Whenever I see a rainbow in the sky, I’m reminded of the ending of the story of Noah. After the flood waters receded and the ark came to rest on dry ground, Noah built an altar and made an offering to the Lord to atone for his personal sins. Then the Lord said to Noah: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”(Genesis 9:13-16, NIV, bold print added)
The concept of a covenant appears throughout the Bible starting with Adam and Eve and continuing until all of God’s promises are fulfilled by Jesus. Covenant is defined simply is “a binding relationship based on a promise.” In his book The Marriage Ref, pastor and author Tyler Scott explains: “The old covenant first began to take shape in Genesis 2. There, God makes a covenant with Adam in language that is strong, clear and definitive: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” (Genesis 2:15-16, NIV)
God continued to make covenants with people in stories recorded throughout Scripture, in spite of their sinfulness. In the Old Testament, the two parties of a covenant would cut animals in half and walk between the divided carcasses. This was the symbol of stepping into a covenant relationship with one another. “When the parties of a covenant walked between the pieces of bloodied animal flesh, they were saying, in effect, ‘I will fulfill this covenant—and if I break it, may I be cut into bloody pieces like these dismembered animals.’” God made a covenant like this with Abraham in Genesis 15 when He promised to give him descendants and to bless the world through them. He did this “knowing full well that Abraham and all human beings were incapable of keeping the covenant.” (Tyler Scott, The Marriage Ref p. 34-35)
Many years later, Abraham’s ancestors were instructed by Moses to make animal sacrifices to God to atone for their sins. Author Florence Littauer explains, “There was no access to God without first making a sacrifice. Sin could only be forgiven by the substitution of an animal for the sinner himself—an innocent animal had to die in the place of the guilty man.” (Journey to Jesus, p. 210) These animal sacrifices would be made in the tabernacle (and later in the temple) by a high priest.
When Jesus came as the Messiah, He served not only as the ultimate high priest, but also as the perfect lamb to be sacrificed. Through His death, He made atonement for the sins of humans for all time. The book of Hebrews explains:
“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son [Jesus] also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying…he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:14-17, NLT)
The writer of Hebrews goes on to say: “[Jesus] is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.” (Hebrews 7:26-27 ,NLT)
The final blood sacrifice for the atonement of sins was made in the New Testament with Jesus’ death on the cross: “God, through His Son, allowed himself to be torn to pieces—not because He broke the covenant, but because we did. He knew we couldn’t keep our end of the bargain, so he said, ‘I’ll do it for you. I’ll pay the debt you can never repay.’ God fulfilled both the old covenant and the new covenant.” (Tyler Scott, The Marriage Ref p. 34-35)
It’s amazing to recognize the seamlessness of Scripture and to see that it all points to Jesus. As graphic and awful as the description of blood covenants and sacrifices for atonement sound, our sin is even more horrific to God. Yet, in His mercy, Jesus made it possible for us to be washed clean and made new.
So, as His followers, what should our response be to this amazing news? I couldn’t say it any better than the writer of Hebrews: “Let us hold firmly to what we believe… [and] let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (excerpts from Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT)
Phil Wickham’s song “Living Hope” celebrates Jesus as the One who fulfilled God’s covenant and made atonement for our sins. Why not have a worship moment right now? Praise God for fulfilling His covenant promise and making the atonement we weren’t capable of making for ourselves.
Jen Wilkin, God of Creation week 9, Lifeway Press, 2017.
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