of his father David in heaven, which is also the throne of his Father Jehovah (Isa. 16. 5. Rev. 3. 21; 5. 15; 22. 3), as the Lord of lords and the King of kings (Rev. 17. 14), whom Stephen saw in a vision when the heavens were opened and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, that is, having all the power of the Eternal. (Acts, 7. 55.) And he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his footstool; for God ‘hath put all things under his feet; but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all things and in all.' (1 Cor. 15. 27, 28. Comp. Heb. 2. 8.)

As the King of the Israel of God, Jesus Christ is a sovereign sacrificer for the age after the order of Melchizedek, for the Spirit saith that 'The Christ glorified not himself to be made a sovereign sacrificer, but he glorified him who said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day I have begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, Thou art a sacrificer for the age after the order of Melchizedek.' (Heb. 5. 5, 6. Ps. 2. 7; 110. 4.) To which testimony may be added the words of Zechariah, who said, 'Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up out of his place. And he shall build the temple of Jehovah, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a sacrificer upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them.' (Zech. 6. 12, 13. Comp. Mic. 5. 2-5; Acts, 15. 15-18.) The glorified Son of God has entered into the heavenly tabernacle as the antitype of Aaron, and as such he is the intercessor of his people till the end of the age.

And Jesus is also the judge of the saints, as Jehovah was the judge of the house of Israel according to the flesh.

(Isa. 33. 22.) For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son; and hath given him. authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man (John, 5. 22-27), that is, because he is the Lord and the Christ he shall judge the saints during this dispensation (1 Cor. 5. 4), and at the last day when he shall also judge the workers of iniquity. (Matt. 25. 31-46. Acts, 10. 42.) For us, then, there is but one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him (1 Cor. 8. 6); for all things come to us from God by means of his beloved Son, whom he hath set at his right hand in the heavenly sanctuary, 'far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him that accomplisheth all things in all.' (Eph. 1. 20-23.)

IV. God is manifested in Jesus Christ, who is therefore the manifestation of the Father, and virtually God with us. 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.' (Matt. 1. 23. Comp. Isa. 7. 14.)

From the beginning of the world, fallen man has ever felt a desire to draw near to God, and to offer to him sacrifices of propitiation, but his worship soon degenerated into polytheism and idolatry, which the Apostle Paul has characterized as the ignorant worship of the unknown God.' To counteract the tendency to superstition, which seems natural to man, and to preserve a testimony of the truth on the earth, God set apart the posterity of Abraham, to whom he gave a law, the first article of which condemned the worship

of idols; for he commanded his chosen people, saying, 'Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them.' (Exod. 20. 4-6.) God, however, graciously vouchsafed to manifest his presence typically in the sanctuary by the Shekinah, or visible glory, which was seen once a-year by the sovereign sacrificer of Israel; but to the faithful Jews who longed to come into the presence of God, this blessing was denied, and hence Job exclaims, 'O that I might find him, and come unto his throne!' and, prompted by the same feeling, Philip said to Jesus, 'Show us the Father and it sufficeth us.' (John, 14. 8.)

To satisfy the desire of his children, God created his Son Jesus Christ in his own image, when he raised him from the dead; and accordingly, our Lord, in the days of his flesh, said to his disciples, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5. 8); which promise was fulfilled, as Thomas confessed, saying unto Jesus, 'My Lord, and my God;' for God was visible in the glorified body of his Son Jesus Christ, who is therefore Emmanuel, that is, God with us; because God is manifested in him who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his nature, of whom the Spirit saith, 'Let all the angels of God worship him.' (Heb. 1. 6.) Though not manifested to the saints as God till he rose from the dead, Jesus said to Philip, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?' (John, 14. 8-10.) And it is recorded that when the mystery of the Christ was revealed, his disciples worshipped him, which, if he were not God, would have been idolatry. (Deut. 6. 13. Matt. 4. 10.) It is in the glorified man, therefore,

who is the first-born of the new creation, that Jehovah is made manifest to his children, for although we cannot see God, we can see a man who is his image; for God has communicated to his beloved Son all the elements of his nature, and he has conferred on him his attributes, so that he is virtually God with us. And accordingly it is written, that while he blessed his disciples 'He was parted from them, and carried into heaven, and they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.' (Luke, 24. 51-53. Matt. 28. 9-17. Acts, 1. 24.) And he' has graciously promised that where two or three come together to worship him, he is there spiritually in the midst of them (Matt. 18. 20), for in Jesus Christ, the saints know where to find Jehovah and to come unto his throne.

When Jesus was manifested in flesh as the Christ, he was manifested also as God; for the Spirit saith, 'Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of eternity, the Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Eternal of hosts will perform this.' (Isa. 9. 6, 7.) The humanity, the lordship, and the divinity of Jesus Christ are clearly set forth in these words, to which also Paul bears witness, saying of the glorified Son of God, ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all the creation; because by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all were created by him, and he is before all things, and by him all things subsist. And he is the head

D

of the assembly; who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence, for it hath pleased all the fulness [of God] to dwell in him.' (Col. 1. 15-19.)

Jesus Christ is the beginning, for he is the first of the new creation of God, being the first man born from the dead, and by him are all things created, for it hath pleased him who is the Creator of all things to dwell in him bodily (Col. 2. 9), and not figuratively, as in the earthly tabernacle. (Comp. John, 1. 1-16; 3. 14; 14. 9: Rev. 1. 8.) And hence it is written also that 'being in the form of God he thought it not usurpation to be equal with God.' (Phil. 2. 6.) And Jehovah is called the Christ by the apostle Paul, because he dwelt in his Son (1 Cor. 10. 4-9. Eph. 5. 14. Comp. Isa. 60. 1. 1 Pet. 3. 18-20); according to the words of Zephaniah, 'The King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee, thou shalt not see evil any more.' (Zeph. 3. 15.) And Isaiah saith of John the Baptiser who announced the coming of the Christ, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' (Isa. 40. 3. Comp. Mal. 4. 5, 6.) The Lord Jesus Christ is therefore the image of Jehovah, and virtually God, as the apostle John testified, saying of him, 'It is he who is the true God and everlasting life.' (1 John, 5. 20.) That Jesus is not essentially God is, however, evident, for although he is immortal, he is not eternal like the Father, for eternity is an incommunicable element of the divine nature. Jehovah is enshrined in the body of his glorified Son as in a temple; and the Father and the Son have one mind (John, 10. 29, 30), and one action (John, 5. 19, 20), but yet they are distinct as God and man. The man Jesus Christ is the impersonation of the Father, who has delivered all things into his hands as the Lord