Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

ever."
scene"
word."
clean."
spirit."
am."
Why Covenant Now
S. Bruce Willson, D.D.
The first of three Saturday evening addresses at the Grinnell Conference, July 17, 195U.
The word "Covenant" is a treasured word in our
vocabulary. We have heard of the covenants of the
past and Mr. Blackwood will be speaking of that
particular phase of our subject a little later. We will
be concerned with the application of the Covenant as
it concerns each individual, and Mr. McMillan will de
velop that theme. But the subject that may be con
cerning some of us this
Now"
evening is, "Why Covenant
If we wanted to be formal we might speak
of "The Contemporary Problem of Covenanting."
What is there in the "contemporary which
calls for covenanting now Why should the church
covenant at this time To focus our attention upon
this question I wish to call attention to a common
word used in the Scripture, "henceforth." We find it
in the record of the covenant of promises in Isaiah
59:20, 21: "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion,
and unto them that turn from transgression in Ja
cob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon
thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the
mouth of
thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for
We are indebted to the Anglo-Saxons for many
words in our modern speech. The early Britons had a
word "hens" from which has been derived our word
hence. "Hens," had nothing to do with poultry, but
meant "the place where you are now standing, from
which you must proceed in any
direction."
It as
sumes that somehow you have gotten to that place
where you now stand.
All who attend this conference have come to this
place by traveling from our homes by train or bus
or plane or car. In another sense, however, we have
come to this place for the purpose of renewing our
Covenant with God. Throughout the history of the
Church, God has prepared the way whereby each
generation may come to dedicate the life which he
has given through a pledge of loyalty. Tonight we
have come to this place by God's grace. For us, at
this moment, this is hence.
Someone may be considering another question.
"Why should we renew our human covenants, when
there is but one Covenant of Grace " The plan of sal
vation has been made possible because God the Fa
ther and God the Son entered into the Covenant of
Grace. This is the Scriptural teaching which under
lies all Christian faith. Our human covenants, be
tween individuals, in group associations, in nations
and between nations are dependent upon the mutual
trust. Even more, the covenants which bind men to
one another in God's kingdom's work, is grounded
upon the eternal Covenant of God. But God's hence
is not our hence. The Covenant of Grace was made in
the councils of eternity. There is neither time nor
place for the Covenant of God, it is eternal. It is
from eternity to eternity the same. But as far as our
life is concerned the hence of the Covenant of God
does enter into human history. We can point to a
period when God's Son came and took His stand at
a designated place. And for Him that place became
54
His hence. There He was nailed to the cross. There
He was lifted up by men who did not believe in Him.
They said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, come
down (from that place) and we will believe." There
He completed His covenant promise. This was
Christ's hence. It was at this point God came into
our life in this unique manner.
Calvary is the starting point, so far as you and
I are concerned, in our relationship with God. It is
our starting point, because Christ willingly took His
stand there, having come into the world to accom
plish the purpose of the Covenant of redemption. It
was there He could say, "It is finished." "Into thy
hands I commend my
Jesus spoke, not for
Himself alone, but for you and for me. We too may
stand in the presence of God because He has taken
upon Himself the burden of our sin. He is our Re
deemer as had been foretold, "The Redeemer shall
come to Zion." And Zion became the meeting place
with the Son of God. And there come with Him those
"who turn from transgression in Jacob," Jacob, the
usurper who unlawfully takes the place of another;
who by the grace of God became Israel, the man who
stands with God.
God said this is My covenant with you who
stand in this place. Having accepted Jesus Christ you
have accepted that Covenant of Grace which was en
tered into in the place where you could not stand, and
because you are mortal, where only the God-man
could come and stand. You are called upon that you
may now have the privilege of talking with God and
having fellowship with Him. That you might receive
from Him His blessing, and that you might return
to Him your love.
Hence! No one can enter into Covenant with God
until he has taken his stand there upon the Covenant
of Grace. We must say with the Apostle, "By the
grace of God, I am what I Only by the love of
Christ am I called from the sin of which too often I
am not conscious. Only by His Holy Spirit convicting
me am I shown wherein I have lived for selfish ends
and purposes. God by His Holy Spirit brings me to
stand at the foot of the Cross. But when He has
brought me to that place, He says, "My grace is
sufficient for thee." "My spirit is upon thee, and my
words which I have put in thy mouth shall not de
part out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy
seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed from
henceforth, saith the Lord." What a wonderful bless
ing it is to hear God say, "All the words that I com
mand thee to speak unto them; diminish not a
We cannot speak for God until we have
me."
obeyed His invitation to "Follow It is a wonder
ful experience to have the fellowship with Christ. To
have that peace of heart and conscience He
alone can give. What a glad privilege that is ! And yet
I hear Christ speak to the man who said, "I want to
follow you. I too want that wonderful
fellowship with
one who can feed five thousand people with no visible
effort. With one who can look at the blind man and
say, "See." Who can touch the leper and say to such a
a man, "Be thou This Christ I love His fel
lowship. I want to be with Him. But let me first
COVENANTER WITNESS