But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you (Gen. 6:18 NRSV).
Although there is a clearly implied covenant of promise m den, this is the first specified Covenant of Promise found in scripture There is not just one covenant established in the flood, but two and they are both profoundly important for the scriptural principles they bring forth This is the first of the two and it has several promises attached that see their fulfillment in the Messiah The second is the covenant of the warrior’s bow at rest as seen in the rainbow.
The first flood covenant
This covenant has to do specifically with Noah who found grace with God Moreover, we are told he was a righteous man blameless in his generation and that, along with Enoch, he walked with God.
In the garden of Eden, God walked looking for Adam and Eve, who presumably could have walked with God if not for the transgression that alienated them from Him and brought death into the world In Enoch and Noah we have the suggestion that fellowship with God existed in their lives, a fellowship that resulted in life when all around them was death As Bro John Bilello wrote in the September, 1997 Tidings “It appears any mention of Enoch’s death is intentionally omitted, as certain details were in the case of Melchisedec, to emphasize another characteristic of the eventual Messiah, `walking with God’ would lead to ‘life’ m the fullest sense even as ‘sin’ sentenced us to death” Genesis is, after all, the book of “beginnings,” establishing the fundamental principles of our faith, the most fundamental fact of which is “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes m him may not perish but may have eternal life” John 3 16 (NRSV) Those who “walk” with God might die, they are not destroyed, the mean-mg of perish, but merely sleep, await-mg the resurrection to eternal life.
Pointing to salvation in Christ
Noah walked with God and became a type of Christ whose righteousness resulted in salvation for his family The connection is made by Peter who speaks of baptism being seen in the flood and the saving of eight persons by means of faith Here is a covenant established by God which speaks of salvation from death through the waters of baptism.
The writer to the Hebrews adds this comment about Noah “By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household, by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is m accordance with faith” (Heb 11 7 NRSV).
Note that in the establishment of this covenant, God was both condemning the world and setting in place an inheritance by faith The wording is important “I will establish my covenant with you.” If you will remember (Tidings 3/98, p. 94), we noted establish means to set a plan in motion to a future objective, and, as it is God making the pledge, it will be completed.
We thus have in the very beginning the promise of salvation through the waters of baptism provided on the basis of faith, a promise that sees its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus the Christ.
Genesis 9:9 – The Second Flood Covenant
Where the first covenant dealt with the death of sin through the waters of baptism and the rising to a new life (literally as well as spiritually) for Noah and those with him, the second covenant is now revealed This is the Covenant of Peace. Once again, the word that accompanies this covenant is “establish” and once again we remind ourselves that this represents both a completed deed and a progression of action with a purpose.
Noah and his seed
For the first time we encounter the phrase, “to you and your seed.” It is exactly the same language as that used by God to Abram; and, as with Abram, Noah’s seed was to be both immediate and future. Noah was the father of nations, as through his seed the earth was replenished. It was also through Noah that the principle of inheritance by faith is established (Heb. 11:7).
Secondly, we note this covenant specifically mentions creation. Based on Genesis 1:26 (“let them have dominion”) mankind may like to think of themselves as “subduing” the planet. However, the wording in Genesis 2:15 (“to dress [the garden]”) has the meaning of caretaker or gardener rather than subjugation. Here is God’s reminder that His covenant is not just with mankind, but with all creation.
A warrior’s bow
The word translated “rainbow” is the Hebrew word qesheth. It is the hunter’s or warrior’s bow (cf. Zech. 9:10). Thus the token that appears in the sky is a symbol God has put His bow to rest. In short, it is a symbol of a covenant of peace.
In Isaiah 54:7-17 God uses the account of Noah to reaffirm His covenant of peace with Israel: “This is like the days of Noah to me: just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (NRSV).
“I will look upon it”
We also note that the rainbow was not just a reminder to us, but also a reminder to God. God says: “And I will look upon it that I might remember the covenant” (Gen. 9:16). The phrase “look upon” (Heb. raah) has a richness of meaning which is most encouraging of God’s relationship to us. In Genesis 22: 8-14, Abraham tells Isaac that “God will provide [Heb. raah]…” When God looked upon that scene, He did not only look at it, He discerned the need and resolved it To Abraham, God was not a mere observer of the affairs of men, He was a God of perception and action As Jesus tells us “For your Father knows what you need before you ask him”
This word, raah, is used by Hagar in Genesis 16 13 She saw that Yahweh was a God who “perceived” even the affairs of handmaids and provided for them Therefore when God says He will “look upon” the rainbow, it is God in action, perception, grace and strength and the sign becomes a sign of true peace.
The glory of God
“Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all around This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking” (Ezek 1:28).
In Ezekiel’s vision we are presented with a throne on which a human form appeared, reflecting the likeness of the glory of Yahweh which Ezekiel compares to a rainbow The symbol of God’s covenant of peace is now associated with this human form There is only one “Son of Man” who has ever projected the likeness of the glory of Yahweh – Jesus the Christ of whom John writes “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14 KJV).
The two flood covenants
It is now that we can make the connection between the two “covenants of promise” associated with the flood It was through the figure of the waters of baptism that Noah and his family were saved, thus making Noah a type of the Christ to come After the death of sin and the resurrection, in a manner, from the waters, comes peace with God This is eloquently summed up by Paul m Romans 5 10 “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (NRSV).
True peace
It is necessary in summing up these covenants to re-emphasize the echoes of peace that are here In Genesis 1 we are told God looked upon everything He had made and behold it was “very good” It is to that end God works in His creation.
The Lord’s promise of the final “covenant of peace” that encompasses all creation is found in the prophecy of Hosea “I will make (‘to cut’) for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety And I will take you for my wife forever, I will take you for my wife m righteousness and injustice, in steadfast love, and in mercy” (Hos 1 18) This covenant is “cut” by God through the sacrifice of His son It is the end of former passions and envies and hatreds and the establishment of a new relationship that fulfills the promise m Genesis 1:31 It is for all creation the covenant “established” m Noah and completed m the work of Jesus Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One