Genesis 6:18

18. With thee will I establish my covenant ברית , covenant; Septuagint and New Testament, διαθηχη . For the origin of the word, see notes on chap . 15 . This word and act contain the weightiest and most vital truths . God’s personal condescension and love, man’s dignity and sonship, with all the duties and obligation involved in these exalted relations, are contained in this word. It is a rich, strong, elevating, and consoling word. Man, God’s image, God’s son, is accepted by him as a partner in promises and obligations. There is something indescribably ennobling and inspiring in the thought. God’s fatherly nearness and man’s immortal nature and destiny are implied in the word. 1) It was solemnly repeated to Abraham, the father of the covenant people; revealed to Isaac and Jacob; enlarged, explained, and more formally ratified with Moses, and all of these covenants were but typical of that sublimest and most mysterious transaction, “the new testament,” διαθηχη ,) revealing that infinite condescension and love which “the angels desire to look into,” ratified by the blood of the Son of God . A covenant of works was made with Adam at his creation, wherein man, as his part, was to furnish legal obedience, and God, as his part, eternal life; but when the promise came to sinful man, “faith was counted for righteousness” in the covenant of mercy . How empty, belittling, and cold are those systems of religion that would substitute obedience to the laws of nature for worship in faith and love, which takes hold on a personal, covenant-keeping Father! A covenant with man was implied in his moral nature; it was first expressed in the promise of the woman’s seed, but now, for the first time, appears under the covenant name.