John 17:4-6: The Covenant of Redemption

In eternity past the Father, Son, and Spirit covenanted as the One Triune God to glorify His Name and save the Elect. The Covenant of Redemption is God’s eternal decree and purpose to glorify His Name in the Salvation of the Elect.

Notes

Transcript

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 13:20–21 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Intro

In John 17:4-6 Jesus said…

John 17:4–6 “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

With these words we get to listen in on a prayer between Christ and the Father about the eternal plan and purpose of God to save sinners and glorify His Name.

On their surface… these words might seem ordinary… but they are filled with eternal glory.

They go back to eternity past and reveal the glory, love and grace of Almighty God.

The Person and Work of Christ in accomplishing all things necessary for our salvation.

And the Grace and Blessing of Election and the eternal security we have in the sovereign will and purposes of God.

That all those who are predestined and entrusted to Christ will surely be saved to the end.

Jesus says I have accomplished the work that you gave me to do…

Father, glorify me in your own presence…

And I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world…

And with these words Jesus touches on a very important doctrine that doesn’t get talked about very often, but is the ground of our hope and salvation.

Why are we saved? Why do any of us have any hope of salvation at all?

Because the Triune God… God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit covenanted within Himself to glorify His Name and save His people from their sins.

The reason we are saved is because of the the eternal will and purpose of God.

What we are talking about is, theologically, what we would call the Covenant of Redemption and we tread on holy ground.

Its intimidating to try to communicate with finite words the eternal purposes and glory of God.

Even in talking about the inner workings of the Trinity… God the Father’s, God the Son’s, and God the Spirit’s relationship to Himself and His will and His purposes… we are already out of our depth because our finite language necessitates that we speak of God as Three Persons… which He is… but in doing so our language can imply that each person is a separate entity… the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father… but they are not.

God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4).

He Transcends the words we have to communicated Him.

The Trinity is a mystery beyond which our finite minds can fully comprehend so in talking about the eternal plan and purposes of God we must be careful to not destroy the Unity of the Trinity as One God and at the same time hold that God eternally subsists in three divine persons.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord… but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.

What God has revealed… we must receive.

And so while some of this sermon will be some pretty heavy theology… I want to bring it back to what it means.

Why did God reveal it to us?

And in regards to the Eternal Covenant of Redemption God revealed it to:

Reveal His glory.

To reveal the glory and sufficiency of the person and work of Christ.

And to inspire in us a love for Him and a desire to live after Him in holiness.

Covenant of Redemption?

So to start what is the Covenant of Redemption?

The Covenant of Redemption is God’s eternal plan to glorify His Name and save a people for Himself with all three persons of the Trinity freely and voluntarily entering into this covenant united in the one will of God to fulfill their part and role in salvation and accomplish redemption on our behalf.

The cliff notes version is God’s Eternal Covenant with Himself to glorify His Name in saving the elect.

We see this in Jesus’ words, “I have accomplished the work you gave me to do”… and “the people you gave me out of the the world”…

So the Father gave Christ a people and a work… a people to save and a work to do.

The question is when?… When were these things given?

Neither of those are future tense… they are both looking back to something the Father had already given… not looking forward to something that would be given in the future

They’re already given… already entrusted… at the time of Christ praying these words on the way to the cross.

So when was this work given and when were these people given?

The biblical answer is in eternity past.

Titus 1:1–2 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised [when] before the ages began.

So what is this saying?

That this hope of eternal life… this promise of eternal life which was promised by God was promised!… before the ages began.

Before the world was created.

Now that begs the question… who was that promise made to?

No one existed before the world was created.

No one… that is… except God.

So, by necessity, this promise was made by God to God Himself.

It was a promise and commitment and a covenant of the One True God between all three persons of the Godhead… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let’s look at another passage…

1 Peter 1:18–21 You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God…

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world...

In other words, Christ was foreordained to become the Savior of the world and die for our sins before the world was ever created.

God’s eternal plan.

Ordained Sin?

Now if your following there is some mystery here.

Does that mean that God ordained Christ to be the Savior of the world before the Fall ever happened?

Yes.

The Fall was ordained by God in His eternal decree.

But doesn’t that make God the Author of Evil and Author of Sin?

By no means!

As the 1689 says… From eternity God has decreed everything that comes to pass but He has done so in such a way that He is not the author of sin nor has any fellowship with any thereof (1689 3:1).

In other words, God ordains all things but He does so in such a way that man is responsible for their own sin.

God doesn’t make men sin… entice them to sin… or help them to do so.

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

Mutable/Immutable

And so if you asked me, how does God ordain sin without be the author of sin at the Fall if He had already decreed Christ as the Savior of the world before the Fall ever happened?

I would say that Adam fell by his own mutability… His own “changing-ness.”

God is immutable… He never changes… He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17, Malachi 3:6).

This is actually a very comforting doctrine because God is our anchor in whom we can always hope and trust.

If He is faithful… He will always be faithful.

If He is true to His word… He will always be true to His word.

We can always count on Him and we can forever count on Him because He never changes.

He cannot lie. He does not change His mind. He cannot deny Himself.

He is the God who keeps covenant and steadfast love forever and ever.

Man however changes all the time.

And so Adam, being made holy but mutable meant that he would inevitably change without God’s upholding grace.

“Well, God should have held him up!”

God had no responsibility to uphold the creature… no obligation to keep Him from sin.

Man had all the responsibility to obey and submit to God.

So when Adam fell, the Fall was ordained by God… but he fell as a result of his own sin and not the result of God.

Purpose = Glory

Well why would God do that?

If God Foreknew because He Foreordained that it was going to end up like this why create anything at all?

To glorify His Name.

God created the world to reveal and manifest His glory.

His holiness… righteousness… justice… Almighty Power.

Love… mercy… wisdom… steadfast covenant-keeping love and grace.

God created the world to share His glory and share His love and manifest His glory and manifest His love in the world that He had made.

This is why Paul says in Romans 9:22–23 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.”

By seeing the terror of God’s judgment we see the glory of His grace.

Its all about God’s glory being manifest to the world!

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

And so to reveal this glory… God ordained Christ…

How would we know God’s holiness… wrath… justice… righteousness… love… mercy… and grace?

How would those glorious attributes shine forth and be reflected in the world?

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world.

Christ!

He is the radiance of the glory of God… the shining… the brightness of the Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:3).

How do you see all the glory of an invisible God who dwells in unapproachable light?

In Christ!

That’s why Jesus is able to say “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world!”

In Christ we see the full glory of the Triune God and are made partakers in His love, mercy, and grace while still glorifying Him and worshiping Him for His justice, righteousness, and wrath.

The whole world was created to manifest the glory of God which the fullness of could only be seen in the salvation of the Elect.

That’s why Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world.

Christ is the Point of the World!

It would be a mistake to think about the Covenant of Redemption as if all three persons of the Trinity got together and said, “Ok, what are we going to do about this sin problem?”

God doesn’t react to things.

If there is even one rogue molecule out there in the universe that means God is not Sovereign and He is not God.

Christ is the point of the world… and Christ is the point of the world so that we would know and enjoy the glory of God and all His goodness…

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love… forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:5-7).

That’s why Paul says in Colossians 1:15–18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Firstborn meaning the heir…

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything [in everything!] he might be preeminent.

Pentecost

Just to give you one more, Peter said in his sermon at pentecost…

Acts 2:23 This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

Not that God knew Jesus would die and used it for the best.

But that God ordained Jesus to die for a definite plan and purpose… to glorify His Name and save the elect.

And this definite plan was made or decreed in eternity past in the Covenant of Redemption.

And even still, we see the mystery that God ordains all things and yet is not the author of sin because the blame is clearly laid on them… [whom] you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

The point that I want you to see was that Jesus was God’s plan and this plan was made out of God’s own free will and sovereign choice.

And this plan or decree of all three persons of the Trinity to glorify His Name and save a people for Himself is what we call the Covenant of Redemption.

1689

One of the places the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith… a summary of what our Baptist forefathers believed Scripture to say… mentions the Covenant of Redemption is in Chapter 8 Paragraph 1 on Christ the Mediator.

1689 8:1 God was pleased, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them, [there it is] to be the Mediator between God and humanity. God chose Him to be prophet, priest, and king and to be Head and Savior of the Church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world. From all eternity, God gave to the Son a people to be His offspring. In time these people would be redeemed, called, justified, sanctified and glorified by Him.

Those are the Elect… the people you gave me out of the world…

The reason there is a Covenant of Grace… the free gift of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ… is because of God’s eternal plan and purpose in the Covenant of Redemption (1689 7:3).

The New Covenant and our redemption is all just the in time, historical outworking of God’s eternal plan in Christ.

Roles

Well, what was this Covenant?

A Covenant is a commitment of oaths and promises so what were the promises made by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Salvation of the Elect?

And the benefit in looking at these promises and what God has revealed in His eternal plan of redemption is that…

One… We see that our salvation is a Trinitarian Work… our salvation is a work of the Almighty Triune God Himself!

Two… we see the particular ways each person of the Trinity accomplishes our salvation so that we can love and worship them rightly.

How do we have communion not with just the Triune God but each person of the Trinity and praise them for their particular work?

And three… it shows us the fullness of the work of Christ… all that Christ accomplished on our behalf and how strong and secure our salvation is in Him.

Father

On the part of the Father, He promised the Son glory, a Kingdom, and the salvation of His people (Psalm 110:1, 4, John 17:2, 6, Daniel 7:13-14, Philippians 2:6-11, Luke 22:29).

And you might say well He already had glory… In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1).

But God promised Him glory not just as the Son of God but as the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).

Lord and Savior… King of kings and Lord of lords… the True and Perfect Adam and perfectly obedient Son… Heir of all things and Head and Representative and Savior or His body the Church… that in all things He might be preeminent.

Philippians 2:9–11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In receiving this glory, Christ, in turn, would glorify the Father as Almighty God and Gracious Savior who so loved the world that He gave His only Son (John 3:16).

That’s why Jesus said at the beginning of the prayer Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you… And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

So God so loved the world that He gave His only Son but God so loved His Son that He gave Him the whole world… all authority and rule and glory… and elect people… a Bride… that He would save with His own blood (Psalm 2:7; Ephesians 5:23-27).

What that means is believers… the Church… the Elect… those predestined before the foundation of the World… you!… are the love gift of the Father to the Son (Ephesians 1:4).

A precious Bride!

That’s why the Bible is able to say Ephesians 1:4–5 In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

And that your name was written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8, 17:8).

The Father predestined you and entrusted you to Christ as a gift of His love… and the Son, receiving this gift, receives it as precious… Christ so loved the church that He gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).

So the Father promised the Son glory, a Kingdom, and people and gave a work for the Son to do… to die on behalf of His people.

Again and again in John Jesus has talked about how the Father had sent Him on a mission.

John 4:34 My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

And what was that work?

John 12:27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

Jesus’ work was to lay down His life for the Sheep.

John 10:11, 18 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge… this work… this purpose… I have received from my Father.

And to accomplish this work the Father promised to sustain and protect the Son in His incarnation.

He prepared a body for Him (Hebrews 10:5).

Anointed Him with the Spirit (Isaiah 61).

And supported Him throughout His mission gave Him victory over Satan and His enemies.

Psalm 89:21–22 So that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.

Son

The Son, in turn, promised to fulfill and carry out this great work.

To take on human flesh and live as a man born under the Law to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the Law on our behalf.

To give His life as a sacrifice for sin in perfect obedience to the Father (Philippians 2:8).

Hebrews 10:5–7 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

And Christ’s reward for carrying out this work would be exalting the glory of God the Father…

Receiving the Name that is above every other Name as the Son of God and Son of Man with dominion and glory and a kingdom, that shall never pass away and never be destroyed that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him (Philippians 2:8-11, Daniel 7:13-14).

And ultimately the Salvation of His Elect…

Isaiah 53:10–11 When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

That satisfaction is Christ’s reward in seeing His people entrusted to Him by the Father saved by grace through faith in Him.

Glory… A Kingdom… and the Salvation of All of His Elect.

For the Joy set before Him Christ endured the cross… (Hebrews 12:2).

Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit… in perfect agreement with the Father and the Son in the One Triune Will of God… was also involved in the Covenant of Redemption by promising to fill and empower Christ’s ministry in His incarnation and to apply all the benefits of Christ’s saving work to the Elect.

We know what the Spirit promised because we know His work.

Christ

In His incarnation, Christ was conceived by the power of the Spirit in the Virgin Birth (Luke 1:35, Matthew 1:20).

The Holy Spirit anointed Christ at His Baptism to fulfill His ministry and serve as our Prophet, Priest, and King.

The Spirit was with Him in resisting the Devil and His temptation (Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12).

And the Bible says that Jesus preached by the Spirit… cast out demons by the Spirit… performed miracles of healing by the Spirit (John 3:34, Luke 4:18-19; Matthew 12:28-29; Acts 10:38).

In some mysterious way Christ offered His life as a sacrifice through the Spirit.

Hebrews 9:14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God…

And it was by the Spirit of God that Christ was raised from the Dead (Romans 8:11).

So the Spirit promised to be Christ’s constant companion in His incarnation and anoint Him as Prophet Preist and King to accomplish all of our salvation on our behalf.

Benefits

Not only that, but the Spirit also promised to take the salvation accomplished by Christ and apply it to the Elect.

The Father Authored our Salvation.

The Son Accomplished our Salvation on our behalf

And the Spirit applies that salvation in His sovereign and gracious work of the New Birth.

Jesus said He will take what is mine and declare it to you (Joh 16:14).

He communicates and applies all the blessings and benefits we have in Christ.

He takes the salvation authored by the Father and accomplished by the Son and applies it to us.

It is by the Spirit that we are Born Again… washed and forgiven by Christ blood.

Jesus said You must be born again… born from above.

Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3-8).

And from their the Spirit sanctifies us and seals us securing our eternal redemption (John 16:13, Ephesians 1:13-14).

Application

Now with the last few minutes… what practical application can we make from the Covenant of Redemption… God’s eternal purpose to save His elect and glorify His name in Christ.

Worship

All theology is meant to lead to doxology… God reveals His glory so that we might worship Him.

First off… Your salvation is the work of the Almighty Triune God and God saved you out of the eternal purpose of His grace.

To manifest and share with us His love.

God is love and in love He predestined us (1 John 4:8, Ephesians 1:4).

Before the foundation of the world… before you had done anything whether good or bad God set His love on you in Christ and sovereignly brought about your salvation (Romans 9:11).

Not with cheap grace but by sending and giving His one and only Son.

Election

Closely related to the Covenant of Redemption is the glory of God’s grace in Election.

The Covenant of Redemption says that God gave us and entrusted us to Christ before the foundation of the world.

Not on the basis of any good in us or any good we have done… but solely according to the good pleasure of His purpose and grace.

Looking back to the Covenant of Redemption Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:9 that [God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

In Ephesians 1:4-5 it says In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Why did God save you?… Why did God forgive you?… Why did God adopt you?

Because God loved love you.

Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined…

The sense of that word is foreloved.

God foreloved you in Christ and entrusted you to Him.

The Covenant of Redemption and the Doctrine of Unconditional Election together say that salvation and all of salvation is all of God’s grace… God’s good pleasure and eternal purpose.

No good in us… not even the good of foreseen faith.

Faith is a gift… you must be born again!… and God gives faith to those He predestined to believe (Ephesians 2:8-9).

All of us deserved God’s judgment and wrath.

Now God is outside of Time… but in the logical order of God’s decrees… in God’s decree to save some there would necessarily to be something to save them from.

So all of us at one point or another were logically condemned under God’s wrath.

God could have just as easily passed over us… but set His love on us instead.

Nothing in you demanded or obligated God to save you!

It was all according to His own purpose and grace.

That’s the kind of grace that’s amazing grace… incredible grace… eternal grace…

The kind of grace makes you say like Job in Job 40Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth (Job 40:4).

The first application is to worship God for His sovereign and eternal Grace.

Christ Alone

Number 2… trust in Christ alone.

The Covenant of Redemption exalts and reveals the glory of Christ.

His obedience… humility… sacrifice…

Love, mercy and grace in fulfilling all the righteous requirements of the Law… both the perfect obedience we failed to live and the just penalty for our sin that we deserved.

In His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension Christ fulfilled all of God’s eternal plan for our salvation.

He actually and effectually reconciled us to God just as God sent Him to do.

And the way you receive this covenant salvation is by receiving and resting on Christ.

By receiving Him and His sacrifice on your behalf and trusting in Him alone as your Prophet, Priest, and King.

Faith is the empty hand that receives all of God’s glorious blessings in Christ.

And all that belong to Christ will never be lost.

He is the good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd will not lose one of His sheep.

As Christ said in John 6:37–39 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

Holiness

Finally, this doctrine should motivate us to holiness.

Jesus said I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

All the elect in Christ are called out of the world and separated unto the Word of God (Nehemiah 10:28).

In Ephesians 1:4 it says He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that… what?

That we should be holy and blameless before him.

If the whole point of the World is the glory of God… does your life reflect that glory?

Are you seeking first Him and His Kingdom or are you living only for yourself? (Matthew 6:33).

The great Puritan John Flavel reflecting on the Covenant of Redemption imagined this dialogue between the Father and the Son to encourage Christians to obey Christ and offer their lives as a living sacrifice to Him.

The Father: “My Son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls?”

The Son: “O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand you shall require it. I will rather choose to suffer thy wrath than that they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me [alone] be all their debt.”

“But my Son… if you undertake for them, you must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements;… [no reprieve] if I spare them, I will not spare thee.”

“Content, Father. Let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures … yet I am content to undertake it.”

Mark Jones, Knowing Christ, Banner of Truth, 17-18.

If Christ died for us we ought to live for Him.

Or, in other words, … You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Conclusion

In eternity past the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit covenanted together as the One Triune God to glorify His Name and save the Elect in Christ.

The Great Hope of this Covenant and for all who trust in Christ is in God’s Word to the Son in the Servant Song of Isaiah 42…

I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness (Isaiah 42:6-7).

Let’s Pray

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