♰ Abouna Angelos Bible Study Genesis 9 Covenant of Noah 2019-01-30 A Covenant with God is to be in God’s family. In order to be in God’s family, one must have righteousness. What is the quintessential way to have righteousness, to be prepared for a covenant with God? Now, a declaration of righteous is not just a declaration of freedom from sin -- that is too naive. When God wants something, he means business. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (John 1:12) Q: What is righteousness? A: Being a child of God Q: What is a covenant? A: Making two unrelated people related, part of a family, “flesh of my flesh, bone of my bones.” It is not a contract that has penalties and obligations. It is a family bond. But that is not all, a covenant according to the Jewish scholars has a few more ingredients (below). Now having righteousness (according to the NT) is being a child of God. It is not only God acquitting us of our sins, but more significantly making us partakers of God’s nature. This is way beyond a mere legally-binding contract (with penalties for non-performance that can usually not be satisfied anyway). He calls us his beloved children. If God calls us children, then we are children. (If God says let there be light, ...) “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3) “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13) Baptism is held to be a mystery by all the ancient churches, Catholic, Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox. For them, Baptism is birth from above, washing of sins, declaration of forgiveness of sins, and, most significantly, re-generation into a new nature, the implanting of us into the divinity, and vice-versa, becoming a child of God. “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19) “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:24-28) There are these 3 things (shlosha d’varim): • Faith • Water • Covenant OT examples: • Flood-ark • Moses, water, new-name, custody of God • Israel, water, new people, new guide, new land This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (John 3:10) Be mindful: How do we live in this binding attachment to God -- a huge force, the OT Mosaic Law and the NT Blood of Christ? Similarities between Noah & Adam * First men * World received borne out of water * Bird hovering over water (8:9) * Nakedness (Noah as 2nd Adam) * vv. 3-4 Eventually Jesus will be the Noah, the real “New Adam,” “New Man,” “ՆՈՐԱՅՐ,” that is going to have a resting place for the Holy Spirit. Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1) What about the nakedness? The walking backwards and averting the face? There is a gentle tenderness, an averting of the eyes, the wish not to look at our sin. (It relates to the priesthood. Notice that Shem is the only first-born with no evidence of having sinned.) She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:11-12) “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) Then Melchizedek (“King of Righteousness”), King of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; (Genesis 14:18-19) When Abraham went to meet “King of Peace” (could have been Shem), all first born are priests, their job is to cover sin, offer sacrifice, and by the blood the person is covered (the Kipor), Shem is the one to cover his father, then Shem is definitely a high priest. This was the original plan of God in exchange for the Levites. Shem did for his father what a father ought to do for his son. Note this: Shem is the only first-born in Genesis that has not sinned. Covenant = bereet: has ingredients that make a covenant according to the commentators * Swearing of an oath, both swear to each other, somehow; the number 7 sheva also means swear; I “seven” myself means “I swear.” * Family bond, blood relations, from two unrelated beings, usually but not always one greater, one lesser * Sacrifice, except in the Adamic where there is no sacrifice * Commandment given from the greater to the lesser to follow * Promise: The lesser receives promises from the greater * Fidelity: Khesed = affection, zeal, belonging, feeling of relatedness (khesed as in “hassidic” jews); God’s faithfulness is without negotiation; human faithfulness has always been an issue. Covenants: 1. Adam 2. Noah 3. Abraham (most important) 4. Moses 5. David 6. Jesus Homework: 1. Can you write a table listing all the covenant elements of these covenants? 2. Can you how how the number seven permeates these covenants? A few covenant elements: * In Abraham, there are three promises, the sign being circumcision, and God swears not by symbols but by Himself, because there is nothing bigger to swear by. * Jesus says “Take, drink, this is the blood of the new covenant.” In John 13:34-35, He gives a commandment. In John 14:3, He gives a promise, “I go to prepare a place for you; I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” through which we will be fulfilling all the commandments. Next time, the table of nations. Remember these words: bereet: covenant khesed: fidelity