A Covenant after the Storm

“A Covenant After the Storm”

Text: Genesis 9:1–29 (KJV)

Big Idea: After judgment, God establishes a covenant of mercy while reminding us that the human heart still needs redemption.

Genesis 9:1–7 KJV 1900

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

INTRODUCTION (Bridge from Week 9)

There are moments in life that feel like “after the storm” moments.

Moments when everything has settled… when the noise has quieted… when the damage has already been done…

And all that’s left is to look around and take in what remains.

I imagine that’s what Genesis 9 feels like.

The rain has stopped. The waters have receded. The ark has come to rest.

Noah and his family step out onto dry ground— into a world that has been completely reshaped.

No crowds. No cities. No familiar life.

Just silence… and the weight of what has just happened.

And in that moment, a question hangs in the air:

👉 What does God do after judgment?

Does He distance Himself? Does He start over without relationship? Does He hold back from humanity?

Or… does He move closer?

Genesis 9 gives us the answer.

Because what we find after the storm is not just survival…

We find mercy.

We find a promise.

We find a God who still speaks.

But we also discover something else—

Even after the flood… even after judgment… even after a fresh start…

The human heart hasn’t changed. Genesis 9 shows us what God does after the storm—and what still remains within man.

Genesis 9 Naturally breaks into four movements…

I. A NEW BEGINNING — GOD RESETS HUMANITY (vv.1–7)

“And God blessed Noah and his sons…”

This should sound familiar. It echoes Genesis 1:22

Genesis 1:22 KJV 1900

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

God responded to Noah by repeating the blessing first given to Adam. God charged Noah’s family to multiply and by implication to exercise dominion over the earth…

The blessing still is intact. It has been true, and always will be, that children are a blessing from God (cf. Psalm 127:3–5

Psalm 127:3–5 KJV 1900

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: And the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

God’s people are charged to procreate and fill the earth.

God is giving humanity a fresh start. But this is not Eden. Things have changed, and they are advised that while Adam enjoyed relationship with the animals…

(Vs.2-4)

Notice what’s different:

(v.2)Fear enters the animal world & (v.3) Diet Expands The animals’ fear of man had naturally developed after the fall, and now after the flood such fear was a part of everyday life. Humans were enjoined to eat the flesh of animals, which may or may not have been a new freedom. Meat was to be a normal part of the human diet.

Noah received specific permission to eat animals, permission Adam was not given (as far as we know).

Perhaps this was because the earth was less productive agriculturally after the flood, because of the ecological changes mentioned in Genesis 9:1-3 and 8:22. Therefore God gave man permission to eat meat.

If man now could and would eat animals, then God would help the animals. For their protection, God put in them a fear of mankind.

Again, presumably before the flood, man had a different relationship with the animals. God did not put this fear in animals because man did not look to them as food…

ii. “Did the horse know his own strength, and the weakness of the miserable wretch who unmercifully rides, drives, whips, goads, and oppresses him, would he not with one stroke of his hoof destroy his tyrant possessor? But while God hides these things from him he impresses his mind with the fear of his owner, so that… he is trained up for, and employed in, the most useful and important purposes.” (Clarke)

(v.4)Boundaries remain 

God commands that while humans may eat meat, they must respect life by not consuming blood, because blood represents life—and He will hold humanity accountable for the taking of human life.

Humans are not to devour animals the way animals devour one another, while the blood is pulsing in the flesh. The reason for this is respect for life and beyond that the respect for the giver of life. Life is in the blood, and God is the giver of life. Disregard for the gift of life is an affront to the giver of life.

Application:

God gives new beginnings— but He does not remove responsibility.

You can start fresh, but you are still called to live rightly…

II. A SACRED VALUE — GOD DEFINES HUMAN LIFE (vv.5–6)

iii. The Bible also consistently teaches that the punishment of the guilty is the role of human government (Romans 13:1-4)to restrain man’s depravity. Romans 13:4

Romans 13:4 KJV 1900

4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

It also teaches that the guilt of unpunished murder defiles a land (Numbers 35:31

Numbers 35:31 KJV 1900

31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.

As Luther said, “God establishes government and gives it the sword to hold wantonness in check, lest violence and other sins proceed without limit” - Martin Luther

b. From the hand of every beast I will require it: To see the strength of God’s command, He even requires a reckoning for the life of man from every beast. God does not condone the unlawful killing of any kind.

(Vs. 6)

These verses are some of the most important in all of Scripture for understanding human dignity.

“For in the image of God made he man.”

God places value on life… It exists precisely because of God’s humane concerns. To ignore it is to despise life. This was, and is, God’s word to a violent world. This was meant and is meant to protect human life. To ignore God’s teaching is to descend ever more into a society of violence.

In a world that:

devalues life

measures worth by usefulness

discards the weak

God says:

👉 Every life matters.

Because every life reflects Him.

III. A COVENANT OF MERCY — GOD MAKES A PROMISE (vv.8–17)

Now we come to something new.

(Vs. 9) “I establish my covenant with you…”

This is the first time we see the word covenant in Scripture.

A covenant is a binding promise.

“This grand covenant was/is universal, unilateral, and unconditional. Its universality is evident because it encompasses not only every human being (good or evil) but every living creature on the planet. It is unilateral in that God alone is the sole initiator. He twice calls it “my covenant” (vv. 9, 11). It does not require any assent, action, or ratification from mankind—not even acknowledgment. It is unconditional because there will never be another cosmic destruction by water no matter what we earthlings do. The covenant is the self-motivated promise of an unconditional mercy throughout human history” - Kent Hughes

And notice:

👉 God initiates it.

Noah does not ask for it. Humanity does not earn it.

God gives it.

And the promise is clear:

(Vs. 11) “Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood…”

God promises: Never again will He destroy the earth by flood.

“It cheered my heart, when thinking this matter over, to remember that although I depend upon covenant faithfulness, I am not alone in that dependence, for every living thing upon the face of the earth lives by virtue of the immutable covenant of God. Covenant engagements preserve the world from flood; were it not for that covenant, the tops of the mountains might be covered to-morrow.” (Spurgeon)

Then He gives a sign:

(Vs. 13-14) “I do set my bow in the cloud…”

The rainbow. This is not just a symbol of beauty. It is a sign of mercy. The “bow” is a weapon. But it is pointed away from the earth.

God is declaring:

👉 Judgment has been restrained.

And notice this phrase:

(Vs. 15) “I will remember my covenant…”

This is covenant language.

Not that God forgets— but that He acts in faithfulness to His promise.

Application:

Every time you see a rainbow, you are looking at a reminder that:

God keeps His word.

IV. A REMINDER OF SIN — HUMANITY STILL FALLS (vv.18–29)

And then… the chapter shifts.

After:

the new beginning

the covenant

the promise

We see something sobering.

(Vs. 20-21)

Righteous, rescued Noah lay passed out in a drunken stupor on the floor of his tent. Some commentators (especially the older ones) have tried to mute the scene. For example, Delitzsch said, “In ignorance of the fiery nature of wine, Noah drank and was drunken, and uncovered himself in his tent.”

But the reality is that Noah was not ignorant. He was over six hundred years old, and this event was some time after the flood because it takes years for a vineyard to produce, not to mention that he now had numerous grandsons because Ham’s son Canaan was the youngest of four (cf. 10:6). He was a seasoned man of the soil, and he knew what wine could do. He was no helpless victim. He passed out because his drinking had gone out of control. Noah had wrought his own degradation.

The Hebrew “lay uncovered” is reflexive, which emphasizes that he “uncovered himself.”3 He was so utterly inebriated that he stripped himself naked and passed out. Having uncovered himself, he therefore had covered himself with shame and disgrace (cf. Habakkuk 2:15; Lamentations 4:21).

Sin was alive and well in the new world.

Graeme Goldsworthy comments, “The flood did not purge the earth of wickedness and we cannot suppose that such was its purpose.”

This is the first mention of drunkenness in the Bible. Some think it was only after the flood that man made (or was able to make) intoxicating drink.

iNoah’s own sinful and shameful actions show the foolishness of drunkenness. Well do the Proverbs say, (Proverbs 20:1 

Proverbs 20:1 KJV 1900

1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverbs 23:29–33 KJV 1900

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it giveth his colour in the cup, When it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, And thine heart shall utter perverse things.

ii. It also shows the foolishness of those who claim God’s desire is to make people “drunk in the spirit” through the work of a “Holy Ghost Bartender.” When Ephesians 5:18 says, do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, it makes a contrast of the work of the Spirit with the effects of drunkenness.

iii. Alcohol is a depressant. It loosens people because it depresses their self-control, their wisdom, their balance, and judgment. The filling of the Holy Spirit has an exactly opposite effect. He is a stimulant, and He influences every aspect of our being to better and more perfect performance.

Then Noah speaks:

cursing Canaan

blessing Shem

enlarging Japheth

And the chapter ends with:

“And he died.”

Even Noah dies.

Which teaches us something critical:

👉 The Flood changed the world… 👉 But it did not change the heart.

Sin survived the storm.

Application:

You can:

start over

experience blessing

walk with God

And still need ongoing grace.

The problem of humanity is not just external.

It is internal.

CONCLUSION

Genesis 9 shows us four powerful truths:

God gives new beginnings.

God defines the value of life.

God makes promises of mercy.

But humanity still needs redemption.