Ì` THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST°. every creature is Made subject tohim : His people are his willing subjects in this day of his power, andhis enemies shall be made his footstool. Angels, principalities and powers areput under him as hisministering servants, for the purposes of his government over the church and the world ; Ps. ex. 1 -3. Eph. i. 20. Heb. i. 4. Rev. iii. 21. And yet further, he is not only the appointed Heir andLord of all, but he is constituted the final Judge of the living and the dead : He who stood once at the bar of Pilate and the high-priest as a transgressor, hath a throne of judgment preparing for him, and the high- priest and Pilate shall be arraigned there : All the tribesof the earth shall begathered togetherbefore him, and shall receive their eternal sentence from his mouth. Mat. xxv. 31, 32, 34, 41. " God the Father bath appointed a day wherein he will judge theworld in righteousness, by thatman whom he hath ordained, and has given assurance of it toall men by raising him from the dead." Acts xvii. 31. " The Father judgethno man but hathcommitted all judgment into, the hands of his Son, and bath given him authority toexecute judgment, because he is the Sonof Man ;" John v. 22-27. IV. Our blessed Saviour must have a most extensive know- ledge and power to execute this vast authority, and to fulfil this glorious trust. Let us first considerhis extensive knowledge. He has not only the kingdoms of nature and grace committed to his care, but the book of the decrees of God is put into his hands that he may govern these kingdoms according to the Father's will. So that text is generally explained ; Rev. v. 1 -9. " The Lamb in the midst of the throne came and took the book out ofhis Fa- ther's hand." He must know what God bath 'ordained that he may execute all his Father's counsels with regard to the church and the world, and that he may send his prophets to reveal to his church so much as is needful for them to know. The whole book of the Revelation is an instance of this knowledge commu- nicated to him by the Father; Rev. i. 1. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass : and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John." The day and hour of the last judgment, which were unknown to the Son in the days of his flesh ; Mark xiii. 32. and were reserved in the Father'shand, are now laid open before him in this book of divine counsels: Both as aPriest and a King he must know the hearts of men. He must see their secret thoughts that he may govern and judge them aright ; 1 Cor. iv. 5. And he must know all the groans and breathings of holy souls that he may present them in the sympathy of his affection befóre the Father, and may have a
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=