OBEDIENCE BRINGS ALL THINGS TO PASS

OBEDIENCE BRINGS ALL THINGS TO PASS

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God.”  John 13:3

 

Christ, now, in virtue of His divine nature, the Son of God, has absolute control over all nations, over the church, etc., but He only exerts that Sovereignty  as God in Providence, etc., not as the Son of Man, David's Son, in His human nature. That nature is also highly, immeasurably exalted because of its union with the Divine, the God-Man, and of its being intended for the coming visible Theocratic Government to be the Representative Ruler of God. This Ruler ship now belongs to David's Son, is His both by right of covenanted birth and obedience, but is not yet realized and will not be until the establishment of the Kingdom. For, we have no distinctive announcement of its actual participation in reigning as covenanted until the Second Advent, at which time it is plainly and specifically stated that He reigns not merely as the Son of God, but really and truly as the Son of Man.

Hence, while this dominion is even now lodged in the Son of Man, yet it is held in abeyance until the period of its manifestation in and through this Kingdom. This has already been shown by various considerations, and will appear still more conclusively as the Scriptures unfold. Therefore it is erroneous (as a multitude of writers, including Hodge, Barnes, etc), to say that this dominion was fully attained and realized by the incarnation and the exaltation of the Son of God. It certainly belongs to Him; but we must leave the Scriptures to decide respecting its actual realization. From the Covenant thus far provisionally fulfilled, the most glorious portion remaining in a state of abeyance, that it is a wrong inference to suppose an existing realization when the same is related with the restored Theocratic Kingdom. So long as the Davidic tabernacle is in ruins, this dominion cannot and will not be exerted. The dominion is given to Him as "the Son of Man" (John 5:27; Psa. 8:7; Heb. 2:6, etc.), and this at a pre-ordained time. He is constituted the absolute Lord over all because He is "the Son of Man;" but this dominion pertaining to Him as the promised seed, related both to God and man, He did not fully (only on some occasions to indicate His power), exercise while on earth; He does not now as "the Son of Man" put forth the power with which He is invested, for He has not yet been revealed as the King, the Judge, the Maker of all things new, the Repealer of the curse, we see not yet all things put under Him, and He is awaiting the time when His enemies shall be made His footstool. But the period of time is coming when this will be done, and the dominion, held in restraint for purposes of mercy and love, will be exhibited with God-like power and glory. As the Son of Man, the Second Adam, He becomes the Lord of the world, but that Lordship is not yet manifested, it remaining veiled until certain preparatory purposes are accomplished and the time arrives for its blessed appearance through the covenanted Theocratic-Davidic throne; for just as at the First Advent by the Incarnation the Christ is brought into direct relationship with humanity and from thence sustains His covenanted position in this particular, so also at the Second Advent by the Incarnation, as continued in "the Son of Man," "the Christ," in the inherited throne and Kingdom, is brought into direct Theocratic relationship with humanity, and from this revealed position exerts His power in behalf of that humanity with which He is identified.

For us, He Himself revealed the necessity of obedience for full participation in His Kingdom. All things can then come to pass.