God's Covenant With Noah

Two Sundays ago, I taught on the covenant God made with Noah, his family, and with all his descendants, along with "every living creature" that was with Noah on the ark (Genesis 8:18-9:29). It's the section of the Flood story in which God promises "never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth" (9:11). I believe the significance of this covenant is important enough to go the extra mile in making its application to our lives clear by writing about it here in my blog.

Most people remember this section of Scripture for how God establishes the rainbow as a sign of his promise not to repeat the destruction of the earth with a flood. Of course, everyone enjoys seeing rainbows, and understanding their significance only adds to how good they make us feel when we see them.

However, on second thought, how much comfort is there in knowing that God will never again destroy the earth with a flood when he says instead that he will one destroy the earth with a fire? (see 2 Peter 3:10). This question sent me searching for answers as to what exactly God had in mind.

The bottom line is this: God's promise not to repeat the destruction of the world with a flood should be understood as a promise not to ever again return the world to its initial watery state, when the globe was covered with waters (Genesis 1:2). Over the course of creation week, God caused dry ground to appear out of the water (Genesis 1:9). Then he began preparing the land for human beings, the pinnacle of his creation. According to numerous verses throughout Genesis 1 and 2, the Lord blessed humankind through the land.

Once Adam and Eve fell, God cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17-19). As a result, the ground itself suffered (see Romans 8:18-22), and it became an instrument by which human beings would experience the consequences of sin ("through painful toil you will eat of it...it will produce thorns and thistles...by the sweat of your brow," etc.). The interesting point here is this: even though God's blessing on human beings via the land would now be severely limited, it would not be entirely non-existent. In other word, the earth, cursed though it was, would still be fruitful to some degree.

Nevertheless, in Noah's day, the world became so evil and so full of sin, God decided to take away the land altogether with a flood. By using a flood of water to cover all the earth, even the high mountains (Genesis 7:17), God essentially returned the earth to the same watery state it had been in right after he first created it. Now, at the end of the Flood, God tells Noah, "I promise never to repeat such a judgment."

Such a promise would have been extremely good news, especially in light of other promises God had already made. For example, God had already promised that there would be a deliverer who would come from the side of the woman (Genesis 3:15). Furthermore, God had demonstrated that all who belonged to the side of the woman would be blessed with life , rather than death. Now God is at least hinting that something better than what is will be the final result of his activity toward men.

As it turns out, something better is exactly how to describe the result of the final judgment by fire that Peter writes about. The result of the final judgment by fire is not a return to the earth's initial watery state, nor is it a simple purging that leaves the curse of Genesis 3 in tact. Rather, the final judgment by fire results in a restoration of the earth that can only be described as glorious (see Romans 8:21 and Revelation 21-22). Moreover, on this restored or new earth, there will be a quality of life that exceeds anything we might imagine for now (Revelation 22:1-5).

All of this is contained in some fashion in the covenant God made with Noah when he and his family and the animals came off the ark. It makes the beauty and significance of the rainbow even more profound.

For additional background and info, you're invited to re-listen to the sermon from March 30, which can be downloaded from the hamiltonhills.org website. Click on the "resources" tab and follow the links.