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I. ITS NATURE.

1. Universal. He is Lord over all the dead and all the living; but in a peculiar manner over His Church, even as a husband is lord over his wife, which is a lordship with sweetness. It is indeed a lordship; but it is such as is good for His subjects. Christ accounts Himself happy in His Church, which is His fulness, and (Ephesians 1:23) the Church is most happy in His government.

2. Independent. Only His Father joins with Him. All human authority is derived from Him (Proverbs 8:15). "King of kings," He is Lord Paramount over all.

3. Complete. He is a Lord of the whole man, body and soul. He sits in the throne of conscience. There He prescribes laws to it, pacifies, stablishes, and settles it against all fears. He bows the neck of the inward man, and brings it wholly to be subject to Him.

4. Eternal. Other lords have nothing to do with men when they are dead, because they are lords over the outward man only. But Christ's lordship is when we are gone hence, and then more especially. For then we are more immediately with Him (Philippians 1:23).

5. Excellent. He hath all things that a lord should have.

(1) Authority. He purchased it, and His Father gave it Him (Psalm 2:8; Matthew 28:18; John 17:2).

(2) All graces and virtues fit for a lord and governor — righteousness, wisdom, bounty, affections, etc. (Psalm 45:6).

(3) Strength. Answerable to His authority; for He is a Lord that is God.

II. DEDUCTIONS FROM IT. We see —

1. That the grounds of a Christian's faith and comfort are very strong. God doth all to ends, it being a point of wisdom to prefix an end, and work to it. Here the greatest work hath the greatest end.

2. That the principal points of religion have an influence on all the particulars. For one is the cause of another, and one depends upon another. Christ is proved to be Lord of all, because He died and rose.

3. The truth of the Catholic Church, from the first man living to the end of the Church, under one head Christ (Hebrews 13:8; Acts 4:12).

4. The blessedness of being under the sovereignty of Christ. To be Solomon's servant was accounted a great happiness (1 Kings 10:8). What shall we think of those that are under Christ, who is greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42). For Christ's servants are so many kings (Revelation 1:6), and such kings as do not rule over slaves, but over the greatest enemies of all. A Christian can think with comfort upon those enemies that make the greatest tyrants quake — death, sin, and the law. Therefore, those Christians that are afraid of death, forget their dignity. If Christ be their Lord when they die, what need they fear to die?

5. The duty we owe to our Lord —

(1) To live to Him. This we do —

(a) When we know and acknowledge Christ hath a full interest in us. Upon this issues all other obedience.

(b) When we are directed by His will, and not our own. Christ squared His life immediately according to His Father's will (Psalm 40:7). So all that are Christ's must have the same spirit.

(c) When we aim at the glory of Christ in all things (1 Corinthians 10:31). The contrary to this the apostle complains of (Philippians 2:21).

(2) To die to Him. This we do when we know and acknowledge that Christ hath power over us when we die, and(a) thereupon submit ourselves to Him, and not murmur when He comes to call for our life.

(b) When upon any good occasion He calls for our life in standing for a good cause — for the Church or State — we are ready to lay it down.

(c) When we carry ourselves so, when death comes, as we may express such graces as glorify God, and when we study to do all the good we can, that we may die fruitfully.

6. What we may expect from Christ, and what we ought to return to Him again. For relations are bonds.

(a) That He will make us willing and able subjects. He is such a Head as quickeneth dead members; such a Husband as makes His spouse beautiful. A king cannot alter his subjects; but He is such a King as can, and does. He takes them out of a contrary kingdom, as being not born its subjects, but "born anew by the Spirit."(b) Advancement. The meanest man that is a subject to Christ is a king, and a king over that which all others are slaves to. They rule over others, but they are in thraldom to their own lusts.

7. How to carry ourselves to men otherwise affected. Christ rules over us, both living and dying; therefore be not the servants of men, but "in the Lord" — i.e., so far as it may stand in the will and pleasure of Him that is the Lord of lords. For when the authority of any superior doth countermand against the will of this Lord, it ceaseth to bind.

(R. Sibbes, D.D.)

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KJV: For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

WEB: For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.