Part 23
But in what supreme glory shall their life display itself, when both parts of the human compound are rejoined after so long a separation! This is life eternal indeed, and joy unspeakable. How gloriously shall the perfections and honours, both of body and mind, unfold themselves, and rise far above all that they heard, or saw, or could conceive! Each of them surprized, like the queen of Sheba in the court of Solomon, shall confess with thankful astonishment and joy, that not one half of it was told them, even in the word of God. “And was this the crown,” shall the christian say, “for which I fought on earth at so poor and feeble a rate? And was this the prize for which I ran with a pace so slow and lazy? And were these the glories which I sought with so cold and indifferent a zeal in yonder world? O shameful indifference! O surprizing glories! O undeserved prize and crown! Had I imagined how bright the blessing was, which lay hidden in the promise, surely all my powers had been animated to a warmer pursuit. Could I have seen what I ought to have believed; had I but taken in all that was told me concerning this glorious and eternal life, surely I would have ventured through many deaths to secure the possession of it. O guilty negligence! and criminal unbelief! But thy sovereign mercy, O my God, has pardoned both, and made me possessor of the fair inheritance. Behold, I bow at thy feet for ever, and adore the riches of overflowing grace.” _Amen._
SERMON X. _The Hidden Life of a Christian._ COL. iii. 3.—For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. THE SECOND PART.
It is to the christian converts who were at Colosse, that the apostle addresses himself, in this strange language: Ye are dead, and yet I tell you where your life is. This divine writer delights sometimes to surprize his readers, by joining such opposites, and uniting such distant extremes. But can a dead person have any life in him? Yes, and a noble one too, ye are dead to the world, and dead to sin, but ye have a life of another kind than that which belongs to the sinners of this world: your life is spiritual and holy; theirs is sinful, and engaged in the works of the flesh: Your life is heavenly, and seeks the things which are above; theirs is derived from the earth, and grovels in the dust: Your life is everlasting, for your souls shall live for ever in a glorious state, and your bodies shall be raised from death into equal immortality, and a partnership of the same glory; but their best life is only a temporal one, and when that is at an end, all their joys, and their hopes are for ever at an end too, and their eternal sorrows begin.
But this life of a christian is a hidden life. That was the first doctrine I raised from the text. Both the operations and the springs of it, are a secret to the world, and the future glories of it, when it is most properly called eternal life, are still a greater secret, and much more unknown: Yet, saith the apostle, I can acquaint you where the springs of it lie, and whence all the future glories of it are to be derived; they are hidden in God, with our Lord Jesus Christ. Now by giving so short a hint, in a word or two, where this our life is hid, he has said something greater, and brighter, and more sublime, concerning it, that if he had shewn us, from a high mountain, at noon-day, all the kingdoms of this world, with all the dazzling glories of them, and then pointed downward, “there your life is.”
Let this therefore be the second doctrine, and the subject of our present meditations, that the life of a christian is hidden with Christ in God. It is hidden in God, as the first original and eternal spring of it, and entrusted with Christ as a faithful Mediator; it is hid in God, where our Lord Jesus Christ is, and he is appointed to take care of it for us; for he also is called our life; verse 4.
The method I shall take for the improvement of this truth, is, to explain these words of the apostle more at large, and then deduce some inferences from them.
The _first_ enquiry will arise, in what respect the christian’s life is said to be hidden in God? And, _secondly_, What is meant by its being hidden with Christ?
I. _First_, In what respect is the life of a christian said to be hidden in God?
The word God is taken in scripture, either in general for the divine nature, which is the same in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; or, in
## particular, for the person of the Father. And I do not see any absolute
necessity to determine, precisely, which was the meaning of the apostle in this place. The three particulars by which I shall endeavour to explain it, will include both. The life of a christian is hidden in God; that is, in the all-sufficiency of the divine nature, in the purpose of the divine will, and in the secret engagements of the Father to his Son Jesus Christ, in the covenant of redemption.
1. The christian’s life is hidden in the all-sufficiency of the divine nature. And there are immense stores of life, of every kind, hidden in God, in this sense. This whole world of beings, that have, and have not souls, with all the infinite varieties of the life of plants, animals, and angels, were hidden in this fruitful and inexhaustible fund of the divine all-sufficiency, before God began to create a world. All things were then hidden in God; for of him are all things, and from him all things proceeded; Rom. xi. 36. Now this all-sufficiency of God consists in those powers and perfections, whereby he is able to do all things for his creatures, and ready to do all for his saints; these are most eminently his wisdom, his almightiness, and his goodness.
There are inconceivable riches of goodness and grace in God, which are employed in furnishing out life for all his saints; and all the unknown preparations of future glory are the effects of his grace. Eph. ii. 4.—_God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ_; and he did it for this purpose, _that in the ages to come, he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus_; ver. 7. Not all the goodness that appears in the rich provision he hath made for all the natural world of creatures, nor all the overflowing bounties of his providence, since the first creation, are equal to those unsearchable treasures of mercy and goodness, which he hath employed for the spiritual welfare, and eternal life and happiness of his own chosen children; and in the secret of this grace were all the blessings of his covenant hidden from eternity.
The divine wisdom is another part of his all-sufficiency. There are in God infinite varieties of thought and counsel, riches of knowledge, and wisdom unsearchable; and he hath made these abound in his new creation, as well as in the old; in the supernatural, as well as in the natural world. Eph. i. 8. _He hath abounded towards us_, sinners, in this work of salvation, _in all wisdom and prudence_. What surprizing wisdom appears in the vital powers of an animal, even in the life of brutes that perish? What glorious contrivance, and divine skill, to animate clay, and make a fly, a dog, or a lion of it? What sublime advances of wisdom to create a living man, and join these two distinct extremes, flesh and spirit, in such a vital union, that has puzzled the philosophers of all ages, and constrained some of them to confess and adore a God? And what a superior work of divinity, is it, to turn a dead sinner into a living saint, here on earth? and then to adorn a heaven, with all its proper furniture, for the eternal life and habitation of his sons and his daughters? What divine skill is required here? What immense profusion of wisdom, to form bodies of immortality and glory, for every saint, out of the dust of the grave, and the ashes of martyred christians? Our spiritual and our eternal life are hid in the wisdom of God.
The power of God is his all-sufficience too. The power that quickens and raises a soul to this divine life, must be almighty; Eph. i. 19, 20. It is the same exceeding greatness of his power that works in us who believe, which wrought in our Lord Jesus Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right-hand in heavenly places. It is the same powerful word _that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that shone into our hearts_, when he wrought the knowledge of Christ there; 2 Cor. iv. 6. and when he commanded us, who lay among the dead, to awake, and arise, and live. Was it not a noble instance of power, to spread abroad these heavens of unknown circumference, with all the rolling worlds of light in them, the planets and the stars? And the same hand is mighty enough, if these were not sufficient, to build a brighter heaven, fit for the saints to live in during all their immortality, and to furnish them with vital powers that shall be incorruptible and everlasting. Thus the life of the saints is hidden in the almightiness of God, as well as in his wisdom and goodness. Thus it is contained in the all-sufficience of the divine nature, and each part of it is ready to be produced into act, in every proper season.
2. The life of a christian is hidden in the purposes of the divine will. And in this sense, the whole gospel, with all its wondrous glories and mysteries, is said to be hid in God; Eph. iii. 9. When St. Paul preached _among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ_, he made all men see something of that mystery, which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God. And if this be compared with Eph. i. 9. we shall find that this mystery of the will, or good-pleasure of God, was that which he eternally purposed in himself.
There is not one dead sinner awakened, and called into this divine and spiritual life here, or that shall ever be possessed of life eternal hereafter, but it was contained in the eternal secret purpose, and merciful design of God, before the world began. For it is a very mean conceit, and a disgraceful opinion concerning the great God, to imagine that he should exert his power to work life in souls, here in time, by any new purposes, or sudden designs, occasioned by any works or merit of theirs, which he had not formed and decreed in himself, long before he made man. This doctrine would represent God as a mutable being; but we know that he is unchangeable. There is nothing new in God; and his immutability is that perfection of his nature which secures the performance of this divine purpose, and the life of every christian.
3. I might add, in the third place, that the life of a christian is hidden in the unknown engagements of the Father to his Son Jesus Christ the Mediator. That sacred and divine transaction betwixt the Father and the Son, is often intimated in the holy scriptures, and some of the promises of that covenant are there represented; Ps. lxxxix. 19-28, 29-36, &c. _I have laid help upon one that is mighty; my mercy will I keep for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him: his seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven._ Then when _the covenant of peace was between them both_, as it is expressed in Zech. vi. 13. then did the Father promise that he should have _a seed to serve him_; Ps. xxii. 30. and this must be a living seed, and they must be raised up from among dead sinners, and they shall be made living saints in the world of grace, and in the world of glory.
Many of these promises are transcribed as it were, into the covenant of grace, and they are written down in scripture for our present consolation and hope; and many others are, doubtless concealed from all but Jesus the Mediator; they are hidden from men and angels, and reserved to be known, by surprizing accomplishment, in the future bright ages, beyond the date of time, and to entertain the long successions of our eternity. Now the truth and faithfulness of God are those attributes of his nature which secure this covenant, and all the divine engagements of it; both those which are revealed to the children of men, and those that are known only to the Son and the Father: But it is sufficiently evident, that all the degrees and powers of the spiritual and eternal life of the saints, with all the graces, glories and blessings that shall ever attend them, are hidden and laid up in these sacred engagements and promises.
II. This leads me to the _second_ enquiry; and that is, what is meant by these words, _with Christ_, in my text? and how the christian _life is hid with Christ_?
If I would branch this into three particulars also, I should express them thus:
1. Our life is hidden with Christ, as he is the great Treasurer and Dispenser of all divine benefits to the children of men. This is the high office to which the Father hath appointed him; and this is the character that he sustains; and he is abundantly furnished for the execution of this great trust. In this sense, all the stores of life and blessing, that ever shall be bestowed on the sinful race of Adam, are laid up in the hands of Christ, the Son of God.—_It hath pleased the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell_; Col. i. 19. _And he was full of grace and truth, that of his fulness we might receive grace for grace_; John i. 14-16. That is, a variety of graces and blessings answerable to that rich variety, with which our Lord Jesus Christ, the High-treasurer of heaven, was furnished from the hand of the Father. And to this purpose, perhaps, John v. 26. may be interpreted, compared with ver. 21. _As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; that as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son may quicken whom he will._
The blessed Spirit itself, as it is the great promise of the New Testament, and the glorious gift of God to men, was communicated to the Son, and by him bestowed upon us; for he went to heaven to receive the promise of the Spirit from the Father, and he shed it forth upon the apostles and the believers; Acts ii. 33. It is this Spirit who gave miraculous gifts to them heretofore, that is the immediate principle, or worker, of divine life in dead souls now: And it is by this same Spirit, that he shall raise our dead bodies from the grave; Rom. viii. 11. He is the spring of our spiritual and eternal life; and he is dispensed to us from the Father, by the hands of the Son.
And here it is proper to take notice of the special manner wherein the Lord Jesus Christ is the treasurer, or keeper of life, and all divine benefits for the saints, and becomes the dispenser thereof to his people: He is ordained to stand in the relation of a head to them, and they are his body, his members. Thus our life is hidden with Christ, as he is the vital head of all his saints. Their life is hid with Christ, as the spirits and springs of life, for all the members in the natural body are said to be contained in the head. _Christ is the head of his own mystical body_; Eph. iv. 14-16. _from whom the whole body, fitly joined together_, maketh increase to its own edification: it is the same vital spirit that runs through head and members.——_He that is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit_; 1 Cor. vi. 17. and therefore partakes of the same life.
Thus you see, that though the life of a christian is hidden in God, in the all-sufficiency of his nature, and the purposes of his will; yet our Lord Jesus Christ, as Mediator, is entrusted to keep it for him, and dispense it to him.
2. Our life is hid with Christ, as he is our forerunner, and the possessor of life, spiritual and eternal, in our name. And this may be described in a variety of instances, according to the various parts, as well as the several advancing degrees of our spiritual life, and the perfection of it in life eternal. When his human nature was first formed complete in holiness, it was a pledge and assurance, that we should be one day completely holy too; for, as is the head so must the members be. In the original sanctification of his spirit, flesh, and blood, we may read the certain future sanctification of every believing soul, with its body too; See John xvii. 19. and Heb. ii. 11.
Again; when his body was raised from the dead, it was a pledge and pattern of our being raised from a death in sin, unto the spiritual life of a saint, as well as a certain assurance of the resurrection of our bodies into future glory. The first is evident from Eph. ii. 6. _When we were dead in sin, he hath quickened us together with Christ._ And Rom. vi. 4. _As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we must also walk in newness of life; for we are planted in the likeness of his resurrection_; ver. 5. And in 1 Cor. xv. 12, &c. the apostle builds his whole argument of the resurrection of the bodies of saints who are dead, from the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ out of his grave: _For Christ being risen from the dead_; ver. 20. _is become the first-fruits of them that slept_. And as all that are united to Adam, by having him for their head must die; so all who are one with Christ, and have him for their head, shall be made alive: which seems to be the meaning of the 22d verse: _As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive._
When he ascended into the heavens, it was not merely in his own name, but in ours too, to take possession of the inheritance for the saints in light. Heb. vi. 20. Our hope enters within the vail, whither Jesus the forerunner is for us entered. And when he sat down at the right-hand of God in the heavenly places, it was as the great exemplar of our future advancement, and thereby gave us assurance, that we should sit down there too: and therefore the apostle, in the language of faith, anticipates these divine honours, and applies them to the Ephesians beforehand: _God hath raised us up together_, says he, _with Christ, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus_.
It was _through the blood of the everlasting covenant_, that Jesus _the great Shepherd of the sheep, was brought again from the dead_; and it was _the God of peace_ who raised him; Heb. xiii. 20. And it is by virtue of his own blood, and righteousness, that he, who once took our sins upon him, is now discharged: It is through his own sufferings that he appears with acceptance before the throne, and enjoys a divine life in the unchangeable favour of God; and all this as our head, surety, and representative, giving us assurance hereby, that we, through the blood of the same covenant, shall be brought again from the dead too: that we through the virtue of the same righteousness, and all-sufficiency of the same sacrifice, shall appear hereafter before God in glory, and stand in his eternal favour; and as an earnest of it, we enjoy a life of holy peace and acceptance with God in this world, through the same all-sufficient blood and righteousness: For he _appears in the holy of holies, in_ heaven itself, _in the presence of God for us_; Heb. ix. 24. He secures all the glories and blessings of spiritual and eternal life for us, as he has taken possession of them in our name.
2. Our life of grace, and especially our life of glory, may be said to be hidden with Christ, because he dwells in heaven, where God resides in glory; God, in whom is our life. He is set down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high; Heb. xii. 2. There our eternal life is. The things which are above, are the objects of our joyful hope, _where Christ is at the right-hand of God_; Col. iii. 1. It is the short, but sublime description of our heaven, that we shall be _present with the Lord_, we shall be where Christ is, to _behold his glory_; 2 Cor. v. 8. and John xvii. 24. And shall possess all that unknown and rich variety of blessings which are reserved for us in heavenly places, whither Christ our Lord is ascended. Thus I have endeavoured to explain, in the largest and most comprehensive sense, what we are to understand by the life of a christian hidden with Christ in God: It is reserved in the all-sufficiency, the purposes, and the engagements of God, under the care of the Mediator, and in the presence of Christ.
[This sermon may be divided here.]
The use I shall make of this doctrine, is, to draw four inferences from it for our instruction, and three for our consolation.
The inferences for our instructions are such as these:
1st Instruction. What a glorious person is the poorest, meanest christian? He lives by communion with God the Father and the Son; for his life is hid with Christ in God; 1 John i. 3.—“Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full; the joy that you may justly derive from so glorious an advancement.”