New Covenant
Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God
said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you
and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was
with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came
out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my
covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a
flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God
said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and
every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I
have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and the earth.14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the
rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and
you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become
a flood to destroy all life.16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I
will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living
creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the
sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
What is a “Covenant”? An agreement between God and Man.
There are seven covenants described in the Bible.
1. Adamic
Covenant (Genesis 1:26-30, 2:16-17) This covenant is general in
nature. It included the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, pronounced a curse for sin, and spoke of a future provision for
man's redemption (Genesis 3:15).
2. Noahic
Covenant (Genesis 9:11) This general covenant was made between God
and Noah following the departure of Noah, his family, and the animals from the
ark. This covenant included a sign of God's faithfulness to keep it—the
rainbow.
3.
Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3) This unconditional covenant was made
to Abraham and promised God's blessing upon Abraham to make his name great and
to make his descendants into a great nation. The covenant also promised
blessing those who blessed Abraham and cursing those who cursed him. Further,
God vowed to bless the entire world through Abraham's seed. This blessing came
through Jesus Christ, who was of Abraham's family line.
4.
Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:1-10) This unconditional covenant
was God's promise to scatter Israel if they disobeyed God, then to restore them
at a later time to their land. This covenant has been fulfilled twice, with the
Babylonian Captivity and subsequent rebuilding of Jerusalem under Cyrus the
Great; and with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, followed by the
reinstatement of the nation of Israel in 1948.
5. Mosaic
Covenant (Deuteronomy 11) This conditional covenant promised the
Israelites a blessing for obedience and a curse for disobedience. Much of the
Old Testament chronicles the fulfillment of this cycle of judgment for sin and
later blessing when God's people repented and returned to God.
6. Davidic
Covenant (2 Samuel 7:8-16) This unconditional covenant promised to
bless David's family line and assured an everlasting kingdom. Jesus is from the
family line of David (Luke 1:32-33) and, as the Son of David (Mark 10:47), is
the fulfillment of this covenant.
7. New
Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) This covenant promised that God would
forgive sin and have a close, unbroken relationship with His people. The
promise was made to everyone who comes to Jesus Christ in faith (Matthew 26:28).
Under the New Covenant, which Jesus sealed with His own blood, everyone is
offered salvation by grace through faith. "And it shall come to pass that
everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21).
“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are
called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:15).
VERY IMPORTANT: We need to become very familiar with
the conditions of the “New Covenant”
that are explained
in Hebrews 8:7-13 and we should be
prepared to sign on the dotted line.
God promises to:
·
I will put my laws into your mind and write them on
your heart.
·
I will be your God and you will be my child and you
will know me.
·
I will be merciful toward your iniquities.
·
I will remember your sins no more.
I accept the terms of this agreement and I agree to:
Accept
the gift of faith to believe, trust and love my God with all my heart, soul and
mind and my neighbor as myself. I
believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and I trust in Jesus as my Redeemer,
Lord and King.
I agree to always pray, always give thanks and always be joyful.
This is the will of God the Father for me.
I agree to sign my name with Jesus Christ as my advocate.