The Covenants of God

 

The Covenants of God

Genesis 9:1-17

Each person chooses what he trusts. One person places her confidence in her ability to remember and reason. Another person places his confidence in the wealth he has in his name.

Dementia happens, time and events consume wealth, and the things we trust are vulnerable.  We build our lives on the foundation of our confidence. If we trust in our health and strength, we will build our lives on the assumption that our strength will be able to provide. 

For many who grew up in the United States, we have known only prosperity and a nation that is the most powerful on earth. We build our retirements on the confidence that the stock market will continue to grow and that the dollar will continue to be able to buy all that we need. When we see our country or economy threatened by events, we feel vulnerable, and many become anxious and afraid.

Nothing on this earth is free from the ravages of time. Life's truly changeless, incorruptible things are not of this earth; they are supernatural. Only one thing is truly unchanging; that “thing” is a person, God. In Malachi 3:6, God says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change.” 

God does not change, and He does not lie. Therefore, we can trust God’s promises. Truly, God’s promises are the only thing we can trust. God has given us covenants to formalize His promises and establish these promises as treaties or formal agreements between God and us.

We do not have a record of any covenant before the Flood. God speaks of what was to come in Genesis 3 when He tells the serpent that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, but although this refers to a covenant that was to come, it is not the covenant.  

However, after the Flood, God made a covenant with all living things: birds, beasts, fish, and people. God uses the word “covenant” when He establishes His promise in Genesis 9. He says:

Genesis 9:9-10 (NKJV) “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.”

When God made this covenant, it marked a change in His relationship with the people He had created. God did not change. However, what He did changed things for the people of Earth. God was not (and is not) learning. He was (and is) teaching. Since the very beginning, God has been revealing Himself to His creation, not just to humanity but also to heavenly beings, angels, and demons.

By the time Israel became a nation, God was known as a “Covenant God.” However, at the time of the post-flood covenant, God was known as the creator and the One who had destroyed the world with a flood. We now know that God can and will destroy the world (no one knew this before the flood). And we have His promise that the next time He destroys the world, He will not use water. 

The promise of this covenant was, and still is:

Genesis 9:11 (NKJV) “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

This promise does not say anything about local floods or about cutting off all flesh by fire or some other means. God is specific in saying that there will not be another worldwide flood. 

For the anarchist who says that we would be better off without laws, we have an answer. Consider the world before the Flood. They had no laws—none, zilch, zippo—and look at what happened. The world was so corrupt and filled with violence that it became unlivable, and God destroyed it.

Since we had proved to ourselves and heavenly beings, angels, and demons that we could not live without rules, God gave rules that accompanied His covenant with all living things. 

Every covenant (treaty) includes a signature or some form of ratification. For example, our covenant of marriage includes a ceremony and a marriage license. Our covenant with our nation is the Constitution. Even though you and I were not there when the agreement that we call the Constitution was signed, we are obligated to live by it because we are the descendants of those who signed it. We “inherited” their obligations. In the case of the post-flood (Noahic) covenant, God’s signature is the rainbow. Noah showed his agreement with the covenant when he sacrificed animals on the altar after leaving the Ark. So, by birth, his descendants (that is us) are also bound by this covenant. 

The requirements (rules) we are bound by are found in the following verses from Genesis 9.

Genesis 9:1-7 (NKJV) 1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move [on] the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, [that is,] its blood. 5 “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand [a reckoning;] from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

The conditions are:

• Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
• Every moving thing that lives on the earth is food as well as plants.
• Do not eat flesh with its blood.
• God requires a reckoning from anything or anyone who kills a person.
• Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.

These covenant requirements are still in effect.

Along with the rainbow, God left a monument to remind all generations of His covenant. The monument for the covenant with all living creatures is the earth itself. The Flood reshaped the planet, leaving lasting evidence in the form of fossils, fossil fuels, stratified rock layers, and other geological features. (There is a lot of information available on this view scientifically at https://answersingenesis.org)

Despite having seen God destroy the world with the Flood, humanity rebelled in a relatively short time. Somewhere between 100 to 400 years after leaving the Ark, the people decided to ignore one of God’s covenant requirements. God’s requirement was “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” However, the people decided it would be better to stay in one place and consolidate power, so they began building a tower that would serve to keep them from spreading out. This was the opposite of “filling the earth.” God did not choose to destroy them as He did the pre-flood world, but neither did He let this go on very long. At what we know as the “Tower of Babel,” God confused their languages and caused people to spread out around the earth. This is the start of differing nations. From that time on, God deals with people as “nations.”

The nations we know of from those days were vile. They worshiped idols. These idols represent what to these people were “gods” but in reality were demons, spiritual beings. God chose to deal with this situation by making a covenant with a single man. Then God used this man to form a nation. We find this covenant in Genesis 12:

Genesis 12:2-3 (NKJV) “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The sign of God’s covenant with Abraham was and is circumcision. Abraham agreed to this covenant when he circumcised himself. As Abraham’s decedents circumcise themselves they form a monument that reminds the world of this covenant with Abraham.

As the number of Abraham’s descendants grew, God established them as a nation and made a covenant with them. The nation was and is Israel, and the covenant was made at Mt. Sinai when Moses gave the Law. This covenant gave us the Ten Commandments. The covenant at Sinai was not a new covenant as much as it was an “addition” to the covenant with Abraham that was already in effect. The details of this covenant are spelled out in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. This covenant is generally known as the Mosaic covenant. 

As a reminder and a signature to this covenant, God established the Sabbath. To violate the Sabbath, was to risk being cast out of the nation. At the same time, the Sabbath was a blessing to the people in that they were guaranteed at least one day of rest out of seven, and at the same time, every week they were reminded that they were a people set apart for and by God. The existence of the nation of Israel and Judaism as a religion are monuments that remind the world of this covenant.

As God’s stated purpose in establishing the covenant with Abraham was to bless the whole world, the covenant with Israel was an unfolding of God’s plan for accomplishing the blessing. God did not change any of the terms of the established covenant, but rather He filled in more details. God’s promises are eternal; none of them can expire or be replaced. 

As the centuries passed, God continued to reveal more of His purpose. A result of this was the Davidic covenant. God promised David that his throne would last forever and that his descendent would sit on his throne and rule the nations, forever. The descendent of David who will sit on David’s throne is Jesus.

Once again, this covenant did not do away with God’s covenant with Abraham but continued to expand our understanding of it.

We see this covenant being worked out in the New Testament, and John 3:16 summarizes it beautifully:

John 3:16 (NKJV) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

In Jesus Christ, the nations are included in the promises of God’s covenant with Abraham. The covenants with Israel and David are still in effect as is the covenant with all living creatures. However, with the Church, God revealed how through Abraham “all the families of the earth” would be blessed. The signatures of agreement with this covenant are baptism and communion, and the monument to this covenant that reminds the world of God’s promises is the Church.

Every aspect of geography, language, politics, and history has been shaped by God’s covenants. These treaties with God provide the framework for understanding Scripture, history, and even present-day events. God’s covenants and promises explain much of what we see in the news today. 

Our enemy, the devil, opposes all God’s works, and so many things that should be in the news are deliberately ignored or misrepresented. The Bible tells us that because people refuse to acknowledge the truth, God will allow them to fall under great deception. They will believe lies because they refuse the truth. We see this very much in the world today. 

However, God has many, many people who are His and are partakers in His covenants. These people are marked by trusting in God’s promises and building their lives on that foundation.

We must understand one crucial truth: God’s covenants are absolute. They are reliable. They are unbreakable. They are more certain than the sunrise. To build one’s life on anything else is foolish. Jesus compared trusting in anything other than God’s promises to building a house without a foundation.

Along these lines, at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus said:

Matthew 5:17-18 (NKJV) “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

At the end of His ministry, Jesus reaffirmed this truth by saying:

Matthew 24:35 (NKJV) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

What are you trusting In?

 It is urgent that we trust in God and His Word alone.

Seek answers in God’s Word for the things you do not understand. His promises are everlasting, and He will never fail.

A World Corrupt: Learning from the Days of Noah

 

A World Corrupt: Learning from the Days of Noah

Genesis 6:1-12

The Bible begins with, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And then, with minimal historical detail provided about those early days, we quickly arrive at Genesis 6, where we read:

Genesis 6:5-6 (NKJV) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

How bad must things have been for every intent of the human heart to be only evil continually? It was bad enough that it broke God’s heart. This verse says, “He was grieved in His heart.” God was heartbroken!

Earlier, when Cain was angry because God did not accept his sacrifice, God warned him:

Genesis 4:7 (NASB95): “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

What does God mean by “You must master it?”

We are going to explore this question. 

We are going to look at what the Bible says because the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. As such, every word must be true, or we cannot trust what it says. When Genesis 6 describes the world before the flood, it does so as accurate history and also to teach us about God and ourselves. The New Testament Epistle of James compares the Bible to a mirror that shows us ourselves. So, in looking at Today’s passage, we see in ourselves the need to master sin.

There are three areas in which we must work to master sin: 1) our desires, 2) our thoughts, and 3) our actions.

Mastering Sin in Our Desires

Genesis 6 tells us:

Genesis 6:1-2 (NKJV) Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

Something unusual is happening here. That is why God singles it out for us. To understand what is happening, we first need to identify who the sons of God are.

The phrase “sons of God” appears several times in the Old Testament, each time referring to angelic beings. The Hebrew word used is “Elohim,” the same name for God that is used in Genesis 1 when the Bible says, “In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” From our human perspective, these are powerful spiritual beings created by God to serve Him. The devil and his demons are also of this kind.

The devil’s henchmen, who we know as fallen angels or demons, took human wives and produced offspring, “giants,” as described in Genesis 6. I believe this is where myths about demigods come from. Jude 1:6 refers to these fallen angels when it says:

Jude 1:6 (NKJV) And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

For the demons, creating hybrid offspring was an act of defying God and defiling God’s creation. For the women, becoming the wife of a supernatural being was so attractive that Genesis 6:2 tells us that the Sons of God “took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” For example, Genesis 6 tells us that these offspring were “men of renown.” So, for the women, this was a way to gain powerful, invincible husbands and offspring. We cannot pretend to know what motivated these women, but whatever made these angelic beings so appealing, they willingly participated, desiring something they knew was evil.

Throughout the Bible, we see the need to resist sinful desires. Romans 6 warns us not to yield to sin, lest we become slaves to it. James 4:7-8 tells us:

James 4:7-8 (NKJV) Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The women who were approached by demons needed to resist these devils. As simple as that may sound, they chose evil. Just as Cain’s evil intentions led to his actions, the women’s desires led them to choose evil. This brings us to our second point: we must master sin in our thoughts.

Mastering Sin in Our Thoughts

Genesis 6:5 (NKJV) Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The heart is the very essence of our problem with sin. Have you spent time trying to discern the intentions that give rise to your thoughts? What is the goal that moves your mind to start thinking? Understanding and then putting the purpose behind our thoughts into words is very difficult. At some level, everyone hides some of these intentions from themselves, even lying to themselves about what is happening in their hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us we deceive ourselves.

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

This seems extreme! Surely, a person can trust their own heart! Trusting one’s heart is, actually, not wise. In the Proverbs, the wisest man that ever lived, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool!” (Proverbs 28:26) It is hard to accept that the axiom of our day, “Follow you heart,” is foolish, but this is what the Bible seems to say. However, the Lord God wants to help us. He says:

Proverbs 3:5-7 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.

God not only knows our thoughts, but He knows the intent behind them. God knew Cain’s thoughts and intentions and warned him. Cain’s thoughts and intentions were evil, which ended with him murdering his brother. The same pattern holds true for all sin: thoughts lead to actions.

Mastering Sin in Our Actions

Genesis 6:11-12 (NKJV) The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

The wickedness of human thoughts filled the world with violence, making it utterly corrupt. The Hebrew word for corrupt used here describes something spoiled, like sour milk or rotting flesh. The world was rotten with sin.

Our actions reflect what is in our hearts. The condition of the world around us exposes our thoughts and intentions. If humanity had pure thoughts and intentions, there would be no war, murder, rape, theft, or evil. But, alas, our world tells a different story. The realities of our world reveal our need to master sin.

But what does it actually mean to “master” sin? Can such a thing even be done?

The word translated master is the same word used in Genesis 1, where God creates man to rule over the earth. It conveys authority, control, responsibility, and stewardship.

We have a responsibility to govern our bodies, take care of what God has entrusted to us, and exercise self-control. Self-control is the key concept here. Each of us is responsible for ourselves. We hold each other responsible for our actions. If a person steals, they must repay it and often pay a penalty. If a person kills another person, we call it murder and insist they pay for it. 

However, nothing anyone has tried seems to be working. The world is a mess. Is there any hope?

The Hope We Have in Christ

As we journey through the Bible, we see that people have always failed to master sin. Whether before the flood, under the Law of Moses, or under the grace of Jesus Christ, the world has remained filled with violence and corruption. 

After the Flood God said, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth." (Genesis 8:21) God’s statement in this verse shows that we have no hope of mastering sin on our own. We need to be resucued, to be saved from bondage to sin.

Praise God, who has provided a way of escape! Through Jesus Christ, we have been set free from the bondage of sin.

When Paul wrestled with his sinful nature, he cried out:

Romans 7:24-25 (NLT) Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Bonus Thoughts

1. If you want to know the intent of your own heart, start with God’s Word.

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

2. If you want to be saved from the corruption of sin, call on God.

Romans 10:13 (NKJV) For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Conclusion

God is heartbroken when He sees sin corrupting His creation, just as He was in Genesis 6. But He has made a way for us to be redeemed.

The question is, will we surrender our desires, thoughts, and actions to Him? Will we master sin, or will it master us?

The answer is found in Jesus Christ. We must ask Him to save us.