3. As Christians are sometimes in imminent dangers of falling, so sometimes it is so, that they are fallen, are down, down dreadfully, and can by no means lift up themselves. And this happeneth unto them because they have been remiss as to the conscionable performance of what by this exhortation they are enjoined to. They have not been constant supplicants at this throne for preserving grace; for had they, they should, as the text suggests, most certainly have kept from such a fall; help should have been granted them in their needful time. But that is it, of which such are guilty, which is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel’ (Isa 43:22). Therefore thou art profaned, therefore thou art given to reproaches (Isa 43:28). Now, as they which are falling are kept from coming down by coming to this throne of grace, so those that are fallen must rise by the sceptre of love extended to them from thence. Men may fall by sin, but cannot raise up themselves without the help of grace. Wherefore, it is worthy of our inquiry after a more thorough knowledge of this throne of grace, whence, as we may well perceive, our help comes, and by what comes from thence we are made to stand. I therefore come now to a more particular description of this throne of grace; and to show how the godly know, or may know it, from other thrones of God.
[What this throne of grace is.]
First, then, this throne of grace is the humanity, or heart and soul of Jesus Christ, in which God sits and resteth for ever in love towards them that believe in him. Forasmuch as Christ did, by the body of his flesh, when here, reconcile them unto the Father. ‘The key of the house of David,’ saith God, ‘will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open and none shall shut; and he shall shut and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Father’s house’ (Isa 22:22,23). For a glorious throne to his Father’s house, that is, for his Father’s house, to come to their Father by; for that they shall always find him thereon; or, as another scripture saith, in Christ reconciling them unto him, not imputing to them their trespasses and sins (2 Cor 5:19). Nor is it possible, that we lay aside the human nature of Christ, for us to find any such thing as a throne of grace, either in earth or heaven; for that then nothing can be found to be the rest of God. ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,’ is God’s own language; but there is none other of whom he hath so said (Matt 3:17). Wherefore he resteth in him towards us, and in him only. Besides, grace cannot be extended towards us but in a way of justice; for that the law and our sin obstructeth another way (Gen 3:24). But, lay the human nature of Christ aside, and where will you find, THAT that shall become such a sacrifice to justice for the sin of men, as that God, for the sake of that, shall both forgive, and cause that grace for ever should reign towards us in such a way? It reigns through righteousness, or justice, by Jesus Christ, and no way else. Christ Jesus, therefore, is this throne of grace; or him, or that, by which grace reigns towards the children of God (Rom 5:21).
That scripture also gives us a little light herein, ‘And I beheld, and lo! in the midst of the throne,’ &c., ‘stood a Lamb, as it had been slain’ (Rev 5:6). This is to show the cause why grace is so freely let out to us, even for that there stands there, in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb as it had been slain, or, as it was made a sacrifice for our sin; for, as a slain lamb, he now lives in the midst of the throne, and is the meritorious cause of all the grace that we enjoy. And though it seems by this text that the throne is one thing and the Lamb another, yet the Lamb of God is the throne, though not as a lamb or sacrifice, but as one that by his sacrifice has made way for grace to run like a river into the world. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is ALL; he is the throne, the altar, the priest, the sacrifice, and all: but he is the throne, the priest, the altar, and the sacrifice, under divers considerations. He is not the throne as he is the priest; he is not the priest as he is the sacrifice; he is not the sacrifice as he is the altar; yet is truly all these. Yea, there is no throne of grace, no high priest, no propitiatory sacrifice, &c., but he. Of all which we may yet speak further before we conclude this treatise. I conclude, then, that Christ Jesus, in his human nature, is this throne of grace. In his human nature, I say, he has by that completely accomplished all things necessary for the making way for grace to be extended to men; and that that is not only God’s place of rest, but that by and from which, as upon a glorious throne, his grace shall reign over devil, death, sin, hell, and the grave, for ever. This human nature of Christ is also called the tabernacle of God; for the fullness of the Godhead dwells in it bodily. It is God’s habitation, his dwelling-place, his chair and throne of state. He doth all in and by it, and without it he doth not any thing. But to pass this, let us come to the next thing.
[Where the throne of grace is erected.]
Second. We will now come to discourse of the placing of this throne of grace, or to discover where it is erected. And for this we must repair to the type, which, as was said before, is called the mercy-seat; the which we find, not in the outward court, nor yet within the first veil (Heb 9:3-5); which signifies, not in the world, nor in the church on earth, but in the holy of the holies, or after the second veil, the flesh of Christ (Heb 10:20). There then is this throne of God, this throne of grace, and no where here below. And for as much as it is called the throne of God, of grace, and is there, it signifieth that it is the highest and most honourable. Hence he is said to be far above all heavens, and to have a name above every name. Wherefore he that will come to this throne of grace, must know what manner of coming it is by which he must approach it; and that is, not personally,[6] but by runnings out of heart; not by himself, but by his Priest, his High Priest; for so it was in the type (Heb 9:7). Into the second, where the mercy-seat was, went the high priest alone, that is, personally, and the people by him, as he made intercession for them. This then must be done by those that will approach this throne of grace. They must go to God, as he is enthroned IN Christ; BY Christ, as he is the High Priest of his church; and they must go to him in the holiest, by him.
But again, as this throne of grace is in the Holiest, not in the world, not in the church on earth, so it is in this Holiest set up above the ark of the testimony; for so was the mercy-seat, it was set up in the most holy place, above the ark of the testimony (Deut 10:1-5; 1 Kings 8:9; 2 Chron 5:10). The ark of the testimony. What was that? Why it was the place of the law, the ark in which it was kept: the testimony was the law, the ark was prepared to put that in. This ark in which was put this law was set up in the holiest, and the mercy-seat was set above it, for so was Moses commanded to place them. Thou shalt make an ark, saith God, ‘and thou shalt make a mercy-seat’: the ark shall be called the ark of the testimony, and there ‘thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee,’ that is, the law, ‘and thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and there I will meet with thee, from above the mercy-seat between the two cherubims, which are upon,’ that is, above, ‘the ark of the testimony,’ ‘shadowing the mercy-seat’ (Exo 25:16-22; Heb 9:5).
Thus, then, were things of old ordained in the type, by which we gather what is now to be minded in our worshipping of God. There was an ark made, and the two tables of stone, in which the law was writ, was put therein (Deut 10:2-5). This ark, with these two tables, were put into the holiest, and this mercy-seat was set above it. The Holy Ghost, in my mind, thus signifying that grace sits upon a throne that is higher than the law, above the law; and that grace, therefore, is to rule before the law, and notwithstanding all the sentence of the law; for it sitteth, I say, upon a throne, but the law sits on none; a throne, I say, which the law, instead of accusing, justifieth and approveth. For although it condemneth all men, yet it excepteth Christ, who, in his manhood, is this throne of grace. Him, I say, it condemneth not, but approveth, and liketh well of all his doings; yea, it granteth him, as here we see, as a throne of grace, to be exalted above itself: yea, it cannot but so do, because by wisdom and holiness itself, which is also the Lord of the law, it is appointed so to do. Here, then, is the throne of God, the throne of grace, namely, above the ark of the testimony; on this God and his grace sits, reigns, and gives leave to sinners to approach his presence for grace and mercy. He gives, I say for those sinners so to do, that have washed before in the brazen laver that is prepared to wash in first, of which we may speak more anon. Now, behold the wisdom of God in his thus ordaining of things; in his placing, in the first place, the law, and Christ the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat, or throne of grace, so nigh together; for doubtless it was wisdom that thus ordained them, and it might so ordain for these reasons—
[Why the law and the mercy-seat are so near together.]
1. That we that approach the throne of grace might, when we come there, be made still to remember that we are sinners—‘for by the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Rom 3:20)—and behold just before us is this ark in which are the two tables that condemn all flesh: yea, we must look that way, if we look at all; for just above it is the mercy-seat or throne of grace. So then here is a memento for them that come to God, and to his throne of grace, for mercy, to wit, the law, by which they are afresh put in remembrance of themselves, their sins, and what need they have of fresh supplies of grace. I read that the laver of brass and the foot of it was made of the looking-glasses of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle (Exo 38:8), methinks to signify, that men might see their smyrches[7] when they came to wash; so here you see the law is placed even with the mercy-seat, only that stood above, whereby those that come to the throne of grace for mercy might also yet more be put in mind that they are sinners.