“But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.” — Genesis 6:18
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A “covenant” is a pact or legal agreement between two or more parties. We might be more familiar with the word “contract.” Some covenants are bilateral (obligating both sides to do something) and some are unilateral (requiring only one side to do something). The first use of the word “covenant” in the Bible is found in Genesis 6:18. Here, God foretold the covenant He would unilaterally establish with Noah and mankind. You can read more details in Genesis 9:8-17, where the word “covenant” is used seven times.
Bible commentators vary in the number of covenants they identify in the Bible. The Old Testament covenants God established with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc., all point to the ultimate and unilateral covenant provided through Jesus Christ. Jesus called it the new covenant established in His “poured out” blood or death for us (Luke 22:19-20).
Hebrews 9:15 offers this summary: “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”
Have you responded to the call of salvation and forgiveness of sin offered through Jesus Christ?
— Jeff Totten, Detroit Tigers chaplain
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