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balance. In him all creatures live, and move, and have their being. "He is before all things, and by him all things consist." This infinite and self-sufficient God is the promiser; and therefore he is able to fulfil all his promises to the very uttermost, because he is Almighty. And he is that God that cannot lie, and who keepeth truth for ever. And he is pleas ed to insert his name in the promise, to shew his mindfulness of it, and his readi ness to perform it. I would, secondly, consider, what a demand is here given for our attention to what he speaks, and concerning the person of whom he speaks,

"Behold the man whose name is the Branch." Here the Lord God calls for our attention, and directs us to behold with admiration, the adorable person of whom he speaks. The eternal Father calls upon us to behold him, who is the wonder of heaven and earth, his eternal Son, clothed in our nature, and becoming God manifested in the flesh. The person we are called upon to behold is Immanuel, God in our nature, God with us. him who is Jehovah's fellow, in whom

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dwelleth all the fulness of the GODHEAD! And we may well behold him, and have our admiration drawn forth concerning him, for he is a most wonderful person. He is God's beloved son, his chosen one, in whom his soul delighteth, in whom he is well pleased. It is that adorable person, who though co-equal and co-eternal in deity with the Father, was graciously pleased in the covenant of grace to become the Father's servant, in the stupendous work of man's salvation. And "though he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." This illustrious person is described as the 66 man, whose name is the Branch." This name was given him in prophecy, The man by way of eminency, he being fairer than the children of men; Yea, he is God as well as man: and God and man in the person of one Christ. Isaiah speaks of him as a branch, which was to spring from Jesse's withered stock.

calls him a righteous Branch.

Jeremiah He is the

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Branch of the Lord, raised up by the Lord, and to the glory of the Lord. He is á Branch, as well as a Plant of renown. He is the Branch of righteousness; for the display of his righteousness. God sent him into the world, and by him, and in him, everlasting righteousness is brought forth; and in him, all his people are made righteous before him, Christ being Jehovah their righteousness. Thirdly here is in our text, a promise of Christ's incarnation, and an account given of the work appointed him to do and perform. “He shall grow up out of his place." Bethlehem was to be the place of his birth, and Nazareth the place of his education: the incarnation of Christ was the grand promise of the Old Testament, and what the Lord's people were encouraged to expect, and what they were earnestly longing for. They knew, by the Lord's word, that God the Son had undertaken in the covenant to be made man. And they longed for his glorious advent. It was the prayer of their hearts, "Make haste my beloved, and O that thou wert as my brother that sucked

the breasts of my mother!" And here the promise of his coming is renewed, and the work assigned him to perform is likewise mentioned. He was "to build the temple of the Lord." This work was to be done by the incarnate God. He was to raise up out of the ruins of the fall, a church, to the praise and glory of free, rich, and sovereign grace. A work which required the arm of God to be made bare, and the power of GODHEAD to be put forth. The temple built by king Solomon was typical both of Christ and the church. Solomon, the builder of it, was a type of Christ. The word Solomon signifies peace. And Christ the antitype of Solomon is the Prince of Peace, who has made peace by the blood of his cross. Solomon was exceeding wise, and exceeding rich, and Jesus has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and his riches are unsearchable and durable: Solomon was the builder of God's temple, and Christ is the builder of God's church. The temple of Solomon was a magnificent structure, and it is reported, that when the sun shone upon it,

it dazzled the eyes of beholders, who were on the mountains coming towards it. The temple was a type of Christ's human nature, which when the glory of the GODHEAD darted its rays through it, as it did on mount Tabor its glory was too refulgent for the beholders. Yea, they saw and knew that this was the glory of the only begotten Son of God. In the temple God was worshipped, and by Christ we have access unto the Father. At the dedication of the temple, the glory of the Lord filled it. And this was to point out how the Deity would dwell in the human nature of Christ, and that the Son of God would become the Son of man. The temple was framed according to the orders and pattern which the Lord had given unto David. And Christ's human nature was entirely framed by the Holy Ghost in conformity to divine decrees. And the temple was reared up without the sound of axe or hammer: so the formation of Christ's human nature was entirely the Lord's own work: and the work performed by the Son of God in our nature, was his incommunicable

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