Interlocked Lesson 6

The New World Covenant

What is the best promise you’ve ever made with someone?

What’s the worst promise you’ve made with someone that may have backfired on you?

In Genesis 9, God makes a promise with Noah and his family.

Read Genesis 9:9-10 “9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.”

SO this wasn’t exactly a promise, it was more.

It was a covenant.

What is a covenant?

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Contract.

In the ancient world, it was common among families, nations, or between kings and his subjects.

Fun fact, The only religion in world history where God makes contracts with mankind is Christianity.

Why do people make contracts?

There has been a broken relationship in the past or.

to agree peacefully against conflict in the future or if there is a threat of disagreement in the future.

God’s contract with man here then was before the flood and after the flood.

After the fall (When man broke their relationship with God).

After the flood (When there was a threat of further broken relationship in the future.)

So what was this contract about? Who was in it?

Who is a participant in the covenant?

God with...

Noah and His descendents.

All mankind.

Animals.

Let’s again read Genesis 9:9-10 “9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.”

2. The signing of the Covenant.

Who signed the covenant?

Well, this is kind of a play on words, but God did.

Someone read Genesis 9:12-15 “12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”

The rainbow is God’s promise, his signature of the covenant.

Before the flood there were no rainbows because there was no rain.

Someone read Genesis 2:5-6 “5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.”

vs. 5, God had not sent rain on the earth…

The rainbow is significant.

It reveals God’s glory.

Last week in small groups the guys brought up a great verse in Romans 1.

Romans 1:30 “30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;”

In dark cultures and cultures that are far from God, they not only practice sin, but they invent new ways to sin.

Let’s examine our culture for a moment.

Is the rainbow a symbol of gay rights?

yes.

Ok, but how is that inventing new evil?

What was the rainbow a sign of?

God’s covenant, his promise.

Mankind has now taken a sign of God’s grace, mercy, and judgment of sin and thrown it back in his face as a symbol of sin.

Also consider what is the month of June referred to now.

“Pride month”

What is Pride?

deep pleasure from one’s own achievements.

“Look at what I did!” Look at me!

The focus is on the self and how the god of self has accomplished things.

Friends, don’t forget the true meaning of the rainbow today.

Fight humbly to reclaim the sign of God’s grace, and reject affirming others in their pride.

Romans 1:32 “32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

DO not give approval to what God calls evil or we will be guilty of evil ourselves.

So moving forward, what were the terms of the covenant?

3. Terms of the Covenant.

Someone read Genesis 9:11 “11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.””

Genesis 9:16 “16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.””

If nature occured without the knowledge of God, if nature operated independently, apart from God’s hand, could God have made this promise in vs. 16?

Because God made that promise, what does that tell us about God’s continual involvement in his creation?

He is involved! He has a plan.

What impacts the tides?

The gravity of the moon!

I say that only to say, from the moon, to the ocean, to the rain from the clouds, God controls it all and will prevent it from causing a worldwide flood.

Did God give conditions in the Contract?

If you do this… then I will do this?

no! Now later for Israel, there will be a conditional blessing, but that’s separate from this covenant.

No matter what God will not flood the entire earth.

Someone read Genesis 8:21 “21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”

When was the ground cursed?

Genesis 3:17 “17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”

Yet in 8:21, it seems the curse on the ground is alleviated.

God then says in Genesis 8:22 “22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.””

God gives stability in nature, He gives us seasons to enjoy. Summer, fall, winter, spring.

So here is a summary of the Covenant.

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Here’s what sin does though… Sin, inventor of evil tries to distract mankind from God’s power, grace, and control.

We know God is creator and we are the created.

Sin tries to warp our worldview and reject God as creator.

Then it tries to convince you that you are all you need.

You are self-sustaining.

Be prideful in you.

Hebrews 1:3 “3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

God sustains it all.

Colossians 1:15-17 “15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

In Him all things were created, and by Him all things hold together.

What a beautiful promise today.

We should never look at our own pride, but look to Christ who sustains it all.

So before we buy into any worldview that elevates man’s accomplishments, man’s pride, … maybe we should remember who sustains it all in the first place?

Going back to the beginning of this study, we said that God gave 3 divine institutions when he created the world.

Responsible domininon

Marriage

Family.

God re-establishes these institutions after the flood.

Genesis 9:1-4 “1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.”

Before the flood, God told man to eat plants (Genesis 1:29 “29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” )

But post-flood, God allows them to eat Animals. Genesis 9:2.

Why?

Perhaps it would help serve a lesson about death.

Animals that were killed and eaten gave their life so that man would be sustained.

The sacrificial system itself no doubt served as a foreshadowing of what Jesus would do on the cross.

Either way, man shouldn’t abuse animals, harm them, etc… but responsibly, we are over animals and they are for us to enjoy and even eat.

2. How did marriage change? Genesis 9:1 “1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”

Marriage would continue! This would not change from God’s design in Genesis 1:28.

3. What about family?

Again, God reaffirms this institution as well in 9:1 “Be fruitful and increase in number...”

This should tell us that although much changed during and after the flood, the core responsibility that God gave man, did not change.

I think it comes down to two things we’ve discussed at length over the last month.

Do we believe God is trustworthy?

Am I faithful?

These two questions are important.

Every day in the hard moments and easy moments, is God enough? Is he trustworthy?

Secondly am I faithful?

Am I going to follow God’s word above all else?

Like i preached last week, will I seek God’s word as I seek physical food and drink.

Lord may we do it.