God’s Covenant in Eternity

To understand a covenant, you must know who the contracting parties are; secondly, what the stipulations of the contract are; thirdly, what the objects of it are; and then, if you would go still deeper, you must understand something of the motives that lead the contracting parties to form the covenant between themselves.

Now, in this covenant of redemption,¹⁰ we must first of all observe the high contracting parties between whom it was made. [This covenant] was made before the foundation of the world between God the Father and God the Son; or, to put it in a yet more Scriptural light, it was made mutually between the three divine persons of the adorable Trinity. This covenant was not made mutually between God and man. Man did not at that time exist; but Christ stood in the covenant as man’s representative. In that sense, we will allow that it was a covenant between God and man, but not a covenant between God and any man personally and individually. It was a covenant between God and Christ, and through Christ indirectly with all the blood-bought seed who were loved of Christ from the foundation of the world. It is a noble and glorious thought…that long ere the day-star knew its place, before God had spoken existence out of nothing, before angel’s wing had stirred the unnavigated ether,¹¹ before a solitary song had distributed the solemnity of the silence in which God reigned supreme, He had entered into solemn council with Himself, His Son, and His Spirit and had in that council decreed, determined, proposed, and predestinated the salvation of His people.

Moreover, in the covenant, He had arranged the ways and means, and fixed and settled everything that should work together for the effecting of the purpose and the decree.¹² My soul flies back now, winged by imagination and by faith, looks into that mysterious council chamber, and, by faith, I behold the Father pledging Himself to the Son, and the Son pledging Himself to the Father, while the Spirit gives His pledge to both, and thus that divine compact, long to be hidden in darkness, is completed and settled—the covenant that in these latter days has been read in the light of heaven and has become the joy, hope, and boast of all the saints.

And now, what were the stipulations¹³ of this covenant?...God had foreseen that, after creation, man would break the covenant of works;¹⁴ that however mild and gentle the tenure¹⁵ upon which Adam had possession of Paradise, yet that tenure would be too severe for him, and he would be sure to kick against it and ruin himself. God had also foreseen that His elect ones, whom He had chosen out of the rest of mankind, would fall by the sin of Adam, since they, as well as the rest of mankind, were represented in Adam. The covenant therefore had for its end the restoration of the chosen people.

And now we may readily understand what were the stipulations. On the Father’s part, thus ran the covenant. I cannot tell it [to] you in the glorious celestial tongue in which it was written, [but] I am fain¹⁶ to bring it down to the speech that suiteth to the ear of flesh and to the heart of the mortal. Thus, I say, ran the covenant, in lines like these: “I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto My only begotten and well-beloved Son, a people, countless beyond the number of stars, who by Him shall be washed from sin; by Him preserved, kept, and led; and by Him, at last, presented before My throne, without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph 5:27). I covenant by oath and swear by Myself, because I can swear by no greater, that these whom I now give to Christ shall be forever the objects of My eternal love. Them I will forgive through the merit of the blood. To these will I give a perfect righteousness; these will I adopt and make My sons and daughters, and, through Christ, these shall reign with Me eternally.”

Thus ran that glorious side of the covenant. The Holy Spirit also, as one of the high contracting parties on this side of the covenant, gave His declaration. “I hereby covenant,” saith He, “that all whom the Father giveth to the Son, I will in due time quicken.¹⁷ I will show them their need of redemption; I will cut off from them all groundless hope and destroy their refuges of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling; I will give them faith whereby this blood shall be applied to them. I will work in them every grace. I will keep their faith alive. I will cleanse them and drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last spotless and faultless.” This was the one side of the covenant that is at this very day being fulfilled and scrupulously¹⁸ kept.

As for the other side of the covenant, this was the part of it engaged and covenanted by Christ. He thus declared and covenanted with His Father: “My Father, on My part, I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. I will take upon Myself the form and nature of the fallen race. I will live in their wretched world; and, for My people, I will keep the Law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which shall be acceptable to the demands of Thy just and holy Law. In due time, I will bear the sins of all My people. Thou shalt exact their debts on Me; the chastisement of their peace I will endure, and, by My stripes, they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I will magnify Thy Law and make it honorable. I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. I will endure the curse of Thy Law, and all the vials of Thy wrath shall be emptied and spent upon My head. I will then rise again;¹⁹ I will ascend into heaven; I will intercede for them at Thy right hand; and I will make Myself responsible for every one of them, that not one of those whom Thou hast given Me shall ever be lost; but I will bring all My sheep of whom, by My blood, Thou hast constituted Me the shepherd. I will bring every one safe to Thee at last.”

Thus ran the covenant! And now, I think, you have a clear idea of what it was and how it stands—the covenant between God and Christ, between God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son as the covenant Head and representative of all God’s elect. I have told you, as briefly as I could, what were the stipulations of it. [Please observe,] my dear friends, that the covenant is, on one side, perfectly fulfilled: God the Son has paid the debts of all the elect. He has, for us men and for our redemption, suffered the whole of wrath divine. Nothing remaineth now on this side of the question except that He shall continue to intercede that He may safely bring all His redeemed to glory.

On the side of the Father, this part of the covenant has been fulfilled to countless myriads.²⁰ God the Father and God the Spirit have not been behindhand²¹ in their divine contract. And mark you, this side shall be as fully and as completely finished and carried out as the other. Christ can say of what He promised to do, “It is finished!” (Joh 19:30)…All for whom Christ died shall be pardoned, all justified, all adopted. The Spirit shall quicken them all, shall give them all faith, shall bring them all to heaven, and they shall, every one of them, without let²² or hindrance, stand accepted in the beloved in the day when the people shall be numbered, and Jesus shall be glorified.

Now having seen who were the high contracting parties and what the terms of the covenant made between them were, let us see what the objects of this covenant were. Was this covenant made for every man of the race of Adam? Assuredly not. We discover the secret by the visible. That which is in the covenant is to be seen in due time by the eye and to be heard with the ear. I see multitudes of men perishing, continuing wantonly in their wicked ways, rejecting the [call] of Christ that is presented to them in the gospel day after day, treading underfoot the blood of the Son of Man, defying the Spirit Who strives with them. I see these men going on from bad to worse, at last perishing in their sins. I have not the folly to believe that they have any part in the Covenant of Redemption. Those who die impenitent,²³ the multitudes who reject the Savior, are clearly proved to have no part and no lot in the sacred covenant of divine grace; for if they were interested in that, there would be certain marks and evidences that would show us this. We should find that, in due time in this life, they would be brought to repentance, would be washed in the Savior’s blood, and would be saved. The covenant—to come at once straight to the matter, however offensive the doctrine may be—the covenant has relationship to the elect and none besides.

Does this offend you? Be ye offended even more. What said Christ? “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine” (Joh 17:9). If Christ prayeth for none but for the chosen, why should ye be angry[?]…As many as shall believe, as many as shall trust in Christ, as many as shall persevere unto the end, as many as shall enter into the eternal rest, so many and no more are interested in the covenant of divine grace.

Furthermore, we have to consider what were the motives of this covenant. Why was the covenant made at all? There was no compulsion or constraint on God. As yet, there was no creature. Even [if] the creature could have an influence on the Creator, there was none existing in the period when the covenant was made. We can look nowhere for God’s motive in the covenant except it be in Himself; for of God it could be said literally in that day, “I am the LORD, and there is none else” (Isa 45:6). Why, then, did He make the covenant? I answer, “Absolute sovereignty dictated it.” But why were certain men the objects of it and why not others? I answer, “Sovereign grace guided the pen.” It was not the merit of man; it was nothing that God foresaw in us that made Him choose many and leave others to go on in their sins. It was nothing in them; it was sovereignty and grace combined that made the divine choice…“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy‌…For it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom 9:15-16). His sovereignty elected, His grace distinguished, and [His] immutability²⁴ decreed. No motive dictated the election of the individuals, except a motive in Himself of love and of divine sovereignty. Doubtless, the grand intention of God in making the covenant at all was His own glory; any motive inferior to that would be beneath His dignity. God must find His motives in Himself: He has not to look to moths and worms for motives for His deeds. He is the “I AM” (Exo 3:14).

He doth as He wills in the armies of heaven. Who can stay His hand and say unto Him, “What doest thou?” Shall the clay ask the potter for the motive for His making it into a vessel? Shall the thing formed before its creation dictate to its Creator? No, let God be God, and let man shrink into his native nothingness…[God] finds His motives in Himself. He is self-contained and findeth nothing beyond nor needeth anything from any but Himself. Thus have I, as fully as time permits this morning, discussed…the covenant. May the Holy Spirit lead us into this sublime truth.

From a sermon delivered on Sabbath morning, September 4, 1859, at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

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Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): Influential English Baptist preacher; born at Kelvedon, Essex, England, UK.