“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Revelation 21:1-3

In all of the texts below, the necessity of faith is understood, but the existence of saving faith is credited to the Father’s prior initiative to give only some to the Son. The texts would have us understand that this is a limited number, since none to whom it is given fail to come, but none can come unless enabled by the drawing power of the Father.

“But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:36-37

“And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:39-40

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” John 6:44-45

“But there are some of you who do not believe. This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” John 6:64-64

None are enabled to come to Christ unless it has first been given by the Father, and no one who comes is ever lost.

The following comes from an article on http://www.mysteryofisrael.org entitled The Everlasting Covenant in John 6. I suggest you get your Bible to look at the multitude of verses used by Tom Quinlan.

We know that this drawing is effective in obtaining its goal because it ensures that each one who is drawn by the Father is also “taught of God”, and that “everyone” so taught comes to Jesus, never to be cast out or lost. What follows will show that this is all by Divine enablement that is not only the result but also the effectual cause of faith in those whom the Father has given to the Son from all eternity.

Of that foreordained number, not one is ever lost or cast out but is kept by the unfailing power of Jesus to be raised at the “last day” (Luke 14:14; John 6:39; 17:12; 1 Peter 1:4-5). These chosen ones whom the Father has specifically entrusted to the Son’s secure keeping (compare John 6:39; 10:27-29: 13:18: 15:16; 17:9, 12, 20) are also the special object of His unfailing intercession, most especially to the end that their faith “fail not” in the day of testing (Luke 22:32; John 17:9, 12, 20; with Hebrews 7:25).

Next is an observation that carries the most glorious implications for those who “love God and are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28-29). It is Jesus’ citation and application of Isaiah 54:13 in John 6:45.

Here Jesus extends to His sheep from every nation all the glorious eternal security of Yahweh’s long-promised, long-awaited “covenant of peace” (Isaiah 54:10 with Ezekiel 37:26), which is elsewhere equated with “the everlasting covenant” (compare Isaiah 55:3; 61:8; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60; 37:26).

As you will observe by comparing the following verses, the “everlasting covenant”, as well as “My covenant of peace” are manifestly synonymous with Jeremiah’s “new covenant” (compare Jeremiah 31:31-34 with Jeremiah 32:38-40 & Isaiah 54:10, 13 with Ezekiel 34:25; 37:26).

This is the covenant that includes all the unilateral (some would say, unconditional) promises made to Abraham and to David concerning their seed. It will stand in its most public and plenary fulfillment with a fully renewed Israel in the future “Day of the Lord“.

This is when every penitent Jewish survivor of the final wrath of God (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1) will all “know the Lord from that day and forward” (i.e., the “Day of the Lord“; Ezekiel 39:8. 22), “never again to depart” (Psalms. 89:28-36; Isaiah. 59:21; 66:22; Jeremiah. 31:34; 32:40; Ezekiel. 37:25-27; 39:22, 28-29). Since “all Israel” will be a completely regenerated nation “in that day”, they will no longer stand under the continual threat of covenant judgment, subject always to the potential of curse and recurrent eviction from the Land.

In glorious contrast to past generations, post-wrath Israel will dwell securely in their own Land “from ‘that day’ and forward” (Leviticus 25:18-19; 2 Samuel. 7:10; Psalms 4:8; Jeremiah 23:6; 30:10;32:37; 33:16; Ezekiel 34:25,28: 39:26; Hosea 2:18; Micah 4:4; Zephaniah 3:13; Zech. 14:11).

This is made possible because, no longer will there be a mere remnant, at best restraining, but never long preventing the largely blind and backsliding nation from falling back under covenant judgment. In radical, unprecedented contrast, post-“Day of the Lord” Israel will all, without a single exception be righteous with the Lord’s own “everlasting righteousness” (Isaiah 45:17, 24-25; 54:13-14, 17; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Daniel 9:24).

This blessed unity in the Holy Spirit is promised to extend throughout all future generations unto “children’s children”, not one ever failing of the “everlasting righteousness” of the “everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 4:3; 44:3; 45:17, 24-25; 54:10, 13, 17; 59:20-21; 60:21; 65:23; 66:22; Jeremiah 31:34; 32:38-42; Ezekiel 20:40; 37:25; 39:22, 28-29, etc.)

From Jesus’ citation of Isaiah 54:13 in John 6:45, we can see that He is applying the eternal security of this everlasting covenant that will stand with post-wrath Israel to all whom the Father has given Him, now, and in the millennial age (http://www.millennialkingdom.net) to come. To be given by the Father to Jesus is to be secured in the everlasting covenant established with Abraham while he was in a deep sleep, signifying its unconditional surety of certain fulfillment (Psalms 89:35-36; Isaiah 55:3; 66:22).

God’s purpose in putting Abraham into a deep sleep before passing between the pieces was certainly NOT to ignore or circumvent the indispensable conditionality of the inheritance. Rather, it is God’s own pledge of Himself that He would unilaterally engage to meet and fulfill all required conditions, first through the atoning sacrifice of the curse-reversing seed of the woman on behalf of “all the seed” (Psalms 18:50; 89:29, 36; Isaiah 41:8; 45:25; 53:10; 65:23; Jeremiah 33:25-26; Romans 4:16; Hebrews 2:16). Then by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, a new nature will invariably, necessarily bear fruit “after its own kind” (Matthew 13:23).

At the “set time”, “when it pleases God” (Galatians 1:15-16; Psalms 102:13; 110:3), whether for the Jewish remnant at the end of the wrath of God, or the calling of any individual in this age, God will “put” His Spirit into the newly recreated hearts and spirits of the heirs of the everlasting covenant. He retains this free sovereign right to quicken “whom He will” (Matthew 11:27, John 5:21; Romans 9:18), when, at His own sovereign timing, He has prepared the right conditions for the final and everlasting salvation of His elect nation (Isaiah 30:18).

By Jesus’ applying the covenant promise of Isaiah 54:13 to all whom the Father has given Him to save and keep (John 6:37, 39-40, 44-45, 65), He is thereby uniting “the called according to His purpose” of every generation to the same secure covenant inheritance that will come to the “natural (Jewish) branches” in the coming day of their great national deliverance when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 8:28-29; 11:26-29).

For the elect remnant of Jewish survivors of the final tribulation, covenant failure resulting in more than temporal discipline will be a thing of the past. Scripture is very clear that from this time forward, not one of the heirs of the everlasting covenant will ever again depart (Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah. 32:40; Ezekiel 39:22, 28-30).

Neither can any of the chosen seed of Israel’s race ever fall fatally or finally away from what they have irrevocably and irreversibly become, namely, an everlasting “new creation … born of the indestructible Word of God that lives and abides forever” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).

One can see how the NT writers will often describe personal salvation in all the terms and colours that the prophets use to describe the eschatology of post-wrath Israel. For the apostles, Israel’s eschatology is the model and pattern for the soteriology (doctrine of salvation) of the new/everlasting covenant as applied to the salvation of the individual.

But how might such assurance be mistaken and misused by persons who are yet in the body of this flesh? Wouldn’t this give them a sense of license to misuse their liberty? Well, as believers in the “fight of faith” are reminded to take due diligence to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 2:10), this danger of presumption is certainly warned against in scripture (Galatians. 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16).

But so far as one may have evidence that they are bearing the fruits that witness to the reality of “the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13), it is also to be understood that the holy fear of God (“my fear”; contrast Jeremiah 2:19; 32:40) is built right into the everlasting covenant. This is what God has promised to “put” into the heart of every heir of new covenant righteousness (Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 31:33; 32:40; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26-27; 37:6, 14).

Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the regenerate seed of Abraham will vigilantly guard their own hearts. This is not because they will be in any doubt of the security of their everlasting inheritance, but because the love of God has been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and also the sure knowledge that God will faithfully chasten His own, which is the distinguishing badge of true sonship (Psalms 89:30-33; Hebrews 12:7-8).

Not only post-wrath Israel but all of God’s elect are contemplated as the “seed of Abraham” and heirs of His everlasting “covenant of peace” (Isaiah 54:10; Ezekiel 37:26). These things cannot be said of all persons, but only those whom Paul calls, “the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). Indeed, the gift of “everlasting life” (John 6:40) is promised to faith, since unbelief forms the contrast between those to whom it has been given and those to whom it has not been given, in verses 36-37 and 64-65.

But faith is not the basis for God’s sovereign, pre-temporal initiative to this limited number. Rather, faith is the result of the Father’s eternal choice to divinely enable all whom He would give to Christ to both come to Him and be kept forever by Him (John 6:37, 39, 44, 65)

This enablement is preceded, not at first by faith that we supply, but by the Father’s “good pleasure” to “quicken whom He will” (John 5:21; 6:39; Romans 9:18; Ephesians 1:5; Philippians 2:13). This is a Spirit-quickened faith that must invariably and necessarily “overcome the world”, precisely because it is “born of God” since it is a rule that “whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4).

While many, such as Judas (John 6:64, 70; 13:10-11; 17:12) and the tares sown among the wheat, may move undetected among the sheep for a season (“Lord, who is it?”, John 13:22, 25), Jesus said these are “Not of My sheep” (John 10:26; 1 John 2:19). None of God’s true sheep who are truly “born of God”, and thus in living union with the Divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) can ever fatally or finally fall from the Father’s grip (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:28-39).

This is just one example of a pervasive biblical doctrine taught in many places throughout both testaments, but it is far more than a doctrine among doctrines. In, Romans 9:11, it is called “the purpose of God according to election”.

Paul is clear that for that purpose “to stand”, it must not be influenced by any virtue found or foreseen in one more than another (Romans. 9:11). The only difference distinguishing the two brothers is a difference that is made by God (1 Corinthians 4:7)

According to Paul, and no less John, any difference that is not perceived as given from above is dangerous ground for the pride of presumption (John 3:27; Romans 11:35-36; 1 Corinthians 4:7). In 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul will call this doctrine the very “foundation of God”. That unshakable foundation has “this seal, the Lord knows them who are His”.

It is the knowledge that Jesus has of His own sheep (John 10:14). He warns of those who will count themselves as His sheep whom He “never knew” (Matthew 7:22-23). So 2 Timothy 2:19 is clearly not merely speaking about God’s obvious knowledge of one’s present spiritual condition, but an eternal foreknowledge that reaches back to the covenant that always existed between the persons of the Godhead before creation (Romans 8:28-29; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 13:8).

Not only is this great truth precious to the believer’s comfort; but it is also vital to the upholding of the integrity of the Word and the vindication of the “everlasting covenant” of grace.

John Newton who wrote, “Amazing Grace”, believed this truth, as nothing else so plucks from man any presumption of entitlement, simply because this decision of God, so unbiased by anything in man, cannot be impugned as in any way unjust (Romans 9:14-21). Notably, Paul does not undertake to satisfy all the natural questions that might arise. Rather, he simply answers the anticipated protest with the surprising retort, “Who are you, O man, to reply against God?”(See Romans 9:18-23).

Ironically, it is in the place of greatest offense that God has plainly declared the incomprehensible goodness of a grace that was moved by nothing found or foreseen in man, except this unique love for His own that existed before time. Its source, its working, and its goal begins and ends as wholly the work of God alone, for the glory of Christ alone.

He is both author and finisher of a faith that is “given from above” (John 3:27; Romans 11:35-36; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:20) and upheld to the end by the power of God and the indwelling of the indestructible, ever-abiding seed of the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), establishing an eternal, irreversible union between the believer and the Divine nature (1 Peter 1:4-5; 2 Peter 1:4). This means the truly regenerate believer is not ‘becoming’ a new creation; he or she ‘is’ an eternal new creation (Isaiah 66:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15).

In conclusion, Israel’s eternal covenant is our eternal covenant.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to Him that it might be repaid?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36

We are fast approaching the end of Satan’s rule over planet Earth, next on God’s agenda is Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom. Jesus and the resurrected Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron for 1000 years. This world has had 6000 years of Satan’s dominion. It will now have 1000 years with Jesus’ rule from the nation God established for His purposes, Israel. Israel will finally realize her destiny as head of the nations. A new Jerusalem on the highest mountain will be Jesus’ capital city and the leaders of all nations will come to pay homage to Him there. Satan is bound for most of the thousand years but at the end of it he is released and he still raises an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. “Fire came down from heaven and consumed them.” Revelation 20:9. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him (Jesus) who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Revelation 20:11-12. “Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:13 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,” Revelation 21:1