It has only been in the last ten years that I have heard and come to understand the term, “covenant of grace.”  This term scares a lot of Baptists, who know this to be one of the main teachings of the Presbyterian faith. But more and more Baptists are coming to embrace this covenant, without practicing infant-baptism.

We understand that God has always related to man through covenants; with the last and “everlasting covenant” promised and fulfilled, in and through Jesus Christ.  In Heaven Opened, The Riches of God’s Covenant by Richard Alleine, we see in the first three chapters that He has given us Himself, Christ, and the Holy Spirit in the covenant.

In the second chapter we see who and what Christ is in the covenant.  First of all—He IS the covenant.  And as the covenant He is described as:

The Light of Life

The Lord our Righteousness

Lord and King

Head and Husband

He is more to us than these, but these are the major ones.  What seems to be missing?  There is no mention here of Jesus as Savior.  Why?  After meditating on this I believe that it is because He is all these before He ever becomes our Savour.  I see His sovereignty in this?  Jesus Christ was “the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.” Before we ever knew that we were sinners, in need of a Savior, God was reconciling us to Himself in the death of Christ.

He was the Light of Life before I was born.  He had taken my sins on Himself before He shined that “light” into my heart.

Who but a Lord and King can save His people; protecting them, and bringing them to the place of repentance and faith in Him? It is Christ, in His exalted position as The Lord our Righteousness, our Lord and King in His authority and power, who is able to save us.  A servant does not choose His own Master, neither does a subject choose his own king.  If we are to be saved from “this untoward generation,” we need such a King as our Lord Jesus Christ. As Lord and Master of all of life—by whom and through whom all things were made—He was before all things and all things consist in Him; in whom all fullness dwells.”

He was already the Head of His church, a bridegroom prepared for His bride, and all things were made ready, before He called me into the covenant. When He saved me (brought me to Himself) He revealed Himself as all these things to me. He first, bought me, then sought me, brought me, taught me, and wrought in me all that I need for my salvation; and assures me that I am His.  Andrew Murray speaks of this as a “supernatural, spiritual, heavenly, divine reality.”  When I wander from His side, or wonder about my relationship with Him, it is He, as my Lord and King that knows what to do—through His Word and His Holy Spirit—to restore me.

Should we wonder that He is called “the Lord of glory” in 1 Corinthians 2:8; and “the King of glory,”  in Psalm 24:7-10

“Our Father in heaven,” shine that light into our hearts, that we may, by the power of your Holy Spirit, “open the gates, that the King of glory may come in” and establish His throne—that “your name may be hallowed, your kingdom come and your will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven.”  In Jesus name we pray, Amen