The Covenant of Redemption

Call to Worship

John 3:13–18 KJV 1900

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Text

2 Timothy 1:8–12 KJV 1900

8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: 11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Introduction

There are many ways to look at scripture. The Bible is usually divided by one of two things. Dispensations or Covenants and their administrations. Much of the distinction between the two comes down to semantics because the Greek word for dispensation and administration are the exact same Greek work, "oikonomia" (οἰκονομία) which literally means "household management" or "management of a household".

Which method you prefer may impact the hermeneutic or method of interpretation you use when studying the Bible. These often come down to three different methods:

Literal Grammatical Historical - The Bible should be read literally and in its grammatical and historical context

Christocentric or Christotelic — It’s all about Christ or it all points to Christ

Redemptive Historical — The scripture should be looked at through God’s plan of redemption revealed throughout history

And so groups argue over which is right. But all three are right. In fact, Jesus used all three methods. He viewed the scripture as literal when he spoke of Creation and God making humans male and female as Genesis records. Jesus employed a Christocentric method in John 5:39,

John 5:39 KJV 1900

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Christ used the Redemptive Historical hermeneutic in passages like Luke 24:27

Luke 24:27 LSB

27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

This is also seen in Luke 4:16-21 when Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2 and declares, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

I want to employ all of these methods, just as Christ and the apostles did to help us understand the continuity of all of scripture. Some of you have never seen the majesty of these 66 unique books and how they are woven together by our Lord to present a consistent and sovereign plan of redemption that has been progressively revealed throughout all of history.

In order to do this, we will be looking at scripture through the lens of Biblical covenants. Some of you may be familiar with that term. You have heard it in terms like the Abrahamic Covenant or the Mosaic Covenant. Others are familiar with this term because you have entered into a marriage covenant.

If we are going to look at the scripture through a covenantal lens, we need to understand what a covenant is.

Covenant Defined

A covenant requires two or more parties.

A covenant requires a voluntary mutual agreement.

A covenant involves obligations and promises, and at times consequences if one party breaks this agreement.

Over the course of this study, we are going to look at several covenants that all fall under the umbrella of three covenants. Today, we are going to begin in eternity past at what we call the Covenant of Redemption.

Now, I must admit that I am cheating a little when it comes to this first covenant because it is not explicitly named in scripture or even called a covenant. However, it contains all the basic elements of a covenant as you will soon see. This Covenant of Redemption is seen in both our Call to Worship and in our Sermon text.

The Covenant of Redemption

The Covenant of Redemption is an eternal, intra-Trinitarian agreement, made in eternity past, among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to redeem the elect. The Father appoints the Son as mediator to accomplish salvation through His life, death, and resurrection, promising Him a people and glory. The Son agrees to fulfill this work, and the Spirit commits to apply it to all who ever come to Christ by faith. Let me put it to you another way. Revelation 5:9 speaks of a time at the end of time when all the redeemed followers of Christ are joined together rejoicing,

Revelation 5:9 LSB

9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

The Covenant of Redemption simply says that that act of purchasing a people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to be a kingdom and priests to God and to reign upon the earth began before the world began. Does that sound familiar? It should. In our text, we read in 2 Timothy 1:9

2 Timothy 1:9 LSB

9 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 Jesus from all eternity,

In that single verse, we see that we have been called according to God’s purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

In eternity past, God the Father, Son, and Spirit made a plan. Even more, they covenanted. A covenant requires more than one party. In the Covenant of Redemption, we have three: Father, Son, and Spirit. One God and yet three distinct persons in what we know as the Trinity made a voluntary mutual agreement that included obligations and promises. That commitment or covenant was made in eternity past. That is what is being stated in 2 Timothy 1:9. When we get to 2 Timothy 1:10, we see the realization of that covenant revealed and fulfilled in time,

2 Timothy 1:10 LSB

10 but now has been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

This covenant is further seen in our Call to Worship text, particularly in John 3:16

John 3:16 LSB

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

In this verse, we see the commitment of the Father’s love. We see the willful obedience of the Son to be given for sinful men, and we see implicit in this verse the work of the Spirit to make the gospel effectual in the heart of the sinner. But the work of the Spirit can be implicitly seen in the drawing mentioned in John 6:44

John 6:44 LSB

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

The work of the Spirit may be seen even more directly in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 LSB

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit is the one who is working in our hearts to make the gospel effective in when we hear it, but it does not stop there. Back in our text, we see that the Holy Spirit even works to ensure that the messenger delivers the gospel to his intended audience.

2 Timothy 1:10–11 LSB

10 but now has been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

Call to Action/Closing

And so we see the love of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and the application of the Holy Spirit in the Covenant of Redemption. So then, what does this mean to us? Last month, we heard the song “When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind”. We spoke then of how powerful that statement is. But the Covenant of Redemption shows us something even greater: before Christ was on the cross, all those who would ever come to him by faith were on his mind. How much before? Before there was a cross; before there was a Calvary; before there was an African Tectonic Plate on which the city of Jerusalem sits; before there was an Israel; before there was a Middle-East; before there was dry land; before there was this third rock from the Sun; before God said “Let there be light”; we were on the mind of the Father. We were on the mind of the Son. We were on the mind of the Spirit.

The Apostle Paul knew that. He was mindful of it when he wrote to his young protégé in 2 Timothy 1:12 when he wrote,

2 Timothy 1:12 LSB

12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced/persuaded that He is able to guard/keep what I have entrusted/committed to Him until that day.

What day is Paul talking about? He is talking about that day when every believer from every tribe, every nation, every tongue is joined together in the presence of our Redeemer. Paul is telling Timothy that we can be confident in that future hope because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit made a covenant within the Trinity before the foundation of the world. And that God is powerful. There is nothing that can thwart his plan or pluck us from his hand. Our God is faithful. There is nothing that would make him turn us loose.

Every believer may have the upmost confidence in the security of his soul because of the Covenant of Redemption.