Chapter IX
That upon Christ s accepting this agreement, God the Father, to reward him,
engages to bestow all the blessings which he should purchase to those redeemed
by him. That all these blessings of grace and eternal life were promised to
us in Christ from all eternity.
Christ thus willingly undertaking to die, and to fulfil his Father s will, his Father, to gratify him, enters into a covenant with him, and binds him
self to him to bestow the worth and value of all his obedience in all spiritual
blessings (both of grace and glory, which that his death should purchase), to those whom he had given him, and that he and his children should have it out in everlasting revenues of grace and glory. As Christ undertook to God, so God undertakes to Christ again, to justify, adopt and forgive, sanc
tify and glorify those he gives him. All the blessings his love intended, Christ was to purchase them ; and all the blessings Christ s death did pur chase, he promiseth Christ to bestow on those whom he purchased them
for, so as his labour should not be in vain.
This you may observe out of many places ; as, in general, Isa. liii. 10-12, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief
: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied ; by his know
ledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for he shall bear their ini
quities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong ; because he hath poured out his soul unto
28 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK I.
death : and he was numbered with the transgressors ; and he bare the sins
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors ; where God makes a
promise unto Christ that he should see his seed, and see the travail of his
soul, and should be satisfied ; for my righteous servant shall justify many, and thus because he underwent so much sorrow and grief so willingly, as
it is in the former part of the chapter, and the joy of this was it that made him undergo it so willingly
: Heb. xii. 2, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith ; who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And that his joy was this, that he should prolong his
days, and though he died in the travail, yet should see the travail of his
soul ; as though a woman be in great pains, yet her joy is, that a man-
child is brought forth into the world. And so it was with Christ ; his joy
is, that many children should be brought to glory, and by this he should be satisfied, namely, that many should be justified by him, as it follows there (for nothing else will satisfy Christ),
* and that he should divide the
spoil with the strong ; because he poured out his soul to death, ver. 12. That is, he triumphed over hell and death, and by the conquest spoiled
principalities and powers, and obtained heaven and everlasting righteous ness, by which himself is not of himself made the richer. God therefore allows him to divide it and give it away to others. And God considered also how that in this work he was his servant, My righteous servant, says he.
shall justify many. He was his servant, and did his business in it, and should he have no wages nor rewards ? Yes he should ; and the only reward he seeks for, is the salvation and justification of his elect, and of those whom God hath given him. And therefore we find this very cove nant bargain-wise struck up, and by way of a most elegant dialogue expressed to us, Isa. xlix., which chapter is, as I may call it, the draught of the covenant, or deed of gift, betwixt Christ and his Father for us ; wherein Christ first begins and shews his commission, as the ground of the treaty between them ; intimating unto his Father that he had called him to this great work : ver. 1,
* Listen, isles, unto me ; and hearken, ye people, from far ; The Lord hath called me from the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And fitted him for it :
ver. 2, And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me. He therefore expects what fruit and reward he should have of all his sufferings.
His Father offers (as it were) low at first, and mentioneth but Israel
only as his portion ; Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will be
glorified, ver. 3. Then he, as thinking them too small an inheritance, too small a purchase for that great price, foreseeing the hardness of their
hearts, and how few of them would come in, not worth his coming into the world for, so that if the gleanings of them were all, he says,
* He should labour in vain, and spend his strength for nought, ver. 4. Though, how
* My work is with thee, Lord, &c. ; namely, that his main end of undertaking it was for his Father s sake, and
ever, he satisfies himself with this,
in obedience unto him.
God therefore answers him again, and enlargeth and stretcheth his cove nant further with him : says he, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel, &c. I will give thee for a
light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the
* I will give thee for a covenant to the people,
earth, ver. 6. And, ver. 8,
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR . 29
&c. God, you see, makes this covenant with him, to save both Jews and
Gentiles, as the reward of his death.
And this compact you have also expressed, Ps. ii. 7, 8, where, after he had
* I will declare the
called him to this office (which then he calls the decree,
decree : Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee ), he subjoins this covenant made upon it.
* Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. And this was shadowed out by that famous covenant made with David for
* Thy seed will I estab
his seed, for an eternal kingdom
: Ps. Ixxxix. 4, 5,
lish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, Lord : thy faithfulness also in the con
* My mercy will I keep for him
gregation of the saints. And ver. 28, 29,
for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also
will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Which covenant was made with David, as a type of Christ, and is to be meant as spoken of Christ ; and that covenant too made by God with him
for his spiritual seed. That covenant is called the sure mercies of David, and is applied to Christ as that spiritual David ; Acts xiii. 84-37, And as
concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to
corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own genera tion by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption : but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption
: who
therefore is called David, as here and elsewhere ; and that oath God made
to David, shewed the everlasting oath and covenant made to Christ for his seed : Ps. cxxxii. 10, 14, For thy servant David s sake, turn not away the
face of thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David ; he will not turn from it ; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. And hence further to confirm this, we find, Titus i. 2, that
* eternal life
is promised afore the world began ; w
rhich is to be understood in relation
to this covenant. A promise then was made ; that is, an expression of an
engagement, which is more than a purpose, for a promise is an expression of a purpose ; and to whom can this be understood to be made so long afore but to our head Christ ? And we were then looked at by God only as in him ; to whom therefore for us he promised to give eternal life as the
fruit of his death. This very covenant, therefore, that God struck with Christ for us, this was the promise meant ; which was, that as he should
die, so he would as certainly bestow the fruit and revenue of his death in
glory on those he gave to him.
So as though God had never expressed any promise to us, yet having made it to Christ for us, he would have performed it ; therefore he adds, God that cannot lie hath made this promise ; and further says, that as before all worlds he made this promise and covenant with Christ, so in due time he hath further manifested this his word by preaching, &c. All the
promises that now are revealed are but the manifestation of that grand promise ; but copies, as it were, of that which was made to Christ, in whose breast the original of our records are kept, and the application of those
promises to us is but the writing out the counterpane* of what was done in heaven. As all promises are made in him, so all promises were first made to him, and to us as one with him. Therefore, says the apostle, Not to seeds, as of many, but to seed, as of one, which is Christ, Gal. * That is, counterpart/ ED.
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iii. 16, who in our name, and for us, took a deed of gift from God the
Father, for all blessing we are to enjoy, before the world was. And there
fore also, 2 Tim. i. 9, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began. There is grace spoken of as given us in Christ ere the world began, which
place explains the former ; for as the former says it was promised, so this, that grace was given us, and as then promised to Christ for us, so then also
given us in Christ, God looking on us as one with Christ. Which promise is made upon that his promise to his Father, to give himself for us. The sum of all is : his Father promiseth to him to give all spiritual blessings in
him, and then makes a deed of gift to him for our good and use ; even as
goods may be given to and by a feoffee in trust for one that is yet not born. And so our life is said to be
* hid with Christ in God ; and so it was from
everlasting there laid up by God with Christ.
And hence also we find that all blessings which God in time bestows are
said to be given in Christ, ere they are actually to us. So Eph. i. 3,
1 God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. So his pur pose of saving us is said to be purposed in Jesus Christ : Eph. iii. 10, 11, To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, accord
ing to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So to be reconciled in Christ here in the text. So, speaking of our re
demption, he says, which is in Christ Jesus ; Rom. iii. 24, Being justi fied freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. So all grace is said to be given in Christ, 2 Tim. i. 9, before the world was.* So 2 Tim. i. 1,
* Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. The promise of
life is said to be in Jesus Christ. Now the phrase notes out a transaction, an endowment of all these on us, not first immediately in ourselves, but in Christ for us, and on us in him.
Hence likewise in Scripture we read of promises, not only conditional, that he that believes and repents shall be saved, but also absolute ; as that
in Jeremiah, This is my covenant, to give them a new heart and a new
spirit, and they shall walk in my commandments, Jer. xxxi. 33, wherein he undertakes to fulfil the conditions themselves ; and that covenant must needs be made with Christ first, and mediately for us ; and he only knows
for whom it is made, even for those his Father gave him.