Bible Questions Answered: Covenants

Bible Questions Answered:
God gave Noah a rainbow to show the flood was over, so why do we still have it today?
Sheila/ White Plains, New York

Bible Answers:
The Rainbow was God's Covenant sign, that He, would never allow another flood to destroy all the earth.

Genesis 9:11 KJV
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.

The Word of God, tell us of six Covenants, God has had with mankind.

1) The Adam and Eve Covenant.

God had given them the beautiful Garden of Eden, for them to live in.
Their responsibility was to "...dress (care for) and to keep it." Genesis 1:15 KJV.

And they were not to touch the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil."
Genesis 2:16,17 KJV
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The serpent in the garden tempted Eve, she did eat of the forbidden fruit and gave to Adam to eat as well.

The Covenant was broken, mankind had sinned.
Adam and Eve were banished from the garden.
Later, they would, die.


2) The Noah Covenant.

The earth had been full of sin and violence, and so the earth was destroyed by flood, save righteous Noah and his family.

In Genesis 9:4 God, give them a new command.

Genesis 9:3-7 KJV
[3] Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
[4] But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
[5] And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
[6] Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
[7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

God promised never to destroy humanity again by a flood, and that, it would be so, could be seen by His sign in the sky, the rainbow.


3) The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15-18).

The human race again had failed, though they did multiply, so did their sins.

God called Abraham from the Ur of the Chaldees, and promised him that he would be the father of a great nation, and that his descendants would be as the sand of the sea.

God had called him to the land of Canaan.

God said of Abraham....
Genesis 18:19 KJV
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.

Abraham's children became the Israelites, a chosen people of God.


4) The Mosaic Covenant of the law (Exodus 19-20).

After Joseph had died, four hundred years of slavery, followed for the people of God.
They had not wanted to live in the land of plenty, instead of their own promised land, but slavery and dread was its result.

God brought them out of Egypt, and gave them a new Covenant, the Covenant of the Ten Commandments, through Moses.
If only they would remain faithful to Him, He would protect and keep them as a people.
The instruction to build the ark, was a symbol to the people, that God was with them.


5)The Davidic Covenant (II Samuel 7).

Again, the people of God, failed to keep the laws of God.
And so, God allowed the enemies of Israel to come against them.

God make a Covenant with David, He would deliver them from their enemies, if they would only will be faithful to Him.
God, said of David and his descendants, they would have an everlasting dynasty.

God, gave David plans of construction for a temple that would replace the tabernacle, to be built by his son Solomon.

The new temple would be a sign among the people, that God's presence was with them, in a new Covenant.


6) The Covenant of Jesus Christ (The New Covenant-New Testament).

Jesus sent by God into the world, was the very "Word," of the Father.
He had come to introduce a New Covenant.
As God's Eternal Son, He came into our world to mediate a New Covenant between God and Man.

The Lord Jesus Christ, came to be the Saviour of mankind.

John 3:13-21 KJV
[13] And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
[14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:
[15] That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
[16] For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[17] For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
[18] He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God.
[19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
[20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
[21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Christ's death and resurrection, were signs of God's New Covenant with mankind.
Symbols of which are:
Baptism, dead to self, buried with Christ, and risen up in His likeness and newness of life.
Eucharist, death, and resurrection, into newness of life, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I Peter 1:17-23 KJV
[17] And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
[18] Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
[19] But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
[20] Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
[21] Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
[22] Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
[23] Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.