1. There are many clear prophecies extant in the Old Testament concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ, who was to restore the kingdom of God by a new covenant; partly foretelling his regal dignity, partly his humility and passion. Among others concerning his dignity, these. God, blessing Abraham, makes him a promise of his son Isaac; and adds (Gen. xvii. 16): And kings of people shall be of him. Jacob blessing his son Judah (Gen. xlix. 10): The sceptre, quoth he, shall not depart from Judah. God to Moses (Deut. xviii. 18): A prophet, saith he, will I raise them up from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him; and it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. Isaiah (Isai. vii. 14): The Lord himself shall give thee a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. The same prophet (Isaiah ix. 6): Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And again (Isaiah xi. 1-5): There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, &c.; He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, &c.; And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Furthermore in the same Isaiah (chapters li. to lxii.), there is almost nothing else contained but a description of the coming and the works of Christ. Jeremiah (Jerem. xxxi. 31): Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. And Baruch (Bar. iii. 35-37): This is our God, &c. Afterward did he show himself upon earth, and conversed with men. Ezekiel (Ezek. xxxiv. 23-25): I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them; even my servant David. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, &c. Daniel (Dan. vii. 13-14): I saw in the night visions; and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days; and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, &c. Haggai (Haggai ii. 6-7): Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations; and the desire of all nations shall come. Zachariah, under the type of Joshua the high-priest (Zach. iii. 8): I will bring forth my servant the branch, &c. And again (Zach. vi. 12): Behold the man whose name is the Branch. And again (Zach. ix. 9): Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy king cometh to thee; he is just, having salvation. The Jews moved by these and other prophecies, expected Christ their king to be sent from God; who should redeem them, and furthermore bear rule over all nations. Yea, this prophecy had spread over the whole Roman empire; which Vespasian too, though falsely, interpreted in favour of his own enterprises; that out of Judea should come he that should have dominion.
The prophecies of Christ’s humility and passion.
2. Now the prophecies of Christ’s humility and passion, amongst others are these: (Isaiah liii. 4): He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted; and by and by (verse 7): He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so opened he not his mouth, &c. And again (verse 8): He was cut out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken, &c. (Verse 12): Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And that of Zachariah (Zach. ix. 9): He is lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
That Jesus was the Christ.
3. In the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Jesus our Saviour, a Galilean, began to preach; the son, as was supposed, of Joseph; declaring to the people of the Jews, that the kingdom of God expected by them was now come, and that himself was a king, that is to say, the Christ; explaining the law, choosing twelve apostles and seventy disciples, after the number of the princes of the tribes, and seventy elders (according to the pattern of Moses) to the ministry; teaching the way of salvation by himself and them; purging the temple, doing great signs, and fulfilling all those things which the prophets had foretold of Christ to come. That this man, hated of the Pharisees, whose false doctrine and hypocritical sanctity he had reproved; and by their means, of the people accused of unlawful seeking for the kingdom, and crucified; was the true Christ and king promised by God, and sent from his Father to renew the new covenant between them and God; both the evangelists do show, describing his genealogy, nativity, life, doctrine, death, and resurrection; and by comparing the things which he did with those which were foretold of him, all Christians do consent to.
That the kingdom of God by the new covenant, was not the kingdom of Christ, as Christ, but as God.
4. Now from this, that Christ was sent from God his Father to make a covenant between him and the people, it is manifest, that though Christ were equal to his Father according to his nature, yet was he inferior according to the right of the kingdom. For this office, to speak properly, was not that of a king, but of a viceroy; such as Moses’ government was; for the kingdom was not his, but his Father’s. Which Christ himself signified when he was baptized as a subject, and openly professed when he taught his disciples to pray, Our Father, thy kingdom come, &c.: and when he said (Matth. xxvi. 29): I will not drink of the blood of the grape, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father. And St. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 22-24): As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive; but every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s, who believed in his coming; then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even his Father. The same notwithstanding is also called the kingdom of Christ: for both the mother of the sons of Zebedee petitioned Christ, saying (Matth. xx. 21): Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, the other on thy left, in thy kingdom: and the thief on the cross (Luke xxiii. 42): Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom: and St. Paul (Ephes. v. 5): For this know ye, that no whoremonger, &c. shall enter into the kingdom of God, and of Christ: and elsewhere (2 Tim. iv. 1): I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, &c.: (verse 18): And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. Nor is it to be marveled at, that the same kingdom is attributed to them both; since both the Father and the Son are the same God; and the new covenant concerning God’s kingdom, is not propounded in the name of the Father; but in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as of one God.
That the kingdom of God by the new covenant is heavenly, and begins from the day of judgment.
5. But the kingdom of God, for restitution whereof Christ was sent from God his Father, takes not its beginning before his second coming; to wit, from the day of judgment, when he shall come in majesty accompanied with his angel. For it is promised the apostles, that in the kingdom of God they shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matth. xix. 28): Ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel: which is not to be done till the day of judgment. Christ therefore is not yet in the throne of his majesty; nor is that time, when Christ was conversant here in the world, called a kingdom, but a regeneration; that is to say, a renovation or restitution of the kingdom of God, and a calling of them who were hereafter to be received into his kingdom. And where it is said (Matth. xxv. 31-32): When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: we may manifestly gather that there will be no local separation of God’s subjects from his enemies, but that they shall live mixed together until Christ’s second coming. Which is also confirmed by the comparison of the kingdom of heaven with wheat mingled with darnell, and with a net containing all sorts of fish. But a multitude of men, enemies and subjects, living promiscuously together, cannot properly be termed a kingdom. Besides, the apostles, when they asked our Saviour, whether he would at that time when he ascended into heaven, restore the kingdom unto Israel; did openly testify, that they then, when Christ ascended, thought the kingdom of God not to be yet come. Furthermore, the words of Christ, My kingdom is not of this world: and, I will not drink, &c. till the kingdom of God come: and, God hath not sent his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved: and, If any man hear my words, and keep them not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world: and, Man, who made me a judge or divider between you? and the very appellation of the kingdom of heaven testifies as much. The same thing is gathered out of the words of the prophet Jeremiah, speaking of the kingdom of God by the new covenant (Jer. xxxi. 34): They shall teach no more every man his neighbour; saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord: which cannot be understood of a kingdom in this world. The kingdom of God therefore, for the restoring whereof Christ came into the world; of which the prophets did prophecy, and of which praying we say, Thy kingdom come; if it is to have subjects locally separated from enemies, if judicature, if majesty, according as hath been foretold; shall begin from that time, wherein God shall separate the sheep from the goats; wherein the apostles shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel; wherein Christ shall come in majesty and glory; wherein lastly, all men shall so know God, that they shall not need to be taught; that is to say, at Christ’s second coming, or the day of judgment. But if the kingdom of God were now already restored, no reason could be rendered why Christ, having completed the work for which he was sent, should come again; or why we should pray, Thy kingdom come.
The government of Christ in this world was not a sovereignty, but counsel, or a government by way of doctrine and persuasion.