“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.”
The covenant referred here is the everlasting covenant and it covers perpetual generations. From these man who is blessed is to be admitted in the Fellowship of God with Man in which he represented Jesus Christ. This Man is Jesus Christ the Word become flesh. We have been predestinated in him before the foundation of the world. (Ep.1:3-4)
As the Word carries both sound and sign let us look at the three way covenant in the key text. 1.Between me and you.
Noah serves as the double for his Son.
2 Every living creature that is with you.
3 The token. We shall try to understand the third element,
The Word is sound so when God commands “Let there be light” there are consequences.(Ge.1:14, 17-18) The sign of two great lights are the Zion-New Jerusalem descending fro heaven in Re.21:3. The bow similarly is another token. Advent of Jesus Christ is foreshadowed by these signs.
Let us recap: God repeats the covenant in terms of ‘after our image’ and “after our likeness’. In Ge.1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” and both Adam and Noah are alike. Noah is now set down as man in place of Adam. Noah serves as the steward for His creation. Because of sin having entered into the world, man is allowed to eat meat besides herbs. But his responsibility is still the same. “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (9:16-17) The token covers “all flesh.” So all the violence and bloodshed shall be judged at the end of the day decreed for the Son. “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Day and night shall not cease’ is stated in the covenant. So there is only one covenant where by Jesus Christ all things consist.
GuidetohisWord 