The Divine Covenants
The Everlasting Covenant
The Bible opens with a brief account of creation, the making of man, and his fall. From later Scripture we know that the issue of the trial to which man was to be subjected in the Garden of Eden had been foreseen by God before the foundation of the world as part of His plan. In other words, God knew that the man would disobey the rule that was established, therefore the Fall, and so God had already made provision for recovering His people.
That provision of grace which God made for His people before the foundation of the world involved the appointment of His Son to become the Mediator, and the work which He would perform in that capacity.
This work involved assuming a human nature, offering Himself as a sacrifice for sin, His exaltation in the nature He had assumed to the right hand of the Father, His supremacy over His church, the blessings He was empowered to dispense, and the extent to which His work would be made effective in the salvation of souls. These were all matters of a certain arrangement between God the Father and His Son Jesus. It is called the Everlasting Covenant.
The first time we see a hint of this covenant is in Genesis 3:15.
· Gen. 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.”
So immediately after the Fall, God announced to the serpent his ultimate doom through the work of the Mediator, and revealed to sinners the channel through whom salvation was to be available. For a considerable time God continually revealed His plans, largely through covenants that He made with the fathers, and these revelations were the results of His plan of mercy to the sinners. We need to understand these facts before the other covenants become meaningful to us.
God made covenants with Noah, Abraham and David. But were these fallen creatures able to enter into covenants with God? Were they able or qualified to be in a position to stand for others? Well, the question answers itself. What for instance could Noah possibly do which would insure that the earth would never again be destroyed by flood?
These subordinate covenants were nothing more or less than the Lord manifesting in a public way, the grand covenant; making known something of its amazing contents, confirming their own personal interest in it and assuring them that Jesus, the great covenant head, should be the seed that should spring from themselves. This is what accounts for the expression we find in Genesis 9:9.
· Gen. 9:9, “I will now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.”
But you will notice that there are no conditions attached to these words or work to be done by them; only a promise of unconditional blessings. Why? Because the “conditions” were to be fulfilled and the “work” done by Jesus, ands nothing remained but to grant His blessings on His people.
So when David says in 2 Sam 23:5:
· 2 Sam.23:5, “Is not my house right with God? Has He not made an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will He not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?
He simply means, God had admitted him into an interest in the everlasting covenant and made him a beneficiary of its privileges.
So when Paul refers to the various covenants God made with men in the Old Testament times, he refers to them not as “covenants of stipulations” but “covenants of promise.”
· Eph. 2:12, …remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
So what we have here are the continuing revelations God made to His original plan of mercy. It was a process of gradual development culminating in the Gospel of grace. They are the great landmarks of God’s dealing s with men. As revelations they show a greater and greater degree of fullness and clarity of the plan of salvation through the mediation and sacrifice of Jesus. Each one of those covenants consisted of gracious promises that were ratified by sacrifice.
Each covenant came at a particular time in history. Just as Genesis 3:15 was given immediately after the Fall, so we find that immediately following the Flood God renewed the covenant of grace with Noah. In much the same way, at the beginning of the third period of human history, following the call of Abraham, God renewed it again, only it was a much fuller revelation. It was now known that the coming deliverer of God’s people was to be of Abraham’s stock and that all families of the earth should be blessed in him, intimating the inclusion of the Gentiles. In Gen. 15:5-6, He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars---if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. The great requirement of faith was then fully made known.
In Abraham’s victory over Chedorlaomer there was more than a hint of the victory of Jesus over the world of sin. We’ll say more about this later. In the miraculous birth of Isaac we have an intimation of the supernatural birth of Jesus, the promised Seed. And in the deliverance of Isaac from the altar we have a representation of the resurrection of Jesus.
We often ask the question, “Did the people of the Bible understand the role they were occupying?” Well, we can’t speak for each one but let’s look at John 8:56.
· John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
The speaker is Jesus!!!! These words of Jesus clearly intimate that Abraham had a spiritual understanding of these things.
In the Sinaitic Covenant God further revealed the contents of the Everlasting Covenant in type as He described the details of the tabernacle. Everything about the tabernacle was a type of Jesus, as we saw a few years ago when we studied Genesis and Exodus.
So far we have made some general statements about the relationship between the Everlasting Covenant and the subsequent covenants God made with His people. We are going to look at each of the covenants in some detail later, but one thing we need to keep in mind. All of the covenants should be understood first, in their plain and natural sense but it should be clear that the higher meaning is a spiritual one. One way to approach these covenants is to remember that things of earth have been used to represent heavenly things. So we need to look at the covenants both as to the letter and the spirit.
Now one thing to remember in this study is this: there is no one verse in the Bible that expressly tells us that there are three divine persons in the Godhead; even so by carefully comparing Scripture to Scripture, we know that this is the case. In the same way, there is no one verse in the Bible which categorically says that the Father entered into an agreement with Jesus that said that once He (Jesus) executed His part of the plan, that He would receive a certain reward. But again, carefully studying the Scriptures we have to conclude that there was a covenant between the Father and Jesus before creation took place.
Additionally there is no one chapter or one book in the Bible where all truth can be found. It is the responsibility of the student to diligently search the Scriptures for hints and pictures in which the truth is revealed.
God’s plan of mercy is revealed in the Everlasting Covenant.
· Eph. 3:10-11, His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our covenant oneness is clearly revealed in Eph. 1:3-5, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.
There are many, many statements in the New Testament concerning Jesus Himself which are only intelligent in the light of His having acted in fulfillment of a covenant agreement with His Father. For example:
· Luke 22:22 “The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays Him.”
From this verse what do you think is the destiny of Judas?
· John 6:38-40, “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Now notice three things in this passage:
· First, Jesus has received a certain charge or commission from His Father.
· Second, He solemnly undertook to carry out that charge.
· And third, the end expected in that arrangement was not merely the announcement of spiritual blessings, but the actual granting of them on those that His Father had given Him.
And who were the ones that had been given to Him? The elect.
· John 10:16, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
Here it is evident that Jesus has been given a specific charge or job to do. His mention of “other sheep” is a reference to the Gentiles.
In His high priestly prayer we hear Him saying:
· John 17:24, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given to me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Here was Jesus claiming something that had been promised to Him for doing what had been assigned to Him. This obviously presupposes both an arrangement and a promise on the part of the Father.
Now look at the next three passages.
· Romans 5:12-19, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned---for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, sin reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a commandment, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification. For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life to all men. For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
· 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His foot.
· 1 Corinthians 15: 45-47, So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after the natural the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
The first thing to notice in these passages is the parallel between Adam and Jesus and this parallel can only be interpreted as one being a representative of sin and death and the other as the representative of righteousness and life. But how could God promise eternal life before the world began on any other basis than an agreement with His Son on behalf of His people?
The Everlasting Covenant, or the covenant of grace, is that mutual agreement between the Father and Jesus before the foundation of the world and it was the plan of salvation for the elect. In it Jesus was named as the Mediator, who willingly consented to leave heaven, come to earth, sacrifice His perfect life and return to heaven after a miraculous resurrection.
That there was a divine covenant in which Jesus was involved is very plain from the Scriptures.
· Isaiah 42:6-7, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
As a covenantee, Jesus is given to His people as a pledge of all the blessings that the covenant promised.
In Malachi 3:1 He is called the “Messenger of the covenant”, because He came here to carry out the terms of the covenant and to make its blessings known to the world. In Hebrews 7:22 He is called “the surety of a better covenant”. A surety is one who is legally established to be the representative of others and He was therefore under an obligation to fulfill all the terms of the covenant on behalf of those He represents and for their benefit. And there is no legal obligation which the elect owed to God that He did not perfectly fulfill. In other words, He has paid the whole debt of His insolvent people.
· Hebrews 9:15, For this reason Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance---now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
Jesus now stands between God and His people, advocating their cause. But how could Jesus fill such a position unless a covenant had been made with Him assigning such a role to Him?
There is a passage in Hebrews that established the fact of an organic connection between the covenant of grace and the sacrifice of Jesus.
· Hebrews 13:20, May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen
Every time that Jesus used the term “My God” He gave evidence to His covenant standing before the Godhead.
Let’s now look at the various features of the Everlasting Covenant.
God foresaw from eternity that Adam’s fall would result in mankind being sinful and so He covenanted with Jesus to be their representative and their means of being freed from the condemnation of their sins. This explains why Jesus is called the “last Adam”.
· Eph. 5:23, Christ is head of the Church, His body, of which He is the Savior. He could not have been the Savior unless He had first been the head; that is, unless He had voluntarily entered into the position of suretyship by agreement with the Father, serving as the representative of His people, and taking on Himself the responsibility of resolving all of their legal obligations, that is, their sins.
Paul is referring to this covenant in Gal 3:16-18.
· Gal. 3:16-18, The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds”, many people, but “and to your seed”, meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in His grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Here we see the covenant parties: on the one side, God, and on the other Jesus, the God-man mediator. And we see the agreement between them: a covenant, or a contract, that was ratified.
Now notice that the promises were made to Abraham’s “seed”. And who was Abraham’s seed? Well of course the singular seed was none other than Jesus Himself. The wording was carefully chosen by the Spirit. Not seeds, but seed. Thus we have the clearest Scriptural proof that the everlasting covenant contained something which is promised by God to Jesus Himself.
The features of the covenant were shown to us in type in the Garden of Eden. First, Jesus was set to be the head over all things in the eternal counsels of the Father. The type of His headship is seen in the Creator’s words to Adam in Genesis 1:28.
· Gen. 1:28, God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Here in type we see Jesus as lord of all creation and head of all mankind.
Second, Adam was alone . Among all the creatures that he ruled, there was not one made for him. He was alone in the world over which he had dominion. So also was Jesus alone when He was appointed as the Mediator back in eternity past.
Third, a help-mate (a bride) was created for Adam, just like him in nature. She was pure and holy, like him. How perfectly the type of the eternal marriage between Jesus and His bride, the church. Notice that Eve was pure and holy, like Adam, before the fall. So it is with the church.
In order for Him to carry out His covenant assignment it was necessary for Him to assume human nature and be made like mankind. This was necessary because He would have to be made under the law and have a soul and body which was capable of suffering in order to pay for the sins of His people. This explains the passage of Hebrews 10:5-9.
· Heb. 10:5-9, Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll---I have come to do your will, O God.’”First He said, “Sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then He said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He set aside the first to establish the second.
If you look closely, this passage is couched in covenant language. Who is Jesus speaking to in this passage? Well, of course it is His father. It was out of love to His Lord, the Father, and to His spouse, the church, and His spiritual children, that He subjected Himself to a place of perpetual servitude.
Next, now it was that the Father became Jesus’ “Lord”, and that Jesus became the Father’s “servant”.
· Phil. 2:6-7, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
It is significant that the clause “taking the very nature of a servant” precedes “made in human likeness”. He first saw Himself as a servant, then as a human being. This is the order of things in the working out of the everlasting covenant.
By now you may well be asking, “Why do we go into all of this?” Well, it is altogether impossible for us to form any clear idea of what Jesus died to achieve if we have no real knowledge of the agreement which led to His death. What is popularly taught is that the atonement of Jesus has merely provided and opportunity for men to be saved and that it has opened the way for God to justly pardon all who take advantage of this provision.
But that is only part of the truth and it leaves out what may be the most important part. The great fact is that Jesus’ death was the completion of the agreement with His Father, which guarantees the salvation of those who were named in the agreement---not one of whom can possibly miss heaven.
· John 6:39, “And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”
So now on the ground of Jesus’ willingness to perform the work assigned to Him in the covenant, certain promises were made to Him, and certain promises made concerning His people. Regarding Himself, He was promised divine support for carrying out all of the provisions of the covenant. And He was guaranteed protection for His mission. Finally, He was assured of success in the work and a reward at completion of it.
And there were promises regarding His people: that God would make them willing to receive Him as their Lord; that they would receive eternal life; and that among them kings and princes would worship Him.
We have stated in our previous study that the Everlasting Covenant has been called by many names: the covenant of peace, covenant of life, the holy covenant and a better covenant.