In my sermon this past Sunday on Isaiah 50, I briefly mentioned a covenant that was made—not between God and man, but within the Trinity itself—a covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Servant Song of Isaiah 50 refers to this covenant in several important ways. For my blog post today, I thought it might be helpful to explore the theology and history of this covenant a bit further.
When I preach, my primary focus is on the text itself—what it means and how it applies to our lives. While I am often tempted to delve more deeply into the theology of the passages we study, I try to do so only when it is strictly necessary for our understanding and application of the passage. However, one of the main reasons I write this blog each week is to expand on the theology of the text for your edification and growth as a Christian. I hope you find this helpful!
The covenant I referenced in my sermon has a few names. Sometimes, it is referred to as the pactum salutis or simply the pactum. This Latin title originates from Zechariah 6:13—”And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace [Latin: pactum salutis] shall be between them both.” This passage is a prophecy about the Messiah, who will sit on a royal throne as a priest, with a formal covenant established between him and the Lord who dwells in heaven.
However, a more common and perhaps better name for it today is simply the covenant of redemption. What distinguishes the covenant of redemption from other covenants is that it is pretemporal—meaning it was established before creation, in the eternal counsel of the Trinity. It is also intratrinitarian, meaning it is made within the Trinity itself. Michael Brown and Zachary Keele describe it this way in their introduction to covenant theology, Sacred Bond:
“The covenant of redemption is a pact between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with the purpose of redeeming God’s elect. The Father gave to the Son those whom he chose to save and required him to accomplish their salvation through his obedient life and atoning death as the second Adam. He also promised the Son a reward upon the completion of his work. The Son accepted the Father’s gift,agreed to the conditions of this covenant, and submitted himself to the Father’s will. The Holy Spirit promised to apply the benefits earned by the Son to the elect and unite them with the Son forever.” (Sacred Bond, p. 23)
Although there is no single passage in Scripture that explicitly describes this covenant in full, it is implied whenever God speaks about the work of redemption accomplished through the Messiah. This plan has been at work since before the foundation of the world, with the three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—working together to fulfill it. When Jesus speaks about his mission, he does so in these terms: as a task given to him by the Father, which he has willingly undertaken, and which the Spirit has equipped him for.
We see the covenant of redemption at work in several ways in our text from this past Sunday. Beginning in the second stanza, the Servant of the Lord speaks about the mission he has been sent to accomplish and how the Lord has prepared him for it. In verse 4, the Servant says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught.” A consistent theme throughout the book of Isaiah is that God’s people are unwilling and unable to hear and respond to his words. Isaiah 43:8 declares, “Bring out the people who are deaf, yet have ears.” But in contrast, the Lord God has “opened the ear” of the Servant. He is not rebellious, nor does he turn back; rather, he willingly undertakes the mission given to him by the Lord. This mission is for God’s people and accomplishes their salvation. Even though it leads him to say, “I gave my back to those who strike” and “I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting,” he does not shrink from it but endures it.
And he does so because he is confident in the promises God has made to him regarding his ultimate vindication and the reward that will follow. This recalls the words of the author of Hebrews, who says that Jesus “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Knowing that “he who vindicates me is near,” the Servant “sets his face like a flint.” The Lord God helps him, and so he has nothing to fear.
For us as Christians, the covenant of redemption is profoundly important because it is the foundation of our trust and hope in Christ’s work. The covenant of redemption serves as the basis for the covenant of grace that God makes with us. Because Jesus has fulfilled the covenant of redemption for us, the covenant that God makes with us in the gospel is secure. We have perfect assurance of our salvation because God himself has undertaken and accomplished it. It was promised and secured before the foundation of the world!
This leads to the great application found in the final stanza of the Servant’s song in Isaiah 50. The command to “walk in darkness” is a call to trust in the work of the Servant—the work ordained and completed by God. To trust God is to trust in the finished work of redemption, knowing that nothing we do can add to or take away from it. This gives us confidence to move forward into the uncertainties of life with full assurance in the goodness, love, and perfect care of the God who ordained our salvation before the foundation of the world.
