God repeatedly said “never again will I cause life to be cut off by flood.” It was as if God had “repented” or changed his mind. The sign of the rainbow was God’s way of showing people that God’s promise was for real. God said that the rainbow was even a reminder to God’s own self of this covenant not to kill through flood. This is the first time we see God making a specific covenant with people (and even the animals!). God is a God of covenant and throughout the Bible we see God entering into covenant with is people. A covenant is a promise that God would keep with is people. We find the word “covenant” in 1 Corinthians 11:25 where Paul writes, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood….” Here, we find the words of institution of the Lord’s Supper using the covenantal language. The body and shed blood of Jesus are the promise for our forgiveness, healing, and eternity. A new covenant by the God that is the same yesterday, today, and forever, yet who said, “Never again.” Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
God Changed His Mind?
As you know, I am working my way through the bible for the first time. This particular part of Genesis gave me pause when I was reading it. God seems to have shown regret for the flood. Regret implies a lot of things about God that I did not expect. I am also interested in the idea of the covenant. How many covenants were there? I know of the two you speak of. Were there more?
Covenants
Good question to ask. I will work up some information and share in the next day. For now, we are under the new covenant in Jesus Christ as we are saved through faith by grace not through our works -- Ephesians 2:8-9. One other consistent piece to know about covenant is that it's a promise by God to do something. There are a number of times in scripture this occurred which is where I will follow up. Thanks for this great question and I look forward to talking more after Sunday. Blessings, BobThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always, Pastor Bob
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