Word of Encouragement (8/19/2020)
Having meditated on the nature and various kinds of the divine promises, let us meditate on their foundation.
One of the authors, James A. La Belle, used to work in construction and knows the importance of the foundation. He used to say as a builder, “Whatever problem the foundation had… would ‘follow me to the roof’” (p. 12). Joel R. Beeke’s father was a builder, too, and he marveled, in his thirty years as a builder, that only one person asked about the foundation:
“People asked about all kinds of things before they signed off on me as a builder, down to the color of shutters, but only one ever asked what kind of foundation I built… I’ve discovered that very few Christians today seriously ask whether they are building on the foundational Rock, Christ Jesus. Many are concerned about how they feel and what they experience, but few ask about what kind of foundation they are building on” (p. 13).
So, it is important for us to review and be reminded of the foundation of the divine promises. What is it, then? It is the covenant of grace, which Edward Leigh describes as a “bundle of all the promises” (p. 14). The authors observe, “Whatever promise is made to believers in Scripture, it is nothing less than an explication and application of the foundational promise of the covenant, namely, ‘I… will be their God, and they shall be my people’ (Jer. 31:33)” (p. 14).
What is so great about that promise? God is the Creator of all men. As such, He is the God of every individual and every people group, whether they acknowledge it or not. But God has chosen some to be His elect people—“my treasured possession among all peoples” (Ex. 19:5). God has bound Himself to us as “our God” in a special way through the covenant of grace—to bless us, not to curse us; to save us, not to deal with us according to our sins (Ps. 103:10). Leigh said, “When a man has God [as his God], he has all, [for] he is blessedness itself” (p. 16). He unpacks this truth in this way:
“He that is in special covenant with God, all that is in God is for him: his truth for his security; his love for his comfort; his power for his protection; his wisdom for his direction. All that is in Christ is his, his love, his grace, his merits. He is his Savior [and] Redeemer; the Holy Ghost is his comforter [and] dwells in him, to teach him and guide him into all truth, and to seal up the promises to his heart” (p. 16).
We are brought under the covenant of grace when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Those, who do not, are under the covenant of works. The covenant of works demands that you earn your own redemption with perfect and perpetual obedience—“one strike and you are out!” (as was the case of Adam and Eve). But the covenant of grace is grounded in God’s sovereign mercy to undeserving sinners, in Christ’s work of perfect obedience. How firm and secure is our foundation! If that is the foundation God laid, we can imagine how tall and majestic the building (of God’s promises) is—even though the greatest faith will be able to see only a glimpse of it!