Unchanging Covenant of God's Grace

The Father fixed his gaze on me, Foreknew my soul that I should be At first ashamed before his face, And then a vessel for his grace; And in the Holy Trinity Engaged a glad conspiracy Of love that all the energy Of God should be employed to see That I, when all his work is done, Would bear the image of his Son. By John Piper

One of the truths that God has saturated me in today is that of his covenant grace with his people. Into eternity past within the Trinity, the Father and the Son throught the Spirit, planned the cross so that Jesus might receive what you and I deserve namely the wrath of God. By his death he bore our complete punishment and by his resurrection he conquered death itself. He did this because he planned to save you and I. We know that this was always his plan. You can know that you were always his plan by these words.

Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."

^{Eph 1:4 says} For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

You were chosen by God before the creation of the world through His eternal covenant. His covenant preceeded the fall of man. His covenant came before your sin. You cannot be seperated from His love because the unchanging purpose of his covenant was to save you. May this truth stimulate us to right thinking. We need not fear that one day he will be dissapointed with us. We can be confident that he is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. This truth leads us into a new relationship with Jesus. A relationship not based on my obedience for his acceptance but because of his acceptance I can now obey without fear.

Glory to God for his grace that saw me, his grace that chose me, and his grace that keeps me.