2. If there were a covenant made with Christ, oh, then, get an interest in him, and be united to him, that so you may come within the compass of his care and commission. Everything belongeth to you according to your interest in Christ : 2 Cor. i. 20, ' The ])romises are in him yea, and in him amen.' Still a man's hope is in the cove- nant of grace : and you shall see Christ hath all to do in the covenant of grace.
[1.] In this covenant between God and Christ he is only federate ; he hath taken the whole business upon himself, to discharge you out of the covenant of works, to destroy the powers of hell, to bring you into favour with God. We cannot do it with our prayeis and tears : Hosea xiii. 14, ' I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death : 0 death, I will be thy plagues ; O grave, I will be thy destruction.' Christ undertook this when God the Father and Christ entered into a formal, solemn compact, for so the apostle explaineth it, 1 Cor. xv. 55.
[2.] In the covenant of grace made with believers, Christ is every way concerned in it : he taketh several relations upon himself, which seem otherwise to be contradistinct.
(1.) He is called the testator or author of the covenant: Heb. ix. 16, ' For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.' It was built upon his purchase, confirmed by his death. He undertook to make up all controversies that might fall out between God and us ; and so the whole is ascribed to him ; therefore he is said to be ' the author and finisher of our faith,' Heb. xii. 2. Our faith is built upon that covenant, and peace with Christ is surely ordained for us. We are said to be his people : Mat. i. 21, * And he shall save his people from their sins.' And therefore there are many j)romises in scripture that pass in the name of Christ. Some- what he will do to us, which shows him to be joint-author together with God in the covenant ; he, being heir with his father, is heir to the promises. So that you see there is no likelihood of right to the cove- nant but by union with Jesus Christ. It is his covenant as well as the Father's.
(2.) He is called the Mediator of the covenant: Heb. xii. 24, 'And to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant.' He is the middle person that goeth betwixt God and us, to make up all breaches that may be on our default ; he mediates with the Father when he is provoked by our sin, and mediates with us by his Spirit, to bring us upon our knees before God. The old covenant needed no mediator, for God and man
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386 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 10.
were not fallen out ; but now they are so. and therefore Christ is the fittest person to mediate ; for partaking of the nature of both parties, he is the fittest person to come between them.
(3 ) He is called the surety of the covenant : Heb. vii. 22, * By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.' One that is to see it performed on both sides, so as God will challenge Christ for our part, and you may challenge God for Ciiri.st's part. He is to see all wrought in us which God hath required ; to see that the Spirit writes the law in our hearts, and inclines us to obedience ; and then to see that we yield up that obedience, and that God be satisfied. He is to do all our works for us, and all our works in us ; so that God calleth upon Christ, and we call upon Christ. All is done in him, and there- fore God calleth him his witness, Isa. Iv. 4, ' Ye are my witnesses, and my servant whom I have chosen,' Isa. xliii. 10. He is my chief wit- ness, that I am faithful, and true, and able. Christ will undertake for him, and he will undertake for you, for you need a surety most.
(4.) In the covenant of grace Christ is the prime federate ; the pro- raises are mainly pitched upon him, and he receiveth them for all his brethren. He is mainly intended : Gen. iii. 15, ' I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' Mark, the covenant is made to all in general, but so as it reflects upon Christ especially. There is an enmity between all the holy seed and the ser- pent's, all the spawn of ISatan, though chiefly Christ be concerned in it, as if the whole seed were Christ's. And in the covenant renewed with Abraham, the promises are mainly pitched upon Christ, or else the expressions would not agree ; for he it is that stands as the ])rime federate, to receive the promises for all his brethren : Gen. xii. 3, ' In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' The covenant of works was made with Adam and all mankind, and Adam received it for all his race : so does Christ. Well, then, you see the necessity and benefit of union with Christ, that you may l)e entitled to his care as he is the only federate, that you may receive his bequests and lega- cies as testator and ordainer of the covenant. tha4; he may mediate for you, and go to God for you ; and as he is Mediator, he may undertake for you ; and as a surety he may bestow blessings upon you, as your head, as the chiefest of the body that is called Christ.