Category: Shorter Catechism

Question: WSC 29: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

Answer: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.

Scripture Memory: “…He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior…” (Titus 3:5-6)

An Explanation: The work of Jesus Christ in redemption must be applied to believers by the Holy Spirit for it to be effectual. As John Calvin wrote helpfully “…We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from Him, all that He has suffered and done for salvation…remains useless and of no value to us” (Institutes, 3.1.1). In other words, people can affirm that there is a Jesus Christ, and that He has lived perfectly and exemplary as a mighty man of God’s Spirit (cf. Acts 2:22), but if we are not bonded to Him by faith through the effectual application of the Spirit, then Christ and His work are of no value to us.

The Spirit is pleased to work faith in the needy and helpless elect sinner in real time that persuades and enables us to take hold of all of the salvation that Christ has accomplished for us (see WSC, 30-31). The Spirit uses the means of the word of God, particularly the preaching of the Gospel to apply the redemption purchased by Christ. “…We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Th. 1:4-5; also, 1 Cor. 3:5; Acts 16:14b, 31-33). The Spirit is the bond objectively from God who unites us to all of the blessings and benefits of Christ’s redemption. Faith is the bond subjectively from our side that unites us to Christ, and both of these are given by God, though faith is an action that we perform in response to His powerful effectual calling and regenerating work: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1:12). Calvin wrote: “This…is the true knowledge of Christ, if we receive Him, as He is offered by the Father: namely, clothed with His Gospel” (3.2.6).

Because of God’s mercy planned before the ages for our good and His glory, and not on account of our works, God was in Christ redeeming His people (2 Tim. 1:9). As 2 Corinthians 5:19-21 teaches: “…In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The Spirit applies this righteous standing in Christ to us when we are effectually called by the Word through the Spirit, granting us faith to receive Christ, thus becoming by imputation, the righteousness of God in our union with Him (1 Cor. 1:30-31).

Note that Christ has “purchased” our redemption in the words of WSC, 29. It was a payment Christ made for us. It was costly; it cost Christ His own precious blood (Heb. 9:12). It was a loving sacrifice. Let us offer up ourselves to Him as those now possessed by Him through His Spirit. Let us be thankful as we remember that we were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Rev. 3:18) before the application of this redemption made possible by Christ, through the Holy Spirit, because of the Father’s love.

A Prayer: You have redeemed me, kind king, to love and serve you. To realize the glorious purpose for my life, and the joy of serving the triune God who has saved me. Give me strength to live joyfully in Christ today. Amen.

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

Question: WSC 28: Wherein consists Christ’s exaltation?

Answer: Christ’s exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

Scripture Memory: “…This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven…..Being…exalted at the right hand of God… (Acts 1:11; 2:33a).

An Explanation: Jesus Christ humbled Himself for us in obedience unto death, but God the Father raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:24; Eph. 1:20). Jesus’ resurrection was the beginning of His exaltation. The Father was pleased with His Son in His Person (3:17b), but also was He pleased in His work on behalf of His people (Rom.1:3-4). After appearing to many folks over a period of forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:1-4), Jesus ascended to heaven, was formally crowned king at God’s right hand as He sat down to rule and reign over heaven and earth, and to receive the Name that is above every name: . The author of Hebrews summarizes:

“…In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Heb. 1:2-3).

Jesus’ exaltation teaches us as His people that God has received Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of atonement in our place. God has vindicated Jesus Christ in His resurrection-ascension-exaltation (1 Tim. 3:16). God has rewarded Christ with the fullness of His Spirit, and glorified the God-Man for His perfect righteousness and faithfulness to God His Father (Acts 2:32-36). The Apostle Paul wrote:“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

Jesus’ powerful transition from death to life, from humility to exaltation, is also the hope of God’s people! As the Apostle Paul says, “If we have died with Him, we shall also reign with Him” (cf. Rom. 6:5, 8; 2 Tim. 2:11-12). Though now we suffer in our estate of humiliation, there is great hope that we will fully realize our adoption as Sons in our glorification (Rom. 8:15-25). Let us rejoice that in our union with Jesus, we are justified now and are therefore vindicated by God through grace, and pronounced “not guilty” (Rom. 8:1). We are adopted now in Christ, and can have assurance of His love for us as His children (Rom. 5:5). We are sanctified, and being sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; 6:11; Heb. 2:11), and becoming more Christ-like each day (Rom. 8:29-30). When Christ returns, we shall be vindicated/justified before the whole world (Luke 22:29-30). We shall receive our full adoption/inheritance in glorified bodies (Rom. 8:23). We shall be fully complete and perfect in Him, and we shall live eternally in glory all because of His humiliation and exaltation. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we await for our Savior who is transform our lowly body to a glorious, incorruptible one (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:42). Our Last Adam shall come to raise His blood-bought Bride and raise her to glory! Hallelujah!!

A Prayer: Dear Jesus, though now we are humiliated and suffer, our lives are hidden in you, and we know that when you appear on the Last Day, we shall be like you, because we shall see you as you are. This is our hope! (1 John 3:1-3).

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

Question: WSC 27: Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?

Answer: Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

Scripture Memory: “…And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

An Explanation: Christ’s humiliation was His willing and joyful obedience to God the Father to complete the mission that God gave Him as part of the Eternal Covenant or the Covenant of Peace to redeem a people from sin (Psa. 40; Isa. 11; 42; 49; 52-53; 54:10; Ezek. 34:25; John 17:1-5; Heb. 13:20-21). His humiliation caused Christ to be affected, tempted and touched in every way by sin’s effects in a world of sin and misery without being contaminated or tainted by sin Himself.

The humiliation of Christ included He, being the Eternal Son, not merely making an appearance as a man (as He did as the Angel of the LORD in the Old Covenant), but taking upon Himself a human nature permanently in hypostatic-personal union with Himself for all eternity as Meditator and covenant representative of His people (Gal. 4:6; Luke 1:27-35).“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God.” Jesus Christ, one holy person with two natures, both God and man, was born to godly parents who were poor and insignificant in the eyes of the world. His glory as Son of God was veiled to the eyes of the watching world, and he was recognized as a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53; Luke 2:25ff).

Christ was born under the Law as a man required to keep all of the commandments of God, and to walk in obedience with God in humility all of his days upon the earth (Gal. 4:6; Psa. 40:6-8). He lived in a fallen and broken world, feeling the real threats of temptations to sin, yet without sinning Himself (Heb. 4:14-16). Upon completion of HIs perfect work of joyful and submissive obedience to His Father as part of the Eternal Covenant, He laid down His life as a final sin offering for sinners to bring to His own unity and peace with God (John 17:20-26; Eph. 2:14-22). He was denied and rejected by His own people, and even His dearest friends, and was crucified in weakness for our transgressions. He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might know the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). In His life, he knew no place of His own to lay His holy head, and in His death, no place of His own to rest His “broken” and dead body (Luke 9:58; 19:38ff). But through all this, Christ Jesus our Savior rejoiced in the Holy Spirit for His Beloved Bride, who was the Joy set before Him! (Luke 10:21; Heb. 12:3).

A Prayer: You are the Perfect One, O Mighty Savior, Jesus, my kind king. Let me walk as a sinner saved by grace in joyful obedience in you today. Let me offer myself to you willingly and joyfully as you offered yourself for me (John 17:17-19). Let me grown in my love for you , as I ponder your great glory and love for sinners—for me—in your humiliating and lowly estate to bring me near to God! Thank you!

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

Question: WSC 26: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

Answer: Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

Scripture Memory: “…We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)

An Explanation: Let us rejoice that God the Father has exalted Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, to be the King of kings and Lord of lords (Phil. 2:9-11). God has granted the Son, our Beloved Savior, with all authority in heaven and on earth—over all flesh, both believers and unbelievers (Matt. 28:18ff; John 17:1-2). Christ is the Lord of all believers for whom He died, and has subdued their hearts to Himself (John 1:49), and He is the Lord of unbelievers who He will Judge based on their works at the Resurrection of the Last Day (Psa. 110:2; Acts 17:31).

Christ Jesus rules as our king by subduing our hearts to Himself, and making us willing and able to believe. He grants spiritual life to us while we are dead, and frees us from slavery to sin and to the devil, to enable us to live willingly and joyfully unto God (Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:13-14; Rev. 1:5-7; Rom. 6:5-11). Jesus rules over His people through His church, and defends us from all of His and our enemies.

As our Glorious Ruler, Christ continues to teach us, and to instruct us in His will and ways, through the Word of God by His Spirit (Isa. 33:22; Rev. 2-3). Christ appoints church officers (Eph. 4:11ff; Matt. 16:19;18:18; Heb. 13:7,17) who serve as His ministers or under­-shepherds in His Kingdom, who have been entrusted with the keys of doctrine and discipline to faithfully minister Word, Sacraments, and discipline for the peace and purity of His Beloved Church. Christ calls His people, His Beloved flock to Himself to be sheltered under His wings, and to come as chicks to a mother hen to find refuge and safety from HIs and our terrible enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil! (Matt. 23:27; Psa. 91:4; cf. 1 John 2:14-18).

Jesus has defeated death, and taken the terrible sting out of death, so that now it is now a doorway not to judgement and eternal death, but to a perfect sight of Jesus (John 17:24; 1 Jo. 3:2), a glorious and living hope, a resurrection to eternal life, and a imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, guarded for us by Jesus, the Lord of all, and the Resurrection and the Life! (1 Cor. 15:25, 55-58; John 5:24-26; 11:25ff; 1 Peter 1:4ff). In Jesus, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and nothing shall separate us from His great love for us! (Rom. 8:37-39). He is our king!

A Prayer: All Hail, King Jesus!! Let me live more wholehearted for you, O kind king and merciful Savior. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight! Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Take my heart and seal it by your Holy Spirit for your courts above! Amen.

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

Question: WSC 25  How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

Answer: Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.

Scripture Memory: ESV Hebrews 9:14 …How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

An Explanation: On the cross, the Lord Jesus offered Himself up willingly by the Eternal Spirit as a sacrificial offering to propitiate God’s just wrath against sin, and reconcile sinners to God (Heb. 9:14, 26b; Rom. 3:24-26; Col. 1:20). Although Jesus was God’s perfect and holy priest, He also willingly became the final sacrifice. There are two parts to Christ’s priestly work that should be noted: 1) Oblation/Sacrifice and 2) Intercession for sinners. In John 17, we behold the glory of both of these aspects of Christ’s priestly office. Jesus intercedes or prays for His own that the Father has given Him as he willingly and joyfully goes to the cross to satisfy divine justice and redeem His people through His blood (“…Father, the hour has come…”, John 17:1). Jesus prays that He would glorify the Father through His priestly ministry, as the Father glorifies Him in the salvation work that will be accomplished through the cross and resurrection-ascension (John 17:1-5; cf. Heb. 10:10).

Christ completed His work of salvation for sinners through His death on the cross. He cried out: “It is finished” giving sinners great confidence in entering the blessed Holy of Holies through His blood, and giving His people boldness and confidence in their access to the Father (Heb. 4:14-16; cf. Eph. 2:18). Although Christ’s priestly work in His estate of humiliation was fully accomplished and finished, His Heavenly Priestly work had just begun! The Bible teaches us that the priestly work of Christ in His estate of exaltation is to ever intercede for His own people, ensuring their endurance to the end, and ministering to them by His grace through Word and Sacrament by His Spirit from His Heavenly Throne in heaven. This great Gospel hope is summarized wonderfully in Hebrews 7:24-28:

…But he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. ²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, let me come daily and boldly to the Throne of Grace to have you minister to me in my needs. Let me enter into your prayer time and intercession as I seek communion and fellowship with you. Let me know your peace as I live for you (Heb. 9:14).

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

 

Question: WSC 24  How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

Answer: Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation?

Scripture Memory: ^ESV John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

An Explanation: We have learned that our Lord Jesus is our Prophet, Priest, and our King. What does it mean for Jesus to be our Holy Prophet from the LORD? How does Christ particularly execute his office as a prophet in both His estate of humiliation (incarnation) and exaltation (enthronement-session at God’s right hand in heaven)? First and foremost, let us rejoice in our God that He has not left us without His Word. Let us remember that if a faithful prophet has been raised up to speak to God’s Beloved church, then it is all because of God’s kind mercies toward us. If God has sent His own Son to speak (and He has!!), how much more should we rejoice, and seek to intently and carefully listen to Him! (cf. Heb. 1:1-3). Jesus is the Blessed Prophet, the Beloved Son of God greater than Moses to whom we must listen (Acts 3:22), especially as it regards the salvation from sin that God has revealed to us! (“This is my Son, my chose One, listen to Him,” Luke 9:35).

Jesus is a prophet in that He was the Perfect Word of God’s salvation revealed and expressed in His incarnation. John can say triumphantly: “The Word became flesh…” (John 1:14). Christ is God’s Truth revealed in flesh, the very “way, truth and life” from God to His people (John 14:6). Jesus came to reveal God’s truth powerfully in His Person and in His teaching and preaching. When Jesus came in the incarnation, he preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand in Himself (Mark 1:14-15). He taught that all of the Old Testament hopes and dreams of God’s salvation were being realized (Luke 4:18ff; 24:24ff; 2 Cor. 1:20). Jesus ultimately reveals the Father and the hope of salvation by grace alone, in Christ alone, received through faith alone, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus still speaks to us (Heb. 12:25ff). Jesus has been enthroned on high, at God’s right hand as glorious King of kings, but He still speaks by His Spirit through His written Word and faithful servants, the preachers and teachers of His church (Eph. 4:9-16). Jesus still sows the Word preached into our hearts, and promises to cause His own to bear much fruit! (Mark 4:1ff; John 15:5). He uses His servants to preach the Word (2 Tim. 4:1ff) so that His people might come to Him, and to grow in in grace and mature (2 Pet. 1:3ff). Let us rejoice that although we are spiritual blind and ignorant by nature because of sin, God has caused the light of the Gospel of Christ to shine upon our hearts, and given us new life in Him. Let us meditate upon His Word, and hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against such a Blessed and Beautiful Savior! Amen.

A Prayer: Jesus, give us ears to hear you when you speak. Grant us hearts to love your Word, and to trust you more. Let us hear our Shepherd’s voice through the ministry of the Word and in our hearts.

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Biggs

WSC Question 22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

Answer: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul,being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin (Heb. 2:14, 16, 4:15, 7:26; Gal. 4:4; Luke 1:27, 31, 35, 42).

An explanation: Christ’s became man in the Incarnation because of His love for His own people, and a commitment to fulfill the Covenant of Grace that He had made with the Father and the Spirit before the foundation of the world (Heb. 13:20-21; Eph. 1:3-14). He said in obedience to the Father: “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart…” (Psa. 40:6-8; cf. Heb. 10:5ff).

The Eternal Son of God did not merely appear to be a man in the Incarnation, but he did take upon Himself a real human body in personal and permanent union with Himself: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).The Apostle John teaches the importance of confessing this of Jesus Christ: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…” (1 Jo. 4:2). Jesus Christ not only has a real human body, but also a true and reasonable soul like all other men, yet without sin (Heb. 2:14, 17a; 4:15). During His earthly suffering, Jesus said: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Matt. 26:38).

The conception of Jesus Christ was unique in that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The Spirit of God prevented Jesus from being contaminated from sin, and although He was like man in every way, He was sinless, and “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Heb. 4:15; 7:26). Although unique as Savior and God-Man, Jesus Christ, grew up and matured, and completed His work of salvation for all of His own similar to other men dependent upon God’s Word and the Holy Spirit: “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him….And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:40, 52).

Jesus willingly laid down His life in our nature (John 10:18), and was raised in our nature for the justification and vindication of His people (Rom. 4:25). Now Jesus Christ is seated at God’s right hand in heaven as a glorified man united permanently to Deity as our only Mediator (1 Ti. 2:5), to send forth His Spirit to uphold, equip, and sanctify and comfort His people (Acts 2:32-33; John 14:26ff; 16:12-15), and to forever intercede for us according to God’s will (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). We can summarize the Gospel thus:

“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”
(1 Ti. 3:16; cf. Col. 2:9)

Prayer: Thank you, dear Jesus, Savior and Friend, for ruling and reigning in heaven as my Mediator. Full of power, grace, and truth to help and encourage me as I journey to heaven, keeping my eyes on you, the Glorious Author and Perfecter of my faith!

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

WSC Question 21, Part I:  Who is the only Redeemer of God’s Elect?

Answer: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person forever.

An explanation: This is an important catechism question and answer to put to memory! What beauty and glory in the content, and what succinctness and accuracy of Biblical teaching concerning Jesus Christ our Redeemer (the immense depths of true biblical, reformed catholic, Chalcedonian Christology is squeezed and “zipped up” in this one). The only and sole redeemer, there is no other (1 Tim. 2:5), is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who loves and saves God’s people from their sins by His precious blood on the cross (Rev. 1:6; Col. 1:19-20), is a unique person in that He has two distinct natures, both God and Man. “For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9).

From before the ages, according to God’s purpose and grace in His electing mercies, He chose a people to be redeemed and called to a holy calling, not because of works, but all because of His grace (2 Tim. 1:9-10). God the Father, according to the purpose of His will, and for the praise of His glorious grace, chose His people to be holy and blameless before Him, and in love He predestined us for adoption as sons (Eph. 1:3-6).

The Father covenanted with the Eternal Son to provide for Him a body, a true human nature, to perform all perfect obedience on their behalf, and to die as true man on their behalf, taking their sins upon Himself. (Heb. 10:5-17). The Eternal Son willingly, out of love for His own, agreed to this covenant, saying “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God…” (Heb. 10:7; Psa. 40:6-8). And “by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). Through this Covenant of Grace that the Father made with the Son and the Spirit on behalf of all believers (Heb. 13:20-21), He has now put His laws in our hearts and written them on our minds by His Spirit (Heb. 10:17), and has remembered their sins and their lawless deeds no more (Heb. 10:17). Because of the only redeemer of God’s elect, “there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb. 10:18).

God’s elect are now forgiven, because the Eternal Son of God took upon Himself in permanent, personal, union and subsistence unto Himself our nature! Jesus Christ is one Person, with two distinct natures, both God and Man. The man Christ Jesus, enthroned at God’s right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords, is God Himself in the flesh, and a faithful and powerful and good and compassionate mediator for sinners (Heb. 2:14-18; 4:14-16). As God, He has goodness and power to bestow forgiveness to sinners, and His sacrificial offering on the cross was inestimably valuable as a payment for sins, because He is God (Acts 20:28); as man, He is a fit representative for sinful man, a faithful second Adam (Rom. 5:12-21), and performed all obedience required of a man as covenant head and representative and head in the place of the elect. God imputes Christ’s perfect righteousness to His elect, and gives them the Spirit to renew and renovate them into the image of God, revealed perfectly in the man Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:17-24; to be continued). More in Part II…

A Prayer: Glorious God-Man, Savior of the Elect, perfect Savior, and perfect man, thank you for your willing condescension to take upon my nature, and to live, die, and be resurrected and ascended in heaven for me (Phil. 2:5-11)! Thank you for taking my nature up into heaven, and giving me perfect righteousness before your Holy Father, and now my Holy Father! Thank you for your Spirit to help me to live holy before you.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

An explanation: “…Did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery…by a Redeemer…”  What is the Covenant of Grace? In the Covenant of Works, God made a covenant with Adam and all those he represented. Adam, and all of his seed (all humanity) fell into sin and rebellion in this covenant (Gal. 3:10ff). But God, who is rich in grace and mercy, also made another covenant, the Covenant of Grace, with Christ, the Second Adam, and all of His seed or offspring (the elect).

“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).

As in Adam all die because of Adam’s sin and transgression, so in Christ all live and receive grace because of Christ’s perfect obedience: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). This Covenant of Grace was first announced in history after the fall of man into sin in Genesis 3:15.

Those who are represented by Christ Jesus in the Covenant of Grace, who are His offspring, true sons o Abraham (Gal. 3:8-10), are those God has elected (Rom. 8:29-31). This election that God decreed from eternity past (Eph. 1:3-14) is realized in history when someone is acted on by the Holy Spirit, regenerated, or made alive, and responds in faith and repentance before God, receiving Christ as their Savior! (Eph. 2:1-10; Acts 4:12). “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Th. 2:13; cf. 1Th. 1:5). “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

The foundation of the Covenant of Grace is the covenant made between the Father and the Son as Meditator of the elect in eternity past, or “before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 13:20-21, this covenant sometimes also called the Covenant of “Redemption” or “Peace”, see Isa. 54:10; Ezek. 37:26). Thomas Vincent (1634-78) wrote: “God did covenant and promise to Christ, as the representative of the elect, that, upon condition He would submit to the penalty which the sins of the elect did deserve, and undertake in all things the office of a Mediator, He should be successful, so as to justify and save them” (see Isa. 53:10-11).

The glorious promise of the Covenant of Grace is:

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb. 8:10).

God has promised to all of His elect that He will provide for them in Christ all that they need to embrace the covenant: Spiritual regeneration, knowledge of God, faith, repentance, justification, sanctification, and glorification! “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30; Ezek. 36:25-27; Heb. 8:10-11; Eph. 2:8; Jude 24-25).

A Prayer: Dear Kind King and Heavenly Father, Salvation is from you! All that I have in Christ Jesus, has been given to me as a gift because of your grace that was provided for me from eternity past, before the ages began! My embracing of Christ Jesus as my Savior from sin was a gift from you. I am yours, not my own, I’ve been bought with a price, and owe my life to you. Let me live faithfully before you in instant, exact, and joyful obedience by faith.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs

WSC Question 20, Part I: 

Answer: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

An explanation: A glorious truth is made known in the Scriptures! Although man has fallen into sin, and by nature he is unable to do any good, or perform righteousness as God requires, and he is totally helpless to save himself from his predicament, God has sent hope for rescue and redemption. God has not left mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery!! Romans 3:21-22 says: “…Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” God provides a perfect righteousness for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ for all who believe!

Man’s salvation is nothing deserved, but only by grace. Only by grace, because of God’s “mere good pleasure” is salvation possible in Christ (Matt. 11:25-26). God’s good pleasure is something that He alone decided to do, in order to show forth His goodness and power, and to save and redeem a people for Himself, for His own glory! (Eph. 1:3-14). Jesus gives hope to HIs people by saying to them, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

The Covenant of Works with Adam and the entire human race had been broken; there was no hope to attain salvation through works of the Law (Rom. 3:20). Though the Law of God is holy, righteous, and good (Rom. 7:12), there was no power in the Law to transform man’s sinful heart, no power in the Law to give life, and there was nothing good that dwelled in man by nature to do the works of God (Rom. 7:18; Gal. 3:10, 21). Only God, and God alone could give hope in this hopeless predicament of sinfulness (cf. Eph. 2:12).

And He did!! Two of the most glorious and hope-filled words in Scripture declare it: “But God…” (Eph. 2:4a). Although man was sinful, enslaved, dead in trespasses and sins, unable in himself to do any good for God, God who is rich in mercy, saved a people through the Covenant of Grace, because of the perfect righteousness found in Christ (Gal. 3:16)! It is by grace we have been saved, and not of works—no one can boast—salvation is of the LORD, and the LORD alone!! (Eph. 2:1-10; Tit. 3:4-7). What man could not do, what the Law could not do, “God has done…”

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).

A Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, my salvation is only because of your good pleasure and grace. Let me be ever thankful for your mercies in Christ Jesus. Thank you for rescuing me from your just wrath and what my sins deserve, and to give me salvation and a perfect righteousness in Jesus! Thank you for revealing this to me, and giving me all the power and grace needed to take hold of the promises of the Covenant of Grace in Christ. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to teach me your ways, to cause me to love your Law, and to walk NOT according to the flesh, but by the Spirit!

More in Part II…

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Biggs