The Covenants: Toward A Biblical Understanding

[Guest shiloh357]

Interesting - I never noticed the Covenant of salt before!

BTW - there is no Mar. 4:49-50??

Sorry about that, it is Mark 9: 49-50

[Guest shiloh357]

The Noahic Covenant

We now come the 2nd recorded Covenant in the Scriptures known as the Noahic Covenant. The 1st covenant, the Adamic Covenant corresponds the first two dispensations of human history, namely that of innocence and conscience. It laid the groundwork for the plan of redemption, and the wheels started turning and the redemption wagon started moving down the long road toward Golgotha. It has been 1,600 years, approximately since the God provided that first covenant. There are no other recorded covenants occurring in that span of time.

Noah links the world of the Antediluvians, which was destroyed by the flood with the world that now, is. Noah was a man of faith, according to Hebrews 11:7. Noah built the ark by faith, having only the Word of God to go by. Noah was a preacher. It is presumed by many on the basis of Genesis 6:3, that Noah preached for 120 years. However long he preached, he was a preacher of righteousness. Yet, he never had a single convert.

To fully understand the Noahic Covenant, we need to examine the world that Noah lived in. It is this world and God

[Guest shiloh357]

Two chapters later, we see that mankind had become exceedingly wicked. Judging from the fact that God is actually sorry He made man, it can easily be said that this was wicked generation indeed. No doubt, there was nothing they did not engage, which their depraved minds could possibly conceive. The Bible says that their thoughts and their imaginations were fixated upon evil continuously. Every sin imaginable was planned and enjoyed. What we might label a vice, they called a virtue. Human life was cheap, and was easily sacrificed in the throes of wanton, uncontrolled, unbridled evil.

One man stood out though. The Bible says in Genesis 6:8 that Noah had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What does it mean that Noah

[Guest shiloh357]

What we have here is the basis for the establishment of human government upon the earth. That is why this is referred to as the Dispensation of human government, the third dispensation.

Beginning at verse 1, God blessed Noah and his sons. In what way did God bless them? As it is used here, the blessing is an empowerment to accomplish all that God speaks of in the following verses. The successful accomplishment of anything God tells us to do begins with His blessing upon it. Whatever God has put into your hand to do, He also includes the blessing and power to see it through to the conclusion. God does not call us to failure.

In the verses above, the blessing manifests itself in the following ways.

• Noah and his sons were to be fruitful and replenish the earth. This is found in verses 1 and 7.
  
• Superiority over the animal kingdom
  
• God now allows man to meat by killing animals, as well as the vegetation.
  
• Provision for Capital Punishment
  

The commandment not to eat blood of the animal appears somewhat conspicuously in this passage. Why is man not allowed to eat blood? The life of the creature is found in the blood. Torah teaches that all life as its origin with God. He is the fountainhead of life, God places a high premium upon life and not only does He place great value upon life, but he owns it as well.

This is then connected with the issuance of the decree from God that any man who takes the life of another person in murder, is to forfeit his life at the hand of his fellow man. This is the basis for mankind being allowed to establish a system of magistrates to enact justice for the innocent whose lives have been ruined by the heartless actions of cold-blooded murderers.

God had just destroyed the sinful world with a flood as just retribution for their rebellion. The fact that they were identified as evil presupposes a standard for judging what evil is. The fact that Noah was a righteous man and actively sought to please God, means that God

[Guest shiloh357]

And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

(Genesis 9:8-17)

The Noahic Covenant is Covenant of preservation. As we saw in the Adamic Covenant, God promised a redeemer that would destroy Satan. Satan not only sought to destroy the righteous men of that age, but also sought to bring humanity to utter ruin to prevent the redeemer from being born. Satan cannot confront God directly, so he seeks to destroy God

[Guest shiloh357]

The Abrahamic Covenant

Introduction: Part I

We now come to the third of the major covenants given in Scripture. I am going to be spending a little more time here, as this covenant is significantly more involved theologically, than the previous two covenants. I am dividing this introduction into two parts because it is my intention to cover the preliminary information leading up to the Abrahamic Covenant. I feel it is important to give some context to each of the covenants in order to deal with them in a professional, and thorough manner. In this two-part introduction, I will be dealing with the call of Abraham to the land of promise, the promises made to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, and Gen. 13: 14-17 prior to the formal cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15.

The first two covenants laid the groundwork for what God does next. The Adamic Covenant provides for the possibility of man

[Guest shiloh357]

The name or location of the land was not given to Abram prior to his departure in this verse at this point. Abram

[Guest shiloh357]

This is the highest honor God could bestow on any person. For what we see through the benefit of hindsight is that in Abram all the families of the earth have been blessed, for through Abram has come all of the Divine blessings of salvation. The blessing of making Abram a blessing was worth more than all of the earthly riches and material goods that Abram could accumulate. Abram was not a great inventor, philosopher, religionist, artist, or musician (that we are aware of). He left us no earthly memorial of himself, but is the patriarch of both the Jewish people and Christian faith. His simple obedience to the Word of God, his faith in the promises has been an incalculable blessing to millions upon millions of people for the last 5 millennia. May we also learn this lesson that to be blessing to others, is a chief characteristic of a man or woman of faith. It is the chief attribute of spirituality. While not everyone will receive the blessing we should be a blessing still as a testimony to our Heavenly Father as this is the outworking of the principles of grace he has planted in our hearts. Our lives are not to self absorbed and aimless but to blessing to world.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

(Matthew 5:16)

In verse 7, the Lord appeared to Abram. This is the first time that God is said to appear to anyone. In what form or manner, the text does not say, but He definitely made an appearance to Abram.

The Lord appears to Abram and says that unto his seed, will he give what as then known as the land of Canaan. God says,

[Guest shiloh357]

The Abrahamic Covenant

Introduction Part II

And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

(Genesis 13:14-18)

Abram has been separated from Lot. To put the above passage in context, we need to examine the events that have just transpired in Abram

[Metropolitan]

My God, Shiloh...I never thought that there was so much to the word covenant...This is amazing...The wealth of knowledge that im getting from this forum..Just that, Im too excited to even read it all!