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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 27, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 17.

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Editorial

By Editor

In the first notes of the message sounded by the pioneers in this work, there rang out the gospel call of repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The “commandments of God” were lifted up as the divine standard of righteousness, and “the faith of Jesus” was preached as the one way of righteousness and salvation; for “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” Gal. 2:16. So has it ever been since the fall of Adam and the promise of the Saviour.
“In my hand no price I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling.”
In the first volume of the REVIEW, May 5, 1851, Hiram Edson, one of the earliest pioneers in the third angel’s message, wrote as follows of the gospel covenant, the “everlasting covenant,” of righteousness by the faith of Jesus:— Luke 1:72, 73: “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant.” What is it? Answer: The oath which he made to our father Abraham. Verses 54, 55: “He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.” From these texts we see clearly that the covenant made with Abraham is the holy covenant, and identical with the gospel. The covenant made with Abraham was the gospel covenant. See Gal. 3:7, 8, 16, 17. “Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, can not disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”
The covenant made with Abraham is the everlasting covenant. See 1 Chron. 16:13-17; Ps. 105:6-10. And the blood of Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant. See Heb. 13:20, 21: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,” etc. It is a settled point in Scripture that Christ and his followers, namely, they which be of faith, are counted for the seed of Abraham. Such are the children of Abraham, to whom the promise was made.