作者：Nicholas T. Batzig 翻译: 骆鸿铭
The Noahic Covenant was the first covenantal
administration after God’s initial covenant promise to redeem and restore
humanity (Gen. 3:15). It is also the first time that the word ? (Berith) is
used in the canon. What has not been frequently observed, however, is the way
in which the Noahic Covenant falls squarely in the realm of redemptive history.
Consider the following ways in which Noah and the Noahic Covenant plays a part
in redemptive-history:上帝在创世记3：15做出了最早的圣约应许：祂要救赎人类，恢复（restore）他们。挪亚之约是在这个圣约的应许之后，上帝所作的第一个圣约的安排（covenantal
adminstration）。在挪亚之约中，圣经第一次使用了“约”（berith）这个字。不过，不常有人注意到的是挪亚之约如何适当地嵌合到救赎历史当中。让我们用下面的方式来思考挪亚和挪亚之约在救赎历史中所扮演的角色：
1)
The Redemptive Role of Noah as a Type of Christ: Noah was a type of Christ. He
was a typical second Adam, a typical redeemer, and a typical rest giver. Noah
was given very similar instructions as Adam with regard to being fruitful and
multiplying, filling the earth and subduing it. He was not the second Adam, but
was a type of the second Adam. Jesus is the second and last (eschatological)
Adam who redeems His people and fulfills the creation mandates. Noah was a typical
redeemer. 1) 挪亚救赎角色是基督的预表（type）：挪亚是基督的预表。他是第二个亚当的预表（a typical second
Adam），救赎者的预表（a typical redeemer），赐下安息者的预表（a typical rest giver）。神给挪亚的吩咐和亚当非常类似，要生养众多，遍满地面，并治理大地（参：创1：28；9：1）。挪亚不是第二个亚当，而是那第二个亚当的预表。耶稣是第二个亚当和末后（末世性）的亚当；祂救赎祂的百姓，并且完成了神在伊甸园中给亚当的创造使命。挪亚是救赎者的预表。
Everyone
with Noah on the Ark was saved. Everyone in Christ is saved. Noah was not “the
Redeemer.” He was a typical redeemer, providing typical redemption for all
those who descended from him. Jesus came to redeem all those He represented
spiritually. Noah was a typical rest-giver. Noah’s name meant ‘Rest.’ His
father had named him ‘Rest,’ saying, “This one will give us rest from the
ground which the Lord had cursed.” Noah only gives typical rest, as the
remainder of the Bible bears witness to the ongoing need for redemptive rest.
所有在方舟上和挪亚同在的人都得了拯救。所有在基督里的人也得了拯救。挪亚不是“那位唯一的救赎者”（the Redeemer）。他是救赎者的一个预表，为所有从祂而出的人提供了一个救赎的预表。挪亚是赐下安息者的预表。他的名字意思是“安息”。他的父亲给他起名叫“安息”时说：“这个儿子必为我们的操作和手中的劳苦安慰我们（give us rest）；这操作劳苦是因为耶和华咒诅地”。（创5：29）挪亚只能给我们预表性的安息，这提醒我们，圣经见证了我们所不断需要的救赎安息。
Jesus
is the One who finally and fully gives rest to the people of God and to the
creation that was brought under the curse at the fall. He is the One who said,
“Come unto Me and I will give you rest for your souls.” He is the One who takes
the curse on Himself when He wears the crown of thorns–the symbol of the curse
on the ground.
耶稣是最终并完全地把安息赐给神的百姓和被造界的那位。祂是那位说“到我这里来，我就使你们得安息”（太11：28）的人。祂担当了神的咒诅——戴着长满荆棘的皇冠，而荆棘是神对地的咒诅的象征。
2)
The Redemptive Foreshadowing of the New Creation: The book of Revelation tells
us that the “new heavens and the new earth” will be the new Temple where God
dwells fully and permanently with the redeemed. Noah and all of creation were
together in the Ark, as in a typical temple. This was foreshadowing the new
creation-temple. Interestingly, the Ark and Solomon’s Temple had three levels.
It seems that the biblical data substantiates that the Ark was a Temple where
God dwelt with His creation.
2) 新造的救赎预示：启示录告诉我们，“新天新地”会是那新的圣殿，是神完全并永远与得赎之人居住之处。挪亚在方舟上和所有的生物同在，方舟有如预表性的圣殿。那是在预示新造的圣殿。有趣的是，方舟和所罗门的圣殿都有三层。圣经的资料似乎支持这样的看法，就是方舟是神与祂所造的万物同住的圣殿。
Noah
also lead the way into a typical new creation when he and his family stepped
off of the Ark and into a world that has been typically cleansed of pollution.
Jesus brought about the new creation through His death and resurrection. Noah
knew that the flood had not really made “all things new,” because he sacrificed
when he stepped off of the Ark. The flood waters could never cleanse the evil
out of the heart of man. God had destroyed the earth with a flood because
“every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually” (Gen.
6:5).
挪亚也带领我们进入一个预表性的新造当中。挪亚和他的家人步出方舟，进入一个罪污（在预表的层面上）已经被清除的世界。耶稣借着祂的死与复活实现了这个新造。挪亚知道洪水没有让“一切都更新”（启21：5），因为当他步出方舟时仍然向上帝献祭。洪水绝对无法清除人心里的邪恶。上帝用洪水除灭大地，是因为“人在地上罪恶很大，终日所思想的尽都是恶。”（创6：5）
God
promised never to destroy the earth with a flood again because “the imagination
of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). The reason for the latter
declaration was that the flood was never meant to deal with man’s real
problem–the sinful pollution of his heart. Noah’s sons would populate the earth
with depraved sinners. Only the blood of Jesus could cleanse the hearts of
sinners. The cleansed world onto which Noah and his family stepped when the
waters receded was a type of the “new heavens and the new earth in which
righteousness dwells.” 上帝应许不再用洪水毁坏这地，因为“人从小时心里怀着恶念”（创8：21）。之所以作出这样的宣告是因为洪水从来没有要处理人真正的问题——他内心的罪污。挪亚的儿子们会生出败坏的罪人来，遍满地面。只有耶稣的血能清除罪人的心。洪水消退后，挪亚和他的家庭步出方舟所进入的、已经被除净的世界，只是“新天新地，有义居在其中”（彼后3：13）的预表。
3)
The Redemptive Purpose of Animals: Noah was commanded to take seven clean and
two unclean of every animal into the Ark. The clean/unclean distinction was
relavent in redemptive history for several reasons. First, it would be used in
Israel’s sacrificial system. Because Jesus is likened to “a Lamb without
blemish and without spot,” Israel would be commanded in the OT to offer
spotless (clean) lambs to God. All of Israel’s sacrifices were to be clean. The
cleanness was symbolic of the sinlessness of Jesus. When he stepped off of the
Ark, the very first thing that Noah did was offer a sacrifice to God. The
sacrificial system stretched back to Adam and Eve and was carried forward in
redemptive history until Christ was sacrificed.
3) 动物的救赎目的：神吩咐挪亚带七对洁净的畜类，和一对不洁净的畜类进入方舟。这个洁净/不洁净的区分和救赎历史是相关的。这有几个理由。首先，这会用在以色列的献祭系统里。因为耶稣是那“无瑕疵、无玷污的羔羊”（彼前1；19），神在旧约中吩咐以色列人要把无污点（洁净）的羔羊献给神。以色列人的所有献祭都必须是洁净的，那是耶稣无罪的象征。当他步出方舟，挪亚所作的第一件事就是献祭给神。这个可以追溯到亚当和夏娃的献祭系统在救赎历史中被继续执行，直到基督被献为祭为止。
In
addition to the preparation for the sacrificial system in Israel,the clean and
unclean animals would, in time, become illustrative of the two groups of
mankind–Jews and Gentiles. These two classifications represented spiritually
clean and unclean groups of humanity in redemptive history until Christ came.
The Scriptures expressly teach this in the account of Peter’s vision of the unclean animals brought down
from heaven in the sheet for him to eat. (Acts 10:9-11:18). 除了在以色列中，为献祭系统作预备之外，洁净和不洁净的动物也用来描述人类的两个族群——犹太人和外邦人。这两种分类代表着基督来临之前，在救赎历史中，属灵洁净和不洁净的人类族群。在圣经所记载的彼得的异梦中，鲜明地教导了这点。神吩咐彼得要吃那从天降下的大布里所包含的不洁净的动物。（参见徒10：9～11：18）
The
final thing to note about the animals in the Ark is in regard to food. Before
the flood it appears that man was only permitted to eat vegetation. After the
flood, God told Noah that he and his descendants could eat meat (only without
the blood). What was the reason for this shift? 最后一件有关方舟中动物的事，和食物有关。在洪水之前，神似乎只容许人吃植物。在洪水之后，上帝告诉挪亚，他和他的后裔可以吃肉（只是不可以带血）。这种转变的理由是什么呢？The eating of meat
would not serve as a precursor to the eating of the sacramental and ceremonial
redemptive meals, such as the Passover. There were no vegetarians in the Old
Covenant church because God was foreshadowing the spiritual eating of the flesh
and blood of His Son in the sacrifices. 享受盛宴不是要作为享用作为圣礼和仪式性的救赎性圣餐的前兆（precursor），例如逾越节的晚餐。旧约教会没有吃素的人，因为上帝已经在献祭当中预示要在属灵上吃喝祂儿子的肉和血。
If
man had not been allowed to eat meat, then the eating of the sacrificial
meals–symbolizing the spiritual eating of the flesh of the Son of God by
faith–would have been an unintelligible concept. God was preparing His people
for what would come as the history of redemption unfolded.如果神不允许人吃肉，那么享用献祭的盛宴——象征靠信心在属灵上吃喝神的儿子的肉——就是个让人无法理解的概念。上帝是在预备祂的百姓，迎接即将要在救赎历史中展开的事。
4)
The Redemptive Nature of the Death Penalty: The death penalty is clearly
established in the Noahic Covenant. Again, this falls in the realm of
redemptive history. If murderers were not put to death (a punishment fitting
the crime in accord with the justice of God) then mankind would have a very
difficult time “being fruitful and multiplying.” Human extermination was
restrained via the death penalty. This served the redemptive purposes of God.
4) 死刑的救赎本质。挪亚之约中很清楚地确立了死刑（创9：5-7）。再次，这和救赎历史是相符的。如果没有治死杀人者（此刑罚符合神的公义），那么，人类在“生养众多”的事情上就会遭遇到很大的困难。透过死刑，人类的灭绝才会受到限制。这会满足神的救赎旨意。
Interestingly,
this would also safeguard the coming of the Redeemer. In His human nature,
Jesus may rightly be said to be in the loins of Noah. Each generation of Israel
hoped that God would fulfill the promise of the Seed-Redeemer (Gen. 3:15).
Unless God had protected His people–through whom the Seed would come–from mass
murder, His promise would have failed. This is the purpose of the book of
Esther.
有趣的是，这也保证了救赎者的到来。以祂的人性本质来说，耶稣可以被正确地称为从挪亚的身（腰）中生的。每一代以色列人都盼望神会成全那位后裔-救赎者的应许（创3：15）。除非神保护祂的百姓——那后裔会从他们而生——免受集体谋杀之害，祂的应许就会失败。这正是以斯帖记的目的所在。
Had
God allowed Hamen to exterminate the Israelites, the promise of the Redeemer
would have failed. The same is true with regard to the animals that might
shorten the population. God’s plan was the redeem a people “out of every tongue
and tribe and nation and language” through the
Redeemer, Jesus Christ.如果上帝容许哈曼灭绝以色列人，救赎者的应许就会失败。有关那些会减少牲口数量的动物也是一样。上帝的计划是透过那救赎者，耶稣基督，从“各族、各方、各民、各国”中救赎一群百姓。
In
addition, God would save His people by Himself undergoing the death penalty.
Though He did nothing deserving of death, He stood in the place of His people
who did. If there were no death penalty, we would not be saved. Jesus died the
death of a murderer, adulterer and every other death deserving criminal so that
we might be redeemed.此外，上帝也会透过祂自己承受死亡的刑罚来拯救祂的百姓。虽然祂没有作过任何配受死亡的事，祂却代替祂的百姓而死，是他们作了配受死刑的事。如果没有死亡的刑罚，我们就无法得救。耶稣为杀人者，奸淫者和所有配受死刑的罪犯而死，好让我们可以得救赎。
In
short, God was preserving the world to be the stage in which redemption would
occur. Had God not promised to preserve the fallen world, He would have been
untrue to His promise to redeem a people (Gen. 3:15).
总之，上帝保存这个世界作为舞台，好让救赎可以发生。如果上帝没有应许要保存这个堕落的世界，救赎一群百姓的应许（创3：15）就不是真的。
All
of the features surrounding the covenant itself were aspects of redemptive
history, which makes the Noahic Covenant more important than most have
realized. Every time we see the rainbow we should remember God’s covenant
faithfulness in sending the Redeemer to save a people for Himself.
围绕圣约本身的所有特征都是救赎历史的各个面向，这会让摩西之约比大多数人看起来要更为重要。每当我们看到彩虹，我们应该记得上帝在圣约中的信实，祂差派那救赎主，为自己救赎一群百姓。
Just
as God had placed a rainbow in the sky to show His steadfast covenant fidelity,
so there is a rainbow around the throne of Jesus Christ in glory (Rev. 4:3).
We, like Noah, are beneficiaries of the mercy established in the Noahic
Covenant in Jesus Christ.正如上帝在天空中放置了彩虹来显明祂圣约的信实，同样，也有彩虹围绕着耶稣基督荣耀的宝座（启4：3）。我们和挪亚一样，是在耶稣基督里，在挪亚之约中所确立的怜悯的受益者。