God's Covenant with Noah

God first announced His intention of providing a covenant for Noah and his family in Genesis 6:18 where He says, "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you" (NIV). The initiative for the making of this covenant was on God's part, not Noah's. This means that Noah could be secure in the knowledge that this was God's covenant, not something he had conjured up himself. As we think about the covenant God has established with us through Christ, we too must realize that the covenant is God's and not something we have initiated ourselves.

God's covenant with Noah provides a blessing for all people today, for God has promised that "Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Gen. 9:11, NIV). In fact, the sign that God's covenant remains firm and unchanged is the appearance of the rainbow after each rainstorm. God said to Noah, "I will see it (the rainbow) and remember the evelasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth" (Gen. 9:16, NIV).

In this sense, God's covenant with Noah is like the one He made with Adam. It is a covenant of life! This is also confirmed in Revelation 4:3 where the apostle John shares his vision of the throne of God where "A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne" (NIV). Clearly, this should bring great security to every believer, for day and night the rainbow shines out as a sign of the covenant God made with Noah, which is of great benefit for us today!