Lesson 32 The Eternal Covenant Established in Noah

                   The Eternal Covenant Established in Noah

                                           Genesis 6:17-22

God never leaves mankind unprepared. In Noah’s generations Jehovah forewarned mankind of a coming judgment. The wickedness of man was great upon the earth. Man was living in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart. He only did that which was evil - that which God did not approve - that which was originated in man’s heart and sourced in man’s self-love to serve self and to have his will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer (Gen.6:3, 5).

In “The Heavenly Revelation of the Anointed Son of God’s Eternal Covenant” God had made Himself known to man. In His glory declared in His heavens in His signs, as figures of the true Son, God had shown unto man what can be known of Himself. It was made known in them. They took it into their mind what they were shown of God (Rom.1:18-32). The purpose being to make God known as a personal Being who had made a Covenant of hope of eternal life for His creation of personal beings, mankind.

The one God, the one living and true Deity, the one Eternal Almighty God was shown to be a God - one God of three personal beings. Three persons each with intellect, emotions and a will, and one essence of Deity and righteousness. Each one of one mind and one thinking. Each one of one desire, one in emotions and feelings. Each one of one will, one in purpose, united in decisions.

One God with no difference of thinking, desire or volition. This one essence in being of three persons is made known in God’s name Elohim. Elohim is a plural and therefore when God, Elohim, said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness,” He used plural pronouns.

When God had shown unto man what can be made known of Himself in the glory declared in the heavens, man was not thankful. They did not give Him His glory. They became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.

In his letter to the Romans Paul speaks of “imaginations” in the plural, but of the “heart” in the singular (Rom.1:21). Man is of the same heart - self-loving, self-willed, self-serving (see Ps.33:13; Jer.17:9-10). The way of self-serving is expressed differently in the imagination of the individuals and therefore, in acts through the body.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became morons [moronic], and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God. They exchanged the truth for a lie. The truth of the Propitiation set forth in the sign of Libra is that God, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, sin apart, condemned sin in the flesh. The lawlessness of man having his will over the will of his Creator-Redeemer is ruled out. The end of that way is the death of the body of human flesh, born of man’s seed. In the end, there is the second death (see Rev.20:11-15).

God made a way for the righteousness of His law of love to be fulfilled in His creation of man in the flesh. Man must believe in the glory of the Son of God. The Anointed Son of the Covenant, whom we know as Jesus Christ, took the sins of the whole world on His body and died the criminal death due the lawlessness of man in the flesh (Is.53; 1 Pet.2:22-24). On the third day He was raised up out from the dead in the body of glory - a body of eternal flesh and bone (Lk.24:36-43; Jn.20:19-27; 1 Cor.15:3-9).

Jesus took a mortal body to give man an exodus out of the creation of human flesh and give man the seed of eternal life for the birth of a new creation of spirit life - a body of eternal flesh and bone like unto His body of glory (Phil.2:5-8; 3:21).

Man gave up the living and true God, His Creator-Redeemer and Savior, for a god of his imagination. Therefore God also gave them up to their own god. God gave man the freedom of choice and He will not take back that which He gave. Each person has the choice to believe God and go God’s way and let God have the say as to what is right and what is good, and make Himself known - or - to go his own way and live in the imagination of his heart.

God gave them up to the uncleanness of their own heart, but He sent them preachers of the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son and, when God must cleanse the earth of the corruption, He forewarned man (see Is.46:9-11; 48:3-6; 16-17; Amos 3:7; Lk.1:70). “Jehovah said, ‘My Spirit shall not always strive with man; for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years” (Gen.6:3).

The holy men of Seth’s line had believed God to become the righteousness of God through faith in God’s Anointed Son, the Son begotten out from the dead, in whom is the redemption, and God set the Son forth as the Propitiation, that God might be just to count righteous and to acquit of all charges of sin and guilt those who put their faith in the Anointed Son before He actually did come in the flesh and did ratify the Eternal Covenant in His blood (Heb.13:20). God is the Justifier of all mankind in any age (Rom.3:22-26).

In the Eternal Covenant the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (see 1 Pet.1:17-20; Rev.13:8). The Lamb slain is the Atonement for sin, the covering, the passing over of sins done before the fullness of time for the Son to be birthed of a virgin and finish the work for the redemption of the body (see also 1 Jn.2:2; 4:9-10).

Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit who was in them, these holy men in the line of Seth were continually inquiring and searching diligently of the grace of God, searching to know of the great, undeserved favor God has done man in the flesh - to send His Son with eternal life for the body and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ, the Anointed Son of the Eternal Covenant (see 1 Pet.9-12; 2 Pet.1:19-21).

As the holy men of old had become the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Anointed Son of the Eternal Covenant, they were no longer their own. They had been bought with the precious blood of the coming Son of the Covenant. The redeemed body became a temple of the Holy Spirit, who came to live in their tent with them to lead them and guide them in the truth to inspire the living word to them and give the spirit of eternal life to the letter of the Law of Moses (see 1 Cor.2:9-12; 6:19; 1 Pet.1:18-20).

As they searched to know, the holy men - prophets and preachers of righteousness - were sharing the truth revealed to them, that whosoever would believe might have the eyes of their understanding opened to see in the very spirit of their being God’s hope of eternal life and His holy calling to become a son of God through faith in the coming Anointed Son (see 2 Tim.1:9-10; Tit.1:2).

The preachers used the “figures of the true” pictured in the signs of the heavens to signify the Son of the Covenant and to witness of Him to the unbelieving world of man in the flesh. The Holy Spirit in the holy men was also Himself testifying of the glory of God to be seen in the Anointed Son of the Covenant. The Holy Spirit testified to the truth of the witness of the preachers of righteousness through faith in the coming Anointed Son of God (see Lk.1:67-70).

Mankind then having two witnesses: The verbal witness of the preachers to the ears to hear the truth, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the heart - that those in the flesh, and unregenerate, might judge themselves according to the truth of the eternal life in the Son sent to be shared with them, that the mortal body be raised up out from the dead by the power of the seed of eternal life received through faith in the righteousness of God. The love of God was preached that man might not perish but have eternal life to raise up the mortal body out from the dead (Gen.6:3; Jn.3:16).

Jehovah gave man 120 years to repent and change his mind and agree with God and go God’s Way and obey the truth to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God (1 Pet.1:17-23). The Word, who is God, became flesh that through the death of His mortal body God might have a begotten Son of eternal flesh and bone - living flesh for seed to raise up the mortal body of whosoever believed - out from the dead (Jn.12:23-27).

The 120 years drew to a close and God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart only that which God could not approve. All was unacceptable to God and must be cleansed off His earth. Man must be destroyed (Gen.6:5-7, 12). If the waters come and take away the breath of man, the waters will also take away the breath of all creatures of flesh who live on the earth.

God saw the wickedness, but He also saw Noah, a man who had found the great favor of God to give him hope of eternal life and call him to become a son of God (Heb.11:7). Noah received the Propitiation set forth in the sign of Libra. Noah was thankful that God could pass over his sin in the atonement of the Lamb slain - before the foundation of the world. Noah was a justified man through the righteousness of God and his faith in the coming Anointed Son. God was just to justify Noah, as Noah had put his faith in the Anointed Son of God.

Noah understood God had done him a great favor in giving him His begotten Son, that he might not perish, but have eternal life (see 1 Pet.3:18-20). Noah understood the grace of God to be undeserved and unearned. Noah was perfect, complete, in his generations (Gen.6:8-9). Noah had become the righteousness of God through faith in the coming anointed begotten Son of God. His sins were atoned in the blood of the Lamb slain before the Anointed Son became flesh to ratify the Eternal Covenant in His blood. God, the Justifier, had acquitted Noah of all charges of sin and guilt. In the Eternal Covenant the Son was delivered to death for man’s offenses and He was raised for man’s justification (Rom.4:25-5:21). It is done.

Noah walked with God, living in the spirit (Gen.6:9; Amos 3:3). And God shared with Noah what He must do - destroy man with the earthly creation (Gen.6:13). God gave Noah instructions to build an ark and save his household (Heb.11:7).

And the day came when God said to Noah, “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with you will I establish My Covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you” (Gen.6:17-18).

God Himself brings the flood of water and God Himself sets the rules for the flood of waters. Mankind corrupting God’s earth must be destroyed. Man has destroyed himself in his corruption. The flood of waters is a judgment of retributive justice. God gave man his choice - repent or be destroyed. Man chose to not repent, though he was warned of the consequence of his choice. The flood of waters will take the breath of life from all flesh upon earth. The bodies of flesh need the atmosphere of air to breathe life into the mortal body. Bodies of flesh and blood created for the earth cannot live under water.

God’s Eternal Covenant must be made to stand. Here is the first mention of the term “covenant” in Scripture. God simply said, “My Covenant.” Moses does not give any explanation, as the sons of Israel for whom “The Book of the Law” was written had understanding of God’s Covenant. And Noah had understanding through “The Heavenly Revelation of the Anointed Son of the Covenant” written in the stellar signs in the heavens.

God’s Eternal Covenant of hope of eternal life and the holy calling to become a son of God must be established upon the earth; that is, God’s Eternal Covenant must be made to stand. It cannot be done away. It is the only hope of eternal life.

All of the forefathers of Noah from Adam to Seth and his own father and grandfather had died in the faith, believing in the resurrection (see Heb.11). Each one having obeyed the truth of the righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God (1 Pet.1:17-23). God must be faithful to His promise to them and He must be faithful to fulfill His Covenant with Himself.

In order for God’s Eternal Covenant to stand, the Son, coming in the likeness of man - in human flesh - must have a family into which He is born of the flesh. Therefore there must be seed to reproduce after its kind - bodies of human flesh.

Noah has three sons. Each one is married. There are three families to reproduce after their kind - the creation of man in human flesh, of the earth, earthy. God did not specify which son would carry the seed for the coming Anointed Son of the Covenant.

Noah is to come into the ark with his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. All his immediate household were set apart in Noah in the ark. Eight souls set apart from the flesh to be destroyed. To make His Eternal Covenant to stand upon earth first God needs a righteous seed for the preaching of the righteousness of God through faith in the coming Son of God. The truth of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the coming Anointed Son must be made known, to be obeyed, that God, through the preaching of the gospel of His Anointed Son, might continue to have born-again sons of God for the family of His Anointed Son.

Obedience to the truth is the only way to be born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God (see Jn.1:12-13). In the fullness of time there must be a virgin in the family of the house of the coming Anointed Son who has put her faith in the righteousness of God (Is.7:14). The virgin will put her faith in the coming Anointed Son of God, who will be known to the virgin as the Messiah, the Anointed One (see Lk.1:46-55).

At the time of the judgment of the Flood God has one righteous seed, one true son of God, born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God - His man Noah. Noah will tell the truth of God to make God known to whosoever will believe. The truth will again be passed from generation to generation. The righteousness of God through faith in the Anointed Son will be preached and the righteousness of God shared from faith to faith.

As was said, Noah has three sons with the seed of man to reproduce after their kind, bodies of human flesh and blood - mortal bodies. The three sons will reproduce the creation of man in the flesh, after their kind. One must first bear the image of the earthy before he bears the image of the heavenly in resurrection (1 Cor.15:42-50).

The progeny of the three sons will be the hearers of the gospel of the Anointed Son coming with life and light for men in the dark concerning the things of the living and true God. Each one hearing has a choice to respond to the calling to obey the truth and be born of the incorruptible Seed a son of God or to not believe and not receive the Gift of God’s begotten Son in whom is eternal life.

In the seed of the three sons God has seed for man to multiply and again fill the earth with souls of spirit being in bodies of human flesh. The seed of God’s other creations of flesh must also be preserved to again reproduce in the new beginning after the earth has been cleansed. Noah must bring them into the ark two of every kind, a male and a female. This would not be a new thought to Noah and his family. Room for the animals would have been provided in the building of the ark.

“Of birds after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind shall come unto you, to keep them alive” (Gen.6:20). God, their Creator, would send them to Noah to preserve seed for His new beginning on His cleansed earth. They would come male and female.

“And take unto you of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to you; and it shall be for food for you, and for them” (Gen.6:21). Noah must gather and take on the ark the food to be eaten by the family and for the creatures whose lives were to be spared.

Noah was not required to round up the birds and cattle and creeping things. But Noah was responsible to gather the food to be eaten. Though Moses gives no record of the amount of food, God must have shared with Noah the amount of food which would be needed. This would require Noah having knowledge of how long they would be on the ark. Based on a lunar calender, as can be seen by the precise dates recorded, the time given concerning Noah’s time on the ark was a year and seventeen days. The amount of food for a year and seventeen days for eight people plus all the creatures who entered the ark would require vast storage (see Gen.7:7-11; 8:14).

Was it in the days of drawing up the plans for the ark that God shared the timing with Noah? We are not told. How many things Noah must consider in his obedience to the will of God that he, Noah, be chosen to save the household of Christ and His sons born of His Seed.

“Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (Gen.6:22).

This concludes our lesson.