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D. REQUIREMENTS AND PROMISES IN THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION.
1. REQUIREMENTS.
The Father required of the Son, who appeared in this covenant as the
Surety and Head of His people, and as the last Adam, that He should make amends for the sin
of Adam and of those whom the Father had given Him, and should do what Adam failed to do
by keeping the law and thus securing eternal life for all His spiritual progeny. This requirement
included the following particulars:
a. That He should assume human nature by being born of a woman, and thus enter into
temporal relations; and that He should assume this nature with its present infirmities, though
without sin, Gal. 4:4,5; Heb. 2:10,11,14,15; 4:15. It was absolutely essential that He should
become one of the human race.
b. That He, who as the Son of God was superior to the law, should place Himself under the law;
that He should enter, not merely into the natural, but also into the penal and federal relation to
the law, in order to pay the penalty for sin and to merit everlasting life for the elect, Ps. 40:8;
Matt. 5:17,18; John 8:28,29; Gal. 4:4,5; Phil. 2:6-8.
c. That He, after having merited forgiveness of sins and eternal life for His own, should apply to
them the fruits of His merits: complete pardon, and the renewal of their lives through the
powerful operation of the Holy Spirit. By doing this He would render it absolutely certain that
believers would consecrate their lives to God, John 10:16; John 16:14,15; 17:12,19-22; Heb. 2:
10-13; 7:25.
2. PROMISES.
The promises of the Father were in keeping with His requirements. He promised
the Son all that was required for the performance of His great and comprehensive task, thereby
excluding all uncertainty in the operation of this covenant. These promises included the
following:
a. That He would prepare the Son a body, which would be a fit tabernacle for him; a body in
part prepared by the immediate agency of God and uncontaminated by sin, Luke 1:35; Heb.
10:5.
b. That He would endow Him with the necessary gifts and graces for the performance of His
task, and particularly would anoint Him for the Messianic offices by giving Him the Spirit
without measure, a promise that was fulfilled especially at the time of His baptism, Isa. 42:1,2;
61:1; John 3:31.