The First Covenant

Introduction

The bible is full of intriguing stories. No matter how many times you read it, there is always more to see and learn. Lent is a time of reflection where we repent of our sin, we pray and read scripture to rebuild our base we stand on. In our Ash Wednesday service, we talked about remembering our baptismal vows. Today we talk about another promise or vow. Today we learn about the first covenant of God. It is different than ones that come afterwards but you see something about God and a love of creation. Listen now to Genesis 9:8-17

Genesis 9:8–17 NRSV

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 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 clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 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; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Trouble in the passage

If you are not familiar with the story of Noah and the flood then go back later today and read the previous chapters to learn about it. For today’s purposes, know this, the flood came because the world had turned to evil wholeheartedly. God witnessed his creation humanity becoming totally engulfed in sin. There was no hope that they would change their ways or realize the evil ways they followed were in fact evil. They were completely turned away from God and no longer listened or believed.

God told Noah of the flood coming and made him prepare for it so that through Noah could be the new start of humanity and animals to repopulate the earth. The flood came as God told them and it destroyed everyone and everything that was not in the ark. Never had rains came like this before and never had the earth been devastated like this. What was to say this would not happen again? What would stop God from wiping out creation altogether? I can imagine lots of questions might have been going through the minds of Noah and his sons after having survived this catastrophe.

Grace in the passage

God probably knew this and proceeded to address their concerns and worries. God made a promise to them and the rest of creation. God would never again bring this type of destruction to creation. God would never again flood the earth and destroy the earth. What is interesting is that this is the first time you hear God make a promise or a covenant and what is even more interesting, nothing is asking of creation by God in exchange for this promise.

God made the promise and the rainbow is a reminder of that promise. While the storms and rains caused such devastation, the rainbow that followed was the promise that the destruction was not going to overtake the world. Rains still came after that promise and I am sure floods still happened but God’s promise is that it would never again overtake the earth. Devastation would not be global, at least by flood.

As I mentioned before, something that is easy to miss hear is that what is expected in return for this promise of God to never again destroy the earth by flood? Nothing. This is a covenant between God and creation, not just humanity. God establishes the promise and God gives the sign of the rainbow of the remembrance of this promise. God gives the rainbow to establish hope for Noah and his sons that the rain they experience won’t be like the one they had survived that destroyed everything they knew. God’s promise to them and creation was that would never happen again. This was the assurance Noah and his sons needed that God is the powerful one who controls even the floods and their destructive powers and never again would they have to worry about the earth being destroyed like they had just lived through.

Trouble in the world

So what about today. I wondered a lot on how we see catastrophes today. Some people claim they are God’s wrath while others say it is just part of the cycle of nature and the unpredictability of it. I have heard terms like 100 year floods or plagues that strike hard at the land and people. However, I am cautious about labeling it. When looking at the flood of Noah, God said he was going to do this. But I have not heard this warning from God on some of these disasters. I do not mean to dismiss it because it is always possible. I don’t have the mind of God nor do I have a blueprint of every detail of every day like he does. So I look at what I know and can understand.

What do I know and understand about today’s world and people? I know that sin is running rampant. It is no stretch of imagination to look out and see that sin is still at war with the people in this world. I can see that some, not all, are completely consumed by that sin. I see others who struggle against it. I see disasters and plagues happening today and when you look back at history you can see their presence routinely happening. Does this mean each one of them is caused by God as a means to correct the people? I am not convinced. If you look at the flood story, God did not send the flood to correct the people and creation, it was sent to wipe them out. That being said, I believe I don’t fully know or understand God and the plans for creation. So how does God deal with the sin battle going on with the war today? The answer is grace!

Grace in the world

While this may sound like an oversimplification, it really is the answer of how God deals with sin and this world. God has established many promises to the world and to certain people. There are two promises I want to focus on where grace, or undeserved favor of God exists.

First is God’s love. Today, there is a promise where God loves you and no matter what happens, it will always be true. No matter how much the world seems to turn and embrace evil and sin, God’s love never changes. God has always and will always love creation no matter what creation does. This is a promise like the rainbow that requires nothing on anyone’s part except God. This means God is unchanging in the love of creation.

Second, God provided a way of being redeemed and saved from the sin that wages war against creation every day. Not only does God unconditionally love creation, secondly, God has provided a way to become freed from sin and eternal death. Again, this was not a promise where humanity had to fulfill a promise, God did this completely on his own. Jesus Christ stepped down into flesh, went to the cross to die the sinner’s death, and was raised to eternity to create a new path that humanity could not establish. This was God again, making a promise and fulfilling that promise without requiring humanity to do something to bring it about. Just like the rainbow, God brought this about without requiring humanity to do something in return.

That being said, there is the step of accepting the gift God has made possible. There is a step where we need to make a choice between accepting God’s gift and promise or rejecting it. What is required of humanity is an accepting of the gift of salvation. What is required of us is after accepting that gift, allowing God to be Lord over our lives. This is what is required of us to follow after Jesus after letting him into our lives. God promised Jesus and fulfilled that promise Every time I witness a beautiful sunrise, I think of the empty grave on that first Easter Sunday. Every sunrise I see I am reminded of the grace of God at work in my life, redeeming me for eternity and fulfilling that promise made.