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Angels
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
176. Angels’ Influence on Matter. I cannot see why it should be thought
more disagreeable to reason to suppose that angels may have influence on
matter so as to cause those alterations in it, which are beyond the
established laws of matter, more than to suppose that our spirits should
have such an influence. And I do not see why other spirits should not
have influence on matter according to other laws, or why if we suppose
spirits have an influence on matter, that it must necessarily be
according to the same established rules as our spirits. We find that
from such motions of mind there follows such an alteration in such and
such matter, according to established rules, and those rules are
entirely at the pleasure of him that establishes them. And why we should
not think that God establishes other rules for other spirits, I cannot
imagine. And if we should suggest that according to established laws,
angels do make alterations in the secret springs of bodies, and so of
minds, that otherwise would not be, I cannot see why it should be
accounted more of a miracle than that our souls can make alterations in
the matter of our hands and feet, which otherwise would not be.
442. Angels Confirmed. The
angels that stood are doubtless confirmed in holiness and their
allegiance to God, so that they never will sin, and they are out of
every danger of it. But yet I believe God makes use of means to confirm
them. They were confirmed by the sight of the terrible destruction that
God brought upon the angels that fell. They see what a dreadful thing it
is to rebel. They were further confirmed by the manifestation God had
made of his displeasure against sin, by the eternal damnation of
reprobates amongst men, and by the amazing discovery of his holy
jealousy and justice in the sufferings of Christ. They are confirmed by
finding, by experience, their own happiness in standing and finding the
mistake of the angels that fell, with respect to that which was their
temptation, and by new and greater manifestations of the glory of God,
which have been successively made in heaven, and by his dispensations
towards the church. And above all, by the work of redemption by Jesus
Christ. Eph. 3:10; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:12. Vide M 515.
Corollary. Hence we learn that the angels were not concerned in the work
of redemption by Jesus Christ.
So I believe the saints in heaven are made perfectly holy and
impeccable, by means, viz.: by the beatific vision of God in Christ in
glory, by experiencing so much the happiness of holiness, its happy
nature and issue, and by seeing the wrath of God on wicked men, etc.
681. Angels: Hierarchy,
Honor and Humility. The angels of heaven, though a superior order of
being, and of a more exalted nature and faculties by far than men, are
yet all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be
the heirs of salvation, and so in some respect are made inferior to the
saints in honor. So likewise the angels of the churches (the ministers
of the gospel) are of a higher order and office than other saints, yet
they are, by Christ’s appointment, ministers and servants to others and
are least of all, as Mat. 20:25-27, “Ye know that the princes of the
Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise
authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever
will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be
chief among you, let him be your servant.” Mat. 23:8-12, “But be not ye
called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are
brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is
your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be
your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he
that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” And Mark 9:35, “If any man
desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
It is as it is in the body natural, those parts that we account more
noble and honorable are, as it were, ministers to the more inferior, to
guard them and serve them, as the apostle observes, 1 Cor. 12:23-24,
“And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have
more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God
hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to
that part which lacked.” God’s ways are all analogous, and his
dispensations harmonize one with another. As it is between the saints
that are of an inferior order of beings, and the angels which are of
more exalted natures and degrees, and also between those Christians on
earth that are of inferior order, and those who are of superior, being
ministers of Christ, so without doubt it also is in some respects in
heaven, between those that are of lower and those that are of higher
degrees of glory. There, those that are most exalted in honor and
happiness, though they are above the least, yet in some respects they
are the least, being ministers to others and employed by God to minister
to their good and happiness. These sayings of Christ, in Mat. 20:25,
etc., and Mark 9:35, were spoken on occasion of the disciples
manifesting an ambition to be greater in his kingdom, by which they
meant his state of exaltation and glory. So it is in some sort, even
with respect to the man Christ Jesus himself, who is the very highest
and most exalted of all creatures, and the head of all. He, to prepare
himself for it, descended lowest of all, was most abased of any, and in
some respects became least of all. Therefore, when Christ in these
places directs that those that would be greatest among his disciples,
should be the servants of the rest, and so, in some respects, least, he
enforces it with his own example. Mat. 20:26-28, “Whosoever will be
great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant. Even so the Son of man came not to
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for
many.” And Luke 22:26-27, “He that is greatest among you, let him be as
the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve, for whether is
greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that
sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth.” None in the
kingdom of heaven ever descended so low as Christ did, who descended as
it were into the depths of hell. He suffered shame and wrath, and was
made a curse. He went lower in these things than ever any other did, and
this he did as a servant not only to God, but to men, in that he
undertook to serve us, and minister to us in such dreadful drudgery,
while we sit at meat in quietness and rest, and partake of those
dainties which he provides for us. Christ took upon him to minister to
use in the lowest service, which he represented and typified by that
action of washing the disciples’ feet, which he did chiefly for that
end. Thus Christ is he that seems to be intended in Mat. 11:11, by him
“that is least in the kingdom of heaven” and who is there said to be
greater than John the Baptist.
The design of God in thus ordering things, is to teach and show that he
is all and the creature nothing, and that all exaltation and dignity
belong to him. Therefore those creatures that are most exalted shall in
other respects be least and lowest. Thus, though the angels excel in
wisdom and strength, and are advanced to glorious dignity, and are
principalities and powers, and kings of the earth, yet God makes them
all ministers to them who are much less than they, or inferior nature
and degree. Thus, also, the saints who are most exalted in dignity are
servants to others. The angelic nature is the highest and most exalted
created nature, yet God is pleased to put greater honor upon our
inferior nature, viz., the human, by causing that the Head and King of
all creatures should be in the human nature, and that the saints in that
nature in Christ should be in many respects exalted above the angels,
that the angelic nature may not magnify itself against the human. The
man Christ Jesus, that creature who is above all, owes his superiority
and dignity, not at all to himself, but to God; viz., to his union with
a divine person. Though he be above all, yet in some respects he is
inferior. For he is not in the highest created nature, but in a nature
that is inferior to the angelic. To prepare him for his exaltation above
all, he was first brought lowest of all in suffering and humiliation,
and in some respects in office, or in those parts of the office that
were executed by him in his state of humiliation. Though the saints are
exalted to glorious dignity, even to union and fellowship with God
himself, to be in some respects divine in glory and happiness, and in
many respects to be exalted above the angels, yet care is taken that it
should not be in themselves, but in a person who is God, and they must
be as it were emptied of themselves in order to it. And though the
angels are exalted in themselves, yet they are ministers to them who are
not exalted in themselves, but only in communion with a divine person as
of free grace partaking with them. Thus wisely has God ordered all
things for his own glory, that however great and marvelous the exercises
of his grace and love and condescension are to the creature, yet he
alone may be exalted: that he may be all in all. And though the creature
be unspeakably and wonderfully advanced in honor by God’s grace and
love, yet it is in such a way and manner, that even in its exaltation it
might be humbled, and so as that its nothingness before God, and its
absolute dependence on God and subjection to him, might be manifested.
Yet this humiliation or abasement, which is joined with the creatures’
exaltation, is such as not to detract from the privilege and happiness
of the exaltation. So far as exaltation is suitable for a creature, and
is indeed a privilege and happiness to the creature, it is given to the
creature and nothing taken from it. That only is removed that should
carry any shadow of what belongs only to the Creator, and which might
make the difference between the Creator and creature, and its absolute,
infinite dependence on the Creator, less manifest. That humiliation only
is brought with the exaltation that is suitable to that great humility
that becomes the creature before the Creator. This humiliation does not
detract anything from the happiness of elect holy creatures, but adds to
it, for it gratifies that humble disposition that they are of. It is
exceedingly sweet and delightful to them to be humbled and abased before
God, to cast down their crowns at his feet as the four and twenty elders
do in Rev. 4:10. — And to abase themselves, and appear nothing, and
ascribe all power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing to him. They will delight more in seeing God exalted than
themselves, and they will not look on themselves the less honored
because that God appears to be all, even in their exaltation, but the
more. These creatures that are most exalted will delight most in being
abased before God, for they will excel in humility as much as in dignity
and glory, as has been elsewhere observed. The man Christ Jesus, who is
the head of all creatures, is the most humble of all creatures. That in
Mat. 18:4, “Whosoever therefore humbleth himself as this little child,
the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” is true, with respect to
the humility that they exercise, both in this and in another world. They
that have most humility in this world will continue to excel in humility
in heaven, and the proposition is reciprocal. They that have the
greatest humility shall be most exalted, and shall be greatest in the
kingdom of heaven, and they that are greatest in the kingdom of heaven,
are most humble.
Corollary 1. What has been said above confirms the conclusion that some
in heaven will be a kind of ministers in that society: teachers,
ministers to their knowledge and love, and helpers of their joy, as
ministers of the gospel are here.
Corollary 2. Hence we may learn the sweet and perfect harmony that will
reign throughout that glorious society, and how far those that are
lowest will be from envying those that are highest, or the highest from
despising the lowest for the highest shall be made ministers to the
happiness of the lowest, and shall be even below them in humility. And
the lowest shall have the greatest love to the highest for their
superior excellency, and for the greater benefit which they shall
receive from their ministration, as it is the disposition of the saints
to love and honor their faithful ministers here in this world.
838. Angels: Rule and
Authority. As the angels are made to be employed as the ministers of
God’s providence of the government of the world, and as they are beings
of a limited understanding, not equally capable of understanding and
managing the affairs of the whole universe, or of the whole extent and
compass of divine providence, or of any part indifferently (as they may
be of affairs of some particular kind, or system, or series of events,
or of some particular part of the universe: for it must needs be so with
all that are of limited understanding, that they must be more capable of
the care and management of things in a certain particular sphere than of
anything indifferently without any fixed limits): — so it is very
reasonable to suppose from hence that the different angels are appointed
to different kinds of work, and that their ministry more especially
respects some certain limited parts of the universality of things which
God has in some respect committed to their care. So that over these
things they have a ministerial dominion: some of larger and others of
lesser extent, while some in a more exalted and others a less humble
station. So they are a kind of princes under God, over such and such
parts of the creation, or within such a certain sphere. Though their
dominion be only ministerial (as the dominion of ministers of the
gospel, or angels of the churches is), yet it is very honorable and
exalted. It is a very honorable work in which they are employed, an
image of the work of the Son of God, as God-man, who has the vicegerency
of the whole universe, and so they as well as the princes of Israel are
called gods, Elohim, Psa. 97:7, “Worship him, all ye gods,” which is
rendered by the apostle, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” And
they are called “The sons of God,” as they are, Job 38, “When the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
They may, on this account also, be fitly compared to stars (as they are
here, and also in the song of Deborah, “The stars in their courses
fought against Sisera,”) not only for their brightness in wisdom and
holiness, and for their being the native inhabitants of heaven, and
obeying the commands of God, as the stars do, but because they have
their particular dominion set them in the lower universe, as the stars
have, Job 38:33, “Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” And
also because they have their certain sphere and course to which they are
limited in heaven. These seem in part to be signified by the kings of
the earth, that shall bring their honor and glory into the church. They
are made chiefly for a ministerial dominion over, and management of, the
world of mankind on the earth, as ministering spirits unto Christ. On
the account of their honorable place and trust in heaven, they may be
called ministers of the new earth, there spoken of in that chapter. God
has concealed the particular spheres of the angels’ dominion and
ministry, that we might not be tempted to idolatry. They, therefore,
that worship angels under a notion of such and such angels having a
superintendency over such particular persons or affairs, intrude into
those things that they have not seen.
It is not reasonable to suppose that the angels are called thrones,
dominions, principalities, and powers, merely for the honor they have in
their great abilities and excellent qualifications, for the words do
properly denote rule and authority. Earthly rulers are called
principalities and powers. Tit. 3:1, “Put them in mind to be subject to
principalities and powers, and to obey magistrates.”
937. Elect Angels’
Dependence on Christ. Two questions may be raised with respect to the
elect angels.
Question I. How far the elect angels are dependent on Christ for eternal
life?
Answer I. Probably the service appointed them as the great trial of
their obedience, was serving Christ, or ministering to him in his great
work that he had undertaken with respect to mankind.
II. When Lucifer rebelled and set up himself as a head in opposition to
God and Christ, and drew away a great number of the angels after him,
Christ, the Son of God, manifested himself as an opposite head, and
appeared graciously to dissuade and restrain by his grace the elect
angels from hearkening to Lucifer’s temptation, so that they were upheld
and preserved from eternal destruction at this time of great danger by
the free and sovereign distinguishing grace of Christ. Herein Christ was
the Savior of the elect angels. For though he did not save them as he
did elect men from the ruin they had already deserved, and were
condemned to, and the miserable state they were already in, yet he saved
them from eternal destruction they were in great danger of, and
otherwise would have fallen into with the other angels. The elect angels
joined with him, the glorious Michael, as their captain, while the other
angels hearkened to Lucifer and joined with him, and then was that
literally true that was fulfilled afterwards figuratively. Rev. 12,
“When there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither
was there place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast
out with him.”
III. They were dependent on the sovereign grace of Christ to uphold them
and assist them in this service, and to keep them from ruining
themselves, as the fallen angels had done. By the fall of the angels,
especially of Lucifer, the greatest, brightest, and most intelligent of
all creatures, they were taught their own emptiness and insufficiency
for themselves, and were led humbly in a self-diffidence to look to
Christ: to seek to him and depend on him, in whom it pleased the Father
that all fullness should dwell to preserve them. So that they all along
hung upon him. Through the whole course of their obedience during their
time of trial, having no absolute promise (as believers in Christ have
amongst men of perseverance in one act of faith), but only God the
Father had revealed to them that if they were preserved, it must be by
influence and help from his Son. He also made known to them the infinite
riches of the grace of his Son and its sufficiency for them: given the
experience of it in preserving them when the other angels fell. God
directed them to seek to his Son for help. But this humble dependence
was part of their duty or work by which they were to obtain eternal
life, and it was not as it is with men, the fruit of the purchase of
life already made, the first act of which entitles to all other fruits
of this purchase through eternity. Thus angels did depend on Christ, and
they were supported by strength and grace from him freely communicated.
It was sovereign grace that he was not obliged to afford them, for he
was not obliged to afford them any more grace than he did the angels
that fell, so that it can truly be said of the angels that they have
eternal life by sovereign grace through Christ in a way of
self-emptiness, self-diffidence, and humble dependence on him. So far is
the way of the elect angels’ receiving eternal life like that of elect
men’s receiving of it.
IV. Christ is their Judge, and they actually receive their reward at his
hands as their Judge, as I have elsewhere shown.
V. They not only have the reward of eternal life adjudged to them by
Christ, but actually, continually and eternally derive it from him as
their head of life and divine influence: the Spirit is given them
through him.
VI. They have their happiness in him in this brightness of God’s glory
and express image. It is that they behold the glory and love of God, and
so have eternal life in the enjoyment of God. Thus Christ is the tree of
life in paradise, on whose fruit all its inhabitants live to all
eternity, and the Lamb is the light of that glorious city.
Question. II. How far the angels are dependent on Christ as God-man, and
have benefit by his incarnation, sufferings, and exaltation, and the
work of redemption that he wrought out for mankind?
Answer. I. The work of redemption is their end. They were created to be
subservient to Christ in this affair.
II. Their work and service that was appointed them, that was the trial
of their obedience, was to serve Christ and his elect people in this
affair, and it was by obeying Christ as his servants in this affair,
that they actually obtained eternal life.
III. Especially did the angels obtain life by attending on Christ, and
being faithful to him during the time of his humiliation, which was the
last and most trying part of their obedience.
IV. The Lord Jesus Christ God-man is the Judge of the angels that gives
them the reward of eternal life. They did not enjoy perfect rest till he
descended and confirmed them, so that the angels, as well as men, have
rest in Christ God-man. (See the next.)
V. They have this benefit by the incarnation of Christ that thereby God
is immediately united with a creature and so is nearer to them, whereby
they are under infinitely greater advantages to have the full enjoyment
of God.
VI. Jesus Christ God-man is he through whom, and in whom, they enjoy the
blessedness of the reward of eternal life, both as the Head of influence
through whom they have the Spirit, and also as in Christ God-man they
behold God’s glory, and have the manifestations of his love.
VII. As the perfections of God are manifested to all creatures, both men
and angels, by the fruits of those perfections, i.e. by God’s works (the
wisdom of God appears by his wise works, and his power by his powerful
works, his holiness and justice by his holy and just acts, and his grace
and love by the acts and works of grace and love), so the glorious
angels have the greatest manifestations of the glory of God by what they
see in the work of man’s redemption, and especially in the death and
sufferings of Christ.
938. Heaven: How the Elect
Angels Know Good and Evil. It is a thing supposed, without proof, that
the glorious inhabitants of heaven never felt any such thing as trouble
or uneasiness of any kind. Their present innocence and holiness does not
prove it. God may suffer innocent creatures to be in trouble for their
greater happiness. The nature and end of that place of glory does not
prove it, for if that did not hinder sin from entering, neither will it
necessarily hinder trouble from entering there.
The elect angels probably felt great fear at the time of the revolt of
Lucifer and the angels that followed him. They were then probably the
subjects of great surprise and a great sense of their own danger of
falling likewise. When they saw the wrath of God executed on the fallen
angels, which they had no certain promise that they should not suffer
also by their own disobedience (being not yet confirmed), it probably
struck them with fear. And the highest heavens was not a place of such
happiness and rest before Christ’s ascension as it was afterwards, for
the angels were not till then confirmed. So that it was in Christ
God-man that the angels have found rest. The angels, therefore, have
this to sweeten their safety and rest, that they have it after they have
known what it is to be in great danger, and to be distressed with fear.
940. Elect Angels’
Dependence on Christ. The elect angels have greatly increased both in
holiness and happiness, since the fall of those angels that fell, and
are immensely more holy than ever Lucifer and his angels were. For
perfection and holiness, i.e. a sinless perfection, is not such in those
that are finite, but that it admits of infinite degrees. The fall of the
angels laid a foundation for the greater holiness of the elect angels,
as it increased their knowledge of God and themselves, gave them the
knowledge of good and evil, and was a means of their being emptied of
themselves and brought low in humility, and they increased in holiness
by persevering in obedience. What they behold of the glory of God in the
face of Christ as men’s Redeemer, and especially in Christ’s
humiliation, greatly increased their holiness, and their obedience,
through that last and greatest trial, contributed above all things to an
increase of their holiness. This further shows how the elect angels are
dependent on Christ God-man.
941. Elect Angels’
Dependence on Christ. Christ’s humiliation many ways laid a foundation
for the humiliation of all elect creatures. By seeing one infinitely
above them descending so low, and abasing himself so much, they are
abundantly made sensible how no abasement is too great for them. Lucifer
thought what God required of him too great an abasement for so high and
worthy a creature as he, but in Christ Jesus they see one infinitely
higher than he descending vastly lower than was required of him. It
tends to humble the angels, and to set them forever at an immense
distance from any thought that anything that God can require of them can
be too great an abasement for them. And then it tended to humble them,
as this person that appeared in such meanness, and in so despicable a
state, is appointed to be their Lord and their God, and as they were
required humbly to minister to him in his greatest abasement. It tends
to abase elect men two ways.
1. As here is the example of the voluntary humiliation of one infinitely
more worthy than they. And,
2. As here is the greatest manifestation of the evil, dreadful nature of
sin, and particularly as here is the effects of their sin. Here appears
the venomous nature of their corruption, as it aims at the life of God,
and here appears the infinite greatness of its demerit in such
sufferings of a person of infinite glory. So that all elect creatures
are as it were humbled and abased in their head. This shows further how
the elect angels are dependent on Christ God-man.
1098. Angels’ Knowledge of
the Redemption Plan. That the angels in the times of the Old Testament
did not fully understand the counsels and designs of God with regard to
men’s redemption, may be argued from that text, Isa. 64:4, “For since
the beginning of the world they have not heard (men is not in the
original), nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” In the
original, what “he hath made or done for him that waiteth for him.” It
is rendered in the margin, “hath seen a God besides thee which doth so
for him that waiteth for him.” But our translation gives the sense more
agreeable to the citation of the apostle, 1 Cor. 2:7-9. It is manifest
by this text, if we take it in a sense agreeable to the apostle’s
understanding of it, that none of old understood the mystery of man’s
redemption by Jesus Christ: it never entered into the hearts of any. If
this be the sense, it will follow from the words of the text, not only
that it had not entered into the hearts of any of mankind, but also of
the angels, for all are expressly excluded but God himself. None have
heard, seen, or perceived, O God, beside thee. The meaning is not only
that no works had been already done that ever any had seen or heard of
parallel to this work, for if the meaning was that no works that were
past had been seen or heard of like this work, those words, “O God,
beside thee,” would not be added. For if that were the sense, these
words would signify that though others had not seen any past works
parallel with this, yet God had, which would not have been true. For God
himself had not seen any past works parallel with this. The same may
also be argued from Eph. 3:9-11, compared with Rom. 16:25-26, and Col.
1:26. Not only are the words of Eph. 3:10, very manifestly to my present
purpose, but those words in the verse preceding are here worthy of
remark. “The mystery which, from the beginning of the world, hath been
HID IN GOD,” which seems plainly to imply that it was a secret which God
kept within himself, which was hid and sealed up in the divine
understanding and never had as yet been divulged to any other, which was
hid in God’s secret counsel, and which as yet no other being had ever
been made acquainted with. So the words imply as much as those in the
forementioned place in Isaiah, that none had perceived it beside God.
1247. Angels. That they
are as the nobles and barons of the court of heaven, as dignified
servants in the palace of the King of kings, is manifest by Mat. 18:10.
See my Notes. So in their being called thrones, dominions,
principalities, and powers.
1276. Angels Ignorant of
the Majesty of the Gospel till Christ’s Coming. Even the mystery which
has been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you the hope of
glory. Dr. Goodwin says, “This doctrine of the gospel he kept hid and
close in his own breast; not a creature knew it; no, not the angels, who
were his nearest courtiers and dearest favorites, it lay hid in God,
Eph. 3:9, even hid from them, Eph. 3:10. A mystery, which when it should
be revealed, should amaze the world, put the angels to school again, as
if they had known nothing in comparison of this, wherein they should
know over again all those glorious riches which are in God, and that
more perfectly and fully than ever yet. And so after they had a little
studied the catechism and compendium, there should come out a large
volume, a new system of the riches of the glory of God, the mystery of
Christ in the text, which is the last edition, also, now set out
enlarged, perfected, wherein the large inventory of God’s glorious
perfections is more fully set down with additions.” (Dr. Goodwin’s
Works, vol. 1 part 3. p. 64. on Col. 1:26-27.)
FALL OF THE ANGELS
320. Devils. It seems to me probable that the temptation of the angels,
which occasioned their rebellion, was that when God was about to create
man, or had first created him, God declared his decree to the angels
that one of that human nature should be his Son, his best beloved, his
greatest favorite, and should be united to his eternal Son: that he
should be their Head and King, that they should be given to him and
should worship him and be his servants, attendants, and ministers. God
having thus declared his great love to the race of mankind, gave the
angels the charge of them as ministering spirits to men. Satan, or
Lucifer or Beelzebub, being the archangel, one of the highest of the
angels, could not bear it, thought it below him, and a great debasing of
him. So he conceived rebellion against the Almighty, and drew away a
vast company of the heavenly hosts with him. But he was cast down from
the highest pitch of glory to the lowest hell for it, and himself was
made an occasion of bringing that to pass which his spirit so rose
against, yea, his spite and malice was made an occasion of it. That same
act of his by which he thought he had entirely overthrown the design,
and that same person in human nature which they could not bear should
rule over them in glory, and should be their King and Head to
communicate happiness to them, by this means proves their King in spite
of them, and becomes their Judge. Though they would not be his willing
subjects, they shall be his unwilling captives. He shall be their
sovereign to make them miserable and pour out his wrath upon them. And
mankind whom they so envied and so scorned, are by occasion of them
advanced to higher glory and honor, and greater happiness, and more
nearly united to God. Though they disdained to be ministering spirits to
them, yet now they shall be judged by them as assessors with Jesus
Christ.
438. Reason’s for Angels’
Fall. So it was also with the angels, their judgment was likewise
decreed. Probably they thought it would be degradation and misery to be
ministers to a creature of an inferior nature, whom God was about to
create, and subjects and servants to one in that nature, not knowing
particularly how it was to be (God having only in general revealed it to
them). They thought it would be best for themselves to resist and
endeavor to be independent of God’s government and ordering. Having an
appetite to their own honor, it overcame holy dispositions, which when
once overcome, immediately wholly left them to the full and unrestrained
rage of the principles that overcome. Their holy inclination to
subjection was greatly damped by their opinion of God, as though he
intended to deal unbecomingly by them in subjecting them to one of such
a nature, and so it was the more easily overcome.
833. Occasion of the Fall
of the Angels. Christ had his delegated dominion over the world
committed to him as soon as the creation of the world was finished. For
though Christ did not actually begin the work and business of a Mediator
till man had fallen, yet the world, even in its very creation, was
designed to be for the use of Christ in the great affair of redemption.
His purpose in that work was the end of the creation and of all God’s
providences in it from the beginning. Therefore the government of the
world was committed into his hands from the very beginning, for even the
very creation was committed into his hands for that reason, as the
apostle intimates, Eph. 3:9-10. Much more have we reason to think that
the disposal of it was committed into his hands when it was made,
because it was created for his disposal and use. It was therefore most
fit that it should be committed to him, not only in the actual
accomplishment of that great work of his, the work of redemption, but
also in those antecedent dispensations that were preparatory to it
during that short space of time that was taken up in the preparation
before the work of redemption actually began. It was most meet that
Christ should have the disposal of those things that were to prepare the
way for his own work. Otherwise, the work would not wholly be in his
hands. For the accomplishing of the work itself, so as best to suit his
own purpose and pleasure, depends in a great measure on the preparation
that was made for it, and so there is the same reason that the
preparation should be in his hands as the work itself. There is the same
reason that those things that are without the limits of the work itself,
as to time, should be in the hands of Christ, because of the relation
they have to that work, as that those things that are without the limits
of the work itself (as to place, and nature, and order of being), should
be in his hands as the angels in heaven, and indeed all the works of God
that were before the fall of man, were parts of the work of preparation
for the work of redemption. The creation itself was so, and for this
reason the creation of the world was committed into his hands. There is
no reason to suppose that one part of this work of preparation was
committed into Christ’s hands, because it was a preparation for his
work, and not other parts of the preparation for the same work. All
things are for Christ, for his use, and therefore God left it with him
to prepare all things for his own use, that in everything he might have
the preeminence, and that in him might all fullness dwell: a perfect
sufficiency every way for the design that he had to accomplish.
Therefore by the will and disposition of the Father, all things were
made by him, and all things consist by him, and he was made Head over
all things to the church, and for the purposes of the work of redemption
that he was to accomplish for the church. Col. 1:16-19, “For by him were
all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers; all things are created by him and for him: and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the
body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” Eph. 1:22, “And hath put
all things under his feet, and given him to be head over all things to
the church.” It is manifest by these things that not only the creation
of the world, but the upholding and government of the world, were
committed into the hands of Christ, and doubtless it was so from the
beginning. As Christ’s delegated dominion over the world will not be at
an end till his use of it is finished, and he has completed that work in
which its great use consists, and has fully obtained his end of it,
which will be at the end of the world, when he will deliver up THAT
kingdom to the Father. So doubtless the delegated dominion over the
world began when his use of it began, which was at the beginning of the
world, or as soon as the world was finished, and then the kingdom was
committed to him of the Father.
936. Fall of the Angels. —
Satan, the Prince of the Devils. It seems manifest by the Scripture that
there is one of the devils that is vastly superior to all the rest. His
vast superiority appears in his being so very often spoken of singly, as
the grand enemy of God and mankind, the grand adversary, the accuser of
the brethren, and the great destroyer. He is more frequently spoken of
singly, in Scripture, than devils are spoken of in the plural number, as
though he were more than all the rest. He seems commonly in Scripture to
be spoken of instar omnium. It seems to be from his great superiority
above all the rest, that he is so often spoken of under so many peculiar
names that are never found in the plural number, as Satan, Diabolos,
Beelzebub, Lucifer, The Dragon, The Old Serpent, The Wicked One, The God
of this world, The Prince of this world (John 12:31), The Prince of the
power of the air, The Accuser of the brethren, The Tempter, The
Adversary, Abaddon, Apollyon, The Enemy, and The Avenger. His strength
and subtlety are very great indeed: so much superior to the rest that he
maintains a dominion over them and is able to govern and manage them,
that they durst not raise rebellion against him, agreeable to Job 41:25,
“When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid.” But he is king in
hell, the prince of the devils, as leviathan is said, Job 41:34, to be
“king over all the children of pride.” See Rev. 9:11. All the rest of
the devils are his servants, his wretched slaves. They are spoken of as
his possession, Mat. 25:41, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and has angels.” They are his attendants
and possession, as the good angels are Christ’s attendants and
possession, Rev. 12:7, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his
angels.”
This angel, before his fall, was the chief of all the angels, of
greatest natural capacity, strength, and wisdom, and highest in honor
and dignity, the brightest of all those stars of heaven, as is signified
by what is said of him, under that type of him, the king of Babylon,
Isa. 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning!” This signifies his outshining all the other stars, as the
morning star outshines the rest. It is yet more manifest from what is
said of the king of Tyrus, as a type of the devil, in Eze. 28:12-19.
Here I would observe several things. (See note on the place.)
I. It is exceeding manifest that the king of Tyrus is here spoken of as
a type of the devil, or the prince of the angels or cherubim that fell.
1. Because he is here expressly called an angel or cherub, once and
again, Eze. 28:14, 16. And is spoken of as a fallen cherub.
2. He is spoken of as having been in heaven under three different names,
by which names heaven is often called in Scripture, viz., Eden, The
Garden of God, or the Paradise of God (Eze. 28:13). The Holy Mountain of
God (Eze. 28:14, 16), and The Sanctuary (Eze. 28:18).
3. He is spoken of as having been in a most happy state in the paradise
of God, and holy mountain of God, in great honor, and beauty, and
pleasure.
4. He is spoken of as in his first estate, or the state wherein he was
created, to be perfectly free from sin, but afterwards falling by sin.
Eze. 28:15, “Thou was perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
5. The iniquity by which he fell was pride, or his being lifted up by
reason of his superlative beauty and brightness. Eze. 28:17, “Thine
heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy
wisdom by reason of thy brightness.”
6. He is represented as being cast out of heaven, and cast down to the
earth for his sin. Eze. 28:16, “Therefore I will cast thee, as profane,
out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub,
from the midst of the flames of fire.” Eze. 28:17, “I will cast thee to
the ground.”
7. He is represented as being destroyed by fire here, in this earthly
world. Eze. 28:18, “I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee: it
shall devour thee; and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the
midst of all that behold thee.”
8. His great wisdom is spoken of as being corrupted by sin, i.e. turned
into a wicked craftiness. Eze. 28:17, “Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom
because of thy brightness.” If the king of Tyrus were not here expressly
called “a cherub,” “in the paradise of God,” and “in God’s holy
mountain;” by which it is most evident that he is spoken of as a type of
a cherub in the paradise of God. Yet I say if it had not been so, the
matter would have been very plain, for the things here spoken of cannot
be applied to the king of Tyrus with any beauty, nor without the utmost
shining, any other way than as a type of the devil that was once a
glorious angel in paradise. For how could it be said of the king of
Tyrus, in any other sense but as a type of the anointed angel, that he
had been in God’s holy mountain and in Eden, the garden of God, and in
God’s sanctuary, and there been first perfect in his ways? (For the
original word is a kind of expression that is ever used in Scripture to
signify holiness, or moral perfection.) And how in any other sense was
he afterwards cast, as profane, out of the mountain of God?
II. It is evident that this cherub or angel is spoken of as the highest
of all the angels. This is evident by several things.
1. He is called the anointed cherub. This expression alone shows him to
have sat higher than any other cherub, for his being anointed, must
signify his being distinguished from all others. Anointing of old was
used as a note of distinction, to show that that person was marked out
and distinguished from all the rest for a higher dignity. The Lord’s
anointed, in Israel, was he that God of his mere good pleasure had
appointed to the chief dignity in Israel. So the Lord’s anointed among
the cherubim, is the cherub that God had appointed to the highest
dignity of all. It is said, Eze. 28:14, “Thou art the anointed cherub
that covereth; and I have set thee so;” i.e. plainly, “It has been my
pleasure to set thee, by my anointing, in the highest dignity of all.”
2. He is called, “The cherub that covereth, on God’s holy mountain,” Eze.
28:14, and “The covering cherub, in the midst of the flames of fire,”
Eze. 28:16. In which there seems to be a reference to the cherubim in
the temple in the holy of holies, next to the throne of God that covered
the throne with their wings. Exo. 25:19, 20, and Exo. 37:9. From this it
appears that by the covering cherub is meant the cherub next to the
throne of God himself, having a place in the very holy of holies. There
were represented two cherubim that covered the mercy-seat in the temple,
that are called by the apostle, “cherubim of glory shadowing the
mercy-seat,” Heb. 9:5, which represent the great dignity and honor of
the cherubim that are next to God’s throne, and are covering cherubim.
But before the fall of this cherub he is spoken of as being alone
entitled to this great honor and nearness to God’s throne in heaven,
that he was anointed to be above his fellows. (See note on Mat. 18:10.)
3. This covering cherub is here spoken of as the top of all the
creation, or the summit and height of all creature perfection in wisdom
and beauty. Eze. 28:12, “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and
perfect beauty.” he is spoken of not only as being in the midst of many
things that are very bright and beautiful, Eze. 28:13-14, and as walking
up and down among them, but as having the sum of all their beauty
completed, perfected, and sealed up in himself. (It seems implied that
no being is stronger than Beelzebub, and able to bind him, but God
himself. Mat. 12:29, with the context.)
Corollary 1. Hence learn that Satan before his fall was the Messiah or
Christ, as he was the anointed. The word anointed is radically the same
in Hebrew as the word Messiah: so that in this respect our Jesus is
exalted into his place in heaven.
Corollary 2. These things show another thing, wherein Jesus is exalted
into the place of Lucifer: that whereas he had the honor to dwell in the
holy of holies continually, so Jesus is there entered (not as the high
priests of old, but to be there continually, but in this respect is
exalted higher than Lucifer ever was), that whereas Lucifer was only
near the throne, or kneeling on the mercy-seat in humble posture,
covering it with his wings, Jesus is admitted to sit down forever with
God on the throne.
Corollary 3. From what is said in this passage of Scripture, we may
learn that the angels were created in time. Though we have no particular
account of their creation in the story of Moses, we read here, once and
again, of the day wherein this anointed cherub was created, Eze.
28:13-15. This is also implied in Gen. 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the
earth were finished, and all the hosts of them.” The angels are often in
Scripture spoken of as the host of heaven, and the angels are expressly
spoken of as created by Christ, in Col. 1:16, “For by him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers; all things were created by him, and for him.” So Psa. 104:4,
“Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire;”
which is meant of proper angels, as appears by Heb. 1:7. It appears also
further, because they are called the sons of God in Job 38, which cannot
be meant by eternal generation, for so Christ is God’s only begotten
Son. See Psa. 148:2-5.
Corollary 4. In another respect also Jesus succeeds Lucifer, viz., in
being the covering cherub. The word translated cover, often and commonly
signifies to protect. It was committed to this archangel especially, to
have the care of protecting the beloved race, elect man, that was God’s
jewel: his first-fruits, his precious treasure laid up in God’s ark, or
cabinet, hid in the secret of his presence. That was the great business
the angels were made for, and therefore was especially committed to the
head of the angels. But he fell from his innocence and dignity, and
Jesus in his stead becomes the Cherub that covers, the great Protector
and Savior of elect man, that gathers them as a hen her chickens under
his wings.
Corollary 5. Lucifer, while a holy angel, in having the excellency of
all those glorious things that were about him, all summed up in him, was
a type of Christ, in whom all the glory and excellency of all elect
creatures is more properly summed, as the head and foundation of all,
just as the brightness of all, that reflects the light of the sun, is
summed up in the sun.
And as the devil was the highest of all the angels, so he was the very
highest of all God’s creatures. He was the top and crown of the whole
creation, and he was the brightest part of the heaven of heavens, that
brightest part of all the creation. He was the head of the angels, that
most noble rank of all created beings. Therefore, when spoken of under
that type of him, the Behemoth, he is said to be “the chief of the ways
of God,” Job 40:19. And since it is revealed that there is a certain
order and government among the angels, the superior angels having some
kind of authority over others that are of lower rank, and since Lucifer
was the chief of them all, we may suppose that he was the head of the
whole society, the captain of the whole host. He was the archangel, the
prince of the angels, and all did obeisance unto him. And as the angels,
as the ministers of God’s providence, have a certain superintendency and
rule over the world, or at least over some parts of it that God has
committed to their care, hence they are called thrones, dominions,
principalities, and powers. Therefore, seeing Lucifer was the head, and
captain, and prince of all, and the highest creature in the whole
universe, we may suppose that he had, as God’s chief servant, and the
grand minister of his providence, and the top of the creation, in some
respect committed to him power, dominion, and principality over the
whole creation, and all the kingdom of providence. And as all the angels
are called the sons of God, Lucifer was his firstborn, and was the
firstborn of every creature. But when it was revealed to him, high and
glorious as he was, that he must be a ministering spirit to the race of
mankind which he had seen newly created, which appeared so feeble, mean,
and despicable, so vastly inferior, not only to him, the prince of the
angels and head of the created universe, but also to the inferior
angels, and that he must be subject to one of that race that should
hereafter be born, he could not bear it. This occasioned his fall, and
now he, with the other angels whom he drew away with him, are fallen,
and elect men are translated to supply their places, and are exalted
vastly higher in heaven than they. And the Man Jesus Christ, the Chief,
and Prince, and Captain of all elect men, is translated and set in the
throne that Lucifer, the chief and prince of the angels, left, to be the
head of the angels in his stead, the head of principality and power,
that all the angels might do obeisance to him. For God said, “Let all
the angels of God worship him;” and God made him his firstborn instead
of Lucifer, higher than all those thrones, dominions, principalities,
and powers, and made him, yea, made him in his stead the firstborn of
every creature, or of the whole creation, and made him also in his stead
the bright and morning star, and head and prince of the universe. Yea,
God gave this honor, dignity, and power unto him, in an unspeakably
higher and more glorious manner than ever he had done to Lucifer, and
appointed him to conquer, subdue, and execute vengeance upon that great
rebel. Lucifer aspired to be “like the Most High,” but God exalted one
of mankind, the race that he envied, and from envy to whom he rebelled
against God, to be indeed like the Most High, to a personal union with
the eternal Son of God, and exalted him in this union to proper divine
honor and dignity, set him at his own right hand on his own throne, and
committed to him proper divine power and authority, constituting him as
God-man: the supreme, absolute, and universal Lord of the universe, and
Judge of every creature, the darling of the whole creation, the
brightness of God’s glory, and express image of his person. As in his
divine nature, he is the NATURAL IMAGE of God. God, in his providence,
was pleased thus to show the emptiness and vanity of the creature, by
suffering the insufficiency of the highest and most glorious of all
creatures, the head and crown of the whole creation, to appear by his
sudden fall from his glorious height into the lowest depth of
hatefulness, deformity, and misery. God’s design was first to show the
creature’s emptiness in itself, and then to fill it with himself in
eternal, unalterable fullness and glory. To show the emptiness of the
creature, the old creation, or the old heavens and earth, were to go to
ruin and perish, in some sense, or at least all was to be emptied. Great
part of the old creation was actually to sink into total and eternal
perdition, as fallen angels and some of fallen men (all mankind was in a
sense to be totally, though some of them were to be restored after they
had sensibly been emptied of themselves). And though the highest heaven
never was to be destroyed, yet before it should have its consummate and
immutable glory, the highest and most glorious part of it was to perish
(and a considerable part of the glorious heavenly inhabitants), and the
rest were hereby to be brought to see their own emptiness and utter
insufficiency, and so as it were to perish or die as to self-dependence
and all self-fullness, and to be brought to an entire dependence on the
sovereign grace and all-sufficiency of God, to be communicated to them
by his Son as their head. And thus the whole old creation, both heaven
and earth, as to all its natural glory and creature fullness, was to be
pulled down. And thus way was to be made for the creation of the new
heavens and new earth, or the setting forth of the whole elect universe
in its consummate, everlasting, immutable glory in the fullness of God,
in a great, most conspicuous, immediate, and universal dependence on his
power and sovereign grace, and also on the glorious and infinitely
excellent nature and essence of God, as the infinite fountain of glory
and love: the beholding and enjoying of which, and union with which,
being the elect creature’s all in all, all its strength, all its beauty,
all its life, its fruit, its honor, its blessedness.
Corollary 1. From the last paragraph. This may show us the necessity of
a work of humiliation in men as the necessity of man’s being emptied of
himself in order to a partaking of the benefits of the new creation, and
the redemption of Jesus Christ.
Corollary 2. This shows that even the elect angels have their eternal
life in a way of humiliation, and also dependence on sovereign grace, as
well as elect men, though not the same sort of humiliation and
dependence in all respects.
To show the emptiness of all creatures in themselves, the ruin of the
creation began in heaven, in the very best and highest part of the
creation, and in the highest creature in it (the crown and glory of the
whole creation), because it was the will of God that a mere creature
should not be the head of the creation, but a divine person, and that he
should be the crown and glory of the creation. Heaven was the first of
the creation that was subject to ruin, and it shall be the last part
that shall be renewed or amended by a new creation. There are two parts
of the creation connected with the work of redemption. One is the world
of man, and that is this visible world, and the other is the world of
angels, and that is heaven. The whole is to be changed: the former shall
be destroyed, because all men fell, and only an elect number are saved
out of it. The other shall not be destroyed, because all the angels did
not fall. Those that stood supported it, a blessing was left in it, and
therefore God said, “Destroy it not,” and therefore the change that is
to be made in that is to be of a contrary nature to destruction. It is
to be made infinitely more glorious by a new creation. And therefore
God’s dealings with respect to the world of angels are contrary to his
dealings with the world of men. The world of men is to be destroyed, and
therefore, elect men are taken out of it and carried into the world of
angels, and reprobate men left in it to perish and sink with it. The
world of angels is not to be destroyed, but renewed and glorified.
Therefore, reprobate angels are taken out of it and cast into the world
of men, and elect angels are kept in it, to be renewed and glorified
with it.
Because God’s design was to show the emptiness of the creature, and its
exceeding insufficiency, therefore God suffered both angels and men
quickly to fall, and the old creation quickly to go to ruin.
Some may be ready to think it to be incredible, and what the wisdom of
the Creator would not suffer, that the most glorious of all his
creatures should fall and be eternally ruined, or that it should be so
that the elect angels (those that are beloved of God), should none of
them be of equal strength and largeness of capacity with the devil. To
this I would say,
1. That the man Christ Jesus that is exalted into the place of Lucifer
in heaven, though he be of a rank of creatures of a nature far inferior
in capacity to that of the angels, and especially far below the highest
of all the angels, yet God can and has exalted that little worm of
littleness and weakness to an immensely greater capacity, dignity, and
glory, than Lucifer ever had.
2. God can reward the elect angels that originally are inferior to
Lucifer and can increase their capacity and strength, and there is no
reason to think but that he has rewarded, or will reward, elect angels
(as well as elect men), with a great exaltation of their nature. And
probably Christ did, at his ascension, exalt the natures of some of them
at least, so as to exceed all that ever Lucifer had. It seems probable
by Rev. 20, at the beginning, and probably at the day of judgment, the
natures of all the angels will be so exalted as to be above the devil in
capacity.
Seeing that this was the case with the devil, that before his fall he
was the head of the creation, the captain and prince of the angels, and
had some kind of superintendency over the whole universe, and seeing his
sin was his pride and affecting to be like the Most High, no wonder that
he seeks to reign as god of this world and affects to be worshipped as
God.
That the devil so restlessly endeavors to set up himself in this world,
and maintain his dominion here, and to oppose God, and fight against him
to the procuring his own continual disappointment and vexation, and to
work out his own misery, and at last to bring on his own head his own
greatest torment (his everlasting and consummate misery), is the fruit
of a curse that God has laid him under for his first ambition, and envy,
and opposition to God in heaven. He is therefore made a perfect slave to
those lusts that reign over him, and torment him, and will pull down on
him eternal destruction.
939. Occasion of the Fall
of the Angels. We cannot but suppose that it was made known to the
angels at their first creation, that they were to be ministering spirits
to men and to serve the Son of God in that way, by ministering to them
as those that were peculiarly beloved of him, because this was their
proper business for which they were made. This was the end of their
creation. It is not to be supposed that seeing they were intelligent
creatures that were to answer the end of their beings as voluntary
agents, or as willingly falling in with the design of their Creator,
that God would make them and not make known to them what they were made
for, when he entered into covenant with them and established the
conditions of their eternal happiness, especially when they were
admiring spectators of the creation of this beloved creature for whose
good they were made, and this visible world that God made for his
habitation. Seeing God made the angels for a special service, it is
reasonable to suppose that the faithfulness of the angels in that
special service must be the condition of their reward or wages. If this
was the great condition of their reward, then we may infer that it was
their violating this law, and refusing and failing of this condition,
which was that by which they fell. Hence we may infer that the occasion
of their fall was God’s revealing this their end and special service to
them, and their not complying with it. That must be the occasion of
their fall.
Corollary. Confirmation of the angels at Christ’s ascension.
Hence it is rendered exceedingly probably that the angels were not
confirmed till Christ’s ascension. For by what has been now said, it
appears that the proper condition of their reward or wages must be their
faithfulness in that special service for which God made them, or which
was the end of their being, i.e. to be ministering spirits to Christ in
the great work of his exalting and glorifying beloved mankind. But the
angels had not any great opportunity to do this business till this work
of Christ’s glorifying mankind had been carried on considerably in the
world. Nor had they the proper and chief trial whether they would submit
to that service of being subservient to Christ in the work of redemption
of fallen men, till that work of redemption was wrought, and Christ had
gone through his humiliation, and it was seen whether they would submit
to serve, obey, and adore their appointed Head and King in his abject
meanness, and when set at nought and abased to hell for beloved, though
sinful, vile men.
1057. Occasion of the Fall
of the Angels. How it is agreeable to the opinions of many divines, that
their refusing to be ministering spirits to beings of inferior rank, and
to be subject to Jesus Christ in our nature, when the design of his
incarnation was first revealed in heaven, and how that as man he was to
be the head of the angels. See Mr. Charles Owen’s Wonders of Redeeming
Love, p. 74, etc. in our young people’s library. See also Mr. Glass’s
Notes on Scripture Texts, Num. 3. p. 1-7.
1261. Occasion of the Fall
of the Angels. It is supposed by some and very rationally and probably
by Zanchius, whom I account the best of Protestant writers in his
judgment, and likewise by Suarez, the best of the school-men, that upon
the very setting up, or at least upon the first notice that the angels
had of the setting up, of a kingdom for the man Christ Jesus
predestinated for to come (and this, whether it was without the fall
predestinated as some suppose, or upon supposition of the fall, as
others, yet so much might be revealed to them), and of the divine
purpose that the human nature was to be assumed by, and united to, the
second person of the Trinity, and that he was to be the head of all
principality and power, and that angels and men should have their grace
from him. It is supposed, I say, that on this being declared to be the
will of God, that the rejection of this kingdom on the part of many of
the angels and their refusing to be subject unto Christ, as man thus
assumed, was their first sin. And now in opposition hereunto they did
set up another kingdom against him. Thus those writers whom I have
mentioned do think, and they allege that place in the epistle of Jude,
verse 6, where, the sin of the angels being described, it is said they
kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation (which, say
they, is not there brought in as their punishment). They left the
station God had set them in, and they left their dwelling in heaven to
set up a kingdom here below in opposition to Christ, and so to have an
independent kingdom of themselves, for which God has condemned them into
eternal torments and to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment, 2 Pet. 2:4. And to set up this
great kingdom is their business, and therefore they do now associate
themselves together, not out of love, but as becomes rational creatures
that would drive on a project and design. These writers not only go upon
this place in Jude, but on that in John 8:44, where Christ lays open
both the devil’s sin and the sin of the Jews. The sin of the Jews was
this, they would not receive that truth which Christ had delivered to
them, as he tells them, John 8:45, “Because I tell you the truth, ye
believe me not;” and not receiving it, they sought to kill him. Now, if
you ask what that truth was which Christ had so much inculcated upon
them, you shall see, John 8:25, what it is. They asked him there, Who he
was; “Even the same,” says he, “that I have told you from the beginning,
THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD. If the Son make you free, you shall be free
indeed,” John 8:36. This was the great truth that these Jews would not
receive. Now he tells them likewise, John 8:44, that Satan, their
father, the devil, abode not in the truth. He was the first, says he,
that opposed and contradicted this great truth, and would not be subject
to God who revealed this, nor would he accept, or embrace, or continue,
or stand. He would quit heaven first, and so from hence come to be a
murderer, a hater of this man Christ Jesus, and of this kingdom, and of
mankind. For he that hates God, or he that hates Christ, he is, in what
in him lies, a murderer of him, and he showed it in falling upon man.
And they backed it with this reason, why it should be so meant, because
otherwise the devil’s sin which he compares them to, had not been so
great as theirs. There had not been a likeness between the sin of the
one and that of the other. His sin would have been only telling a lie, a
lie merely in speech, and theirs had been a refusing that great truth,
JESUS CHRIST IS THE MESSIAH AND THE HEAD, and so the devil’s sin would
have been less than theirs. Whereas he is made the great father of this
great lie, of this great stubbornness to receive Christ, and to
contradict this truth. And this, says he, he has opposed from the
beginning with all his might, and he sets your hearts at work to kill
me. But I say I will not stand upon this, because I only deliver it as
that which is the opinion of some, and has some probability. However,
this is certain, whatsoever his sin was, he has now, being fallen, set
up his kingdom in a special manner against Christ. And so Christ has
been the great stumbling-stone, and angels fall upon it, and men fall
upon it. So that indeed the first quarrel was laid in this. God himself
proclaimed it at the very beginning. “The seed of the woman shall bruise
the serpent’s head;” which, though spoken to the serpent, comes in by
way of curse, as striking at the very spirit of the devil’s sin. “he
shall break thy head,” says he, “Thou wouldest have lifted up thyself.
He shall crush thee.” God, I say, proclaimed the war, and the quarrel
has continued from the beginning of the world to this day, and will do,
till Satan be put out of the air, for so long he is to have his kingdom,
though Christ beats him out of it every day in the world, and so will
continue to do till he has won the world from him, and then he will
chain him up in the bottomless pit. This from Dr. Goodwin, vol. 1. of
his Works, part 2. p. 32, 33.
1266b. Fall of the Angels.
The same Dr. Goodwin, in the 2d vol. of his Works, in his Discourse on
the Knowledge of God the Father, and of his Son Jesus Christ, speaking
of the pride of some, has these words: “A lower degree of accursed pride
fell into the heart of the devil himself, whose sin in his first
apostatizing from God, is conceived to be a stomaching that man should
be one day advanced unto the hypostatical union, and be one person with
the Son of God, whose proud angelical nature (then in actual existence,
the highest of creatures) could not brook.”
CONFIRMATION OF THE
ANGELS
515. Confirmation of the
Angels. (See also M 442.) The fall of the angels that fell was a great
establishment and confirmation to the angels that stood. They resisted a
great temptation by which the rest fell, whatever that temptation was,
and they resisted the entreaties of the ringleaders which drew away
multitudes: and the resisting and overcoming great temptation naturally
tends greatly to confirm in righteousness. And probably they had been
engaged on God’s side in resisting those that fell when there was war
and rebellion raised in heaven against God. All the hosts of heaven soon
divided, some on one side, and some on the other, and standing for God
in opposition and war against those that are his enemies, naturally
tended to confirm their friendship to God. And then they saw the
dreadful issue of the fallen angels’ rebellion, how much it was to their
loss. They saw how dreadful the wrath of God was, which tended to make
them dread rebellion, and sufficiently careful to avoid it. They now
learned more highly to prize God’s favor by seeing the dreadfulness of
his displeasure. They now saw more of the beauty of holiness, and now
they had the deformity of sin to compare it with. But when their time of
probation was at an end, and they had the reward of certain confirmation
by having eternal life absolutely made certain to them, is in some
degree uncertain. However, there are many things that make it look
exceedingly probable to me, that whenever this was done, it was through
the Son of God, that he was the immediate dispenser of this reward, and
that they received it of the Father through him.
1. We have shown before, in M 320, that it was in contempt of the Son of
God that those of them that fell, rebelled. It was because they would
not have one in the human nature to rule over them. How congruous,
therefore, is it, that those that stood should be dependent on him for
their reward of confirmation in contempt of whom the others had
rebelled. It was congruous that Christ, who was despised and rejected by
a great number of the angels, should become the foundation upon which
the rest should be built for eternal life, Psa. 118:22, “The stone which
the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.”
That God should thus honor his Son in the sight of the angels, who had
been thus condemned by the angels that fell in their sight: — this makes
it seem probable to me that the time of their confirmation was when
Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. For:
First. It was Jesus Christ in the human nature that was despised and
rejected by the rebelling angels. It was congruous therefore, that it
should be Jesus Christ in the human nature that should confirm them that
stood.
Second. It was also congruous that their confirmation should be deferred
till that time, that before they were confirmed they might have a
thorough trial of their obedience in that particular, wherein the
rebelling angels were guilty, viz., in their submission to Jesus Christ
in the human nature. It was congruous therefore that their confirmation
should be deferred till they had actually submitted to Christ in man’s
nature as their King, as they had opportunity to do when Christ in man’s
nature ascended into heaven.
Third. It seems very congruous that this should be reserved to be part
of Christ’s exaltation. We often read of Christ’s being set over the
angels when he ascended, and set at the right hand of God, and of his
being then made head of all principality and power, that then all things
were put under his feet, that then God the Father said, “Let all the
angels of God worship him.” It was very congruous that Christ should
have this honor immediately after such great humiliation and sufferings.
Fourth. It was fit that the angels should be confirmed after they had
seen Christ in the flesh, for this was the greatest trial of the angels’
obedience that ever was. If the other angels rebelled only at its being
foretold that such an one in man’s nature should rule over them, and if
that was so great a trial that so many mighty angels fell in it, then
how great a trial was it when they actually saw a poor, obscure,
despised, afflicted man, one whom they had just seen so mocked, and spit
upon, and crucified, and put to death like a vile malefactor! This was a
great trial to those thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers,
those mighty, glorious, and exalted spirits, whether or no they would
submit to such an one for their sovereign Lord and King.
It was also very fit that God should honor the day of the ascension and
glorious exaltation of his Son, which was a day of such joy to Christ,
with joining with it such an occasion of joy to the angels as the
reception of their reward of eternal life: that when Christ rejoiced,
who had lately endured so much sorrow, the heavenly hosts might rejoice
with him.
Object. I. It may be objected that it was a long time for the angels to
be kept in a state of trial from the beginning of the world till the
ascension of Christ, but there might very fitly be a longer time of
trial for those mighty spirits than for others.
Object. II. That the angels could not enjoy quiet and undisturbed
happiness for all that while, if they were all the time unconfirmed, and
did not certainly know that they should not fall.
I answer that there was no occasion for any distressing fears, for they
never could be guilty of rebellion without knowing (when they were going
to commit it), that it was rebellion, and that thereby they should
forfeit eternal life and expose themselves to wrath by the terror of
God’s covenant. And they could not fall, but it must be their voluntary
act, and they had perfect freedom of mind from any lust. And they had
been sufficiently warned and greatly confirmed when the angels fell, so
that there was a great probability that they should not fall, though God
had not yet declared and promised absolutely that they should not: they
were not absolutely certain of it. This was an occasion of joy reserved
for the joyful and glorious day of Christ’s ascension.
Fifth. The angels are now confirmed and have been since Christ’s
ascension.
I. For Christ, since he appeared in the flesh, gathered together, and
united into one society, one family, one body, all the angels and
spirits in heaven, and the church on earth. Now it is not to be supposed
that part of this body are in a confirmed state, and part still in a
state of probation. But,
II. The second argument that the angels are confirmed by Christ is that
we learn by Scripture that Christ is the head of the angels, and that
the angels are united to him as part of his body, which holds forth that
he is not only their head of government, but their head of communication
too. Christ is therefore the head, from whence the angels receive
communication of good. But how well does this agree with their receiving
their reward of obedience from him? God in making Christ head of angels
and men, has made him his dispenser of his benefits to all universally.
It is therefore most probable that he, who now dispenses the blessings
of the angels’ reward to them, is he from whom they first received that
reward, and that God bestowed it upon them at first through his hands.
And this also confirms that the time of the angels’ confirmation was at
Christ’s ascension, for then was he made the head of the angels: then
were all things put under his feet.
III. It is most congruous that that person who is to judge the angels,
who shall publicly declare the unalterable condemnation of those that
fell, and also shall publicly declare the unalterable confirmation of
those that stood, should be the same person who acted the part of a
Judge before, when they were first confirmed. He that is the Judge of
the angels at the last day, publicly before heaven, earth, and hell, to
confirm them, is probably the same person who was their Judge when they
were first confirmed in heaven. The Father has committed all judgment to
the Son, and this he did to Christ God-man. For the committing all
judgment to him was done at Christ’s first exaltation, and the first
fruits of it was probably his confirming the angels, as their Judge.
IV. Christ’s being called “the tree of life, that groweth in the midst
of the paradise of God,” Rev. 2:7. If we consider the use of the tree of
life that grew in the midst of the earthly paradise, it was to confirm
man in life in case of obedience. If he had stood, he was to have
received the reward in that way, by eating the fruit of that tree.
Christ, being the tree of life in the heavenly paradise, is so to all
the inhabitants of that paradise.
570. Confirmation of the Angels. We learn by Col. 1:16-20, that it was
the design of the Father that his Son should have the preeminence in all
things, not only with respect to men, but with respect to angels —
thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. And there are some
things there mentioned, wherein he has the preeminence, viz., that they
were created by him and for him, and that they consist by him, and that
every creature has all fullness in him. Why then has not Christ the
preeminence with respect to the angels, as he is the dispenser of God’s
benefits to them, so that they should have all fullness in him, and
particularly that the gift of eternal life should be from his hands? One
thing mentioned, wherein God’s will that his Son in all things should
have the preeminence, and that all fullness should dwell in him, is that
by him, he reconciles all things to him, whether they be things in
heaven or things on earth. If this be understood only to extend to men,
yet if it be one thing wherein God wills that his Son should in all
things have the pre-eminence, and that all fullness should dwell in him,
that it is by him that men are brought to an union with God. Why would
it not be another, that by him the angels also are brought to their
confirmed union with him, when it is plainly implied in what the apostle
says, that it is the Father’s design that Christ should in all things
have the pre-eminence with respect to the angels as well as with respect
to men, and that both angels and men should have all their fullness in
him? If they have their fullness in him, I do not see how it can be
otherwise than that they should have their reward and eternal life and
blessedness in him.
Again, it is said, 1 Cor. 8:6, that all things are of God the Father,
and all things by Jesus Christ. God gave the angels their being by Jesus
Christ. And I do not see why this would not be another instance of all
things being by him that he gives them their eternal life by Jesus
Christ. This very thing giving eternal life is one instance of men’s
being by him, and is intended in those words that follow, “and we by
him.”
591. Confirmation of the
Angels by Jesus Christ. It is an argument that it was Christ that
confirmed the angels and adjudged to them their reward, and that this
was an act of judgment and was the proper act of a judge, whereby
judgment was passed, whether they had fulfilled the law or not, and were
worthy of the reward of it by the tenor of it. But Christ is constituted
Universal Judge of all, both angels and men. John 5:22, “For the Father
judgeth none, but hath committed all judgment to the Son;” and Christ is
not only constituted the judge of men, but of angels. 1 Cor. 6:3, “Know
ye not that we shall judge angels?” If this be meant only of the evil
angels, yet that shows that Christ’s power of judging is extended beyond
mankind to the angelic nature. And if he be constituted the Judge of the
evil angels, that will confirm me that he is of the good too, as he is
the Judge of both good and bad of mankind, and Christ tells us that all
power is given him in heaven and in earth, Mat. 28:18. And we are often
particularly told as to the good angels, that he is made their Lord and
Sovereign, and that they are put under him. The apostle, in Rom.
14:10-12, speaking of Christ’s being universal Judge, before whose
judgment seat all must stand, and to whom all must give an account,
speaks of it as meant by those words in the Old Testament, “As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God;” which place of the Old Testament the apostle refers to
in Phil. 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name above every name, — That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And these things are spoken of
Christ, as God man. For in this last-mentioned place, it is mentioned as
the reward of his being found in fashion as a man, and humbling himself.
And in that other place and in the place in Romans, his being universal
Judge, and every knee bowing to him, and every tongue confessing to him,
is spoken of him as God-man. For it is said that he “died, rose, and
revived,” that he might have this honor and authority. So in John 5:27,
it is said that the Father has given him authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the Son of God: so that if he has acted the part of
a Judge, towards the elect angels, it must be since his incarnation. And
we know that he is to judge angels at the last day as God-man.
Corollary 1. Hence Christ is the tree of life in the heavenly paradise,
to all the inhabitants of it. If our first parents had stood in their
obedience and were found meet for their reward of eternal life, then
they were to be brought to the tree of life and were to receive it from
that tree, by eating the fruit of it, as the eternal life was the fruit
of that tree. Thus it is in the earthly paradise, the dwelling-place of
men. And there was also a tree of life in the heavenly paradise, the
dwelling-place of angels. When they had stood in their obedience and
were looked upon of God meet for the reward of eternal life, they were
brought to Jesus to receive the reward at his hands, which they in God’s
account especially become worthy of by their being willing to be subject
to him as God man, and being willing to depend on him as their absolute
Lord and supreme Judge.
Corollary 2. Here we may observe the wonderful analogy there is in God’s
dispensations towards angels and men.
Corollary 3. Here we may take notice of the manifold wisdom of God. What
glorious and wonderful ends are accomplished by the same events in
heaven, earth, and hell, as particularly by those dispensations of
Providence in Christ’s incarnation, death, and exaltation. How manifold
are the wise designs that are carried on in different worlds by the
turning of one wheel!
Corollary 4. Here we may observe how the affairs of the church on earth,
and of the blessed assembly of heaven, are linked together. When the
joyful times of the gospel began on earth, which began with Christ’s
exaltation, then joyful times began also in heaven among the angels
there, and by the same means. When we have such a glorious occasion
given us to rejoice, they have an occasion given them. So long as the
church continued under a legal dispensation, so long the angels
continued under law. For since their confirmation, the angels are not
under law, as is evident by what I have said in my Notes on Gal. 5:18.
So doubtless at the same time there was a great addition to the
happiness of the separate spirits of the saints, of which the
resurrection of many of them at Christ’s resurrection is an argument.
And in the general, when God gradually carries on the designs of grace
in this world, by accomplishing glorious things in the church below,
there is a new occasion of joy and glory to the church in heaven. Thus
the matter is represented in John’s Revelations, and it is fit that it
should be thus, seeing they are one family.
744. Confirmation of the Angels by Jesus Christ. That Christ in his
ascension into heaven, gave to the angels the reward of eternal life, or
of confirmed immutable happiness, may be argued from Eph. 4:10, “he that
descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that
he might fill all things,” i.e. all things not only on the face of
earth, but all things in the world where he dwelt before he descended
into the lower parts of the earth, as in the foregoing verse: all things
in the lower parts of the earth whither he descended, and all things in
heaven. By “all things,” agreeably to the apostle’s way of using such an
expression, is meant all persons or intelligent beings, as in Phil.
2:9-10, “Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth.” As there, so here the apostle is speaking of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, as appears by comparing
this with the foregoing verse. And the apostle there in Philippians
mentions these three, as therein enumerating all things whatsoever, for
certainly, whatever things there are, they must be either in heaven, or
in the earth, or under the earth. And doubtless by all things there that
are spoken of as being included in these three, is intended the same
with all things spoken of here, as included in the same three divisions
of the universe. But it is evident that by things there is meant
persons, or intelligent creatures. It is certainly they who shall bow
the knee to him, and whose tongues shall confess to him. And as there,
God is said highly to have exalted Christ, and to have given him a name
above every name, i.e. above the highest angels in heaven, as well as
above the highest prince upon earth, so here he is said to have ascended
up far above all heavens, or above the highest part of heaven, and
therefore, above the seat of the highest angel, that he might fill all
universally, the highest as well as the lowest, that all might depend on
him and receive their fullness from him. By things in heaven, in that
place in Philippians and so doubtless here, is meant the angels; and by
things in earth is meant elect men living on earth; and by things under
the earth or in the lower parts of the earth is meant the souls of
departed saints, whose bodies are gone under the earth, and especially
the saints that were dead and buried before Christ came, or before
Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth. Christ died and was
buried that he might fill those that were dead and buried. Rom. 14:9,
“For to this end Christ doth died, and rose, and revived, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” That by things or creatures
under the earth is meant souls of buried saints, and not devils and
damned souls in hell, is manifest from Rev. 5:13, “And every creature
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” This would not be said of devils
and wicked, damned souls, who are far from thus praising and extolling
God and Christ with such exultation: instead of that they are
continually blaspheming them.
And again, by all things, is meant all elect intelligent creatures: Eph.
1:10, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth, even in him.” And if he means all intelligent elect
creatures there, by all things in heaven and earth, doubtless he also
does, when he speaks of all things in heaven and on the earth, and the
lower parts of the earth, in this 4th chap. of the same epistle, where
he is treating of the same thing, viz., the glory of Christ’s
exaltation. So again, Col. 1:20, “And having made peace through the
blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” In these two
places last referred to, are mentioned only things in heaven and things
in earth. Those, which in those other places are called things under the
earth, being here ranked among things in heaven, because their souls are
in heaven, though their bodies are in the lower parts of the earth.
Christ is said to have descended and ascended that he might fill all
things not only in earth and under the earth, but in the highest
heavens. Now by his filling all things, or all elect creatures,
according to the apostle’s common use of such an expression, must be
understood filling them with life, and the enjoyment of their proper
good — giving them blessedness and perfecting their blessedness — making
them complete in a happy state, as in the 3d chap. of this epistle, 19th
verse, “And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye
might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Col. 2:10, “Ye are
complete in him.” Rom. 11:12, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of
the Gentiles, how much more their fulness!” So that when we are put in
mind that Christ, who dwelt once on the earth descended into the lower
parts of the earth, and then ascended far above all heavens, that he
might fill all things, the meaning is: that Christ came down from heaven
and dwelt among us on the earth. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us, full of grace and truth, that we might partake of his fullness, and
might be made happy by him and in him, agreeably to John 1:14-16, “And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth: and of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
And then Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth in a state
of death, that he might bless those that were in a state of death,
agreeably to Rom. 14:9, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and
revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” So
we read that when he died, the graves of many saints were opened, and
that many bodies of saints that slept arose and came out of their graves
after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto
many. And then Christ ascended into heaven and filled them, bestowing
eternal life and blessedness upon them, that the angels in heaven might
all receive the reward of confirmed and eternal glory from him and in
him.
That Christ, at his ascension into heaven, thus filled the angels of
heaven, is also plainly taught in the last verse of the first chapter of
this epistle, “Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in
all.” The apostle here has a special respect to his filling the angels,
and particularly to their being subjected to him to receive their
fullness from him as their head and as their Lord, at his ascension. For
he in those foregoing verses is speaking of Christ’s being made the Lord
and head of the angels at his ascension, “Which he wrought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, and given
him to be head over all things to the church.” By all things, is here
meant, as in the verse we are upon, especially all intelligent
creatures, men and angels, as in that verse in the 4th chapter that we
are upon. God has given him to be head over the angels to the church;
agreeably to Heb. 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation?” The
same all things that Christ is here said to be made head over, he is
said in the next verse to fill. By this it appears that the angels at
Christ’s ascension received their fullness, i.e. their whole reward, all
their confirmed life and eternal blessedness, from Christ, as their
Judge, because they received it from him as their Lord, or head of
government. For they are said to be put under his feet, and also that
they received it in him as the fountain of communication. He did not
only adjudge it to them, but he gives it to them, and they possess it as
united to him in a constant dependence on him, and have that more full
enjoyment of God than they before had, as beholding God’s glory in his
face, and as enjoying God in him. For he is here spoken of not only as
their Lord, but their Head, as a natural head to a body, as appears by
comparing the two last verses together.
This is confirmed again by the 10th verse, “That in the dispensation of
the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.”
The apostle adds, even in him, at the end of the verse, because it might
seem wonderful that not only things on earth, but even things in heaven,
or the angels, should be gathered together in him, who was one that
existed in the human nature. By gathering together in one, is meant
making happy together in one head, or uniting all in one fountain of
life and happiness; as appears by John 17:20-23.
The same thing is taught again in Col. 2:9-10, “For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, who is
the head of all principality and power.” What is rendered complete in
him, in the original properly signifies filled up, or filled full, in
him. He is he in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, and in
whom the creature receives that fullness; and he is the head of
communication whence ye receive fullness, or in whom ye are filled full,
who is the same person, who is also the head, in whom the angels receive
their fullness, as it is added, “who is the head of all principality and
power.”
That the angels have their fullness, or their eternal good and
happiness, not only from the hands of Christ, but also in him as the
head and fountain of it, and as enjoying God in him, and that they have
their confirmation in and by him, is confirmed in Christ’s being called
angels’ food. The Psalmist, speaking of manna, says, Psa. 78:25-26, “Man
did eat angels’ food;” which can be understood no otherwise than that
that of which manna was the type, was angels’ food, but this Christ
tells us is himself in John 6:31-32. There Christ tells us that that
bread from heaven spoken of in this very place in Psalm 78, is himself,
for the Jews quote the beginning of this passage, that is, the verse
immediately preceding in the psalm, verse 31, “Our fathers did eat manna
in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to
eat.” And then we have Christ’s answer in the two next verses, “Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven (i.e. that bread from heaven spoken
of in that place that you cite) but my Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven; for the bread of God is he which cometh down, and giveth
life unto the world.” Christ is called the tree of life that grows in
the midst of the paradise of God. But we know that the use of the tree
of life in paradise was that they that ate of that fruit might have
confirmed life, and never die, but live forever. And the same is
signified by Christ’s being called, in the 6th chap. of John, the bread
of life, viz., that he that eats of this bread should have confirmed
life, and not die, but live forever, as Christ himself there teaches,
John 6:48, etc. “I am the bread of life; your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die; I am the living bread
which came down from heaven; if any one (for so the original signifies)
eat of this bread he shall live for ever.” But we are taught from the
forementioned place that it is the angels’ bread of life as well as
ours, and therefore it is that bread by which they have eternal life, or
which they eat of and live forever, and is a tree of life to them as
well as to us, a tree, the fruit whereof they eat and live forever as
well as we.
Corollary 1. Here we may take occasion to observe the sweet harmony that
there is between God’s dispensations, and particularly the analogy and
agreement there is between his dealings with the angels and his dealings
with mankind. That though one is innocent and the other guilty, the one
having eternal life by a covenant of grace, the other by a covenant of
works, yet both have eternal life by his Son Jesus Christ God-man, and
both, though different ways, by the humiliation and sufferings of
Christ. The one as the price of life, the other as the greatest and last
trial of their steadfast and persevering obedience. Both have eternal
life through different ways, by their adherence, and voluntary
submission, and self-dedication to Christ crucified. And he is made the
Lord and King of both, and head of communication, influence, and
enjoyment to both, and a head of confirmation to both, for as the angels
have confirmed life in and by Christ, so have the saints. All that are
united in this head have in him a security of perseverance. Thus Christ
is the tree of life that grows in the paradise of God to all that belong
to that paradise, and to all that ever eat of the fruit of that tree. As
Adam, if he had persevered through his trial, would have eat of the
fruit of the tree of life, and after that would have had confirmation
and been secure of perseverance, so are all that taste of the fruit of
this tree: this branch that grows out of the stem of Jesse, this tender
plant and root out of a dry ground, this branch of the Lord and fruit of
the earth, this bush that God dwells in, this low tree which God exalts.
Seeing the saints and angels are formed to be one society dwelling
together as one company to all eternity, it was fit that they should be
thus united in one common head, and that their greatest interests, and
those things that concern their everlasting happiness, should be so
linked together, and that they should have such communion, or common
concern in the same great events in which God chiefly manifests himself
to them, and by which they come to the possession of the eternal reward.
Corollary 2. Here also we may observe that God’s work from the beginning
of the universe to the end, and in all parts of the universe, appears to
be but one. It is all one design carried on, one affair managed, in all
God’s dispensations towards all intelligent beings, viz., the glorifying
and communicating himself in and through his Son Jesus Christ as
God-man, and by the work of redemption of fallen man. Those of the
angels that fell are destroyed for their opposition to God in this
affair, and are overthrown, and condemned, and destroyed by the
Redeemer. Those of them that stood are confirmed for their submission
and adherence to God in this great affair. So the work of God is one, if
we view it in all its parts: what was done in heaven, and what was done
on earth and in hell, in the beginning, and since that through all ages,
and what will be done at the end of the world.
Corollary 3. From this we may see that the angels are interested in
Jesus Christ God man, as well as elect men, and that the incarnation of
Christ was not only for our sakes (though chiefly for ours), but also
for the sake of the angels. For God having from eternity, from his
infinite goodness, designed to communicate himself to creatures, the way
in which he designed to communicate himself to elect beloved creatures,
all of them, was to unite himself to a created nature, and to become one
of the creatures, and to gather together in one all elect creatures in
that creature, whom he assumed into a personal union with himself, and
to manifest to them, and maintain intercourse with them through him. All
creatures having this benefit by Christ’s incarnation, that God thereby
is, as it were, come down to them from his infinite height above them,
and is become a fellow-creature, and all elect creatures hereby have
opportunity for a more free and intimate converse with God, and full
enjoyment of him, than otherwise could be. And though Christ is not the
Mediator of the angels in the same sense that he is of men, yet he is a
middle person between God and them, through whom is all their
intercourse with God, and derivations from him.
Corollary 4. That the person who is the head of all elect creatures, in
whom all are gathered together in one, by whom they all have their
eternal fullness and glory, and who is the common fountain of all their
good, and the common medium through whom God communicates himself to
all, is so much nearer to men than to the angels, confirms it, that the
saints are higher in glory than the angels.
Corollary 5. This confirms it that the church, or blessed assembly in
heaven, is in like progressive state with the church on earth. For at
the same time that the church in this world was advanced to a state of
new light and glory by the dawning of the gospel-day, the angels in
heaven were advanced to a new state of glory and happiness, and not only
so, but the souls of the saints that died under the Old Testament were
advanced much higher in glory, at Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
For the test in Eph. 4:10 teaches that at that time of the manifestation
of Christ God man in this universe, each of those three were advanced to
a state of new blessedness, viz., the church on earth, and departed
souls of saints whose bodies were in the lower parts of the earth, and
also the angels in heaven. He came and dwelt upon earth among us, and we
beheld his glory, and received of his fullness. When he rose from the
dead he begat the church again to a living hope, as it were, raised the
church from the dead with him, and the church here was advanced to so
much higher glory, that her former glory was no glory in this respect,
by reason of the glory that excels. And then he descended into the lower
parts of the earth, and filled those that were there — advanced the
souls of departed saints in glory, in becoming Lord of the dead, and in
token of it and one instance of it then, was his granting a resurrection
to many of them, whereby the future glory of the resurrection was in a
measure anticipated. Doubtless those saints, that rose with Christ,
ascended triumphing with him into heaven, into new glory and
blessedness. These things confirm that the assembly in heaven has all
along been in a like progressive state with the church on earth, and is
in a preparatory state. And that things there, from the beginning of the
world hitherto, have been working towards a great end, and glorious
issue, and consummation at the end of the world, as it is here.
The church of angels and saints there at first was in a state of infancy
to what it is now, as it was with the church on earth, and have been
brought forward to greater fullness and perfection by great events of
providence, as it has been with the church here. And things there will
arrive at a consummation at the same time, and in the same great event
at the end of the world, that they will here. The church in heaven was
greatly advanced in happiness at Christ’s exaltation, whence commenced
the gospel-day to the church in this world. And so again the church in
heaven will receive another still much higher advancement in glory at
the time of the fall of antichrist, as appears by several passages in
the book of Revelation, as abundantly appears, Rev. 18:20, and Rev.
19:1-9, and Rev. 20:4. And both that part of the church that is on
earth, and that which is in heaven, shall at the same time receive their
highest advancement in glory, together with the consummation of Christ’s
exaltation at the day of judgment. See M 777.
935. Confirmation of the Angels at Christ’s Ascension — Progress of the
Work of Redemption. The service of the angels of heaven was altered
after Christ’s ascension from what it had been before, in some analogy
to the alteration that was made in the service of the church on earth.
The service of the church on earth before Christ’s ascension, and that
establishment of the evangelical dispensation consequent thereupon, was
more legal and mercenary, more from a spirit of bondage, not so free and
ingenuous. But afterwards, when faith as the great condition was more
fully revealed, and God here more clearly revealed the saints’
infallible perseverance, the service of the church is more the service
of those that are not under the law, but under grace, from a free
spirit, a spirit of adoption, which is a spirit of love. So the angels,
till they were confirmed at Christ’s ascension, served God more from a
spirit of fear, being yet in probation, and their eternal happiness or
eternal damnation being yet suspended on their perfect obedience not yet
completed, their service was more mercenary. But when Christ ascended,
and they were confirmed, thenceforward their service became more
disinterested, and merely the service of love: being now no longer in a
state of probation, but sure of eternal life by the infallible promise
of God.
942. Confirmation of the
Angels. Before that the angels were confirmed in holiness judicially, so
that they were sure of never falling away, they were first greatly
prepared for it by having their hearts greatly confirmed in holiness,
naturally in some respect so: i.e. holiness was greatly confirmed by the
tendency and influence of the means God used with them to that end. They
were first greatly confirmed by what they saw of evil, the knowledge
they gained of the evil of sin and its punishment in the fall of the
angels, the dreadful ruin that sin brought, and also by what they saw of
their own weakness, and mutability, and insufficiency for themselves,
and also the distinguishing grace of Christ to them in preserving them
when others fell; and afterwards by what they saw in that fall of man,
and its consequences, and the grace of God to man, and what they saw in
God’s dispensations of providence, in behalf of his church, and against
his enemies from age to age, and by the many trials they had of their
obedience through the age of the Old Testament. But their natural
confirmation, and so their preparation for a judicial confirmation, had
its finishing stroke by what they saw and did in the time of Christ’s
humiliation, and above all at the time of his last sufferings. What came
to pass then, did above all other things confirm their hearts in
holiness and ripen their preparation for a judicial confirmation, which
then was completed, and crowned their preparation. Their hearts were
then confirmed by what they saw then of God’s glory, which had its chief
manifestation then, and what they then saw of the evil and dreadful
nature of sin, which had a much greater manifestation in what Christ did
and suffered for sin and sinners, than in the sin and punishment of
fallen angels; and in the honor that they saw one so infinitely great
and glorious as Jesus Christ, put upon God’s authority and law, and the
hatred he manifested of sin, and his willingly abasing himself so
infinitely to honor God, and promote the happiness of his little
unworthy sinful creatures, and by their own steadfast, universal, and
perfect obedience to God, and thorough subjection to Christ under such a
trial, and in seeing Christ’s exaltation, and the success of such
humiliation and obedience as Christ performed, and the infinite benefit
of thorough obedience to God, in great humiliation, and self-denial in
what they saw in Christ.
This confirmation of the hearts of the elect angels, that prepared them
for a judicial confirmation, consisted in the following things:
1. In the warning they had, or what they saw, to make them sensible of
the evil nature and dreadful consequences of sin, and so to cause them
to fear God.
2. In their humiliation, by what they saw to make them sensible of their
own emptiness, and insufficiency for themselves, and dependence on the
grace of Christ.
3. In what they saw more of God in the manifestations of his glorious
excellency, and goodness, and grace to them, to increase their love to
God and Christ.
4. In the example they had set them of obedience by Christ, whose
obedience was performed by a person infinitely greater than they, and
was performed with such infinite abasement, and an abasement of a like
kind with what was required of them (only infinitely greater), viz.,
abasement in ministering to so mean and despicable a creature as man;
and in the infinite love to God, and regard to his authority, that was
manifested by that obedience.
5. They had their hearts confirmed in obedience by habit and custom,
having long persevered in perfect obedience, and having often overcome
under trials which they had. And then besides the natural tendency and
influence to confirm their hearts in holiness that those things had,
which came to pass while they were yet in a state of preparation for
their judicial confirmation. That judicial confirmation itself had also
a great natural tendency to confirm them, as the bestowment of this
infinite reward upon them made manifest God’s eternal, electing,
distinguishing love, and sovereign and infinite grace to them. And as
they hereby receive the sweet and infinitely precious fruit of that
grace and love, which tendency forever must strongly engage their
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