CHAP. VII. The Glory of Christ in his Exaltation, after the Accomplishment of the Work of Mediation in this World.

We may in the next place behold the glory of Christ with respect to his office in the actings of God toward him which followed upon his discharge of it in this world — namely, in his own exaltation.

These are the two heads to which all the prophecies and predictions concerning Jesus Christ under the Old Testament are referred — his sufferings, and the glory that followed on them (1 Peter 1:11). All the prophets testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So when he himself opened the Scriptures to his disciples, he gave them this as the sum of the doctrine contained in them: "Was it not necessary for Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26). The same is frequently expressed elsewhere (Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:5–8).

As much as we know of Christ, his sufferings and his glory, so much do we understand of the Scripture, and no more.

These are the two heads of the mediation of Christ and his kingdom; and this is their order as it is communicated to the church — first sufferings, and then glory. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12). They only deceive themselves who design any other method of these things. Some would reign here in this world, and we may say with the apostle, "Would you did reign, that we might reign with you." But the members of the mystical body must be conformed to the head. In him, sufferings went before glory; and so they must in them. The order in the kingdom of Satan and the world is contrary to this: first the good things of this life, and then eternal misery, is the method of that kingdom (Luke 16:25).

These are the two springs of the salvation of the church, the two anointed ones that stand before the Lord of the whole earth, from which all the golden oil by which the church is dedicated to God and sanctified does flow. This glory of Christ in his exaltation which followed on his sufferings is what we now inquire into. And we shall state our apprehensions of it in the following observations.

1. This is in particular that glory which the Lord Christ prays that his disciples may be where he is to behold. It is not solely so as it is considered absolutely, but it is that in which all the other parts of his glory are made manifest. It is the evidence, the pledge, the means of the manifestation of them all. As to all the instances of his glory before discussed, there was a veil drawn over them while he was in this world. Hence the most saw nothing of it, and the best saw it but obscurely. But in this glory that veil is removed, by which the whole glory of his person in itself and in the work of mediation is most illustriously manifested. When we shall immediately behold this glory, we shall see him as he is. This is that glory of which the Father made grant to him before the foundation of the world, and with which he was actually invested upon his ascension.

2. By this glory of Christ I do not understand the essential glory of his divine nature, or his being absolutely in his own person over all, God blessed forever. But the manifestation of this glory in particular, after it had been veiled in this world under the form of a servant, belongs to it. The divine glory of Christ in his person does not belong to his exaltation; but the manifestation of it does. It was not given him by free donation, but the declaration of it to the church of angels and men after his humiliation was so. He did not leave it while he was in this world; but the direct evidence and declaration of it he set aside, until he was "declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead."

When the sun is in total eclipse, it loses nothing of its native beauty, light, and glory. It is still the same that it was from the beginning — a great light to rule the day. To us it appears as a dark and useless meteor; but when by its course it frees itself from the lunar interposition to its proper aspect toward us, it manifests again its native light and glory. So was it with the divine nature of Christ, as we have before declared. He veiled the glory of it by the interposition of the flesh, or the assumption of our nature to be his own, with this addition, that therein he took on him the form of a servant, of a person of mean and low degree. But this temporary eclipse being past and over, it now shines forth in its infinite luster and beauty, which belongs to the present exaltation of his person. And when those who had beheld him here as a poor, sorrowful, persecuted man dying on the cross came to see him in all the infinite uncreated glories of the divine nature manifesting themselves in his person, it could not but fill their souls with transcendent joy and admiration. And this is one reason for his prayer for them while he was on earth, that they might be where he is to behold his glory — for he knew what ineffable satisfaction it would be to them forevermore.

3. I do not understand absolutely the glorification of the human nature of Christ — that very soul and body in which he lived and died, suffered and rose again — though that also is included here. This also would be a subject fit for our contemplation, especially as it is the pattern of that glory which he will bring all those who believe in him into. But because at present we look somewhat further, I shall observe only one or two things concerning it.

1. That very nature which he took on him in this world is exalted into glory. Some, under a pretense of great subtlety and accuracy, deny that he has either flesh or blood in heaven — that is, as to the substance of them — however they may suppose them to be changed, purified, glorified. The great foundation of the church and all gospel faith is that he was made flesh, that he did partake of flesh and blood even as did the children. That he has forsaken that flesh and blood in which he was made in the womb of the blessed virgin, in which he lived and died, which he offered to God in sacrifice, and in which he rose from the dead, is a Socinian fiction. What the true nature of the glorification of the humanity of Christ is, neither those who thus surmise nor we can perfectly comprehend. "It does not yet appear what we ourselves shall be," much less is it evident to us what he is, whom we shall be like. But that he is still in the same human nature in which he was on the earth, that he has the same rational soul and the same body, is a fundamental article of the Christian faith.

2. This nature of the man Christ Jesus is filled with all the divine graces and perfections of which a limited created nature is capable. It is not deified; it is not made a God; it does not in heaven coalesce into one nature with the divine by a composition of them; it does not have any essential property of the Deity communicated to it so as to reside subjectively in it; it is not made omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. But it is exalted in a fullness of all divine perfection ineffably above the glory of angels and men. It is incomprehensibly nearer to God than they all, having communications from God in glorious light, love, and power ineffably above them all. But it is still a creature.

As to the substance of this glory of the human nature of Christ, believers shall be made partakers of it, for "when we see him as he is, we shall be like him." But as to the degrees and measures of it, his glory is above all that we can be made partakers of. "There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon and stars, and one star differs from another in glory," as the apostle speaks (1 Corinthians 15:41). And if there is a difference in glory among the stars themselves as to some degrees of the same glory, how much greater is the difference between the glory of the sun and that of any star whatever? Such is the difference that is and will be to eternity between the human nature of Christ and what glorified believers attain to. But yet this is not that in which the glory of Christ in his exaltation after his humiliation and death properly consists. The things that belong to it may be grouped under the following heads.

1. It consists in the exaltation of the human nature, as subsisting in the divine person, above the whole creation of God in power, dignity, authority, and rule, with all things that the wisdom of God has appointed to render the glory of it illustrious. I have so largely dwelt on the explanation and confirmation of this part of the present glory of Christ in the exposition of Hebrews 1:2–3 that I have nothing more to add to it.

2. It does so in the evidence given of the infinite love of God the Father toward him, and his delight in him, with the eternal approbation of his discharge of the office committed to him. Hence he is said to sit at the right hand of God, or at the right hand of the Majesty on high. That the glory and dignity of Christ in his exaltation is singular — the highest that can be given to a creature, incomprehensible; that he is, with respect to the discharge of his office, under the eternal approbation of God; and that as so gloriously exalted he is proclaimed to the whole creation — all these things are contained in this expression.

3. To this is added the full manifestation of his own divine wisdom, love, and grace in the work of mediation and redemption of the church. This glory is absolutely singular and peculiar to him. Neither angels nor men have the least part in it. Here we see it dimly as in a mirror; above, it shines forth in its brightness to the eternal joy of those who behold him.

This is that glory which our Lord Jesus Christ in an especial manner prayed that his disciples might behold. This is what we ought to endeavor to see by faith. By faith, I say, and not by imagination. Vain and foolish men, having general notions of this glory of Christ and knowing nothing of the real nature of it, have endeavored to represent it in pictures and images with all the luster and beauty that the art of painting and the ornaments of gold and jewels can give them. This is that representation of the present glory of Christ which, being made and proposed to the imagination and carnal affections of superstitious persons, carries such a show of devotion and veneration in the Roman church. But they err, not knowing the Scripture nor the eternal glory of the Son of God.

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations on this subject. The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real and actual possession of in heaven can be seen or apprehended in this world in no other way but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation. To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing to ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description of this glory of Christ made in the Scripture is the ground, rule, and measure of all divine meditations upon it.

Hereon it is our duty to call ourselves to an account as to our endeavor after a gracious view of this glory of Christ. When did we steadfastly behold it? When had we such a view of it as left our souls satisfied and refreshed? It is declared and represented to us as one of the chief supports of our faith, as a help to our joy, as an object of our hope, as a ground of our consolation, as our greatest encouragement to obedience and suffering. Are our minds daily conversant with thoughts of it? Or do we think ourselves not much concerned with it? Do we look upon it as something outside us and above us, something we shall have time enough to consider when we come to heaven? So it is with many. They care neither where Christ is nor what he is, so long as one way or another they may be saved by him. They hope, as they pretend, that they shall see him and his glory in heaven, and suppose that will be time enough. But in vain do they pretend a desire for it; in vain are their expectations of any such thing. Those who do not endeavor to behold the glory of Christ in this world — as has been often said — shall never behold him in glory hereafter to their satisfaction, nor do they truly desire to do so. Only they suppose it a part of the relief they would have when they have gone out of this world. For what should beget such a desire in them? Nothing can do it but some view of it here by faith, which they despise or totally neglect. Every pretense of a desire for heaven and the presence of Christ in it, that does not arise from and is not resolved into that prospect we have of the glory of Christ in this world by faith, is mere fancy and imagination.

Our constant exercise in meditation on this glory of Christ will fill us with joy on his account, which is an effectual motive to the duty itself. We are for the most part selfish, and look no further than our own concerns. So long as we may be pardoned and saved by him, we do not much care how it is with himself, but simply presume it is well enough. We find no personal concern of our own in it. But this frame of mind is directly opposed to the spirit of divine faith and love, whose principal actings consist in preferring Christ above ourselves and our concerns in him above all our own. Let this then stir us up to the contemplation of this glory. Who is it that is thus exalted over all? Who is thus encompassed with glory, majesty, and power? Who is it that sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, all his enemies being made his footstool? Is it not he who in this world was poor, despised, persecuted, and slain — all for our sakes? Is it not the same Jesus who loved us, and gave himself for us, and washed us in his own blood? So the apostle told the Jews that the same Jesus whom they killed and hung on a tree, God had exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:30–31). If we have any appreciation of his love, if we have any concern in what he has done and suffered for the church, we cannot but rejoice in his present state and glory.

Let the world rage as long as it pleases; let it set itself with all its power and craft against everything of Christ that is in it — which, whatever some may otherwise pretend, proceeds from a hatred of his person. Let men make themselves drunk with the blood of his saints. We have this to set against all their attempts, for our support — what he says of himself: "Fear not, I am the first and the last, he that lives and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of hell and death" (Revelation 1:17–18).

Blessed Jesus! We can add nothing to you, nothing to your glory; but it is a joy of heart to us that you are what you are, that you are so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God; and we long more fully and clearly to behold that glory according to your prayer and promise.

We may next behold the glory of Christ with respect to His office — specifically, in what God did for Him in response to His carrying out that office in this world: namely, in His exaltation.

These are the two main headings under which all the prophecies and predictions about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament are gathered: His sufferings, and the glory that followed them (1 Peter 1:11). All the prophets testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. So when He opened the Scriptures to His disciples, He gave them this as the summary of its teaching: 'Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' (Luke 24:26). The same is expressed repeatedly elsewhere (Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:5-8).

As much as we know of Christ — His sufferings and His glory — so much do we understand of Scripture, and no more.

These are the two great themes of Christ's mediation and His kingdom, and this is the order in which they are given to the church — first suffering, then glory. 'If we endure, we will also reign with Him' (2 Timothy 2:12). Those who plan for some other arrangement are only deceiving themselves. Some would reign here in this world, and we may say with the apostle, 'Would that you did reign, so that we might reign with you!' But the members of the mystical body must be conformed to the Head. In Him, suffering came before glory, and so it must be in them. The order in the kingdom of Satan and the world is the reverse: the good things of this life first, and then eternal misery — that is the pattern of that kingdom (Luke 16:25).

These are the two springs of the salvation of the church — the two anointed ones who stand before the Lord of all the earth — from which all the golden oil flows by which the church is consecrated to God and set apart for Him. This glory of Christ in His exaltation — which followed on His sufferings — is what we now inquire into. We will set out our understanding of it in the following observations.

First, this is particularly the glory which the Lord Christ prays His disciples may be with Him to behold. It is not just this glory considered in isolation, but the one in which all the other aspects of His glory are made visible. It is the evidence, the pledge, and the means by which they are all manifested. Over all the other dimensions of His glory discussed previously, a veil was drawn while He was in this world. As a result, most people saw nothing of it, and even the best saw it only obscurely. But in this glory the veil is removed, so that the full glory of His person — both in itself and in the work of mediation — shines forth most brilliantly. When we behold this glory directly, we will see Him as He is. This is the glory the Father granted Him before the foundation of the world and with which He was actually invested at His ascension.

Second, by this glory of Christ I do not mean the essential glory of His divine nature — His being absolutely, in His own person, God over all, blessed forever. But the manifestation of this glory in particular — after it had been veiled in this world under the form of a servant — belongs to it. The divine glory of Christ in His person does not belong to His exaltation as something newly given; but its declaration and display does. It was not granted to Him by way of free gift, but the announcement of it to the church of angels and humanity after His humiliation was. He never left it behind while He was in this world; but the direct evidence and declaration of it He set aside, until He was 'declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.'

When the sun is in total eclipse, it loses nothing of its native beauty, light, and glory. It is still what it was from the beginning — a great light to rule the day. To us it appears as a dark and useless object; but when, by its course, it moves free from the lunar obstruction and faces us directly, it displays once again its native light and glory. So it was with the divine nature of Christ, as we have previously described. He veiled its glory by the interposition of the flesh — by taking our nature as His own — and beyond that, by taking in that nature the form of a servant, of a person of humble and low condition. But this temporary eclipse being past and gone, that glory now shines forth in its infinite brilliance and beauty, belonging to His present exaltation. When those who had known Him here as a poor, sorrowful, persecuted man dying on a cross came to see Him in all the infinite, uncreated glories of the divine nature shining in His person, it could not but fill their souls with transcendent joy and wonder. And this is one reason for His prayer for them while on earth — that they might be where He is to behold His glory — for He knew what inexpressible satisfaction it would be to them forever.

Third, I do not primarily mean the glorification of the human nature of Christ — the very soul and body in which He lived and died, suffered and rose again — though that is also included here. That too would be a subject worthy of our contemplation, especially as it is the pattern of the glory He will bring all those who believe in Him into. But since we are presently looking at something further, I will note only one or two things regarding it.

The very nature He took on in this world is what has been exalted into glory. Some, claiming great subtlety and precision, deny that He has flesh and blood in heaven — that is, in terms of their substance — however they imagine those might have been changed, purified, or glorified. The great foundation of the church and all gospel faith is that He was made flesh, that He took on flesh and blood just as the children did. The idea that He abandoned the flesh and blood formed in the womb of the blessed virgin — in which He lived and died, which He offered to God in sacrifice, and in which He rose from the dead — is a Socinian fiction. What the true nature of the glorification of Christ's humanity actually is, neither those who hold this view nor we can fully comprehend. 'It has not appeared as yet what we will be' — much less is it clear to us what He is, whom we will be like. But that He exists in the same human nature He had on earth, with the same rational soul and the same body, is a foundational article of Christian faith.

The human nature of Christ Jesus is filled with all the divine graces and perfections that a finite created nature is capable of receiving. It is not deified; it is not made into God; it does not merge in heaven into a single nature with the divine through some composition; no essential attribute of deity is communicated to it so as to reside in it; it is not made omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. Yet it is exalted in a fullness of divine perfection that is inexpressibly beyond the glory of all angels and human beings. It is incomprehensibly closer to God than any of them, receiving from God glorious light, love, and power in a measure inexpressibly above them all. Yet it remains a creature.

As to the substance of this glory of Christ's human nature, believers will share in it — for 'when we see Him as He is, we will be like Him.' But in terms of its degree and measure, His glory surpasses anything we can participate in. 'There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory,' as the apostle says (1 Corinthians 15:41). And if stars differ from one another in some measure of the same kind of glory, how much greater is the difference between the glory of the sun and that of any star at all? Such is the difference — and it will remain to eternity — between the human nature of Christ and what glorified believers will attain. But even this is not what properly constitutes the glory of Christ in His exaltation after His humiliation and death. The main elements of that glory may be grouped under the following heads.

First, it consists in the exaltation of the human nature — as it subsists in the divine person — above all of God's creation in power, dignity, authority, and rule, together with everything God's wisdom has appointed to make that glory radiant. I addressed the explanation and confirmation of this aspect of Christ's present glory at such length in my exposition of Hebrews 1:2-3 that I have nothing more to add here.

Second, it consists in the evidence given of God the Father's infinite love toward Him and His delight in Him, along with the eternal approval of how He discharged the office entrusted to Him. This is why He is said to sit at the right hand of God, or at the right hand of the Majesty on high. All of the following are contained in that expression: that the glory and dignity of Christ in His exaltation is singular — the highest that can be given to a creature, beyond comprehension; that He stands, with respect to His discharge of office, under God's eternal approval; and that as one so gloriously exalted, He is proclaimed to all creation.

Third, to this is added the full manifestation of His own divine wisdom, love, and grace in the work of mediation and the redemption of the church. This glory is entirely unique and belongs to Him alone. Neither angels nor human beings have the smallest share in it. Here we see it dimly, as in a mirror; above, it shines in its full brightness to the eternal joy of all who behold Him.

This is the glory that the Lord Jesus Christ especially prayed His disciples would behold. This is what we ought to strive to see by faith. By faith, I say — not by imagination. Vain and foolish people, having only general ideas about this glory of Christ and understanding nothing of its true nature, have tried to represent it in paintings and images adorned with all the beauty that artistic skill and the ornaments of gold and jewels can provide. This kind of representation of Christ's present glory — made and offered to the imagination and fleshly feelings of superstitious people — is the sort of devotion and veneration found in the Roman church. But they are wrong; they do not know Scripture, nor the eternal glory of the Son of God.

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations on this subject. The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ actually possesses in heaven can be seen or understood in this world only through the light of faith resting on divine revelation. To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of imagination or fancy. It does not involve picturing to ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. Rather, it is the steady exercise of faith fixed on the revelation and description of Christ's glory given in Scripture that is the basis, rule, and standard of all godly meditation on it.

We ought to examine ourselves honestly about how much we have actually sought a genuine sight of this glory of Christ. When did we last fix our eyes steadily on it? When did we see it in a way that left our souls satisfied and refreshed? It is set before us as one of the chief supports of faith, a help to our joy, an object of our hope, a ground for consolation, and our greatest encouragement to obedience and suffering. Are our minds regularly occupied with thoughts of it? Or do we consider ourselves largely unconcerned with it? Do we treat it as something distant and beyond us — something we will have plenty of time to consider when we reach heaven? That is how it is with many people. They care neither where Christ is nor what He is, so long as they can somehow be saved by Him. They hope, as they claim, to see Him and His glory in heaven, and assume that time will be soon enough. But their claim to desire it is empty, and their expectation of any such thing is vain. Those who make no effort to behold the glory of Christ in this world — as has been said many times — will never behold Him in glory hereafter with any true satisfaction, nor do they genuinely desire to. They simply imagine it will be part of the relief they receive when they leave this world. But what could produce such a desire in them? Nothing can do it except some sight of His glory here by faith — which they despise or entirely neglect. Every claim to desire heaven and the presence of Christ in it, when that desire does not arise from and is not rooted in the sight we have of Christ's glory in this world by faith, is mere fantasy and imagination.

Meditating regularly on this glory of Christ will fill us with joy on His behalf — and that joy itself is a powerful motivation to keep up the practice. Most of us are self-centered and look no further than our own interests. As long as we can be pardoned and saved by Christ, we are not much concerned with how things are with Him — we simply assume all is well enough. We see no personal concern of our own in it. But this attitude is directly opposed to the spirit of divine faith and love, whose chief expression is preferring Christ above ourselves and our concerns in Him above all our own. Let this stir us up to contemplate His glory. Who is it that is thus exalted above all? Who is it that is surrounded with glory, majesty, and power? Who is it that sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, with all His enemies made His footstool? Is it not He who was poor, despised, persecuted, and killed in this world — all for our sakes? Is it not the same Jesus who loved us, gave Himself for us, and washed us in His own blood? So the apostle declared to the Jews that the same Jesus whom they killed and hung on a tree, God had exalted at His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:30-31). If we have any sense of His love, any stake in what He has done and suffered for the church, we cannot help but rejoice in His present state and glory.

Let the world rage as long as it likes. Let it bring all its power and cunning against everything of Christ that exists in it — which, whatever some may claim otherwise, springs from a hatred of His person. Let men make themselves drunk with the blood of His saints. We have this as our support against all their efforts — what He says of Himself: 'Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades' (Revelation 1:17-18).

Blessed Jesus! We can add nothing to You, nothing to Your glory. But it is a deep joy to us that You are what You are — that You are so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God. And we long to behold that glory more fully and clearly, according to Your prayer and promise.