Friday, March 21, 2008

The New Covenant - by Spurgeon

The Covenant between God the Father and God the Son!

"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 shall be by him washed from sin, by him preserved, and kept, and led, and by him, at last, presented before my throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. 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 for ever 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 these shall reign with me through Christ eternally." Thus run 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. 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, which is at this very day being fulfilled and scrupulously 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; 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 thy blood, thou hast constituted me the shepherd—I will bring every one safe to thee at last."

-Charles Spurgeon-

4 comments:

Aida said...

Great picture of the beauty of the New Covenant, Bino.

"I will bring all my sheep of whom, by thy blood, thou hast constituted me the shepherd—I will bring every one safe to thee at last."

We've tended to believe that Jesus is not able to complete what he's begun but that's not true. We're safe in him. We can rest in the fact that we're secure in him and what he's begun, he will complete. Thanks for the reminder.

Aida

Bino M. said...

Aida,
One of the beauty of the New Covenant is that its not made between God and man. One among the two parties of the old covenant was man, God kept His part but man couldn't. God knew this and He had prepared a New Covenant in advance for us which was made between God and God, but we are the beneficiaries (Isn't that awesome?).

I have heard some one saying that salvation is not just pulling a drowning person out of the water into the boat, but also bringing him safe to the shore.

That is exactly what Jesus does. He pulls us out of the pit and bring us safe to Father at the end!

That to me is good news!

Praise God that we are secure in Him!

Aida said...

Wow! That reminder is a great way to start the morning, Bino.

We humans couldn't keep our end of the covenant so God made a New Covenant with Jesus. That's amazing! It really isn't up to us to do anything but to rest in what Jesus has already done for us.

Wonderful news!! Thanks for the reminder.

Aida

Bino M. said...

Aida,
Yup, I am glad I am off the hook here. If I am there in the equation, guaranteed that I will mess up. What makes this Covenant amazing is that, He is the initiator, He is the provider and He is the keeper and we just enjoy the benefits! To me, thats a pretty good deal!