KenH
Well-Known Member
"The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." - Revelation 13:8
"His Priestly office, through the virtue of his blood reaching backward to the foundation of the world, and therefore said to be the Lamb slain so early, ( Revelation 13:8 ) and instances there are of his intercession under the former dispensation, ( Zechariah 1:12 ,13, 3:1-4 ) the actual existence of Christ's human nature from eternity, was not necessary to his being a Mediator of the covenant; it was enough that he agreed in covenant, to be man in time; that this was known he would be, and was certain he should be; and accordingly he was, from the instant of the covenant making, reckoned and accounted, and bore the name of the God-man and Mediator, and acted as such. Some parts of his work did not require the actual existence of the human nature; he could draw near to God, as Jehovah's fellow, without it; he could treat with God about terms of peace, and promise to fulfill them, and covenant with God without it: it no more required the actual existence of his human nature, to covenant with his Father, about the reconciliation and redemption of man, than it required that the Father should assume such a nature to covenant with his Son about the same: there were other parts of Christ's work as Mediator, which required its actual existence; as obedience to the law, and suffering death, the penalty of it; but then, and not before, was it necessary for him to assume it, when the fullness of time was come agreed on, to obey and suffer."
- excerpt from John Gill's A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, in the chapter "Of Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant"
@Darrell C You asked me a question concerning Revelation 13:8 in the thread entitled, "A Perfect Righteousness" in post #72, "Are you arguing that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world in a literal sense?" I apologize for not responding earlier, but it slipped my mind.
The answer to your question is "No." In addition to the explanation above by John Gill, I would add something by J.C. Philpot in his "Through Baca's Vale" concerning a similar situation in Ephesians 2:6 "And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
"But when he ascended up on high, all the election of grace ascended with him. He did not leave his members behind upon earth, but he took them all 'virtually' into
heaven. And this is a pledge that they will one day be with him in the realms of eternal bliss, because they have already ascended with him, as the members of his mystical body."
"His Priestly office, through the virtue of his blood reaching backward to the foundation of the world, and therefore said to be the Lamb slain so early, ( Revelation 13:8 ) and instances there are of his intercession under the former dispensation, ( Zechariah 1:12 ,13, 3:1-4 ) the actual existence of Christ's human nature from eternity, was not necessary to his being a Mediator of the covenant; it was enough that he agreed in covenant, to be man in time; that this was known he would be, and was certain he should be; and accordingly he was, from the instant of the covenant making, reckoned and accounted, and bore the name of the God-man and Mediator, and acted as such. Some parts of his work did not require the actual existence of the human nature; he could draw near to God, as Jehovah's fellow, without it; he could treat with God about terms of peace, and promise to fulfill them, and covenant with God without it: it no more required the actual existence of his human nature, to covenant with his Father, about the reconciliation and redemption of man, than it required that the Father should assume such a nature to covenant with his Son about the same: there were other parts of Christ's work as Mediator, which required its actual existence; as obedience to the law, and suffering death, the penalty of it; but then, and not before, was it necessary for him to assume it, when the fullness of time was come agreed on, to obey and suffer."
- excerpt from John Gill's A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, in the chapter "Of Christ, the Mediator of the Covenant"
@Darrell C You asked me a question concerning Revelation 13:8 in the thread entitled, "A Perfect Righteousness" in post #72, "Are you arguing that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world in a literal sense?" I apologize for not responding earlier, but it slipped my mind.
The answer to your question is "No." In addition to the explanation above by John Gill, I would add something by J.C. Philpot in his "Through Baca's Vale" concerning a similar situation in Ephesians 2:6 "And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
"But when he ascended up on high, all the election of grace ascended with him. He did not leave his members behind upon earth, but he took them all 'virtually' into
heaven. And this is a pledge that they will one day be with him in the realms of eternal bliss, because they have already ascended with him, as the members of his mystical body."