DRAWING NEAR
A “covenant” is a commitment or agreement between two parties. What kinds of covenants do we enter in today? How are those similar or dissimilar to God’s covenants or promises to His people?
THE CONTEXT
Throughout Genesis, God made numerous covenants with men. Some of these covenants were conditional, in the sense that God’s people had something to do if the contract was to remain binding. Other covenants were unconditional, in that God would keep His end of the bargain regardless of what His people did. But all of the covenants had this in common: they revealed some aspect of God’s nature, and they displayed the hopeless situation that mankind was in.
We saw this utter hopelessness in God’s first “covenant” with mankind in Genesis 3:16–19, which was not so much a covenant as a curse. There was absolutely nothing that Adam and Eve could do to reverse the curse, which reveals mankind’s hopeless state. Yet right from the beginning, God promised a Deliverer who would come through “the seed of the woman” to redeem mankind. This revealed, also from the beginning, the nature of God’s loving and gracious plan for man’s redemption.
In this study, we will look at the covenant that God later made with Noah after the Flood. In so doing, we will discover some important aspects of mankind’s sin nature and be encouraged by glimpses of God’s perfect nature.
KEYS TO THE TEXT
Read Genesis 9:1–17, noting the key words and phrases indicated below.
AFTER THE FLOOD: The floodwaters have receded, and God has set Noah and his family safely on dry ground. Now God pronounces a blessing on Noah.
9:1. BLESSED NOAH … BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY, AND FILL THE EARTH: God blessed Noah and recommissioned him to fill the earth, just as previously He had instructed Adam and Eve to fill the earth (see Genesis 1:28).
2. THE FEAR OF YOU: Man’s relationship to the animals appears to have changed, in that man is free to eat animals for sustenance.
4. BUT YOU SHALL NOT EAT FLESH WITH ITS LIFE: Raw blood was not to be consumed as food, for it symbolically represented life. To shed blood symbolically represented death. The blood of animals, representing their life, was not to be eaten. It was, in fact, that blood which God designed to be a covering for sin (see Leviticus 17:11).
5. FROM THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST … HAND OF MAN: God invoked capital punishment on every animal or man who took human life unlawfully.
6. FOR IN THE IMAGE OF GOD: The reason man could kill animals, but neither animals nor man could kill man, was because man alone was created in God’s image.
THE COVENANT: After blessing Noah, God now voluntarily commits Himself to an eternal covenant with mankind and the whole earth.
9. I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU: This is the first covenant between God and mankind and is known as the Noahic covenant (see also Genesis 6:18). It was an unconditional covenant, established by God at His own initiative. He was basing it solely on His own nature; man’s actions had no part in it.
10. WITH EVERY LIVING CREATURE: God’s loving concern extends to all of creation, even though mankind is special in His eyes.
11. NEVER AGAIN SHALL THERE BE A FLOOD: God promised that there would never again be a flood that covers the entire planet. Prophets of future catastrophe, such as global warming, often claim that there may be a major flood (because of melting ice caps and other factors) if mankind doesn’t do something quickly, but God has promised otherwise. It is important to note, however, that the Lord did not promise that the earth would exist forever.
12. THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT: The rainbow is the perpetual, symbolic reminder of this covenant promise, just as circumcision of all males would be for the Abrahamic covenant (see Genesis 17:10–11).
PERPETUAL GENERATIONS: This covenant between God and man shall last forever—even longer than the earth itself will last.
14. WHEN I BRING A CLOUD OVER THE EARTH: This essentially would mean at every moment of every day, since there is never a time when clouds are not moving across some portion of the planet’s face. God was saying that He would never forget, not even for a moment, the covenant that He had made.
15. I WILL REMEMBER: This is not simple recognition, but God’s commitment to keep the promise.
16. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT: God’s covenant with Noah was the first of five divinely originated covenants in Scripture that are explicitly described as “everlasting.” The term “everlasting” can mean either to the end of time, and/or through eternity future. It never looks back to eternity past. Of the six explicitly mentioned covenants of this kind in Scripture, only the Mosaic or old covenant was nullified.
UNLEASHING THE TEXT
1) What does this passage in Genesis 9:1–17 demonstrate about God’s intentions for mankind?
2) What does this passage demonstrate about God’s character?
3) Why might God have chosen the rainbow as the symbol of His covenant? Why not sunshine or rain clouds?
4) Why did God choose to make an unconditional covenant with Noah? What is implicit in His promise toward the earth? What is not?
EXPLORING THE MEANING
Every human who has ever lived was born a sinner. God cannot tolerate any sin—no matter how small or insignificant. Consider the sin of Adam: all he did was eat a piece of fruit! Yet this act of deliberate rebellion was so monumental, so heinous and horrible, that God cursed His creation and cast mankind from His presence.
No person who has ever lived, apart from Jesus Christ, has been free of sin. Every descendant of Adam has been a sinner from birth. There are no exceptions to this rule. (This, incidentally, is the reason why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, for no human being could have been His father—only God can bring forth a sinless human being.) When Adam sinned, there was no hope of any human being ever entering the presence of God again. Yet God found a way!
God always makes the overture of grace. God hates sin—but He loves to save sinners. He demonstrated this love after Adam had disobeyed Him by deliberately coming into the presence of sinners in the garden of Eden. Consider what a role reversal this was. God had paraded the animals before Adam, because Adam was their caretaker; yet now God Himself, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, was humbling Himself by presenting Himself before a sinful man!
Likewise, we observe in the story of Noah and the Flood that even though God had decided to wipe out the wickedness on the earth, He made provision to save those who repented of their sins. As we have seen, God waited approximately 100 years from the time Noah started building the ark to the time the first rains fell. The people could have listened to Noah and been saved from the devastation to come, but no one accepted God’s free gift of mercy.
God will make His mercy available as long as the earth endures. This principle is double-edged. On one side, God has sworn by Himself that He will not destroy His creation by a flood. He is withholding His hand of judgment from the earth, making His grace and mercy freely available to any person who will confess his sin and sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the other side, God’s judgment shall come. God has promised that one day He will destroy this world. God’s grace and mercy are freely available to all people, yet sinners can continually reject that grace. Those who die without repenting from their sin and turning to God shall find that they have no further hope of grace or salvation.
It is for this reason that Paul warned us, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
REFLECTING ON THE TEXT
5) After the Flood, God told Noah that the fear of humans would be on every animal on the earth. How was this different from the situation in the garden of Eden?
6) What requirements did God establish with Noah related to eating the flesh of animals? Why did He impose these restrictions?
7) How does God’s covenant with Noah apply to the world today? What implications does it have concerning our environment (see Genesis 8:21–22)?
8) What did the Lord do to bring reconciliation with mankind after the Flood? What does this teach about God’s desire to be reconciled to all people?
PERSONAL RESPONSE
9) What is your view of sin? Are you as disgusted by it as God is? Why or why not?
10) Are there some areas in your life where you are more tolerant of sin? If so, what can you do to turn those areas over to God?