In the Bible, God brings about his kingdom goal through six, progressive covenants: (1) The Adamic covenant; (2) The Noahic covenant; (3) The Abrahamic covenant; (4) The Mosaic covenant; (5) The Davidic covenant; (6) The new covenant.
In this step and the following two, we will consider each covenant as well as the collective progression between the covenants. Together, the covenants of the Bible clarify how the Bible testifies to Jesus's unique identity as the God-Man.
The Adamic Covenant
The Adamic covenant (or “The Covenant with Creation”) is the first covenant in the Bible. The covenant was between God and all humanity, and Adam served as the covenant head and mediator. He represented creation before God, and he represented God to the creation. Through this covenant, God established his kingdom in the Garden of Eden. We read about this first covenant between God and humanity in Genesis 1:28–30 and 2:15–17.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
—Genesis 1:28-30
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
—Genesis 2:15-17
What do we learn about the Adamic covenant in these verses?
One scholar summarizes the Adamic covenant in this way:
God promised to give Adam and his posterity the blessing of eternal life with God in a place of perfect provision if Adam perfectly obeyed the law of God…Yet before Adam had fathered any children, he rebelled against God, breaking the covenant of creation. And the terms of the covenant called for death and exile.
(Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate, 135–36)
Now remember what we said earlier. The fact that God relates to his people through covenants teaches us three important facts:
I. God is the covenant Lord of his people.
II. God views us through our covenant head (either Adam or Christ).
III. Covenants have consequences.
This becomes a big problem for humanity because Adam, our covenant head, rebelled in Genesis 3. Since Adam disobeyed the covenant, we all stand condemned in Adam, and God cursed all creation with death. If we have Adam as our covenant head, God views us through Adam: as those guilty and deserving of death.
Here we begin to see our need:
(1) We need a new covenant head with a new covenant.
(2) We need him to perfectly obey as our representative.
(3) We need him to rescue us from the curse of death and the guilt of Adam’s sin.
This is the deliverer God promised to send in Genesis 3:15:
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
Genesis 3:15
This curse-overcoming deliverer becomes the focus of the biblical story.
The Noahic Covenant
After the worldwide flood of Genesis 6-8, God established the Noahic covenant with all humanity through Noah as the covenant head. We read about God’s covenant with Noah in Gen 9:1–7.
Remember our need after Adam’s rebellion:
(1) We need a new covenant and a new covenant head.
(2) We need him to perfectly obey.
(3) And we also need him to rescue us the curse of death, the guilt of Adam’s sin, and the dominion of darkness.
Noah was a new covenant head. And through Noah, God cleansed the earth and renewed his covenant with Adam.
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
—Genesis 9:1-7 NIV
What do we learn from these verses about God's covenant with Noah?
Noah was a second Adam, a new covenant head for humanity after the flood. However, the Noahic covenant was mostly a renewal of the old, Adamic covenant. Further, Noah broke this covenant like Adam did. Noah himself rebelled. He did not perfectly obey. And as we read about the sin of his children at the Tower of Babel, we realize that Noah and his ark did not rescue humanity from the curse of death nor the guilt of Adam’s sin. So the need remains.
(1) We need a new covenant with a new covenant head—(2) one who perfectly obeys, (3) and who will rescue us the curse of death, the guilt of Adam’s sin, and the dominion of darkness.