Unlocking the Old Testament Covenants Part 2 – Noah & Abraham

This episode is Part 2 of our exploration of the Old Testament Covenants.  The focus is on  God's covenants with Noah and Abraham.  These covenants not only showcase God's boundless love and faithfulness but also reveal profound lessons that still resonate with us, even in our modern lives. They offer us glimpses into the unshakeable promises of a loving and caring Creator.

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Note: All scripture references are from the NIV translation unless otherwise indicated.

Transcript

Jacqui: 0:10

Welcome back to the Old Testament Covenant series. If you're new here, we're thrilled to have you join us on this journey through the pages of the Bible. In our previous episode, we introduced the topic of God's Covenants and how they can be viewed as the backbone of the biblical story. Today, we're delving into two significant covenants those with Noah and Abraham. So, whether you're sipping your morning coffee, commuting to work or simply taking a relaxing stroll, join us as we uncover the remarkable promises made by God to these two extraordinary individuals. Well, welcome everyone. I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast, where, weekly, we break down the Bible into understandable, bite-sized chunks. Greetings, friends. Let's open our Bible to the Book of Genesis and dive right on in. We're going to look at God's Covenants with Noah and Abraham, which not only showcase God's boundless love and faithfulness, but also reveal profound lessons that still resonate with us, even in our modern lives. They offer us glimpses into the unshakable promises of a loving and caring Creator. Okay, we're going to start off with God's Covenant with Noah, which we'll refer to as the Noahic Covenant.

Jacqui: 1:53

As history unfolds, the horrific consequences of Adam and Eve's sin become evident. Evil and corruption permeated the world by the time of Noah, God even regretted making man. Genesis 9:9-12, gives us a description of Noah. He is described as being a righteous man and was blameless among his generations. God warned Noah about a big flood that was coming and instructed him to build an ark to escape it. An ark was a vessel designed to float on the water and in Genesis 6:18,G od tells Noah he would make a covenant with him even before Noah entered the ark. This was the first mention of the word covenant in the Bible. In chapter 9, God tells Noah the details of this covenant. That was after the flood waters had dried up. So God wiped out the entire world in a flood, all except for Noah and his family. They survived on the ark with a representative population of animals. After the flood it passed, God elaborated on the covenant. It was not just with Noah and his family, but applied to all of humanity, even all living creatures.

Jacqui: 3:22

Now let's look at what God promised. First, he promised never to destroy the world again by a flood. In addition, God pledged to preserve the stability of nature. Genesis 8:22 says as long as the earth endures, see, time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. So he promised that the seasons would always come as expected. Now there were stipulations In Genesis 9: 1-3, God blesses Noah and tells him like he told Adam earlier in Genesis 1:28, to be fruitful and fill the earth, and that he would have dominion over every living thing. This shows the connection between the creation and this God's first step on the path to redeeming humanity. This covenant is unconditional. The promises are unconditional. That means no matter what. God will never destroy the earth by flood.

Jacqui: 4:33

This covenant called for no human response. Instead, it finds its validity purely in God's faithfulness. To signify this covenant, God gave us the beautiful sign of the rainbow. Whenever we see the rainbow, it should be a reminder of God's benevolence and faithfulness, even though we don't deserve it. Just as he orchestrated a path to salvation for Noah and his family, he also paved a route for our redemption through Jesus Christ. Now, as to how long this covenant lasts, well, we can take comfort by that sign of the rainbow that God is faithful to his covenant forever.

Jacqui: 5:22

Before we end our discussion on the Noahic Covenant, I'd like to throw out a Bible Nerd "Word of the Day. Challenge the first person to submit the definition of this word to info at bible-basicsorg will receive a special gift. The Bible Nerd Word of the Day is Antediluvian A-N-T-E-D-I-L-U-V-I-A-N Antediluvian. Do you know what it means? Email me at info at bible-basicsorg. You know we have a special prize for you.

Jacqui: 6:10

The next biblical covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant. We're still in the book of Genesis, but now we're going to look at God's Covenant with Abraham. After God's Covenant with Noah, sin persisted, leading to the Tower of Babel incident. In an attempt to make their name, great people tried to build a tower to reach the heavens. As a result of their disobedience, God confused their languages and scattered them all over the earth. God then chose Abraham and his descendants, offering an unconditional covenant to address sin and establish his kingdom on earth.

Jacqui: 6:55

The Abrahamic Covenant represents a turning point in the book of Genesis. God's promises to Abraham introduce hope, redemption, blessing and reconciliation. Let's explore the promises in this covenant. There are three - land, descendants and blessings. First there was a promise of land. God directed Abram to a new land, Canaan, where his descendants would fully possess generations later, over 470 years later. Then there was a promise of descendants. Abraham would have a huge family, god declared. I will make you a great nation. That also meant the promise of descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky, who would bless the whole earth. God told Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation with mighty kings. We see that in Genesis 17:6. And then the third piece of this covenant is blessings. That promise was that, through Abraham's descendants, blessings would extend worldwide, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jacqui: 8:21

Now, what were the conditions? Well, there weren't any. Like the covenant with Noah, this was an unconditional covenant, no conditions involved. God reaffirmed these promises to Abraham's son Isaac and confirmed them to his grandson Jacob. Despite their sin and shortcomings, God's unconditional promises remained intact. God's faithfulness endured despite the faithlessness of his people.

Jacqui: 8:58

Now let's talk about the sign of this covenant. As we saw with the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant also had a sign that reminded the parties of the promises that were made. In this case, it was circumcision. Abraham, his family and even those men who worked for him were to bear this outward sign as a symbol of their covenantal relationship with God. Now, how long would this covenant be in effect? Forever, this covenant's duration is everlasting. It's evident in God's continuous preservation of Israel, despite periods of disobedience. In conclusion, the Abrahamic Covenant birthed what would become the Nation of Israel and initiated three promises land, descendants and blessings. The promises of offspring to Abraham and blessings find their culmination in Jesus Christ as King and the true Son of Abraham. We see that in Galatians 3: 16. Understanding this covenant is essential to understanding other biblical concepts, such as the promised land, God's chosen people, practices such as circumcision and conflicts with surrounding nations in Canaan.

Jacqui: 10:26

To wrap this up, we discuss God establishing his unconditional covenants with Noah and Abraham. In Genesis 9, we saw that after the flood, god made a covenant with Noah. Through this covenant, we are assured that the world will not experience another destruction by flood and that the seasons will remain consistent. In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham land, descendants and blessings. These first two covenants lay out specific and unconditional promises that God will see through to their fulfillment. In spite of human failure, God's purposes will be fulfilled. These covenants were not solely focused on blessings for Noah and Abraham and their descendants, but rather the entire world was seen as the ultimate beneficiary of these covenants. We are heirs of these promises and we can believe God's promises. As the writers of Hebrews tells us, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Tune into next week's episode where we'll discuss God's covenants with Moses and David. Thank you for tuning in. If this has been beneficial to you, please share it with others, subscribe or follow, and all of you Apple Podcast listeners, drop us a review.