Thy kingdom come. · Part 3

Use 1. For reproof to those that would be glad in their hearts if Christ’s kingdom would never come. As to the kingdom of , in the external administration, they ‘hate the light, and will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved:’ John iii. 20. A wicked man is loth to be troubled. God’s witnesses are the world’s torment: Rev. xi. 10, ‘They tormented them that dwelt on the earth.’ A man that is bodily blind would have a fit guide; but these wretchedly blind sinners, nothing so troublesome and hateful to them as one that would lead them to the kingdom of God. And then as to internal , when this kingdom of heaven breaks in upon their hearts, when any light and power darts in, they seek to put it out; they ‘resist the ,’ Acts vii. 51, and refuse his call. And for the kingdom of glory, they say, ‘It is good to be here,’ and would not change their portion here for their portion in paradise.

Use 2. To exhort us to desire the coming of Christ’s kingdom to ourselves. If you have any love to the Lord’s glory, or your own good, you should do it: Rev. iii. 20, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ Will you not open to God that hath the best right? Will you not set open the doors to the King of glory, when Christ comes to bring entertainment to you, to sup with you? Again, all men (will they, nill they) are subject to Christ: either they must come and touch his golden sceptre, or feel the bruises of his iron mace; they must own him as king: ‘Every knee shall bow,’ Phil. ii. 10. Therefore be more willing to have the kingdom of glory come. Again, if God be not your king, you will have a worse master, every sin, every lust: Titus iii. 3, ‘Serving divers lusts and pleasures.’ You will be at the beck of every lust and motion, and the devil will be your master to purpose; for upon the refusal of Christ’s government, there is a judicial tradition, you are given up to your own heart’s lusts: Ps. lxxxi. 12, ‘Israel would none of me; so I gave them up to their own hearts’ lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.’ And to Satan, to be ensnared by him: 2 Tim. ii. 26, ‘Taken captive by him at his will and pleasure.’ Not to buffet them, as Paul was, but to ensnare and harden their hearts. Again, if you be not subject to God, you go about to make God subject to you in effect. You would have the kingdom of glory, and yet continue in your lusts: Isa. xliii. 24, ‘Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine .’ When you would have God patient, hold his hand, and be merciful to you, and yet would continue in your lusts, then you make God serve with your sins. Again, many temporal inconveniences will follow, if we do not give way to the kingdom of Christ to seize upon us. When we make no difference between God’s service and the service of other lords, then he gives us up to the service of men, to a foreign enemy, to an oppressive magistrate, or breaks the staff of government among men, that we might know what it is to be under his service and government. Therefore give willing entertainment to the kingdom of Christ.

So much for the private consideration of this request, ‘Thy kingdom come;’ that is, to us and our persons, both the kingdom of and the kingdom of glory.

Secondly, Having spoken of the kingdom of Christ in a private, now I come to speak of it in a public, consideration. And that is twofold:—

1. The public visible administration of the kingdom of .

2. The public and solemn administration of the kingdom of glory at the day of judgment, when enemies shall have their final doom, and have their crowns set upon their heads in the sight of all the world.

I shall speak of both, but (because the discourse may be more fresh and lively) upon other texts.

1. The public visible administration of the kingdom of , on Ps. li. 18, ‘Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of thy Jerusalem.’

2. The kingdom of glory, on Rev. xxii. 20, ‘Surely I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.’

For the first. Though the church be never so afflicted, Ps. cii. 14, when all is defaced, as to external appearance, lying in a ruinous heap, yet it is beloved and pitied by God’s servants: ‘Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.’ There is nothing God’s people desire so much as Zion’s welfare: Ps. cvi. 5, ‘That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.’ And David in this psalm, Ps. li. 18, having prayed for himself, prayeth for mercy to the church and state: ‘Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of thy Jerusalem.’ But how cometh David, who was in the depth of private humiliation, so suddenly to fall upon the case of the church? There was a special reason for annexing this request to his own private complaints and confessions. The reasons will occasion so many observations.

[1.] Because of the offence, scandal, and mischief done to the church by his fall; and to make amends, he prayeth the more earnestly, let not Zion fare the worse for my sake. From observe, that the sins of particular persons oft bring a mischief upon the whole community. David had made a breach in the walls of God’s protection, and left them naked, and more in danger of judgment: ‘Therefore do good,’ &c.

[2.] David was not only a private member, but a prince, and their sins have a more universal influence. The sins of magistrates draw down judgments on their people, all smart for their miscarriages. Hezekiah’s pride cost Israel dear: 2 Chron. xxxii. 25, ‘Wrath was upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.’ It did not stay upon his person. As a great oak cannot fall but all the shrubs about it suffer loss. But,

[3.] David having some comfortable of the pardon of his sins, doth now seek mercy for the church. From observe, that we are never fit to pray for the public, till we have made our peace with God; as the priests under the law offered sacrifice, ‘first for their own sins, and then for the people’s:’ Heb. vii. 27.

[4.] Because being brought by such a solemn but sad occasion into God’s presence, he could not but have some thoughts of Zion. And from observe, that we should never come to God upon any private occasion but we should remember the public. We are to pray in love as well as faith. Christ hath not taught us to say, ‘My Father,’ but, ‘Our Father,’ to show that we should take in the interests and concernments of the whole body, that there may be a spirit of communion breathing in our prayers. David doth not only say, ‘Have mercy upon me according to thy loving-kindness,’ but, ‘Do good unto Zion in thy good pleasure.’ Every living member will be careful for the body. Members should be careful one for another, much more for the whole. Is any member pained or grieved?—all suffer. If the toe be trod upon, the tongue complaineth, you have hurt me; but now much more when all is concerned. Therefore we should not altogether seek our own things, but wrestle with God for the public.

I. This reproveth divers sorts of people. Some are enemies to the public welfare, as vipers eat out the dam’s belly,—especially enemies to Zion: ‘Down with it, down with it, even to the ground!’ What monsters hath this age brought forth! Others are indifferent and careless which goeth up, Christ or Antichrist; they only mind the matters of their own interest and concernment: ‘All seek their own things.’ As to the public interest of the church, let all go how it will. Let me tell you, to be selfish is a sort of self-excommunication; you cast yourselves out of the bundle of life. And to be senseless, it is an implicit renouncing the body. Others there are that are gracious, but full of discontent at some passages of , and these seem to have lost their public affections. It is a sad symptom when a praying people are discouraged from praying for public welfare. God is very tender of the prayers of his people; he is loth they should be lost, and sorry they cannot be granted. We may sin in ceasing to pray. It is a sad judgment when the hearts of God’s people are taken off from praying. Again, those that pray too coldly for the public, not as those that would do their work. There is a great decay of the spirit of prayer, which is also a sad presage. But now to show you:—

II. What we should pray for Zion.

1. The dilatation or enlargement of it throughout the world. The more ample God’s heritage is, the more is his glory known: Prov. xiv. 28, ‘In the multitude of the people is the king’s honour;’ and the glory of a shepherd lieth in the number of his flock. So Christ’s kingdom, the more it is enlarged, the more honour God hath: Ps. lxvii. 2, ‘That thy way may be known among the , and thy saving health among all nations.’ Especially when the fulness of the is brought in, Ps. liv. 2; and when the Jews are brought in, Hosea iii. 5. To be instrumental to enlarge Christ’s kingdom, it is an honour to us to draw on Christ’s triumphant chariot,—let us be sure to have a hand in it. These prayers, if sincere, are never in vain; if they profit not others, they promote the kingdom of God in ourselves.

2. The preservation and defence of the churches already planted, frustrating the plots and power of the enemies: That God would be ‘a wall of fire round about them,’ Zech. ii. 5. Qui comminus arceat et eminus terreat. When at the weakest, God can protect them, bridling by his secret power the rage of adversaries, or defeating their attempts.

3. For comfort and deliverance in afflictions. We should pity the distressed church, as before; that God would them out of all their troubles. Every true member of the church hath life from Christ; and that life giveth feeling, and that feeling affection and sympathy to rejoice and mourn. They that mourn for Zion rejoice with her: Isa. lxvi. 10, ‘Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her.’

4. For the furniture of the church, a supply of all good, internal and external.

[1.] Internal. That God would bless them with , enrich them with graces, preserve truth and unity, and continue his presence with them: his , that they may enjoy them in purity, that the word, seals, and censures may be rightly administered till the Lord come. These are things pertaining to the kingdom of God, concerning which Christ spake to the disciples: Acts i. 3. These are to be kept till Christ’s appearing: 1 Tim. vi. 14. It is an honour to God, and of great profit to the church, and a rejoicing to God’s people, to see them pure and unmixed: ‘Though absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order.’ Col. ii. 5. And then that God would enrich them with his presence: Mat. xxviii. 20, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ It is God that giveth the increase: ‘Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but God giveth the increase,’ 1 Cor. iii. 6—for , , confirmation. It was not the ark, nor covered with cherubims, but the answer from between the cherubims, given immediately by God, that manifested his presence. It is not the sound of the gospel, or outward ministry, but the work of his Spirit: Ps. lxxxiv. 2, ‘My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.’ And Acts x. 44, it is said, ‘The fell on all them which heard the word.’ And then for unity: Christ hath called us into a body, not only into a family, but into a body. It was Christ’s own prayer: John xvii., ‘Let them be one.’ Disputes will not heal, but prayers may.

[2.] For external helps. We should pray that God would give us pastors after his own heart: Mat. ix. 38, ‘Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.’ Men that will discharge their duty with all faithfulness, men whose hearts are set to the building up of Christ’s kingdom, labourers. And then for schools of learning. A man that hath many orchards will also have seminaries of young plants to maintain them. Schools are seminaries, without which the church falleth to decay. And then for good magistrates, to patronise and protect God’s people, and promote his work with them: Isa. xlix. 23, there is a promise, ‘Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers,’ &c. Rest from persecution is a great blessing: Acts ix. 31, ‘Then had the churches rest, and were edified; and walking in the fear of God, and the comforts of the , were multiplied.’ It is a great mercy that the church hath any breathings. These are the things that we should pray for Zion.

Thus much shall suffice to be spoken of the kingdom of Christ in a public consideration, with respect, first, to the public visible administration of the kingdom of .

I come now to speak of the second, viz., the public and solemn administration of the kingdom of glory; and for that I shall insist on that portion of scripture: Rev. xxii. 20, ‘Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.’

Here you have—

I. Christ’s proclamation.

II. The church’s acclamation in answer thereunto.

I. Christ’s proclamation: ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Where take notice of two things:—

1. His asseveration: Surely.

2. His assertion: I come quickly.

1. His asseveration: Surely. It is a certain truth, though we do not so easily receive it. All notable truths, about which there is the greatest suspicion in the heart of the creature, you will find them thus averred in scripture; as Isa. liii. 4, ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.’ The dying of the Son of God is so mysterious that the propounds it with a note of averment, Surely; that is, how unlikely soever it seems, yet this is a certain truth. So here the coming of Christ is a thing so future, so little regarded by epicures and atheists, that it is propounded with a like note of averment, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Herein secretly is our unbelief taxed, and also our confidence engaged.

2. You have his assertion: I come quickly. Let me explain what is meant by the coming of Christ. There is a twofold coming of Christ—a personal, and a virtual. Some think that the virtual coming is here meant,—his coming in the efficacy of his Spirit, or in the power of his , to accomplish those predictions. Here are many things prophesied of, and behold, ‘I come quickly;’ you shall find these things presently produced upon the stage of the world. So some carry it. I think rather it is to be meant of his personal coming. There are two mystical scriptures which do express all the intercourse which passeth between God and the church in the world, and they are both closed up with a desire of Christ’s coming. The Canticles is one, which declareth the communion and intercourse which is between Christ and his church; and you will find it thus closed up: Cant. viii. 14, ‘Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.’ And so here, in this book of the Revelation, where are the like intercourses recorded, it is closed up with this: ‘Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’ The personal coming, I suppose, is here meant. Now Christ’s personal coming, it is but twofold—the first, and the second. The scripture knows of no other coming: Heb. ix. 28, ‘He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ It is but a fond dream to think of a personal reign before Christ’s coming to judgment. They reckon without book that look for any other. There was his first coming, which was to suffer; his second coming is to reign. The first his gracious, and this his glorious coming. The former is past, and the latter is yet expected.

‘I come quickly.’ How shall we make good that?

[1.] In general, Christ’s absence from the church is not long. Though you reflect upon the whole flux of time, from his ascension to his second coming, it is but a moment to eternity; some hundreds of years, that may be easily counted.

[2.] It is no longer than need requires. The high priest, when he was gotten within the veil, was to there until his ministration was ended, until he had appeared before God, and represented himself for all the tribes, then he was to come out to bless the people. Jesus Christ within the veil but until all the be gathered. ‘He is not slack,’ 2 Pet. iii. 9, but we are hasty. Our times are present with us, but we must leave him to his own time to go and come.

[3.] Christ speaks this of the latter end of the world, and then it will not be long when once he begins to set forth. The old prophecies are accomplishing apace; and how little preparation soever there seems to be for this work, it comes apace. It is said of the antichristian state, ‘Her plagues shall come upon her in one day:’ Rev. xviii. 8. And of the Jews it is said, ‘A nation shall be born at once:’ Isa. lxvi. 8. So much for the first part.

II. Here is the church’s acclamation: ‘Amen. So, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’ This acclamation is double:—

1. Implicit, and enfolded in the word Amen.

2. Explicit, and unfolded: ‘Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’

1. For the implicit acclamation of the church, in the word Amen. The word sometimes is taken nominally: Rev. iii. 14, ‘Thus saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness.’ He that is Amen, as it is explained there, true and faithful, that will certainly give a being to his promises. Sometimes it is used adverbially, and translated . It is either an affectionate desire—‘Let it be,’ or a great asseveration ‘It shall be.’ It hath in it an affectionate desire: Jer. xxviii. 6, the prophet said, ‘Amen, the Lord do so, the Lord perform thy words,’ &c. When he had prophesied peace to the people: ‘Amen, the Lord perform thy words;’ not to confirm the truth of his prophecy, but to express his own wish and hearty desire, if it might stand with the will of God. Then it expresseth a firm belief that it shall be done. Thus Christ often saith, ‘Amen, , I say unto you,’ by way of strong asseveration. Well, then, the church expresseth her faith and desire implicitly: Amen, Lord, that it were so; and surely, Lord, it shall be so; we believe it, and we desire it with all our hearts.

2. Explicitly: ‘Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.’ From this latter clause I might observe many things.

[1.] The sweet and blessed harmony that is between Christ and the church. Christ’s voice and the church’s voice are unisons. Christ saith, ‘I come.’ And the church, like a quick echo, takes the word out of Christ’s mouth, ‘Even so, come.’ There is the same Spirit in Christ and in the church; for it is his Spirit that resides with us. Christ, he speaks in a way proper to him, by way of promise, ‘I come.’ And the church in a way proper to her, by way of prayer, ‘Even so, come.’

[2.] I might observe that, in the close of the world, we should most earnestly desire Christ’s coming. We have the advantage of former times. To us Christ saith, ‘I come quickly.’ Now the set time almost is come, therefore our pulses should beat more strongly in putting up this request to Christ. Tertullian shows that the primitive Christians did pray pro mora finis, that the end might not come too soon, Christ having as yet but a small interest in the world, they expecting enlargement upon earth; but we have more cause to look for the accomplishment of his kingdom in heaven. They expected the revelation of Antichrist, and we expect the destruction of Antichrist. They, that God might be known in the world; we, that he might be no longer dishonoured in the world. When great promises are near their accomplishment, there is a more lively spirit stirring in the hearts of the : Dan. ix. 2, 3, ‘I understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish, seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and .’

But quitting these notes, I shall mainly insist upon this point, viz.:

Doct. That the church, and all the faithful members of it, do really and heartily desire Christ’s second coming.

They look for it, they long for it, they wait for it. They look for it: Phil. iii. 20, ‘Our is in heaven; from also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.’ They reckon upon it, as Rebekah espied Isaac afar off. He is gone within the veil, he is appearing before God, but he will come out again. When they see the clouds, upon these one day will our Saviour come. Then they long for it. It is their description: 2 Tim. iv. 8, ‘They love his appearing.’ Wicked men and guilty sinners hate and abhor it, he being to come to them as a terrible judge. Malefactors do not long for the assizes. But now the , who are absolved and washed in the blood of Christ, it doth them good to the heart to think of it, that one day Christ will appear in all his glory. And then they wait for it: 1 Thes. i. 10, ‘They wait for his Son from heaven, even Jesus, who hath delivered us from wrath to come.’ It is ‘wrath to come,’ something behind the coming of Christ, which makes it so terrible. Hell makes the day of judgment terrible. The devil could not endure to hear of Christ’s coming, Mat. viii. 29, ‘Art thou come to torment us?’ &c. So wicked men have the spirit of the devil; it is a torment and bondage to them to think of the Judge’s coming. But those which have their discharge, they wait for it. It supports and bears up their hearts in the midst of their present afflictions, and they go on cheerfully in their work, notwithstanding lets and troubles.

To give some reasons why the faithful members of Christ so really and heartily desire Christ’s second coming. They are of three sorts:—

1 . Some in respect of the person who is to come.

2. Some in respect of the persons which desire his coming.

3. Some in respect of the coming itself.

I. In respect of him who is to come.

1. His person, that we may see him. The children of God have delighted to look upon him through a veil, and have had a kind of heaven upon earth from beholding his face in the glass of an . Looking upon him in the veil of hath been a mighty comfort and refreshing to them; now they would desire to see his person face to face. They know by hearsay this great Redeemer and Saviour of theirs; he wooeth them by proxy. As Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, was to go abroad and seek for a match for his master’s son, so the great business of the ministers of God is to set forth our Master’s Son. Now the would fain see him. Nay, they have not only heard of him, but believed in him, and received him into their hearts. Nay, not only believed in him, but they have loved him greatly: 1 Pet. i. 8, ‘Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.’ It hath been a ravishing thought to them to think of Christ. And they have tasted: 1 Pet. ii. 3, ‘If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.’ And they have felt him in the drawings of the Spirit; they live by his life, they have found a virtue going out from him. Now all that they desire is, that they may see this great person, who hath been their Redeemer and Saviour.

2. Consider him as in his person, so in his relations to them. Here are two titles: ‘Even so, Lord Jesus.’ He is Lord, and he is Jesus. He is Lord, as a master and husband; as Sarah called Abraham, Lord. As a Master: good servants will look for their master’s coming: Mat. xxiv. 46. And surely such a Master should be longed for and looked for, for when he comes, he will not come empty-handed: ‘Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me,’ Rev. xxii. 12. Here Christ’s servants have their vales, but not their wages. Here they have present maintenance, that is all they have now, but then they shall have their reward and wages. Here they have their earnest, but then they shall have the full sum. Under the law masters were charged severely not to defraud their servants of their hire—why? He hath lift up his soul to him; that is, in the middle of his hard labours this was his comfort: when the work of the day was over, he should have his wages and his hire at night. So you have lift up your souls to him; the great pay-day will come, and this hath borne you up in all your labours and travail of your soul. Therefore, as he is our Lord, so we should look for him. And then as our Husband; this is a sweeter relation: ‘The bride saith, Come,’ Rev. xxii. 17. We are here contracted and betrothed to Christ: ‘I will betroth thee to me,’ Hosea ii. 19. But the day of solemn espousals is hereafter. Here we are betrothed to Christ in the of ; Christ hath taken a token from us, and left a token with us. He hath taken human flesh, carried our nature to heaven, that he might be mindful of us, and hath left the Spirit with us. Now there will be a longing, looking, and waiting for this day of solemn espousals. And as he is Lord, so he is Jesus, a Saviour. With what melting wishes doth the captive long for a Saviour and Redeemer! Now ‘we look for a Saviour from heaven.’ Christ is a Saviour now, but not a perfect Saviour to the uttermost; never till then. Therefore the day of judgment is called ‘the day of :’ Eph. iv. 30. There is something left, that every coming of Christ might bring some benefit; something of misery left upon us to the last day. Here we have enemies within and without. Within, mighty lusts; and therefore his coming is ‘like a refiner’s fire,’ Mal. iii. 2, ‘and fullers’ soap.’ His first and second coming we find oft in the Old Testament put together. His coming is ‘to present us holy, without spot and blemish:’ Eph. v. 27. Our present state is but a convalescency, a recovery out of sickness by degrees. There is some fruit of sin left upon the body, until the day of the general resurrection, that we may have new matter of glorifying God just as we are entering into heaven. Therefore that every coming of Christ might bring us a new benefit, the body is to die. The old Adam is not quite abolished until God be all in all. And so for enemies without us. Here we dwell among wicked men, whose sins are a grievance to us, and whose injuries are a very great molestation and trouble. We live here, like Lot in Sodom: ‘His righteous soul was vexed with their ungodly deeds.’ their filthy . But then there will be a perfect separation between the sheep and the goats. Here we are exposed to many persecutions; here Antichrist is but consuming; there he shall totally and utterly be abolished.

II. If we respect the persons desiring this coming, there is some thing in them to move them to it. There is:—

1. The Spirit of Christ.