A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 31
CHRIST's EXALTATION.
Phil. 2.9.
Wherefore GOD also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name above every name, &c.
BEfore we have spoken of Christ's Humiliation, now of his Exaltation: Before you saw the Sun of Righteousness in the Eclipse, now you shall see it coming out of the Eclipse, and shining in its full Splendour and Glory; Wherefore God hath highly exalted him; foreign, Super-exaltavit, Ambr. Above all Exaltation.
Quest. XVIII. Wherein consists Christ's Exaltation?
Resp. In his rising from the Dead, his ascending into Heaven, and sitting at the right Hand of God the Father, &c.
Quest. In what sence God hath exalted Christ?
Resp. Not in respect of Christ's Godhead, for that cannot be exalted higher then it is; as in Christ's Humiliation, the Godhead was not lower, so in his Exaltation the Godhead is not higher: But Christ is exalted as a Mediator, his Humane Nature is exalted.
Quest. How many ways is Christ exalted?
Resp. Five ways: God hath exalted Christ, 1. In his Titles. 2. In his Office. 3. In his Ascension. 4. In his Session at God's right Hand. 5. In constituting him Judge of the World.
First Title, 1. God hath exalted Christ in his Titles: 1. He is exalted to be a Lord, Act. 19.17. The name of the Lord Iesus was magnified. He is a Lord in respect of his Soveraignty; he is Lord over Angels and Men, Matth. 28.18. All power is given to him. Christ hath three Keys in his Hand, the Key of the Grave, to open the Graves of Men at the Resurrection; the Key of Heaven, to open the Kingdom of Heaven to whom he will; the Key of Hell, Rev. 1.18. to lock up the Damned in that fiery Prison.
To this LORD all Knees must bow, Phil. 2.10. That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow. Name is put here for Person; To that holy thing JESUS, to the Scepter of that Divine Person every knee shall bow. Bowing is put for Subjection; all must be subdued to him as Sons or Captives, submit to him as to their Lord or Judge: Kiss the Son, Psal. 2.12. With a Kiss of Love and Loyalty. We must not only cast ourselves into Christ's Arms to be saved by him, but we must cast ourselves at his Feet to serve him.
Second Title, Christ is exalted to be a Prince, Dan. 12.1. There shall stand up Michael the great prince. Some think it was a created Angel, but it was Angelus Foederis, Christ the Angel of the Covenant. He is a great Prince, Rev. 1.5. The prince of the kings of the earth. They hold their Crowns by immediate Tenure from him. His Throne is above the Stars; he hath Angels and Archangels for his Attendance. Thus he is exalted in his Titles of Honour.
2. God hath exalted Christ in his Office: He hath honoured him to be Salvator Mundi, The Saviour of the World, Act. 5.31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour. It was a great Honour to Moses to be a Temporal Saviour; but what is it to be the Saviour of Souls? Christ is call'd the Horn of Salvation, Luke 1.69. He saves from sin, Matth. 1.21. From Wrath, 1 Thess. 1.10. To save is a Flower belongs only to his Crown, Acts 4.12. foreign, Neither is there salvation in any other. What an Honour is this to Christ! How doth this make Heaven ring of the Saints Praises? they sing Halelujahs to Christ their Saviour, Rev. 5.9. They sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud.
3. God hath exalted Christ in his Ascention: If he be ascended, then he is exalted. Austin saith, Some were of Opinion, that Christ's Body ascended into the Orb and Circle of the Sun. So the Hermians. But the Scripture is plain he ascended into Heaven, Luke 24.51. And Eph. 4.10. Far above all heavens: Ergo, above the Firmament. He is ascended into the highest part of the Empyraean Heaven, which Paul calls the third Heaven. Concerning Christ's Ascension, two things,
1. The manner of Christ's Ascension: 1. Christ being to ascend blessed his Disciples, Luke 24.50. He lift up his hands and blessed them; and while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Christ did not leave his Disciples Houses and Lands, but he left them his Blessing.
2. Christ ascended as a Conqueror, in a way of Triumph, Psal. 68.18. Thou hast led captivity captive, &c. He triumph'd over Sin, Hell, and Death; and Christ's Triumph is a Believer's Triumph: Christ hath conquered Sin and Hell for every Believer.
3. The Fruit of Christ's Ascension: Christ's Ascension to Heaven causeth the Descention of the Holy Spirit into our Hearts, Eph. 4.8. When he ascended up on high he gave gifts to men. Christ having ascended up in the Clouds as his Triumphant Chariot, gives the Gift of his Spirit to us: As a King at his Coronation bestows Gifts liberally to his Favourites.
4. God hath exalted Christ in his Session at God's right hand, Mark 16.19. After the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. Eph. 1.20. He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, far above all principality, and power, and every name that is named.
Quest. What is meant by Christ's sitting at God's right hand?
Resp. To speak properly, God hath no right Hand or left, for being a Spirit, he is void of all bodily parts; but it is a borrowed Speech, a Metaphor taken from the manner of Kings, who were wont to advance their Favourites next to their own Persons, and set them at their right Hand: Solomon caused a Seat to be set for the Queen his Mother, and placed her at his right hand, 2 Kin. 2.19. So for Christ to sit at the right Hand of God, is to be in the next place to God the Father in Dignity and Honour. The Humane Nature of Christ being personally united to the Divine, is now set down in a Royal Throne in Heaven, and adored even of Angels.
By Vertue of the Personal Union of Christ's Humane Nature with the Divine, there is a Communication of all that Glory from the Deity to Christ as his Humane Nature is capable of. Not that the Manhood of Christ is advanced to an Equality with the Godhead, but the Divine Nature being joyned with the Humane, the Humane Nature is wonderfully Glorified, though not Deified. Christ as Mediator is filled with all Majesty and Honour, beyond the Comprehension of the highest Order of Angels: Descendit Christus quo inferius non decuit, ideo ascendit quo altius non potuit; Christ in his Humiliation descended so low, that it was not fit to go lower, and in his Exaltation he ascended so high, that it is not possible to go higher. In his Resurrection he was exalted above the Grave, in his Ascension he was exalted above the Aery and Starry Heaven, in his sitting at God's right Hand: he is exalted above the highest Heavens far, Eph. 4.10. Far above all heavens.
5. God hath exalted Christ in constituting him Judge of the whole World, Ioh. 5.22. The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. At that day of Judgment shall Christ be exalted super-eminently, He shall come in the glory of his Father, Mark 8.38. He shall wear the same embroydered Robes of Majesty, as the Father; And he shall come with all his holy Angels, Matth. 25.31. He who was led to the Bar with a Band of Souldiers, shall be attended to the Bench with a Guard of Angels: Christ shall judge his Judges, he shall judge Pilate that condemned him: Kings must leave their Throne and come to his Bar. And this is the highest Court of Judicature, from whence is no Appeal.
1. Use of Information. Branch 1. See Christ's different State on Earth, and now in Heaven; O how is the Scene alter'd! When he was on Earth he lay in the Manger, now he sits in the Throne; then he was hated and scorn'd of Men, now he is adored of Angels; then his Name was reproached, now God hath given him a Name above every name, Phil. 2.9. Then he came in the Form of a Servant, and as a Servant stood with his Bason and Towel, and washed his Disciples Feet, Ioh. 13.4, 5. now he is clad in his Prince's Robes, and the Kings of the Earth cast their Crowns before him; on Earth he was a Man of Sorrow, now he is anointed with the Oyl of Gladness; on Earth was his Crucifixion, now his Coronation; then his Father frowned upon him in Desertion, now he hath set him at his right Hand; before he seemed to have no Form or Beauty in him, Isa. 53.2. now he is the Brightness of his Father's Glory, Heb. 1.3. O what a change is here, Him hath GOD highly exalted!
Branch 2. Was Christ first Humble and then Exalted, hence learn the way to true Honour is Humility, Luke 14.11. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The World looks upon Humility as that which will make one contemptible, but it is the ready way to Honour: The way to rise is to fall, the way to ascend is to descend. Humility exalts us in the Esteem of Men, and it exalts us to an higher Throne in Heaven, Matth. 18.4. Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Viz. He shall have a greater degree of Glory in Heaven.
Branch 3. Christ first suffered and then was exalted: see hence that Sufferings must go before Glory. Many desire to be glorified with Christ, but they are not content to suffer for Christ, 2 Tim. 2.12. If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. The Wicked first reign and then suffer, the Godly first suffer and then reign. There's no way to Constantinople but through the Straits, no way to Heaven but through Sufferings: No way to the Crown but by the way of the Cross. Hierusalem above is a pleasant City, Streets of Gold, Gates of Pearl, but we must travel through a dirty Road to this City, through many Reproaches and Sufferings, Acts 14.22. We must enter into Glory as Christ did; first he suffered Shame and Death, and now is exalted to sit at God's right Hand.
2. Use of Comfort: Branch 1. Christ being so highly exalted, hath Ennobled our Nature, he hath crowned it with Glory, and lifted it up above Angels and Archangels: Though Christ as he was Man, was made a little lower than the Angels, Heb. 2.9. yet as the Humane Nature is united to the Divine, and is at God's right Hand, so the Humane Nature is above the Angels. And if God hath so Dignified our Humane Nature, what a shame is it that we should debase it. God hath exalted the Humane Nature above the Angels, and the Drunkard abaseth the Humane Nature below the Beasts.
Branch 2. Christ being exalted at God's right hand, the Key of Government is laid upon his shoulders; he governs all the Affairs of the World for his own Glory. Do you think when Christ is so highly advanced, and hath all Power in Heaven and Earth in his hand, he will not take care of his Elect? and turn the most astonishing Providences to the good of his Church? In a Clock the Wheels move cross one to another, but all make the Clock strike: so Christ being at his Father's right hand, he will make the most cross Providences tend to the Salvation of his Church.
Branch 3. Christ being at God's right hand, we may be assured he hath now finished the Work of Man's Redemption, Heb. 10.12. This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sate down on the right hand of God. If Christ had not fully expiated Sin, and satisfied God's Law, he had not sate down at God's right hand, but had still lain in the Grave; but now he is exalted to Glory. This is an evident Token he hath done and suffered all that was required of him for the working out our Redemption.
Branch 4. Though Jesus Christ is so highly exalted in Glory, yet he is not forgetful of us on Earth: some when they are raised to Places of Honour, forget their Friends; when the Chief Butler was restored to his Place at Court, then he forgot poor Ioseph in Prison: But it is not so with Christ; though he be exalted to such Glory in Heaven, yet he is not unmindful of his Saints on Earth. Our High-Priest hath all the Names and Wants of his People written upon his Breast-plate: Art thou tempted? though Christ be in Glory he knows how to pity and succour thee, Heb. 4.15. We have not a high-priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity. Dost thou mourn for sin? Christ though in a glorified State, he hears thy Sighs, bottles thy Tears.
Branch 5. Christ being exalted at God's right hand, this is for the Comfort of Believers, that they shall one day be exalted to that Place of Glory where he is: Christ's Exaltation is our Exaltation. Christ hath prayed for this, Joh. 17.24. Father, I will that all those whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. And he is said to go before to prepare a place for Believers, Ioh. 14.2. Christ is called the Head, and the Church is called his Body, Eph. 1.22, 23. The Head being exalted to Honor, the Body Mystical shall be exalted too; as sure as Christ is exalted far above all Heavens, so sure will he instate Believers in all that Glory which his Humane Nature is adorn'd with, Ioh. 17.22. As here he puts his Grace upon the Saints, so shortly he will put his Glory upon them. This is Comfort to the poorest Christian, perhaps thou hast scarce an House to put thy head in, yet thou maist look up to Heaven and say, There is my House, there is my Country; and I have already taken Possession of Heaven in my Head Christ; he sits there, and it will not be long before I shall sit there with him; he is upon the Throne of Glory, and I have his word for it, I shall sit upon the Throne with him, Rev. 3.21.
3. Use of Exhortation: Hath God highly exalted Christ, let us labour to exalt him. Let us exalt, 1. His Person. 2. His Truths.
1. Let us exalt Christ in our Hearts; Believe, O Adore and Love him. We cannot lift Christ up higher in Heaven, but we may in our Hearts. 2. Let us exalt him in our Lips: Let us praise him; our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost, our Tongues must be the Organs in these Temples; by praising and commending Christ, we exalt him in the Esteem of others. 3. Let us exalt him in our Lives: By living holy Lives, Vera religio haec, sine macula vivere lactant. It is not all the Doxologies and Prayers in the World, do so exalt Christ as an holy Life: this makes Christ renowned, and lifts him up indeed when his Followers walk worthy of Christ.
2. Let us exalt Christ's Truths: Bucholcerus in his Chronology, reports of the Nobles of Polonia, That ever when the Gospel is read they lay their Hands upon their Swords, by that intimating they are ready to maintain the Gospel with the hazard of their Lives. Let us exalt Christ's Truths; maintain the Truths of Christ against Errour; maintain the Doctrine of Free-grace against Merit; the Deity of Christ against Socinianism.
Truth is the most Orient Pearl of CHRIST's Crown, Contend for the truth, as one would for a Sum of Money, that it should not be wrested out of his hand: This Christ takes to be an Exalting of him, when we exalt his Truths, wherein his Glory is so much concerned.