08.19.08
‘The NECESSITY of Christ’s Mediatorial Kingship’ (1)
The Kingship of Christ is one of the most important doctrines the modern Evangelical church needs to recover. Indeed, given that nearly all the changes needed are applications of Christ’s Kingship, we may be justified in saying it is the most important. We need one who is a Prophet, a Priest, and a King. We need a royal Saviour. And we need to own this King in every area of life – especially over his own Church.
The following section is from ‘Messiah the Prince’ by William Symington, and is on the ‘NECESSITY’ of Christ’s mediatorial Kingship:
“The sovereign authority of Christ may be viewed either as necessary, or as official. Viewing him as God, it is necessary, inherent, and underived : viewing him as Mediator, it is official and delegated. It is the latter of these we are
now to contemplate. The subject of our present inquiry is, the MEDIATORIAL DOMINION Of the Son ; not that which essentially belongs to him as God, but that with which, by the authoritative act of the Father, he has been officially invested as the Messiah. It is that government, in short, which was laid upon his shoulders-that power which was given unto him in heaven and in earth.
In proceeding to the consideration of this interesting and momentous subject, the first thing which claims attention is the NECESSITY of Christ’s kingly office… ‘For he MUST reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet’ (1 Cor. xv. 25).
1. The kingly office of Christ is necessary to the fulfilment of God’s gracious purposes respecting the elect… [We need] not only [a Priest] to purchase and to offer redemption through his blood, but [a King] to apply it, to give it effect, to bestow the benefits of grace on the destined subjects of salvation.
2. Indeed, to complete the mediatory character itself, such an office was requisite… Each office of Christ has its own peculiar province, in which it is essential and indispensable. Generally speaking, it may be said that his province as a priest is to purchase ; as a prophet, to publish ; as a king, to apply. In the first, he procures ; in the second, he makes known ; in the third, he gives effect. They are all alike essential: not one of them can be dispensed with… It were absurd to talk of applying what had not been procured; but not less so to talk of procuring what could not be applied…
Let us, for the sake of illustrating and confirming the point under consideration, try what consequences would follow from supposing government or dominion to be expunged from the mediatorial functions of Christ. As priest, he makes atonement for the sins of the chosen of God, procures pardon, purchases deliverance from condemnation, pays the ransom due for their sins, and completely removes all legal obstructions to their salvation. As priest, also, he represents their case to the Father, pleads the merits of his sacrifice, and expresses his will that they may be put in possession of the purchased benefits of redemption ; and the Father is pleased to hear and sustain the validity of his claims. As prophet, he makes known to men that all this has been done, informs them plainly that the curse of the law has been removed, God reconciled, and heaven opened for their reception. Yet will these avail for their salvation ? All this may be conceived to be done, and yet not one sinner rescued from the pit, not one rebel restored to the favour of the Almighty, not one child of Adam exalted to glory. Without something more, the benefit arising from these interpositions is lost ; without another office, the functions of these two are neutralised. Without regal authority, the sacrifice, however meritorious, has no power ; the intercession, however powerful, has no efficacy ; the doctrine, however clear, has no saving influence ; and the Son of God must be content to see the whole human race perish for ever in their sins, as if his blood had never been either shed on Calvary, or carried within the veil. Such being the case, we can appreciate the import of the answer returned by the Saviour to the question of Pilate-‘ Art thou a king then? Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.’
This view of the necessity of the kingly office in particular to the perfection of the others, agrees well with the account given in Scripture of the work of the Messiah. The purchase of redemption having been effected, the ransom for sin paid, the decease at Jerusalem accomplished, what step does he take next? Does he surrender all further concern in the salvation of men? Does he abandon all mediatorial actings, and retire into the bosom of the Father? No. Follow him in his ascension to heaven ; see him pressing forward into the presence of God and presenting his petition, ‘Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.’ Ere it is asked it is granted. This is the address with which the Father salutes him as he enters the heavenly places not made with hands: ‘ Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.’ As if he had said to bim-Thou bast established thy right to that rebel world: I surrender the government of it into thy hands: go through it and find out thy redeemed : gather them from the four winds of heaven : for this purpose institute ordinances, promulgate laws, issue commands, appoint servants, subordinate whatever exists to the gracious and magnificent ends of thine appointment. And what is the result ? Why, the mitre becomes a crown ; the censer a sceptre ; the Mediator passes from the altar to the throne ; heaven becomes at once a temple and a palace, while its walls echo with the loud acclaim of welcome bursting spontaneously from the whole celestial host to the newly inaugurated monarch.” [He is "Head over all things to the Church": Meditorial King over all things in his Church's interest.]
Part One
You may also like to read this section from the above named work.
G.M.
08.13.08
Some Psalms
The following explanation is by Pastor Rob McCurley of Greenville Presbyterian Church:
“At the conference last week [North American Conference] Dr. Wanliss spear-headed a move to have some Psalm-singing recorded. A group of skilled singers got together, lead by Pastor Humby’s wife, Katie, and sang five Psalms in four-part harmony. Mr. Cochran recorded it and posted it online. Here is the link”:
G.M.
08.08.08
Deferred Adulthood
I have been reading the book ‘America Alone’ recently, by neo-con columist and commentator Mark Steyn. It is an interesting critique of the demise of Western Culture, particularly in Europe, due to the decline in birth-rate, dominance of socialism and the increase of Islamic Immigration. His assessment of where we are this side of the pond is acurate from where I am looking and he notes one of the specific symptoms of cultural breakdown here and in the US is “deferred adulthood.” Now before you read the following quote, I in no way, nor does this website condone nightclub dating! But the dating is not really the point as you will understand.
‘The chief characteristic of our age is deferred adulthood. All over North America and Europe there are millions of people going to college for no good reason. Certainly, there’s no reason why the sum of knowledge the average American has accumulated by the time he’s completed a bachelor’s degree should take twenty years to inculcate. We need to redirect the system to telescope education into a much shorter period. Instead, we’ve implicitly accepted that our bodies mature much earlier than our great-grandparents’ but that our minds don’t. We enter adolesence [not convinced there is such a thing, think we just made it up in the 20th century G.B] much sooner and leave it much later – in some cases not until middle age. We’ve created a world where a thirty-one year old European male can stroll into a nightclub, tell the babes he lives at his mom and dad’s place in the same bedroom he’s slept in since he was in diapers – and he can still walk out with a hot-looking date. This guy would have been a laughingstock at any other point in human history.’ (Quoted from America Alone – The End of the World As We Know it. Regnery Publishing 2006)
This is sad but true. Sadder still that too many Christians are following suit and want to be like that guy; only instead of the nightclub it might be in the Church youth group/rally/conference…..
G.B.
08.06.08
Young Sober Christians by Matthew Henry (9)
This is the ninth part in this short series from Matthew Henry. For an explanation of the series read here.
“Young men that are sober-minded are likely to be in time serviceable to the communities they are members of, civil or sacred, in a higher or lower sphere.
How to Become Sober-Minded
Let me now close with five general directions to young people, which may be of use to them, in order to the making of them sober-minded.
1. Adopt Sober Principles
Espouse sober principles; for men are, as their principles are.
2. Food for Thought – The Law and the Gospel
Dwell much upon such considerations as are proper to make you sober-minded…the great things of law and gospel… The four last things, death and judgment, heaven and hell, are commonly recommended as proper subjects of meditation, in order to making the mind serious.
…we ourselves shall be serious shortly.
3. Choose Your Company
Choose sober company. Nothing is of greater consequence to young people, than what company they keep, for we insensibly grow like those with whom we converse, especially with whom we delight to converse.
…let your delight be in the excellent ones of the earth, the sober ones.
4. Choose Your Reading
Read sober books. Those that are given to reading, are as much under the influence of the books they read, as of the persons they converse with, and therefore in the choice of them you need to be very cautious, and take advice…
5. Be Diligent
Abound much in sober work. Habits are contracted by frequent acts; if therefore you would have a sober mind, employ yourself much in meditation and prayer, and other devout and holy excercises… Be much in secret worship, as well as diligent and constant in your attendance on public ordinances; those who neglect these cannot but lose their seriousness.
…[and] profane not holy things.
And how do you like this sober, serious work you have now been about in reading this discourse? Have you been in it as your element – or as a fish upon dry ground? Have you suffered this word of exhortation, and bidden it welcome? Shall I leave you all resolved in the strength of God’s grace, that now in the days of your youth you will be sober-minded? If so, the Lord keep it always in the imagination of the thought of your heart, and by writing the law of sobriety there, establish your way before him!“
The Final part
G.M.
