THE GOSPEL COVENANT

 

THE GOSPEL COVENANT 

Westminster Shorter Catechism 20

Quest. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

Ans. God having, out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Introduction

Death is indeed an unpopular subject and can be a miserable thing to talk about. This is because the “trinity” of death, viz., spiritual, physical, and everlasting death (as we consider it in this life), belongs to the estate of sin and misery. For, to talk about death is to contemplate our sin and misery. But throughout the Bible death, if you will, is the bad news black-backdrop in front of which the good news of Jesus Christ is spotlighted. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He is the Sun of Righteousness who has risen with healing in His wings. Thus, in the Bible Christ’s kingdom of light and life is contrasted with the kingdom of darkness and death ruled by Satan.

In the following we’re going to look at what God has done so that we can escape the estate of sin and misery. In particular we’ll consider the escape from everlasting death. Therefore, we’re going to be talking about the Good News.

When we look around us at the world of yesterday and today, we see sin and misery. To be sure there are also things that “inspire” us such as beautiful sunsets and dolphins leaping out of a sun dappled sea. But we know that all of creation has been affected by sin. And, sin produces misery, even death.

In the following we’ll be considering the fact that God did not leave all mankind in this state of misery. And what God did is good news to fallen man – to all who believe. This good news is more commonly known as the Gospel. Thus, we are talking about the Gospel.

The Election

Image from Web

Directly connected with the Gospel is what God did in eternity past. When you think about it, doesn’t “news” (even good news) inform us about a past event or events? Well, the Gospel is also the news of what God did in eternity past as well as what He did on Calvary’s cross over two-thousand years ago. If you could look at it this way: let’s say a member of a congregation wrote a cheque for a million dollars and threw it into the offering plate as it went past. The place would be buzzing with the good news, wouldn’t it? “Someone has given our church a million dollars!” But hang on a minute! (Not that many people write cheques nowadays) but the cheque still needs to be cashed, doesn’t it? What happens if the cheque is a dud and it bounces? Hence, we need to see the actual transaction, don’t we? We need to see the colour of the money.

The Bible makes it very clear that God, as it were, had written Jesus Christ a cheque. And as we’ll see in a moment, He wrote this “cheque”, this “promissory note,” in eternity past. When Christ hung Himself upon that cross at Calvary He was, so to speak, cashing-in this cheque. He was affixing His signature to it, signing it in His own precious blood! So, this means that this cheque is worth infinitely more than a measly million or even a billion dollars. The death of Christ on the cross was worth a whole creation and more. Isaac Watts understood this, for he wrote: “Were the whole realm of nature mine/That were an offering far too small.”

Let us therefore look into where we figure in the grand scheme of things, for we’re part of creation, aren’t we? Right, if we carry on with our analogy of God writing a cheque, let’s try to pinpoint the very moment He wrote that cheque. We can say with complete accuracy is that it was written in eternity past, i.e., before time began and it was cashed-in when Jesus Christ appeared on the scene, when He died on the cross and was resurrected some two-thousand years ago.

Listen to these couple of verses from 1 Timothy, “[God] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…” (1 Tim. 1:9-10). A couple of things to note then in light of these verses: We were given something before time began. And whatever it was we had been given, has been revealed by the appearing of Jesus Christ. At this point we can safely and accurately state two things: 1. The Father gave us a promissory note before time began. And 2. Jesus Christ the Son of God cashed-in this promissory note in the fullness of time.

The question naturally arises: How could I have been given a promissory note when I did not exist before time began? You could ask much the same question with regard to the sin and guilt you have inherited from Adam. How can I be held guilty for something Adam did long before I was even born? But as we’ve seen already above, Adam federally represented you and me before God. And as our covenant representative, whatever he got we got! And the trouble is, Adam got the wages of sin – which is death. And that’s what all the sin and misery in the world is all about.

But we’re hearing some good news from God in His Word. We’re hearing that we had received something from God before time began. From Scripture we know that we (and all the rest of mankind) received death from God through Adam. But here we can see that God had placed a cheque for everlasting life in our inside pocket before time began.

Isn’t it great to put on a jacket you haven’t worn for ages and find $50 in the pocket? Well, isn’t it a million times more wonderful to discover that God had elected or chosen you for everlasting life from before time began? He has sown your name and my name into the lining of His Son’s cloak of righteousness. Yes, the bad news is that we receive death from God through Adam. But the good news is that we receive life from God through Jesus Christ, the new Adam.

Image from Web

Everlasting life was placed in our pocket before time began. And we were placed in Christ’s pocket before time began. This is good news indeed and we haven’t even got out of eternity past yet! No, we didn’t exist in eternity past, but our Representative did. We were only a thought in the mind of God, but the Son of God really was present with God as God the Son in eternity past.

Here’s what happened in a nutshell: The Father chose us, and He elected to give us to His Son. In this, the Father entered into a covenant with His Son and the Son with His Father. If the Son would be this chosen people’s representative, the Father would give every last one of them to the Son, but only upon condition that the Son become one of them, live a perfect life on their behalf and lay down His human life for them as their substitute. In other words, if the Son would become their Redeemer and redeem them, then the Father would give them to the Son to keep forever.

Psalm 2:8 records the Father saying to the Son, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” We see then that there’s not just a couple of people involved. The everlasting covenant of eternity past includes a people innumerable, and a whole creation too. So, this “cheque” is worth more than a fortune. As He was about to collect everything the Father had promised Him in eternity past, the Son says to the Father, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word” (John 17:4-6).

So, God had given Jesus work to do on earth, and Jesus had finished that work. Jesus wants the Father to glorify Him with the glory He had with the Father BEFORE time. And He also states that the Father had given Him a people who were chosen out of the world.

What are we to make of this? Well, we can see that the Father has an agreement, a covenant, with the Son. And part of this covenant includes a people elected by the Father in eternity past and given to the Son in time. And the Son has made the Father known to this elect group of people – as per the everlasting covenant agreement. This is what our Catechism question is dealing with. It’s dealing with the everlasting covenant. This everlasting covenant is known as the Covenant of Grace, though some refer to this covenant as it stood in eternity past, more accurately as the Covenant of Redemption. However, for our purposes here, since redemption has to do with the grace of God, we might as well call it the covenant of grace, or the Gospel Covenant, same thing.

From our perspective, in this Gospel Covenant the Father represents the Triune God, while the Son is representing the elect group of people. Therefore, where Adam represented all of mankind before God, Jesus represents only those chosen, i.e., elected, by the Father. So, Jesus Himself was elected or chosen by God as Redeemer of the elect.

Now, this must mean that the elect needed to be redeemed. But since we’re still talking about what went on in eternity past, i.e., in the eternal counsel of the Godhead, how can we talk about Christ redeeming the elect when the elect hadn’t even fallen in Adam? Well, in simple terms, God had the Fall in mind when He chose the elect which is His Son’s bride or the true Church. That’s why the Son came as Redeemer. He came to redeem, i.e., buy-back His people from sin and misery and death.

The Redemption

The Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit says in Ephesians that, “[God] chose us in [the Lord Jesus Christ] before the world began … In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:4,7). This redemption, this forgiveness of sins, this release from sin and misery, is simply given to us on account of God’s grace, (i.e. His Covenant of Grace). The blood that Christ shed on Calvary’s cross, as the writer to the Hebrews says, is “the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20).

Image from Web

The Covenant of Grace, then, has to do with Jesus Christ delivering us out of our estate of sin and misery. This Jesus did by shedding His own blood. But the shedding of His blood also was about His bringing us into an estate of salvation, which is to say that our Redeemer has brought us into a saved, or redeemed state. It’s a crude illustration, but Christ has taken His ticket-stub to the Pawn Shop and has bought us back. He has cashed-in the promissory note God gave Him before time began. But Jesus wasn’t given back an old guitar, or a diamond ring. No, He was given back those who had been elected by the Father from before time.

We need to begin to look a bit more closely at how election and redemption applies to us. It’s all very well talking about what happened in eternity past, and what happened more than two thousand years ago, but what about us today? Well, let’s begin about 4004BC (if you follow Bishop Ussher’s calculations!). Adam and Eve fell into the estate of sin and misery not long after their creation. Immediately after the Fall we see evidence of the Promissory note already referred to. For in Genesis we see given, what theologians call, “The Mother Promise.” The “Mother Promise” is framed in these words, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Image from Web

Now, there’s no doubt in my mind that Adam and Eve heard the LORD God utter this Promise. However, has it ever struck you that this Promise wasn’t directly addressed to Adam and Eve, but was addressed directly to the Serpent who is the Devil, i.e., Satan? To be sure, this is a Gospel Announcement or Good News Promise made within the earshot of Adam and Eve, but the point is that there was another Party involved. There was also the One who was going to bruise the Serpent’s head. We today, of course, know that this Promised One is Christ Jesus. But this Mother Promise was not just made about Christ. The Mother Promise was also made to Christ. And the promise that was made to Him was that He would definitely, without any shadow of a doubt, defeat the Serpent and therefore his evil power over us. “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

So, we see then, that this Mother Promise is the promise of or about the Redeemer. But it is also a promise given to the Redeemer. And that promise was that He would most certainly redeem us from sin and misery and death. Think about it, the enmity between the devil and the woman, and between her Seed and the seed of the Serpent, i.e., the brood of vipers, is the stuff of sin and misery.

Now, to be sure, the Apostle Paul in Galatians clearly demonstrates that the ultimate Seed of the woman singular, is Jesus Christ. For he says there, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as one, ‘And to you Seed,’ who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16). So, here’s a verse that specifically says that the Gospel promises of God were made to Christ. And if they were made to Christ then they were made to us in Christ. Therefore, the Covenant of Grace was made between the Father representing the Triune God, and the Son representing the elect.

But how do we know that Christ represented us? How do we know that God elected us for everlasting life from all eternity? And how do we know that we have been redeemed and now have everlasting life? The answer is in the Gospel. The Gospel in the Old Testament was the declaration of the Promise that the Redeemer was coming. And the Gospel in the New Testament is the declaration that the Redeemer has come. Therefore, the condition for salvation in the Old Testament was belief in the Redeemer to come. And in the New Testament, even to this day, is belief that the salvation has come through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the subjective proof that you personally were elected by the Father before time, and redeemed by the Son in time is that you personally believe what God says in His Word. But more than that, it is that you believe that the Good News applies to you personally. The Bad News is that all mankind are sinners in Adam. The Good News is that you personally will be redeemed if you believe in the Redeemer. Therefore, you need to see that the Good News applies to you personally before you will believe it.

Visit Amazon for a copy

It is the role of the Third Person of the Trinity, i.e. the Holy Spirit, to apply it. Therefore, we see that the Covenant of Grace is a triune agreement. The Father elects, the Son Redeems, and the Spirit applies. So, in practical terms this means that God loves us. And that He has loved us with a love that is from before time and will carry on into and throughout all eternity. We see this in the fact that though Adam broke the pre-Fall Covenant of Works, God did not immediately destroy mankind, but rather entered into a Covenant of Grace with us, upon condition that we believe in Him who would keep the Covenant of Works – even unto death on our behalf.

Adam was threatened with death if he broke the Covenant of Works. Therefore, conversely, he was given the promise of eternal life if he kept it. The Bad News, as we already know, is that he broke it. But the Good News is that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Covenant of Works on our behalf. This we know! But I don’t want you to miss the fact that eternal life was promised to mankind before the Mother Promise of Genesis 3:15 was announced. Therefore, the only thing that has changed from before the Fall to after the Fall with regard to this promise is the means of attain its fruit.

Conclusion

Before the Fall everlasting life was promised upon condition of works. After the Fall it is promised upon condition of belief, i.e., faith. But we are to put our faith in the faith of Jesus Christ and His works, and therefore not in our own faith or our own works. God made the Promise to Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity in eternity past. And Christ as the Man Christ Jesus has cashed-in that promise in time, i.e., over two thousand years ago. And we are eternally thankful and happy to have been included in that eternal promise.

We’ve asked the question as stated in Westminster Shorter Catechism 20: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? And we’ve contemplated something of the answer: God having, out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Excerpted from my book Growth Enhancer. Go to Amazon if you would like to purchase a copy (paperback or eBook): Growth Enhancer: Enlarging Westminster Shorter Catechism 1-28 : McKinlay, Neil Cullan: Amazon.com.au: Books