In God’s word of grace, three things are included: God’s promise, God’s fact, and God’s covenant. In the first chapter we spoke of God’s promise and God’s fact. Now we come to God’s covenant. All those who have been taught by grace will praise God and say, “How great and precious it is for God to make a covenant with man!”
God’s promise is precious. When you have illness, pain, or difficulty, God’s promises become streams in a dry place. God’s promise is also like a shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isa. 32:2).
But there is something which is easier to obtain than God’s promise; that is God’s fact. God not only gives us the promise which He will soon fulfill; He also grants us the fact which He has already accomplished. He has truly put the treasure in earthen vessels to manifest that the excellency of the power is of God and not of ourselves (2 Cor. 4:7).
Moreover, God has not only given us His promise and the fact which He has accomplished in Christ; God has even made a covenant with us. The covenant which God has made is more glorious than either His promise or His fact. God has made a covenant with man. This means that He has condescended to be bound and limited by the covenant. The reason God is willing to lose His liberty by the covenant is that we may obtain what He intended us to obtain. The Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth, condescended to such an extent to make a covenant with man. Oh, what an unsurpassing grace! Before such a God who is so full of grace, we can only bow and worship.
What is the meaning of a covenant? A covenant speaks of faithfulness and law. In the matter of a covenant, no preference and grace can be considered. A covenant must be carried out strictly according to faithfulness, justice, and law. If we make a covenant with someone, clearly recording in writing how we will perform and do not fulfill this covenant, this means we retract our words; we become unfaithful, unrighteous, and dishonest. Our moral level is immediately lowered. Moreover, the breaking of a covenant is usually punishable by law.
We see from this that God, by making a covenant with man, has put Himself into a restricted position. Originally, God could treat man as He liked. He could deal with him in grace, or He could treat him otherwise. He could save, or He could not save. If God had not made a covenant with man, He could do whatever He liked; He was at liberty. If He preferred to do something, He could do it; if He did not like to do anything, He need not do it. But once God made a covenant with man, He must be bound by the covenant. He must perform that which was clearly written.
We know that as far as the covenant is concerned, what is involved is only faithfulness, not grace. But as far as God’s willingness to be bound in making a covenant with man is concerned, the covenant is the highest expression of God’s grace. God condescended and seems to stand in the same position as man. He put Himself into the covenant. After He made the covenant, He had to be limited by the covenant. Whether He likes it or not, He still must do it. He cannot act contrary to the covenant which He has made. Oh, how great a thing it is for God to make a covenant with man! How noble it is!
Why would God make a covenant with man? To understand this we must start from the first instance of God making a covenant with man. Strictly speaking, in the Old Testament the first instance was during the time of Noah. Before Noah, God had not made any covenant with man. His first covenant with man was with Noah.
From the covenant with Noah we see that one of the most difficult things for God is that of causing man to understand His intention. At Noah’s time, the human race had committed sin to the uttermost. Therefore, God intended to destroy man by the flood. But with this intention God not only remembered Noah’s family, but also many creatures. He wanted to preserve their lives. Therefore, God made a covenant with Noah saying, “I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them” (Gen. 6:18-21). God wanted to preserve their life and even considered their food. This covenant shows how loving and tender God’s heart was toward man.
Then the flood came. All creatures of flesh and blood upon the earth—the fowls, the cattle, the beasts, the reptiles, and the whole human race—died. Only Noah’s family and those creatures which were brought into the ark were preserved. Thus God fulfilled His covenant.
For one year the eight members of Noah’s family were shut within the ark. They saw and heard nothing but the surging water. When the flood finally receded, the whole family emerged from the ark. However, they were still full of fear. They were not certain whether or not God would destroy the human race again with a flood. They were not sure whether or not they would encounter the same dreadful disaster again. Although they were saved, their hearts were still fearful. We know that God’s judgment of the human race by the flood was far from His desire. Genesis 6:5-6 says, “And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” We see here what God’s heart was really like. Undoubtedly, the flood made a very fearful impression upon man. God’s desire was to change this impression and show man His real intention. He did not desire to destroy the human race; He wanted to comfort them. He wanted them to know His heart’s intent. Therefore, He especially gave them evidence of His intention, and He came to make a covenant with them.
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, and I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth (Gen. 9:8-17).
In this covenant God said repeatedly that there would never be another flood. In order to assure the family of Noah that they need no longer fear, this covenant was given that they might lay hold of the words of the covenant and rest upon them.
From this we see the purpose of the covenant: God has a good intention toward man. But man could not understand or see; therefore, God gave man a covenant, so that he might have some evidence to cling to. God gave man a covenant to show him clearly what His real intention was. It seems that He was opening His heart to man so that man could see what His heart was really like. Oh, the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth—He even cared and considered man to such an extent! Should not even the stones be touched!