A Covenant with Noah

Please open your Bibles to Genesis 8.

Getting off the ark.

God remembered Noah (8:1)

Process of sending out birds (8:6-12)

Noah sees that the ground is dry and removes the covering of the ark (8:13)

Nearly two months later, God instructs Noah to leave the ark (8:14-17)

Noah exits the ark (8:18-19)

Read Genesis 8:20-9:17.

Pray.

Text divided into three parts- 8:20-22; 9:1-7; 9:8-17.

Lets look at the middle, then the end, then the beginning.

1. God builds a new creation.

First, we find God taking part in what we might call a new creation.

God creates then gives purpose. He must do this once again with Noah. What am I supposed to be doing?

Consider some of the parallels between what we read in our text and what we found back in the first three chapters of Genesis.

Ground comes from the water.

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Now, there will be some boundaries put in place.

Relationship between man and animal is different.

Relationship between man and man is different.

Do not kill- Man created in the image of God; Life belongs to God.

Remember the influence of violence- the men who were renowned were likely violent men.

Who do we present to our kids to be their heroes?

Further parallels- three sons of both men; shame in nakedness; sin through partaking in the consumption of fruit.

God recreates. What we find to be the purpose of Adam continues to be the purpose of Noah, and such purpose continues to all of us today.

What will be at the core of life for Noah is his continued commitment to his relationship with God, expressed in his obedience to God.

This was the purpose of Adam, the purpose of Noah, and ultimately the purpose for you and me as well.

Nothing changed with God due to the sin of mankind. And yet, don’t we often behave as though it has?

Anything like me, we constantly live as though God and His character, His nature, His commands are in flux, reliant upon what we think of Him.

Our text this morning reminds us of the constancy, the immutability, and ultimately the faithfulness of God.

His character never changes. He never gains or is diminished.

His commands and expectations do not adapt, but continue regardless of our thoughts toward them.

2. God establishes a covenant.

What is a covenant?

Thomas Schreiner- “A covenant is a chosen relationship in which two parties make binding promises to each other.”

Perhaps the clearest example that we might consider is the covenant of marriage, revealed in the giving of vows.

Another example, covenant membership at New Horizon Christian Church.

God here establishes a binding covenant with Noah, but also with the rest of creation.

God’s covenant is universal, unilateral and unconditional.

Universal- established with every living creature. Not just man, both good and evil, but also with animals.

Handed down to us.

Unilateral- God is the sole initiator. He refers to it as ‘my covenant’- He is establishing it and it is all His terms, it was not requested.

Unconditional- None of it depends upon creation and their behavior.

This is surely good news, but on some level it might also sadden us.

No matter how much we wrong God, He will never retaliate in such a manner as He already has.

The covenant reminds us of our own sinfulness.

Joseph Parker- “It might be thought that one such flood as this would have kept the world in order for ever, whereas men now doubt whether there ever was such a flood, and repeat all the sins of which the age of Noah was guilty. You would think that to see a man hanged would put an end to ruffianism for ever; whereas, history goes to show that within the very shadow of the gallows men hatch the most detestable and alarming crimes. Set it down as fact that punishment, though necessary even in its severest forms, can never regenerate the heart of man.”

We require not heart correction, but heart resurrection.

Ultimately, all of the covenants made with man (Abraham, Moses, David) point us in the direction of the new covenant expressed in the gospel.

The sign of this particular covenant is the rainbow- referred to as God’s bow.

We are meant to see it as a weapon of war.

Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones- “And the first thing God did was make another promise. ‘I won’t ever destroy the world again.’ And like a warrior who puts away his bow and arrow at the end of a great battle, God said, ‘See, I have hung up my bow in the clouds.’ And there, in the clouds- just where the storm meets the sun- was a beautiful bow made of light. It was a new beginning in God’s world. It wasn’t long before everything went wrong again but God wasn’t surprised, he knew this would happen. That’s why, before the beginning of time, he had another plan- a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world, but to rescue it- a plan to one day send his own Son, the Rescuer. God’s strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more- but not on his people, or his world. No, God’s war bow was not pointing down at his people. it was pointing up, into the heart of Heaven.”

Such a promise is meant to be ever on our minds and hearts. We are to consider the saving work of God, keeping His covenants with His people, when we see the rainbow.

We ought to remember such promises when we receive the bread and cup, when we witness the waters of baptism, when we gather as the local church.

Life is meant to be filled with reminders that point us back to what God has accomplished on our behalf, both in the ark of salvation and in the cross and empty tomb of salvation.

And we need these reminders.

Matthew Henry- “The rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing; God then shows this seal of the promise, that it shall not prevail. The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus, as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound.”

When you’re drowning in life, in suffering, in affliction, in hardship, where is your hope to be found? One primary answer is in the various seals of God’s promises and covenants.

The beauty of God’s rainbow reminds us of God’s mercy, the bread and cup remind us that Christ took God’s wrath, and the baptismal waters remind us that God’s life can be our own.

3. God’s works of salvation elicit worship.

Consider all that Noah has been through as he descended from the ark?

What would describe your first actions upon leaving?

When we read the text, we go from Noah exiting the ark in v. 18-19 directly to Noah’s first action being building an altar and giving an animal sacrifice in v. 20.

Rather than immediately getting to work, Noah immediately worships God.

Joseph Parker- “Beautiful to think that there was a Church before there was a house!”

When we put ourselves in the shoes of Noah, I wonder how we would begin our new life on the newly dried earth.

Think of all that there is to be done.

Where does worshiping God for all He has done fall into such a list?

Albert Barnes- “Praise now is one of the great duties of the redeemed. It will be their employment forever.”

Here is my encouragement to you as we prepare ourselves for the coming week. Celebrate the Sabbath. Live the rest of your life so that you can do so.

Noah put everything on hold to worship God. It took first priority.

What will be the rest of your day? Filled with the busyness and planning for another week ahead of you?

Will your focus, your heart, your mind fall on the building of your own house, your own life, the practical details of a week to come?

Or will you find rest in God? Will your day be defined by worship. Thanking God for His salvation. Thanking God for His Son. Resting in your own eternal state?

We have things backwards. Live my life and worship when I have time and availability. Instead, place worship first.