Covenant Maker

"Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 'Now behold, I Myself do 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 comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.' God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will 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 never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.' And God said to Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.'" -Genesis 9.8-17

After the flood God institutes the practice of covenant making. This is an unbreakable commitment, a promise that cannot be undone. God promises Noah, all of his descendants, and all animals that the world will never again be destroyed by a flood. To accompany the covenant is a sign, with the Noahic covenant the sign is the rainbow. Every time the rainbow appears in the sky, it is a reminder of God's promise. There will be rain, but it will not destroy all life on the earth.

Covenants are serious business. When a covenant was broken, usually death was the punishment. God is establishing this covenant, and He is the one who is capable of breaking it, because the only promise is that He will not flood the earth again. God makes the covenant, and He will not break it.

This is the first covenant the appears in the Bible. Some of them have conditions that man must live by, but all of them have a divine element that is the root of them. God is at work to restore His creation, and He establishes covenants with His people in the process. God, the covenant maker, is faithful to do all that He says. The final covenant is established in Christ, and it is under that promise of hope and redemption that we now live. God has been faithful to every covenant He has established, and He will be faithful to this one.

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!