OF CHRIST, THE
TESTATOR OF THE COVENANT
John Gill
1. First, The covenant of grace
bears the name, and has the nature of a testament: it is often called the new
and better testament, as administered under the gospel dispensation, #Mt 26:28
Heb 7:22 9:15 in distinction from the former: it is called a testament, in
allusion to the last will and testament of men. And,
1a. Because it is the will of
God himself, and not another; the will of him that is sovereign and absolute,
who does according to his will in heaven and in earth, in nature, providence,
and grace. The covenant is founded on the will of God, and is the pure effect
of it; he was not obliged to make it; he freely and of his own accord came into
it; so all the contracting parties in it, as has been before observed. A man's
will or testament ought to be voluntary; he is not to be forced nor drawn, nor
pressed to make it, contrary to his inclination; or otherwise it is not his own
will. The covenant, or testament of God, is of his own making, without any
influence from another; all the articles in it are of his free good will and
pleasure; as, that he will be the covenant God of his people; that they shall
be his sons and daughters; that they shall be his heirs, and joint heirs with
Christ; that they shall enjoy all the blessings of grace, redemption, pardon,
justification, regeneration, perseverance in grace and glory; for he hath
bequeathed, in this will, both grace and glory to his people, #Ps 89:11 Lu
12:32.
1b. As a will consists of
various legacies to various persons, so does the covenant of grace; some to
Christ, for he, under different considerations, is a legatee in it, and a
testator of it: all the elect, his spiritual seed and offspring, are bequeathed
unto him, as his portion and inheritance, and with which he is greatly
delighted, #De 32:9 Ps 2:8 16:6. "As my Father hath appointed unto me a
kingdom", says he, #Lu 22:29 his mediatorial kingdom, a kingdom of
priests, and which he disposed of to him in a testamentary way, as the word
there used signifies. There are other legacies, such as before suggested, respecting
grace and glory, left in this will for the brethren of Christ, among whom he is
the firstborn, and so appointed principal heir, yea, heir of all things, and
they joint heirs with him; and what is given to them, is in trust with him for
them, particularly the inheritance bequeathed, which they obtain in him, and is
reserved with him in heaven for them.
1c. In wills, what a man
disposes of, is, or should be, his own; no man has a power to dispose, nor
ought to dispose of, what is another's, or not his own; or otherwise, his will
is a void will, and such bequests void bequests. All the blessings of goodness,
whether of nature, providence, or grace, are all the Lord's own, and he has a
sovereign right to dispose of them as he pleases, and to give them to whomsoever
he will; and against which no one has any just cause or reason to object; and
if he does, it is to no purpose; "Is it not lawful for me", says the
Testator of the covenant, "to do what I will with mine own?" Is thine
eye evil, because I am good?" #Mt 20:15.
1d. This will, or testament,
of Jehovah, is an ancient one, it was made in eternity; it is called an
everlasting covenant, or testament; not only because it always continues, and
will never become null and void, but because it is from everlasting; the
bequests and donations made in it were made before the world began, #2Ti 1:9.
It is, indeed, sometimes called a new testament, not because newly made, but
because newly published and declared, at least in a more clear and express
manner; a new and fresh copy of it has been delivered out to the heirs of
promise.
1e. It is a will or testament
that is unalterable; "Though it be but a man's covenant", or
testament, "yet if it be confirmed" by his own handwriting and seal,
and especially by his death, "no man disannulleth or addeth
thereunto", #Ga 3:15. The covenant of grace is ordered in all things, and
sure; this testament, or will, is founded upon the immutability of the divine
counsel; so that the heirs of promise, the legatees in it, may have strong
consolation, and be fully assured of enjoying their legacies in it; which are
the sure mercies of David, of David's Son and Antitype, as all the promises of
it are Yea and Amen in him.
1f. Testaments, or wills, are
generally sealed as well as signed: the seals of God's will or testament are
not the ordinances; circumcision was no seal of the covenant of grace; it was a
seal to Abraham, and to him only, that he should be the father of believing
Gentiles; and that the same righteousness of faith should come upon them, which
came upon him, when in uncircumcision: nor is baptism, which is falsely said to
come in the room of it, and much less is it a seal of the covenant; nor the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper; for though the blood of Christ, one of the symbols
in it, is yet not that itself: but the seals are the Holy Spirit of God, and
the blood of Christ; and yet the Holy Spirit is not such a seal that makes the
covenant, or testament, surer in itself, only assures the Lord's people of
their interest in it, by witnessing it to their spirits, by being in them the
earnest of the inheritance bequeathed them, and by sealing them up unto the day
of redemption; properly speaking, the blood of Christ is the only seal of this
testament, by which it is ratified and confirmed; and therefore called the
blood of the covenant, and the blood of the new testament, #Zec 9:11 Mt 26:28
Heb 13:20.
1g. To all wills there are
commonly witnesses, and often three, and in some cases three are required. Now
as God sware by himself, because he could sware by no greater; so because no
other and proper witnesses could be had, to witness this will made in eternity,
God himself, or the three divine Persons, became witnesses to it, the Three
that bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, #1Jo 5:7.
Unless we choose to conceive of things in this manner; that as the Father, the
first Person, gives the lead in all things in nature and in grace, and as he
did in the council of peace, so in the covenant of grace, or in this testament,
he may be considered as the maker of the will, or testament, and the Son and
Spirit as witnesses to it.
1h. This will, or testament,
is registered in the sacred writings, from thence the probate of it is to be
taken; the public notaries, or amanuenses, that have copied it under a divine
direction, are the prophets and apostles; hence the writings of the one are
called the Old Testament, and the writings of the other the New Testament, the
latter being the more clear, full, and correct copy. The covenant of grace
having the nature of a testament, shows that there is no restipulation in it on
the part of men; no more than there is a restipulation of legatees in a will;
what is bequeathed to them being without their knowledge and consent, and without
anything being required of them, to which they give their assent. The covenant
of grace is properly a covenant to Christ, in which he restipulates; but a
testament to his people, or a pure covenant of promise. Also it may be
observed, that the legacies in this testament are owing to the goodwill of the
testator, and not to any merit in the legatees; "For if theft which are of
the law be heirs", if they that seek eternal life by the works of the law
be heirs of grace and glory, then, says the apostle, "faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect", which declare it to be a free
donation: and so again, "If the inheritance be of the law", or to be
obtained by the works of it, "it is no more of promise"; these will
not consist with, but contradict one another; "but God gave it to Abraham
by promise"; as he has done to all the legatees in his covenant or will;
see #Ro 4:14 Ga 3:18.
2. Secondly, The Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, may be considered as testator of the covenant of grace,
as it is a will or testament, and which is plainly suggested in #Heb 9:15-17
for,
2a. Christ as God has an equal
right to dispose of things as his divine Father, seeing all that the Father has
are his; as all the perfections of deity, so all persons, and all things in
nature, providence, and grace; particularly all the blessings of grace and of
glory. He is over all God blessed for ever, and all things are of him and owe
their being to him, and are at his dispose; yea, all things are delivered by
the Father to him as mediator: and if the Spirit disposes of his gifts and
graces, dividing them to every man severally as he will; the Son of God may be
reasonably thought to have a power and right to dispose of the blessings of his
goodness to whomsoever he pleases.
2b. Nothing is disposed of in
the covenant, or testament, without his counsel and consent; for though with
respect to creatures, angels and men, it may be said of God, "with whom
took he counsel?" yet with his Son, the Wonderful Counsellor, the Angel of
the great council, he did; for the council of peace was between them both, the
Father and the Son, which respected the salvation of men, and the donation of
grace and glory to them.
2c. Nor was anything given in
covenant, or disposed of in the will and testament of God, but with respect to
the death of Christ; all promised in covenant was on condition of Christ's
making his soul an offering for sin, and of pouring out his soul unto death,
#Isa 53:10-12 all the blessings of grace bestowed on Old Testament saints, as
they were legacies in this testament, so they were given forth in virtue of the
blood of the covenant, which had a virtue that reached backward; Christ being
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and there is no blessing of
grace in the covenant, but what is on account of the death of Christ the
testator; redemption of transgressions, that were under both the first and
second testaments, was by means of death; and without shedding of blood there
was no remission under either dispensation; and it is the death of Christ that
secures from condemnation, as well as by it reconciliation is made.
2d. Whatever is given in this
will, is given to Christ first, to be disposed of by him, so that he is the
executor as well as the testator of it; he was set up as mediator from
everlasting; was prevented with the blessings of goodness, or had them first
given to him; he was possessed of a fulness of grace, and grace was given to
the elect in him before the world began; not only the blessings of grace were
put into his hands to dispose of, but eternal life, for he has power to give
eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him; whether this be
considered as an inheritance which He, the Word of God's grace, the essential
Word, is able to give among them that are sanctified by faith in him; or as a
kingdom prepared for them in the purposes of God, and which Christ gives a
right unto, and a meekness for; yea, he himself disposes of it in a
testamentary way, "and I appoint unto you a kingdom", dispose of it
to you by will and testament, #Lu 22:29. Wherefore,
3. Thirdly, The death of
Christ is necessary to put this will in force, to give strength unto it, that
it may be executed according to the design of the maker of it; "for where
a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator; for
a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at
all, while the testator liveth", #Heb 9:16,17. It is not the death of any,
only of the testator himself, that gives validity to his will, or renders it
executable; and it is only the death of Christ that gives force and strength
unto, or ratifies and confirms the covenant of grace; not the death of slain
sacrifices, for though by the blood and death of these the first testament was
dedicated, ratified, and confirmed in a typical way, as these were types of
Christ in his bloodshed and death, #Heb 9:19-22 yet the new testament is only,
really, truly, and properly ratified and confirmed by the death of Christ
itself; and whereas the Father and the Spirit were jointly concerned with
Christ in making this will or testament, it was not necessary that they should
die, nor could they, since they never assumed a nature capable of dying; only
it was necessary that one of the testators should assume a nature capable of
death, and in it die to give force to this will; and infinite wisdom judged it
most proper and fitting that the Son of God should do it, who took upon him,
not the nature of angels, who are incorporeal, immaterial and immortal spirits,
and die not; but he became a partaker of flesh and blood, of human nature, that
he might die and ratify the testament and will he was concerned in the making
of; and this was necessary to give it strength and force: not as if it was
alterable until the death of Christ, as the wills of men are until their death,
which while they live are liable to be altered again and again; for the first
thoughts of God always remain, and that to all generations; his mind is never
turned, his counsel is immutable, and so his covenant and testament founded
thereon is unalterable; nor that the inheritance bequeathed in this will could
not be enjoyed before the death of Christ; this indeed is the case with respect
to the wills of men, the legacies are not payable, nor estates bequeathed
enjoyed, until the testator dies; but such is not only the certainty of
Christ's death, and which with God was as if it was, before it really was, but
such is the virtue and efficacy of it, that it reaches backward to the
beginning of the world, as before observed; wherefore the Old Testament saints
not only received the promise of eternal inheritance, but enjoyed it before the
death of Christ, though in virtue of it, for they are said to "inherit the
promises", that is, the things promised, #Heb 9:15 6:11 but the death of
Christ was necessary to confirm the covenant or testament, that the legatees
might appear to have a legal right to what was bequeathed to them, law and
justice being satisfied thereby; so that no caveat could be put in against
them, and no obstruction made to their claim of legacies, and their enjoyment
of them; and no danger of this will being ever set aside. There is another
concern and part which Christ has in the covenant, and that is the
"messenger" of it, #Mal 3:1 but as that respects the administration
of it, it will be considered in its proper place, after the fall of man.