In The Beginning | God's Covenant With Noah
In The Beginning (Part X):
GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH
Genesis 9:1-17 (ESV)
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, 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.”
Our sermon topic this morning is the first covenant of God in the Bible: God’s rainbow covenant. How many of you have seen a rainbow just recently? It’s one of the most extraordinary, amazing, beautiful, and natural wonders we have received from God, right?
Rainbows have amazed people throughout the ages. There are many things you could consider about rainbows. If you look it up on the Internet, you’ll get more information than what you need. It is true whatever search and check in the internet, you will get a lot of information.
But just giving you somewhat of a simple introduction to a rainbow, a rainbow is a bent or curved line in the sky composed or consisting of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Scientifically, a rainbow is an arc of concentric colored bands that develops when sunlight interacts with raindrops. Sunlight is refracted as it enters a raindrop, which causes the different wavelengths of visible light. And the different wave lengths of visible light separate and become different colors. Longer wavelengths of light, such as red, are bent the least, while shorter wavelengths of violet and blue are bent the most. And it all has to do, interestingly enough, with the angle with which the sun shines through the different raindrops.
Other cultures and countries have their own meanings and myth about the rainbow. Hollywood made a song from the “Wizard of OZ” (Remember the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow..). We don’t have enough time to name all the myth, superstitions, and meanings of what the rainbow is in other countries and cultures.
But here in the US, the most familiar superstition about the rainbow is a bunch of little Irish leprechauns who got a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow—that there’s some kind of treasure these leprechauns will grant everything you could ever hope, want, or wish for if you could just get to the end of the rainbow, which you can’t.
My friend according to the Bible, there is no secret message in the Sun, the moon and the stars, but they are signs, according to Genesis 1:14, of seasons and of days.
Genesis 1:14 (ESV) “ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”
What about the first rainbow? Is there a meaning in that rainbow? If there is any, what is its the meaning? What is its significance? The Bible has an important and significant meanings and it is none of those superstitions or myths.
A rainbow or “bow” according to the Bible is a covenant, a sign. And there is a message from God to Noah and all humanity after the Flood.
There is only one thing you will see in the sky that has a sign that God placed there for us to give us His spiritual message—and that is the rainbow. In verse 8 of chapter 9. God said, “This sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations.”
But before we go to deeper, let’s look at the beginning of Chapter 9, which is an important part of the covenant.
From Genesis 9:1–7, God continued to interact with Noah and his sons following the Flood. There are two parts we can study together for this chapter.
First, God blessed Noah and his family and gave them specific instructions about how to live in this remade world. God commanded them to reproduce and fill the earth, among other things.
Second, God established His unilateral covenant to never again end all life on earth with a universal flood, offering the rainbow as a sign of this promise.
Noah’s family came out of the Ark alive. They are coming into the new world. All around them were the lostness of a changed earth—and death everywhere. Of course, all of humanity drowned, except eight people; and all the animals were lost, except those that were on the Ark. That severe flood was devastating to the whole earth.
But, in all of these tragedies, God’s grace prevailed. How can it be?
1. The Covenant Blessings of Life
In verses 1-7, God was saying to Noah on what men should do.
Blessing after cursing if you will, or good news after a terrible death without equal in the history of the world is now over. Noah and his family have come out of the Ark and onto dry land, a land early strewn with death, the death of all living things that were “air-breathing.”
In the original creation in Genesis 1:28, God blessed the first human beings; in Genesis 5:2, God blessed them again. And here, as well, in Genesis 9:1, God blessed them.
The key phrase is “God blessed.”
In these verses, the Lord spoke to the eight survivors of the flood, and gave them instructions concerning three areas of life.
A. The Blessings of Multiplying life (Procreation)
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (vv. 1, 7)
When Noah came out of the Ark, he was like the “second Adam.” He is about to guide a new beginning on earth for human race. This is, of course, with the help of his wife and three sons and their wives. His faith in the Lord has saved him and his family from the destruction.
God said in verse 1, “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Now the key phrase here is “God blessed.” God blessed Noah and his sons, and, of course, implied are the wives as well. This is good news after judgment.
God wanted them to start a new life, and it’s good to know that the Lord blesses them.
This is still in effect until now—and we, surely, did a good job multiplying.
God gave us the blessing of marriage, the blessing of children, and the blessing of family. And He knew that we would produce billions of sinners, living sinful lives.
Animals can procreate physical life, but only humans have the wonderful blessing of being able to procreate spiritual life. A newborn child is not only a physical being, but also a spiritual being. When developing, he or she becomes a rational being, a being of moral consciousness, and a being with whom another person could have a relationship. And, frankly, the sweetest and most wonderful relationships in all of life are those between a husband and his wife, the procreators, and their children as their offspring.
In the Scripture, children are described as a blessing and not a curse. And to have many children and grandchildren is evidence of the favor of God (Gen.24:60, Psalm 127:3-5, 128:3-4)
In Genesis chapter 1:28, God told Adam and Eve to be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” God repeated that mandate to Noah and his family. All the descendants of Noah are important to the plan of God, especially the line of Shem. For from that line, Abraham would be born, the man God chose to father the Jewish nation. From that nation would come the Redeemer who would fulfill the prophecy in Gen. 3:15 and crush the serpent’s head.
B. The Blessings of Sustaining Life
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.
Who among you loves to eat? BCI men have a favorite place to go for a buffet or “eat all you can.”
Before the Fall of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden, God gave them fruits and plants to eat. But after the Flood, it’s buffet time! But, of course, this was in all moderation.
Verse 2 implies the eating of animals, the eating of birds, beasts, crawling things, fish. But verse 3 makes it explicit. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you.” Now, you don’t have to eat it all. Some of you are saying, “Yuck, there are plenty of crawling things that I’m not interested in eating.” But they’re all given for that purpose; every moving thing that is alive—except the poisonous ones.
This is life, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but I think eating is a big deal for us. We have a lot of restaurants, don’t we? That indicates to me that people like to eat. And they don’t want to stay home and have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all their life. But, for some people, it’s an absolute way of life. It’s a drama played out three times a day, seven days a week. And it’s not all the food. It is the scene of the whole environment.
1 Timothy 4 says the same thing. First Timothy 4 verse 4, “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.” Do you know what Paul is talking about? Food!
C. The Blessing of Protecting Life
Genesis 9:4-6 (ESV) But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. - Why is God protecting the people, sinful people? This is His common grace. This is His goodness. Don’t eat flesh with its life. Why is that, first of all? Don’t eat live meat. Cook the meat. When you go out to eat grill, cook it. You say, “Ooh, who eats live meat?” There are some people who eat live meat in the history of the world. Some in tribal areas considered live meat a fresh delicacy. 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. - Who poses the greatest threat to the life of man? Well, bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other microorganisms pose some kind of a threat. But the greatest threat to the life of humans comes from wild beasts and from evil men. And, God designed a law designed to protect life and and punish people who kill a fellow human being.
God is going to put into place capital punishment to prevent people from being killed. Notice again in verse 5, “Surely I will require.” In Psalm 9:12, God said “He who requires blood.” The Psalmist identified God as the one who required blood, referring to God’s requirement for execution as a compensation for murder.
And after the blessings from verse 8 - 11, “Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “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. I establish my covenant with you, and your offspring after you and with every that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood.”
2. The Covenant of Grace & Peace
The first part of God’s covenant was the instruction to Noah and his family about what they are to do (verses 1 to 7). Now in verses 8 to 17, God says what He’s going to do for all mankind.
God now is making a promise to Noah and his family. God said this is what I’m going to do, God says, “I’m going to make you a covenant, a berith.” This is a covenant promise made by God to man. This is very important because this act established God as a “Covenant Maker” who demonstrated His personal commitment to mankind. He is a “Promise Keeper” who makes covenants.
What is a “covenant”? It is an agreement or promise, usually under seal between two or more parties, especially for the performance of some action.
In ancient times, the making of covenant is the foundation of every society. When you made a covenant with somebody, you bound yourself to that promise; your character and integrity are bound in your loyalty to the covenant. Even today covenant is used in business, relationship, family, and nations.
Covenants were binding agreements and binding promise between people, between cities, between families, and between nations. Most covenants were bilateral and conditional. It means, some covenants have some clause in the case of violations.
There are five components or elements of God’s Covenant with Noah.
God’s Covenant to Noah is Unilateral – meaning it’s a covenant made by one party. (Two parties would make a bilateral covenant.) This promise is singular on the part of God. He is doing it without any consideration and consultation from man. Because this is His will, when you think of a covenant you will often think it’s bilateral, like a treaty or some kind of agreement between two parties. That is not always true with God’s covenant. God is not saying here, “If you do this and do that, then I will do this and do that. And if you don’t do this and that, then I will not do that.” In verse 9, God said “I establish,” verse 11 “I establish My covenant”
God’s Covenant to Noah is Unconditional – No conditions in man that make him deserving the covenant promise. God is the one who sustains the covenant and no one else can cause to terminate the covenant because it is not dependent on the other party but on God alone. It means, there is no condition on the part of man to validate or invalidate God’s covenant. It’s like God saying, “I am doing this and that’s it.” It has nothing to do with what man will do and don’t do.
God’s Covenant to Noah is: Inviolable – It shall never be broken – or dishonored (negative); it is absolute and sacred (positive). It is secured and fixed. You can fully trust this covenant, because it’s a covenant by the eternal God who cannot change and lie.
God’s Covenant to Noah is Universal – In verse 9, God said “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.” God was speaking to the entire human race when He was talking to Noah and his sons and their wives. This covenant is physical, not spiritual that’s why the animals are included.
God’s Covenant to Noah is Everlasting – This is not in the sense of eternal as forever, but in a sense that it is lasting throughout all of time. And we know how long it will last in chapter 8:22 “As long as the earth remains” God will never again destroy every living thing as He has done while the earth remains.
Now let’s go to the sign the “Rainbow.”
What is the sign? Remember, that a sign is an object or action used to convey information or instructions. But here in our text, the sign that God placed on the sky for all humanity can see is the promise of grace.
And God said, “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth”
Here is the sign, the oat, the mark, the symbol, God’s signature, and the evidence that God promises. This is the assurance, this is the guarantee and the covenant to all humanity, including to all animals.
This is a sign that everyone can see “ I set my bow in the cloud.” And that is the reason for the rainbows. The word “bow” in Hebrew is “qesheth.” Usually the meaning is “a battle bow,” “a weapon of death and destruction.” Many Old Testament verses picture God as a warrior with a bow.
But after the Flood, God is going to be patient; God is going to be gracious with sinners and not destroy the planet like He did in the Flood “while the earth remains”.
Someday, however, “Heaven and earth will pass away.” Someday, the final judgment will come. In fact, that day has already been fixed.
Acts 17 says the Lord has fixed the day in which He will judge the world, and that’s why He calls on everyone to repent. The day is fixed.
The day of the Flood was fixed and Noah was told it was coming in 120 years. So the day of the return of Christ and, ultimately, the destruction of the heavens and earth that we know of is already fixed, and this is the time to repent.
As the people in Noah’s time had 120 years to repent, we have longer than that to repent. In fact, from the day that the revelation was written down in the Book of Acts, we’ve already had 2,000 years since that day was declared fixed. But in this time, before that final judgment, we experience common blessings after blessings.
D.L. MOODY talked about his conversion when he was a teenager, and I quote,
“I was in a new world. The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter…the old elms waved their branches for joy, and all nature was at peace. It was the most delicious joy that I had ever known.”
The God of creation is the God of salvation. Let’s continue to be reminded of what He has done through the cross for us to be saved from God’s judgement of condemnation for He is our redeemer.
There will be a final wrath to come in which the universe will be destroyed by fire and all sinners will perish, between the Flood and that final time is the period of grace and the bow of God, the bow of a warrior hangs in all its beauty over the earth against the clouds of judgment as the beauty of grace touching heaven at its arc and touching earth at its ends, to tell all humanity that God is gracious to sinners.
And all of this is the common grace that exists in the world that demonstrates the patience and forbearance of God that is meant to lead man to repentance, in the words of Romans 2:4. This is God’s goodness for all mankind.
The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:1 and 2, “Now is the day of salvation,” right? This is the time to see the good hand of God in the world, to see His patience and forbearance to recognize the sinfulness of man and how God dealt with us graciously.
But from the day that God made this promise until today, these things are still God’s blessings for the life of all mankind. And when man follows them, he enjoys the best of human physical life. But all of that is not an end in itself. All of that is a means to an end.
It is the patience and forbearance of God that intended us to lead and recognize a benevolent, gracious, merciful, and kind God who has not dealt with us according to our iniquities, and to embrace Him as Lord and Savior through Jesus Christ. This is still the age of grace and the day of salvation.
Next time you see a rainbow, that’s God’s bow. “that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood.” He showed it up to remind us this is not the time of judgment, but the time of peace and grace.
It’s His sign of mercy toward a world of sinners. Every sinner on the planet that sees the bow sees a sign of peace.
-Rev. Roldan Manlapig