One essential key for following the Bible is found in understanding the Old and the New Covenants. Without a correct understanding of this subject, one may miss what God plans for His people today. One may try to apply things today that God intended for people of an earlier age.
This point can be illustrated quite simply. Suppose someone says to you, “Since the Bible is God’s word, you must obey everything in it.” At first that sounds reasonable. Then he becomes more specific. He tells you that in God’s word there is a command to build a very large boat.
“Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high….” (Genesis 6:14-15)
He insists that you must build this ship to those exact measurements, or at least contribute money toward the work. What would you say? Are you building an ark already? Would you refuse to build an ark? If you refuse, there should be a good reason. That reason of course, is that the command about the ark was not given to you. It was given to Noah. It was part of a special agreement—“a covenant”—that God made with Noah (Genesis 6:18). God said,
“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. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.” (Genesis 6:18-19)
God kept His part of the agreement (His promises), and Noah kept his part (trust and obedience). Through God’s kindness, Noah and his family were saved from the flood waters. After the flood, God made a new covenant in which He promised never again to destroy the world by water (Genesis 9:8-17). God told Noah,
“Behold, I establish My covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you…. I establish My covenant with you, that 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.” 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: I have set My bow n the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:9-13)