This sentence is very comprehensive, and sublime—an unquestionable affirmation of the Messiah’s “eternal power, and Godhead.” The same doctrine is taught us, in many other recorded sayings of Christ, and sustained by all the prophets, and apostles; and when I consider this declaration, in connection with the general strain of the inspired writers on the subject, I seem to hear the Saviour Himself addressing the world in the following manner:—
“All things that the Father hath are mine. His names are mine. I am Jehovah—the mighty God, and the everlasting Father—the Lord of Hosts—the Living God—the True God, and Eternal Life.
“His works are mine. All things were made by me, and I uphold all things by the word of my power. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work; for as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. I am the Author of universal being, and my hand moveth all the machinery of Providence.
“His honours are mine. I have an indisputable right to the homage of all created intelligences. I inhabit the praises of Eternity. Before the foundation of the world, I was the object of angelic adoration; and when I became incarnate as a Saviour, the Father published His decree in heaven, saying—‘Let all the angels of God worship Him!’ It is His will, also, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father—in the same manner, and the same degree. He that honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father; and he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father: for I and my Father are one—one in honour—possessing joint interest, and authority.
“His attributes are mine. Though as man, and Mediator I am inferior to the Father; yet my nature is no more inferior to His, than the nature of the Prince of Wales is inferior to the nature of the King of England. You see me clothed in humanity; but, in my original state, I thought it not robbery to be equal with God. I was in the beginning with God, and possessed the same eternity of being. Like Him, I am almighty, omniscient, and immutable; infinite in holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. All these attributes, with every other possible perfection, belong to me, in the same sense as they belong to the Father. They are absolute, and independent, underived, and unoriginated—the essential qualities of my nature.
“His riches of grace are mine. I am the Mediator of the new covenant—the Channel of my Father’s mercies to mankind. I have the keys of the House of David, and the seal of the Kingdom of Heaven. I have come from the bosom of the Father, freighted with the precious treasures of His good will to men. I have sailed over the sea of tribulation, and death, to bring you the wealth of the other world. I am the Father’s Messenger, publishing peace on earth—a peace which I have purchased with my own blood upon the cross. It has pleased the Father that in me all fulness should dwell—all fulness of wisdom, and grace—whatever is necessary for the justification, sanctification, and redemption of them that believe. My Father, and I are one, in the work of salvation, as in the work of creation. We have the same will, and the same intention of mercy toward the children of the great captivity.
“The objects of His love are mine. He hath given them to me in an everlasting covenant. He hath given me the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. They were mine by the original right of creation; but now they are doubly mine, by the superadded claim of redemption. My Father, before the world was, gave me a charter of all the souls I would redeem. I have fulfilled the condition. I have poured out my soul unto death, and sealed the covenant with the blood of my cross. Therefore, all believers are mine. I have bought them with a price. I have redeemed them from the bondage of sin, and death. Their names are engraven on my hands, and my feet. They are written with the soldier’s spear upon my heart. And of all that the Father hath given me, I will lose nothing. I will draw them all to myself; I will raise them up at the last day; and they shall be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which I had with the Father before the foundation of the world.”
II. The Father and the Son are equally glorified in the economy of redemption, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
1. The Son glorifies the Father. I hear Him praying in the garden:—“Father, I have glorified Thee on earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.” I hear Him, again, amidst the supernatural gloom of Calvary, with a voice that rings through the dominions of death, and hell, crying—“It is finished!”
What mighty achievement hast Thou finished to-day, blessed Jesus? and how have Thine unknown agony, and shameful death glorified the Father?