Gleanings from the Rev. John Colquhoun, D.D., Leith

If sinners of mankind, then, are ever to be recovered from their undone condition, their restoration must be wholly ascribed to sovereign, free, and boundless grace. Still, however, it cannot be denied, that if all the human race had been lost, irrecoverably and eternally, the wisdom and goodness of the Lord, in creating and sustaining them, would not have been so illustriously displayed. To have been seemingly disappointed of His immediate design, respecting the whole of mankind, could not, as far as we can discern, have afforded such a glorious manifestation of His manifold wisdom, to the universe: and to have excluded the whole of them, from being objects of His special favour, could not have occasioned such a bright display of His infinite goodness, and of His boundless compassion. He, accordingly, hath elected a certain number both of angels and of men.

There is no saving knowledge of Christ, and of Him crucified, whom to know is life eternal, without a spiritual discernment of this everlasting covenant, of which He is the blessed Mediator; and no receiving of Him as a Saviour, without a taking hold of it, so as cordially to say, this ‘everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, is all my salvation, and all my desire.’

The Lord Jesus is, in the Scriptures, expressly styled the last Adam. This appellation could not be given Him on account of the human nature, which He had in common with the first Adam, for of that, every man partakes; but it was given to Him because of the common office of headship and representation, in their respective covenants, which was peculiar to themselves, and to none else. Adam is also called ‘the first man,’ and Christ ‘the second man’: but Christ is the second man no otherwise than as He is the second federal Head, or the Representative in the second covenant; as Adam was the first federal head, or the representative, in the first covenant. Adam, accordingly, is represented as the head of the earthly men; and Christ as the Head of the heavenly men. Those bear the image of the first Adam, who ‘is of the earth, earthy’: these, the image of the second Adam, who ‘is the Lord from heaven.’

By His becoming a surety or sponsor for them as sinners, who in themselves were utterly insolvent, He took upon Himself the burden of discharging their whole debt, both of penal suffering for sin, and of perfect obedience for life. But such a Surety as this is, cannot but be, a true and proper Representative of those for whom He acts as surety: by being legally substituted in their stead, to answer for them, He represents or sustains their persons in law.

But, O believer, mistake not the nature of this communion. It is not so much a strict profession of religion, or an external performance of duty, or a high degree of knowledge, as—a dwelling in God, and God in the soul. Christ so dwells in the heart by faith, as to admit the believer to real, to increasing, to transforming, intercourse with Him. The holy soul dwells, and is at home in Him, as its hiding place, its only portion, and its ultimate end. The soul, which is favoured with such communion, knows no other object for its supreme love, no other subject for its delightful meditation, no other end for its endless existence, than Him, and God in Him.

In fellowship with God in Christ, the soul satiates itself with His love, shares in His fulness, and contemplates His glory, and in some degree, enters into His joy. His love flows out on the soul: and the love of the redeemed soul goes forth upon Him. By communion, the believing soul dwells with its covenant God, as well as in Him. It is with Him, at one time, in meditation, at another, in the confidence of faith, at another in prayer, and at another in praise. It has not a sin, but it mourns over to Him; not a grief, but it makes known to Him; not a complaint, but it reveals to Him; not a request, but it presents to Him. O that spiritual intimacy, which is between such a holy soul and Christ! that liberty of converse, that wrestling with Him for the blessing! ‘Let me go;—I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’ This is eternal life begun: it is heaven let down to earth. Thus, ‘the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.’

Since the believer, then, has all that Christ did and suffered, to rely on and to plead, for his salvation, it is impossible that his plea can fail.