A surety is, according to
Webster, "a person who makes himself responsible for another; one who
makes himself liable for another's debts, defaults, or obligations." This
is just what our Lord Jesus Christ did in the covenant of grace. God the Father
gave his elect people to Christ. He entrusted them to the care of his Son. And
the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily agreed to become responsible for their
eternal welfare. By his own willful choice, the Son of God agreed to become
liable to God's holy law for the debts and obligations of his elect. He became
the Surety of his people.
Therefore, in the fulness of time, he came into this
world as a man, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law. Our blessed Surety lived in this world as the Representative of
his people, fulfilling their obligations to God's law, establishing in their
stead a perfect righteousness. Then he laid down his life as their Substitute
at
And now our Surety reigns on the right hand of the
Majesty on high over all flesh for the purpose of giving eternal life to all
who were given to him in the covenant of grace and redeemed by him at
This is the eternal security of God's elect. They are
chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and preserved in Christ, the Surety! Not one of
God's elect shall perish. Neither the law of God nor the demons of hell can
sentence one of those to hell for whom Jesus Christ lived and died as the
Surety!