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We may obferve, Firft, Here is a great Queftion afked of Chrift by the Difciples, and that was the Reftoration of the Kingdom. Secondly, The Time when they ask'd that Queftion; and that was when they were to meet together after Chrift's Refurrection. In the Queftion there are 4 things to be confidered, Firft, That there is a Kingdom to be reftored. Secondly, Their Eyes were upon Chrift for the Restoration of it; Wilt thou, &c. Thirdly, The Time they expected its immediate Reftoration; Wilt thou at this Time? Fourthly, The Perfons to whom the Kingdom is to be restored; and that is Ifrael. I fhall firft enquire what we are to underftand by this Kingdom which is to be restored. It cannot be the fpiritual Kingdom of Grace under the Difpenfation of the Gofpel, because that was then in being; not only a fpiritual Kingdom which had been in the Hearts of all the Faithful, from the Fall of Adam; but that Kingdom which Chrift and his Disciples preached was at hand, faying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Mat. ii. 2. I fay this Kingdom was begun, when Chrift went up and down doing good, when the Blind received their Sight, and the Lame walked, the Lepers were cleanfed, and the Deaf heard, the Dead were raifed up, and the Poor had the Gospel preached to them, Mat. xi. 5. When the Lord Jefus Chrift had poured out his Soul unto Death, and offered up himself as the great atoning Sacrifice for Sin; when he had accomplished that great Work of our Redemption, and now was rifen again from the Dead, for our Juftification, and juft ready to af cend up to Heaven, to pour down the Spirit upon the Apoftles, for the preaching of the glorious

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Gofpel, and the wonderful Effects it fhould have in the Converfion of the Jews and Gentiles. This being in a measure then begun, cannot be that Kingdom which was to be reftored; the Disciples would not have asked Chrif, Wilt thou at this time reftore the Kingdom? if they had meant that fpiritual Kingdom which was already begun: Neither can it be meant of the glorious Effects which the Gospel had, upon the pouring down of the Spirit on the Apoftles and the Primitive Churches: This was not the Kingdom contained in the Question, as appears from the Answer of Chrift; It is not for you to know the Times and Seafons which the Father bath put in his own power. Certainly if that Glory which came npon the Apoftles and primitive Saints, had been the Kingdom meant in the Queftion, which' fpiritual Glory was juft ready to break out; our Lord would never have deferred their Thoughts from an Expectation, with a Saying, It is not for you to know the Time or Seafon, which is kept fecret in the Breaft of the Father: Therefore this is not the Kingdom.

Secondly, Neither can it be meant of the Kingdom in the eternal Heavens, becaufe that Kingdom cannot be reftored to Ifrael, that is, the Believing Jews; any more than the Believing Gentiles; the whole Election having an equal Intereft and Property in that Kingdom. If this had been the Meaning of the Words, the Queftion would rather have run thus,Lord wilt thou at this time reftore,or give the Kingdom of Heaven to thine Elect? If the Difciples had meant a Kingdom to be enjoyed in the Imperial Heavens, then it would have been as much as if they should have afked Chrift, Lord wilt thou at

this time take us and all the Saints up to Heaven with thee? Certainly this Queftion would have look'd ridiculous in the very Nature of it.

But affirmatively, this Kingdom then which they = expected, muft be a Vifible, Perfonal, and Glorious Kingdom, to be poffeffed and enjoyed by Chrift and the Saints in this World, or under the whole Hea-vens. This was certainly that Kingdom they were looking for, and asked whether this fhould be the Time of its being reftored? Yea those that are the moft against fuch a Kingdom to be in this World, have granted (fome of them) that the Disciples did mean and expect fuch a Kingdom as this, from the Faith and general Expectation of the Jews, for fuch a Time (it being held forth in fo many clear Promifes and Prophefies of the Old Teftament) but only they think that the Difciples miffed it, and were out in their Thoughts about the manner of that Kingdom: And this they would gather from the Reprehenfion of Cbrift, when he faid unto them, It is not for you to know the Time and Seafon. But it is a wonder to me how fuch who haveKnowledge and Understanding in the Scriptures, fhould think any fuch thing as that the Difciples were miftaken about the Kingdom, from the Reprehenfion of Chrift; whereas that Reprehenfion does. certainly carry a Confirmation in the very Bowels of it, that there is fuch a Kingdom to be, which they afked Chrift about; there being nothing in the Anfwer that Chrift reprehends them for, but their Curiofity, for enquiring into the Time; which was altogether unfeafonable when they asked this thing, because it was not then to be; neither had they any thing to do to enquire into that which

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was to be kept fecret until the Time appointed. This is all that Chrift rebukes them for: Otherwife, as to the Reality of fuch a Kingdom to be reftored, 'tis granted in the Anfwer of Chrift to them: And their Duty was to wait in the mean time at Jerufalem, until they should be erdued with Power from on high; that they might be fitted for that Work which did then more immediately concern them, in preaching of the glorious Gofpel, and converting of Sinners unto Jefus Chrift.

These Words being thus confider'd, what Perfon is there that can, from any reafonable Ground, queftion the Truth or Certainty of fuch a Kingdom to be in this World. Have we not more ground to believe that if the Disciples had been mistaken in this matter, our Lord would have rectify'd their Miftake, and reproved them for their expecting of, and looking for that which he had never promifed to them? Can any Perfon (I fay) reasonably think that our dear Lord (whofe Work it was to lead his Children into all Truth) would have let hisDifciples gone on in fuch a grofs Miftake about fomething that was never like to be; and not inform'd their Judgment; when he was perfonally prefent with them, and they had put the Queftion to him? Surely be would. Therefore may we reft fatisfy'd from Chrift's own Word, as to the Certainty of a Vifible Kingdom in this World, to be restored unto Ifrael at the Time appointed.

Secondly, Their Eyes were upon Chrift for the Reftoration of it; Wilt thou, &c. They believed that the Lord Jefus was invefted with a Power and Sufficiency from the Father, for the reftoring of the Kingdom. This Word Reftored does fhew that it

will be, for the Nature and Place of it, a Fifible Kingdom in this World, as the preceding Kingdoms of Ifrael were; and fo eminently typed out by the Kingdom of David and Solomon, both in the First and Second Branch of it: Tho' abundantly more glori ous it will be than any of the Kingdoms of Ifrael have ever been. Then does it not undeniably appear, that as fure as the Kingdoms of Ifrael were real and visible in this World, fo muft the Kingdom of Chrift: Otherwife how could it be faid to be reftored.

This Regal Power and Kingly Authority, that fo long continued among the Jews was now loft or departed from them, about this Time of Chrift's Firft Coming; according to the Prediction, The Scepter fhall not depart from Judah, nor the Lawgiver from between his Feet, until Shiloe come. Well! This we have feen fulfilled; but fhall not fee it reftored again until the Time of his Second perfonal Appearance, or in the great and wonderful Pouring down of the Spirit, which will be the Beginning or First Reftoration of the Kingdom.

Now their Eyes being upon Chrift for the Reftoration of this Regal Power,does fhew that he is to be the King and Governor in this glorious Kingdom, where he is to fit upon the Throne of his Father David, who is faid to be his Father according to the Flefh or Human Nature: As the Angel told Mary in the Firft of Luke, Ver. 22.He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Higheft, and the Lord God fball give unto him the Throng of his Father David: And be fhall reign over the House of Jacob for ever. This is explained in the next Words; And of his Kingdom there shall be no End: Because it fhall at last (when

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