THE HISTORY OF THE NOAHIC COVENANT

The Noahic Covenant is one that most of us learned in Sunday School or VBS. Some of you may remember the flannel graph boards with the ship and the waters and the screaming people.

We often think of the rainbow and the promise that God would never again destroy all life with a flood. But there is so much more to this account of God’s work in human lives, and I trust that what we discuss tonight will cause you to step back and admire God like Paul does in Romans 11:36.

Romans 11:36 ESV

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

As a way to further organize our thoughts this evening, I am following the three-fold division offered by Geerhardus Vos, which I have provided in your sermon notes.

These three sections organize our thoughts into a helpful way, and I think they will help us see this Covenant and the enormity of it in a clearer and most biblically-consistent way.

Section One: The backdrop of the Noahic Covenant (8:20-22)

Section one provides the backdrop of the Noahic Covenant. It connects the Covenant to the experiences and responses of Noah and his family directly after the flood, while simultaneously looking forward to the end of everything: God’s final Kingdom established.

I. The Noahic Covenant demonstrates the inability of judgment to save mankind- 8:20-21

If you remember, last week we ended our examination of the History of the Flood with Noah’s response. After God delivered Noah and his family from the judgment of the flood, Noah sacrifices animals from the clean category of animals and birds.

Upon smelling the burnt offering, God “says in His heart,” a glimpse into the inter-workings of God given through divine revelation (i.e., Noah had no idea God was saying this as this moment).

God says, “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.”

One aspect we learn from this is that judgment cannot save the heart of man. God destroyed everything, but this did not change the heart of man, for God still said, “for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

We know that when we see other passages of Scripture describing man’s state prior to salvation he is truly without hope. Judgment is incapable of changing man, but God’s purpose was to prepare to bring about His eternal method of redemption through the Seed of the Woman.

But there is more to these two verses. If you compare 6:5 with 8:21, you will see that one provides a “historical culmination” (6:5) and the other “described…the natural state of evil.”

Both of these items demonstrate that judgment cannot change the heart of man, it is inherently wicked. This is foundational for the remainder of Scripture.

II. The Noahic Covenant settles the natural progression of life- 8:22

Mirroring the creation account in Genesis 1:14-19, God also provides order for the progression of life. But there is an important phrase at the beginning that we cannot ignore: “While the earth remains...” this points to the ultimate end of creation: God’s redemption and new creation. We mentioned two passages from Peter’s letters last week, but I want to examine them once again.

1 Peter 3:20-21

1 Peter 3:20–21 ESV

because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

There is a antitype to which the flood points to and that is the salvation through Jesus Christ. But Peter also discusses the end, in 2 Peter 2:5.

2 Peter 2:5 ESV

if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

If you continue reading through to chapter three you will see that Peter connects this judgment of the flood to the end of all things (i.e., while the earth remains).

This verse provides the standard for human progression as represented in the seasons. It is within this framework that the Seed of the Woman would come (it would also provide Israel with their liturgical calendar as well).

That is the first section, and this section provides the backdrop of the Noahic Covenant which brings us to the protection of the Noahic Covenant.

Section Two: The protection of the Noahic Covenant (9:1-7)

In this section we see the establishment of basic human life and its protection. These verses, coming to us prior to the Mosaic Law offer us a glimpse into key aspects of life on fallen earth.

III. The Noahic Covenant reestablishes the creational purpose of man- 9:1-3

If we go back and compare this section with Genesis 1:28-29, we would see some amazing similarities and some stark differences. Since our focus is on the passage before us, you will have to go back and do your own comparisons.

The first aspect of this is that it reestablishes the creational purpose of man. God created humanity in order to spread the glory of God and the glorious wonders of Eden throughout the galaxy. Because of man’s fall, we are no longer able to spread Eden, but God still desires humans to procreate (remember the promise of the Seed of the Woman).

God first commands humanity to procreate. Different that the subjugation of animal life in 1:28, we see that God instills in animal life a fear of human beings.

Returning to Vos, we read his assessment of this passage, “Originally, there was a supremacy of man [Gen. 1:26, 28], but, as instituted at creation, this was of the nature of voluntary submission. This may be seen from the eschatological pictures given of it by the prophets, on the principles of a return of paradise at the end [Isa. 11:6-8]. In the state of sin the result is obtained by fear and dread instilled into the animals.” This gives us a glimpse into the sinfulness of sin. But we move on to another section, and that involves our food.

In 1:29, God provided all life with vegetation for food. Now, after the Fall and the Flood, man is given all animals and vegetation for food.

This sets the stage for the development of life, which in turn, provides the outworking of the promise of Genesis 3:15. The Noahic Covenant reestablishes the creational purpose of man.

IV. The Noahic Covenant presents the value of life- 9:4-7

Remember the first account right after the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden? Genesis 4:8, “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”

What God tells Noah, and by extension all humanity, is that human life is valuable because human life is made in the image of God.

God begins with the value of blood, forbidding humans to eat flesh with blood. Again, I want to restate this is prior to the Mosaic Law. God values life, and life is represented in the blood.

This value is seen in God’s protection of human life from human and animal taking. God would require the life of a man or an animal.

Furthermore, God provides the protection for human life in the form of capital punishment. This provides both the value and the protection of human life.

God’s goal to redeem His fallen creatures involved the coming of Jesus, the Seed of the Woman, and this would be developed through human procreation.

Then, God reiterates the command to procreate. These, both two sections, provide the foundation for the Noahic Covenant which is cemented in Section Three: The Foundation of the Noahic Covenant.

Section Three: The foundation of the Noahic Covenant (9:8-17)

The Noahic Covenant was first mentioned in 6:18, and now it comes to fruition.

V. The Noahic Covenant protects humanity from complete destruction- 9:8-17

God’s Covenant extends from Him to man. It is a remarkable promise of God to Noah as the representative of humanity. This promise extended not only to human life, but also to animal life.

It is a wonderful plan. It is a visible plan. God, in His goodness and grace, provides a sacrament, a physical representation of a spiritual reality (think of baptism and the Lord’s Supper). The rainbow reminds God of His Covenant, not because He could not remember, but because He wanted us to know how serious He took it.

Now, what is awesome about this sign is that it comes with the vehicle that brought the judgment in the first place: rain. Geerhardus Vos describes it like this,

“It is produced against the background of the very clouds that had brought destruction to the earth. But it is produced upon these by the rays of the sun which in the symbolism of Scripture represent the divine grace.”

VI. The Noahic Covenant provides the environment through which the Seed of the Woman would come

This last point will be short, but its shortness in no wise limits its importance.

Sam Renihan writes in his wonderful book, “The reason and purpose for this promise of preservation is that it creates a stable platform upon which God’s plan for salvation can play out.”

God’s promise to crush the Serpent’s head comes with the Seed of the Woman which comes from a lady into a society of human beings.

Renihan, tying the curse in the Garden with the Noahic Covenant, says, “The Covenant of Works curses mankind. The Noahic Covenant stablizes that cursed world so that redemptive history can play out and God’s promises can be fulfilled.”

The History of the Noahic Covenant sets the stage for the continuation of God’s redemptive plan.