The Everlasting Covenant or the Covenant of Redemption

JM

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Such an important subject!...yet we hardly discuss it. Arminianism would fall away if only people took time to understanding the Covenant(s).

A. W. Pink:

The salvation of God’s people originated in the covenant acts of the Eternal Three. The Covenant of Grace comprises all the divine designs and transactions respecting the redemption of the elect. In it, we learn the eternal purpose of Father, Son, and Spirit, fixing the manner of redemption and everything relating thereto, and entering into a mutual agreement, in which the part each divine Person should perform, as distinguished from the others, was fixed and voluntarily undertaken. A proper apprehension of these covenant transactions is of vast importance, for when the Holy Spirit reveals to a soul the reality of them, he is at once brought off from all creature-acts, for he then perceives that the salvation of God’s people is the certain consequence of that covenant. He now discerns that it was the will of God from all eternity to save His people from all their sins and miseries, and out of the hands of all their enemies, by Jesus Christ alone. He now knows that, in the sight of God, he was saved in Christ and by Christ from all sin.

The God-given blessing of an eye of faith enables the recipient of it to see that his salvation was from eternity wholly dependent upon the responsibility of his Surety, and He being sufficient and all-sufficient for them for whom He engaged, and He having completed the whole of His incarnation, life, and death, has obtained “eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). He now sees for himself the truth of the apostle’s words that God made Christ to be sin for His people, that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). This causes the Spirit-taught soul to admire and adore the Lord Jesus Christ for His righteousness and sacrifice. He sees such worth, such perfection, such virtue and efficacy in His merits and blood, as causes him to rest his heart with holy contentment and delight thereon. As the Spirit grants him clearer spiritual apprehension of these divine realities, he sees his righteousness in the sight of God as Christ Himself.

The everlasting covenant is published in the Gospel of God’s grace. As we read in Romans 16:25-26, “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Notice, first, the Gospel is here said to be a “revelation of the mystery.” This “mystery” had been “kept secret,” not from all men, but from all nations. Second, it was revealed “by the scriptures of the prophets,” but that which had for centuries been known only to Israel was now to be “made known to all nations.” Third, mark the title here given to the Deity, “the everlasting God!” This attribute of eternity is hereby ascribed to Him because the “everlasting covenant” is here in view.

Above, we have said that the Gospel is a revelation of a divine mystery. Clear proof of this is found in 1 Corinthians 2. There the apostle declared, “But we speak the wisdom of God…ordained before the world unto our glory” (verse 7). The apostle here calls the Gospel (see 1 Cor. 1:17-18 and compare with 2:2-6) the “wisdom of God,” because in it the wondrous wisdom of God is made known. But more, he affirms that the Gospel exhibits a “hidden wisdom” (compare with “kept secret”—Rom. 16:25), yea, that which God had predestinated to the glory of His people. That the whole of this passage in 1 Corinthians 2 concerns the eternal grace of God toward His elect is clear from “the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9), which things “God hath revealed unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10), i.e. the Spirit is thoroughly cognizant of and conversant with the secret counsels of the Eternal Three in the “everlasting covenant.”

The words “kept secret since the world began,” in Romans 16:25, are not to be taken absolutely, as the very next verse clearly shows. This “mystery” or “hidden wisdom” had, to a considerable degree, been made known in the Scriptures of Israel’s prophets, but as 1 Corinthians 2:8 tells us, it was something which “none of the princes of this world knew.” “But now is made manifest” (Rom. 16:26) is explained in the last clause of the verse, “made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Parallel with this is Ephesians 3:3-9. There, Paul again refers to “the mystery,” the “mystery of Christ” which “in other ages was not made known to the sons of men” (though it was to Israel), but now he was to “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” So in Colossians 1:25-27, note, “this mystery among the Gentiles” (verse 27).

Reverting once more to Romans 16:26, the apostle declares that this mystery, or hidden wisdom, concerning the everlasting covenant had been made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets. Many are the Old Testament passages which might be cited in illustration of this fact. This covenant is expressly mentioned in Psalm 89:3-4, “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” The direct and local reference is to David and his descendants, but without doubt a greater than David is here in view, viz. his illustrious Son and Lord, who is sometimes called by this very name (see Ezek. 37:24-25; Hos. 3:5), and in whom this promise has been fulfilled (Luke 1:32-33; Acts 2:34-38). A careful reading of the whole psalm will show that its language is too sublime, and the things foretold are too great, to admit of being limited to any earthly monarch or succession of monarchs.

In Psalm 119:122, David prays, “Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.” In Isaiah 38:14, Hezekiah supplicates God thus, “O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake [Heb. “be surety”] for me.” When these men prayed thus, to be delivered from their enemies and afflictions, by addressing their Deliverer in this particular character, it is evident that they understood He had undertaken to be Surety for His people. The mediatorial work and character of Christ was well known to the Old Testament saints. In Isaiah 49, we have what may be called a draft of the covenant, or deed of gift, between Christ and His Father for us, wherein Christ first begins and shows His commission as the ground of the treaty between Them, intimating to His Father that He had called Him unto this great work, “Listen, O isles, unto me: and hearken, ye people, from far; the LORD hath called me from the womb: from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name” (Isa. 49:1). Then He refers to God’s having fitted Him for the work, “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me” (Isa. 49:2). In what follows, the triune God has condescended to employ expressions taken from a human manner of speaking, that we may the better comprehend this mysterious transaction.

Read more here: https://cdn.website-editor.net/ea0e...g%20Covenant%20-%20PDF%20-%20A%20W%20Pink.pdf

Yours in the Lord,

jm