In the Image of God Volume 22, Number 3 November, 2015 SABBATH CHRISTIAN CHURCH 677 Banyan Blvd. Naples FL 34102 www.sabbathchurch.org 239 649 5888 Sabbath Christian Church Pastor Gil Kovacs The Covenant with Noah Sabbath Christian Church Magazine J
Page 2 In Image of God In Image of God Page 11 The Covenant with Noah Introduction God said that He was going to establish His Covenant with Noah. This covenant is a extremely important agreement, and we are going to get into an in-depth word study of this particular agreement God made with Noah. Let us check it out and see. The covenant starts off: Gen. 6:18 (NAS95S) But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark He established the Covenant, which had to do with Noah s entering the ark. This is the first step in the Covenant that Noah had to do by God s establishment. Obviously, Noah could not enter an ark unless he spent all that time and great effort building the ark in the middle of nowhere and nowhere near the water. In order to be a recipient of and partaker of a Godly Covenant, a person must give his life to acceding to God by faith and resultant actions. Now we know what, how and why we got the Noah s Covenant. God s Covenant with Noah and mankind comes to life after the flood and the disembarking from the Ark. God gave man His Covenant of Life after saving man from the flood, which destroyed all others opposed to God s Law. Amen. Gil Kovacs, Pastor Sabbath Christian Church James 2:20 (NAS95S) But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? James 2:26 (NAS95S) For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. you and your sons and your wife, and you sons wives with you. God made the covenant with Noah, who was the se-
Page 10 In Image of God In Image of God Page 3 God Commands His Law against murder quite clearly. 6 Whoever sheds man s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. Again the seventh; be fruitful. 7 As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. One Creator, no idols, no blasphemy and the seventh day rest are intrinsic in God s rescue and recreation of mankind. The other six commandments relating to man s relation to others made in God s image grow out of the safe landing of the Ark. Now we learned the origin of the so-called Noachian Covenant. God recreated everything on Earth because of the faith and obedience of Noah, who did only what God wanted, not his own wishes. How many people would keep God s way? Almost all refuse to do all of God s Commandments with some brilliant, at times, reasons. Be sure that God will only give life to those who behave as ones made in His Image and have the faith and obedience of Noah as a role model. cond Adam from whom all people come. Therefore, we all trace our ancestries back to and are descendants of Noah, all the people in the world; therefore all people, are obligated to keep the covenant because of heredity. We know of people of royal blood or particular genetic heritage; they are in that position because of heredity. Of course, heredity does not give people language or culture intrinsically; they can inherit it but it is not like having blue eyes. Louis the Fourteenth was the king of France and his son and grandson inherited the throne after him. Of course, the Sixteenth inherited it, but because of his life style and other things about him, he lost the throne, which was never recovered by that family as rulers. However, the family may still exists but without their position because they did not live up to stature as proper rulers. Now while a family can loose their inheritance, they cannot loose their background, who they come from. All people of the Earth inherit life because of Noah; so they must keep the ways of the Covenant as part of life or else they will loose their lives as the Sixteenth did. Those who refuse to keep the Covenant are doomed to death after many tribulations, troubles and injuries, which could help lead them away from the works of evil. God gives people many opportunities to change back to their created condition. God
Page 4 In Image of God In Image of God Page 9 does not like that people would give away their human potential, being made in His image. The Creation was built on the Commandments. Gen 8:2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; It was over; the flood ended. All the evil was washed away, and man was given a new chance. 3 and created the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. 4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Notice the Seven, God s day of rest. Sabbath Day Feast of Tabernacles Seventh Month So right there, while not said specifically, it is inherit in the salvation of Noah, the righteous believer of God, God saved him in the manner He did. God ing. (5) No stealing because people must not take what is not theirs, what others spent six days a week laboring for. No bearing false witness because people are entitled to their true reputation. Freedom of speech does not give a person the right to lie about another. And no coveting others goods and property because, as James says above, wishful thinking leads to actions. 2 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. God gave man authority over the beast; just do not eat the blood. No murder because God created man in His image. Nonetheless, convicted murders should be executed. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man s brother I will require the life of man.
Page 8 In Image of God In Image of God Page 5 And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease. People participate in the Covenant when they go along with God s way because they are made in God s image and likeness. God has that cycle of seven days, six for laboring and the seventh for a holy rest. While a few people might want to live up to their potential of being made in His Image, most will not and refuse to do anything in the manner God made them to be. When they continue to walk in evil ways, God will not let them live, as He showed in the flood. Gen. 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. People created in God s image and continue the creation by multiplying others made in God s image. (Seventh Commandment) People create sons and daughters and whether or not, they imitate the Creator if in a different but creative way. Male and female He created them. With all the people other Commandments come into play: Honor parents from the formative years to their ag- proved the bases of His Commandment, particularly here the Sabbath and Holy Days, in Noah s intrinsic salvation from the flood. God continues to show the importance of the Sabbath Day in which He rested after the Creation; thus making the day Holy as He says. 5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible. Like the first day of creation, God said light. The tops of the mountains became visible. Obviously, up to that point they could only see the sea. Just as God said light; the tops of the mountains became visible in the light. Gen. 8:6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; 7 and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. 10 So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11
Page 6 In Image of God In Image of God Page 7 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12 Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again. Notice the repetition of seven days. Noah was at one with God and His Commandments. No wonder God chose him to continue mankind after all the evil before. Noah s ways of doing things reflected God s way; he was at one with Him. After seven days come the first day of the week to begin one s labor. Gen. 8:13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. By these actions, the Earth was recreated. They went out of the ark and little by little the Earth was, over time, covered with green stuff, some of which could be eaten when cultivated during the six-day period. The creatures would reproduce over time. God s Promise Very often a covenant was accompanied by a sacrifice and Noah did that; he made an offering. A Covenant Sacrifice Gen. 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, Man has a part of the Covenant of Life. Six days shall you labor over the vegetation of the Creation. Seedtime and harvest,