The Noahic Covenant

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THE UNCONDITIONAL COVENANTS

Remembering that an unconditional covenant is a unilateral covenant and is a sovereign act of God. We move forward with the second of the six unconditional covenants of the Bible. It is the covenant God made with Israel through Noah.

THE NOAHIC COVENANT

Scripture Reference:

Genesis 9:1-17

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.” 8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.

11 I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

WHO WERE THE PARTICIPANTS? 

This covenant was made between God and Noah. Like Adam, Noah stood as the representative for the entire human race. As a result of the flood, not only is all humanity descended from Adam, but also from Noah.

WHAT WERE THE PROVISIONS OF THE COVENANT?

First: man was to repopulate the earth (vv. 1, 7). With the exception of eight people, the human race was destroyed by the Flood. Man had vastly increased in numbers, but the wickedness of man was great in the earth (Gen. 6:5). Thus, God brought universal judgment upon the earth. After the Flood, the earth was essentially empty again.  Only eight people remained to re-populate the entire earth. Just as with the Edenic Covenant, man was again commissioned to repopulate the earth, but the command to subdue the earth is not repeated.  With man's fall, he lost his authority and Satan usurped it. Thus, Satan is the prince of this world (Jn. 12:31) and the god of this world (II Cor. 4:4). Satan has authority over all the kingdoms of this world and can offer them to whomsoever he will (Lk. 4:6). He made that offer to the Seed of the woman, Yeshua (Jesus), who turned it down. He will offer it someday to the seed of Satan, the Antichrist, who will accept it (Rev. 13:1-3).

Second: the fear of man was put into animals and man was to dominate them (v. 2). While man had lost authority over the earth, he was still to dominate and have authority over the animal kingdom. For this reason, the fear of man was placed in animals. This fear was a means of self-preservation due to the next provision.

Third: man's diet was to consist of both every moving thing and the green herb (v. 3). Previously, his diet had been vegetarian, but now all animals were included. No limitations whatsoever are given in the passage, thus all animals were fit for food.

Fourth: man was forbidden to eat blood (v. 4). All creature life, both man and animal, is blood sustained. Blood is the symbol of life, and the shedding of blood is the symbol of death. Because blood is the symbol of life, God commanded that it not be eaten or drunk.

Fifth: capital punishment became a part of the human economy for the first time in (vv. 5-6). When Cain killed Abel, Cain was not executed because capital punishment had not yet been instituted. The provision for capital punishment came with the Noahic Covenant and all murderers were to be executed.

Sixth: the promise of the covenant is that humanity would never again be destroyed by a worldwide flood (vv. 8-ll). While there would be local floods that would destroy portions of humanity, never again would there be a worldwide flood. In the future, there will be a passing away and destruction of earth's present system, but it will not be by means of a universal flood. This shows that the Noahic Flood was universal, not local.

Seventh: the token of the covenant was the rainbow (vv. 12-17). Not every covenant came with a sign or token, but this one did. This was the first time in human history that the rainbow ever appeared. Rain did not exist prior to the flood and the earth was watered by a mist that came daily upon the vegetation. Rainbows come in conjunction with rain. For the first time in human experience the rainbow appeared, and God's promise that humanity will not be destroyed by a flood again should be remembered every time a rainbow is seen.

The Status of the Covenant

The Noahic Covenant became the basis for the Dispensation of Human Government. Although this dispensation has been superseded, the unconditional Noahic Covenant is still very much in effect. The judgments of the Tribulation against the Gentiles will come because of violations of the Noahic Covenant. According to Isaiah 24:5-6, the judgment comes because humanity has violated the everlasting covenant, a name given to the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9:16. For that reason, the prophet used the Noahic Flood motif, the windows on high and foundations of the earth in Isaiah 24:18. But next time, God will destroy the masses of humanity by fire.

I must add:

Jesus told His Disciples in Matthew 24:37-39, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

When we think of the days of Noah, we primarily focus in on a lack of morality, sexual sin, and general rebellion against God. But there was something else going on in Noah’s day. If God were to cleanse the earth for those things alone, we are most surely overdue.

With all my heart, I believe that God gives to each generation of man the things man needs to understand for his day.  Which is also why I so strongly believe that we are that generation that will see the Lord return. Daniel’s book is open! We live in the only time in history when people can truly understand the mysteries that believers throughout history longed to understand.

To understand Noah’s day in its complete context requires a thorough study of Genesis 6.  Genesis 6:9 says of Noah, Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. As we can see from the early verses of Genesis 6, an evil alliance between rebellious angels and the daughters of man had occurred on the earth that created a hybrid “man” – half angelic, half human. The offspring were known as Nephilim. They were giants, and they were wicked! Being half angelic, they were also immortal to a degree.  But because they were also half human, they became disembodied spirits that we call demons today.

But the battle from the foundations of the earth between God and the enemy of God who sought to replace Him continues to this day.  David Guzik says of Noah, “This description of Noah - unique to him - not only refers to the righteous life of Noah, but also to the fact he was yet uncorrupted by Satan’s attempt to sow a “virus” among the genetic pool of mankind. We could translate “perfect in his generations” as, “Noah was pure in his genetic profile.”

Even though the flood came, not all the seed of this unholy alliance was destroyed. Perhaps it continued through the wives of Noah’s sons. Or maybe Noah’s wife. We don’t know. We do know that we see it later in Nimrod and in the tribes of Canaan.  We see the seed of unrighteousness in Goliath and Og of Bashar. Maybe we are even beginning to see a resurgence in our time.

But be not dismayed.  God is sovereign, and all is secure within His hands. Alas that story is for another day.  Soon.

When we get together next time, we are going to be taking a look at Father God’s incredible covenant with Abraham. I sure hope you’ll join me!