II. The filial sentiment with which we ought to regard the Church of Christ.—She is “the mother of us all.” The general idea is, that if we are indeed spiritual, under God, we owe all to the Church. To her God has committed the preservation of His truth. In stormy times she has sheltered her lamps in the recesses of the sanctuary, and in happier times has placed them on high to guide and save. The Spirit of God is in the Church. To her you owe your hallowed fellowships. In the Church it is that God manifests Himself.
III. The animating anticipations we are thus taught to form of the Church as glorified.—Turn to the description given in Revelation xxi. 1. Mark the wall great and high—denoting the perfect, impregnable security of those who dwell there. 2. At the gates are angels—still ushering in the heirs of salvation and disdaining not to be porters to this glorious city. 3. Mark the foundations, garnished with all manner of precious stones—implying permanency. 4. Mark the circumstance that in the twelve foundations are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles—the whole being the result of their doctrine. 5. The whole city is a temple all filled with the presence and glory of God. No holiest of all is there where every part is most holy. All are filled, sanctified, beatified, by the fully manifested presence of God. He is all in all; all things in and to all.—Richard Watson.
Jerusalem a Type of the Universal Church.
I. God chose Jerusalem above all other places to dwell in. The Church catholic is the company chosen to be the particular people of God.
II. Jerusalem is a city compact in itself by reason of the bond of love and order among the citizens. In like sort the members of the Church catholic are linked together by the bond of one Spirit.
III. In Jerusalem was the sanctuary, a place of God’s presence, where the promise if the seed of the woman was preserved till the coming of the Messiah. Now the Church catholic is in the room of the sanctuary, in it we must seek the presence of God and the Word of life.
IV. In Jerusalem was the throne of David. In the Church catholic is the throne or sceptre of Christ.
V. The commendation of a city, as Jerusalem, is the subjection and obedience of the citizens. In the Church catholic all believers are citizens, and they yield voluntary obedience and subjection to Christ their King.
VI. As in Jerusalem the names of the citizens were enrolled in a register, so the names of all the members of the Church catholic are enrolled in the Book of Life.
VII. The Church catholic is said to be above: 1. In respect to her beginning. 2. Because she dwells by faith in heaven with Christ.—Perkins.