"And God Blessed Noah"

Interest:

I must admit that I have always loved rainbows. As a kid I remember getting excited whenever I would see them in the sky after a rainstorm. I got excited whenever I could see a double rainbow or if the colors were so vibrant that I could see the entire spectrum from red to violet.

As I got older and studied physics my amazement of rainbows continued when I learned that a complicated optical situation that must occur to create a rainbow. Rainbows can only occur when the sun is a certain low level to the horizon behind you (42 degrees or lower for you science nerds listening) with raindrops in front of you. This means that rainbows only happen in the morning and evening if you are on relatively flat land. Rainbows require both refraction and reflection of light. In other words, the bending and the bouncing of light. It is the bending of light that causes the colors to be displayed as the visible spectrum is spread out from red to violet.

I was also fascinated by rainbows, though, because I learned at a young age that they had a special meaning given to them by God. I learned in Sunday school that rainbows were a sign that God gave after Noah and his family came off the Ark following the flood.

Involvement:

This evening, we were going to look at the passage in which God sets up the rainbow as a sign of the special promise He gave to Noah.

Context:

Last week, if you joined us for the live stream, you should recall that we looked at the end of the flood ais God remembered Noah and his family. God, in His grace and mercy, faithfully caused the water to stop falling and then caused it to recede. God also caused the surface of the land to eventually dry up so that vegetation could once again grow. And, then, when all was ready and safe, God allowed Noah and his family, along with the animals, to leave the Ark.

I trust you also remember that the first thing that Noah did after he got off the Ark according to the biblical record is that he built an altar upon which he offered sacrifices to God. In other words, the first thing that Noah did after leaving the Ark in which he and his family had been for over a year was worship God.

You may also recall that Moses is taking care throughout these chapters to show the link between God’s preservation of Noah and God's preservation of the nation of Israel. Moses is concerned that Israel recognize that God's plan of salvation has narrowed to the nation, but at the same time, it is also flowing through the nation for the sake of all of humanity. By seeing God’s care and faithfulness, Moses is leading the nation to worship God, the one true and living God.

Preview:

As with the last couple chapters that we have looked at, this is a rather familiar passage we are looking at this evening. it is also a particularly important passage with lasting implications. This passage teaches us that God’s heart is that We must recognize and defend that human life is precious.

We must recognize and defend that human life is precious. That is not to say that all life is not precious in some fashion, but human life is distinct. Human life rises to a different level then animal life. We saw this truth in the creation account of Genesis chapter one, and we see it clearly again tonight. For that reason, we must recognize and defend that human life is precious.

Transition from introduction to body:

Our passage naturally breaks down into two sections this evening Which we will look at separately. In the first section, verses 1 through 7 of chapter 9, we see that…

BODY:

I. Life is produced by God’s blessing

Let's begin by reading these first 7 verses together…<read Gen 9:1–7>.

Last week we observed that Noah was silent throughout the process of God saving those who were on the Ark with him. Here once again Noah if the silent participant. All the initiative is taken by God and all of the statements are made by God in the verses that we just read.

A. “Be fruitful and multiply,” v. 1

God begins by repeating the commission that He gave to Adam in Genesis chapter one, to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” These verses end with essentially the same commission repeated a second time, thus bracketing this whole section with this idea. One thing that stands out as God gives this commission to Noah is that this time his sons are specifically included. This indicates that his sons and their descendants will now be integral in the fulfillment of this commission; Noah it is no longer viewed independently. Of course, the animals are included in the idea of expansion through procreation, but the expansion of humanity is the forefront of this verse. The idea is that all expansion over the earth now is the result of God's blessing.

Now, it doesn't say this within the text, but it seems as if an implication of the text is that for the year that Noah and his family and the animals were on the Ark, procreation was put on hold. At the very least, we know that no more people got off the Ark than got on the Ark at the beginning of the flood. In other words, none of the sons and their wives had any children during the year of the flood. But that would change now as God would begin to bless them and allow them to have children so that the earth could be repopulated.

It is interesting that this word “multiply” is also used in Exodus chapter one to describe how the Israelites flourished in Egypt. The reason that they became such a great nation is because they “multiplied.” This indicates that the nation is the result of God’s great blessing. Their emergence came through God’s blessing.

B. The relationship between mankind and animal life changes, vv. 2–3

The next main thing that we notice in this section is that the relationship between mankind and the animal kingdom changes. As a result of the new situation on earth following the flood things between man and beast will be different. The first specific thing that God says is that animal life will now fear mankind. Think about how strange this must have been; for the past year at least, the relationship between Noah and his family and the animals on the Ark had to have been fairly peaceful. That is not to say that all the animals on the Ark were domesticated, but surely there was not a vicious or dangerous environment within the Ark during the entire flood. But now, suddenly the same animals who came to Noah to be placed on the Ark, the same animals who had been cared for by Noah and his family, the same animals who had just exited the Ark, were suddenly given an instinctive fear of Noah and his family. No longer would these animals see mankind is their providers; rather, now they would see mankind as dangerous. They would have an instinctive fear that would cause them to run from man.

This fear, though, had a purpose; it opened the right for mankind to be able to eat animals as part of their diet. God specifically gives permission in verse 3 for Noah and his family to begin eating animals just as they had previously been able to eat green plants. Mankind is given the privilege of leaving a strict vegetarian diet behind; now steak as well as bacon is on the menu. As the nation of Israel received the Mosaic Law, they were given numerous dietary restrictions that limited which type of meat they could eat is God distinguished between clean and unclean animals. At this point, though, the permission was given to simply eat animals in general.

C. Life remains precious, vv. 4–6

One of the impressions that could arise since God had just destroyed all life from the earth is that life is not really that valuable. But nothing could be further from the truth. And for that reason, God takes special effort to ensure that it is clear following the flood that life remains precious. He mitigates killing by setting forth strict boundaries in verses 4-6.

The precious nature of life is first seen in that God does not allow for animal flesh to be eaten with its life in it. He explains in verse four that that the blood must be drained before the flesh is to be eaten. The blood represents the life of the animal; it represents the animating force of life. By draining the blood from the animal before consuming it. This shows that even animal life remained valuable in the eyes of God.

Verse five begins with the same particle as verse 4 in the Hebrew original, a particle that marks verse 5 as giving us a second divine prohibition. The prohibition given here is against allowing life to be taken indiscriminately. Three times in this verse the words “I will require” are used, showing that this is God's express command; He is the absolute Lord over life. God demands that an animal who takes the life of a person must die. While all life is precious, human life remains unique and is of the most value. Whenever human life is taken the life that took it is required; even an animal who takes a human life is guilty in God’s eyes.

God also makes this principle explicit in the case of a human taking the life of another human. He requires the life of a man's brother for the life of a man. That use of the word “brother” harkens back to the Cain and Abel incident. It also reflects that all humanity is linked through common ancestry here to Noah. Verse 6 specifically lays out that requirement whenever a man sheds the blood of another man, or, in other words, murders him. The murderer's life is forfeit because of his actions because man alone is in the image of God. Man's life is to be treated with special caution and the harshest punishment falls on one who does not treat it as precious.

There is some debate regarding the translation in verse 6 where we have the words in the New American Standard, “by man.” The debate is whether this should be translated as “by man,” indicating that mankind is to take the life of a murderer: or “for man,” indicating that God will take life of a murderer. The most natural way to take the Hebrew is the translation “by man.” The reason for the debate is because if this is translated as “by man,” meaning mankind, then this is the foundation for capital punishment. Obviously, those who want to hold to scripture do not want to subscribe to capital punishment must deal with this verse and the common approach taken is to translate it as “for man.” But, as I said, the most natural way to take this verse is to translate it “by man,” “whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed.” Here we have God prescribing capital punishment as the proper punishment for murder because murder takes the life of an image bearer of God. I believe it does a disservice to God’s revelation as well as to the value of the image of God to try to cause this verse to say anything other than what it says.

Application

The first section teaches us that life is produced by God’s blessing. For that reason, God has given us the responsibility to recognize the value of life as well as to defend life. The implications of that are extensive. For example, we could spend the rest of the evening discussing how this applies to our involvement in the political spectrum. It is one thing to say that we should be advocates of capital punishment, but it is an entirely different thing to integrate the rest of scripture and derive principles by which this is applied in our particular context. For instance, the Bible leaves no room for personal vengeance. The Bible also recognizes that we live in a world with imperfect knowledge. The Bible sets out principles for due process and appeal. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to how to implement this principle and believers will come to different conclusions regarding the how of capital punishment even when we agree on the what—that God does prescribe capital punishment.

One area that should not be up for debate, though, is our opposition to abortion. We must oppose abortion in order to recognize and defend that human life is precious. Of course, the means by which we exercise our opposition to abortion will vary but our commitment to opposition should be uniform.

Transition:

We must recognize and defend that human life is precious. That is our main idea overall tonight. From the first 7 verses of our passage that is because we recognize that life is produced by God. In the second portion of our text this evening, verses 8–17, we see that…

II. Life is preserved by God’s covenant

In these verses we have the first time in human history that God makes a formal covenant with man. From this point on God will be known as a covenant making covenant keeping God. Let's read these verses together…<read Gen 9:8–17>.

Life is preserved by God's covenant. That is the main idea of these verses that we just read. You may have missed it as I read through them quickly now, but God actually spoke three times in these verses. Granted, everything that was spoken was by God, but His words were separated 3 times by an introduction phrase that tells us God spoke. From each of these statements by God, we can learn something about how He preserves life through the covenant that He established with Noah.

A. God’s formal covenant is unconditional, vv. 9–11

Back in chapter 6, verse 18, God had promised Noah that He would establish a covenant with him and his family. God made that promise before Noah even began building the Ark. Now, on the other side of the flood, God formerly states the covenant that He is establishing with Noah. It is an unconditional covenant. In other words, it is not contingent on Noah and his descendants obeying the various laws that are given. If mankind obeys the laws, then that will allow them to live and enjoy this covenant, but the covenant itself is not contingent on their obedience. It will continue whether individuals obey or not. Remember last week that God recognized that mankind remains desperately wicked? The good news wrapped in this covenant is that man's wickedness will not destroy the covenant that God is forming in these verses.

One thing worth noting, is that God is the one who initiates the covenant. Throughout the entire story of Noah, the focus has been on God initiating the activity. The same is true here. God is never seen as a Responder to people nor is He ever seen as a Reactor to situations; God is a God who moves when and as He chooses. This point is made emphatically in verse 9. If we were to translate the beginning of verse 9 literally, it would be something along the lines of, “now I—behold—I am establishing my covenant.”

The next thing that we should notice about the covenant is that God includes all who entered the Ark in the scope of the covenant. The covenant is not only with Noah and his sons, but with all of the creatures that were part of God's salvation within the Ark. That means that not only is mankind to benefit from this covenant, but all of the life that was preserved from the flood also benefits from the covenant that God forms here.

The third thing to observe is the specific promise contained within the covenant, the promise that God will never again destroy the earth with the flood. In fact, the word that God uses for “destroy” in this verse is same word He used in verse 17 of chapter 6 when He announced His intent to destroy all who lived upon the earth. Now, two times in verse 11 God repeats, “never again.” This is God's assurance that He will not reset the world again even though He knows that man will still be wicked.

B. God gives a sign for the covenant, vv. 12–16

In verses 12 through 16 God speaks for a second time in in these verses as He adds a sign to the covenant: the sign of the rainbow. This is the first time that there is a covenant sign given in the Bible. Of course, that makes sense since this is the first covenant. From these verses we do not have to conclude that rainbows are new on the earth, assuming rain occured before the Flood, which I believe was probably the case. Then, the laws of physics being constant after Creation, rainbows would not be new. Rather God is likely using an existing phenomenon to point to something new. The rainbow itself does not have to be new, what is new is the meaning God gives it. A similar thing happens in the case of circumcision. Circumcision was not isolated to the nation of Israel, but it was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham that gave it special significance for the nation of Israel.

One thing that God makes clear is that the sign of the rainbow affects all future generations. This was not just for the generation that came through the flood, this covenant with the associated sign was for all times. God says that He is the one who will see the rainbow and remember the covenant that He has formed with the earth.

We should also recognize that the covenant sign was designed to be a promise of peace for the earth. The Hebrew word that is used for “bow” is the common word that referred to a battle bow, the kind of bow used by a soldier during war. The picture that God seems to be creating through His use of the rainbow is that He is taking His own bow that He has used in battle against the earth and hung it up because He is now finished with it. He is no longer at war with the earth. His bow hangs in the sky where all can see that it is no longer being pointed toward the earth.

At the same time, the third thing that we should recognize from the rainbow is that it is to serve as both a reminder of grace and judgment. Every time a rainbow forms, it comes with storm clouds. Those storm clouds should remind us that God judged the earth for its wickedness through the flood. Yet God saved mankind and the other living creatures through His grace by means of the Ark. Following the judgment, He set the rainbow in place as a sign that He would never again destroy the earth. In fact, it is God's grace and mercy that keeps Him from repeating that destruction even now. He has unilaterally obligated Himself to stave off a second flood as displayed by the rainbow in the sky.

C. God’s covenant turns judgment into grace

Verse 17 contains God’s third speech, which summarizes everything that we see about God's covenant in this entire section. The main idea through the repetition of the third short speech is that God's covenant is what turns His fierce judgment into divine grace for the future. God tells Noah that “this is the sign of the covenant,” pointing to the covenant that is the evidence of His abiding promise. He says, “I have a established” it, echoing the idea once more that God is the taking divine initiative to act in a gracious way. And He points out that His covenant stands between Himself and “all flesh that is on the earth,” showing again the inclusive nature of this covenant.

Application

Life is preserved by God’s covenant. That is the point of verses 9–17. And what a precious point it is. We should look in the sky with great joy in our hearts every time we see a rainbow. We should thank God for the grace and mercy that He is showing by not judging mankind again. We know that mankind remains desperately wicked…and God knows it even more fully than we do. We should thank God that His promise remains in effect as it is because of His initiative that mankind still exists.

We should also see the rainbow and remember that the wrath of God always brings great judgment when it comes. Such a reminder should spur us too share the means that God has given to avoid the judgment that He has promised is yet to come; the judgment that comes with the return of Christ. The rainbow should remind us to share the gospel message.

Transition:

We must recognize and defend that human life is precious. It is so precious that God as preserved life through His covenant—the covenant whose sign we see with every rainbow that forms ihn the sky.

Now, before we end this evening, I want to take a few additional minutes and make one theological point that comes out of our passage. That is the point that…

III. Human life is protected through human government by God’s design

I think it is important for us to park on this passage and make this observation this evening. Human life is valuable because, as we saw in our passage, all human life carries the image of God. That is what really makes human life sacred. God has assigned the role to human government to protect human life.

As I hope you all know by this time, we are committed dispensationalists in our church. That means that we believe that God has revealed Himself to humanity at different times in history through a progressive fashion. But that progress has not been uniform throughout history; it has come in chunks of revelation. Each of these chunks of revelation, if you will, creates a new way by which God relates to mankind and by which mankind is to respond to God.

Our passage to this evening begins what is commonly called the dispensation of government. This dispensation runs from the time of the flood here, until the time of Abraham when this dispensation is replaced by the dispensation of promise built around the Abrahamic covenant. Each dispensation begins with new revelation, such as we saw tonight as God spoke. Each dispensation then ends when mankind fails to live up to the responsibility revealed by God. Then, after a cataclysmic failure, God provides new revelation and forms a new type of relationship under a new dispensation.

Now, this does not mean that everything that begins during a dispensation ends when that dispensation ends. There are often continuing elements that are ongoing, functioning in future dispensations after they were introduced to mankind. That is true of civil government from this dispensation. Here we find the institution of civil government, something that continues to this day even though we now live in the dispensation of grace.

This is the institution of civil government. It begins as God announces the concept of capital punishment. Remember, I mentioned when we were looking at verse 6 that the Bible does not leave room for personal vengeance. It is clear as we go through scripture that God does not intend for men to avenge themselves on those who they believe have wronged them. In fact, it was that independent use of vengeance that led to the downfall of the previous dispensation as man became so wicked doing that which seemed right to himself that God destroyed the world with the flood. Remember Lamech boasting in chapter 4 about killing a man for striking him? No, the right to exercise capital punishment was given to mankind collectively, not to men as individuals. It is from this idea that civil government comes into existence in human history.

But there are, as you can see on the slide, three implications that come along with this understanding of the foundation of human government. Of course, all of these are supported by further revelation as well, most fully in what Paul says in Romans chapter 13. The first implication is the obvious one, government is to protect the sanctity of human life. After all, if government exists to exercise capital punishment on those who have taken human life, then it most certainly must have as its goal the protection of human life. Protecting life is government’s primary, God-given, responsibility.

Secondly, and nearly as obvious, government must punish the wicked. That is inherent in the right of government to exercise capital punishment. Murder is the extreme form of wickedness, and government is called to punish it. So, government by implication should also punish that which is of a less wicked nature than murder as well. It is up to society, though civil government, to punish wickedness between people. By doing so, civil government constrains evil.

Thirdly, government should seek to cause righteousness to prevail upon the earth. If government is to punish wickedness, then it should promote righteousness. It should promote righteousness because that is what will allow society to flourish.

These really are the three general functions of civil government as the Bible defines it. You probably recall from various classes that God has instituted three sources of institutions: the family, civil government, and the church. That last one, the church, has the responsibility of defining the scope and goals of the other two because the church is responsible for keeping and teaching God's revelation. That is why we look to the Bible for the proper function of civil government. But this is also why the church submits to civil government when government is within the role that God has designed it to fill. At the same time, the church calls government out when it goes outside those God-given boundaries.

Application

We, of course, know that government will never fulfill its functions perfectly because government is comprised of men and women who are inherently sinful. But we also recognize thank God uses sinful men to accomplish His purpose and, in general, governments do these three things…even bad governments.

We must recognize that our particular civil government at this time is failing in many ways to protect the sanctity of human life whenever it supports abortion. We must stand against that and call our government out for its failure. We must do that as we go to the voting booth each election and we must do that as we engage with the various levels of government as opportunities allow.

This past week within our state we saw significant demonstrations against our state government. We may personally feel that those protests are valid because we may think that our government has not been standing up for righteousness in some of the decisions that have been made late. My encouragement to us all, though, is that we remember that the main role of government is to protect the sanctity of human life. We may politely disagree with how our government is doing in the protection of life regarding COVID-19 and that is fine, as long as we disagree in a respectful manner that acknowledges that God has placed government over us and don’t resort to sinful behaviors ourselves. There should, however, be no disagreement when it comes to our government supporting abortion; that really should be a black and white issue for us because God has clearly stated the value of human life which bears His image..

Transition from body to conclusion:

We must recognize and defend that human life is precious.

CONCLUSION

We must recognize and defend that human life is precious. That is our main idea this evening. That is our responsibility as seen by God's interaction with Noah in our passage tonight. Life is produced by God's blessing. Life is preserved by God's covenant. Human life is protected through human government by God's design. We must recognize and defend that human life is precious.