Today let’s begin the chronological study of the Covenants the good Lord in His Sovereign wisdom has placed in the Scripture beginning with…
Sire…
“But they as Adam brake the covenant; there they trespassed against me.” (Hosea 6:7, Wycliffe Bible); “But they, like other people, broke the covenant; they trespassed against me there.” (Hosea 6:7 KJV) (The Wycliffe Bible translation, which is a good 200 years older than even KJV–As the saying goes, nothing quite like going as close to the original as possible!)
Boy, the First Covenant or the Original Testament was between the Sires of the human race: Adam and Eve and their Creator God. The promise was “life”. The condition was perfect obedience to God’s verbal instructions, the test in this case being abstaining from eating the fruit of the “tree of knowledge”. The penalty was death (Genesis 2:16-17). Did the progenitors of human beings dutifully keep their side of that sacred agreement, as the Lord was doing on His side? Was not the vim, vigour and vitality of Adam and Eve being preserved by the Lord faithfully till the day they unfortunately sank their teeth into the forbidden fruit? How sad, our progenitors became the progenitors of sin too, with the results that are there for all to see, even now (Romans 5:12). So the promise of the Almighty to give Everlasting life to mankind under this Covenant is no longer binding on Him.
Sign…
Can anyone say that the Rainbow Covenant that the Lord made with Noah (the representative of all creation), at the end of the Flood (Genesis 9:11-13), is not in vogue? No way! In fact, the next time you see a rainbow (a sign of this covenant), with its dazzling array of colors, utter a loud Hallelujah wherever you are (hopefully travelling in a bus with your co-passengers seated next to you as your captive audience) and be sure to share with your surprised listeners the reason behind your act of praising the Creator of the beautiful rainbow. Never would the good Lord use the waters again to destroy whole of His creation.
And if you see a Rainbow at the end of a Church service, show your Church members on the way to the parking lot the Scripture portion which speaks about this still valid Noahic Covenant of God and plead with them to look at the Old Testament section of the Bible differently and more appreciatively.
Prayer: Father, how the beautiful rainbow reminds us of Thy faithfulness again and again. In response whenever we see it, make us renew our commitment to Thee. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Of Covenant and the Pentacost” mini-series, please click here.)