God's Covenant with Noah

Scripture:

Genesis 8:1-9:17


Summary:

The promise and hope God told Noah about when He commanded Noah to build the ark has come to fruition. God said He would establish His covenant with Noah, and here we see it happen!

But, what is a covenant? In it’s most basic form, a covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. (More information about what a covenant is can be found here, here, or here.) But what can any human bring to the table when making a covenant with God? In the case of God’s covenant with a human, the person is a receiver and not a contributor. The only role the human plays is to accept the covenant. S/he brings nothing else.

In this particular covenant, God promised Noah that, even though a “man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21), God will never again strike down every living creature by flood. God gave His sign, a rainbow, as confirmation of His promise.

The rainbow is a symbol of God’s love for man. And this covenant is a foreshadowing of the covenant to come - the new covenant giving us eternal life through Jesus!