“I have glorified the Father, by raising up those precious things which fell in Eden, and were lost in the abyss.
“I have raised up my Father’s law. I found it cast down to the earth, and trampled into the dust. I have magnified, and found it honourable. I have vindicated its authority in the sight of men, and angels. I have satisfied its demands on behalf of my redeemed, and become the end of the law for righteousness to all who will receive me as their surety.
“I have raised up my Father’s name. I have declared it to my brethren. I have manifested it to the men whom He has given me. I have given a new revelation of His character to the world. I have shown Him to sinners, as a just God, and a Saviour. I have restored His worship in purity, and spiritually upon earth. I have opened a new, and living way to His throne of grace. I have written the record of His mercy with my own blood upon the rocks of Calvary.
“I have raised up my Father’s image. I have imprinted it afresh upon human nature, from which it was effaced by sin. I have displayed its excellence in my own character. I have passed through the pollutions of the world, and the territory of death, without tarnishing its lustre, or injuring its symmetry. Though my visage is marred with grief, and my back ploughed with scourges, and my hands, and feet nailed to the accursed cross, not one trace of my Father’s image has been obliterated from my human soul. It is as perfect, and as spotless now as when I lay in the manger. I will carry it unstained with me into heaven. I will give a full description of it in my Gospel upon earth. I will change my people into the same image, from glory, to glory. I will also renovate, and transform their vile bodies, and fashion them like unto my own glorious body. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; and because I live, they shall live also—the counterpart of my own immaculate humanity—mirrors to reflect my Father’s glory for ever.”
2. The Father glorifies the Son. He prayed in the garden,—“And now, Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” Was the petition granted? Answer, ye Roman sentinels, who watched His sepulchre! Answer, ye men of Galilee, who gazed upon His chariot, as He ascended from the mount of Olives!
The glorification of the Son by the Father implies all the honours of His mediatorial office—all the crowns which He won by His victory over the powers of death, and hell. The Father raised Him from the dead, and received Him up into glory, as a testimony of His acceptance as the sinner’s Surety—an expression of perfect satisfaction with His vicarious sacrifice upon the cross. It was the just reward of His work; it was the fruit of His gracious travail. He is “crowned with glory and honour for the sufferings of death.” “Because He hath poured out His soul unto death,” therefore “God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name.”
What an honour would it be to a man, to receive eight, or ten of the highest offices in the kingdom! Infinitely greater is the glory of Emmanuel. His name includes all the offices, and titles of the kingdom of heaven. The Father hath made Him “both Lord, and Christ”—that is, given Him the supreme prerogatives of government and salvation. “Him hath God exalted to be a prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.” He is “head over all things in the Church”—Prime Minister in the kingdom of heaven—Lord Treasurer, dispensing the bounties of Divine grace to mankind—Lord High-Chancellor of the Realm, and Keeper of the great Seal of the living God; holding in His hand the charter of our redemption, and certifying the authenticity of the Divine covenant—Lord Chief Justice of heaven, and earth, having all power, and authority to administer the laws of Providence throughout the universe—the chief Prince—the General of the army—the Captain of the Lord’s host—the Champion who conquered Satan, sin, and death; bruising the head of the first, destroying the power of the second, and swallowing up the third in victory. He hath the keys of hell, and of death. He shutteth, and no man openeth; He openeth, and no man shutteth. He bears all the honours of His Father’s house; and concentrates in Himself all the glories of Supreme Divinity, redeemed humanity, and “mediator between God, and man.”
3. The Holy Spirit glorifies Father and Son together. He is procured for the world by the blood of the Son, and sent into the world by the authority of the Father; so that both are alike represented in His mission, and equally glorified in His office. The gracious things which the Father gave into the hands of the Son, when He descended from heaven, the Son gave into the hands of the Spirit, when He returned to heaven. “All things that the Father hath are mine; and He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.”
This is the object of the Spirit’s advent, the communication of the things of Christ to men. What are the things of Christ? His merit, His mercy, His image, His Gospel, His promises, all the gifts of His grace, all the treasures of His love, and all the immunities of eternal redemption. These the Father hath given to the Son, as the great Trustee of the Church; and the Son hath given them to the Spirit, as the appointed Agent of their communication.
A ship was laden in India, arrived safely in London, unloaded her precious cargo, and the goods were soon distributed all over the country, and offered for sale in a thousand stores. The Son of God brought immense riches of Divine grace from heaven to earth, which are all left to the disposal of the Holy Spirit, and freely proffered to the perishing, wherever the Gospel is preached.