God's Signature

God’s Signature

Genesis 9: 1-17 (NLT)

Intro: A few months back, my eldest son and I were leaving wal-mart in Covington. While we were in the store, a storm had come and we were driving out of the parking lot and DJ said look at that dad, pointing to the sky. In the sky was a beautiful rainbow arcing over the sky. He asked me to pull over and he took out his phone and took a picture of the rainbow and immediately sent it to his girlfriend. He was taken aback by the beauty that he had seen with that rainbow and he wanted to share it with someone he cared about.

. As I looked at that rainbow, many thoughts came to mind.

. I remembered the song by Judy Garland in the Wizard Of Oz. Somewhere over the Rainbow.

. These are some of the words.

. Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

.Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

. Then I thought about the movies that show the little leprechauns there at the end of the rainbow with a pot of gold.

. As I was preparing this sermon and thought about these things, I realized that both of those things are true.

. You see, as you look up into the sky, there is a land that we hear of where our dreams will come true.

. Heaven is waiting at the end of that rainbow for those who place their faith in Jesus and dream of an eternity with him.

. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You see at the end of the rainbow, we find riches in Christ Jesus. Nothing is more valuable.

More than anything else though, what I saw and see is God’s signature on a contract that He has made with mankind.

. Every time I see a rainbow, I think if Gods first promise to mankind.

. We are back in Genesis this morning.

Last time we were in Genesis, we saw that the very first thing Noah did when he left the Ark was to thank and worship God. That was the most important thing to Noah.

. Acknowledging what God had done for him and worshipping him.

. Then we come to chapter 9 where Noah, his family and all the animals leave the boat.

. I’m going to share the story with you and comment on a few things as we go through and we will look at several verses specifically.

. God blesses Noah and his sons and gives them the command to be fruitful and multiply. You can trace back all the people groups of the world to Noah’s three sons. Shem Ham and Japheth.

. Then God does something that many times we read right over.

. God changes the order of things. Up until that time, man and the other animals had lived in harmony with each other.

. Mankind was vegetarian and therefore the animals had nothing to fear from him. Now God gave the animals over to man. Man was to rule over the animal kingdom and also they were now available for food.

. The order in the world has changed. Adam had a relationship with the animal kingdom, he named them but now, this was a new order.

. God then explains to them just how precious the sanctity of human life was by declaring that if a human or an animal takes a life, then their life should be taken from them.

. There are many connotations with this verse and a different sermon altogether.

. God then talks about a covenant.

. The covenant that He had mentioned briefly in chapter 6 but now was about to explain to Noah just what was in that covenant.

. This is where we will camp out for the remainder of our time this morning.

. God’s covenant or promise to Noah and to all mankind and what part the rainbow plays in this covenant.

. Let’s look at verses 8-17 of chapter 9.

8Then God told Noah and his sons,

9“I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants,

10and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.

11Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

12Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come.

13I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.