Noah: God’s Covenant with Mankind

Genesis 9:1-16

GOLDEN TEXT: “I will remember My covenant.”—Genesis 9:15

A COVENANT is a definite, binding agreement. Some of God’s covenants are conditional, as for instance, the Law Covenant, which begins with the statement, “If ye obey My laws and keep My statutes,” etc., I will do thus and so for you. The Covenant of the Law, while it brought to Israel “much advantage every way, chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1,2), was, nevertheless, a conditional covenant. Since Israel did not and could not keep its part of that covenant, therefore, the divine promises attached to it and made conditional upon obedience, passed away so far as the people of Israel were concerned.

All of the Law’s demands were met by our Lord Jesus, and to Him and Him alone passed all the divine promises under that covenant. The Lord, however, has made unconditional covenants with mankind: the one most frequently mentioned being the covenant with Abraham, which reads, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3; 22:17,18) Evidently there was no necessity for putting conditions or limitations upon this covenant. It represented God’s benevolent purpose toward our race. He knew that His only begotten Son, for the joy set before Him, would be glad to become man’s Redeemer; and also that in the time appointed for it. He could find among mankind a sufficient number who would appreciate the privilege of fellowship and joint-heirship with their Redeemer, and gladly endure the tests, and thus acquire the character necessary to accomplish this work of blessing which He had purposed in Himself.

Among other unconditional covenants mentioned in the Scriptures is the one made with Israel’s king, David—that his throne would be established forever, that of his offspring He would raise up a great ruler to sit on his throne forever. God could make this covenant without any limitations whatever, because He had arranged that Jesus, according to the flesh, should be born of the house or lineage of David, and that His throne should be forever. In fact, the name David means “Beloved.” Christ is God’s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased, and to whom, therefore. He has appointed the honor, dignity and authority of the Kingdom which is to bless all the families of the earth, according to the promise made to Abraham.

Still another of these unconditional covenants is the subject of today’s study. It was made with mankind through their representative, Noah, after the flood. As representative of the race, God covenanted with Noah that He would never again destroy the world with a flood of water. This promise was wholly unconditional—it did not stipulate that no flood would come if Noah and his posterity would be faithful to the Lord, etc.

The pledge of this covenant was the rainbow. According to scientific thought, supported by geological discoveries, the earth prior to the creation of man was surrounded by a canopy of moisture driven off from the surface of the earth during the period of earth’s development when it was extremely hot. As the earth in these prehistoric times gradually cooled, this canopy of moisture, containing also minerals reduced to gaseous form, came down in successive “floods.” The last one was of pure water, all the heavier substances having been precipitated to the earth as the earlier “rings” came down.

This is the reasonable explanation of the deluge in Noah’s day. Before that the earth’s temperature was similar to a hothouse—the heat evenly distributed, so that vegetation and animal life flourished at the poles the same as at the equator. This is confirmed by the discovery in recent years of great animals frozen into solid ice in the polar regions, with grass in their mouth and stomach.

The Genesis account states that prior to the deluge there was no rain, but moisture was supplied for the abundant vegetation by a mist that rose from the ground: The light of the sun was also softened and partly obscured by the watery vapor composing this last “ring” that came down in Noah’s day. In this we see the scientific explanation for the statement of the great Creator of nature and all of nature’s laws, that the rainbow would be a constant pledge to earth’s inhabitants that God would not again destroy mankind by a flood of water.

The rainbow is the separation of the light of the sun into its primary colors and results from the passing of the light of the sun through the rain drops, which act as a prism, it was possible for the rainbow to appear only after the last of the rings of moisture had been precipitated upon the earth, so that the clear light of the sun could reach the earth.

The following is quoted from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume VI, page 28, to which the reader is referred for a full discussion of the Days of Creation and the explanation of the flood referred to foregoing:

“Knowing the end from the beginning, Jehovah so timed the introduction of man upon the earth that the last of the rings came down in a deluge just at the proper time to destroy the corrupted race in Noah’s day, and thus to introduce the present dispensation, known in the Scriptures as ‘this present evil world.’ (Gal. 1:4) The removal of the watery canopy not only gave changing seasons of summer and winter, and opened the way for violent storms, but it also made possible the rainbow.—Gen. 9:12-17.”

QUESTIONS:

What is the difference between a conditional and an unconditional covenant? Give Scriptural examples.

What was the nature of the covenant which God made with Noah?

Explain the scientific reason why the rainbow constituted a guarantee that there would never again be a world-destroying flood of waters.

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