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Grounded-In-Biblical-Truth | |
Sovereign Grace Doctrines
Concerning 'THE GOSPEL' - JESUS CHRIST
CHRIST TYPIFIED IN THE RAINBOW (1)
GENESIS 9:8-17
GOOD NEWS FROM THE REDEEMER
DANIEL E. PARKS, PASTOR
FEBRUARY 27, 1999 - RADIO MESSAGE #256
Noah and his family found in their ark refuge and salvation from the deluge which destroyed the world of their day (Genesis 6-8). God then promised that He would never again destroy the world with water, and gave the rainbow as the perpetual token of that promise (Genesis 9:8-17). The rainbow is a type of Christ in the following regards.
I. Both rainbow and Christ are essentially related to a covenant. As for the rainbow, it is the sign of a covenant. A covenant is "a compact or agreement between two or more parties." Some of God's covenants are conditional: God's blessings to man are conditioned upon man's obedience, and man's disobedience will incur God's wrath. An example of a conditional covenant is that which God made with His chosen people at Mount Sinai after the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 19:1-8). Other covenants are unconditional: God's promise is not conditioned upon any obedience from man. The covenant in our present text is such a covenant. God here unconditionally promised Noah and every other living creature that He would never again destroy them with a deluge.
God's covenants are assigned a sign, or token which attests that the covenant associated with it is yet in effect. For example, the covenant which God made with His chosen people at Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28), had for its sign the sabbath (Exodus 31:13,17). As long as that covenant was in effect, the seventh day was to observed as a sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). This Noahic Covenant also has a sign (vv.12f): "And God said: 'This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.'" The rainbow is the sign of this Noahic Covenant.
Christ is the very embodiment of a covenant (Isaiah 42:6f): "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house." Jehovah here speaks of the New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and which has abrogated and replaced the Old Covenant, which God made with His chosen people at Mount Sinai (Hebrews 8:7-13).
This New Covenant is between God and His elect. God's elect are those who were graciously chosen from eternity in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-6), who is Himself called by God "My Elect One in whom My soul delights!" (Isaiah 42:1). God's elect are here said to be of both "the Gentiles" and "the people" or Jews (note the same distinction in Acts 26:17).
Christ is the embodiment of this New Covenant because He is the sum and substance of it. For example, the blessings of this covenant are graciously bestowed by God to His elect by virtue of their being in Christ. God here declares He has "called [Christ] in righteousness"; He therefore has done so to His elect (Romans 3:21-26). God here declares that He will "hold [Christ's] hand"; He therefore will hold the hand of His elect (Isaiah 41:13). God here declares that He will "keep [Christ]"; He therefore will keep His elect (1 Peter 1:3-5). God here declares that He will through Christ provide light for His people (see John 8:12), and open their blinded eyes and deliver them from prison (see Isaiah 61:1-3). Elsewhere we find that Christ is the New Covenant's Messenger (Malachi 3:1) and Mediator (Hebrews 8:6) and Surety (Hebrews 7:22), and that with His own blood He has ratified it (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:11-13). And God's elect will personally enter into covenantal relationship with God through faith in Christ (John 6:29). From these evidences we observe that indeed Christ is the sum and substance of the New Covenant between God and His elect.
(To be continued.)
Your servant for Jesus' sake.
Address all questions to pastor
Daniel E. Parks (2 Corinthians 4:5) e-mail RedeemerBC@aol.com
Pastor, Redeemer Baptist Church
2801 Cleveland Boulevard, Louisville, KY 40206 / 502.899-9205
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