Covenant Series: Abrahamic Covenant

Two chapters after the Noahic Covenant, we are introduced to Abram, the son of Terah (Genesis 11:27-32). Genesis 12:1 immediately leaps into the call of Abram and God’s covenant with him. However to truly understand the covenant, we need to understand what comes right before this covenant. We have to go back to right after the flood waters have subsided.

Noah and his family disembarked, built homes, and cultivated the land. Noah, we are told had a vineyard and got drunk one night then laid uncovered inside his tent. His son, Ham, “uncovered his father’s nakedness.” There are many theories about what this phrase means, and I will most certainly do a post about it at a later time, but the important piece for us to see is that the earth had just been recreated and already sin had penetrated into the chosen family of Noah. First, Noah became drunk. Both the Old and New Testament give many warnings about being and becoming drunk. It is and has always been considered a disgrace because it dishonors the image of God which mankind bears and often times leads to immorality (See Genesis 19 the men of Sodom insist on having sexual relations with Lot’s visitors, and at the end of the chapter, after Sodom’s destruction, Lot’s daughters make their father drunk in order to have sex with him so they can become pregnant). Drunkenness can also be considered an abuse of nature, and what God has made available to mankind for food and drink. All that said, sin was still in existence in creation.

Chapter 10 is often called the “Table of Nations” because it gives an account of all the families and people groups on the earth. Once again, we have an inclusio. Verse 1 begins by identifying that the following verses are records of the descendants of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth after the flood. The last verse of the chapter, verse 32, also states that the above verses were a list of the “families of the sons of Noah…after the flood.” At this point, all peoples in existence are equal.

In Chapter 11 we find out that all people groups actually spoke the same language. The people gathered together to build a city and a tower that would reach into heaven. In the Ancient Near East, “heaven” was considered to be the air or space above the clouds. There was not an understanding of heaven being a place outside of the created world of time and space. Thus, God dwelt in heaven, that is, beyond the clouds, where He was not readily visible to mankind on earth. In building this tower, the people wanted fame, recognition, and a memorial so they would not become divided and scattered across the earth. This tower, which would reach into the heavens, would stand as a monument to mankind and what man was capable of. This was no monument or testament to God, this was a purely self serving attempt to make themselves like or greater than Him. If their tower reached the heavens, then they didn’t need God to get them there. God looked upon their efforts and saw that with the one language and good communication, “nothing will be impossible for them.” So God destroyed civilization once again. Not with a flood, and not by destroying all of nature, but by introducing the chaos of different languages into their midst. The people were then scattered so that their sin would not abound to even greater heights.

Now we come to Abram. Genesis 12 begins immediately with God calling Abram to go to a certain place, away from his father and homeland. 12:2-3 detail God’s promise to Abram, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Here we see God offering to Abram everything the builders of Babel sought: a name; fame; a great nation; and blessing. These things are available to us! But they must come from God at His desire, not our own. Abram and his descendants will be God’s instruments of blessing to all the nations of the earth, which means all the people groups that were scattered at Babel. As God scattered, he will also provide blessing and a way for those people to gather back together. However, at this particular time, there is not a specific gathering place mentioned. That will come later.

There are people who ask, “Why is there so much evil in the world?” Perhaps they should ask, how much more evil would there be had God not been watching out for mankind? If God had not confused the languages and scattered the people, how much more terrible would we be? Not ten generations after the flood, and the people were already building a monument to themselves and had forgotten the God who saved their ancestor Noah and his sons from being utterly destroyed. Furthermore, how much good would there be in the world today if God had not made a covenant with Abram and all his descendants that their obedience and worship would bring blessings to all the people of the world?

The rest of Genesis narrates Abram’s story, and how he became Abraham, was given Isaac as a son, Jacob as a grandson and Jacob’s 12 sons. The covenant is repeated several times with each new generation of Abraham’s family and the height of blessing and the vastness of his descendants and the nation that will come from him is expanded upon. God is, through repetition, showing us that His word is good and true and He is prepared to uphold his end of the Covenant. In Luke 19:1-9 Jesus encountered Zacchaeus, a tax collector (read: traitorous scum who collected taxes from the Jews for their Roman overlords). When Zacchaeus repented of his thieving ways and promised to do right by those he has cheated, Jesus told him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” What Jesus was doing was connecting Zacchaeus to the Abrahamic Covenant. He was going to go and be a blessing to others through his obedience to God. In Romans 4, Paul wrote, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” Those who have the faith of Abraham, who believe in God’s promise of salvation through his son, Jesus Christ, are part of Abraham’s family, and have a part in the Abrahamic Covenant. Your faith in Jesus Christ has made you a part of a great nation and has enabled you to be a blessing to others through your obedience to the will of God. This is how the rest of the world should know we are followers of Christ: because we love our fellow countrymen and believers and bring the blessings of God to others.

Covenant Series: Noahic Covenant

The Noahic is the first covenant in this series that is more widely known. There’s a flood and then the waters dry up and God promises never to flood the earth again and the sign of this covenant is a rainbow. Most often this covenant is told as though it is a nice children’s story with a happy ending. Allow me to paint a different picture for you.

Starting in Genesis 6:5 the author points out that the effects of the fall have multiplied. “Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”  In Genesis 6:11 it says that “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” Translation? The sin nature of man had completely consumed them, so that everything they did was purely evil. Yikes. The passage goes onto say that God regretted making man, and that His solution for this problem was to start over again with Noah, who was righteous and blameless.

Scripture tells us that things had gotten so bad, that in order to even preserve creation God had to do something drastic: he had to destroy mankind and the current creation for it was so tainted with evil. This is where we once again have to remember who God is: holy, righteous, does not do evil, creator, powerful, etc. Destroying all the people on the earth and sparing Noah and two of each animal was certainly far less extreme than say, causing the earth to just explode and moving onto another solar system. What many people miss in this story is that God is consistent. Humans would have moved on after the fall and started a new project. God chose to work through it. Like it or not, the Flood is part of God’s redemption plan.

So, after commissioning Noah to build a vessel to house himself, his wife, his sons and his son’s wives, the animals came, were loaded up and it began to rain. Forty days and forty nights later, the rains stopped and the ark continued to float for another one hundred and fifty days. Finally, the waters had receded enough for the ark to rest on the top of mountains, but not enough to disembark. About five or six months later, Noah, his family and all the animals could finally leave the ark and restart life on the earth. Now, notice what Noah does, he builds an altar and makes a sacrifice to the Lord. He thanks God for sparing him, and for not completely destroying the earth.

Now we come to the covenant. Genesis 8:21-22 begins the introduction to the covenant: “I will never again curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Let’s take this apart bit by bit. First, “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans” reminds us of the Adamic Covenant where God curses the ground because of Adam (Genesis 3:17). What does this have to do with Noah? The fall of man wasn’t just the fall of mankind, it was the fall of creation. All creation is tainted with the effects of sin. Paul says in Romans 8:22 that “all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Creation too groans under the weight of sin. This is why God didn’t just wipe out mankind, he destroyed every living thing on the earth so that when the waters subsided anything that grew would be new and fresh. Second, “even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” shows that God knows how badly sin has affected mankind. Just because Noah is righteous, it doesn’t mean things will not get bad again. God is acknowledging that because mankind is sinful, they will always struggle to do what is right and holy, and will always struggle to acknowledge their creator. Third, when God says: “And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease,” he is stating that going forward there is a new plan, a new solution to redeem mankind and creation and bring them back into right relationship with Him.

Genesis 9:1-7 continue the covenant and specify certain terms. Verses one and seven form what is called an inclusio: a phrase that brackets a certain body of text. This literary style was widely used in Scripture to show the beginning and the end of a certain thought or body of text. Both these verses contain the command to “be fruitful and increase in number.” Sound familiar? This phrase points back to the Edenic Covenant where Adam and Even were also told to be fruitful and increase in number. Similarly, verse two continues the Edenic themes and states that man will again have dominion over all the creatures on the earth, in the sky, and in the sea. In verse three, we get something new though, “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” This means that prior to the flood mankind was, for the most part, vegetarians. However this notion seems to beg the question of whether all humans in existence were vegetarians, or just the righteous ones who were concerned with pleasing God. It could be that one of the reasons God determined to destroy all of creation was that men were killing and eating animals when they shouldn’t have been; thus creation itself was in danger of being destroyed by humans. This is not to say that God has had a change of mind, but rather than he is expanding what is available to mankind. When Adam and Eve were first created, the task of understanding what to eat and how to eat it was probably overwhelming enough. To understand how to eat meat was probably to be added later. I believe that God created mankind to eat meat, but not right away. Here we see God revealing more of how man is to dominate over creation, and what is available for food.  Verses four through six, however, serve as a stout warning about this new food source. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” This warning is meant to tell Noah and his family to be responsible for the food they eat. Mass killings of any animal are unacceptable if that animal is not killed to be consumed. Eating raw meat is equally unacceptable, most likely for health reasons. Furthermore, this is a call for Noah and his family to live righteously and to value mankind because of how they were created. The image of God sets mankind apart from any other created creature. It reminds us that we were created for a divine being that ultimately has a purpose for our lives.

Genesis 9:8-17 detail the spoken covenant between God and Noah and his family. Verse 9 should be noted, “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…” This is a lasting covenant. It has no end. God has been faithful to this covenant since it was established and the earth has not been destroyed despite the evil intentions of mankind and their disobedience. Verse ten adds to this though. The covenant is established with every living creature that was in the ark with Noah and his family. The Noahic Covenant builds upon the Edenic and Adamic in that God is not just defining his new relationship with mankind, but with all creation. All creation will be preserved and not destroyed by a flood again. The rainbow will serve as a reminder to both God and man of this covenant.

In conclusion, the Noahic Covenant is the first covenant after the fall of man that sets into motion God’s redemptive plan. God knows mankind will always be bent towards evil, but will tolerate this because of His ultimate plan to redeem creation. This covenant echoes the two previous covenants and points the way forward for man to live with his neighbor and value his neighbor’s life. From this point forward, God begins to get more and more specific with each covenant as to how mankind is to live in right relationship with each other and with God Himself.

Covenant Series: Adamic Covenant

The Adamic Covenant is probably the most unfortunate one of all. In Genesis 3:14-24, God cursed the earth, the snake and the labor of women for Adam and Eve’s disobedience. In this covenant there is the understanding that mankind will continue to sin, and therefore God will make their existence toilsome. It seems strange to include this as a covenant, when really it is the consequences of breaking the Edenic Covenant, but ultimately it is a promise from God regarding his relationship between himself and human kind.

Genesis 3:14-15 details the curse of the snake: he will always be the most cursed creature of all creation; he will always be the enemy of mankind, and ultimately man will always dominate the snake because the snake will merely bruise man’s heel, but man will bruise or crush the snake’s head. Genesis 3:16 details the curse upon the labor of woman. Note that the curse is not against Eve as it is against the snake; it is against the things that were supposed to be a blessing to her in the previous covenant. In the Edenic Covenant God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, to have children, to raise them and teach them God’s ways and how to care for His creation. Now, the woman will struggle with this commandment because it will be painful to have children and raise them. Furthermore, in Genesis 2:18 states that Eve was created to be a “suitable helper”. The Hebrew text however describes this helper as an “ezer kenegdo”. Ezer literally means “helper”, but kenegdo means “alongside” or “corresponding to”. The idea here is that Adam was given, not a subordinate, but an equal to help him in his task of ruling over creation. Now in Genesis 3:16, we see this initial status of Eve reversed. Her husband will rule over her, and she will let him.

Finally, in Genesis 3:17-19, the ground is cursed. Whereas the Garden of Eden produced fruit and food miraculously and everything worked as it should, now the food for the man will be brought forth only with much effort. Man will toil to cultivate and plant, and rather than everything working as planned, thorns and thistles will grow. Therefore, even the harvest will be hard. Life will be hard, toilsome, and exhausting from this point forward until death. The issue here is not that mankind will have to work, but that the work will be hard and any progress made will not last.

I am sure that not many will argue that this covenant is no longer in existence. In fact, if you were paying attention to my grammar, you will note that everything above was written in the present and future tenses. This covenant and its consequences are still in effect! Snakes are held by most to be vile and generally evil (note I said most. I know several people who own snakes as pets and coo over them as I would a kitten). Childbirth is usually exceptionally painful, and the battle for equal standing for women as compared to men is hardly won. Work is good for the mind, body, and soul, but toilsome work means that we are not building off previous work but constantly working to restore it. As a gardener, I don’t just pull weeds once and then wait till harvest. I must constantly tend my vegetable’s growth and pull all weeds that come up all season long. Furthermore, as I write about this part of the Adamic Covenant, I think of the terrific storm we had last week. It began with rain and then around 11pm turned to hail and hailed for several hours. I didn’t sleep well, not just because of the noise, but because I was thinking of my garden. Most the vegetables planted were started from seed months ago and the hail storm did some major damage to that work and effort. However, perhaps the most disappointing thing was to go outside and begin picking up the broken leaves and branches only to discover that several weeds popping up under the lettuce survived unscathed, and that annoying little thorn plant that insists on growing by my sweet peas looked perfectly fine, while all the other vegetables and plants looked pitiful.

Adam and Eve’s sin has not merely affected themselves, but all of creation too. Therefore as the other covenants begin to point towards redemption for human kind, they are also pointing towards redemption for all of creation, and not just humans. From this point forward, each and every covenant works to mend the break in the human-divine relationship and restore creation to what it was originally intended to be. Does this mean that there won’t be any weeds in heaven? No, this means that weeds will be in their proper place, and not in the divine vegetable gardens.

Covenant Series: Introduction to Covenants and the Edenic Covenant

Understanding the covenants made in the Old Testament is so important for understanding the New Covenant that is described in Jeremiah and initiated in the New Testament with the birth of Jesus. Most Christians can name the big 4: Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New. But did you know that there were three other covenants prior to the Abrahamic? This series will introduce and explain the covenants and how the New Covenant builds off of each of them. My hope is that at the end of this series of posts you will have a deeper understanding of what it means to be called heirs with Christ and to live a righteous life to the glory of God our Father.

First off, a covenant is an agreement between two parties that mutually binds them to certain actions on each other’s behalf. In the Old Testament it was always an agreement between God and man. God promised blessings upon man or mankind if they upheld their obligations to God of obedience and righteous living. It is important to realize that the covenants of the Old Testament were permanent covenants and were binding on successive generations. If the person or people group the covenant was with failed to uphold their end of the bargain, they then would justly received the penalty of divine retribution.

Therefore, there is no covenant that has been discarded or done away with. All are still in existence and each successive covenant has built upon the others and introduced new dimensions. However, some covenants have been completely fulfilled. This will be explained in more detail under those covenants, but it is important to note that just because a covenant is fulfilled, it doesn’t mean it disappears or is no longer relevant.

The Edenic Covenant is described in Genesis 1 and 2. After creating all of creation, the animals, plants, stars, universe, etc, God creates man on the sixth day. The purpose of creating man is so that he can tend to God’s creation. In Genesis 1:28-29 God says, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth…Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Thus the Edenic Covenant is founded on the principle that Adam and Eve were to care for creation and have children so that the goodness inherent in God’s creation would be perpetuated. Genesis 2:16-17 expands on what was previously said about every plant and fruit being available for the man to eat: they are not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for if they do, they will die. Therefore, as long as Adam and Eve tended the garden and its creatures and kept themselves from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would live well and live in the garden.

The Edenic Covenant is echoed in the New Covenant as Paul writes to the Romans, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship…The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-17).” Under the New Covenant, the Edenic Covenant is fulfilled in that we will once again rule over creation with Christ if we remain obedient to God’s will for our lives. 

For Adam and Eve, obedience meant having children and ruling over creation. This is not to say that all people are to be married, have children, own farms or extensive portions of land to care for, and be literal tree huggers. God’s will for each person’s life is different. But this should not be used as an excuse for not searching out God’s will for our lives and caring for creation and others. In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus states that caring for the sick, the hungry, the strangers and those in prison is part of caring for creation and all those in it. James argues that true religion is caring for widows and orphans and keeping oneself pure. We are all created beings, and as such we need to be looking out for and caring for one another. Christ calls us to live selflessly in his world, and we should be trying to do just that.

Forgive, and forgive again, and again and again...

I’ve been thinking about Joseph lately. Not Joseph, the father of Jesus, but Joseph with the multi-colored tunic. Actually, I am also thinking of Joseph’s brothers too. The reason I am contemplating this interesting family is because I am thinking through forgiveness. Life gets messy, and those who are supposed to be closest to you can turn on you. Parents, siblings, in-laws and even friends will use and abuse you. The will say things that cut you to your core and will humiliate you in front of others. They will do these things feeling they are acting righteously and have no need to apologize or seek forgiveness for their words and actions. Yet we are commanded to love each other and honor each other in the midst of all this.

Don’t get me wrong, Joseph had his problems. When I read through Genesis 37, I get the picture of a spoiled tattle tale that lives a somewhat cushy life in comparison to his brothers. No, Joseph was not perfect. His brothers sold him into slavery and he ended up in Egypt. Decades later he met his brothers face to face once again. After playing a mean little trick on them he revealed himself to them and sais that he had forgiven them and the evil that they did to him for he now understood that God used the brothers and himself to provide for His chosen family group.

When parents, siblings, in laws, friends should stand by you and don’t, what do we do? A lot of times it festers. The disrespect, the humiliation, the injustice and the meanness of the actions of those who claim to love make us angry and bitter. And that anger and bitterness sits alone for a while and ferments into something dangerous unless we learn the art of forgiveness. Forgiveness is giving those people over to God and asking Him to deal with His children because we cannot change them. Forgiveness releases us from the past and makes us able to walk into the future. Forgiveness gives us the ability to be free from the damning opinions and judgments of others so we can live the life and do the things God is calling us to do. Forgiveness usually takes time.

Joseph was sold when he was 17 years old. When he was 30 he interpreted the Pharaoh’s dream about the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine. When he met his brothers again the famine had been going for two years, so he was close to 40 years old. Needless to say, he had had a bit of time to figure out what to do with them if they ever met again. His little stunt of holding Simeon hostage until Benjamin was brought, and then putting the cup in Benjamin's sack shouldn’t surprise us. What should surprise us is that he told them not to be grieved or angry because of their past actions (Genesis 45). He was not holding them against them because he had seen God’s greater plan in having him in Egypt. When did this all become clear to Joseph? I have to say it probably wasn’t until he met his brothers as they tried to buy grain to live that the truth of his situation dawned on him.

The reality of forgiveness though, is that those who hurt us may never be confronted with their actions until Judgment Day. They may not apologize or ever feel that they have done anything wrong and Christ says we have to be ok with that. Dwelling on the actions of others will only drive us into deeper despair. Focusing on the love that God has for each person will help us to learn to forgive them and to refocus on His will for our lives and the lives of others. We may have to forgive them on a daily basis for years so that we can learn to be free. In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus answers Peter’s question about forgiveness with a parable. The moral of the story? Forgive others as much as is needed. Failing to do so will only torment and harm ourselves rather than those who have hurt us.

Forgiveness is not for the weak. It is for the strong. Forgiveness is hard, and therefore only the spiritually strong can handle it, especially when there may never be acknowledgement of wrong from the offending party. Humbling ourselves and depending on the strength of Christ to forgive others is how we grow and become more Christ-like. For Christ himself forgave his tormenters before he died, and he calls us to do likewise.