Do you remember as a kid ever making a promise by crossing your heart, a pinky swear, or swearing to God? By nature, we look for assurances and guarantees and we learn this early in life. As we grow older, however, we realize that we live in a world of broken promises and unfaithfulness. There’s cheating in business, in politics, in marriage, people forsaking their vows. We see unfaithfulness in the Christian realm as well - unfaithfulness to God, to His Word, His teaching, and to His family. Even when we have good intentions, we break our promises to people and people break their promises to us. This reality stands in stark contrast to God when He makes a promise. He is absolutely faithful, His Word is sure, and He has and will always keep every one of His promises.
We are continuing our series in the book of Genesis and are looking at Noah and his family after the flood. The world has changed, humankind's relationship with God, with each other, and creation itself has changed. Yet God hasn’t changed. Noah and his family were beginning a new life and were uncertain about what the future held for them. But we know that the same God who saved Noah and his family through the worldwide flood will be faithful to take care of them in this brand new chapter of their lives. As Spurgeon said:
How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold One who is faithful—faithful in all things, faithful at all times.”
Let’s turn to Genesis 9
Genesis 9:1-17 (ESV)
9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
7 And you,[a] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 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.” 12 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: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
In order for life to continue in this new world, God commissions Noah to:
? Reproduce life
? Provide for life
? Protect life
? Preserve life
1. Reproduce Life
God commissioned Noah and his sons to repopulate the “new” earth just like He had commanded Adam and Eve to populate the earth at the beginning of creation. God, knowing all the heartache, sorrow, and evil that sin would bring on this earth, could have said, “enough of this, I’m done with you” and just wiped out everyone and everything. But we know that He didn’t do this. He had made man and woman in His image and still had a plan to display that image throughout the earth.
The Biblical account contrasts with the early Babylonian flood accounts where the gods were angry that anyone survived the flood. These gods didn’t want humankind to repopulate the earth. Atrahasis Epic, one Babylonian accounts concludes that overpopulation is the earth’s primary problem, hence the need for population control, which can be accomplished either by nature or by the gods. Gen. 9:1 & 7 is a conscious rejection of the Babylonian depiction of God and his Character.”
The Babylonian’s description of their gods are very different from the character and nature of the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible, the Creator of the earth and all its inhabitants is telling us here that there will be a blessing in having a family and raising children even in a fallen world. God wants those who are created in His image to experience the blessings of marriage, the blessings of children, the blessings of family, and blessings of fellowship with friends, and especially with Himself. God wants His creation to enjoy and take care of the world He has created for them - first by multiplying His image in the world through procreation and also by ruling over and caring for animals and nature.
In the Garden of Eden, the animals came to Adam and he named them. He was given the responsibility to subdue nature, so as to use it, to shape it in the direction that would reflect the usefulness, the order, the beauty and the purpose of its Creator. We know that we don’t always steward creation well by the way by our consumerist lifestyle, the way we use our time and energy, how we treat each other and our environment. But God gave Noah and his family a new world, not only to be repopulated but He would ensure they would have what they needed to:
2. Provide for life
After the flood, humankind's relationship to the animal kingdom changed. Before the flood, animals had no fear of people because as far as we know no one looked to animals as a source of food. But now God has put the fear and dread of humankind in the animals while at the same time giving Noah and his family access to all animal life and every vegetable as a source of food.
1 Timothy 4:4 tells us, “everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” What’s Paul talking about here? He’s talking about food. There are those who tell you to abstain from foods which God has provided for us, which were created to be gratefully enjoyed and shared. So in 1 Timothy, there is a reiteration of Genesis 9:3 - “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”
All life comes from God and shouldn’t be exploited but respected because God is the giver of life. Humans are not to devour animals the way animals devour each other, while the blood is pulsing in the flesh. God makes it clear that blood represents the life of the being. When blood is poured out, life is poured out. This makes sense Healthwise since animal blood can pose health risks such as severe diseases and foodborne illnesses. Possibly God is protecting them from these types of diseases, but we can only speculate here.
It’s clear in the next passage that the greatest threat to Noah and his family was not the bacteria but injury or death from wild animals and each other. If an animal killed a human being it was to be put down to keep it from happening again. Though animals do cause human deaths every year the greatest threat to our lives are other human beings. Remember Cain and Able?
As creation is starting over, God is telling Noah in vv. 1, 3-4, the same thing He told Adam and Eve:
? Populate the earth
? You are free to eat anything you want with only one prohibition
In the case with Noah and his family, the prohibition was not with regards to any tree but not to consume blood.
Vv. 5-6 talk about accountability and the penalty for animals or people taking the life of a human being. Why such a seemingly harsh penalty? It is because killing another human being is to destroy someone who is a bearer of God’s image. This prohibition concerning murder is addressed to all of humanity and not to Israel alone. That is why God instructs Noah and his descendants to produce life, provide for that life, and to:
3. Protect life
Incredible violence, bloodshed, and sensuality - basically the depravity of humankind grieved God and this brought about His judgment on the whole earth. The way people were treating each other revealed their lack of value for human life - life was cheap. But to God all human life is sacred. People don’t have the right to murder other fellow human beings and if they do it comes with a penalty.
We see this prohibition in the 6th of the 10 commandments: “You shall not kill.” The word for kill here is “murder.” The Bible distinguishes between a justified killing, i.e., in the case of self-defense, and murder meaning unlawful (not legally justified) homicide in which the perpetrator intentionally kills another person. The penal codes of nations around the world have historically held a similar distinction. Is there a time when killing another human being is warranted?
Christians have debated with each other—and struggled in their own minds—over whether serving in the military during war time, to use deadly force as a police officer, or even to protect their own families from homicidal attacks, is justified. Unfortunately, it’s sad but true that throughout history, protecting a nation, protecting society, and protecting yourself and loved ones sometimes requires killing, but that is different from murder. God has instituted laws that are necessary for stability, to protect and:
4. Preserve life
We see in vv. 13-17 that God establishes His first unconditional covenant to humankind and to every living creature on the earth - that He would not destroy the earth and creation again with a flood. The word establish means that “God institutes a new relationship that He will carry out and fulfill” so that humanity would again have time to live and thrive. God sealed this unconditional promise with a sign - His rainbow.
What do I mean by an unconditional covenant? There is no "condition" under which God will renege on His promise. It means that God’s promise doesn’t depend on what we do or don’t do, whether or not we are faithful to Him or keep our end of a bargain. The promise depends on and is based upon God’s faithfulness alone. Later, these promises or covenants will play a major role in God’s relationship with Abraham, Moses, David, the nation of Israel and with us through the New Covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. But why would God choose a rainbow as a sign of the first covenant?
An interesting thing here is that in the Hebrew, the same word qeše? is used for both the rainbow and the bow as a weapon. A common picture in ancient Near Eastern religions is that of a bow-wielding deity. The bow is a symbol of His power…the OT itself describes Yahweh as a warrior (Exod 15:3) who vanquishes his opponents with a bow and a quiver full of arrows (Hab 3:9). So too do God’s representatives fight off their assailants with the bow (Gen 49:23–24).
God, who had drawn His bow of judgment with the arrows of judgment, against the world has now set it down for a time so that the plan of salvation can be accomplished through Jesus Christ. The rainbow is a sign of peace. God is giving the world time and the opportunity to believe in Him.
2 Peter 3:9 says:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
God wants us to understand the scope of this promise, to understand just how wide and significant this covenant is. The rainbow is given as a reminder, not only for us but specifically for God. He will remember His covenant that He has made with every living creature throughout all generations.
What does this tell us about God? God’s patience and goodness is toward those who believe in Him and have trusted Him for their salvation but also toward those who don’t know Him, who are on the path to destruction. God is giving the world time to respond. This rainbow is for everyone, even if they do not understand it’s true meaning. This speaks to us as well.
God is waiting for us to get it, to believe and accept that he really loves us, that He will keep every promise He has ever made in His Word, and that His plan for our lives is the better than anything we could ever imagine. Are we slow to trust Him and to believe that He will always be faithful even when we aren’t? What if you work with someone who is very difficult, we think about the rainbow. Do we sometimes think that when we fail Him or others that He is aiming with bent bow ready to strike us through? Sometimes we forget that God is not only holy and righteous, but that He is love - good, kind, merciful, gracious, and compassionate. God is always faithful. He is a covenant keeping God.
Isaiah 54:9-10 says:
This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
What this shows us is that God is far more patient with us than we are with ourselves and others. Every time a person comes to faith, we remember the rainbow - God’s unconditional love, expressed through the new covenant. Every time someone returns to God after a season of being far from Him - we remember the rainbow: God’s unconditional mercy, His long suffering. The Lord waits to be gracious to you (Isa 30:18).
One day there will be another judgment, but it will not be in the form of a flood. The Lord has fixed the day in which He will judge the world (Acts 17) but until that time God is giving us the opportunity to share the hope we have in Jesus. Just as we saw how God provided the way for Noah and his family to be saved in the ark and given an unconditional covenant, He also has provided a way for us to be saved from the wrath to come through the New Covenant - His unconditional covenant through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice.
