062. Sermon XVII: Ephesians 2:6
SERMON XVII And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.—Ephesians 2:6. For the opening of these words, I endeavoured to shew two things the last discourse, and spent most of the time in clearing the difficulties of the text.
1. That the resurrection here mentioned is distinct from that of quickening, and referreth to that great benefit which at the latter day shall be communicated to us.
2. How that all these are said to be already done in Christ.
These were indeed but generals to the words. I shall now speak something to each particular, for the opening of them.
There are, you see here, two degrees of our exaltation in the world to come:—
1. Our rising again.
2. Our sitting in heavenly places. And the one is the preparation to the other. And herein there are to be considered—
I. The things themselves; ‘raised up,’ and ‘sitting in heavenly places.’
II. The adjuncts of them. As—
1. That both these are said to be done already; ‘He hath raised us up:’ and, ‘He hath made us sit in heavenly places.’
2. That we are ‘raised together,’ and ‘sit together.’ And—
3. ‘In Christ Jesus.’
III. The greatness of this mercy, and love of God in both these. To shew forth which is indeed the Apostle’s scope, both in the words before,—the exceeding greatness of his love towards us, in quickening us, in raising us, in setting us in heavenly places in Christ,—and in the words that follow, at the 7th verse, ‘to shew forth the exceeding riches of his grace.’
I shall begin to speak to the first, the things themselves; raised up, and sitting in heavenly places. When I opened the words before, I told you that all that God bestows upon us, both of grace and glory, is but life, opposed here to death. For Jesus Christ is appointed to be our life. Now of this life there are several degrees, several parts of it more eminent. The one is that of quickening; the other the resurrection and union of soul and body at the latter day. And the last is the sitting in heavenly places. So that indeed that life which God intends to bestow upon us, you see it is perfected by degrees. He begins with dealing with the soul here in a way of quickening; and then he doth raise the body. And this of the soul, it is the pawn of the other: as Tertullian saith, by the quickening of our souls, our bodies are also inaugurated into that resurrection which is in the world to come. My brethren, when the Spirit first comes to dwell in our hearts, he maketh our bodies his temple, as well as he doth our soul. You have it in 1 Corinthians 6:19, where our body is called the temple of the Holy Ghost, and there he is said to dwell. Now wherever God dwells, he hath taken up his seat to dwell for ever; he will never be put out of possession. The Godhead dwelling in our Saviour Christ’s body, as he saith, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again;’ now the same Spirit dwelling in us that dwelt in Christ, and our bodies being likewise made the temples of the Holy Ghost, hence therefore—though we owe a debt to that great statute that came forth, that it is appointed for all men to die—yet we are raised up again. The second thing you may observe is this: that the Apostle passeth by that happiness which the soul hath between our death and resurrection. He doth not mention that, you see; but next to that of quickening the soul, he mentions the resurrection of the whole man. Not that there is not a happiness and a blessedness of the soul; either that the soul should die, or that the soul should sleep. No, the New Testament is so clear for it, as for nothing more. ‘To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.’ The poor thief desired Christ to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Now Jesus Christ was to possess his kingdom when ascended, and he shall possess it fully at latter day. Why, saith Christ, I will remember thee before I come into my kingdom; that is a long while thither. I will remember thee this day, and thou shalt be with me in that Paradise which my soul—for he expresseth the state of souls—is going to. And I take it also that in 2 Corinthians 12, the raptures of Paul into the third heavens, and into Paradise, are two distinct things. He was caught up to see and view that happiness which in the utmost top of heaven the saints can enjoy, and because he might think much to stay so long, therefore he was permitted to see also what in the meantime the souls enjoy, and so was carried into Paradise, the place where Jesus Christ’s soul was until his resurrection, which is also heaven; as 2 Corinthians 5 throughout doth shew. But you see here that the Apostle passeth by that, and pitcheth upon the resurrection of the body. And the reasons why he doth so, I take it, are these:—
First, Because that of the soul is comprehended under quickening. For all that Christ shall do upon the soul singly is here by a synecdoche expressed by that word. What he shall do in uniting soul and body, that comes under ‘raising us up in Christ;’ and the glory which he will put upon both, comes under ‘sitting in heavenly places.’ Now therefore, because it is but upon the soul, which is but a part of a man, which is the chief thing that is quickened in sight; therefore here he doth not mention that. But indeed the greater reason of the two is this: because the resurrection of the body is the great point and principle of Christianity. The heathens, they would easily be persuaded of a Paradise, and of a comfort which the souls enjoyed, which they thought to be immortal; but the resurrection they generally denied. So did many of the Jews, as you know the Sadducees did. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, it is one character, the description of heathens, and their doctrine that they mourn for those that are dead, without any hope of the resurrection. So that one that hath no hope of the resurrection is all one with a heathen. And, 1 Thessalonians 4:14 of that chapter, the Apostle makes this the common principle of all Christianity. ‘If we believe,’ saith he, ‘that Jesus died and rose again,’ then we believe also ‘that them who sleep in Jesus God will bring with him;’ the meaning whereof is this: we, all Christians, believe this, we take it for granted, we are no Christians else. I say, this is one great point of Christianity, which therefore the Apostles, wherever they came, still preached both to Jews and Gentiles. To the Jews, in the very beginning of the church, in Acts 2:24. And to the Gentiles; so Paul in Acts 17:18, at his coming to Athens, preached to them the resurrection. For it is a fundamental point. Therefore, in 2 Timothy 2:17, it is made an evidence of damnation to deny the resurrection; and said to be an overthrowing the faith: insomuch that he is fain to put a ‘nevertheless, in the words after. ‘Nevertheless,’ saith he, ‘God knows who are his,’ and so he will—though these fall away and overthrow the faith thus—keep his elect. And in 1 Corinthians 15:2, in which chapter he speaks of the resurrection of Christ, and of ours in the whole chapter afterwards, these things, saith he, we preach to you, ‘by which also you are saved:’ you cannot be saved without believing them, take it in the influence the contrary doctrine hath upon the soul now under the gospel. But then the chief reason of all is this. Because that the resurrection is the great preparation and beginning of that world to come; of that new state, and alteration, and qualification, and fitting of the whole man for that glory which God raiseth us up unto. It is the beginning, as I may so speak, of that new world. You shall find therefore this reason given, in 1 Corinthians 15:53-54, why there must be a resurrection. ‘For,’ saith he, ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;’ therefore, saith he, those that do not die must have something analogous to the resurrection; they must all be changed. ‘Behold,’ saith he, ‘I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed; for this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality.’ We cannot possess heaven else. You have the same in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, where he tells you the story of the other world from first to last; and he saith that before such time as we go to meet the Lord, and to be for ever with him, we must either rise again, or those that do not rise again must be changed; which is the very same that he saith in that 1 Corinthians 15.
And, lastly, there is a greater degree of glory, infinitely greater, to what the soul hath now in being with Christ; so much greater, that the apostles generally slip that by—though there be some few places that hold forth that glory in the meantime—when they speak of the glory to come, and usually tell us rather of the glory of the resurrection, and of the reward that shall be at the resurrection, because comparatively to that all that the soul receiveth before is exceedingly small. You shall see the Scripture abundant in it. 1 Peter 1:4, ‘To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you;’ it follows, ‘ready to be revealed in the last time.’ John 6:40, when Christ promised life and happiness upon believing, ‘He that believeth shall have everlasting life,’ he adds, ‘and I will raise him up at the last day.’ Luke 14:14, ‘Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.’ And in John 5:29, it is called the resurrection of life, as if that life did but then begin. Nay, in John 6:39, Christ speaks as if we were lost if we should not be raised again. Do but mark his words: ‘This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.’ So that although the soul be in happiness before, and therefore styled ‘the spirits of just men made perfect,’ yet notwithstanding that is reckoned as nothing in comparison, because of that excess of glory which shall be when body and soul shall both meet together; which will infinitely transcend all that was before. For then Jesus Christ ‘shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,’ as if they had seen no glory before, 2 Thessalonians 1:10. And therefore because the resurrection is that time wherein there shall be such an eminent excess of glory, it is called, in Hebrews 11, ‘a better resurrection,’ a resurrection in meliorem statum, to a better condition. The third thing I would have you observe is this, that we are said to be now raised. He hath raised us, saith he, and he hath made us sit together in heavenly places. For as before God, and as in his view, we are so. There were those that did teach that the resurrection was past, as in 2 Timothy 2:18, which Paul there makes a damnable heresy; but although it is not past, yet to God it is as if it were; and he vieweth us as now raised and as now sitting in heavenly places, though we are in the midst of our sins. In Matthew 22:31, where Christ argues for the resurrection, ‘Have ye not read,’ saith he, ‘that which was spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.’ He is the God of the living, saith he, and therefore they are reckoned as alive; for so doth Luke interpret it, in Luke 20:38, adding this, ‘for all live unto him;’ the meaning whereof is this, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob do all now live unto God. In Romans 8:10, it is said that the body is dead by reason of sin, but the spirit is life by reason of righteousness: that is, in respect of what is in the view of God, unto whom all things to come are present.
Fourthly, We are said to be raised in Christ. I must speak a word or two to that, for ‘in Christ’ must refer to ‘raised us up,’ as well as to ‘made us sit in heavenly places.’ Now we are said to be raised in Christ, in respect—
First, that he is the cause of our resurrection. He is— The efficient cause. The meritorious cause. The exemplary cause.
1. He is the efficient cause, for he putteth his Spirit into us. But I will not stand to open that now.
2. He is the meritorious cause, for by his death he merited our resurrection. By his death he did merit his own resurrection; for though he had a right to rise as he was the Son of God, yet he had a right likewise by virtue of his own blood and death. So you have it in Hebrews 13:20, ‘The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.’ Do but mark; it is an allusion to that in Zechariah, ‘By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit,’ that is, out of the grave: and as God delivers prisoners, so he delivers Christ himself; for that you shall find in Scripture, that what is said of Christ is applied to his church, and what is said of the church is applied unto Christ. As therefore his prisoners were brought back from the dead by the blood of the covenant, so here—the Apostle alluding to that—Christ’s being brought back from the dead is said to be the purchase of his own blood. He was brought back, saith he, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now then, if Christ himself was brought back from the dead through the blood of the covenant, certainly we much more are brought back again from the dead through the blood of the covenant. Therefore you shall find that our resurrection is ascribed as well to the death of Christ as to his resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4:14, ‘If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him;’ or, as the word is in the original, ‘He will bring them that sleep, through Jesus, with him:’ for so indeed it is in the Greek; therefore Chrysostom refers it, as well to the words that follow, as to sleeping in Jesus.
3. He is likewise the exemplary cause of our resurrection. That, look what state his body and soul were in when he rose again, what spiritual and heavenly qualifications were in him, the same likewise shall be in his. And therefore we are said to be raised up in Christ, because we have the same endowments put upon us which Jesus Christ’s body and soul had. You have this expressly in 1 Corinthians 15:47. Speaking of the resurrection, saith he, ‘The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.’ Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is
Colossians 1:18, he is called ‘the beginning, the first-born from the dead.’ He is called the beginning, to shew that he is the cause, the meritorious cause, and the efficient cause, of all the glory the saints have, and of all the glory they shall have. But then, besides being the cause, and the beginning, and the foundation, he is also called the first-born from the dead. Now, the first-born and all the children that followed were alike. It argues therefore that Jesus Christ was the exemplary cause; that look, what state he had after his resurrection, the same shall we have. But that is not all. The first-born of the males that opened the womb were consecrated and dedicated unto God, and they were to pay a ransom, which was for all the children that followed, and then they were all freed by virtue of that ransom that was paid for the first-born; so that the first-born, according to the old law, did represent all the children that followed. So now doth Jesus Christ; he is called the first-born from the dead, for when he opened the womb of the grave and came forth, we were all freed too, by virtue of the ransom which he paid, and then the bars of the grave were broken open too, for us in him. And to give you another similitude, which is an elegant one. In 1 Corinthians 15:23, the Apostle giving us there an account why we rise, saith he, ‘Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming.’ And, 1 Corinthians 15:20, ‘Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that sleep.’ This the Apostle sets out by an elegant similitude, which I shall a little open to you, to shew you that it hath this scope that I now mention. For you shall find, at the 37th verse, that he compares our dying and our rising again to a grain of corn that is sown in the earth, which cometh up out of the ground again. ‘Thou fool,’ saith he, ‘that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain.’ And our Saviour Christ himself, in John 12:24, speaking of his own death and rising again, useth the same similitude: ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ Therefore, saith he, the Son of man must die and rise again, that he may bring forth fruit. Now mark it; if you have recourse to the old law, you shall find that the first-fruits of the grain that was sown and came up again were consecrated unto the Lord, and by virtue of that consecration all the corn that stood upon the ground unreaped was consecrated too, and dedicated to a holy use, and therefore men might then enter upon the use of it.
Now, of all the grains that shall be sown of the bodies of men, there is fruit to come up at the resurrection; but of them all Jesus Christ was the first-fruits: as he was the first-born from the dead, so he was the first-fruits of the rising of all these grains that fall into the earth. And he is the first-fruits in this respect, that whilst he riseth, they all that are sown in the ground, or shall be sown,—for a common person may represent those to come,—are also said to rise; they are all consecrated to that state, even as waving and offering the first-fruits to the Lord, all the corn that stood upon the ground unreaped was also consecrated. You shall find this metaphor used also in Isaiah 26:19, ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.’ I bring the place but for this, to shew that the Scripture useth the metaphor of the fruits rising out of the ground to express the resurrection; and the elegancy of it, that the Apostle calleth Christ the first-fruits, because he representeth all the rest, and they all rise in him. And therefore, in 1 Corinthians 15, towards the latter end, when he had spoken of Christ’s and of our resurrection, he endeth all with a thanks unto God: ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? &c. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The victory is given already, and we can by faith, saith he, triumph over the grave and hell and death already; ‘which giveth us victory,’ saith he.
And, my brethren, because that Christ and we are one, he as a common person representing us,—it is a notion that will help you to understand the quotations of Scripture out of the Old Testament and the New,—therefore you shall find that what is applied to the church is likewise in the New Testament applied unto Christ. As, for example, in Isaiah 1:8, ‘It is God that justifieth, who shall condemn?’ This is the speech of Christ there. Look now into Romans 8:32, and the Apostle applies the very speech to all the elect. Why? Because Christ and the church are one, and he represented them. On the other side, promises made to the church, because they were first true of Christ as the first-fruits, therefore in the New Testament, they are applied unto him; as in Hosea 11:1, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son.’ It was spoken there of the church, but because the deliverance out of Egypt was by virtue of Christ being delivered out of Egypt himself, therefore in Matthew 2:15 it is applied unto Christ. So in Hebrews 13, the place I quoted even now, ‘He brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, through the blood of the everlasting covenant;’ this in Zechariah 9:11 is applied to the church: ‘By the blood of the covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.’ And yet you see this is applied to the resurrection of Christ; because that Christ in his resurrection was one with his church, and the prisoners of hope in Zechariah were delivered by that blood by which Jesus Christ himself was brought again from the dead also. So also that place, in Hosea 6:2-3, ‘After two days he will revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.’ This, though it is spoken of the church, yet still it hath an allusion unto, because a conjunction with, the resurrection of Christ; and because that Christ and they are as one, and he is a common person representing them, therefore that which is applied to Christ is applied to the church too. So that, in Isaiah 26:19, ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they rise.’ All these, I say, are mutually applicable to Christ and to the church both. And this is a great key for you to understand many of those places which the Apostles quote out of the Old Testament, which otherwise, if you take them in their context, you will hardly make them out that they are directly spoken of Christ; but when it is spoken of the church, who is one with Christ, and to whom Christ was the first-fruits, therefore what is said of the church is more eminently fulfilled in Christ, because it is said of the church by virtue of being first done in Christ.—So much concerning this, that they are ‘raised together in Christ.’
I might also urge it out of 1 Thessalonians 4:14. The Apostle there doth take it for granted that all Christians believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again; if you believe that, saith he, then he infers this connexion from it infallibly: ‘God shall bring those that sleep, through Jesus, with him;’ or, ‘through Jesus. God shall bring those that sleep, with him.’ For indeed they all died with him and rose with him; therefore when he shall come again in glory, they shall be brought with him: for he is made the Captain of their salvation in bringing many sons to glory, and the common person representing them all. There lies therefore the inference of it; Jesus Christ is our head, and he died and rose again; therefore we are said to be ‘raised in him.’
I will add but one thing more for the full opening of this clause, and that is this: that of the elect only, and of those that are quickened and are believers, it can be said that they are raised up together in Christ. For you see here that the great mercy and love of God is shewn in quickening and in raising us up together in Christ. Wicked men are not raised up upon those terms or grounds that the saints shall be raised up by. They are not raised up in Christ. Wicked men rise indeed, but they do not rise by virtue, first, of the merit of Christ’s death; it is not by the blood of the everlasting covenant. And the reason is clearly this, because the purchase of Christ’s merits must needs be mercy, but to raise wicked men up at the latter day, it is to punishment: ‘They that have done good,’ saith he, in John 5:29, ‘shall rise to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.’ And it is certain, that whatever mercy God shews to wicked men here through Christ,—as indeed he doth, for all mercy must be through him, for his sake, for he bought the world of God,—they shall be sure to have none at latter day. Therefore their resurrection is not by virtue of his death. And the similitude of the first-fruits, and of the first-born, evidently argues that as they do not rise by virtue of Christ’s merits, so they do not rise in him as a common person representing them. For the first-fruits did not consecrate the chaff, but the grain, that is of its own kind. Now Christ, as I shewed, is made the first-fruits of them that sleep. The place is clear in 1 Corinthians 15:20, ‘Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that sleep.’ What, of all? Read 1 Corinthians 15:23 : they shall all rise, ‘but every one in his order; Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ’s.’ So that he rose as the first-fruits only to them that are his and are one with him. And by the way, this will open another scripture too. It will be objected, ‘that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive;’ and you know it is often objected that Christ and Adam are both universal; the one to all men in respect of conveying sin, and the other dies for all. So that some would have it that in Jesus Christ all men rise, because the Apostle useth the expression as large of the one as of the other. But what all? All that are his, so 1 Corinthians 15:23 hath it. As all that are Adam’s die in Adam, so all that are Christ’s rise in Christ. And this also will help you to understand that place in Romans 5 which is objected for the universality of Christ’s death.
It is much for the consolation of the faithful that they are raised upon other terms, that they are raised with Christ, and in Christ. The other indeed, they are raised by the power of Christ, that I must acknowledge; for that place in John 5 is express for it: ‘The hour is coming,’ saith he, John 5:28, ‘in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation.’ So that you see that both good and bad are raised up by the power of Christ; but yet, mark it, not by the power of Christ as Mediator, but by the power of Christ as Judge; for he had said, John 5:22, that the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And hence now, in Acts 17:31, Paul tells us that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof, saith he, he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. My brethren, if you could suppose that Christ had not been, it was necessary that men should be raised again to come to judgment; for the threatening was given out, that man should die, body and soul; and if he must have a death of the body first, it necessarily argues that there must be a resurrection, if a judgment. Now Christ, he is appointed the man to judge, and all judgment is committed unto him; and hence, by virtue of this judicial power that is committed unto him, he raiseth them; he brings them out of prison indeed, but it is as you bring malefactors out of prison, to be condemned, and then executed; and they are not raised in Christ: he hath raised us up together in Christ, saith he. So much now for that first part of the text. I come to the second:— And hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That you may understand both the phrase and the thing, I will open first the word sit. The Apostle had used it of Christ, Ephesians 1:20 : he hath ‘set him at his own right hand in heavenly places.’ It noted out there the advancement of Jesus Christ to that glory and happiness which he hath in heaven at God’s right hand; and it must needs imply as much done for us, only here he leaves out ‘at God’s right hand,’ and the reason you shall see anon. It is as much as to make us partakers of the same kingly state, of all the same pleasures and honours and power and glory of this kingdom, which Jesus Christ himself possesseth. The raising up is but the fitting of the body with those heavenly properties such as Jesus Christ had, that he might be fit for the glory and pleasure of heaven, as I shewed you out of 1 Corinthians 15. Now when he hath put such endowments upon the body at the resurrection, then he placeth them in the midst of that glory and those pleasures which. Christ is in; and look, what seats of glory he runs through they shall run through too, and be partakers of. In a word it is thus: Jesus Christ is the king of the other world, and you all shall be nobles of that world, of that kingdom, and sit together with him; even as it is said of Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:8, ‘Thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee.’ For so indeed in the great Sanhedrim, in the meetings of the high priest and the other priests, they sat in a ring, and so they sat all before him, but yet they sat all with him. This is a type, and was a type of Jesus Christ and his fellows, as they are called in Psalms 45, and that in respect of glory, they being partakers of the same kingdom with him. And in that place of Zechariah he saith that these men that sat before Joshua the high priest were ‘men of wonder,’ or ‘men of signs,’ as I shall shew you by and by. The word is taken for being types and signs, as for being men wondered at, though our translation seems rather to incline that way; but, I say, it holds forth as well the other, for Joshua and all those priests that sat before him were all but types of our great High Priest that sits in heaven, and of all that sit there with him. As it was thus typified out in the Old Testament, so you shall find in the Evangelists that when the kingdom of heaven is spoken of, still this expression of sitting is mentioned. So that ‘sitting in heavenly places’ is to be partakers, as nobles, together with Christ, of all the honour, glory, and pleasure that that kingdom affords. In Matthew 20:21, you have the expression, ‘Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom.’ Christ doth not deny there but that there are such sittings and such advancement in his kingdom, but only it belonged to somebody else than to these two. I quote the place only to shew you that the phrase of sitting is there. You have it likewise in Matthew 18:11, ‘Many shall come from the east and west,’—from all quarters of the world,—‘and shall sit down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.’ So that it is a sitting, as kings and nobles, together with Christ in the kingdom of heaven. So in Luke 22:29, ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;’ and what follows? You shall ‘sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ And to give you one place more for it that suiteth this phrase, for that is it I am to open, Revelation 3:21, ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.’ So as indeed, my brethren, it is all one to be partakers of that kingdom Jesus Christ is advanced unto, to be heirs, and to be co-heirs with him.
Now if you would know more particularly what this phrase ‘sitting’ doth imply; you see it implies a kingdom, and in that kingdom it implies these things:—
First, It implies the pleasures of that kingdom. My brethren, heavenly things are usually expressed to us by earthly, as you see this phrase of sitting is from what is used upon earth. Now it is familiar in the Old Testament, and in the New, that follows the language of the Old, to express the pleasures of heaven by sitting at a table, to banquet it with the great king that maketh that feast. So in that Luke 22:29, ‘That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom.’ And in Matthew 8:11, when Christ would express the pleasures of heaven in the language of the Old Testament, he saith, ‘They shall sit down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob;’ as being the chief guests that were known in the Old Testament. Therefore heaven is called Abraham’s bosom. For as when Christ sat at meat, John, who was the chief guest, leaned upon his breast, or lay in his bosom; so the pleasures of heaven are set forth by an allusion to that custom which was then amongst the Jews. For the fashion was, when Christ was upon the earth, to sit at meat in a leaning way, and the custom of the Romans made it more general among the Jews; although, indeed, the more ancient custom was sitting, as appears in Genesis 43:33, where it is said that Joseph’s brethren sat before him at meat. And you shall see the manner of their sitting at the king’s table in 1 Samuel 20:25, where it is said that Saul sat upon a seat by the wall, and there was room for all the nobles; there was Jonathan and Abner sat by the king’s side, and David’s place was empty, it was reserved for him; and, saith the 24th verse, they sat down to eat meat. And some have interpreted that in Song of Solomon 1:12, ‘while the king sitteth at his table;’ the word in the original is, ‘while he sitteth at his round table,’ because he doth not sit alone, as Saul did not, but he hath seats for all his nobles round about him, as the manner of the ancient kings was, that those whom they would honour sat at table with them; so David offered Barzillai that honour and pleasure to sit at the king’s table. The meaning of all is this, that they shall enjoy all the pleasures that heaven affords; for by sitting at a feast, because it is that which men usually place happiness in, is that meant. Therefore in Isaiah 25:6, the pleasures after the resurrection are expressed by ‘a feast of fat things, and of wine on the lees.’ And it is clear he speaks of the state after the resurrection, for the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:55 quoteth the words in Isaiah 25 of death being swallowed up in victory. Hence the poets set forth the pleasures of heaven by nectar and ambrosia, which was but an imitation of the Jewish and Scripture language. The same our Saviour Christ useth in the New Testament, in Matthew 26:29, upon occasion of the sacrament, where they all sat, and he had given them his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, and given it them under the blood of the grape; saith he, ‘I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ Christ being now to part with his fellows and companions, which had now eaten and drunk with him, he speaks, after the manner of men, of the next happy and joyful meeting they should have. I must part with you now, saith he, and must drink no more of this blood of the grape; but we will feast it in another manner when we meet next, we will drink new wine in my Father’s kingdom (just the language of the Old Testament); and he calls it new wine, not that there is any such thing in heaven, for the phrase implies that it was another thing he meant, it was fulness of pleasures at God’s right hand, rivers of pleasures, of which they were to drink for evermore. He calls it new wine, because it was wine of another kind. The Jews always called what was most excellent, new; and therefore when they would express the heavenly and spiritual Jerusalem as different from the material upon earth, they called it the new Jerusalem. So saith he, new wine, implying it was another kind of wine. And therefore we need not have recourse for the interpreting of that place to his drinking with his disciples after his resurrection, for it is clearly meant of his drinking with them in heaven, after he hath delivered up the kingdom to God the Father; for we shall sit in heaven then and enjoy this new wine, which is the Holy Ghost filling us with the Godhead,—that is, filling us with pleasures and blessedness that are in God himself.
Here then is one thing that sitting in heavenly places doth imply; it is enjoying the same pleasure and happiness that our Lord and Saviour Christ himself doth. My brethren, you know that God doth sometimes make his children partakers of heaven here, filleth them with joy unspeakable and glorious, which indeed is but a taste of that glory which is to come; it is a having us into the wine-cellar, and giving us somewhat of what we shall have hereafter; it is called in the Revelations, a coming to us to sup with us. Now, alas! what is all the joy you have here? It is but a crumb from the king’s table, a bit from off a dish, in comparison of what we shall have in heaven. I allege all this to open the phrase sitting, as implying the pleasures of that kingdom; ‘he hath made us sit together in heavenly places.’
Secondly, It implies not sitting only, as at a table, but it imports also the honour and the power of that kingdom; that we are all fellow-nobles with Jesus Christ, and sit also as judges upon thrones. This you have in Luke 22:30, You shall ‘sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ And, Revelation 3, ‘I will grant them to sit upon my throne.’ And therefore, you know, the mother of Zebedee’s children, knowing that Christ’s kingdom would be the highest kingdom that ever was, asked that one of her sons might sit at the right hand, and the other on the left, in his kingdom, to be partakers of that honour and power that Jesus Christ himself hath, for she knew it to be the highest honour.
Thirdly, The word ‘sitting’ importeth also a secure and a firm condition; you shall sit, and sit sure. In Revelation 18:7, when Babylon is at her height, and is secure, what saith she? ‘I sit as a queen,’—that is, I am secure, it is impossible that I should ever be moved. I allege it to open the phrase. My brethren, man in innocency did but stand, and he got a fall, he did not sit sure. ‘Man that standeth in honour abideth not.’ But in heaven you sit, and you sit in Christ; so sure you sit, you have the surest seat, the seat must fall if you full. You sit in Christ now for sureness; when you come thither, you shall sit with Christ, in God indeed, as the phrase is in Colossians 3:2-3. Sitting, I say, implies the firmness of all this, and the stability of those pleasures and of that honour and power you shall have.
Fourthly, It imports rest after labour and weariness. In John 4:6, when Jesus Christ was wearied with his journey, the text saith he sat on the well. And, Revelation 14:13, ‘Blessed are the dead, for from henceforth they rest from their labours.’ And, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, ‘To recompense to you who are troubled, rest with us.’ We do not read of the sitting of the angels in heaven: we read of their principalities and powers in heavenly places; but they are still presented as standing, and as ministering spirits; it may be for this reason, because sitting implies rest after weariness, but I rather think because there is an advancement of the saints in Christ above them. It implies, I say, rest after weariness; for as sitting imports reigning with Christ, as before, so it is reigning after suffering. ‘If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him;’ that is, we shall sit with him. ‘To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit,’ Revelation 3:21.
Lastly, It will import also, at leastwise it is not against, degrees of glory in heaven. Even as here, in a higher house of state, though all sit as peers together with the king, yet there are degrees and ranks of nobles. The apostles shall have twelve thrones; it is made their privilege more eminently, though all sit in his throne, as Revelation 3 hath it. The mother of Zebedee’s children came and asked that one might sit on Christ’s right hand, and another on his left; for in old Israel the next seat to the prince was for the elders of the tribe of Judah and of the tribe of Joseph, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, and those were the more honourable places. Now, Christ doth not deny but there shall be a right hand and a left, but not reserved for those two sons; it may be for Peter and Paul. You ask, saith he, you know not what. It is not that they asked that which was not to be in heaven, but that which follows shews the meaning of it: saith he, If ye knew what sufferings they must have that are to sit there, you would not have asked it. ‘Can you drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I shall be baptized with?’ For as there are degrees of glory, so it shall be proportioned in most likelihood to the degrees of suffering for Christ here. Thus again, that other speech, ‘They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ imports these degrees. Why with Abraham, &c.? They were the chief guests of all the saints in the Old Testament; but when all the elect shall meet together, who shall be the chief guests, next to Jesus Christ, we know not. And that all are said to sit in Christ, it hinders not but that there may be these degrees; for they sit there now in Christ, as represented by him,—namely, in that proportion of glory they shall have. As when Christ hung upon the cross, look what portion of wrath any particular elect child of his deserved from God for their sins, Christ bore it for them; but it must not be said that he bore alike for every one, but according to that proportion that he in his sufferings represented them for. The next thing to be explained is this, in heavenly places, or, in heavenlies; for places is not in the Greek, but it is inserted by our translators. It imports these things—
First, The place of this kingdom, it is heaven; for you know that heaven is called the throne of the great king, Matthew 5:34, and Matthew 23:22. And there Christ’s throne is, and earth is but his footstool. Therefore now to shew you the place of this kingdom, he saith, ‘in heavenlies.’ In Ephesians 3:10, angels are called principalities and powers in heavenly places, because that heaven is the place which they belong to, whereof they are peers; and as there are degrees amongst the angels, there are principalities and powers, so there are also in these heavenlies; I only cast that in to confirm the former. The place, I say, is heaven; there is his throne, and the footstool of this great king is the earth, and all the glory of the earth is trampled under his feet. What is heaven then? I think it is the meaning of that in Hebrews 11:16, where speaking of Abraham and the rest of those worthies, when it is said they desired a better country, he adds, ‘that is, a heavenly,’ and that therefore ‘God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a city.’ Had they had no other happiness and blessedness than here below, God being so great a God would have been ashamed that his children should have no better condition; but he had provided a city for them; therefore he is not ashamed to be called their God, because he had prepared so great a happiness for them, a happiness like to that himself enjoys, and such as was fit for the children of so great a king. My brethren, it is for God’s honour to make infinite happiness there; and for him that is so great to profess and promise so great entertainment there, and when we come, not to have it, would cause shame. ‘In my Father’s house,’ saith Christ, ‘are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you;’ for I would not shame myself when you come thither.
Secondly, As the word ‘sitting’ implies power and pleasure, so this word ‘heavenly’ argues the kind of power and pleasure which we shall enjoy. As it is a sitting as at a feast, to note the pleasure, and upon thrones, to import the power; so, saith he, understand it rightly, it is all heavenly. Therefore in 2 Timothy 4:18, it is called his heavenly kingdom; heavenly, that is, a better, infinitely better, than what is here below, as Hebrews 11:16. But you will ask me, Why is it heavenlies, in the plural number?
I observe this, in the New Testament, when the heaven of heavens is spoken of, it is seldom called heaven in the singular number in the Greek, but heavens, as here. And that—
1. In regard of the eminent excellency thereof. The Jews were wont, as Grotius observes, when they spoke of the heaven of heavens, to silence the first, and to use the latter expression only, heavens, or heavenlies, as here, as not else knowing how to express the excellency thereof. And so still, as that place, namely, the heaven of heavens, is spoken of, the first is silenced, and it is called heavens. I could give yon a multitude of places for it. But—
2. After the resurrection there is a sitting in two sorts of heavenlies. For, first, when Jesus Christ comes to judgment, he will bring heaven down with him. Even as at the Earl of Strafford’s trial, the Parliament was removed from the usual place unto Westminster Hall, and the nobles and House of Commons all met in that made parliament-house, and it was the parliament-house, and in all the state of it. You shall sit, saith he,—that is, during the day of judgment,—upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes. There is no judging after the day of judgment; therefore the glory that accompanieth presently after the resurrection, before we go to the heaven of heavens, is heavenly. Jesus Christ cometh in the glory of the Father, and, as I said, brings heaven down with him. And then there are heavenlies afterwards; we shall sit in the third heavens, whither Paul was rapt. And sure there are varieties of these glories—that is another reason too—and of good things there. Wicked men, for their great sins, deserve a thousand hells; so the saints, if we may so express it, shall have a thousand heavens; they sit in the midst of heavenlies. Therefore whatever things are useful and delightful, heaven is set out to us by them. Here the allusion, you see, is to sitting; it is likewise compared to walking, to walking in shades, and woods, and pleasant places. Zechariah 3:7, ‘If thou wilt keep my charge,’ saith he to Joshua and his fellows, ‘I will give thee walks;’ it is to shew the variety. It is likewise compared to a house, and when so, he speaks in the plural, You shall have houses enough; saith Christ, ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions;’ still in the plural, as noting the copiousness and abundance to each saint. Some allege that place to prove several degrees in glory; but that was not pertinent to Christ’s scope, which was to assure them all universally, and every one of them, of the greatness of that glory to come; all shall have so much as that none shall envy another. Non notat disparitatem hæreditatis, sed magnitudinem et amplitudinem, quæ tanta est ut sit
[86] Camer., tom. ii., p. 326, in locum. But then, you see, our translators have put in the word ‘places,’ but it is not in the Greek, it is there only ‘heavenlies;’ but this was taken in to answer the phrase of ‘sitting;’ because we are said to sit, therefore they have made up the sense, and added ‘places.’ But, my brethren, it is not to be understood only of places, or dignities, or thrones, but that we are set in the midst of heavenly things; ‘in heavenlies,’ saith he. Even as earth is one thing, and earthly things another; so heaven is one thing, and heavenly things another. You shall find the phrase used of all the things in heaven, be they what they will, in Hebrews 8:5; ‘who serve,’ saith he, ‘unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.’ All the things of the gospel are called
Obs. 1.—That all your places, and what happiness you shall have in heaven, are ready for you. That is clear and plain out of the text, for you are said to sit now in heavenly places in Christ. It may be these observations would have come in better afterwards, but being mentioned, I will go on with them now. In 2 Corinthians 5:1, ‘We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, eternal in the heavens.’ He speaks in the present tense: It is ready for me, saith he, if my soul were out of my body. I told you before, out of 1 Samuel 20, that it was the manner when the king sat at meat, every nobleman had his seat; and if he came not, no man took up his place, his seat was empty; for it is said that David’s seat was empty: the place, according to every man’s rank, was left empty. We do now sit in heavenly places in Christ, all our places are made ready, and they do but wait till the souls of men come thither, and till the latter day. Therefore, in 1 Peter 1, he saith, ‘We are begotten to an inheritance immortal,’ &c., ‘reserved in heaven for us, ready to be revealed.’ It is kept for you, your places shall never be taken over your heads, and are ready; there you sit, and Jesus Christ possesseth them till you come thither; you sit in Christ now, and when you come thither, you shall sit with Christ.
Obs. 2.—You see that we are all here upon earth but strangers. He saith, we now sit in heaven in Christ, our places are there. ‘They confessed themselves strangers,’ Hebrews 11:13, although they had a land promised them here. There is a house of peers, a kingdom there, and the places are made ready for them; and thou that art a believer and art quickened together with Christ, all the while thou livest here thou art out of thy place; even as if a star should be fixed here in the earth, it is out of its place. As it is said of Judas that when he died he went to his own place; hell was his place; though he lived and walked here, he was a stranger upon earth. Wicked men are so, they shall not live here in this world; though they carry the world before them, their place is hell. So our place is heaven, and there our places are all prepared for us. Saith the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:6, ‘Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord,’—
Obs. 3.—And then, thirdly, that we are said to be set in heavenlies now with Christ, it argues the number of the elect is set; they are all before God, he hath appointed all the places that are there. As he knows the number of the stars that are in the heavens, so he knows the number of all those stars that shall fill up that heaven above. I will not stand to enlarge upon these things.
There are yet two other phrases to be opened; that is, in Christ Jesus, and together. I shall speak something to each of these, and so end. In Christ Jesus.—When the Old Testament did express heaven to us, or the New in the language of the Old, when the Old was in force, it doth express it thus, ‘to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;’ or else you shall have walks with them that stand by, you shall have the happiness that the angels have. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these were the chief guests. But now, when the New Testament comes to be opened, then it is, ‘sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ Sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why? Because God made the clearest promise unto Abraham that ever he made afterwards to any man in the Old Testament. ‘I will be thy great reward,’ saith he; that is, I will be thy heaven: and you know that God is all in all, that is the highest expression. And, Genesis 15:15, thou shalt go in (or, into) peace, and be gathered to thy fathers; expressing the state of soul and body after this life till the resurrection. And Christ used the phrase of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because the Jews would not so much as eat with the Gentiles. Why, saith he, the Gentiles shall come from the east and west, and sit down with your fathers, seeing you will not come in to me.
Now we are said to sit in Christ; they in the Old Testament were never said to sit down with Abraham, for Abraham did not represent them in heaven; but now we, till we shall enjoy heaven personally, and sit down there with Christ, we are in the meantime set down in Christ. In Christ,—I may run over all that I said before,—as the efficient cause of our coming thither. It is the law of nations that foreigners cannot inherit till they are naturalised; no more could we, till he that was of our kindred and nature was naturalised to heaven, as indeed he is, for it is his natural place, he is the Lord from heaven. He is the cause, I say, of our coming thither; mankind, I think, had never come there else. In Christ, secondly, as the exemplary cause. We shall have the same glory that he hath. ‘As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly,’ 1 Corinthians 15:48. My brethren, what can you desire more, than to have the same glory that Christ hath? John 17:22, ‘The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.’ And, Revelation 3:21, ‘They shall sit with me in my throne.’ It is not only, where I am, there they shall be also, but they shall have the same glory I have; they shall sit like nobles, sit about me, even as I am set with my Father in his throne. Only with this difference, when the Apostle had spoken of Christ’s sitting in heavenly places, in Ephesians 1:20, he expresseth it thus, ‘He hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places;’ there he is ‘at his own right hand.’ But when he comes to make the reddition in this chapter, of what we are in Christ and through Christ, he leaves out, ‘his own right hand.’ No; ‘To which of all the angels said he, Sit thou at God’s right hand?’ Or to which of all the saints? Yet notwithstanding, he as a king, and we as nobles and fellows with him, and co-heirs of the same kingdom with him, shall have the same glory and the same pleasures. As God will be all in all to the human nature of Christ, so he will be to us; we shall have the same glory that Christ hath, for the kind of it, though not for the degree. 1 John 3:2, ‘When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.’ This is it that makes heaven heaven, that you sit together with Christ, that you have his company, that he is the cause and the example of all your happiness. Therefore the Apostle, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18, when he would have them ‘comfort one another with these words,’ what were they? ‘And so,’ saith he, ‘we shall ever be with the Lord;’ for it is he that makes heaven. We sit in Christ now, and we shall sit with Christ then, or else sitting in heavenlies alone would not make us happy.
Lastly, We sit in him, as a person representing us; he is gone thither and entered as a forerunner to prepare the place for us. I could give you many places for it, that Jesus Christ being a high priest is entered into heaven, not only bearing our sins, for so he did upon the cross, but bearing our names and persons; for so the high priest did in a peculiar manner when he went into the holy of holiest. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and it is true he bore our persons too; but more eminently, the Scripture speaks of bearing our persons in heaven. And as he is said to prolong his days upon earth, while saints are upon earth, so the saints are said to sit in heaven while he is there.
It is in Christ Jesus; let me say something to that, for here is not an idle word. I take it, we have in him a double right to heaven: in Christ, as he is a common person; and in Jesus, as he is a common person too.
First, As he is Christ; take him simply as he is the Son of God, that is a head to a church as his members. The Apostle argues the glory that we shall have after the resurrection from this, in 1 Corinthians 15:46-47 : Because, saith he, he is the Lord from heaven, and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly; that is, to whom God hath appointed him as a head of union to, as he is considered as a heavenly man, as he is Son of God, having taken up our nature, and so is become a head to all that are members of him. So we come to heaven by virtue of him, and not only by virtue of his death. And then—
Secondly, There is not one drop of glory but he did purchase it as he is Jesus. The high priest entered into the holy of holiest with blood, so did Jesus Christ; he went to heaven, and he sprinkled it with his blood, because blood purchased all the degrees of glory the saints shall have in heaven. And though after the day of judgment God shall be all in all, yet still the ground and right of our union with God, and God’s communicating himself to us, is in Christ. In a word, I say, our sitting in heavenly places in and with Christ for ever is by virtue of his being Christ; that is, he as being head to so many members was chosen to that happiness with those members which they shall have in heaven. And they having fallen into sin, this Christ is become Jesus, a Saviour, to save them out of sin, and by being Jesus purchased heaven anew. This is plainly the meaning of it according to my sense. I somewhat opened it when I handled the third verse of the first chapter.
I will add but this one notion about it. We have two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In both there is a representation of Christ held forth to us, as a person representing us. But these two eminently share these two things betwixt them. Baptism doth more eminently hold forth his death and resurrection, and Jesus Christ as a common person, who was baptized with that baptism, and in token of it we are. You have this expressed in Romans 6. We are baptized into Christ, and so into the likeness of his death and resurrection: yea, and because he died and liveth too, God reckoneth yourselves to be dead and to live unto God, sealed up to you in baptism. And then you have the Lord’s Supper; and truly, to me, Christ seemeth to hold forth therein our sitting with him in heavenly places. When he had sat at table and eaten and served them, he takes occasion from hence to tell them that one day they shall sit at his table, and eat and drink with him in the kingdom of his Father, and should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. But their sitting at the table of the Lord, at the Lord’s Supper, and eating and drinking of that body and blood, did hold forth to them their state in glory. And therefore in all the Evangelists, you shall find that the disciples understood some such thing about a kingdom, though they misapplied it; they fell out amongst themselves who should be greatest in that kingdom. This sitting and eating in that kingdom was imported to them in that great supper.
There is now only one phrase remaining; and that is, together: ‘raised together, and sit together.’ There may be some question about it, whether it refers to the persons of believers, or whether it refers to Christ? whether that we believers shall all sit, or do all sit together, with Christ; or whether we sit together with Christ?
It is evident that when he saith, he hath ‘quickened us together with Christ,’ that there it refers to Christ, the particle with, and together, doth; and so our translators have rightly rendered it, ‘quickened us together with Christ.’ But when he comes to speak of the resurrection and of sitting in heaven, which yet are to come, he doth not put in any particle, as to say, ‘together with Christ;’ neither doth he content himself to say, ‘we sit together;’ but he addeth, ‘in Christ.’ And indeed, together with Christ, and in Christ, as I shewed in the last discourse, import two distinct things: one, when we personally come to enjoy the same things that Jesus Christ did for us; when we come to heaven, then we sit together with Christ; but in him, in the meantime. So that, in a word, that which ‘together’ here refers to, is to the persons; we all together, we that were dead in sins and trespasses, we Jews and Gentiles, apostles and all, we all together are raised in Christ, and sit in heavenly places in him, as a common person representing us all. If it should refer to Christ, as the other, their being quickened together with him, doth, it would have been redundant here, for ‘in Christ’ is enough to relate to his being a common person; therefore it must here have a special eye, and relate to the persons that sit and are raised. Now what persons are these?
First, We Jews and Gentiles: that is evident, for he had carried that along through the whole first chapter, and this second also, speaking of their misery and of their redemption and the like. The Gentiles shall sit down in heavenly places as well as the Jews, for so Christ tells us, ‘they shall come from the east and from the west, and sit down in the kingdom of my Father.’ Because the desire of all nations is now come, in Jesus Christ, all shall sit down together. And therefore, as God promised to Abraham and the patriarchs a city, so the Apostle saith, ‘We are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.’ But I shall have occasion to speak more of it when we come to the latter part of the chapter, which shews the union between Jew and Gentile. We together, we apostles and all saints else; for though the apostles are said to have twelve thrones to sit upon more eminently, because there are degrees of glory, yet read Revelation 3:21, and there it is said that ‘to every one that overcomes, to him will I grant to sit in my throne.’ Therefore I say, all the saints, apostles and all. What saith the Apostle for this, in 2 Corinthians 4:14? it is an excellent place to this purpose: ‘Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.’ He had spoken of the labours and sufferings that he and the rest of his fellow-apostles had; but that which comforts me is this, I shall be raised up together with you, and presented together with you to God. God will present you and me and all of us to himself in and by Jesus Christ. It is a good observation that one makes upon it: he doth not say he will present you with us, but us, us apostles, with you; for the saints have the same right to heaven that the apostles have, and they sit together in heavenly places, therefore it follows, ‘All things are for your sakes.’
Lastly, It relateth to the general assembly. For there is a special reason why ‘together’ here, when he speaks of raising and sitting in heaven, should refer to the persons of all the elect; for at the resurrection all shall come together, and be raised together, and in heaven all shall sit together; that is the glory of it, and that is the state of it, that is it which makes heaven heaven, the company of Christ and of the saints when they are all together. And, my brethren, God, though we are poor sinners here upon earth, yet in his eternal decree, and likewise in Christ, he considers us all raised, and all sitting there in him. ‘All live unto God,’ as Luke saith, speaking of the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is this difference between Adam’s being a common person and Christ’s, because they were decreed who should come of Adam if he had stood, yet in a manner it needed not to have been, though God decrees and purposeth everything. But it is otherwise now; it is by a special decree of predestination that all are in Christ, therefore God hath them all before him; he hath them all in his eye, and he will bring them all together with him—there will be the general assembly of all the saints; therefore it is called the gathering of the elect from all the four corners of the world. You have an excellent place for this in John 6:39, and if you mark it, there is an emphasis upon it: ‘This is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.’ He will not have a corn wanting whereof he is the first-fruits. Heaven is the general collection of all the saints, therefore in the meantime till we come thither, Christ being a common person for us, we are all together, all the saints are at once raised up in him. We are not all quickened together in him, one is quickened in one age, and another in another, but we are raised together in him, and the resurrection shall find us all together, and the judgment shall find us all together; therefore the state of these two days are represented by Christ’s being a common person, and we are ‘raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in him.’