Christians have a glorious inheritance, it is a sure possession, it was purchased by the blood of Jesus, and we are waiting for its complete enjoyment. We are in the situation of heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; and under the teaching of the divine Spirit, are preparing for the possession of our future glory. This was the hope of the church from the beginning. Job expresses it with that remarkable introduction, O that my words were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! What is it he is thus anxious to record? his hope in final redemption : For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Job xix. 24. Hosea brings a glorious promise of a similar kind: I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy destruction! Hosea xiii. 14. Isaiah tells us, He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Is. xxv. 8. And both these passages St. Paul applies to the future resurrection in that glowing description of the glory yet to come, to be given to the children of God, when they enter and inherit the kingdom of God. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Completed redemption in the kingdom of glory, is the happy end and issue of the trials, sorrows, burdens and afflictions of the Christian, and the full reward for every thing that he may have given up in consequence of his now believing God's word, and acting upon it. For this glory he is waiting. So the apostle describes the believer, now full of suffering and conflict, longing and hoping for that day. We ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies. But it is not merely the Christian that shall be redeemed. The earth and all that dwell upon it, after that purifying baptism of fire which is so clearly foretold (2 Peter iii.) shall also be renewed. We according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Meditation. Surely we should hasten the coming of the day of God, (2 Peter iii.) when all this dark, sorrowful, sinful, and evil scene shall pass away, and the new heavens and the new earth appear. O with what holy thirsting should we say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. BOOKS ON REDEMPTION. Edwards' History of Redemption. | Dodsworth on general redemption. Owen on the death of Christ. SCRIPTURES.-Leviticus xxv. Isaiah liii. Romans iii. Galatians iii. Ephesians i. Hebrews ix. 1 Peter i. ii. 1 John ii. Revelations v. CHAPTER VI. THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST. 1. The need of Intercession.-2. The persons for whom it is made. 3. The nature of Intercession.-4. The office of High Priest.-5. Christian Mediator, Intercessor, and Advocate.-6. Illustrations of Intercession.-7. The use and comfort of this truth. 1. THE NEED OF INTERCESSION. WHEN any person has offended another by gross misconduct, his very person becomes so displeasing as to make a request by him unwelcome. If our whole course of conduct towards a benefactor of the utmost wisdom, kindness, and bounty, from whom we have received innumerable benefits, has been one of ingratitude and injuries, the sense of alienation, even in our own minds, makes it impossible for us to come with confidence of heart to such an injured benefactor, and solicit favours from him. Those favours would at once be granted to a beloved object; to a child, or to one dear to such a benefactor, and intimate with him. But the guilty offender justly fears that his very person, associated, as it must be, with his misconduct, will quite hinder the success of his petitions. This, my friends, is our real situation; yet we are far too blind to it. Prone we are, by nature, to make excuses for our misconduct, and to justify ourselves. Far are we from thinking that we need a Mediator. But let us learn our true position. The law of God is holy, just and good. It requires us to love our God supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves. Obedience to it would be universal happiness. Its reward and its penalty, just and righteous altogether, are, the man that doeth these things shall live by them, and the soul that sinneth it shall die. We have all daily, hourly, and times without number, broken this good and holy law. Why are we not cut off? How is it sinful man is spared by the holy God, and has been spared now for a period of nearly six thousand years? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; how is it God for a season passes by and remits these sins! It is all owing to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. This is the reason why a spared world of rebellious creatures is permitted to continue, notwithstanding the curse of the law, and the justice, and the truth, and the holiness of the great Jehovah. Here may we see clearly the need of Christ's intercession. But it is not merely a suspense of judgment that we sinful creatures require. A day of salvation, a season for obtaining renewed grace, is also of unspeakable moment, and the mediation of Jesus provides this. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We are, in virtue of this, exhorted, as in an accepted time, in a day of salvation, not to receive the grace of God in vain, but to come out and be separate from an evil world, and return to our heavenly Father, who will receive us, and be a father unto us, and we shall be dealt with as sons and daughters. In this return to God, Christ is every thing. No man cometh unto the Father but by him; but, both Jew and Gentile, through him, have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Here, again, we see the need of intercession to make suspended judgment a season of grace, and to open a way by which we may return to the holy Jehovah. The many temptations which beset the children of God, and which they have not, through their still remaining carnal nature, power in themselves to overcome, shew the necessity of continued intercession. We have trials within and without, domestic and public; temptations every where assault us, and a traitor within readily admits our worst foes. O the pride, impurity, selfishness, worldliness, that seek lodgment and entertainment in those hearts which ought to be filled with God and his holy law! The humbling, constant and painful experience of this, compels the Christian to look for help; and delightful is the divine testimony, that Jesus knows our temptations and prays for us. Luke xxii. 32. in us. Again, the just are not without sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not But sin brings us afresh under the penalties of the broken law; the wages of sin, at all times, is death. Those who have obtained the righteousness which is by faith, still then need the Mediator every day. And most precious to them is the truth, if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our |