We can also see GOD's desire to fellowship with His people. GOD's attitude toward sin is evidenced by the wrath that He displayed in His destruction of the world by the flood. By punishing the wickedness of the world we have an idea of GOD's perfect justice. He cannot, by His very nature, let sin go unpunished. However, we also see the evidence of GOD's perfect mercy. Although He will punish rebellion against Him, He will also provide a means of escaping His imminent judgment. This will come into play in a much more profound way in GOD's later revelations.
The Abrahamic Covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant is important to understanding the relationship that GOD has with His people in that it shows GOD's promise of faithfulness to His people and it shows His willingness to enter into an obligation to mankind. The Abrahamic Covenant, like the Noahic Covenant, is unconditional. During the time of Abraham, when animals were sacrificed and split apart for people to walk through them in establishing a covenant together, they were agreeing with one another, that if either member breaks the covenant, he should be killed just as the animals were. With this covenant, "God promises to make Abraham a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great" (Essex, K. H. 1999). In order to provide evidence for the unconditional nature of this covenant, GOD puts Abraham into a deep sleep and walks through the animal parts Himself (Genesis 15: 17-18). GOD would never break His covenant with mankind, yet His willingness to be broken for our sake will come to actualization at a later time. As a sign of this covenant, Abraham would have all of his male descendants circumcised. Just as GOD would leave a reminder of the Noahic Covenant, Abraham leaves a reminder, at GOD's command, of the Abrahamic covenant. .
The Mosaic Covenant.
The Mosaic Covenant gives us a prime example of GOD's law in the Ten Commandments, thereby giving us a solid basis for understanding GOD's character and how people can be nearer to Him with this understanding.
