Keeper of the Covenant Genesis 9:8-17; Ephesians 3:14–21; Mark 6:45–56

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, the keeper of the covenant.

The Hebrew word for covenant is berith, and it literally means “to cut”. When a covenant would be made between two parties they would sacrifice an animal, cut it into parts, and then walk between the parts to seal the deal. From this ancient practice comes the phrase “to cut a deal”.

This showed that the covenant was not just a commitment between people, but was also a commitment to God, that they were accountable to God to keep their promise; and that if they broke their promise, may the same happen to them as to the animal that they had just sacrificed.

So a covenant was much more than just an informal promise, it was official even before God, and even at the price of one’s life.

The Bible uses this language to show the extent of God’s commitment to saving us from our sin, and the seriousness of our needing to keep His commands. There’s really nothing that can get at the commitment and seriousness of it like covenant language does.

The word covenant is used 316 times in the Bible. It’s first used in Genesis 6:18, just before the great flood. God told Noah, I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. So God promised them that, after cleansing the world with a flood, he would give them a covenant to live by, so they wouldn’t have to live in fear.

That covenant was given in today’s Old Testament: ⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “Behold, I now establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

God would allow history to run its course, for the sake of those who would believe in Him. He would carry out his plan to save the world through his Son; he wouldn’t stop history prematurely.

Christ would come to earth, live a holy life, die and rise, then the Holy would be sent, and the gospel would be spread around the globe until the end of time.

God has promised us that He will allow the world to continue until he has completed his plan to save all his faithful children.

And he sealed that promise in a remarkable way for all the world to see. ¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³ I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

God could make this promise because he knew that at the right time he would send his Son to redeem the world, and His Spirit to sanctify the world. His Son would bring forgiveness to the world, and His Spirit would bring faith to receive that forgiveness.

Now when we look to the sky and see the rainbow, we see the Father, who made the promise to redeem us, the Son, who kept the promise to redeem us, and the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power to believe the promise of redemption.

In the colors of the rainbow we see much more than just a promise not to flood the entire earth again, we see a covenant, a sure and certain promise, that the triune God will save and bless those who repent and look to Him.

Therefore we need not live in the fear of the destruction of our lives and our world. Instead, living by faith, we take care of this world, and the people in it.

In today’s Gospel Jesus shows us that, trusting in Him, we need not live in fear of this world. In our Gospel he commands the sea and the storm, walking to the disciples on the water.

Mark says that he intended to pass by them, perhaps to meet them on the shore, or to walk before them, but when they saw him they were scared it might be a ghost, so he spoke to calm them: “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And he got into the boat to reassure them.

But they still were having trouble believing it all, because, Mark says, their hearts were hardened.

They had the same trouble with doubting that we have.  Still Jesus stuck with them and helped them believe, just as he stands by us, to help us with our doubts and fears.

Weak and fallen though we are, he promises us in the strongest way possible, with a covenant, to not destroy us, but save us from the storm of sin and death.

Many times in Scripture, God re-established his covenant with his people, and always they failed to keep their part of it, which was to love and obey Him perfectly, something none of us has ever been able to do.

So God sent his Son as a man, who kept the covenant for us, obeying God to perfection, and loving his neighbor as himself.

Then Jesus sealed the perfect covenant by allowing his body to be cut and his blood to be spilled as he was nailed to the cross; he was the sacrifice of the covenant; the pledge that it would be kept. That was proven to the world when God raised him from the dead.

So in the greatest of ironies, the cross has become a kind of rainbow to us; a sign that God has kept his promise to keep us from eternal destruction.

God gave us the promise of the rainbow because he knew he would send his Son, and he knew His Son would win our salvation.

Knowing this, we look at the rainbow and we see the cross in the midst of it. What a beautiful thing to look up to, to calm our hearts and give us hope.

They say that if you can locate the end of the rainbow, you’ll find a pot of gold. Has anybody ever found the end of the rainbow? Is there a pot of gold there?

Actually there’s something far more valuable under the rainbow, a crown of righteousness, and glory, and joy forever.

Living in the covenant of Christ that became ours in the waters of Baptism, we have the sure and certain promise of God’s amazing grace to live by now, and His amazing glory to forward to for eternity.

Since God is faithful toward us, forgiving us completely, and keeping his covenant to perfection, so let us set our hearts on keeping our part of the covenant, to love Him with our whole heart, and our neighbors as ourselves.

Christ is the perfect keeper of the covenant for us; let us, according to His power at work in us, as our Epistle says, strive to be keepers of the covenant, too, living in steadfast faith and loving obedience.

Let us take His commandments seriously, even if we’re mocked or looked down on for doing so, just as he takes his covenant to save us seriously – and how happy we are he does.

God didn’t establish a covenant of convenience with us, to be discarded if it would become inconvenient for Him, or for us, but rather He established it with an undying love and commitment toward us.        

Although we sometimes fall short in keeping His covenant, as we repent under the cross, God lifts us back up under the rainbow of His grace, that He might shine His blessings on us, and we might rejoice to truly try to keep his commandments in this world.

It’s not a perfect life, but we have a perfect covenant of grace to live by, and a perfect God to help us through the storm. The rainbow reminds us of that.

Finally, just as the rainbow comes in the calm after the fury of the storm, so as you go through the storms of life, may the peace of God come to you, to calm your heart and keep your mind in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.