Raised from a low estate, to a very exalted one
III. David is here described as the man raised up on high
Raised from a low estate, to a very exalted one
A low estate David was in when he was anointed King of Israel. When Samuel inquired, if there were any other sons of Jesse, they said, there was another, but he was keeping his father's sheep. Well, he must be sent for; so God took him, as we are told, from the sheep-folds; from following the ewes great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance (Psalm 78:70, 71).
He was raised from a low estate, to a very exalted one. He was first king over the tribe of Judah, then over Benjamin, and then over all the tribes of Israel: yea, he was exalted to be the head of the heathen round about him. In a spiritual sense, like other saints, he was raised as a beggar from the dunghill, set among princes, and made to inherit the throne of glory (1 Samuel 2:8).
In this, he was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ: to Him this character well agrees; the man who was raised up on high. Th man. It is a very emphatic article in the original text, which is, in a good measure, preserved in our translation. Not a mere man, or a common man, but, the man. The man that God has chosen; the man of his right hand, as he is called. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself (Psalm 80:17). The mart of thy right hand; dear to God as his right hand. The man of his right hand; whom he made use of as his right hand in the great work of our salvation. The man of his right hand; whom he supported with the right hand of his righteousness. The man of his right hand; whom God has exalted with his right hand, and at his right hand. The man, his fellow. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow (Zechariah 13:7)—Not that Christ, as man, is Jehovah's fellow: but that divine person, to which the human nature is united, is Jehovah's fellow. As man, he was not; as a divine person, he was. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:6). He has the same nature and divine perfections; the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him. The man, the second man, the Lord from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:47); not that he, as man, came down from heaven, as some have thought; no, for as man he was a son of earth, agreeable to a prophecy concerning him. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven (Psalm 85:11)—Christ, as man, came from earth; but as God, he came down from heaven: not by local motion, hut by assumption of the human nature. "Came down," not to do his own will; but the will of him that sent him.
"The man," that was chosen above all the individuals of human nature, for the purposes for which he was sent: hence he is said to be chosen out of the people (Psalm 89:19). He pitched upon this one single individual human nature. The human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ he selected from all the rest, and therefore he is said to be his elect: Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth (Isaiah 42:1). Chosen out from among the people, the choicest, the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely, and was particularly chosen to the grace of union to the divine person of the Son of God, which none other of the human race was. The wonderful extraordinary man, chosen of God to he united to the second person in the blessed Trinity, and therefore bears the same name with him. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest (Luke 1:32); on which account he is truly said to have a more excellent name than the angels, for to which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? (Hebrews 1:5). O what a great and wonderful mystery is this, that the Word should be made flesh and dwell among us!—God manifest in the flesh
The man Christ Jesus was raised up on high, exalted to be a prince and a Saviour: exalted, raised up in union with the divine person of the Son of God, to be a prince, a king and a head over all things to the church. To be the head of principalities and powers, even of angels. It is thought by some that this gave offence to the apostate spirits. Understanding that the Son of God in human nature must be head over them, and principalities and powers become subject to him: they rebelled, left their first habitation, would have nothing to do with this Son of God, if he must be exalted as head over them in human nature. Let this be as it may, he is exalted to be a prince, a head over all things to the church, and to be the Saviour of the body thereof: he was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law (Galatians 4:4, 5). He was fore-ordained to be the redeemer and savior of men, by the shedding of his precious blood in human nature: this was the man raised up on high.
When he had gone through his state of humiliation here on earth, God highly exalted him, and gave him a name 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 (Philippians 2:9, 10, 11). He ascended up on high, even far above all, and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, in the highest place he possibly could have, the right hand of God, which was never allowed to any creature whatever, for "to which of the angels said he at anytime, Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" (Hebrews 1:13). But Christ in our nature is there. The man united to the divine person of the Son of God. The man raised up on high, and who when he ascended received gifts for men: or, received gifts in Adam; as it is in the original text. Received gifts in the human nature in which he ascended. Received gifts, for what? for qualifying men for public work and service in the ministration of the gospel: and has given them unto men, more or less, in all succeeding generations. And he is not only exalted to give these gifts unto men, but common grace also (if I may so call it), or such grace as is common to all the people of God; for as he is exalted to be a prince and a savior, so to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins (Acts 5:31): to give every grace, and every blessing of grace unto his people. Now what an honor is the human nature raised up unto into union with the divine person of the Son of God, in that it is raised up to bestow all extraordinary and ordinary gifts! All extraordinary, bestowed on Apostles, Prophets, arid Teachers: all ordinary, bestowed upon Ministers in every age, and all grace bestowed upon the people of God in common.
Once more: He is exalted to be the Judge of the whole world. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he has ordained (Acts 17:31); or, by Christ in human nature. He is the man, that is raised up on high for that service: to be the Judge of the whole earth; to be the judge of quick and dead: he will appear in human nature, and every eye shall see him: he will appear most glorious and magnificent: he will come in his own glory, in his Father's glory, and in the glory of all the holy angels—Thus he is the man raised up on high.