(2.) When it is said, in ver. 25. that he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet, it does not imply that he shall not reign afterwards, but that he shall not cease to reign till then, which is the sense of that parallel scripture, in which it is said, Sit thou at my right-hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psal. cx. 1. which does not denote that he shall, after his enemies are made his footstool, sit no longer at God’s right hand, as advanced there to the highest honour. It is very evident, from several scriptures, as well as our common mode of speaking, that the word Until does not always signify the cessation of what is said to be done before, but only the continuance thereof till that time, as well as afterwards: thus it is said, Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us, Psal. cxxiii. 2. by which we are not to understand, that, when God extends mercy, the eyes of his people cease to wait upon him, but we will not leave off waiting upon him, until we have received the mercies we hope for; and, after that, we will continue to wait for those mercies that we shall farther stand in need of; and elsewhere Job says, Until I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me; mine heart shall not reproach me, as long as I live, Job xxvii. 5-7. This does not imply that he would retain his integrity no longer than he lived. If the word Until be frequently used in this sense, then there is no ground to suppose, that when it is said Christ shall reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, that it denotes that he shall not reign to eternity, nor any longer than till all things be subdued unto him: but, indeed, it rather argues, that he shall reign for ever, than that he shall cease to reign; for when all enemies are removed out of the way, and his right to govern is no longer contested by them, shall he then cease to exercise that sovereign dominion which he has over all things?
(3.) Since the main difficulty, and the greatest stress of the argument brought against the eternity of Christ’s kingdom, is what the apostle farther adds, in ver. 28. of this chapter, that when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that God may be all in all. It is said, indeed, that the Son shall be subject to the Father, viz. as man; but can any one suppose that the Son is not now subject to the Father? And when it is farther added, God shall be all in all, is it to be supposed that he is not now so? If this be far from being the true meaning of these words, then the sense they give thereof is not just, but we are to understand them thus, that in the end, when all the ends of Christ’s administering his mediatorial government in this lower world are answered, and the present form or method of administration shall cease, then it shall appear, that the whole plan thereof had the most direct tendency to promote the Father’s glory, or to answer those most valuable ends for which this mediatorial kingdom was erected; and, by this means, it will more eminently appear, than ever it has done before, that this work is from God, and worthy of him. If the Son’s kingdom had not been subjected, or subservient to the Father’s glory, the subjects thereof would not have been delivered up, or presented to the Father, as the Mediator’s trust and charge committed to him; and, if God had not been all in all, or the administration of Christ’s kingdom had not been the effect of divine power, in all the branches thereof, it would not have had so glorious and successful an issue, as it will appear to have in the great day. This I take to be the plain sense of this scripture, which cannot reasonably be denied, if we consider that it is very agreeable to our common mode of speaking, to say, that a thing is, when it appears to be what it is, which may be thus illustrated: Suppose a king has gained a victory over his enemies, or quelled some civil broils, or tumults, in his kingdom, he may say, upon that occasion, Now I am king; that is, I appear to be so, or my establishment in the kingdom seems less precarious. We have an instance of the like mode of speaking in scripture, when David says upon the occasion of bringing the affairs of his kingdom to a settled state, after Absalom’s rebellion, Do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? 2 Sam. xix. 22. that is, I appear to be so, since that, which tended to unhinge, or give disturbance to my government, is removed out of the way.
Moreover, that things are said to be, when they appear to be, is agreeable to that mode of speaking used by the Israelites, when, upon their receiving the fullest conviction that the Lord was God, pursuant to Elijah’s prayer, by an extraordinary display of his glory, in working a miracle to confute their idolatry, they fell on their faces, and said, The Lord he is God; that is, he now appears to be so, by those extraordinary effects of his power, which we have beheld. If therefore this be no uncommon mode of speaking, why may we not apply it to that text which we are now endeavouring to explain? and so conclude, that the sense but now given of the Son’s being subject to the Father, and God’s being all in all, contains in it nothing absurd, or contrary to the scripture way of speaking, and consequently the eternity of Christ’s kingdom is not overthrown thereby; and therefore we must conclude, that as his kingly government is now exercised in a way agreeable to the present condition of his church, so it shall be exercised in a glorious manner, suited to the heavenly state, when all his saints and subjects shall be brought there.
Thus we have considered Christ, as executing his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; we now proceed to speak concerning the twofold state in which they have been, are, or shall be executed by him; and first concerning his state of humiliation.
Quest. XLVI., XLVII., XLVIII.
Quest. XLVI. What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?
Answ. The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he, for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant, in his conception and birth, life, death, and, after his death, until his resurrection.
Quest. XLVII. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
Answ. Christ humbleth himself in his conception, in that, being from all eternity, the Son of God, in the bosom of the Father, he was pleased, in the fulness of time, to become the Son of man, made of a woman of low estate, and to be born of her; with divers circumstances of more than ordinary abasement.
Quest. XLVIII. How did Christ humble himself in his life?