Episode 6 – Introducing the Covenant of Grace

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script:

When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights. For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks. All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.

The Book of Genesis, chapter 7, verses 11 through 12 and 17 through 20

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.”

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 verses 37 through 39

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VK: I’m Victoria K and today on Anchored by Truth we are starting a new study series brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, the Founder Crystal Sea Books..

VK: I had never focused on that verse before, but it does help us all frame how we could approach the scriptures. We can all be listeners, students, and encouragers and sustainers even though only some are really qualified to be teachers. Neat. So how about if we move on to our discussion topic for today. What are you thinking to kick us off?

RD: Well, listeners familiar with the Bible have already recognized by the opening scriptures that we are going to take a look at the story of Noah, but we are going to do so for a slightly different reason than you may expect. To get us going let’s start by enjoying the first lesson on Noah and the ark from one of Crystal Sea’s humor series we call Life Lessons with a Laugh.

---- NOAH 1 – Applied Wisdom – 2 by 2

VK: Obviously you and Jerry have a good time together and Noah and the ark is one of the best known stories from the Bible. So what were some of the ideas that were running through your head when you produced that lesson?

RD: Well, I spent 30 years in contract work, usually for a government entity, so I approach reading the Bible in roughly the same way I approached reading a contract or a set of procurement specifications. When I would read a contract I would always try to keep 3 things in mind: internal consistency, the unity of the document, and the purpose the contract served. Interestingly enough, the entire Bible is a series of contracts – or more properly covenants - including one called the Noahic covenant which is one part of God’s larger covenant of grace which is still unfolding even today.

Remember that in our very first episode of Anchored by Truth we mentioned that one of the themes that we want to emphasize on our shows is the grand saga of history – creation, fall, and redemption. The covenant of grace was what God inaugurated immediately after the fall to begin the process of redemption. Grace is unmerited favor – that is grace is the mercy that is bestowed on undeserving recipients. Grace is God’s sovereign election to redeem to His creation and His people notwithstanding there is nothing that His people can do to “earn” it. As the Bible says if a benefit is earned then the benefit is wages or compensation, not grace. But redemption must come from grace because an offense against an infinite being carries with it infinite consequences. There’s no way a finite being, man, can meet that burden so keep His people from being lost eternally God initiated a Covenant of Grace that could both satisfy His perfect justice while exhibiting His perfect love and mercy. We’ll talk at greater length about this in a future series of shows.

VK: I imagine people have heard the word “covenant” but many may not be familiar with its specific meaning..

RD: I like how the New Geneva Study Bible describes a covenant. It has a theological note on “God’s Covenant of Grace” which describes covenants in scripture as “solemn agreements, negotiated or unilaterally imposed, that bind the parties to each other in permanent defined relationships, with specific promises, claims, and obligations.”

Said a little differently, covenants are similar to contracts, but there is an important distinction. Biblical covenants are contracts that have a sacred dimension. And as the Study Bible notes “When God makes a covenant with His creatures He alone establishes the terms.” But in other ways God’s covenants are the same are same as the best earthly contracts. They are consistent, unified, and always directed toward an important purpose. In fact Biblical covenants are made for purposes of eternal significance. So one of the thoughts, or hopes, that’s behind today’s skit is to suggest that people take a second look at the story of Noah and spend some time with the details of the story. There’s so much there besides just a woodworker, a boat, and a cargo of critters. The Noahic covenant is one of the earliest and most important covenants in the Bible.

VK: So the lesson we heard today and the others in this series are designed to entice readers to go back and study the story of Noah because Noah wasn’t just a great boat builder and zookeeper. He was also important to the overall story of redemption?

RD: Exactly, or to quote from the lesson, Exactamundo. Noah’s story is an important part of the covenant of grace as well as being a great illustration of God’s grace. It’s also a great story to begin to examine how the Bible fits in with the broader culture that is present today. And it’s an example of how the books and stories of the Bible all fit together in one perfect story, even though the individual books were written over a span of 1,500 years.

In an odd way, Noah’s story is so simple that even children can learn valuable lessons from it, but so profound that we could spend hours and hours talking about its ramifications.

VK: Can you expand on that idea just briefly?

RD: The story of Noah and the flood has charming details. A family is miraculously preserved from a violent catastrophe. The family obeys God and builds a boat that saves all kinds of animals. At the end of the saga a rainbow signals that all is well. The earth is renewed and repopulated. If the story were fiction it would be captivating, exciting, hope filled, and inspirational – a prime example of virtue triumphing over evil and danger.

VK: But the Bible doesn’t treat the story as fiction. And that’s when the problems begin?

RD: Precisely. The Bible treats the story of Noah as history. It recounts the story is a straightforward narrative including dates and details, along with its description of a devastating deluge. And, since in this day and age we look to science to solve all mysteries, the notion that a world-wide catastrophic flood once occurred sets believers and skeptics alike off on a search to see if there is evidence that can either prove or disprove the story. This search has been widely and popularly reported, spawned television specials and series, and generated no small amount of debate, some of it intense and passionate.

So when we enter Noah’s world so to speak we find ourselves at the intersection of history, science, faith, academia, and culture. Some of the intellectual waters into which you wade can get very deep very quickly.

VK: Ouch. You mean a flood of conflicting ideas?

RD: Yep. It’s pretty easy to get inundated. The point is that to responsibly unpack how Noah’s story fits into the larger world of today we have to consider some questions that require quite a bit of study and thought. What is the nature of truth and how can we know it? Are science and faith opposed to one another. Can science and faith be in harmony if each is properly understood and applied? What do the latest scientific findings say about the possibility or probability that the entire globe was at one time under water?

VK: Well, that’s a lot to address. Are we going to get to it all in one lesson?

RD: Definitely not, but that’s ok. We’ll do several lessons in the Noah series. So we’re going to touch on all these subjects while we enjoy listening to me trying to master tricky two-syllable names.

VK: Do you ever get them right?

RD: Listeners will just have to tune in to find out.

VK: Well, before we close for today let’s circle back to contracts and covenants. Let’s take a brief look at why the covenant God made with Noah is so important to redemptive history.

RD: Great idea. To get started let’s listen to a passage from the book of Genesis, chapter 9, verses 8 through 17. This is from the New Living Translation.

“But tell Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.

RD: So one part of the Noahic covenant that we see immediately is that the Lord promised Noah that He would never again destroy life on the earth by means of a flood. That was probably pretty important to Noah and his family who had just lived through as traumatic an experience as we can imagine. If God had merely made the promise, that would have been encouraging all by itself. But God didn’t stop there. He proceeded to tell Noah that there was a visible sign that Noah and his family could use to remind themselves of the promise He had made.

VK: Then that raises the question of whether rainbows existed before the flood and its aftermath. Did God change the natural laws when He caused the flood?

RD: Well, Biblical commentators are not in agreement on the answer to the question, but I think John Calvin is correct in his assessment. I’m paraphrasing here.

From these words certain eminent theologians have been induced to deny, that there was any rainbow before the deluge: which is frivolous. For the words of Moses do not signify, that a bow was then formed which did not previously exist; but that a mark was engraven upon it, which should give a sign of the divine favor towards men. … Hence it is not for us to contend with philosophers respecting the rainbow; for although its colors are the effect of natural causes, yet they act profanely who attempt to deprive God of the right and authority which he has over his creatures.

There’s a great article about this subject on Creation.com by Jonathan Sarfati. Sarfati notes that “There are other examples of existing materials or practices that God decreed to be a new sign. E.g., Jesus ordained the Lord’s Supper out of bread and wine. He declared that this was now to be a memorial to His sacrifice of His body and blood.”

VK: That’s a great lesson isn’t it? Rainbows may have been present in the sky before the flood but God assigned a new meaning to their presence. As you said earlier about contracts and covenants, covenants have a sacred dimension that serves an eternal purpose. So after the flood God used rainbows as part of His covenant to show Noah and the rest of us that He not only created everything, but also that He continues to superintend His creation today.

RD: Yep. And while we’ll have to delve into this subject a little more deeply on future shows for now let’s introduce one more thought for today. God began His covenant of grace long before He sent the flood. He inaugurated it right after the fall when He promised in Genesis 3:15 that a savior would come who would crush the head of the serpent who was Satan. Noah, then, as a righteous man – as the humor piece noted - was part of God’s unfolding plan of redemption - His covenant of Grace. God could have ended all life on earth because of the wickedness that was present, but He didn’t. He ensured that there was a righteous man available who would employ the wisdom imparted to him – to save not only himself and his family, but also enough of the land animals to repopulate the earth. This calls to mind Jesus’ comment to Peter in Matthew 16:18 that all the powers of hell would not prevail against His church. God is not going to let anything prevent the complete fulfillment of his covenant of grace. So in the story of Noah we see a continued progression of the grand saga of creation, the fall, and redemption. In Noah’s day evil was widespread and probably seemed as if it would triumph, but it didn’t. God intervened, rescued the righteous, repopulated the earth, and ensured that those alive on the earth would have a continuing reminder of His saving grace.

VK: Sounds to me like a good time for a prayer. Today's prayer comes from another one of Crystal Seas’ offerings, the book Purposeful Prayers and is a prayer for the renewal of the church:

---- Prayer for Renewal of the Church, radio version.

We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation)

The Book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 11 through 12 and 17 through 20

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 verses 37 through 39

The Book of Genesis, chapter 9, verses 8 through 17

https://creation.com/rainbows-and-the-flood