The word “covenant” (berit in Hebrew, vv. 9, 11) represents one of the most important themes of the Bible. It describes a binding relationship, contract, or commitment between two parties that is maintained under clear terms and conditions. Covenants played an important role in facilitating stability within a society and among nations, because they provided reassurance that all parties would act in agreed ways that were beneficial to all.

The most important covenant in the Old Testament is the one that God made with Abraham to give his descendants the land in Canaan (Genesis 15, 17). This led to the covenant with Moses and Israel on Mount Sinai, to bless Israel if they continued to follow and obey Him (Exodus 19 24). Later, God added to this a special covenant with King David, promising that one of David’s descendants would be king of an eternal kingdom: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

In today’s passage, God makes a covenant with Noah and the whole world, the first of His explicit covenants in the Bible (Genesis 9:8–17). The theme of “covenant” is so important to God’s dealings with Noah that the word is used repeatedly. We may note three important points:

First, the covenant is made with the whole of the natural world represented by Noah and his descendants. Again and again we hear God say that this covenant is made between himself and Noah and “every living creature” (or “the earth” or “all life on the earth”; vv. 9–13, 15–17). Despite man’s sin and rebellion, God still consents to binding himself by covenant to the world of humans, animals, and plants.

Second, the central promise of the covenant is God’s pledge never again to destroy the world by a flood (vv. 11, 15). It would have comforted Noah and his descendants to know that God, despite the persistence of human sin, had given His assurance that He would not repeat this act of universal punishment. Through the Bible’s unfolding revelation, we learn that similar destruction will be unleashed only one other time, when God brings history to its day of final judgment (2 Peter 3:3–10).

Third, the covenant is guaranteed by the sign of the rainbow: “Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant” (Genesis 9:14–15, see also vv. 13, 16). Signs were also used in other covenants, such as circumcision in the covenant with Abraham (17:9–14), and the Sabbath in the covenant with Moses (Exodus 31:16–18). Since covenants were binding and taken very seriously, it was important to establish means by which the two parties could recall the promises and obligations that a covenant entailed. Like how a wedding ring reminds a person of the solemn promises made to a spouse, God established unique symbols that would become regular memorials of the relationship His people had with Him.

Our God is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God who has invited us into a binding commitment and relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Because of the new covenant we have with Him, mediated by Christ, we have His unshakeable assurance of salvation.