COVENANT THEOLOGY PART 4 - JESUS’ COVENANT OF GRACE WITH THE CHURCH
A PREVIEW
In Part 4 we see that, because Jesus is the successful Servant of God the Father's Covenant of Works with God the Son, Jesus becomes the Lord and Mediator of another covenant...a Covenant of Grace with the Church!
RESOURCES
This series of lectures is based on and in many instances taken directly from the works of Meredith Kline, Lee Irons, Gordon Hugenberger, Rick Lints and many conversations with pastor friends and fellow covenant theologians.
A REVIEW
We’re going to begin where we left off in Gen 3. Specifically Gen 3:14-21. This is the announcement, the promise of salvation right after the fall. And this good news for us comes as a declaration of war against our enemy, the devil, and as a pronouncement, as a prophecy of our enemy’s defeat by another Adam. And the crux of the prophecy is in v.15 with this bruising or striking or crushing of the serpent’s head AND the heel of the woman’s offspring. These are death blows to the devil and this Second Adam BUT they will mean salvation for God’s people. The First Adam failed to fulfill his Covenant of Works between him and God. So God the Father makes another Covenant of Works with a Second Adam = God the Son.
Second Adam’s work: 1) doing what First Adam failed to do in resisting and judging the devil and fathering a people AND 2) giving up his life = dying and paying the penalty for Adam’s and for our disobedience.
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Jesus tells his disciples about his covenant with his Heavenly Father the night before he is crucified at the Last Supper. Lk 22:29: “I covenant to you, as my Father covenanted to me, a kingdom.” What are the essential ingredients of a kingdom?
3 things: 1) a king, 2) people, 3) land
The big question is how is all that going to get worked out? Through another covenant!
Lk 22:29 1) “as the Father covenanted to me [a kingdom]” Jesus is the successful Servant of the Covenant of Works with God the Father.
2) “I covenant to you a kingdom” Jesus is the Lord and Mediator of a New Covenant with his church.
Jesus gets to share with his people by grace what he has earned by works himself.
BIG QUESTION - How is everyone before Jesus saved?
Adam could obey or fail in his covenant with God (and he did fail) BUT IT WAS NOT possible that the Son of God would fail. It was so certain Jesus would do what Adam did not do and fulfill that eternal covenant of works and earn the blessings of the kingdom for his people that even before it happened the benefits of his work are already being dispensed. Right after the fall the Covenant of Grace began operating in the world.
Christ is absolutely fully present and offered as Savior to Adam and Eve here in the garden AFTER THE FALL (not before the fall). Gen 3:15 says another son is coming who’s going to destroy this serpent devil. Gen 3:21 says, “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” God kills an animal to cover over Adam and Eve. This is a sacrifice. And this sacrifice is doing two big things.
1) This slaughtering of an animal is the making of a covenant. Typically when a covenant is made it’s referred to as “cutting a covenant” (Gen 15:18 literally says, “On that day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram…”; Deut 5:2, “The LORD our God cut a covenant with us in Horeb.”). So the actual ceremony in which the covenant is set up and inaugurated is a ceremony that involves what they called “a ritual of cutting,” literally the slaughtering of a sacrificial animal as a way of visually representing that this
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commitment that’s being made has sanctions attached to it. So if the person whose making the oath doesn’t keep their side of the commitment then they are going to be cut like this animal is being cut.
2) This covenant will only be fulfilled at great cost to God himself and this sacrificing of an animal is symbolizing and pointing to the ultimate sacrifice that provides atonement. The death blows of Gen 3:15 AND the sacrifice of 3:21 prepare us to expect this salvation to come at the cost of blood and death.
This is THE promise Adam and Eve hold onto and pass down to their children: “Another Son is coming to do what we failed to do and he’s going to save us.” Now God relates to his people not through love and justice but love and grace. It’s no longer up to Adam and Eve to live obediently and merit eternal glory. God says to Adam and Eve the work will be taken care of by another man who is yet to be born in this world. This new man is the new king of this new relationship of grace between God and his people.
So how is anyone saved before Jesus? The same way Adam and Eve are saved right after the fall. They put their faith in this offspring of theirs to come, that this man, will represent them now and do what they did not do and pay for their failure. That is, they are saved by grace through faith in the gospel. And the Son of God has been administering this Covenant of Grace ever since The Fall.
The covenant starts off like a baby and gets bigger and fuller. Talking about the “Covenant of Grace” is to really talk about a series of covenants that we’re lumping together under the umbrella heading “Covenant of Grace.” Or, the “Covenant of Grace” is subdivided into a series of covenants = a series of administrations of the Covenant of Grace. You can think of God’s covenantal dealings with: -Adam and Eve after the fall, -the Sethites in Gen 4 and 5, -Noah, -the Abrahamic Covenant -which is renewed with Isaac -and then renewed with Jacob
GENESIS 12-17 THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
The Abrahamic Covenant looks back to the Adamic Covenant of Works before the fall and it picks up the glory of heaven that was forfeited because of Adam’s sin. God has
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not forgotten about this plan to bring in the kingdom of God that’s going to be global and engulf all of creation. Now he’s going to bring it about through a redemptive plan.
The Abrahamic Covenant also looks ahead to the fulfillment of this plan of redemption. God comes to Abraham and promises him the kingdom of heaven. And remember, the promises of the kingdom are threefold: Abraham is promised that a great and numerous people are going to come from him, and that kings are going to come from him, and that they will have a land (1) king, 2) people, 3) land). AND YET Abraham never sees the fulfillment of these promises in his lifetime. The Abrahamic Covenant, and its promises, actually gets fulfilled in two stages later in history.
FIRST STAGE FULFILLMENT OF ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
The first stage fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant is the Mosaic Covenant; God’s Covenant with Israel. In the Book of Genesis you do not get to the fulfillment of these kingdom promises. You get the promises but the kingdom hasn’t come. The Book of Exodus is kingdom come. That’s the first coming of the kingdom. God saves his people and brings them out of Egypt in the Book of Exodus and God enters into a covenant and the kingdom is instituted there in Ex 19 and following. And the rest of OT history is the ongoing story of this God-king who claims his land as his people march in and take over that land. And then they get a human king. The OT is the story of the coming of the kingdom as the first fulfillment of those promises given to Abraham back in the Book of Genesis.
1) King - David is the fulfillment of the promise of a king to Abraham
2Sam 7:11 I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
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2) People - Israel is the fulfillment of the promise of a numerous people to Abraham
1Kings 4:20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.”
3) Land - Canaan is the fulfillment of the promise of an Eden like land to Abraham
Josh. 21:43 Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
1Kings 4:20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
1Kings 8:65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days.
However, that first fulfillment of kingdom promises to Abraham is not the real kingdom. It’s the typological kingdom, the provisional, a shadow, the preliminary thing that God set up as a historical parable for the world to look at and see what was going to come and what the real thing would be when not Moses but Jesus was the Mediator of the covenant. The Mosaic Covenant is one fulfillment, it is the typological (provisional, not permanent) fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. It’s why we appropriately call it the Old Covenant. The Old Testament in the Bible is the documentary witness, the “testament” to this transaction. Everything that happens in the OT from Exodus to the end of the OT, is only the first level fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.
SECOND STAGE FULFILLMENT OF ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
The true fulfillment, the second level fulfillment is the New Covenant. It’s Jesus Christ and his kingdom. This is not just something provisional, imperfect, passing, transient, but that which is perfect, the real thing, the antitype, the fulfillment. AND that second
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level fulfillment is itself fulfilled in two stages: the first coming and the second coming of Jesus. BUT, the new creation that has been inaugurated in the death and resurrection of Christ that will be consummated at the second coming of Christ - that is the true fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant. And the New Testament in the Bible is the documentary witness, the “testament” to this transaction. The New Testament could not have a bigger, more awesome beginning.
1) King - Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of a king made to Abraham
Matt. 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matt. 2:2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Matt. 22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
Matt. 22:45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Luke 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
Luke 1:69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
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in the house of his servant David,
2) People - the Church is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of a people made to Abraham
SEE ROMANS 9-11
Rom. 4:11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Gal. 3:7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
Gal. 3:16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
Gal. 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
3) Land - Heaven is the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of an Eden like land made to Abraham
Heb. 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12
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Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Jesus begins his ministry and calls his first followers, the first thing he says is, Mt 4:17: “Repent, come to me, for the kingdom of God is at hand!”
Although Abraham did not live to see either of these fulfillments he believed in the promises: Heb 11:8-10: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” And it’s really interesting how Heb 11 ends, “though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
Jesus’ Covenant of Works with the Father and Covenant of Grace with the Church
NT scholar Lee Irons: This Covenant of Grace flows directly out of the God the Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son. But this Covenant of Grace is a covenant with the church, this covenant community. And this Covenant of Grace is a covenant with a very different condition from the Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son. The Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son has a condition of absolute works, obedience. But the condition of Jesus’ Covenant of Grace with the Church is faith.
Another difference is that the Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son only has the elect in view. That is, the Father sent the Son in order to accomplish the work of redemption for the elect. But Jesus’ Covenant of Grace with the church is broader than just the elect. Because the church is a covenant community that contains within it those that might be external members of the covenant community by a profession of faith and baptism but who are not necessarily elect; i.e. they really don’t believe what they profess. Nevertheless, that Covenant of Grace with the Church even though it has a
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broader circle of covenant that’s broader than the circle of election - nevertheless, the primary purpose of the Jesus’ Covenant of Grace with the Church is the salvation of the elect in order to bring about the fulfillment of God the Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son. Because Christ as the Second Adam has earned the inheritance by his perfect obedience under the Covenant of Works with the Father he has earned and merited the salvation of all the elect. Jesus’ Covenant of Grace with the Church is the historical, temporal outworking of God the Father’s Covenant of Works with God the Son through which God accomplishes the salvation of the elect by the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments and church discipline.
The New Covenant is actually fulfilled in two stages: we live in the “already, not-yet” between Jesus’ first and second coming.
First Stage - Jesus’ First Coming King - incarnated Jesus = Jesus in his “humiliated state” People - visible church made up of believers and non-believers Land - heaven, union, regeneration, first resurrection
Second Stage - Jesus’ Second Coming King - glorified Jesus = Jesus in his “glorified state” People - invisible church made up of only glorified believers Land - second resurrection, new heavens, new earth
GRACE
All of this is possible because of grace - WHAT IS GRACE?!?!?!?
Before the fall God related to man according to justice and love =“do this and you will live” = works.
After the fall God relates to his people according to grace and love =“it has been done so LIVE” = grace.
Grace is one thing and works is the opposite. Grace is where God blesses you in spite of the fact that you have forfeited his blessings. Grace is not merely bestowing on you blessings that you have not merited. Grace is not unmerited blessing. Our problem is much worse and the gospel is much more offensive. Our problem is not that we haven’t merited the blessing. Our problem is that we have DE-MERITED the blessing. Grace is not un-merited favor. GRACE IS THE DE-MERITED FAVOR OF GOD.
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And that’s the only place grace has it’s proper, biblical meaning. Grace only ever appears in the Bible in relation to sin. Grace is a response to the situation where the blessing has been forfeited by sin and rebellion. The opposite of grace is works where you do earn for yourself the blessing. There is a big, absolute contrast there. As soon as you mar these lines and you say there’s gray area then everything gets fuzzy and confused.
What is required of you with regard to God’s offer of grace to you?
You must believe and repent! You must put your faith in Jesus Christ.
AND that is not to say you are saved based on your faith. You are saved solely and only based on the work of Jesus, his life and death. AND to receive that salvation you must believe. Your faith is the instrument by which you receive Jesus and all these blessings.
What is the function of works with regard to eternal blessing?
-Function of Adam’s works (before the fall) – the meritorious ground of moving on to eschatological blessings.
-Function of Jesus’ works – the meritorious ground of his receiving the blessings which he then as Mediator of the Covenant bestows upon us by grace. . -Function of individual’s works – attest to the validity of our faith by which we get to heaven. Our faith expresses itself in good works, in obedience.
You must believe. And in putting your faith in this Second Adam you are united to him so that all his benefits, all his rewards, everything he has accomplished and won it is made yours. AND through faith in Jesus, Jesus himself is yours and you are his, forever and ever. That is the good news of this New Covenant of Grace.
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COVENANT THEOLOGY FOR KIDS PART 4 - JESUS’ COVENANT OF GRACE WITH THE CHURCH
TWO MAIN POINTS: 1) Jesus successfully completes his Covenant of Works with God the Father 2) Jesus then makes a Covenant of Grace with the Church
READ Genesis 3:14-21 and READ Luke 22:29 Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper the night before he’s crucified: “I covenant to you, as my Father covenanted to me, a kingdom.”
MAIN POINT 1: Jesus successfully completes his Covenant of Works with God the Father
The First Adam failed to do his Covenant of Works with God. He ate the forbidden fruit and made friends with devil and turned his back on God. So God the Father makes another Covenant of Works with God the Son. It
God the Father: “Son, man has totally screwed everything up and unless we do something we have to send them all to hell. Will you help me save them?”
God the Son: “Of course dad.”
God the Father: “OK first, you’ll have to do what Adam failed to do and be perfect and obedient. You have to go down to earth and become a man and you have to face the devil and don’t give into his temptations, stay faithful to me, and then judge the devil to be evil.”
God the Son: “Sure dad, I can do that.”
God the Father: “OK, next the part is awful. Then you’ll have to pay the penalty for Adam’s disobedience. You’ll have to sacrifice yourself and take hell for them in their place.”
God the Son: “I’ll do it dad. Because we love them so much we can do this.”
God the Father: “If you go and do the work they failed to do and you take their punishment then I will give them your reward. AND, I will reward you my Son.”
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God the Son: “What reward will you give me?”
God the Father: “I will give you a kingdom.”
Question: What do you need to have a kingdom? At the very least what are the three things you need to have a real kingdom?
1) A king to rule 2) People for the king to rule 3) Land for the king to rule
So God the Father promises that if God the Son (Jesus) goes and does what Adam failed to do and take Adam and all our punishment then he’ll give him a heavenly kingdom where Jesus gets to be King and he gets a people and gets a land. That’s their covenant and Jesus does it!
MAIN POINT 2: Jesus then makes a Covenant of Grace with the Church
The way this all gets worked out for us is through another covenant!
Lk 22:29, Jesus says to his disciples: “I covenant to you, as my Father covenanted to me, a kingdom.”
Jesus earns the kingdom for himself by of his works AND then he shares it with us by grace.
Questions:
1) Who is the King? JESUS!
2) Who are the People Jesus gets to rule over? The CHURCH!
3) What is the Land where the people live and Jesus gets to rule over? HEAVEN!
APPLICATION 1: SO WHAT? Why do we care? This means we the church get to be God’s people and Jesus really is our King but we are NOT home yet. This world is not our home. Heaven is our home!
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Question - How is anyone before Jesus saved?
[Illustration] Think of a mommy being pregnant. When a mom is pregnant the baby is there, it’s just in the belly. The baby hasn’t arrived yet but the baby is there. You’re feeding the baby, caring for the baby, loving the baby, talking to the baby, praying for the baby. The baby is alive; the baby is a real person even in the mommy’s belly.
Jesus is really there in the promises of the gospel before he ever comes and is born on that first Christmas in a manger. So Jesus is offered as Savior to Adam and Eve back there in the garden AFTER THE FALL. Gen 3:15 - another son is coming who’s going to destroy this serpent devil.
So how is anyone saved before Jesus? The same way Adam and Eve are saved right after the fall. They put their faith in this child of theirs to come—that their descendent, this man, will represent them now and do what they did not do and pay for their failure. Like us Adam and Eve are saved by grace through faith in the gospel.
And, All of this is possible because of grace - WHAT IS GRACE?!?!?!?
Before the fall God and man get along through love and justice = “do this and you will live” = works.
After the fall God and his people get along through love and grace = “it has been done so LIVE” = grace.
It’s not that grace is this great blessing you haven’t earned. No, your problem is much worse and the gospel is much better than that. Your problem is not that you haven’t earned God’s blessing. Your problem is that you have earned God’s punishment with your sin. Grace is the awesome blessing of God which you have de-earned!
APPLICATION 2: SO WHAT? Why do we care?
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Question - So what do you have to do to be saved?
You have to believe in Jesus Christ.
[Illustration] This is not really how it works but imagine if you died and you stood before God at the gates of heaven and he asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” You don’t say, “You should let me in because I’ve been pretty good.” You should say, “Lord let me in not because of anything I have done but because of what Jesus did for me!”
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