“Jesus speaks also of a glory given to Him, a new glory bestowed on Him as Mediator — in His person as the God-man.
And surely to be in His human nature made victorious over sin and death, and Satan, and hell, and the grave— the conqueror, the more than conqueror of them all— is a glory to which no creature may aspire.
It is Christ’s.
He was raised from the dead and received glory.
He ascended on high, carrying captivity captive, receiving gifts for men.
He is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, far above all principalities and powers, angels and principalities and powers being made subject to Him.
He is arrayed in all the glory of divine majesty, and all the right of divine and universal rule.
He is made head of all the universe for His church’s sake, which is His body.
He shall govern all things for her salvation and His own eternal praise therein.
He stands a priest upon His throne— the infinitely acceptable intercessor, the advocate of those whom the Father hath given Him— and all heaven is hushed into adoring love and wonder as the Father answereth Him for His Jerusalem with good and comfortable words.
He will come at last to destroy all her enemies, and to confer unbounded blessedness on the happy subjects of His kingdom.
Time would fail to tell the numerous promises that the Father hath made to Him: and our hearts fail in attempting to conceive of the blessedness the Father hath bestowed on Him.
‘The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord! His glory is great in thy salvation. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance? Surely he hath found acceptance, found grace, in thy sight! Jehovah hath said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand?’ (Psalm 21:1-6)
Now all this grace and acceptance is in and for us, in our person, in our service, in our stead. For were it not for this, the whole marvelous transaction were lost and useless.
In and for Himself He was thus infinitely acceptable before this work given Him to do— apart from it, before it, and without it. It is as His people’s surety and substitute and head that He is now accepted of the Father, appearing in the presence of God for us.”
–Hugh Martin, “Accepted in the Beloved,” Union with Christ: Sermons of Hugh Martin, eds. Matthew J. Hyde and Catherine E. Hyde (Glasgow, Scotland: Free Presbyterian Publications, 2024), 36-37. Martin is preaching on Ephesians 1:6.
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