God's Covenants in Genesis

 Genesis and Covenants

Genesis is the beginning.  We don’t know how long a day was in the beginning.  The sun and moon were not there in the beginning.  We can argue that the beginning of our world and existence began 6,000 years ago—actually 6,067 years ago—or we can say it was 50 billion or trillion years ago.

Where did I get that 6067 years ago number?  When I was born, people were already arguing that it was 6,000 years ago, so you add my last 67 years and there you go.

Maybe it was a bazillion years ago.  That’s not why we have Genesis.  Genesis is among other things a faith statement.  The chief statement of our faith is that God created.

No accidents.

No mysterious something from nothing. Nothingness can’t create.  God can and God did.

We have talked about what else came with Genesis but for the moment, let’s look at the 2 covenants that we find in Genesis.

The first is the covenant that God made with Noah.  If you need to sound official, you can call it the Noahic Covenant.   We know that God promised to never destroy the world again by water.  He put a rainbow in the sky to remind both himself and us of this promise.

That’s cool.  The covenant is about a rainbow? Not exactly.

The covenant followed the judgment of the entire world.  Sin had entered the world. Sin was running rampant in the world. God judged the world.  All but 8 were condemned to a death sentence.

Those 8 spent a year on an ark—a big ship.  It sustained them and the creatures of the earth that God told Noah to take with him.

Only these 8 people out of all of humanity survived. Do you know what else survived?

Sin survived.  Every human on the planet had been tainted by sin, even the remnant of 8. Sin survived the flood.

God promised Noah and all of us who came into this world after him, that he would not condemn and destroy the world in this way again.

Think about it.  Sin reached such a point where its stench reached heaven and God condemned those upon the earth.

Sin survived.  You might think that such a cleansing would be required every few hundred years. Every few centuries, the world would need a detox.

But God said, no.  He would not do this again.  There is a judgment coming. We all will answer to God. Those of us washed in the blood of Christ Jesus will not be condemned for our sins, but judgment is still coming.

A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties.  God’s covenants only require his approval.  There is no one who is his contemporary and qualified to sign the agreement. God may require a sacrifice or some act in the process of putting the covenant in place, but if God says this is my covenant with you, then it is what it is and that’s that.

It’s not negotiable.

That’s the first covenant.

The second comes through Abraham.  For much of the story, we know him as Abram.  Through Abraham, God will restore the relationship with humankind.  It doesn’t all happen at once, but the process begins in Genesis.

God works through Abraham and his descendants.  In this covenant, he sets Abraham and his descendants apart from the rest of the world.  He does this with a sign in the flesh, a land promised to Abraham’s descendants, the law that would come through Moses,  and a seed—a descendant—that one day would make the one and only sacrifice that could atone for the sins of humankind for all eternity.

Directives that we often refer to as the law would come to these descendants though the law is not mentioned in the covenant.  It does shape what we will come to know as God’s Chosen People.

The story of Abraham begins near the end of chapter 11 and continues with his descendants through the end of Genesis.  The covenant is affirmed with Isaac and Jacob.  It is the sons of Jacob through which this chosen people will begin to take shape.

It will take shape in Egypt, not in the Promised Land. There are 3 more main covenants to come.

The Mosaic Covenant is the first that is mainly conditional.  God said if his people obeyed God’s commands, he would bless them.

The Davidic Covenant promised one whose reign would not end.  That descendant of David is Christ.

The New Covenant was poured out in the blood of Jesus.  It is atonement between God and humankind. It completely restores the relationship.

So, why are covenants important?

If you want to trade with a country or end a war with another nation, you make a treaty.

If you want to hire someone to do some work and can agree upon the scope and price, you make a contract.

If someone lives within your sovereignty and violates your rules, you give them a warning or a sanction or a punishment.

If you encounter an unknown army, you conduct reconnaissance and prepare for battle or negotiation.

If you desire a relationship without end, you make a covenant.

If you value the relationship so much that you would give your life for it, you make a covenant.

If the relationship should be unbreakable, you make a covenant.

We consider marriage to be a covenant relationship. It’s our most intimate relationship with other humans, and it fails half of the time.

God’s covenants stand the test of time. We may fall short but God is faithful.

God’s covenants take humankind on a journey from brokenness to restoration and redemption.  We see 2 of those covenants in Genesis.

Is there a common thread among these covenants? Absolutely!

Love and mercy are common to each covenant. They take us to reconciliation, restoration, and redemption.

Anything else? Yes, sin.

God’s covenants come to us despite the grip that sin has on humankind.  Think to while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God’s love, mercy, and grace rescue us from sin and death.

Genesis is the prologue to a much bigger story, but it is in Genesis where we see God’s commitment to love us in spite of ourselves.

In his covenants, God says, I’m not letting go of you. You matter to me.

God loves you. His faithfulness continues to all generations. Believe in his promises.  His word never fails.

Amen.