Tuesday, April 13
“But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” Genesis 6:18
In this one verse we have the basics of the biblical covenant that God makes with humanity: God and humankind enter into an agreement. Very simple.
Yet, there are more elements than first meet the eye. To begin, there is the element of obedience on humanity’s part. God says to Noah that he and his family shall go into the ark. They have their part to do, and if they do not do it, the covenant is broken. If the covenant is broken, they are the ultimate losers, for in the end they are the beneficiaries of the covenant. After all, if Noah said No to God and did not want to abide by the covenant or said Yes but then changed his mind, what would have been the results for him and his family?
God says that it is “my covenant.” What does that tell us about the basic nature of the covenant? What difference would there be in our concept of the covenant if the Lord had called it “our covenant”?
However unique this particular situation, we see here the basic God-human dynamic found in the covenant. By establishing “my covenant” with Noah, God here again displays His grace. He shows that He is willing to take the initiative in order to save human beings from the results of their sins. In short, this covenant must not be seen as some sort of union of equals in which each “partner” in the covenant is dependent upon the other. We could say that God “benefits” from the covenant, but only in a radically different sense from which humans do. He benefits in that those whom He loves will be given eternal life — no small satisfaction for the Lord (Isaiah 53:11). But that is not to say that He benefits in the same way we — on the receiving end of the same covenant — benefit.
Try this analogy: a man has fallen overboard from a boat in the midst of a storm. Someone on the deck says that he will throw a life preserver over to haul him in. The one in the water, however, has to agree to his end of the “deal,” and that is, to grab on and to hold on to what has been provided him. That, in many ways is what the covenant between God and humanity is all about.
How does the above analogy help you understand the concept of grace that exists in the covenant? How does it help you understand what your relationship to God even now needs to be based on?
