What Is a Covenant?

A Promise God Binds Himself To

☐

God made a covenant with Noah after the flood. Covenant is one of the most important words in the Bible. It helps us understand how God relates to people.

What is a covenant? A covenant is a serious, binding promise. It joins people together in a lasting relationship. A wedding is a kind of covenant: two people promise to belong to each other for life.

God's first covenant word. Before the flood God told Noah, “But I will establish My covenant with you” (Genesis 6:18). After the flood He did just that.

God started it. “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you” (9:9). Noah did not ask for it. God offered it.

Who it covers. The covenant was with Noah, with his descendants, and “with every living creature that is with you” (9:10). That includes you, and every animal too.

What God promised. “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (9:11).

The sign. God gave the rainbow as the sign of this covenant (9:12-13). A sign is something you can see that reminds you of a promise you cannot see. Every rainbow says that God has not forgotten.

How long it lasts. God calls it “the everlasting covenant” (9:16). It will last as long as the earth remains.

Different from a deal. In a deal, each side does its part, and if one side fails the deal is off. In this covenant God did not ask Noah to do anything. God promised, and God keeps it. That is grace.

God cannot lie. “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do?” (Numbers 23:19).

God is faithful. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

More covenants to come. Later God made covenants with Abraham, with Israel at Mount Sinai and with King David. Each one moved God's plan forward, and they all lead to Jesus.

What we learn. A covenant is God's way of binding Himself to His word. Because God keeps covenant, His people can rest in His promises.

What to do. Think of one promise God makes in the Bible, like “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Thank God that He keeps His covenant promises.

The word covenant first appears in God's promise to Noah (6:18), and 9:8-17 is the first time God spells a covenant out in full. Understanding it helps you read the rest of the Bible.

Berit. The Hebrew word berit (say: beh-REET) means a binding agreement that creates a lasting relationship, with promises on one side or both. In the ancient world, some covenants were made between equals and others between a great king and his people.

One-sided. In the Noah covenant only God makes promises. Noah gives no oath and takes on no conditions. A covenant like this is called unconditional, because it depends on God alone. Noah simply received it as a gift.

For all. It includes all people and “every living creature of all flesh” (9:15). It is God's promise to keep the world going so that His saving plan can unfold.

Kindness to all. Because of this covenant, God gives sunshine, rain and harvest to everyone, believers and unbelievers alike (8:22). Jesus taught that the Father sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

An oath. Isaiah 54:9 calls this covenant an oath: “For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth.” Then God compares His mercy to that oath: “My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed” (54:10).

Hebrews 6:17-18. God “confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation.” Immutable means unable to change. Consolation means comfort.

The covenant line. After Noah come the covenants with Abraham (Genesis 12; 15; 17), with Israel at Sinai (Exodus 19-24) and with David (2 Samuel 7). Each builds on the one before, and all of them point to Christ.

A faithful God. Deuteronomy 7:9 calls the Lord “the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations.” A thousand generations is a way of saying without end.

Who keeps it? Every covenant in Scripture rests in the end on God's faithfulness. When people failed, God did not fail. Even Israel's broken covenant led to God's promise of a new one (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

Numbers 23:19. “Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” God's covenant word and God's action always match.

Application. A covenant-keeping God can be trusted. When God's promises feel far away, remember that He has kept the Noah covenant every single day since the flood.

The New Covenant in Jesus

☐

The covenant with Noah keeps the world safe from another flood. But it does not take away sin. God planned a new covenant to do that.

A new covenant promised. Through the prophet Jeremiah God said, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31).

New hearts. “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33).

Forgiven. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Iniquity means sin.

The night before the cross. At the Last Supper Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The very next day His blood was shed on the cross.

Why blood? After the flood God said that life is in the blood (Genesis 9:4). Later He said, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus gave His life-blood to make the new covenant.

No forgiveness without it. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Remission means forgiveness.

A better covenant. Jesus “is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). A mediator is someone who brings two sides together.

The risen Shepherd. God “brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20).

Every promise. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every promise God ever made comes true in Jesus.

Remembered no more. Under the new covenant God forgives completely. He does not keep a list of the sins Jesus has paid for.

How we enter. We enter the new covenant by trusting Jesus. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

What to do. If you have trusted Jesus, thank Him for His new covenant. Maybe you have not trusted Him yet. You can ask Him today to forgive your sins and make you His own.

The Noah covenant keeps the world going. The new covenant brings sinners home to God. The first keeps the stage standing, and the second is the rescue God planned all along.

Jeremiah 31:31-34. The new covenant was promised because Israel had broken the Sinai covenant, “My covenant which they broke” (31:32). It would be different: God's law written on the heart, every believer knowing God, and sins forgiven.

Luke 22:20. Jesus announced the new covenant at the Passover meal: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The Greek word for covenant here is diatheke (say: dee-ah-THAY-kay).

Blood and life. Genesis 9:4-6 treats blood as life and life as sacred to God. Leviticus 17:11 adds, “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Atonement (say: uh-TONE-ment) means covering sin so that sinners can be brought back to God. Jesus' blood is His life given in our place.

Hebrews 9:15. Christ “is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant.” Redemption means buying back.

Hebrews 8:6. It is “a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” It is better because it rests on Christ's finished work, not on our performance.

Once for all (Hebrews 10:10). “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Sanctified means set apart as God's own. Priests under the old covenant offered again and again; Jesus offered Himself once.

Everlasting (Hebrews 13:20). Like the Noah covenant, the new covenant is everlasting. Unlike it, the new covenant brings forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe.

Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). Every covenant promise, from the rainbow to David's throne, comes true in Jesus. Amen means it is so.

The cup. At the Lord's Supper believers share the cup Jesus called “the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Each time is a fresh reminder that we belong to God by covenant.

Application. Your place with God rests on a covenant God made and Jesus sealed, not on how you feel today. Rest in that, and live as someone who belongs to Him.

📖

Complete all sections to finish!

Read each section and answer the questions correctly.