, and take our Flesh, that he might redeem us. Believers should put Christ in their bosom, as the Spouse did Cant. 1.13. lye betwixt my Breasts. What was said of Ignatius, that the Name of Jesus was found written in his heart, should be verified of every Saint, he should have Jesus Christ written in his heart.