The Never Ending Promise

Everything about this passage speaks to the faithfulness of God

Easton’s Bible Dictionary Covenant

Covenant: a contract or agreement between two parties.

Berith: “To cut”

The Subjects of the Covenant

God (Elohim)

This covenant is established by God

v8: God said

v9: “I will establish”

v11: “I will establish”

God is a God of covenants

He often makes covenants with His people

We are under the covenant of Grace

When God makes a covenant, He holds to the covenants

The power of a covenant made by God is that God will maintain that covenant

Noah

The primary recipient of this covenant is Noah

All the benefits of this covenant go to him

Noah’s Offspring

Shem, Ham and Japheth

us

all future generations

this covenant does not have a termination date

Thus we can rest today in the promise given to Noah

The Animals

The Earth

v13

The Substance of the Covenant

There are three parts of this covenant

The establishment of human government

this we talked about last week

To never flood the world again

This we touched on a few weeks ago

The entire world would not be flooded again

This does not rule out localized or regional floods

This also does not rule out future judgements

We see plenty of judgements in scripture following the flood

the plagues on Egypt

Sodom and Gomorra

Jerusalem (70 AD)

It is a unilateral covenant

Uni: meaning one

lateral: side

It is a one sided covenant

Man is not required to live up to any standard to benefit from this covenant

A modern example

Lost Dod Reward $100

This is referred to as a unilateral contract

Only one person in bound by the contract; the person offering the reward

In this covenant God is bound to follow through with his promise

This differs in that, to get the reward you must find the dog; but no one is required to find the do

In God’s covenant with Noah, there are no demands upon us

The sign of the covenant

The Sign of the Covenant

The Rainbow

Typically rainbows are seen when it rains

this makes the rainbow an ideal sign to “remind” God not to flood the earth

When God says “I will remember” v5, this isn’t to say that He will forget

It’s a personification

It’s a literary tool, taking a description that would typically be given to us, and giving it to God to help us understand what is being explained

Other Covenants have a sign

Abrahamic Covenant: Circumcision

Mosaic Covenant: Sabath

The New Covenant: The Cross