I deny not but the Lord Jesus did then begin to set about this work. But that [pg 7-003] which is more principally here intended, is Christ's coming and appearing in a spiritual, but yet most powerful and glorious manner, to erect his kingdom, and to gather and govern his churches, by the ministry of his apostles and other ministers, whom he sent forth after his ascension.
Of this coming he himself speaketh, Matt. xvi. 28, “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom;” Mark addeth, “with power” (Mark ix. 1). Neither was that all. He did not so come at that time as to put forth all his power, or to do his whole work. He hath at divers times come and manifested himself to his churches; and this present time is a time of the revelation of the Son of God, and a day of his coming. We look also for a more glorious coming of Jesus Christ before the end be: for “the Redeemer shall come to Sion” (Isa. lix. 20), “and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. xi. 26); and he shall destroy Antichrist “with the brightness of his coming,” 2 Thess. ii. 8; in which place the Apostle hath respect to Isa. xi. 4, where it is said of Christ, the rod of Jesse, “with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” There, withal, you have the church's tranquillity, the filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, and the restoring of the dispersed Jews, as you may read in that chapter. Some have observed[1404] (which ought not to pass without observation) that the Chaldee Paraphrase had there added the word Romilus: “He shall slay the wicked Romilus;” whereupon they challenge Arias Montanus for leaving out that word to wipe off the reproach from the Pope. However, the Scriptures teach us, that the Lord Jesus will be revealed mightily, and will make bare his holy arm, as well in the confusion of Antichrist, as in the conversion of the Jews, before the last judgment and the end of all things.
By this time you may understand what is meant in the text by the day of Christ's coming, or εἰσοδου,—coming in, as the Septuagint read, meaning his coming, or entering into his temple, mentioned in the first verse; by which temple Jerome upon the place rightly understandeth the church, or spiritual temple.
When this temple is built, Christ cometh [pg 7-004] into it, to fill the house with the cloud of his glory, and to walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The same thing is meant by his appearing: “When he appeareth,” saith our translation; “When he shall be revealed,”; others read, “When he shall be seen,” or “in seeing of him.” The original word I find used to express more remarkable, divine, and glorious sights, as Gen. xvi. 13, “Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” xxii. 14, “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” From this word had the prophets the name of seers, 1 Sam. ix. 9; and from the same word came the name of visions, 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, “Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.”
Now, but what of all this? might some think. If Christ come, it is well,—he is the desire of all nations. O but when Christ thus cometh into his kingdom among men with power, and is seen appearing with some beams of his glory, “Who may abide, and who shall stand?” saith the text. How shall sinners stand before the Holy One? How shall dust and ashes have any fellowship with the God of glory? How shall our weak eyes behold the Sun of righteousness coming forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber? Did not Ezekiel fall upon his face at “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord”? Ezek. i. 28. Did not Isaiah cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone,” “for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”? Isa. vi. 5.
But why is it so hard a thing to abide the day of Christ's coming, or to stand before him when he appeareth in his temple? If you ask of him, as Joshua did, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Josh. v. 13,) he will answer you, “Nay; but as a captain of the host of the Lord am I now come,” (ver. 14.) If you ask of him, as the elders of Bethlehem asked of Samuel (while they were trembling at his coming), “Comest thou peaceably?” He will answer you as Samuel did, “Peaceably.” What is there here, then, to trouble us? Doth he not come to save, and not to destroy? Yes, to save the spirit, but to destroy the flesh; he will have the heart-blood of sin, that the soul may live for ever. This is set forth by a double metaphor: one taken from the refiner's fire, which purifieth metals from the dross; the other, from the fuller's soap; others read the fuller's grass, or the fuller's herb. Some have thought it so hard to determine, [pg 7-005] that they have kept into the translation the very Hebrew word borith. Jerome tells us,[1405] that the fuller's herb which grew in the marsh places of Palestina, had the same virtue for washing and making white which nitre hath. Yet I suppose the fuller's soap hath more of that virtue in it than the herb could have. However it is certain that ברר,—borith, cometh from a word which signifieth to make clean, according to that, Mark ix. 3, “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.”
But to whom will Christ thus reveal himself? And who are they whom he will refine from their dross, and wash from their filthiness? That we may know from the two following verses: He is not a refiner's fire to those that are “reprobate silver,” (Jer. vi. 30,) and can never be refined; neither is he as fuller's soap to those whose spot “is not the spot of his children” (Deut. xxxii. 5): nay, Christ doth not thus lose his labour, but he refineth and maketh clean the sons of Levi, also Judah and Jerusalem. This, I doubt not to aver, doth principally belong to the Jews, for to them pertain the promises (Rom. ix. 4), saith the Apostle, and the natural branches shall be graffed into their own olive-tree (xi. 24); but it belongeth also to us Gentiles, who are cut out of the wild olive-tree, and are graffed into the good olive-tree. God hath persuaded Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem; and so we are now the Judah and Jerusalem, and our ministers the sons of Levi. God's own church and people, even the best of them, have need of this refiner's fire and of this fuller's soap.
And so much for the scope, sense, and coherence of the text. The general doctrine which offereth itself to us from the words, is this:—
“The way of Christ, and fellowship with him, is very difficult and displeasing to our sinful nature, and is not so easy a matter as most men imagine.”
First of all, this doth clearly arise out of the text. As when the people said to Joshua, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods,” (Josh. xxiv. 16,) Joshua answered, “Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God,” (ver. 19.) Just so doth the Prophet here answer the Jews, when [pg 7-006] they were very much desiring and longing for the Messiah, promising to themselves comfort, and peace, and prosperity, and the restoring of all things according to their heart's desire, if Christ were once come. Nay, saith the Prophet, not so: “Who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?”