God's Covenant of Redemption

(a.k.a. the "Counsel of Peace")

What is it? What does the Bible say about it?

The Bible clearly teaches that God the Father made a solemn agreement with God the Son (Jesus), before the very foundation of the world. According to this agreement, the Father would give a certain number of fallen sinners to the Son. And the Son would be a Sponsor or Surety for them. He would live a perfect life, and die a sacrificial death. Thus, his righteousness would be imputed to his people, and his peoples' sins would be atoned for in his death. This agreement is between the Father and the Son, not between God and man. Consider the following Scriptures:

• "Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts [the Father], saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH [the Son - cf. Isaiah 4:2 and Zech. 3:8]; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both [between the Father and the Son]." (Zechariah 6:12-13)

• The terms of the Covenant of Redemption are also spelled out in Isaiah 53:
  ". . . it pleased the LORD to bruise him [Christ] . . . thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin . . . He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death" (Isaiah 53:10-12). --- Note the terms of the agreement:

  • Christ would be made "an offering for sin" and would pour out "his soul unto death"
  • As a reward, Christ would "justify many", and would receive a "portion with the great"

• Speaking of Christ, God's Word says, "And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:5-6)

  --- Note here that Christ becomes the "servant" of his Father. He restores "the preserved of Israel" to a right relationship with the Father, and also saves Gentiles, becoming "salvation unto the end of the earth." This agreement between the Father and the Son is the essence of the Covenant of Redemption.

• Jesus said to his disciples, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me" (Luke 22:29). The Greek word translated "appointed" here is diatithemai, which literally means "to make a covenant". So the verse may be better rendered, "I covenant unto you a kingdom, as my Father has covenanted unto me." -- Click here for a detailed look at this verse.

• And consider some other Scriptures in which Jesus reveals that there is a pre-existing agreement between himself and the Father:

  • "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." (John 10:17-18)
  • For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. (John 12:49)

• This sacrifice of Christ "was foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:19-20; also see Rev. 13:8)

Now let's take a look at the Covenant of Grace.

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