One of the crucial elements of our holy Christian faith that can be forgotten is the role of God the Father in our salvation. The image of God as a furious tyrant who can never be satiated is often presented. It is true that God’s wrath is real, and that His fury will be displayed on the final day of judgment. However, God has revealed Himself as well to be merciful. He has done this chiefly in sending His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh to die for the sins of His people.
Another misunderstanding that is often presented is that Jesus came to change God’s mind. This idea is foolish and blasphemous. How can I say that? The whole New Testament reveals a sinner’s need for union with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what happens when we are born again under the preaching of the holy Gospel. But this work of our salvation, or conversion, or being born again is the work of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is a trinitarian work. That is, each member of the holy trinity bears a unique or distinctive role in our salvation.
Where do we see this? Romans chapter eight is a helpful guide. If you work through this masterpiece, you will repeatedly encounter references to all three persons of the Godhead. Although we could emphasize each of the work of each Divine person we will instead limit our time today to the work of the Father.
What does the Father do? “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” (Romans 8:3 ESV). First, God accomplished his plan of salvation, not you or me. Second, God accomplished this plan by sending Jesus Christ. Christ was sent by the Father, a concept repeatedly mentioned throughout the holy gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Third, God condemned sin in the flesh through the once-for-all and unrepeatable sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. In sum, the Father does quite a bit more than simply look angry.
Even more, behind this plan of salvation lies what theologians have called the covenant of redemption. Puritan preacher, John Flavel, spoke of this matter as follows, “the business of man’s salvation was transacted upon covenant terms [between] the Father and the Son, from all eternity.” Why is this important for us? God’s actions to save us are not something He came up with on a whim. We must learn to see that our salvation through the coming of the Son of God is the outworking of God’s eternal plan from before the foundation of the world (cf. Ephesians 1:4-11).
For example, God was not surprised when Adam and Eve fell into the horror of sin. Even before He breathed life into Adam, the Son of God, God Himself promised to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ who is the Last Adam, the eternal Son of God. This is what we find in the covenant of redemption.
Looking again to the wisdom of Flavel, he proclaimed that this covenant of redemption “required of Christ that he should shed his blood…and it required of us that we believe.” Christ had to die. Flavel is doing nothing other than echoing Christ’s words from John 10:17, 18. There Jesus taught, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again…This charge I have received from my Father.”
We see already what the Father demanded. What did He promise according to Flavel? To the Lord Jesus, His Son, “God promises . . . a name above every name, ample dominion from sea to sea” And to us, “God promises … grace and glory.”
The prophet Isaiah foretold of these things in Isaiah 49:6. There we read the Father’s words to the Lord Jesus, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
All of this and much more stands behind the Apostle’s words in the eight chapter of the book of Romans. The Father accomplished by the outworking of His covenant of redemption our whole and entire salvation. He has done it; not us. May this reveal to you how precious you are today O believer so that you might sing praise to Him and devote yourself even more to this faithful God.
Likewise, if you are not a Christian, Christ is extending this very offer today. As Thomas Boston wrote, “Christ is dead for you” He is always more ready to forgive than we are to draw near to Him. May the Holy Spirit open up your eyes to see Christ as most precious and your sin as most foul. Fly to the cross. Fly to this King for the blood of Christ has never found a sin too filthy to be cleansed by Him.