Salvation and the Everlasting Covenant !

2 Sam 23:5

5Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

The Salvation of man is the fruit and effect of a Everlasting Covenant counseled by the Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Ps 33:11


11The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever [sure], the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

The LORD here is the Elohim, the Triune Jehovah, and their counsel and thoughts are one. The proper scheming of the Salvation of men was first and foremost for the Glory of God leading to the comfort and happiness of their Chosen ones Ps 33:12

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. [1 Pet 2:9]

And so the counsel was convened in regards to the Great importance of Salvation. For all their Perfections were to be manifested, especially the Wisdom of God Eph 3:4-11

4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

6That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

This Great Work was entrusted into the Hands of the Son Jn 17:4


4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

Then He became Surety for all whom God would be Glorified in saving from the ruin of the Fall. Heb 7:22

22By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Since all Three Beings of the One Godhead counseled in this momentous matter of Salvation, thats why we have one of the most hated scriptures in the NT that points to the Triune God 1 Jn 5:7

7For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Also Isa 48:16 appears to confirm the scheme of the Triune God, and the Son being sent to fulfill His Covenant obligations 48:16

16Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

also the Son speaks here Ps 40:7-10

7Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

9I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

10I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Yes Salvation is the result of Covenant Faithfulness from the Triune God, May His Perfections be Adored forever !

 

That there was a Eternal Counsel amongst the Godhead can also be gleaned from other scriptures as Isa 25:10

1O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

The ESV reneders this verse :

1O LORD,(A) you are my God;

I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Now what greater plan or purpose was formed of Old than that which was eternally setteled in Christ Jesus, that Eternal Purpose of the Salvation of all God's elect, of which all Three Beings were concerned, which is the manifold wisdom of God, which is according to that Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus Our Lord, the Mediator.

1 Tim 2:5

5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

2 Tim 1:9

9Who 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,

Eph 3:10-11

10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

It was not only Christ Jesus the Son who would execute this purpose involved, but the Spirit as well, who also agreed to perform His part, who searches the deep things of God and approves them and reveals them unto the Elect of God 1 Cor 2:9-12

9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

 

As the Surety of the Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant or New Covenant, Christ took upon Himself to get rid of all that was owed to God's Law and Justice of those whose sins were laid to His Charges, or imputed to Him. The Father agreed not to lay to the charge of His elect, what they did deserve, but to lay what they owed to the Charge of Christ. This was agreed to before the world began. Thats why its called the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, for Christ the Mediator agreed as Surety to shed His Blood for the elect, as they were also viewed as fallen in Adam. So it was and never has been God's Purpose to lay any charge to His Elect, so it never happened..

Rom 8:33-34


33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who can condemn God's Elect, because Christ has died being condemned in their stead !

 

That salvation is according to the everlasting covenant of grace and that paul and the apostles preached it so is seen in phrases as the " counsel of God" Acts 20:27

27For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

The word counsel is the word boulē:

counsel, purpose

The Purpose of God He did not shun to declare ! Peter preached it here Acts 4:28

28For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.[I believe this counsel refers to the everlasting covenant determined in the GodHead]

Now this [Acts 20:27] was when paul was addressing the Ephesian elders Acts 20:17,24

17And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

and He was speaking about the Gospel of God's Grace vs 24

24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

So this leads us to believe that paul was rehearsing the first chapter of Ephesians as part of God,s Gospel of Grace Eph 1:6,11

6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will

The word counsel here is the same word as used in Acts 20:27 and Acts 4:28

Also Paul spake of the wisdom of God 1 Cor 2:6

6Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

That word wisdom is the greek word Sophia and one of its meanings is:

supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God

1) to Christ

2) the wisdom of God as evinced in forming and executing counsels in the formation and government of the world and the scriptures see eph 3:10

And that would be that wisdom that contrived the everlasting covenant, whereby God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, through the surety engagement with Christ for His People, not imputing their trespasses on them, because they were imputed to the Surety of the Covenant 2 Cor 5:21, so He would in due time come and be a sin offering in their behalf Isa 53:10

10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Christ was long the designated sin offering before the world began ! The world was created within the scope of that purpose Eph 3:9


9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

please cp Eph 3:9 with 2 Cor 5:19 in regards to the preposition in !

 

We perceive that Salvation is based upon a everlasting covenant from reading of the counsel that took place right before mans creation, when God says let us make man in our image and our likeness, the us I don't believe could be angels, but the other Two Beings of the Godhead, the Word and the Spirit; The Triune God.

Now the stating of " let us make man" was a resolve in the beginning to make man in accordance with the stipulations of the everlasting covenant. Adam was not just created randomly, but he himself was made as covenant Head, and since He was a figure of Him to come [ Rom 5:14], then Christ His antitype must have already been established as the surety of the everlasting covenant..

In the LXX and regards Isa 9:6

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Its translated " The Angel of the Great Council "

6 For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the Messenger of great counsel: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him.

He is also the Messenger of that Covenant Mal 3:1

1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

 

Surety of the Covenant

Christ as the surety of the covenant, that is the everlasting covenant of grace, He engaged to God the Father to do for us, as also our mediator :

By His life and death he would to vindicate the honor of God his Father in all the perfections of His Nature, to reserve the justice and veracity of God, and the sanction of His Holy Law.

He also engaged as the surety of the covenant to restore unto the elect of God, that uprightness they lost in adam at creation, and even beyond that to the conformity of His own very image, outwardly and inwardly Rom 8:29

29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

That as they were made sinners by Adam's disobedience, so by Christ's obedience, they shall be made righteous Rom 5:19, that as the sin of the first Adam was imputed to their condemnation, so Christ righteousness, as our Covenant Head,might be imputed to all His seed.

All of this is according to the Eternal Counsel and wisdom. Christ engaged to do a work in men, in that we were by nature at enmity God [in our minds] and alienated from the life of God Rom 8:7-8 and Eph 4:18. In light of such He reconciles us [The Elect] back to God subjectively [inwardly] 1 Pet 318

18For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Jn 10:16

16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Now by working in us through His Spirit to both will and to do of His good pleasure, this inner working is a Covenant Blessing from the blood of the Shepherd to His Sheep

Heb 13:21:

20Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

21Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

So you see, the covenant provides for and applies unto the Sheep an inward work, which is the New Birth..

 

Things that must be done !


Heb 13:20-21

20Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

21Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Many do not understand that Christ Death, was a Covenantal Death, A Covenant made before the world began, even from Everlasting, and its called the Everlasting Covenant, and there's the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant.

And upon the Shedding of this Blood, things must be done as a consequence or result or outcome !

Who must do them ? Who it is that must perform for the outcome or the results are to be realized ?

Answer : The God of Peace ! Rom 15:33 and 1 Thess 5:23

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is a God of Peace to all for whom Christ died for and made propitiation for. He is pacified on their behalf, and is Now unto them a God of Peace. This Peace is the result of the Blood of His Cross.

Col 1:20

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Here we have the Everlasting Covenant linked to being a Covenant of Peace Ezk 37:26

Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. See Isa 54:10

Now easily all Three Beings of the Godhead are so constituted the God of Peace in their One Divine Essence, but here in our Text, it is The Father that is the Head Representative as the God of Peace. It was the Father who was in Covenant with the Son to upon the completion of the Son's task of shedding His Blood, the Father would take upon Himself to perform those things that must be done on behalf of the Son for those Sheep He shed His blood for. So these things are Covenantal results.

The most Chief thing the Father did for the Son, The Shepherd of the Sheep, was to bring from the Dead the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep"

This was done to declare that through His blood, and being accepted by Him, that all the Sheep are Justified because of Him. Rom 4:25

25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our[The Sheep] justification.

So the First thing done, that must be done, was to Raise up Christ from the Dead as a declaration of our Justification, for God is at Peace with us for His Sake ! Remember the Father once said the smite the Shepherd Zech 13:7

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

Now the LORD of Hosts is at Peace with the Shepherd and the Sheep, this is all in working out from the Everlasting Covenant. Zech 9:11

As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners[The Sheep] out of the pit wherein is no water.

 

Rev 13:8 and Heb 13:20

Heb 13:20

20Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Rev 13:8

8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The Lamb slain from the foundation and the blood of the everlasting covenant, I see these as being the same. That is before the worlds were ever created, and from everlasting, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Shepherd of the Sheep entered into covenant with the Father to redeem His Sheep from their ruin in Adam. This was to be by the shedding of His blood [a body would be prepared Him for that purpose Heb 10:5], Hence we hear Christ saying " I lay down my life for the Sheep" Jn 10:15, Jesus here stating what had been determined before the world began ! The shedding of His blood was the price agreed upon, and the Father, if satisfied with the blood shed shall bring Him from the dead, to evidence His being propitiated and reconciled to the Sheep, because of the Blood of the Covenant see Zech 9:11, so we have the words of our text " brought again from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant", and " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"

 

Things that must be done ! cont

We have seen that one of the Things that must be done and was done by the Covenant Blood , that was Shed for the Sheep by the Shepherd was that God is now unto them the God of Peace Heb 13:20-21

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

21Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


Don't let anyone fool you, if Christ died for one, as His Sheep, that Person has peace with God whether they realize it or not, God has nothing against them whatsoever, they are completely Justified in His Eyes by Christ Blood see Rom 5:9 !

But something else must be done as a result of the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant being shed.

The God of Peace, who showed His approval and acceptance of the Shepherds Blood, in the place of the Sheep, He must now see to it that all the Sheep are made Perfect in every good work to do His Will !

21Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

The WNT reads fully equip you with every grace that you may need for the doing of His will, producing in us that which will truly please Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.

Yes, because of the Finished work of the Shepherd in behalf of the Sheep, God now must see to it that all the Sheep are fully equipped with every Spiritual Blessing of Grace they need for the doing of His most reasonable service and will as Per Rom 12:1-2

1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Thats why Paul says that those Chosen in Christ and are now believers, is because They were blessed with all Spiritual Blessings [In Time] according to having been Chosen in Him [The Great Shepherd] before the foundation Eph 1:3-4


3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Basically, Paul is saying that they have been blessed with the Spiritual Blessings provided for them by the Covenant Blood, in order to equip them for God's service. This means that the Father has been Faithful to His Son in behalf of the Sheep in bestowing upon them all necessary Spiritual Blessings !