Jonathan Edwards · 166 of 409

PART II. Motives to Compliance with what is proposed · SECT. III.

How much Christ prayed and laboured and suffered, in order to the glory and happiness of that day.

the sum of the blessings Christ sought, by what he did and suffered in the work of redemption, was the Holy Spirit. Thus is the affair of our redemption constituted; the Father provides and gives the Redeemer, and the price of redemption is offered to him, and he grants the benefit purchased; the Son is the Redeemer who gives the price, and also is the price offered; and the Holy Spirit is the grand blessing obtained by the price offered, and bestowed on the redeemed. The Holy Spirit, in his indwelling presence, his influences and fruits, is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort, and joy; or, in one word, of all the spiritual good Christ purchased for men in this world: and is also the sum of all perfection, glory, and eternal joy, that he purchased for them in another world. The Holy Spirit is the subject matter of the promises, both of the eternal covenant of redemption, and also of the covenant of grace. This is the grand subject of the promises of the Old Testament, so often recorded in the prophecies of Messiah’s kingdom; and the chief subject of the promises of the New Testament; and particularly of the covenant of grace delivered by Jesus Christ to his disciples, as his last will and testament, in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John; the grand legacy that he bequeathed to them, in his last and dying discourse with them. Therefore the Holy Spirit is so often called the Spirit of promise, and emphatically, the promise, the promise of the Father, &c.

This being the great blessing Christ purchased by his labours and sufferings on earth, it was that which he received of the Father when he ascended into heaven, and entered into the holy of holies with his own blood, that he might communicate it to those whom he had redeemed. John xvi. 7. “It is expedient for you, that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Acts ii. 33. “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.” This is the sum of those gifts, which Christ received for men, even for the rebellious, at his ascension; and of the benefits Christ obtains for men by his intercession; John xiv. 16, 17. “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth.” Herein consists Christ’s communicative fulness, even in his being full of the Spirit; and so full of grace and truth, that we might of this fulness receive, and grace for grace. He is anointed with the Holy Ghost, and this is the ointment that goes down from the head to the members. “God gives the Spirit not by measure unto him, that every member might receive according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” This therefore was the great blessing he prayed for in that wonderful prayer which he uttered for his disciples and all his future church, the evening before he died, John xvii. The blessing he prayed for to the Father, in behalf of his disciples, was the same he had insisted on in his preceding discourse with them; and this, doubtless, was the blessing he prayed for, when, as our High Priest, he offered up strong crying and tears, with his blood, Heb. v. 6, 7. As for this he shed his blood, for this he also shed tears, and poured out prayers.

But of all the time we have been speaking of, this is the chief season for the bestowment of this blessing; the main season of success to all that Christ did and suffered in the work of our redemption. Before this, the Spirit of God is given but very sparingly, and but few are saved; but then it will be far otherwise; wickedness shall be rare then, as virtue and piety had been before: and undoubtedly, by far the greatest number of them that ever receive the benefits of Christ’s redemption, from the beginning of the world to the end of it, will receive it in that time.

This time is represented in Scripture, as the proper appointed season of Christ’s salvation; eminently the elect season, the accepted time, and day of salvation. “The year of Christ’s redeemed,”. Isa. lxiii. 4. This period is spoken of as the proper time of the Redeemer’s dominion, and the reign of his redeeming love, in the 2d and 7th chapters of Daniel., and many other places; the proper time of his harvest, or ingathering of his fruits from this fallen world; the appointed day of his triumph over Satan, the great destroyer; and the appointed day of his marriage with his elect spouse, (Rev. xix. 7.) The time given to the Sun of righteousness to rule, as the day is the time God has appointed for the natural sun to bear rule. Therefore the bringing on of this time is called “Christ’s coming in his kingdom;” wherein “he will rend the heavens and come down, and the Sun of righteousness shall arise,” (Mal. iv. 2. and Isa. lx. 1.

The comparatively little saving good there is in the world, as the fruit of Christ’s redemption, before that time, is as it were granted by way of anticipation; as we anticipate something of the sun s light by reflection before the proper time of the sun’s rule; and as the first-fruits are gathered before the harvest. Then more especially will be the fulfilment of those great promises, made by God the Father to the Son, for his pouring out his soul unto death; (Isa. liii. 10-12.) then “shall he see his seed, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand;” then “shall he see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied, and shall justify many by his knowledge;” then “will God divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;” then shall Christ in an eminent manner obtain his chosen spouse, that “he loved and died for, that he might sanctify and cleanse her, with the washing of water, by the word, and present her to himself, a glorious church.” He will obtain “the joy that was set before him, for which he endured the cross, and despised the shame,” chiefly in the events and consequences of that day: that day, as was observed before, which is often represented as eminently the time of the “rejoicing of the bridegroom.” The foreknowledge and consideration of it was what supported him, and that in which his soul exulted, at a time when it had been troubled at the view of his approaching sufferings; as may be seen in John xii. 23, 24, 27, 31, 32.

Now therefore, if this is what Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer and the head of the church, did so much desire, and set his heart upon, from all eternity, and for which he did and suffered so much, offering up strong crying and team, and his precious blood, to obtain it; surely his disciples and members should also earnestly seek it, and be much in prayer for it.