Son and Heir Through Christ

Edward Griffin (1770—1837)
 

Galatians 4:7
"So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir!"

Guilt and unbelief are prone to represent God as an implacable foe, and often check, even in Christians, that humble boldness and firm reliance with which a redeemed soul ought to cast itself upon a covenant God. The spirit most befitting a child of God is not servile fear, but filial confidence. "You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry: Abba Father!" "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba Father! Therefore you are no more a servant but a son."

As the whole moral glory of God consists in love, and as the most precious exercises of love are mercy and truth, God is most glorified when these perfections are most distinctly seen and most confidently relied on. He never is better pleased than when his children feel a strong confidence in his veracity and paternal tenderness. Such a trust is the choicest and most difficult effort of faith, and does more than all direct exertions upon ourselves, and infinitely more than all the glooms of guilt:
to purify the heart,
to overcome the world, and
to procure from God all the strength we need.

In this trust, all other graces and holy habits are involved; as love, humility, repentance, and universal obedience. It is this operation of love which brings us into the closest union and communion with God, and leaves the deepest impression of his image on the heart. Faith is the very hand which takes of the things of God and transfers them to the soul. It is the very bond of union to Christ, and therefore the grand condition on which all blessings are bestowed. Faith then is the grace which it behooves us to cultivate with the most assiduous care. And that I may encourage you, my beloved brethren, to rise up to this filial confidence, I shall direct your attention to the high standing which believers hold as sons and heirs of God.

But first it is necessary to consider the ground on which this amazing privilege rests. It rests on the mediation of Christ. "If a son, then an heir of God through Christ." The principle of receiving privileges on account of another who stands in a certain relation to us, is familiar to you all. You constantly see children treated with kindness by their father's friend, without any reference to their own merit. On this principle proceeds the whole system of divine grace. The unworthy receive blessings on account of another who has espoused their cause and assumed their responsibility. A deep impression of this truth must be fastened on your minds before you can rise up to a realizing sense of that stupendous system to which I am solicitous to draw your attention. And yet this impression cannot be made but by the simple exercise of faith, resting implicitly on the testimony of God.

God has said that for the love he bears his Son, he will treat those outcasts whom his Son has adopted, with all the tenderness of a Father; and we must firmly rely on this declaration. In no other way can the impression be obtained.

Thus prepared, let us go back to the beginning, and contemplate this great subject step by step.

In the ages of eternity past, a covenant was entered into between the persons of the sacred Trinity respecting the redemption of the world.

The Son voluntarily assumed the office of Mediator and espoused the cause of a ruined race. He engaged to take our nature, to take our place under law, and to perform and suffer all that was necessary to support the authority of the law. He engaged to yield perfect obedience to its requirements, and in the nature which had sinned, to receive and obey a command from the Father to die on a cross as a substitute for man.

The Father, who in this transaction held the rights of the Godhead, accepted the offer and engaged to receive that vicarious sacrifice in the place of the punishment of believing sinners. He engaged also to confer on the Son, thus voluntarily reduced to a servant, a glorious reward.

In the first place, seeing that the Son would lose his pains unless an obstinate race should be subdued and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, he engaged (the Spirit consenting,) that a certain number should be thus subdued and sanctified. This number he gave to the Son by absolute promise, and wrote their names, (speaking after the manner of men,) "in the book of life."

In the next place, he constituted his Son the "heir of all things" and gave him the universe for himself and his Church. He made this grant to him, not as a private person, (if I may so say,) but as "the head of the body." He gave him nothing which was not to be shared by his Church, and all its members were constituted "joint heirs" with him.

Hence the assurance to believers, "All things are yours." Hence also the promises: "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." "There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling." "All things work together for good to them that love God."

In the next place, he appointed his Son as the manager and distributer of the whole estate, and made him "head over all things to the Church," that he might overrule all things for the happiness of his people. The Spirit consented to act under him: and thus "all power in Heaven and in earth" was "given" to the mediatorial King as head and guardian of the Church.

All this he was to purchase for himself and his people by his obedience "unto death." But as he had given bonds for the payment of the price, he was actually invested with the inheritance from the beginning, and entered upon the office of mediatorial King immediately after the fall, and has been the sole governor of the universe ever since.

On the strength of that bond he also entered on the distribution of the blessings he was to purchase. From Abel down to John the Baptist, sinners were saved on the ground of his obedience and death. But passing by those preceding ages, it will help our conceptions to come down to the time when the bond was cancelled and the reward more openly conferred; that is, to the actual sufferings of Christ and the glory which followed.

As soon as sufficient preparations had been made by instruction, to enable men to understand the wondrous plan, and by predictions and the prophetic testimony of types, to furnish abundant evidence of his divine mission; and as soon as the state of science had become sufficiently mature, and the fellowship among the nations sufficiently extended, to spread and transmit the records and proofs of the great transactions; the Son of God appeared in the flesh.

"He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham." He was "made of a woman, made under the law," in "the form," not of God, but a "servant" of God. He perfectly obeyed the divine law under circumstances the most trying. In the nature which had sinned he drank "the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out." He stood before Heaven and earth and there offered for a rebellious world, life for life. Here ended all that the Son had engaged to do and suffer.

Now it remained for the Father to fulfill his part of the covenant. In the first place then, he declared himself appeased by raising the Sufferer from the dead. This was a public acceptance of the person and atonement of the Son. It was an acceptance of the sacrifice in behalf of believing sinners, and so was a sign and seal of their acquittal. Hence it is said that he "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." The atonement left believers where Adam stood the first moment of his existence, before he had either transgressed or obeyed.

Let us now extend our view to those rewards which were conferred on the Son when he arose, and conferred, not for his sufferings as such, but for his obedience. As the most essential part of his obedience consisted in yielding himself to death, so his reward was inseparably connected with his resurrection; insomuch that his resurrection was publicly viewed as a manifestation of his title to the inheritance, and thus a manifestation of his sonship. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power—by the resurrection from the dead."

As he arose to take possession of the inheritance, he is called "the first-born from the dead," and "the first begotten of the dead." Indeed his resurrection is expressly mentioned as a fulfillment of what is written in the second Psalm, "You are my Son, this day have I begotten you." In a word when he arose from the dead and appeared in Heaven with all his engagements fulfilled, he, in the most visible manner, took out of the hands of pure Godhead all the blessings which he had purchased for the Church; including regeneration, pardon, sanctification, guidance, comfort, and eternal life, together with the subserviency of the whole universe to these ends. In a more formal and visible manner than he had ever done before, he took possession of the inheritance; including the use and enjoyment of the whole universe, not for himself alone, but as "the first born among many brethren." He took possession in behalf of all the "joint heirs." All the blessings which redeemed sinners can ever receive for time or eternity, were taken out of the hands of pure Godhead and committed to the Mediator for distribution. Thus when "he ascended on high" he "received gifts for men."

At the same time he was, in a more full and visible manner, appointed the guardian of his younger brethren, with power to impart the blessings he had purchased according to his own will—a will however in perfect accordance with that of the Father and submissive to it. "As the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom he will. For as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself." His dominion which extends to all worlds, is nothing distinct from the office of guardian and distributer to his brethren. All power is committed to him that he may use it for their benefit. This dominion was conferred on him as the reward of his obedience. "He became obedient unto death—wherefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow."

One of the prerogatives of his sovereignty is a right to judge the world; and as the whole of his dominion and glory was promised as the reward of his obedience "unto death," his resurrection was a public manifestation in particular of his investment with this high judicial authority. God "has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men in that he has raised him from the dead."

Every part of his reward was bestowed more visibly and fully after his resurrection, than it had been by anticipation before. The delegated dominion which was a part of the reward, involved the direction of the divine Spirit whose mission he had procured for men. He told his disciples that if he went "not away the Comforter would not come unto them, but that if he went away he would send him;" in other words, that he would ask the Father and he would send them the Comforter; that is, the Priest by his intercession would obtain that gift, and then the King, acting with delegated authority, would send it. This was the principal gift which he received for men; and he received it when he ascended on high, "that the Lord God might dwell among them."

The new and enlarged communication of this gift was made on the day of Pentecost, and has continued with the Church ever since. This was the chief means by which his kingdom was to be enlarged on earth and in Heaven, and by which he was to "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied," By this means he at once obtained a glorious kingdom among the Gentiles, overturned the altars of devils, demolished their temples, and drove his enemy from his usurped dominion in the Roman empire! Every convert was a new trophy; every new church swelled the triumphs of his grace. The countless millions given to him in the everlasting covenant, will all be brought in by the energies of his Spirit. Nor will he stop until he has beaten his enemy from the field and shut him up in prison, and after reigning on earth without a rival for a thousand years, has transplanted a glorious Church to the eternal heavens.

All this dominion and glory and blessedness constituted the inheritance which he took possession of as "the first born among many brethren," for the benefit of the "joint heirs." The complete use of the whole universe was comprised in this inheritance; and the whole universe, so far as it constitutes a good to be enjoyed by the Church, or in any way subserves that good, was taken out of the hands of pure Godhead and committed to the mediatorial King as his own, for the use of himself and his people; not however in a way to hide from creatures the supreme right of the Father and his gracious grant, (for that would have defeated the whole design, by concealing, not only the just claims of God, but the procuring influence of the Mediator;) but the Father's right and his gracious grant are both acknowledged in the intercession of the Priest.

But still the mediatorial King has as complete possession and as perfect a control over the whole inheritance, as though the Father had ceased to exist. And the whole is owned and managed by him, not as God but as Mediator, the Head of the Church, "the first born among many brethren." The whole then is as really owned by every believer—as unalienably owned by every believer, as by Christ himself. He is not the Mediator any further than he is the Head, the Guardian, the Representative of the Church. Whatever therefore he receives as Mediator, he receives for the use of the Church—for the use of every living member in it. Whatever is unchangeably made over to the Head, is unchangeably made over to every member. In point of treatment he and his Church are absolutely one. No oneness so absolute and infrangible exists between our natural members, between husband and wife, between soul and body, between any two objects in the whole creation. Nothing so nearly resembles it as the everlasting oneness between the divine Father and Son: "As you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us—I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one."

If Christ is a Son, they are sons of God;
if Christ is "heir of all things," they are "joint heirs with" him;
if Christ possesses everlasting life, because he lives they "shall live also;"
if Christ is a King, they shall sit down with him upon his throne.

Where he is, there they shall be also.

If he is rich they cannot be poor.

If the whole universe is made over to him, they possess it all. They own the sun, moon, and stars. They are put in possession of the infinite God. "All things are theirs. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are theirs, and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

Still "the heir, as long as he is a child," is not put into actual possession of the inheritance, but is treated in many respects as "a servant, though he is lord of all." He is kept "under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father." In this life we are minors; but he who purchased the inheritance is appointed our Guardian to manage the interest for us, to hold it securely until we come of age, to direct our education, and to superintend our whole course. He will allow us to lack nothing. Our inheritance is ample, and he will impart it to us as fast as we need. It comprehends all needed good, temporal and spiritual; and all needed good our Guardian will bestow. He may chasten us sorely when we offend, but he will not deliver us over to death. The very correction is intended for our benefit. He may leave us—to try us and to prove us, and to know what is in our hearts, but it is only that he may humble us and do us good in the latter end. He may leave us destitute of some of the good things of this life, but it is not because he grudges us these husks which he lavishes on his enemies. It is because these husks are not the children's bread, and would really be hurtful to us. Did we actually need them, he would create a new world for our use rather than withhold them from us. He sees what strength and light and grace we need to help us on our way, and will impart them all. His "strength" shall be "made perfect in our weakness." His grace shall be "sufficient for" us. He will "guide" us by his counsel until he receives us to glory." "For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly!" He "will bind up that which is broken, and strengthen that which is sick." He will "gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom." When we say our "foot is slipping!" his "mercy" will hold us up.

The inheritance is not to be purchased by our fidelity nor forfeited by our infirmities. It is made sure and unalienable by the price paid by our Head; and he has stipulated with the Father, absolutely, to bear us through and bring us into the full possession. Our every interest is made sure in Christ.

And now what has the believer to do but to adore and love and serve his infinite Guardian and Friend, to cleave to him, and to "rejoice evermore?" Let him roll every care and burden on the Lord, and advance towards the heavenly mark "with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

O you most highly favored of all the creatures of God, place more confidence in your Guardian and Guide. Banish these tremblings and fears. Rejoice that the Redeemer of Zion reigns; that he has found his throne after passing once through this valley of tears, as you are now passing. Be partakers of his sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy." Take up the cross that you may wear the crown. Place more confidence in him as your all prevalent Intercessor. "Seeing—that we have such a High priest that is passed into the heavens," fail not to go boldly to the throne of grace. Lie no longer as slaves beneath the throne. In all the sublimity and tenderness of the filial spirit, go through him to the infinite God, crying, "Abba Father!"

Cultivate more this spirit of adoption—this holy, humble confidence. O remember him. Forget your father and mother, but O remember him. Say from your inmost soul, "If I forget you," O my Savior, "let my right hand forget her skill." When you kneel at the throne of grace, remember him: when you are abroad in the world, fail not to remember him: when you approach the sacramental table, O remember him with bursting love and praise: when you lie on your dying pillow, still remember him: stretch out your hands to him and die with your eye fixed upon his cross! Amen.