covenant, a second covenant, or a covenant of GRACE between God
was adorned, invested, and crowned in innocency. Let this satisfy, that Adam's first estate was a state of perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding; it was a perfect state of holiness, righteousness, and happiness. There was nothing within him but what was desirable and delectable; there was nothing without him but what was amiable and commendable; nor was there anything around him but what was serviceable and comfortable. Adam, in his innocent estate, was the wonder of all understanding, the mirror of wisdom and knowledge, the image of God, the delight of heaven, the glory of the creation, the world's great master, and the Lord's great darling. Upon all these accounts, he had no need of a mediator. And let thus much suffice to have spoken concerning the first covenant of works, that was between God and Adam in innocency. But,
6. Sixthly, Premise this with me—namely, that there is a NEW covenant, a second covenant, or a covenant of GRACE between God and his people, Heb. 8:6-13. Express scriptures prove this: Deut. 7:9,
"Know therefore, that the Lord your God, he is God; the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations." 2 Sam. 23:5,
"Although my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire." Neh. 1:5, "I beseech you, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God; who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love him, and keep his commandments." Isaiah 54:10,
"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord, that has mercy on you." Jer. 32:40,
"And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Ezek. 20:37, "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant." Deut. 29:12, "That you should enter into covenant with the Lord your God; and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today." Consult these scriptures also, [Deut. 4:23;
Isaiah 55:1-3; Jer. 24:7, 30:22, 31:31, 33, and 32:38; Heb. 8:8-10.]
Now that there is a covenant between God and his people, may be further evinced by unanswerable arguments—let me point at some among many.
[1.] First, Christ is said to be "the mediator of this covenant." Heb.
9:15, "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-- now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Certainly that covenant, of which Christ is the mediator, must needs be a covenant made with us. The office of mediator, you know, is to stand between two at variance. The two at variance were God and man. Man had offended and incensed God against him. God's wrath was an insupportable burden, and a consuming fire; no creature was able to stand under it, or before it. Therefore Christ, to rescue and redeem man, becomes a mediator. Christ, undertaking to be a mediator, both procured a covenant to pass between God and man, and also engaged himself for the performance thereof on both parts. And to assure man of partaking of the benefit of God's covenant, Christ turns the covenant into a testament, that the conditions of the covenant, on God's part, might be as so many legacies, which, being confirmed by the death of the testator, none might disannul: Heb. 8:6, "He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." The promises of the new covenant are said to be better, in these six respects:
(1.) All the promises of the law were conditional; "Do this, and you shall live." The promises of the new covenant are absolute, of grace, as well as to grace.
(2.) In this better covenant God promises higher things. Here God promises Himself, his Son, his Spirit, a higher righteousness and a higher sonship.
(3.) Because of their stability; those of the old covenant were
"swallowed up in the curse." These are "the sure mercies of David."
(4.) They are all founded upon faith, they all depend upon faith.
[Romans 4:15-16; Gal. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 1:20; Cant. 5:16; Col. 1:19, and
2:3; Isaiah 44:3; Joel 2:28; Acts 2:16-17; Gal. 3:2.]
(5.) They are all promised upon our saving interest in Christ. This makes the promises sweet—they lead us to Christ, the fountain of them, whose mouth is most sweet, and in whose person all the sweets of all created beings do center.
(6.) Because God has promised to pour out a greater measure of his
Spirit under the new covenant, than he did under the old covenant:
Heb. 12:24, "And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant." Thus you see that Christ is called "the mediator of the covenant" three different times. Now he could not be the mediator of that covenant that is between God and himself, of which more shortly, but of that covenant that is between God and his people. But,
[2.] Secondly, The people of God have pleaded the covenant that is between God and them. "Remember your covenant." Now how could they plead the covenant between God and them if there were no such covenant? See the scriptures in the margin. [Jer. 14:21; Luke 1:72;
Psalm 25:6.] But,
[3.] Thirdly, God is often said to remember his covenant. [Ponder upon these scriptures, Psalm 105:8, 106:45, and 111:5.] Gen. 9:15, "I will remember my covenant, which is between you and me;" Exod.
6:5, "I have remembered my covenant;" Lev. 26:42, "I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember;" Ezek. 16:60, "I will remember my covenant with you, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant." Now how can God be said to remember his covenant with his people, if there were no covenant between God and them? But,
[4.] Fourthly, The temporal and spiritual deliverances that you have by the covenant, do clearly evidence that there is a covenant between
God and you. Zech. 9:11, "As for you also, by the blood of your covenant, I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit, wherein there was no water." [Gen. 9:11; Isaiah 54:9; Psalm 111:9; Isaiah
59:21.] These words include both temporal and spiritual deliverances. So that now, if there is not a covenant between God and you, what deliverances can you expect, seeing they all flow in upon the creature by virtue of the covenant, and according to the covenant? By the blood of the covenant believers are delivered from the infernal pit, where there is not so much water as might cool Dives his tongue, Luke 16:24-25; and by the blood of the covenant they are delivered from those deaths and dangers which surround them, 2
Cor. 1:8-10. When sincere Christians fall into desperate distresses and most deadly dangers, yet they are prisoners of hope, and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant. This does sufficiently evince a covenant between God and his people. But,
[5.] Fifthly, God has threatened severely to avenge and punish the breaking of his covenant. Lev. 26:25, "And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant." Consult these scriptures. [Deut. 29:20-21, 24-25, and 31:20-21; Josh. 7:11-12, 15, and 18:15-16 Judges 2:20; 2 Kings 18:9-12.] Breach of covenant between God and man, breaks the peace, and breeds a quarrel between them; in which he will take vengeance of man's revolt, except there be repentance on man's side, and pardoning grace on his. For breach of covenant, Jerusalem is long since laid waste, and the seven golden candlesticks broken in pieces; and many others, this day, lie a-bleeding in the nations which have made no more of breaking covenant with the great God, than if therein they had to do with poor mortals, with dust and ashes like themselves. Now how can there be such a sin as breach of covenant, for which God will be avenged, if there were no covenant between God and his people? But,
[6.] Sixthly, The seals of the covenant are given to God's people. Now to those to whom the seals of the covenant are given, with them is the covenant made; for the seals of the covenant, and the covenant, go to the same persons. The seals of the covenant are given to believers.
"Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith," Romans 4:11, consequently, the covenant is made with believers. Circumcision is a sign, in regard of the thing signified, and a seal, in regard of the covenant made between God and man. Seal is a borrowed word, taken from kings and princes, who add their broad seal, or privy-seal, to ratify and confirm the leagues, edicts, grants, covenants, charters, which are made with their subjects or confederates. God had made a covenant with
Abraham, and by circumcision signs and seals up that covenant. [In reason, the covenant and the seals must go together. Would it not be a foolish thing in any man, to make a covenant with one, and to give the seals to another? In equity and justice, the covenant and the seals must go to the same persons.] But,
[7.] Seventhly, The people of God are said sometimes to keep covenant with God. Psalm 25:10, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies."
Mercies flowing in upon us, through the covenant, are of all mercies the most soul-satisfying, soul-refreshing, soul-cheering mercies; yes, they are the very cream of mercy. Oh, how well is it with that saint that can look upon every mercy—as a present sent him from God, by virtue of the covenant! Oh, this sweetens every drop, and sip, and crust, and crumb of mercy, which a Christian enjoys—that all flows in upon him through the covenant! The promise last cited is a very sweet, choice, precious promise, a promise more worth than all the riches of the Indies. Mark, "all the paths of the Lord" to his people, they are not only "mercy," but they are "mercy and truth;" that is, they are sure mercies which stream in upon them, through the covenant. Solomon's dinner of green herbs, Proverbs 15:17; Daniel's vegetables, Dan. 1:12; barley loaves and a few fish, John 6:9; swimming in upon a Christian, through the new covenant, are far better, greater and sweeter mercies, than all those great things are, which flow in upon the great men of the world, through that general providence, which feeds the birds of the air, and the animals of the field.
Psalm 44:17, "We have not forgotten you or been false to your covenant," that is, we have kept covenant with you, by endeavoring to the uttermost of our power to keep off from the breach of your covenant, and to live up to the duties of your covenant, suitable to that of the prophet Micah, "We will walk in the name of the Lord our
God forever and ever," Micah 4:5. People in covenant with God will not only take a turn or two in his ways, as temporaries and hypocrites do, who are hot at hand, but soon tire and give in. No, but they will hold on in a course of holiness, and not fail to follow the
Lamb, wherever he goes: Rev. 14:4, and 17:14; Psalm 103:17, "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting:" ver. 18, "To such as keep his covenant," etc. All sincere Christians keep covenant with God:
(1.) In respect of their sincere and cordial desires to keep covenant with God.
(2.) In respect of their habitual purposes and resolutions to keep covenant with God.
(3.) In respect of their habitual and constant endeavors to keep covenant with God, Neh. 1:11; Psalm 119:133, and 39:1-2.
This is an evangelical and incomplete keeping covenant with God, which in Christ God owns and accepts, and is as well pleased with it as he was with Adam's keeping of covenant with him before his fall.
From what has been said, we may thus argue: Those who keep covenant with God, those are in covenant with God, those have made a covenant with God; but all sincere Christians they do keep covenant with God. But,
[8.] Eighthly and lastly, The Lord has, by many choice, precious and sweet promises, engaged himself to make good that blessed covenant which he has made with his people, yes, with his choice and chosen ones. 2 Pet. 1:4. Take a few instances, "If you hearken to these judgments," [Under the name judgments, the commandments and statutes of God are contained.] says God to Israel, "and keep and do them, the Lord your God shall keep unto you the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto your fathers," Deut. 7:12. This blessed covenant is grounded upon God's free grace; and therefore in recompensing their obedience God has a respect to his own mercy— and not to their merits. So Judges 2:1, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said—I will never break my covenant with you." God is a God of mercy, and his covenant with his people is a covenant of mercy; and therefore he will be sure to keep touch with them.
Psalm 89:34, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth;" as if he should have said, Though they break my statutes, yet will I not break my covenant; for this seems to have reference to the 31st verse, "If they break my statutes," etc.
Though they had profaned God's statutes, yet God would not profane his covenant, as the Hebrew runs, "My covenant will I not break;" that is, I will stand steadfastly to the performance of it, and to every part and branch of it, I will never be changeful, I will never be off and on with my people, I will never change my purpose, nor take back my words, nor unsay what I have said.
Jer. 33:20, "This is what the Lord says—If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant, can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne," etc. It is impossible for any created power to break off the covenant with the day and the night so that they do not come on their usual schedule; so it is impossible for
God to break the covenant that he has made with David.
Isaiah 54:10, "For the mountains may depart and the hills disappear, but even then I will remain loyal to you. My covenant of blessing will never be broken—says the Lord, who has mercy on you." "Even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea," Psalm
46:2, yet the covenant of God with his people shall stand unmovable.
The covenant of God, the mercy of God, and the loving-kindness of
God to his people, shall last forever, and remain constant and immutable, though all things in the world should be turned upside down.
Psalm 111:4, "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;" ver. 5,
"He will ever be mindful of his covenant." God looks not at his people's sins, but at his own promise; he will pass by their infirmities, and supply all their necessities. God will never break his covenant, he will never alter his covenant, he will still keep it, he will forever be mindful of it. The covenant of God with his people shall be as inviolable as the course and revolution of day and night, and more immovable than the very hills and mountains.
From what has been said, we may thus argue: If God has, by many choice, precious, and sweet promises, engaged himself to make good that blessed covenant which he has made with his people, then certainly there is a covenant between God and his people; but God has, by many choice, precious, and sweet promises, engaged himself