The Divine Covenants

The Everlasting Covenant (Part 3)

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.