As we speak, the Fiji islands are being hammered by a
tropical cyclone called “Winston” by
wind speeds of up to 325 km/h. Such devastating
wind power accompanied by torrential rain and flooding (between 200 – 400mm) has
never before been experienced by this
chain of islands in the Pacific ocean. Most
of the 900 000 residents of these islands
had to flee to storm shelters
built for this purpose. This tropical cyclone is said to be the result
of the El Ninõ phenomenon which is currently producing unusually warm water surfaces in the
Pacific ocean.
In our morning expositions we
are currently considering the biblical account of Noah and the
universal flood, which was caused
by the sin phenomenon, that stirs up
and heats up the minds, hearts and emotions of
fallen human to such an extent that
they not only begin to destroy one another, but that nothing short of
the judgement of the God who made them is needed to call them to a halt. The consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin and disobedience has indeed had
devastating effects upon mankind.
Soon after the fall, in Genesis
6:5 we read: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually…" and in vv.
11&12 we take note of the fact
that "… the earth was corrupt in God's sight and the earth was filled
with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all
flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." God
responds to this by pouring
out His wrath upon the whole earth in
terms of the worst weather ever
experienced. There is no shelter upon
the whole face of the earth apart from the ark. Why such excessive
punishment, you may ask? The answer is that God’s
wrath is a necessary response to His
holiness. In the Bible, God is revealed to us not only as the Creator (and thus the rightful owner) of
this world, but He is also revealed as a pure, perfectly moral Being, untainted by any form of sin. God is "glorious in holiness" (Ex. 15:11). John says : "God is
light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn. 1:5). Habakkuk
says : "You are of purer eyes than to see evil, and cannot
look at wrong" (Hab. 1:13).
Although God has promised, as
we shall see, never to send a universal
climatic devastation ever again upon the
earth, we ought to recognise that the current patterns of flood and drought are
perpetual reminders to us that a day is
coming when the earth will be finally judged
and
when all evil will finally be banished from God’s sight.
In the mean time the people of this earth are afraid… very afraid. CNN
reported this past week that Russia
is planning to modify some of its intercontinental
ballistic missiles to destroy asteroids before they hit Earth [1].
The fact of the matter is that
God’s purpose will stand (Isa. 46:10;
Jer. 51:12). No one will escape from
the coming wrath of God and the
Lamb if they have not found shelter
in God’s provision. Jesus ALONE is
our ark of salvation, and the righteous run into the name of the Lord. It is shocking to see how few did take God at His word in Noah’s day. Of
all the people on earth in their day, only Noah and his family escaped the
universal flood judgement of God. The writer to the Hebrews
explains: “being warned by God concerning
events yet as unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he
condemned the world and became an heir
of the righteousness that comes by faith.” (Hebr. 11: 7). The story of Noah
and the flood and the ark is certainly not a
cute children’s story. It is a
terrifying account of the wrath of God upon sin[2],
BUT at the same time it is also a wonderful
account of the love of God for those people who do trust in God and in
His Word in the midst of a mocking generation.
God, who always has the last word
made an end of that generation.
WHAT HAPPENED DIRECTLY AFTER THE
FLOOD
After the universal flood judgment had taken its course, God caused the waters to recede and the earth to
dry up and God commanded Noah to get out
of the ark. Noah’s first response upon
setting foot ondry land was to worship
God: “Noah
built an altar to the Lord[3]
and took some of every clean animal and
some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings non the altar…” (8:20)
and we read that God was pleased with the offering, and God
promised that he would never again
curse the earth in this way (8:20-22). We shall see in a moment that the Bible confirms this later in 9:12-17. But don’t miss the significance of Noah’s
first act on the first day of the existence of the new world: Noah
worshipped! Can you make the connection
between this and the fact that
you too are called to worship God on every first day of the week? I remind you that the early church took the
first day of the week as the day of worship , since on this day the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, confirming the fact
, “Behold I make all things new!” (Rev.21:5)
Having considered the perfect holiness of God and the
universal fact and nature of human sin
we must ask, “if all have sinned, what was the difference between Noah and those that perished in the ancient world?”
The first answer
is that
Noah found favour (or grace) in the eyes of the
Lord (6:8). Noah was not without sin. He too was a son of
Adam, but He was given grace to see himself from God’s perspective. It takes
grace to see ourselves for who we truly
are! So, Noah was given grace to see himself
for who he was before a holy God and therefore turned from
his sin and believed God.
It is on this account that God
justifies him and declares him righteous.[4] How was this grace manifested in the life of
Noah? The next verse indicates
that he was a righteous man[5],
blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God (6:9) when no one else did. And then we read of God saying to Noah in 6:18 “…but I will establish my covenant with you…”.
Covenant!
This is a key word in the Bible. In fact, it describes the message of the Bible. It explains the way in which God deals
with fallen people. May I remind you
again that the Bible is a book of Covenants – Old and New Covenant. In 6:18
the
word ‘covenant’
(Hebr. berith; Gr. diatheke) appears for the first time, although the idea
exists already in earlier
chapters of Genesis[6].
And now the word covenant appears again here
in 9:9. A covenant is essentially a legal agreement between two parties, but in
the case of God’s covenant it is always God who takes the initiative , and God
who sticks to the terms of the covenant. People break the terms of the covenant repeatedly.
It is this word covenant that governs the story of Noah’s great escape from the wrath of God. It is by way of a covenant that God currently preserves and sustains the earth. Horrendous storms may strike islands in the Pacific but never again shall the whole earth be swallowed up by a flood. So let us
learn from this text concerning the
nature and outworking
of the covenant, particularly as we consider ongoing story of Noah in 9:1-17 in terms of (i) a gracious provision and
protection vv 1-7 (ii) a gracious promise vv. 8-11 (iii) a gracious sign vv. 12-17
1.Covenant : God’s gracious
provisions ( 1-7)
Here then we have the second
"beginning" of Genesis. In the first
place God repeats to Noah the
original creation commands that had been
given to Adam, (procreation, dominion, bearing
God’s image). Noah almost looks like a
second Adam.
V.3 however deviates from the original creation order. In Gen. 1:29 we read: ”Behold,
I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth
and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food to you. This is incidentally also true for the beasts and the birds. Everyone was a
vegetarian at that point! But now in Gen.
9:3 we read: "Every moving thing
that lives shall be food for you. And as
I gave you the green plants ,I give you everything !” Man is here specifically
authorized to use animals for food. This appears to be a new dimension to man’s life on the earth after the flood.
Note however that in v.4 there is
a restriction: "But
you shall not eat flesh with its life,
that is, its blood.” Why is that? We
shall learn that blood is symbolic of
life and because life belongs to God, man is not allowed to eat that which symbolises life. A specific explanation is given in Leviticus
17:11: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to
you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.” The life of a clean animal, under the sacrificial system, was required to make atonement for every sinner. The blood of the animal was sprinkled against the altar
, and this act of faith dealt with man’s guilt under the terms of the
Old covenant.
The subject of blood continues in v. 5. But with respect to another matter – the shedding
of blood as a result of murder . God holds
anyone , whether an animal or a man
accountable for the taking of
human life.
In v.6 the principle of capital
punishment is instituted with respect
to murder. The principle
of capital punishment is linked to the
doctrine of man who is made in the image of God. V.6 incidentally also indicates that man is
still considered being made in the image of God after the fall! What is
God doing here? He is making provision
for the protection of man by establishing
the rule of the sanctity of life
in the post-flood world. The world prior to the flood had been a violent world,
and God is here making provisions for
the protection of human life in in the post-flood world. This too is a gracious
covenant provision.
V.7. This was the renewal of God’s word to Adam (Gen. 1:28). The
human family was starting out afresh. There was a new beginning. Noah like Adam
became the head of the human race now of only eight people
(1
Pet. 3:20).Verse 7 reminds us of the blessing of family. Having a family,
having children for the next generation is something which is a pleasing thing
in the Lord's eyes. We live in a time where
children are often looked upon as an inconvenience. Children are a heritage from the Lord- a
covenant blessing, and Genesis 9:1 and
9:7 reiterate that particular truth.
2. Covenant : a gracious promise
(8-11)
“…behold I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 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."
Here we see the confirmation
of the original covenant of grace with Noah and his sons in 6:18. This covenant confirmation however includes every animal and even the earth itself. In v.
11 God promises not to destroy the world ever again by a flood. Right now God's
goodness extends to all creation in terms of regular seasons. That does not contradict God's particular covenant with Noah. This also does not mean that everyone in the world is saved, but it
does mean that God's providential care and common grace currently reaches every man and woman and child on the face of the earth. And that simply makes our condemnation
greater if we do not embrace Christ by faith in this era of grace.So, understand then that this covenant is a
gracious promise to Noah , and this entire world.
3. Covenant : a gracious sign (vv. 12-17)
This sign is a sign of reassurance given to assure Noah and us of God's mercy. He refers here to the sign of the rainbow. V. 13-15. "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember My covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of flesh."
Consider the language here. It is not, “Noah, when you see the rainbow you will remember my covenant”, but “when I see the rainbow , I will remember my
covenant.” And today every rainbow reminds us that God
spared us and the whole
earth from such a great catastrophe
as which Noah and the world of his day experienced. It is due to God’s
covenantal faithfulness that this earth is not destroyed . It remains a
day of grace until the final judgement.
I remind you then that we live in a
vast
but very sensitive universe. Our
earth is precariously balanced in our
solar system surrounded by forces of gravity, meteoric missiles and black holes. Don’t presume on the fact that things will
always continue as they have. While
this is a day where God holds out His
hands to a stubborn and rebellious
people, remember that there will come a
day in which will judge the earth again with a final judgement.
Let the word of 2 Peter 3:1-13
speak to us now as we close.
Amen
[1] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/19/politics/russia-icbm-asteroid-killer/index.html
[2] Rom 1:18ff
[3] First mention of ‘ altar’ and ‘ burnt offerings’.
[4] See also the
testimony Abraham
[5] Gen. 6:9, 7:1
[6] Some see
7 covenants referred to in Scripture. (i) the Adamic which concerned man’s
continued enjoyment of Eden on the condition that he refrained from eating the
fruit of the forbidden tree. (ii) the Noahic -Genesis 9. (iii) the Abrahamic -Genesis 15:18 (iv) the Mosaic - Exodus 24:7, 8; Exodus
34:27. (v) the Levitic - Numbers 25:12, 13; Malachi 2:4, 5; Ezekiel 44:15 .
(vi) the Davidic - 2 Samuel 23:5; 2
Chronicles 13:5. (vii) the New Covenant - Jeremiah 31:31-34. Covenant theologians interpret the Scriptures generally on the basis of two covenants: the
covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
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