New Rules for a New World

INTRODUCTION

Take your Bible and open it to the book of Genesis. This morning we’re going to be in Genesis 9 as we keep making our way through this first book of the Bible.

Were in the middle of a series entitled “Living Right in a World Gone Wrong.” We live in a world gone wrong. It’s BEEN WRONG for a very long time.

The reason we’re studying the book of Genesis is because it explains how the world went wrong and how it will eventually be made right again.

It also gives us a template for how to live right in this rotten world.

This morning we’re getting to a point in the book of Genesis that God’s “starts over” with his created order.

In response to the great wickedness on the earth God sent a flood to destroy the earth and chose one family to save through that judgment.

Understanding Covenants

That man’s name was Noah and through him and his family God hit the “reset” button on creation.

Our passage this morning gives us the “new rules” for this "post flood” world. And those new rules are framed within what the Bible calls a covenant.

By understanding God’s covenants you can really get big a big picture/bird’s eye view of the entire Bible.

In fact, the two big divisions in the Bible - Old Testament and New Testament - is really just another way of saying the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant.”

We have covenants today. We have a membership covenant, we have marriage covenants, you can have a covenant with your land lord, your bank, your insurance provider and on and on we could go.

There are also covenants in the Bible. And not just between people. There are key moments when God establishes a covenant with mankind.

The Lord will choose a person or a group of persons to establish a particular kind of partnership with particular kinds of commitments and particular kinds of blessings associated with the agreement.

Creation Covenant

That’s the essential definition of a covenant.

It’s a formal agreement between two parties that establishes the parameters and implications of their partnership.

This concept goes all the way back to Genesis 1-3 and God’s creation of man in his image.

God chooses Adam to represent him and fulfil his purposes on the earth. He lays out stipulations for that agreement and insofar as those commitments were met the blessings were reciprocated.

If you remember Genesis 3 you’ll know that Adam & Eve failed to live up to their end of the partnership but God’s commitment to them remained.

He made coverings for their nakedness, drove them from the Garden and made a promise of future deliverance from the curse of sin.

God’s covenants are central to his redemptive plans for the world.

Noahic Covenant

It was true of God’s covenant with Adam and it’s true of God’s covenant with Noah. That’s what we’ll look at this morning.

Genesis 6 describes a world that has grown increasingly wicked.

Every intention of every human heart was only evil continually. So God resolves to save the earth by destroying the destroyers.

God chooses one man, Noah, and warns him of the impending judgment and invites him into a partnership that will accomplish his redemptive purposes through the flood.

Genesis 6:17–18 (ESV)

17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

Promises & Commitments

Notice in this covenant there are two basic elements. You have promises of God and the commitments of man.

That’s true of most biblical covenants: a partnership is established, promises are given and commitments are made.

As we saw last week Noah initially makes good on his commitments. He does EVERYTHING the Lord commands him to do. The Lord likewise makes good on his promise and saves Noah from the flood.

We ended last week with Noah and his family getting off of the boat, building an altar to the Lord and offering a sacrifice of praise.

Genesis 8:20 (ESV)

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

After Noah offers this sacrifice the Lord begins to announce additional implications of the covenant mentioned in Genesis 6:18.

This will be our main preaching text for this morning.

Read the Text

Genesis 8:21–9:11 (ESV)

21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

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.”

The World of the Covenant

God’s covenant with Noah is actually the first time the Hebrew word for covenant is used in the Bible. (berit)

I think a deep exploration can help us understand just how important God’s covenants are.

The thing that makes God’s Covenants so unique is they are all grace based relationships.

God’s covenants are covenants of grace. Every one of them. Especially this one with Noah and the entire creation.

There are five basic elements of a Biblical Covenant between God and Man.

There’s a covenant mediator between God & the people.

There are covenant conditions (that result in blessings & curses)

There’s a covenant community.

There’s a covenant promise (that ultimately points to Jesus).

There’s a covenant sign given for the sake of remembrance

What I’d like to do with the rest of our time is work through these five pillars so we can better understand the nature of God’s covenants and how they’re ultimately fulfilled through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Covenant Mediator

The first pillar is the covenant mediator. The covenant mediator for the Noahic Covenant is Noah. He’s like an Adam 2.0

I read one commentary this week that pointed out ten similarities between Adam and Noah.

Noah inherits a world that is brought forth out of watery chaos.

Both are made in and explicitly associated with the “image of God.”

Both are said to have “walked with God.”

Both rule over the animals.

Both are told to be fruitful and to multiply.

Both are given a mandate to cultivate the creation.

Both sin against God. (Adam in eating, Noah in drinking)

The result of their sin is the common shame of an embarrassing nakedness.

Both have their nakedness covered.

Both have three named sons and both sets of sons divide into groups: the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent.

Similar Worlds

But the similarities don’t stop there. There are also amazing similarities between the world God prepares for Noah and the one prepared for Adam.

I was blown away by what I discovered in my studying this week about the similarities between God’s initial act of creation and this new creation in Gen 9.

The world that emerges from the flood has echoes of God’s initial act of creation in Genesis 1.

UNRAVELING THE EXPANSE: For example, Genesis 7:11 doesn’t just say “it rained cats and dogs for 40 days and 40 nights.” It describes an unraveling of Genesis 1:6-7.

Genesis 1:7 "God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse...”

Genesis 7:11 “...all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.”

The structure and order God established in creation was unraveled and undone.

SIMILAR ARCHITECT: But the similarities don’t stop there. When God rebuilds the world we see an architect bring order from the chaos. That architect is the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 8:1 “...And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

Genesis 1:2 “2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

The “wind” of Genesis 8:1 is the same “Spirit” of Genesis 1:2. (Heb. Ruach)

SIMILAR STRUCTURE: If you keep reading in chapter 8 you see a similar structure between the world of Genesis 1 and the new world of Genesis 9.

God separates the waters from the land. (Gen 1:10; 8:13)

SIMILAR BLESSING: When Moses, his family and animals begin to come off the boat you see the same language used for repopulating the earth and God’s blessing on the animals.

In Genesis 1:20-25 the water creatures swarm and the birds fly and God tells them to “be fruitful and to multiply...”

In Genesis 8:17 the Lord says, “Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.””

SIMILAR AFFIRMATION: Finally there’s a similar affirmation by God when he looks at his creation.

At the end of each day of creation God saw what he made and said, “it is good.” On day six he even says “it was very good...” (Gen 1:31)

That exact language isn’t used but you do see the Lord pleased by the sacrifice of Noah in Gen 8:21 “21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man..”

In a way it’s the Lord smelling that aroma and saying, “That’s good...it’s not what it was originally, but it’s vastly improved from what it was before the flood.”

So Noah is the new mediator for God’s redemptive plan for a new World. He’s like Adam but he’s also different.

If you study all of God’s covenants in the Bible you’ll also start to notice a recurring theme or template for how God’s purpose advances.

God lays out a good plan and establishes a partnership to advance it.

Sin & Satan disrupt the process seeking to destroy God’s good work.

God chooses a new mediator to advance his purpose in a new generation.

Plan —> Partnership —> Disruption —> New Mediator

Covenant Conditions

Now that we’ve established the chosen mediator let’s move on to the second attribute: covenant conditions.

When the conditions of the covenant are met, God’s blessings will flow. When they are not, curses will fall.

What are the conditions of this new covenant? And what blessings and curses will result from following and breaking those conditions?

Interestingly, it’s not super clear in this passage.

In other covenants you’ll see language like “do this and you’ll be blessed… don’t and you won’t.” (eat from any tree but not this one or you’ll die)

That’s not what you have here. Instead, God mentions three things and gives an explanation for how they’re to be done.

I heard one guy categorize them under three F’s.

Fruitfulness (Food)

Food

Fellow man

Family

First, you see the command to be fruitful and to multiply in Gen 9:1, 7.

So there are conditions around the family.

Notice that the problem in creation wasn’t overpopulation (as other flood narratives suggest) but an over abundance of sin.

God LOVES humanity and it is to the earth’s benefit that humans be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.

Just as we saw in the book of Genesis God makes FAMILY foundational to the rebuilding of the world.

Marriage between one man and one woman for one life time provides a healthy context for the raising of the next generation and the providing of stability to a world marked by chaos.

Food

The next stipulation is around killing animals and our diet. So we shift from fruitfulness & family to food. Gen 9:2, 4.

The Lord is not saying that you can’t order your steak medium rare. It’s blasphemy to eat a steak well done!

The “life blood” refers to the way humans ought to eat their food.

Humans don’t eat their food like other animals. We don’t rip it apart and drink the blood. We cook our food. We are not beasts. We are invited to eat the animals but to not be animalistic in the way we go about it.

So there is similarity and dissimilarity between this condition and the one in the garden. Animals will now be fearful of man and hunted by man (sin) but there must be a restriction in how we go about it. (this but not that)

Fellow Man

The final stipulation is about our relationship to our fellow man. (Gen 9:6)

Gen 9:6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

We have here the establishment of “lex tallionis” (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.)

It sounds very barbaric but it’s actually a principle of restraint if you look at the context.

Remember Laban in Gen 4:24? You punch me and I’ll punch you seven times harder. Poke my eye and I’ll slaughter your tribe!

Here the Lord is institution proportional justice. Whoever sheds the blood of man will - by man - have his blood shed.

This is why we are pro law-enforcement, pro righteous government. They are given to us by God under this covenant to help regulate human evil and retrain our wicked hearts.

We can debate about whether the death penalty can be rightly administered in our current culture but we cannot deny that part of being made in God’s image is requiring retributive justice when God’s image has been violated.

One Big Difference

There’s a common refrain in each of these conditions.

They are different from the conditions of God’s covenant with Adam because the world of Noah was much different than his.

The covenant conditions given to Noah are to help them navigate a world cursed by sin and brokenness.

You can see this in the language used to describe the covenant.

Both covenants have a command to be fruitful and to multiply but in Noah’s covenant there is no command “to subdue creation and have dominion...”

Rather, God describes a more uneasy relationship between mankind and the animals.

Gen 9:2 “2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast ... Into your hand they are delivered.”

In both covenants there’s a positive affirmation of Noah and his family being made in the image of God.

But in this covenant there’s a penalty for taking the life of another human. (Gen 9:6)

Why? Because they now live in a world of human brokenness and sin.

Covenant Community

The third element of Biblical covenants is the covenant community.

If you look at this covenant, it’s actually very different from other biblical covenants.

This is the only covenant that doesn’t restrict itself to God’s chosen people (Israel and/or the Church). It’s more comprehensive and universal.

It’s not reserved for a particular group or individual - it’s given to ALL of creation and EVERY generation.

Gen 9:10 “[I establish my covenant with you…] 10 and with every living creature that is with you... every beast of the earth.”

Gen 9:11 “... never again shall all flesh be cut off...””

Gen 9:12 “every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:”

Gen 9:15 “every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”

Gen 9:17 “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.””

This is a covenant of common grace not special grace. Not just the humans but for the animals and the ground as well.

It’s not a covenant to provide salvation and eternal life. It’s a covenant to preserve the earth while they wait on that promise to be fulfilled.

Covenant Promise

Which brings us to the four element of the covenant: the covenant promise.

The promise of God in this covenant is to never destroy the world through a flood ever again.

Genesis 9:11 (ESV)

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.”

I heard one guy summarize the promise of this covenant as a promise of preservation.

This promise begins in Genesis 8:21

Genesis 8:21 (ESV)

21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

The word translated curse is different than the word for curse in Genesis 3. The idea is one of “dishonor.”

The Lord is not removing the curse of Genesis 3 but he promising he’ll never repeat the flood of Genesis 7.

Instead, there will be predictability and regularity with the changing of seasons on the earth. Genesis 8:22

Genesis 8:22 (ESV)

22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

The Lord is giving Noah the same thing investors want when they’re going to put money in the stock market - certainty, predictability and regularity.

Pointing to Jesus

That’s not to say that the earth will never be destroyed again.

If you look again at verse 22 it says, “While the earth remains...”

We know it can’t be an eternal sign of preservation because the New Testament talks about a second world wide judgment at the return of Christ.

Which is a reminder that this promise and every other covenant promise ultimately point to Christ.

It is Christ who even now upholds the universe by the word of his power.

It is also Christ who will one day come again to judge the world through fire.

We barely touched on this last week but it’s in 2 Peter 3.

Peter describes conditions during the end times that closely match the “days of Noah.”

2 Peter 3:5–7 (ESV)

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

So the promise in Genesis 9 is a promise of preservation until the final day of judgment when Jesus comes again and makes all things new.

Covenant Sign

The final covenant attribute is the covenant sign. The sign of the covenant is a rainbow.

Genesis 9:12–13 (ESV)

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.

If you notice, the word rainbow doesn’t actually appear in the text. It’s just the word for bow.

The bow was a weapon of choice back in that time much like a gun is in West Texas. That bow in the sky is God’s way of saying, “my warfare with the earth is over and I’m hanging up my bow in the clouds.”

This is not the only covenant in the Bible with a sign.

God’s covenant with Abraham had the sign of circumcision. (Gen 17:10-14)

God’s covenant with Moses had the sign of the sabbath. (Exo 31:12-17)

God’s covenant with David didn’t have an explicit sign but it’s associated with an eternal throne.

In the New Covenant we have the sign of the Lord’s Supper & Baptism.

Remembering the Covenant

Whether it’s this sign or any other covenant sign the reasons they are given is for the sake of remembrance.

That’s why when we take the Lord’s Supper we say we’re doing so “in remembrance” of Jesus’s death.

This sign, however, is not given as a reminder for mankind. It’s given as a reminder to God himself!

Genesis 9:14–16 (ESV)

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...I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

The Lord doesn’t actually forget anything. He has no mental lapses in judgment. This is called an anthropomorphism (speaking of God & his activities in a natural and humanizing way.)

When the Bible talks about God “remembering” it’s not just that he calls something to mind he hadn’t been thinking about.

Usually it’s a reference of him moving towards the object of his attention with mercy and compassion.

Every time God remembers he moves with mercy towards the object of his affection.

Notice also that this sign is an EVERLASTING sign. The Hebrew word doesn’t necessarily mean eternal as in having no beginning or end. It means it will continue until the end of the age.

Summary & Conclusion

In all of these ways God’s covenant with Noah is a covenant of grace. And it’s a grace that you and I still experience today.

We get so accustomed to the way things are that we forget there’s an inherent instability in the created order.

We live in a world that is plagued by sin and were it not for the covenant grace of God to restrain that sin we would be wiped out before we knew it!

Nature is fragile, constantly teetering on the edge of disaster. Disruptions in the food chain, water pollution, atmospheric changes, and a host of other modern environmental concerns demonstrate dramatically that the earth needs the constant providential care of the Creator.

The food we eat, the air we breathe, the streets we walk, the cars we drive, the books we read, the buildings we erect, the universities we establish, — all these good things in life have been possible because God constantly upholds a safe place for humanity to multiply and have dominion.

Covenants & Christ

But that’s not the ultimate point of God’s covenant with Noah. Remember, God’s covenants are central to his redemptive plans for the world.

And God’s redemptive plans for the world are centered in Jesus Christ. That means every covenant between God and man is ultimately about Jesus.

Every covenant relationship ultimately points to Jesus Christ.

Covenantal Promises

In Christ we receive the totality of God’s covenant promises. Every covenant promise is ours in Jesus name.

God’s covenant with Adam was pointing to a greater and better Adam. He is the fulfillment of the promised seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent.

In Christ we can have freedom from the curse of sin and death. We can have eternal life by grace through faith.

God’s covenant with Noah ultimately points to Jesus who saves us from the flood of God’s judgment at the day of his return.

Though our hearts were wicked and desperately sick the Lord came to us in grace and revealed to us the truth about our sin, his judgment and his provision for our sin in Jesus Christ.

God’s covenant with Abraham to make his descendants as numerous as the stars is fulfilled first through Israel but ultimately in Christ and those who like Abraham become God’s child through faith.

We can experience God’s blessing and God’s promise when we believe as Abraham believed.

God’s covenant with David was fulfilled first through his kingdom but finally in the eternal rule and reign of Jesus on the throne seated at the right hand of God.

Now we, in Christ are invited to rule and reign with him. He has given his authority to the church and will one day come and establish a new kingdom whereby the nations of the earth will bow down to him and we will shine like the sun.

God’s Covenantal Love

But it’s not just God’s covenant promises. It’s also God’s covenant love.

The Hebrew word for God’s “covenant love” is the Hebrew word “hessed.”

It’s often translated as “loving kindness” or “steadfast love” or even “mercy.”

How many times in your relationships with other people have you just had a really bad day and gone, “I could really use a little mercy today… I could use a little grace...” That’s hessed. That’s God’s covenant love for us.

God’s covenant love is a love that is loyal, faithful and unchanging.

This means God’s covenant love is often a “one way” love.

Even when we fail he never fails. He’s always reliable. Sometimes it’s translated devotion, commitment or reliability.

In the prophets God’s covenantal love is likened to that of a loving Father. (I know some of you have had a horrific example of love from your father but a good father loves his children like the Lord loves us).

That means God’s covenant love isn’t just a general love for all people. It’s a specific love for his children. (I love people but not like I love my children!) I’ll make sacrifices for my kids that I won’t make for other people.

One of the best explanations of God’s covenant love comes from the Jesus Storybook Bible. It says God’s covenant love is “the never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”

That’s how God loves us in Christ.

Conclusion

Do you need that kind of love this morning? That’s what’s available to you now if you’ll repent of your sins. Acknowledge your need for God’s grace and bow your knee to Jesus as Lord.