COVENANTS SESSION 6

COVENANTS SESSION 6

THE HEALING COVENANT

As we discuss the Sixth Sessions of the Divine Covenants we will examine the Healing Covenant.

The Original Hippocratic Oath - I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant: To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else. I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work. Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves. What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about. If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

Hippocratic Oath—Modern Version - I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God. I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

After reading these I believe more strongly that Jesus is my Healer and I must rely more on him and less on the other. There is nothing wrong with doctors or with medicine. I believe the Lord provided both to help His people, however, just as there is the worldly truth, there is the heavenly truth, heaven has always been better than the world. Luke was a doctor and the following four verses speak of medicine:

Proverbs 17:22 (AMP) - ²² A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Ezekiel 47:12 (NLT) - ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

Jeremiah 8:22 (NLT) - ²² Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?

Revelation 22:2 (NLT) - ² It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

The Apostle Paul writing in Hebrews 11:6 states: “ But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].”

Having said this, we are now going to study the healing that the Word of God contains. One of the healing provisions that He made for us was the Healing Covenant. We are going to speak primarily of the Old Covenant when we speak of the Healing Covenant because that is where it is contained. However, our Lord Jesus Christ performed a better covenant when He died on the cross so that our New Covenant healing is based on better promises that the one contained in the Old. You could say then, why are we doing this? So that we can see that the basis was laid in covenant and we need to understand that it continues in covenant. Also, I believe if we are to receive the Lord’s healing, we must be fully convinced that it is His will to heal, and for us to be healed. We must be convicted of His covenant and His Covenant of Healing.

Exodus 15:20-27 (NLT) - ²⁰ Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. ²¹ And Miriam sang this song: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.” ²² Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. ²³ When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”). ²⁴ Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. ²⁵ So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. ²⁶ He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.” ²⁷ After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.

This is where the Lord introduced His Covenant of Healing. In these scriptures He identified Himself as I AM and then as the Lord who heals you. Notice immediately preceding that it says “the following decree.” In the King James it says “there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,.” So in essence we have the Lord God creating a covenant for healing. He says “if you will, then I will” which is covenant language where there are conditions to the covenant.

The Book of Exodus contains three promises that relate to the Healing Covenant, they are:

• He would not put disease upon them.

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV) - ²⁶ and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

• He said “For I AM the Lord who heals you.”

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV) - ²⁶ and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

• He would take sickness away from the midst of them.

Exodus 23:25 (NKJV) - ²⁵ So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

However, the Books of Exodus and Leviticus also contains six commands for them to obtain the promises above, they are:

• Thoroughly pay attention to God’s voice.

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV) - ²⁶ and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

• Do what is right in His sight.

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV) - ²⁶ and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

• Listen to His commandments.

Exodus 15:26 (NKJV) - ²⁶ and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."

• Obey His statutes.

Leviticus 26:3-4 (NKJV) - ³ 'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, ⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

• Serve the Lord.

Exodus 23:25 (NKJV) - ²⁵ So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

• Consecrate yourself to the Lord.

Exodus 32:29 (NKJV) - ²⁹ Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother."

In addition to these Scriptures concerning the healing promises of God we have many more. Some of which are:

Jeremiah 30:17 (AMP) - ¹⁷ For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!

Isaiah 58:6-8 (NASB95) - ⁶ "Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?
⁷ "Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ "Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Malachi 4:2 (NLT) - ² “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.

Isaiah 53:4 (AMP) - ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].

Isaiah 53:5 (AMP) - ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

Now I would like for us to look at the New Covenant and examine the healing promises contained in it. Jesus brought a covenant of complete healing when He came and did His work on this earth.

1 Corinthians 11:20-34 (NASB95) - ²⁰ Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, ²¹ for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. ²² What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. ²³ For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." ²⁵ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. ²⁷ Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
³⁰ For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. ³² But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. ³³ So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.

These Scriptures in 1^st Corinthians refers to our partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Notice it says that the cup is the New Covenant in His Blood. He is saying that we are in covenant with Him (we will examine the New Covenant more in a future teaching). Because we don’t acknowledge it as covenant and make light of our responsibilities in it we are sick and die early. How much stronger can it be stated that healing is part and parcel of the covenant.

Following are some of the New Covenant Scriptures pertaining to healing:

Matthew 8:16 (NLT) - ¹⁶ That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.

Matthew 9:35 (NLT) - ³⁵ Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

Acts 4:29-30 (NASB95) - ²⁹ "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, ³⁰ while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."

Luke 9:1-2 (NLT) - ¹ One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out demons and to heal all diseases. ² Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Acts 5:14-16 (NLT) - ¹⁴ Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.
¹⁵ As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. ¹⁶ Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.

James 5:14-15 (NLT) - ¹⁴ Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

1 Peter 2:24 (NLT) - ²⁴ He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

Acts 10:38 (NLT) - ³⁸ And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

COVENANTS SESSION 5

COVENANTS SESSION 5

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

Hebrews 2:1 (AMP) - ¹ SINCE ALL this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past [them] and slip away.

Hebrews 2:1 (NASB95) - ¹ For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

This is an admonition that we should hold to the truths that we have learned, not letting them seep out of us through non-use, or ignoring them. We shouldn’t take for granted that once learned is learned forever, just as we have forgotten most of the things we were taught in school. Remembering this, we shouldn’t assume that what we learn in The Word is going to remain there forever without our refreshing it, and studying it more. The things we learn about covenant are not something that will automatically stay with it, it is something that we need to refresh ourselves in during the years ahead so that we can retain the promises covenant contains.

Genesis 12:1-7 (NKJV) - ¹ Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." ⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
⁵ Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

A man in Ur of Chaldees stepped out on faith and followed the only True God and began his journey of faith. He met the Lord and received promises which caused him to begin having faith in the One he was beginning to follow. Not doing all the Lord commanded, leaving family, and going, but he did go and God honored that step of faith in his life.

Genesis 17:1-2 (NLT) - ¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. ² I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”

From Elohim to El Shaddai. Before the last half of verse 1 Abram had always dealt with Elohim, suddenly he comes face to face with El Shaddai. In Genesis 15:5-18 the Lord God (Elohim) made a covenant with Abram that he would be live a long time, that his children would go to a strange land for 400 years and that his descendents were given the Promised Land. Abram questioned the Lord’s promise concerning a natural heir, so he and Sarai took it on themselves to help the Lord out and Ishmael was born. Notice that Abram didn’t hear from the Lord for the next 13 years probably because of this. Then in Genesis 17:1 the Lord appears to Abram as Elohim and then changes to El-Shaddai. Elohim the God of Creation, the Possessor of all things. El Shaddai the Almighty One, the Breasty One, the God of ‘I can supply all the needs of all my children and do it more than enough’ One. These are two descriptions of two of God’s Holy Names, however there is another description that can be added to these, they are: Elohim – the One who makes nature, who causes it to be, who preserves it, the One who established all natural law; El Shaddai – the One who reserves the right to reverse natural law, to override it, to accelerate it as He deems necessary for His own, He has power to constrain nature, to make it do what is against itself. So here in Genesis 17:1-17 we have Abram meeting Elohim and suddenly facing El Shaddai, he goes from Abram to Abraham and Sarai goes to Sarah. When we are in covenant with the Father we have all of the attributes of His available to us, if it can’t be done within the natural then it is time for the supernatural, if Elohim can’t do it then El Shaddai can. In our walk with the Lord we are like Abram, knowing Elohim and the wonders of His presence, but then along the walk we come to know Him as El Shaddai and the power of His might.

Genesis 17:1-17 (NLT) - ¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. ² I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” ³ At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, ⁴ “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! ⁵ What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them! ⁷ “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” ⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. ¹⁰ This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. ¹³ All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of My everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.” ¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “Regarding Sarai, your wife—her name will no longer be Sarai. From now on her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ And I will bless her and give you a son from her! Yes, I will bless her richly, and she will become the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will be among her descendants.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?”

In reading this, the previous verses, we could ask ourselves “Why Abraham?”. It would be a legitimate question, what was it about this son of an idol worshipper (Joshua 24:2) that caused the Lord to stop and select him. Here is a man whose father, Terah, was born within 320 years of the flood. When Terah was 70 years old he had Abram, then he had Nahor and Haran. After Abram met and married Sarai in Ur of the Chaldees, Terah was moving his entire family to Canaan however he died in Haran prior to reaching Canaan. Here the Lord speaks to Abram and says “Get you out!” So Abram obeyed the voice of God, and taking Lot with him, in violation of what the Lord told him, he departed and headed for Canaan. Solely on the word of God. You might ask “Why do you think it was Abram that heard from the Lord and not Terah, since Terah started the journey toward Canaan?” Joshua 24:2 is one of the few places that Terah is mentioned other than in speaking of a genealogical guide, there it mentions him as living on the other side of the river and being an idol worshipper. Then in Genesis 12:1 we see the Lord telling Abram to leave Haran. Nehemiah 9:7 does mention that God chose Abram in Ur of the Chaldees and changed his name to Abraham, so Terah was doing what the Lord wanted done, the question is “Was he aware of it?” The Lord had chosen well.

We need to keep in mind the following scripture as we continue on with this study:

Galatians 3:29 (AMP) - ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abraham’s offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:29 (NLT) - ²⁹ And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

There are at least Seven Things About Abraham that we should know and discuss.

First, The LORD prophesied Abraham would become a great nation.

Genesis 12:2 (AMP) - ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

A question that comes to my mind is “Are all of God’s promises to us prophesies for us?”

Second, God protected Abraham in this covenant.

Genesis 12:3 (AMP) - ³ And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

We have a covenant protection because Abraham had one and we are his seed.

Third, God promised the land to Abraham’s descendents.

Genesis 15:18-21 (AMP) - ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates—the land of ¹⁹ The Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ The Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ The Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Fourth, God honored Abraham’s faith and sacrifice.

Genesis 12:7 (NLT) - ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

God, according to Acts 10:34, is not a respecter of persons, so what is available to Abraham through faith, and sacrifice, is available to us.

Fifth, all the families of the earth are to be blessed because of Abraham.

Genesis 28:14 (NLT) - ¹⁴ Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

Sixth, God will bless those who blessed Abraham’s seed.

Genesis 12:3 (AMP) - ³ And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

Seventh, God was to curse those who cursed Abraham’s seed.

Genesis 12:3 (AMP) - ³ And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

In these verses we see that God was pleased with Abraham and with his faith response. He was so pleased that He promised to provide these things not only to Abraham but to those who are to “become the seeds of Abraham.”

Galatians 3:29 (AMP) - ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abraham’s offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise.

Some people think that the blessings of Abraham apply to Arab and Jew, however according to Genesis 17:18-21 the promise follows only Isaac.

Genesis 17:18-21 (NLT) - ¹⁸ So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!” ¹⁹ But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year.”

Abraham is known as the Father of Faith. That is a big, bold title and one hard to obtain. Following is three things that helped Abraham prove his faith:

First, Abraham did not allow earthly situations to separate him from God.

Genesis 13:8-9 (NASB95) - ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. ⁹ "Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left."

Next, his faith was tested, tempted and tried.

Genesis 17:17 (NLT) – ¹⁷ Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?”

I have another question “If we accept the Lord and it causes us to lose our families is that the same thing that Abraham faced in offering Isaac?”

Finally, he proved himself faithful in the case of Isaac

Genesis 22:7-8 (NASB95) - ⁷ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" ⁸ Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

Then we come to the Seven-fold Promises God made to Abraham in his covenant. I need to point out, not only his, but ours as well because it is an eternal covenant and we are Abraham’s seed.

Promise 1 – God promised to make him a great nation.

Genesis 12:2 (AMP) - ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

Genesis 13:16 (AMP) - ¹⁶ And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted.

Promise 2 – God promised to bless him.

Genesis 12:2 (AMP) - ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

Genesis 13:14-17 (NLT) - ¹⁴ After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. ¹⁵ I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. ¹⁶ And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! ¹⁷ Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”

Genesis 15:18-21 (NLT) - ¹⁸ So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Promise 3 – Abraham’s name would become great.

Genesis 12:2 (AMP) - ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

Exodus 2:24 (NASB95) - ²⁴ So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Exodus 6:3-8 (AMP) - ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but by My name the Lord [Yahweh—the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles]. ⁴ I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their temporary residence in which they were strangers. ⁵ I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians have enslaved; and I have [earnestly] remembered My covenant [with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]. ⁶ Accordingly, say to the Israelites, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will free you from their bondage, and I will rescue you with an outstretched arm [with special and vigorous action] and by mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that it is I, the Lord your God, Who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
⁸ And I will bring you into the land concerning which I lifted up My hand and swore that I would give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage. I am the Lord [you have the pledge of My changeless omnipotence and faithfulness].

Promise 4 – Abraham would become a blessing.

Genesis 12:2 (AMP) - ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

Galatians 3:13-14 (NLT) - ¹³ But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” ¹⁴ Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Promise 5 – God will bless people who bless Abraham.

Genesis 12:3 (AMP) - ³ And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

Genesis 41:41 (NLT) - ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.”

Daniel 6:3 (AMP) - ³ Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

Promise 6 – God will curse the people who curse Abraham.

Genesis 12:3 (AMP) - ³ And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

Zechariah 14:12 (NLT) - ¹² And the Lord will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

Promise 7 – All the families of the earth will be blessed because of Abraham.

Genesis 12:3 (NLT) - ³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Isaiah 60:1-5 (NLT) - ¹ “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. ² Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. ³ All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. ⁴ “Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. ⁵ Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands.

Deuteronomy 28:8-13 (NASB95) - ⁸ "The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. ⁹ "The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ "So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹ "The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² "The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ "The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,

Deuteronomy 28:8-13 (AMP) - ⁸ The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouse and in all that you undertake. And He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. ⁹ The Lord will establish you as a people holy to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ And all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name [and in the presence of] the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ And the Lord shall make you have a surplus of prosperity, through the fruit of your body, of your livestock, and of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord shall open to you His good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day and are watchful to do them.

COVENANTS SESSION 4

COVENANTS SESSION 4

THE MARRIAGE AND NOAHIC COVENANTS

This is our fourth session in covenants. Previously we have discussed introductory material and last week we discussed the Edenic and Adamic Covenants. We saw that the Edenic was prior to sin entering the world and the Adamic was God’s way of providing redemption because of that sin. Tonight we will examine the Marriage and Noahic Covenants.

THE MARRIAGE COVENANT

The first covenant that we will discuss is the Marriage Covenant. The covenant that the Lord God initiated for marriages is mentioned by name only once. That is in Malachi 2:14, however if we examine some other scriptures closely we find that the Marriage Covenant is one that the Lord intended to be understood without each time noting it as a covenant.

Paul E. Palmer, a Catholic theologian said “Contracts engage the services of people; covenants engage persons. Contracts are made for a stipulated period of time; covenants are forever. Contracts can be broken with material loss to the contracting parties; covenants cannot be broken, but if violated, they result in personal loss and broken hearts. Contracts are witnessed by people with the state as guarantor; covenants are witnessed by God with God as guarantor.” With that in mind one would believe that Palmer thought that covenant was a matter of faith, one requiring a deeper more personal dedication than does a contract.

Bob Deffinbaugh said “Ours is not an age that desires to make long-term commitments. The covenant of marriage is often avoided, and vows that are made lack the permanence and commitment of former days. Guarantees are given for a very short period. Contracts are often vaguely worded or are undermined by loopholes and fine print. Strangely, Christians seem to think that clear, contractual agreements are somehow unspiritual, especially between two believers. ‘A man should be as good as his word,’ we are told. And so he should.”

Interestingly enough there is a movement currently underway in some states to recognize the Marriage Covenant and give it a special place in marriage ceremonies. The Wikipedia on the internet states “…a covenant marriage is a legally distinct kind of marriage, in which the marrying couple agree to obtain pre-marital counseling and accept more limited grounds for divorce. The movement to create covenant marriage as a legal category, largely driven by evangelical Christians, is a cultural and political response to the ready availability of no-fault divorce and the United States' high divorce rate. It is more difficult for couples who have a legal covenant marriage to obtain a divorce. Cause for divorce is typically limited to abuse, a felony with jail time, or adultery; however, these restrictions do not apply if one or both spouses file for divorce in a state that does not recognize covenant marriages. To date, the number of couples choosing covenant marriage in the states where it is an option has ranged between 1 and 3 percent of all marriages.” Currently the following states have this as a legal category: Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona. These states have had legislation introduced to create legal covenant marriage: California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. However, to date these efforts have not been successful. Another interesting item is that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and his wife renewed their marriage vows under Arkansas’ more restrictive Covenant Marriage statues in 2005.

In Matthew 19:3-11 we have Jesus reinforcing the idea of marriage as a covenant relationship. The Pharisees were trying to trap Him, because the rabbis were divided on this issue, by questioning whether or not it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for “any cause at all.” In His response Jesus answering said “ “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’”

Matthew 19:3-11 (NLT) - ³ Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” ⁴ “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁵ And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ ⁶ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” ⁷ “Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” they asked. ⁸ Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. ⁹ And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful.” ¹⁰ Jesus’ disciples then said to him, “If this is the case, it is better not to marry!” ¹¹ “Not everyone can accept this statement,” Jesus said. “Only those whom God helps.

The Spirit Filled Bible (NJKV, Thomas Nelson Bibles) in a Kingdom Dynamics section states “When two people marry, God stands as a witness to the marriage, sealing it with the strongest possible word: covenant. ‘Covenant’ speaks of faithfulness and enduring commitment. It stands like a divine sentinel over marriage, for blessing or for judgment. Divorce is here described as violence. To initiate divorce does violence to God’s intention for marriage and to the mate to whom one has been joined. Yet, where husband and wife live according to their marriage vows, all the power of a covenant-keeping God stands behind them and their marriage. What a confidence, to know that God backs up our marriage. His power and authority stand against every enemy that would violently threaten it from without or within. ” In another place “Jack Hayford writes that... “The covenant of marriage is the single most important human bond that holds all of God’s work on the planet together. It is no small wonder that the Lord is passionate about the sanctity of marriage and the stability of the home. This covenant of marriage is based on the covenant God has made with us. It is in the power of His promise to mankind that our personal covenant of marriage can be kept against the forces that would destroy homes and ruin lives." (Hayford, J. W. The Spirit-Filled Family: Holy Wisdom to Build Happy Homes. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)

Malachi 2:14 (AMP) - ¹⁴ Yet you ask, why does He reject it? Because the Lord was witness [to the covenant made at your marriage] between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously and to whom you were faithless. Yet she is your companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your marriage vows].

Here we have the scripture stating that the Israelites were not receiving the blessing on their giving because they were not treating their wives in a covenant manner. Not only the financial blessing but He doesn’t answer the prayers of one breaking the covenant relationship with their spouse. We are in covenant with our wives and they are in covenant with us. This verse tells us that our covenant relationships affect every aspect of our lives. We are in covenant and should act accordingly, because the Covenant –Maker, -Keeper, -Revealer and –Enabler is watching us perform our part of it. Remember that the Bible opens and closes with marriage scenes.

The word for marriage in the Hebrew is kiddushin which comes from the base word meaning sanctified. We see here that marriage is one of the sacred covenants in the Word of God. We see in Ephesians 5:25-27 that the Lord sanctifies the church and the husband sanctifies the wife, the word sanctifies in the Greek is the same word as marriage.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (NASB95) - ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶ so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

And when we study the blood covenant ritual, we will see so much of our marriage covenant contained within it.

The following scriptures speak of the Lord joining two people into one when they become married, thus a covenant has been affected.

Genesis 2:24 (NKJV) - ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Matthew 19:5 (NKJV) - ⁵ and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?

Mark 10:8 (NKJV) - ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Then we have the scripture which states that God intended for man to have a God-given helper:

Genesis 2:18 (NLT) - ¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

Another scripture that we have which gives marriage covenant a strong backing is Proverbs 2:17, which acknowledges a woman abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made with him before God.

Proverbs 2:17 (NLT) - ¹⁷ She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.

The following are scriptures that point to the marriage of God with His people. He wants us to treat our spouses as He will treat us and the way we should treat Him.

Isaiah 54:5 (AMP) - ⁵ For your Maker is your Husband—the Lord of hosts is His name—and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth He is called.

Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV) - ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

One last scripture that I believe relates to marriage is:

Ezekiel 16:2-8 (NASB95) - ² "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations ³ and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ "As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. ⁵ "No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born. ⁶ "When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!‘ ⁷ "I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare. ⁸ "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD.

So in all our marrying and living we need to take a moment to reaffirm our covenant standing with our spouses, giving the Lord the glory and honor due Him for our being provided a companion. And not just any companion but one the Father protects. The Nelson Study Bible offers a comment on Malachi 2:14, it states “by covenant: The union of a marriage is formal, public, legal, and sacred, a binding contract.”

THE NOAHIC COVENANT

Arthur W. Pink said, ““Noah is the connecting link between “the world that then was,” which “being overflowed with water, perished,” and the earth which now is “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:6,7)” ….A period of sixteen centuries intervened between the covenant of works which God entered into with Adam and the covenant of grace which He made with Noah.”

Sixteen hundred years elapsed during which God did not enter into a covenant with man. During this time men received Divine revelations, enjoyed divine promises and precepts, God was real to them. But they were involved in sins and immoralities and the Lord had had enough. However, in Genesis 6:5 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” There were Nephilim on the earth and the sons of God were marrying the daughters of men. The divine blood line was being polluted by angelic hosts and had to be stopped so that the “Seed of woman” could come and fulfill the covenant given to Adam.

Elohim was the one telling Noah that He would make a covenant with him. Elohim is the plural of God, thus the covenant was being made between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and Noah. The plurality adds emphasis to the covenant being made; it speaks of the eternal promises of God being worked out through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This was the same Elohim in Genesis 1:1 which says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That was Elohim and in Genesis 6:18 He is entering into a covenant with Noah. So we have God the Creator subjecting Himself to man in a covenant that will last for eternity.

Who is this man that God is cutting a covenant with? Born to Lamech, he was approximately 300 years old when he entered the ark. After the ark landed and he made a sacrifice to the Lord he lived another 650 years. Noah is mentioned in Isaiah 54:9 which says “the waters of Noah” and then in Ezekiel 14:14, 20 we find him mentioned along with Daniel and Job. The New Testament treats him as follows:

Matthew 24:37 (NKJV) - ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV) - ⁷ By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

2 Peter 2:5 (NKJV) - ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

In the New Testament he is treated as an example in the future, a righteous man, a faithful man, a preacher of righteousness and an example for us.

This is the covenant giving mankind a new beginning. It is one that speaks through redemption, cleansing man from the past and giving him a future. So the Noahic Covenant is one of the redemptive covenants that the Lord has given to man.

This covenant in addition to being an eternal covenant sets the pattern for all the other Divine Covenants. Through our understanding of this covenant, as well as the other covenants that we will be discussing, our appreciation for the New Covenant through our Lord Jesus Christ will be heightened.

The Noahic Covenant consists of two parts, Genesis 8:20-22 and Genesis 9:1-17. The first part, rather than being a promise God made to Noah (and us), is actually a confirmation that God made in speaking to His heart. Some say this is God’s covenant with creation.

Genesis 8:20-22 (NASB95) - 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, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease."

So we see in Verse 21 the Lord God speaking to Himself. Keil & Delitzsch in their Commentary on the Old Testament phrase “the LORD said to Himself” as “the Lord said to His heart.” That places it in another sphere for me, the Lord isn’t speaking out loud making a statement, He is speaking within Himself, to Himself re-establishing the parts that follow: not destroy every living thing, also seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. So in this we have a Divine Assurance.

Genesis 9:1-17 (NASB95) - ¹ And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 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. 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. ⁶ "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. ⁷ "As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it."
⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹ "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹ "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." ¹² God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; ¹³ I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ "It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ "When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

This scripture gives us the following seven terms of promise:

1. While the earth remains, God will not curse the ground or living creatures again.

2. Man is to replenish the earth

3. Man is to rule over the earth

4. Animals are added to their diet, they can be eaten except for the blood

5. Capital punishment for murderers is instituted, as well as death to animals that kill men

6. The rainbow becomes the sign of the covenant

7. This would be an eternal covenant

When we look at the part about God blessing Noah and his sons all of the scriptures of being blessed are brought to mine. A few of which are:

Psalms 1:1 (AMP) - ¹ BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.

Psalms 112:1 (AMP) - ¹ PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.

Psalms 128:1 (AMP) - ¹ BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who fears, reveres, and worships the Lord, who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments.

Matthew 5:2-11 (AMP) - ² Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: ³ Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted! ⁵ Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!
⁶ Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied! ⁷ Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy! ⁸ Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous—possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God! ⁹ Blessed (enjoying enviable happiness, spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God! ¹⁰ Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
¹¹ Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.

Isaac blessed Jacob in Genesis 28:3 by restating "May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;” I love the fact that the Almighty God has blessed us as well. The Amplified Bible with its explanation of Blessed – “HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable” makes it even more exciting that we are the blessed of God.

WE ARE BLESSED!