BOOK 3. THE PROMISE.
CHAPTER 2.
3.2.3. Of Desiring Jesus in that Respect.
Of Desiring Jesus in that Respect.
We must desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in a way of covenant, before his coming in the flesh. It is not enough to know and consider, but we must desire. Thus is the order of God's work; no sooner hath his Spirit clearly revealed the goodness of the promise, that we come to know, but the soul considers of it, turns it upside down, views it in all its excellencies, weighs it in the balance of its best and deepest meditations. This done, the affections begin to stir, and the soul begins thus to reason; O happy I, that I see the goodness of this gracious promise; but miserable I, if I come to see this, and never have a share in it; O! why not I, Lord! Why not my sins pardoned? Why not my corruptions subdued? Why not the law written in my heart, and put into my inward parts? Why may not I say, "My Lord, and my God; or, I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine?" Why not this covenant established between God and me? Now my soul thirsts after this as a thirsty land, my affections hunger after Jesus in a covenant of grace; "Oh, I would fain be in covenant with God; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. But here is an objection.
Object. The object of this desire is apprehended as absent and distant; we do not covet those things that we do enjoy; if they are present, we rather rest in them; than move towards them, or desire alter them; how then should David, or any soul, already in a covenant of grace, desire after the covenant? What is this? "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
Answer. It is true, the object of desire, qua tale, is something absent, yet not always absent in the whole, but in parts and degrees of it: the very presence of a good thing does in some sort quicken the desires towards the same thing, so far forth as it is capable of improvements or augmentations: as we see in external riches of the body, none desireth them more eagerly than those that possess them; and the more gracious the soul is, the more is the heart enlarged in the appetition of a greater measure of grace, as the putting in some water into a pump doth draw forth more: no man is so importunate in praying, "Lord, help my unbelief," as he that can say, "Lord, I believe things may be desired, in order to improvement and further degrees of them. Again, things present may be the object of our desires unto continuance; as he that delighteth in a good thing that he hath, he desireth the continuance of that delight; so the soul of a man having a reach as far as immortality, it may justly desire as well the perpetuity, as the presence of those good things it enjoyeth.
Come then, O my soul, and whet on thy desires, in every of these respects; as, 1. Desire after thy interest in the covenant. 2. Desire after thy improvement of the covenant. 3. Desire after the continuance of thy covenant state. 4. Desire after Jesus the great business, or the all in all in a covenant of grace.
1. Desire after thy interest in the covenant: O say in thyself. Is it thus? Is the Lord willing to receive me to his grace? Was that his voice in the streets? "How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? -- Turn ye at my reproof?" Prov. i. 22, 23. Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you? Was that his proclamation, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters: incline your ear and come unto me; -- And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David," Isa. lv. 1, 3. And are these the promises offered in the covenant? "I will put my law into your inward parts, and I will write it in your hearts, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people," Jer. xxxi. 33. Oh, the blessed condition of those people that are in covenant with God? "Blessed art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord?" Deut. xxxiii. 29. Oh, happy is the people that be in such a case; yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord," Psal. cxliv. 15. But, ah! what can I say? No sin like unto my sin, no misery like unto my misery? alas! I am an alien to God, I am separated from his people, I am out of the covenant; like a poor prodigal, I die for hunger, while those that are in my Father's house have bread enough: Oh that I were in their condition! never did David long more for the waters of the well of Bethlehem, than my soul now touched with the sense of sin, doth desire to be at peace with Cod, and in covenant with God: Oh, I thirst, I pant, I gasp after him, I long for communion and peace with him: "With my soul do I desire thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me do I seek thee early," Isa. xxvi. 9.
2.. Desire after thy improvement of the covenant; it maybe God hath given thee an interest in it, but alas, thy hold is so weak, that thou scarce knowest the meaning of it: the Lord may answer, but yet he speaks darkly as sometimes he speaks to the woman, John viii. 11 "Go thy way and sin no more:" it is a middle kind of expression, neither assuring her that her sin was pardoned, nor yet putting her out of hope but it might be pardoned; so it may be God hath given thee some little ease, but he hath not spoken full peace; go on then and desire more and more after confirmation. Say in thine heart, O Lord, thou hast begun to show grace unto thy servant; but, oh, manifest to me all thy goodness. Thou hast given me a drop, and I feel it so sweet, that now I thirst, and long to enjoy the fountain; thou hast given me a kiss of thy mouth, and now I pant to be united to thee in a more perfect and consummate marriage; thou hast given me a taste, but my appetite and desire is not hereby diminished, but enlarged; and good reason, for what are these drops and tastes, but only "the first fruits of the Spirit?" Rom. viii. 23. and "earnests of the Spirit," Eph. i. 14. Oh then, what are those harvests of joy? What are those treasures of wisdom, and free grace hid in God? I have indeed beheld "a feast of fat things, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined;" but, O what a famine is yet in my spirit! O Lord I have longed for thy salvation, I am ready to swoon for further union, and dearer manifestation of my share and interest in this covenant of grace, come. Lord Jesus, come quickly.
3. Desire after continuance of thy covenant-state: many a sweet soul cannot deny but that the Lord hath showed mercy on him, but he fears that he shall not hold out: he feels within such a power of corruption, such strong temptation, so many lusts, that now he doubts. "O, what will become of my poor soul? What will be the issue of this woeful work?" Why, come now, and desire after perseverance: when Peter was ravished on the mount, "It is good being here, says he, let us build tabernacles," Matt. xvii. 4. His desire was to have continued there forever; and it was the prayer of Christ in Peter's behalf, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not," Luke xxii. 32. What was this prayer but Christ's vehement desire of Peter's continuing in the faith? Shall Christ desire, and will not thou desire after thy own perfection? O, come with these pantings and breathings after God; put forth thy desires in these and the like expressions, "O Lord, thou hast said, I will betroth thee unto me forever," Hos. ii. 19. And what means this, but that the conjugal love of Christ with a gracious soul, shall never be broken? what means this, but that the bond of union in a believer to Christ is fastened upon God, and the Spirit of God holds the other end of it, and so it can never be broken?
(a). O Lord, thou hast discovered in thy word, that this union is in the Father, who hath laid a sure foundation, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his," 2 Tim. ii. 19. And that this union is in the Son, who loves his to the end: and that this union is in the Spirit who abides in the elect forever.
(b). Thou hast discovered. That "the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee," Isa. liv. 10.
(c). Thou hast said. That "the saints shall be kept by the power of God," 1 Pet. i. 5. q.d. The special power, I mean, to put forth in this world, it is to uphold the spirits of my saints; the special work I have in the world to exercise my power about, it is to keep Christ and the saints together; it is through the power of God, that heaven and earth is kept up, but if God must withdraw his power from the one of these, sooner shall heaven and earth fall in pieces, than God would not uphold one gracious soul that hath union with his Son Jesus Christ. And if these be thy sayings, why then. Lord, I desire the accomplishment? O fulfil what thou hast said; it would break my heart, if ever the covenant should be broken betwixt me and thee; my desire is towards thee, and the more I enjoy thee, the more and more I desire and pant after thee; my desires are like thyself, infinite, eternal, everlasting desires.
4. Desire after Jesus, the great business, or the all in all, in a covenant of grace; the most proper object of desire, especially to man fallen, is Jesus Christ: hence it is, that a poor sinner, under the sense of sin, cries out with that vehemency of desire, (Rutherford's trial of faith,) et Christ, and none but Christ; give me Christ, or I die, I am undone, I am lost forever." But what is Christ, or Jesus to a covenant of grace? I answer, He is the great business, he is the all in all. Christ hath at least a six-fold relation to the covenant of grace. (a). As he is more than a creature, he is the covenant itself. (b). As he deals betwixt parties, he is the messenger of the covenant. (c). As he saw, heard, and testified all, he is the witness of the covenant. (d). As he undertaketh for the parties at variance, he is the surety of the covenant. (e). As he standeth between the contrary parties, he is the Mediator of the covenant. (f). As he signeth the covenant, and closeth all the articles, he is the Testator of the covenant.
O, here is abundance of fuel for thy desire to work upon. Consider the fuel, and then set on flame thy desire.
(a). Christ is the covenant itself, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, Isa. xlii. 6. And, I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people" Isa. xli. 9. Christ, God and man, is all the covenant:
(i). Fundamentally, he is the original of the covenant; the covenant of grace takes its being and beginning from Christ, he is the covenant-maker, undertaker, manager, dispatcher, he doth every thing in the covenant.
(ii). Materially, the very substance of the covenant stands in this, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Now, Christ he is both these in himself; he is God unto his people, and he is the people representively unto God, and before God.
(iii). Equivalently, many branches or fruits of the covenant are to he fulfilled to believers in their season; but, as soon as ever they are justified, Christ is said to be the covenant, as a present pawn or earnest delivered into the hands of a man at the very instant of his justification; and this pawn is of equal value and worth with the whole covenant when it is fulfilled to the uttermost. Thus Christ, in every of these respects, is the covenant itself, he is the very peace and reconciliation itself, "And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land," Micah v. 5. As fire is hot for itself, and all things hot for it; as they participate of it; so Christ is the covenant itself, and all we are so far in covenant to Christ, as we have anything of Christ; want Christ, and want peace, and want the covenant of grace.
(b). Christ is the messenger of the covenant, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in," Mal iii. 1. Christ's travels with tidings between the parties of the covenant.
(i). He reports of God to us, he commends his Father to us, "My Father is the husbandman," and "this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing," John xv. 1. vi. 39, 48, viii. 12. And he commends himself to us. It became the Lord Jesus to commend himself, "I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the door, I am the good shepherd," John x. 9, 11. It Is a wonderful thing how Christ is a broker (as I may say) for Christ; "Wisdom crieth out, she uttereth her voice in the streets. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of my wine which I have mingled," Prov. i, 20. and ix. 5, Ministers cannot speak of Christ, and of his Father, as he can do himself. O my soul, to excite thy desires, come, and hear Christ, speak of Christ, and of his Father, and of heaven, for he saw all.
(ii). He reports of us to God, he commends us to his Father: O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me," John xvii. 25. Christ gives a good report of the saints in heaven; the Father and the Son are speaking of them (as I may say) behind back. And surely a: good report in heaven is of high esteem; Christ tells over Ephraim's prayer behind his back, "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn thou me, and I shall be turned, thou art the Lord my God:" And thereupon God resolves, "Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord," Jer. xxxi. 18, 20. Happy souls of whom Christ is telling good tidings in heaven! he is the angel of the covenant.
(c). He is the witness of the covenant; he saw, and heard all, "Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people," Isa. lv, 4. And he is called, "The faithful witness. The Amen, The faithful and true witness," Rev. i. 5. and iii. 24. The covenant saith, "The Son of man came to seek, and to save that which was lost;" Luke xix. 10. Amen, saith Christ, I can witness that to be true. The covenant saith, Christ died, and rose again for sinners; Amen, saith Christ, "I was dead, and behold, I live for evermore," Amen, Rev. i. 18. There is not anything said in the covenant, but Christ is a witness to it, and therefore we read in the very end of the Bible, this subscription (as I may call it) in relation to Christ, "He which testifieth these things, saith, "Surely I come quickly." Amen. Rev. xxii. 20.
(d). Christ is the surety of the covenant: "In as much as not without an oath he was made a priest; -- By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament," Heb. vii. 20, 22. The covenant of works had a promise, but because it was to be broken, and done away, it hath no oath of God as this hath: O doubting soul, thou sayest. "Thy salvation is not sure, think on this scripture, thou hast the oath of God for it; it is a sworn article of the covenant, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved," And to this end is Christ a surety,
(i). Surety for God, he undertakes, that God shall fulfil his part of the covenant, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," Luke xii. 32. And "all that the Father giveth me, shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me, I will in no ways cast out," John vi. 27.
(ii). Surety for us; and to this purpose he hath paid a ransom for us, and giveth a new heart to us, and he is engaged to lose none of us, ec Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost," John xvii. 12.
(e).Christ is the Mediator of the covenant of the apostle calls him "Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant," Heb. xii, 24. He hath something of God, as being true God; and something of man, as sharing with us of the nature of man; hence he is a Mediator by office, and laying his hands on both parties, as "a days-man doth," Job ix, 33. And in this respect he is a friend, a reconciler, and a servant.
(i). A friend to both parties, he hath God's heart for man, to be gracious, and he hath man's heart for God, to satisfy justice.
(ii). A reconciler of both parties; he brings down God to a treaty of peace, and he brings up man by a ransom paid, so that he may say unto both, a Father come down to my brethren, my kindred and flesh: and thou my sister and spouse come up to my Father, and thy Father, to my God, and to thy God."
(iii). He is a servant to both parties, "behold my servant," saith God; "my righteous servant," Isa, xxxii. 1. and liii, 11. Yea, and our servant, "He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28.
(f).Christ is the testator of the covenant: he died to this very end, that he might confirm the covenant, "Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all, while the testator liveth," Heb. ix. l6, 17. Christ then must die, and Christ's blood must be shed, to seal the covenant of grace; it is not every blood, but Christ's blood, that must seal the everlasting covenant, Heb. xiii. 20. And his blood being shed, he is then rightly called the testator of the covenant.
O what fuel is here to set our desires on flames? Come, soul, and bend thy desires towards Christ, as the sun-flower towards the sun, the iron to the load-stone, and the load-stone to the pole star: yea, the nearer thou drawest towards Christ, the more and more do thou desire after Christ; true desires never determine or expire: "He that thirsts, let him thirst more (saith Bernard, delect, evang. serm.) and he that desires, let him desire yet more abundantly." Is there not cause? O what excellencies hast thou found in Christ? Poor soul, thou hast undone thyself by sin, there is but a step betwixt thee and damnation, but, to save thy soul, Christ "comes leaping on the mountains, and skipping on the hill." He enters into a covenant with God, he is the covenant, the messenger of the covenant, the witness of the covenant, the surety of the covenant, the Mediator of the covenant, the Testator of the covenant, the great business, the all in all in a covenant of grace. If David could say, "My soul breaks for the longings that it hath to thy judgments at all times," Psalm cxix. 20, how mayest thou say, "My soul breaks for the longings that it hath to thy mercies, and my Jesus at all times?" Oh I gasp for grace, as the thirsty land for drops of rain; I thirst, I faint, I languish, I long for an hearty draught of the "fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" Oh that I could see Jesus flying through the midst of heaven, with the covenant in his hand! Oh I long for that angel of the covenant! I long to see such another vision as John did, when he said, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth." What? Is that covenant in the hand of Christ? And is my name written in that roll? Say Lord, is my name written on the heart of Christ? Oh! if I had the glory and possession of all the world, if I had ten thousand worlds, and ten thousand lives, I would lay them all down, to have this poor trembling soul of mine assured of this: Oh my thirst is insatiable, my bowels are hot within me, my desire after Jesus in reference to the covenant, is greedy as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame.