The Second Demonstration

SECOND. A second thing that demonstrateth this truth is, that he ascended and was received up into heaven. ‘So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven’ (Mark 16:19). This demonstration consisteth of two parts — First, Of his ascending. Second, Of his being received.

First. For his ascending — ‘He ascended up on high’ (Eph 4:8). This act of ascending answereth to the high-priest under the law, who, after they had killed the sacrifice, he was to bring the blood into the most holy place — to wit, the inner temple, the way to which was ascending or going up (2 Chron 9).

Now, consider the circumstances that attended his ascending, when he went to carry his blood to present it before the mercy-seat, and you will find they all say amends is made to God for us.

1. At this he is again attended and accompanied with angels (Acts 1:10,11).

2. He ascendeth with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet, with ‘Sing praises, sing praises, sing praises’ (Psa 47:6).

3. The enemies of man’s salvation are now tied to his chariot-wheels — ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive’ (Eph 4:8). That is, he led death, devils, and hell, and the grave, and the curse, captive, for these things were our captivity. And thus did Deborah prophesy of him when she cried, ‘Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam’ (Judg 5:12). This David also foresaw when he said, ‘Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive’ (Psa 68:18).

4. The apostles must be the beholders of his going up, and must see the cloud receive him out of their sight (Acts 1:9-12).

The consideration of these things strongly enforceth this conclusion, that he hath spoiled what would have spoiled us, had he not by his blood shed taken them away. And I say, for God to adorn him with all this glory in his ascension, thus to make him ride conqueror up into the clouds, thus to go up with sound of trumpet, with shout of angels, and with songs of praises, and, let me add, to be accompanied also with those that rose from the dead after his resurrection, who were the very price of his blood; this doth greatly demonstrate that Jesus Christ, by what he hath done, hath paid full price to God for the souls of sinners, and obtained eternal redemption for them; he had not else rode thus in triumph to heaven.

Second. I come now to his being received — ‘He was received up into heaven.’ The high-priest under the law, when he ascended into the holiest, he was there to offer the blood, which holiest was the type of heaven (Exo 19:10,11; Heb 9:24). But because the sacrifices under the law could not make them that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, therefore they were to stand, not to sit; to come out again, not tarry there. ‘For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God’ (Heb 10:4-6).

Christ, therefore, in his entering into heaven, did it as high-priest of the church of God; therefore neither did he go in without blood. Wherefore, when he came to be ‘an high-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood; he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us’ (Heb 9:12-14). He entered in, having obtained, or because he obtained, eternal redemption for us. But to pass that.

[Glorious circumstances attending his entrance into heaven.]

Consider ye now also those glorious circumstances that accompany his approach to the gates of the everlasting habitation.

First. The everlasting gates are set, yea, bid stand open — Be ye open, ‘ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.’ This King of glory is Jesus Christ, and the words are a prophecy of his glorious ascending into the heavens, when he went up as the high-priest of the church, to carry the price of his blood into the holiest of all. ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in’ (Psa 24:7,9).

Second. At his entrance he was received, and the price accepted which he paid for our souls. Hence it is said, he entered in by his blood — that is, by the merit of it. ‘To receive’ is an act of complacency and delight, and includeth well-pleasedness in the person receiving, who is God the Father; and considering that this Jesus now received is to be received upon our account, or as undertaking the salvation of sinners — for he entered into the heavens for us — it is apparent that he entered thither by virtue of his infinite righteousness, which he accomplished for us upon the earth.

Third. At his reception he received glory, and that also for our encouragement — ‘God raised him up, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God’ (1 Peter 1:19-21). He gave him glory, as a testimony that his undertaking the work of our redemption was accepted of him.

1. He gave glory to his person, in granting him to sit at his own right hand; and this he had, I say, for or upon the account of the work he accomplished for us in the world. When he had offered up one sacrifice for sins for ever, he sat down on the right hand of God, and this by God’s appointment — ‘Sit thou at my right hand’ (Heb 10:12,13). This glory is the highest; it is above all kings, princes, and potentates in this world; it is above all angels, principalities, and powers in heaven. ‘He is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him’ (1 Peter 3:32).

2. He gave glory to his name, to his name Jesus, that name being exalted above every name — ‘He hath given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil 2:9-11).

This name is said, in another place, to be a name above every name that is named, ‘not only in this world, but also in that which is to come’ (Eph 1:21).

But should JESUS have been such a name, since he undertook for sinners, had this undertaker failed in his work, if his work had not been accepted with God, even the work of our redemption by his blood? No, verily; it would have stunk in the nostrils both of God and man; it would have been the most abhorred name. But Jesus is the name; Jesus he was called, in order to his work — ‘His name shall be called JESUS, for he shall save’; he was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb; and he goeth by that name now he is in heaven; by the name Jesus — ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ because he once dwelt there. This name, I say, is the highest name, the everlasting name, the name that he is to go by, to be known by, to be worshipped by, and to be glorified by; yea, the name by which also most glory shall redound to God the Father. Now, what is the signification of this name but SAVIOUR? This name he hath, therefore, for his work’s sake; and because God delighted in his undertaking, and was pleased with the price he had paid for us, therefore the Divine Majesty hath given him it, hath made it high, and hath commanded all angels to bow unto it; yea, it is the name in which he resteth, and by which he hath magnified all his attributes.

(1.) This is the name by which sinners should go to God the Father.

(2.) This is the name through which they obtain forgiveness of sins, and
‘anything’ — ‘If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will
do it’ (John 14:14).

(3.) This is the name through which our spiritual services and sacrifices are accepted, and by which an answer of peace is returned into our bosoms (1 Peter 2). But more of this anon.

(4.) At this name devils tremble, at this name angels bow the head, at this name God’s heart openeth, at this name the godly man’s heart is comforted; this name, none but devils hate it, and none but those that must be damned despise it. ‘No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed,’ or accounteth him still dead, and his blood ineffectual to save the world.

3. He hath also given him the glory of office.

(1.) He is there a priest for ever, intercepting betwixt the Divine presence and all that hate us, by his blood; sin, Satan, death, hell, the law, the grave, or the like, cannot be heard, if his blood be presented to God as the atonement for us. This is called the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel (Heb 12:24). By this blood he entered into heaven, by this blood he secureth from wrath ‘all that come unto God by him.’ But should his blood have had a voice in heaven to save withal, had it not merited first, even in the shedding of it, the ransom and redemption of souls? It is true, a man whose blood cannot save, may, with Abel’s, cry out for vengeance and wrath on the head of him that shed it. But this blood speaks for better things, this blood speaks for souls, for sinners, for pardon, ‘having obtained eternal redemption for us.’

(2.) He is there a forerunner for us — ‘Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus’ (Heb 6:20). This office of harbinger is distinct from, though it comes by virtue of, his priestly office; therefore they are both mentioned in the text — ‘Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high-priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.’ He is therefore our forerunner by virtue of his priesthood, his blood giving worth to all he does.

In this office of harbinger or forerunner, he prepareth for believers their dwelling-places in the heavens; their dwelling-places according to their place, state, calling, service, or work, in his body, the church — ‘In my Father’s house,’ saith he, ‘are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you’ (John 14:2).

This is that mentioned in the forty-seventh Psalm — ‘He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved.’ But should he have had power to choose our inheritance for us, to prepare for us our dwelling-places; should he have power to give even heaven itself to a company of poor men, had he not in the first place obtained by his blood the deliverance of our souls from death?

(3.) He is there a prophet for us, by which office of his he hath received to communicate the whole will of the eternal God, so far as is fit for us to know in this world, or in that which is to come. Hence he is called the prophet of the church — ‘The Lord shall raise you up a prophet,’ ‘and this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.’ But this office he hath also now in heaven, by virtue of the blood he shed for us upon earth. Hence the new testament is called, ‘the new testament in his blood’; and his blood is said to be ‘the blood of the everlasting covenant’ or testament; yea, such virtue doth his blood give to the new testament, or covenant of grace, as that severed from that it is nothing worth; ‘for a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth’ (Heb 9:17). So that every word of God which he hath by Christ given to us for our everlasting consolation, is dipped in blood, is founded in blood, and stands good to sinners purely — I mean with respect to merit — upon the account of blood, or because his blood that was shed for us on the cross prevailed for us for the remission of our sins. Let not man think to receive any benefit by Christ’s prophetical office, by any of the good words of grace, and forgiveness of sins that are sprinkled up and down in the new testament; that looketh not for that good to come to him for the sake of that blood by which this testament is established; for ‘neither was the first testament dedicated without blood; for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you’ (Heb 9:18-20).

The prophetical office of Christ standeth of two parts — first, in promises of grace: secondly, in directions of worship. But neither is this last — to wit, the doctrine of worship, or our subjection to that worship — of any value any further than as sprinkled also with his blood; for as in the first testament, the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry were sprinkled with blood, and it was necessary that so it should be, so the heavenly things themselves must be also purified with sacrifices, but yet ‘with better sacrifices than these’; for now, not Moses, but Christ, doth sprinkle, not with blood of calves, but with his own blood; neither as entered into places made with hands, but from heaven doth Jesus sprinkle all that doctrine of worship, and subjection of his saints thereto, which is of his own instituting and commanding (Heb 9:23-26).

(4.) He hath received there the office of a king, by which he ruleth in the church, and over all things for her sake. ‘The government shall be upon his shoulder’; the Lord God hath given him the throne of his father David. Hence it is that he saith, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth’; but now this kingly office, he hath it by his blood, because he humbled himself to death, therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him the highest name. And hence, again, he is called a Lamb upon the throne — ‘In the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns’; a demonstration of kingly power. But mark, he was a Lamb upon the throne, he had his horns as a lamb. Now by ‘Lamb’ we are to understand, not only his meek and sweet disposition, but his sacrifice; for he was as a lamb to be slain and sacrificed; and so his having a throne and seven horns, as a lamb, giveth us to understand that he obtained this dignity of king by his blood (Rev 5). ‘When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high’ (Heb 1:3). When ‘he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, he sat down on the right hand of God’ (Heb 10:12).

Now, put all these together — to wit, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension, and exaltation to office; and remember also that the person thus exalted is the same Jesus of Nazareth that sometime was made accursed of God for sin, and also that he obtained this glory by virtue of the blood that was shed for us, and it must unavoidably follow that Jesus Christ, by what he hath done, hath paid a full price to God for sinners, and obtained eternal redemption for them.