the oil of gladness, above thy fellows. This by the apoftle is applied to Chrift, as fpoken of him, Heb. i. 9. Thus again in Epb. i. 3. Bleed be the God and Father of our Lord Fefus Chrift. And y. 17. The God of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the Father of glory. So in 1 Pet. i. 3. and 2 Cor. i. 3. And we have our Lord Jefus Chrift himself acknowledging God to be bis God. Thus in the time of his crucifixion he cried out, My God, my God. Matth. xxvii. 46. And after his refurrection he faid to many, Go to my brethren, and Jay to them, I afcend unto my Father, and your Father, and unto my God, and your God. Joh. xx. 17.-.-Here it may be enquired, Queft. In what refpects is God the Father, the God of Jefus Chrift? Anfw. 1. He is the God of Jefus Chrift, in refpect of his creating the human nature of Fefus Chrift...God is faid to be the God of perfons or things, on the account of his being their creator. Thus he is the God of all creatures; inasmuch as they are all made and upheld by him. And therefore he is called the God of heaven. Gen. xxiv. 7. And the God of the whole earth. Ifai. liv. 5. He is the God of heaven and earth, and all creatures therein, as he is their maker, that has given being to them all...Now, in this refpect, God is the God of Jefus Chrift, inasmuch as his human nature was created and miraculously formed of God. Heb. x. 5. A body hast thou prepared me. It is Jefus Chrift who thus fpeaks to God his Father, and fays, A body, animated with a rational foul, haft thou prepared me, made for me, to affume into my perfon. As Jefus Chrift therefore is man, fo God is his maker, and in that refpect his God. An/w. 2. God the Father is the God of Jefus Christ in respect of the covenant be made with Jefus Chrift.---God is in fcripture called the God of a perfon, in regard of his covenant relation to him. When God makes a covenant with any perfon, then he becomes his God. Thus he is called the Lord God of Shem, Cen. ix. 26. and and is faid to be the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob. Exod. iii. 6. So he was the God of David. I Chron. xxviii. 9. And thou, Solomon my fon, know thou the God of thy Father. God was thus the God of Shem, Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob and David, as he was their covenant-God; the God that had entred into covenant with them. And in this refpect, God the Father is the God of Jefus Chrift, as he entred into covenant with him, even the covenant of redemption, from everlafting. God the Father propounded his will to his Son Jefus Chrift, as to what he would have him to do, and what he would do for him; and Jefus Chrift complying therewith, fo a mutual agreement or compact was made between them. And on this account, Jefus Chrift calls God the Father his God. Pfal. xl. 7. Then faid I, Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Anfw. 3. God the Father is the God of Jefus Christ, in refpect of his being the bleffedness of Jefus Chrift, as to his human nature. When God is faid to be the God of any perfon, it denotes God's being the happiness of that perfon. Thofe to whom he is a God, to them he makes over himself in his all-fufficiency, to be all to them, and to do all for them, that may make them compleatly bleffed. Thus God faid to Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1. I am God Almighty, or all-fufficient, walk before me, and be thou perfect. And hence they are faid to be bappy, whofe God is the Lord. Pfl. cxliv. 15. Now in this refpect God the Father may be ftiled the God of Jefus Chrift, inafmuch as God is the author and matter of God's bleffednefs, as he is man. All that happiness which the human nature of Chrift is the fubject of, flows from God the Father. Pfal. xlv. 2. Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips; therefore God bath bleed thee for ever. This is fpoken of Jefus Chrift as man, that he is fairer, more holy and glorious, than any of the children of men, and that be is bleffed of God forever. His eternal bleffedness is from God. Therefore in his exalted ftate, he is full of joy with his Father's countenance, or in the fall enjoyinent of him. Act. ii. 28. Anfe. Anfw God the Father is the God of Jefus Chrift, in refpect of his ordaining Chrift to the office of a mediator. Under the law of Mofes, God is faid in an especial manner, to be the God of the Levitical Priefts, because he appointed them unto their office. Lev. xxi. 6. They fhall be boly unto their God, and fhall not profane the name of their God. Thus God is the God of Jefus Chrift, as he called him to, and accepted him in, the office of a mediator between himself and man. God conferred that office on him, (Heb. v. 5.) from God be received all his power, (Matth. xxviii. 18.) in the difcharge of this office he was obedient to God, the fervant of God, (Matth. xii. 18.) and with regard to this office he is called the Lord's Chrift, (Luk. ii. 26.) and the Chrift of God. (Luk. ix. 20.) And in this refpect he is the God of Jefus Chrift only and fingularly. For there is no other mediator befides him. 1 Tim. ii. 5. For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Chrift Fefus. APPLICATION. USE. If God the Father be God of Jefus Chrift, this may afford great confolation to all them that have an intereft in Fefus Chrift. This relation of God to Jesus Chrift, is a ground and foundation of everlafting comfort, to all them that are truly interested in Jefus Chrift. For--- And as 1. Jefus Chrift will be accepted of God in his whole work of mediation for you. The Lord Jefus Chrift is the believer's mediator with God, for them. their mediator, he has died for their fins, and interceeds with God for their eternal falvation. Now believers may be confident, that he is well-pleafing to God, and that he will fucceed, in his death and interceffion for them. For God the Father is his God. He is his God, as he appointed him to the office of their mediator; and he is his God, as he covenanted with Jefus Chrift, about the work of their redemption. Now God having appointed him to be their mediator, and and covenanted with him, that the work of redemp 2. God is your God. If you belong to Christ, then 1. God is fully reconciled to us. If he be our covenant-God, we are then brought into a state of friendship with God. He is perfectly at peace with us, not imputing our iniquities to us. Our fins are the only things which caufe a breach between God and us, and kindle his anger and wrath against us. Now, if God be our God, he will forgive all our fins, and no more be offended at us, than if we had never committed them. Fer. xxxi. 33, 34. This fhall be the covenant which I will make with the house of Ifrael-I will be their God, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their fin no more. Or as the apostle expreffes this covenantbleffing, Heb. viii. 10, 12. I will be to them a God,---for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their fins, and their iniquities will I remember no more. Here are intimated all forts of offences; unrighteousness, fins, iniquities,in the plural number. Let their fins be of what fort foever, or how many foever, God will mercifully cifully pardon them all, and never more remember them against them. So that if God be our covenant God, he will be to us a fin pardoning God. And O! what a ground of confolation is this, to have all our fins pardoned! He is a bleffed man indeed, who is in fuch a cafe. Pfal. xxxii. 1, 2. Bieffed is the man, whofe tranfgreffion is forgiven, whose fin is covered. Bleffed is the man, to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. 2 If the God of Chrift be our God, then God is our Father. If he be our covenant-God in Chrift, then he is a Father to us. 2 Cor. vi. 18. I will be a Father unto you, and ye fhall be my fons and daughters, jaith the Lord Almighty. This is what our Lord Jefus Chrift teftifies unto us. Job. xx. 17. I afcend to my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. The God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, is our God and Father allo. And how great ground of comfort is it to have the Father of Chrift, to be our Father! If he be our Father, he loves us with the deareft love. If he be our Father, he will take a moft tender care of us he will exercife a watchful and gracious providence over us. In a word, he will do all that for us, which the most loving Father would be willing to do for his dear children, and infinitely more too. For his good will to us, and his ability to do for us, do infinitely exceed that of any earthly Father. He will do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to afk or think 3. If the God of Chrift be our God, he will at the Jaft day raise us in glory. A moft glorious refurrection may be expected from God, it he be our God. The apostle gives us a very large and diftin&t account of the glorious condition, in which the bodies of believers fhall be raised. 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44, 49. So alfo is the refur rection of the dead. It is fown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: It is fown in difhonour, it is raised in glory. It is fown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is Jown a natural body, it is raifed a spiritual body. It shall bear · the image of the beavenly Adam. it fhall be made like |