BOOK 4. THE INCARNATION.
CHAPTER 2.
4.2.7. Of Joying in Jesus in that Respect.
Of Joying in Jesus in that Respect.
Let us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of our salvation for us at his first coming or incarnation. If it he so, that by our desire, and hope, and faith, and love, we have indeed, and in truth reached the object which our souls pant after, how then should we but joy and delight therein? The end of our motion is to attain quiet and rest. Now, what is joy, but "a sweet and delightful tranquillity of mind, resting in the fruition and possession of some good?" What hast thou in some measure attained the presence and fruition of Christ, (as God incarnate) in thy soul? It is then time to joy in Jesus; it is then time to keep a sabbath of thy thoughts, and to be quiet and calm in thy spirit: but you will say. How should this be before we come to heaven? I answer. There is not indeed any perfection of joy while we are here, because there is no perfection of union on this side heaven; but so far as union is, our joy must be; examine the grounds of thy hope, and the actings of thy faith, and if thou art but satisfied in them, why, then lead up thy joy, and bring it up to this blessed object; here is matter for it to work upon, if thou canst possibly rejoice in anything at all, O rejoice in the Lord, and again, I say, rejoice.
Is there not cause, read and spell what is the meaning of the gospel ©f Christ? What is gospel? But good spell, or good tidings. And wherein lies the good tidings according to its eminency? Is it not in the glorious incarnation of the Son of God? "Behold I bring you a gospel," so it is in the original; or, "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," Luke ii. 10, 11. The birth of Christ to them that have but touched hearts, is the comfort of comforts, and the sweetest balm and confection that ever was. O my soul, what ails thee? Why art thou cast down and disquieted within me? Is it because thou art a sinner? Why, "unto thee is born a Saviour," his name is Saviour, and therefore Saviour, because, he will save his people from their sins. Come then, and bring out thy sins, and weigh them to the utmost aggravation of them, and take in every circumstance both of law and gospel, and set but this in the other scale, that, "unto thee is born a Saviour." Surely all thy iniquities will seem lighter than vanity, yea, they will be as nothing in comparison thereof. "My soul doth magnify the Lord, (saith Mary) and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour," Luke i. 46, 47. Her soul and her spirit within her rejoiced at this birth of Christ; there is cause that every soul and every spirit should rejoice that hath an interest in this birth of Christ, O my soul! how shouldst thou but rejoice if thou wilt consider these particulars.
1. God himself is come down into the world, because it was impossible for thee to come to him, he is come to thee; this consideration made the prophet cry out, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee," Zech. ix. 9. He is called a King, and therefore he is able, and he is thy King, and therefore he is willing: but in that thy King cometh unto thee, here is the marvellous love and mercy of God in Christ: kings do not usually come to visit and to wait upon their subjects, it is well if poor subjects may come to them, and be admitted into their presence to wait on them; O but see the great King of heaven and earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords stooping, and bowing the heavens to come down to thee; surely this is good tidings of great joy, and therefore "rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion." A little joy is too scant and narrow for this news; hearts should be enlarged, the doors and gates should be set wide open for this King of glory to come in; As Balaam said of Israel, "God is with him, and the shout of a king is amongst them;" so now may we say, God is with us, and the shout of a king is amongst us, "Rejoice, Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem," Numb, xxiii. 21.
2. God is come down in the flesh, he hath laid aside, as it were, his. own glory, whiles he converseth with thee; when God manifested himself as on mount Sinai, he came down in thunder and lightning, and if now he had appeared in thunder and lightning, if now he had been guarded with an innumerable company of angels, all having their swords of vengeance and justice drawn, well might poor souls have trembled, and run into corners, for who could ever be able to endure his coming in this way? But lo, poor soul! God is come down in the flesh, he hath made his appearance as a man, as one of us, and there is not in this regard the least distance betwixt him and us. Surely this is fuel for joy to feed upon; O why should God come down so suitably, so lowly as in our nature, if he would have thy poor soul to be afraid of him? Doth not this very design intend consolation to thy soul? O gather up thy spirit, anoint thy heart with the oil of gladness; see, God himself is come down in flesh to live amongst us, he professeth he will have no other life but amongst the sons of men; see what a sweet way of familiarity and intercourse is made betwixt God and us, now he is come down in human frailty.
3. God hath taken on him our nature, as a vast pipe to his Godhead, that it may flow out in all manner of sweetness upon our hearts; if God had come down in flesh only to have been seen of us, it had been a wonderful condescension, and a great mercy; "If I have found favour in thy eyes, (said Moses) show me the way that I may know thee," Exod. xxxiii. 13. But to come down, and to come down in flesh, not only to be seen but to dispatch the great business of our soul's salvation, here is comfort indeed: with what joy should we draw water out of this well of salvation? Surely the great reason of the shallowness of our comforts, the shortness of our hopes, the faintness of our spirits, the lowness of our graces, is from the not knowing or the not heeding of this particular; Christ in flesh stands not for a cypher, but it is an organ of life and grace unto us, it is a fountain of comfort that can never run dry. In this flesh there is laid in one purpose, such a fulness of the Godhead, that of his fulness we might receive; in our measure, grace for grace. O my soul! thou art daily busy in eyeing this and that, but, above all, know that all the fulness of God lies in Christ incarnate to be emptied upon thee: this was the meaning of Christ taking on him flesh, that through his flesh he might convey to thee whatsoever is in himself as God. As for instance, God in himself is good, and gracious, and powerful, and all sufficient and merciful; and what not? Now by his being in flesh he suits all this, and conveys all this to thee: Observe this for thy eternal comfort, God in and through the flesh makes all his attributes and glory serviceable to thy soul.
4. God, in our nature, hath laid out the model and draught of what he will do unto all his saints forever; human nature was never so advanced before. What, to be glorified above the angels! to be united in a personal union with the second Person of the Godhead? Surely, hence may be expected great matters, here is a fair step for the bringing of our persons up to the enjoyment of God; If God be come doWn in the likeness of man, why then he will bring us up into the likeness of God; look what Was done to our nature in Christ, the very same (as far as we are capable) shall be done to our persons in heaven. Think of it, O my soul, why hath God made flesh so glorious, but to show that he will by that make thee glorious also? Christ is the great epitome of all the designs of God, so that in him thou mayest see what thou art designed unto, and how high and rich thou shalt be in the other world. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he shall appear, we shall be like him," 1 John iii. 2. He is now like us, but then (saith the apostle) we shall be like unto him, "he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," Phil.iii. 21. Oh! consider what a frame of eternal comfort may we raise up from this ground of Christ incarnate; God in the flesh.
5. God in the flesh is the first opening of his eternal plot to do us good; the seed of the woman was the first word of comfort that ever was heard in the world after man was fallen; the plot was of old, but the execution was not till after the creation, and then was a dim discovery of it, even in the beginning of time, though no clearer manifestation till the fulness of time. Well, take it as you please, whether in the beginning of time, or in the fulness of time; whether in the promise or in the performance; this discovering of Christ incarnate is the first opening of all God's heart and glory unto the sons of men: and from this we may raise a world of comfort, for if God in the execution of his decrees begins so gloriously, how will he end? If God be so full of love as to come down in flesh now in this world. Oh, what matter of hope is laid up before us, of what God will be to us in that world to come? If the glory of God be let out to our souls so fully at first, what glorious openings of all the glory of God will be let out to our souls at last? Christians, what do you think will God do with us, or bring us unto when we shall be with him in heaven? You see now he is manifested in the flesh, and he hath laid out a world of glory in that: but the apostle tells us of another manifestation, for we shall see him as he is; he shall at last be manifest in himself, "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known," 1 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 John iii. 2. To what an height of knowledge or manifestation this doth arise, I am now to seek, and so I must be whilst I am on this side heaven, but this I believe, the manifestation of God and Christ is more in heaven, than this, or ever hath been, or ever shall be upon earth; "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty, or in his glory," saith Isa. xxxiii. 17. There is a great deal of difference betwixt seeing the king in his ordinary, and seeing him in his robes, and upon his throne, with his crown on his head, and his sceptre in his hand, and his nobles about him in all his glory; the first openings of Christ are glorious, but O what will it be to see him in his great-, est glory, that ever he will manifest himself in? We usually say. That workmen do their meanest work at first, and if the glorious incarnation of Christ be but the beginning of God's works in reference to our souls' salvation, what are those last works?
O my soul, weigh all these passages, and make an application of them to thyself, and then tell me, if yet thou hast not matter enough to raise up thy heart, and to "fill it with joy unspeakable and full of glory." When the wise men saw but "the star of Christ, they rejoiced with an exceeding great joy," Matth, ii. 10. How much more when they saw Christ himself? "Your father Abraham (said Christ to the Jews) rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad," John viii. 56. He saw it indeed, but afar off with the eyes of faith: they afore Christ had the promise, but we see the performance; how then should we rejoice? How glad shouldst thou be, O my soul, at the sight and the effect of Christ's incarnation? If John the Baptist could leap for joy in his mother's belly, when Christ was but yet in the womb, how should thy heart leap for joy, who can say with the prophet, "Unto me a child is born, and unto me a son is given?" If Simeon, waiting "for the consolation of Israel, took him up in his arms for joy, and blessed God," Luke ii. 28. How shouldst thou with joy embrace him with both arms, who knowest his coming in the flesh, and who hast heard him come in the gospel, in the richest and most alluring expressions of his love? If the angels could sing for joy at his birth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will towards men?" Luke ii. 14. "Awake, awake, O my soul, awake, awake, utter a song!" tell over these passages, That God is come down into the world, that God is come down in the flesh, that God is come down in flesh in order to thy reconciliation; that God is come down in the likeness of man, that he may bring thee up into the likeness of God, and that all these are but the first openings of the grace, and goodness, and glory of God in Christ to thy soul: and oh what work will these make in thy soul, if the Spirit come in who is the comforter!