Covenant with Rainbow
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We live in a culture that is increasing devaluing life. There have been 14 mass shootings in the United States since 2010, an average of almost two per year. And we just heard this week of the shooting at a Maryland newspaper office that killed five. We abort a little less than 1,000,000 babies per year. And suicide rates are rising across the US with nearly 45,000 deaths per year, the 10th leading cause of death. These statistics reveal a devaluing of life in the United States.
After studying the flood narrative as we have the last several weeks, we might be tempted to think that God shares our society’s disregard for life since He annihilated all living creatures except eight people and a pair of every animal. However, quickly dismisses this as a possibility.
sets this up
The flood narrative ends the same way it begins with Noah building and God speaking. In Noah builds the ark in response to God’s warning of the flood and instructions for the ark. Now in we see Noah building an altar and God responding with blessing and covenant. Here Noah is building of his own accord to worship God for salvation.
8:21-22 also serves as a summary of the 9:1-17.
21 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Following Noah’s offering God responds to the sacrifice by promising to never again curse the ground or destroy every living thing. This is parallel to v8-17 of chapter 9 which reiterates and expands this covenant and offers a sign to prove it. Then in v22 God promises to sustain the rhythm of life on earth while the planet remains. This is parallel to v1-7 in which God blesses the rhythm of life.
This passage is all God speaking to Noah and both the covenant and the blessing help us see the emphasis of the text. Going into this week I presupposed that the emphasis of this text was on God’s promises and His faithfulness to keep them (as you could possibly tell by the songs that we sung this morning), but while that sub-theme is here, as I studied the text another, stronger emphasis in the text became clear: that the life that God creates and sustains is immensely valuable in His eyes in spite of the flood. Although God had destroyed all living creatures in the flood, He still values the life that He creates, and He will sustain it as long as the earth exists. From this passage we can see that a culture that devalues life is ungodly because it doesn’t share God’s perspective of the life. The more we value the life God creates and sustains, the more like Him we are thinking, so in this is your truth to take home: God values creating and sustaining life; therefore, we must value life as He does.
God values creating and sustaining life; therefore, we must value life as He does.
God values creating and sustaining life; therefore, we must value life as He does.
How do we value life as God does?
God’s blessing and covenant reveal two ways in which God values life that we must seek to follow.
God values the creation of life (9:1-7)
God values the creation of life (9:1-7)
God values the __________________________ of life (9:1-7)God values the _________________________ of life (9:8-17)
This is seen in 9:1-7
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”
We may not think of all of this as part of the same blessing, but please notice that the similar language of v1 and v7 forms an inclusio, which is a literary way of tying information together.
The reason this inclusio might seem strange to us is because this blessing consists of three seemingly distinct aspects:
The blessing starts with God repeating the blessing He gave to Adam and Eve at creation. This indicates that Noah is a sort of new creation following the flood. In other words, God is starting over with Noah. The repetition of this blessing ties the post-flood world and Noah to the post-creation world and Adam. Noah is operating as a new Adam.
From a theological perspective this is important because it hints that God’s ultimate new creation would also come through a new Adam who will be able to do away with inherited progressively growing sin completely. But even though God connects the pre and post-flood eras in the blessing, a contrast also becomes clear.
After blessing humanity, God gives the animals to Noah for food. The relationship between humanity and the animals would change from this point on. Now animals would be fearful of humans and just as humanity had enjoyed the green plants as food before, now they would also enjoy animals as food. The connect to 8:22 is clearest here as we see God continuing the rhythm of life with food.
Here again is a connection to the creation narrative because in chapter 2 God gave an abundant yes and a solitary no concerning food. There He gave the fruit of all of the trees in the garden but one (see ). Here God gives another abundant yes, by adding animals to the food, and another solitary no, by asking that they not consume the blood (v4). The idea isn’t to avoid a medium-rare steak, but to avoid consuming the blood itself. This prohibition was to emphasize the value of blood and its connection to life itself. Throughout Scripture the value of blood is emphasized because of its connection to life. So God prohibits consuming it. But He made another change as well.
He protects the life of humans. God places a strong prohibition on the taking of human life here promising to require life for life. This prohibition reminds us of the violence that preceded the flood, and I believe it underscores the connection of violence to the sin of humanity in and the Nephilim in particular. Cain and Lamech and much of Noah’s society seemed to be pursuing violence as the answer to broken relationships. God didn’t require the life of Cain, nor of Lamech, and apparently not of others either, but here He says that is going to change. In order to protect the life He had created, He was going to start requiring life for life for those pursuing the violence of Cain, Lamech, and the Nephilim.
It is unclear in v6 if the image of God is the reason why God will require life for life or if it is the reason why He will allow humanity to shed the murderers blood. The image God makes humanity higher and more important than the animals, but it could also indicate God’s willingness to delegate His authority to humanity. In other words, the requiring of life can be acted upon by humans because humans have been given the unique responsibility to represent God in the world.
But what is even more interesting is v7 which repeats the be fruitful and multiply blessing.
How are these things related? The repetition emphasizes the big point: Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. But the rest is related: We are able to be fruitful and multiply because God has expanded the food source to include animals. Further we will continue to be fruitful and multiply only if we do not go killing each other. To do violence to another human is to experience the opposite of God’s blessing to be fruitful and multiply, on the contrary, it is unproductive and subtracting.
God values creating life. He knows that humanity experiences His best when we are being fruitful, multiplying, and filling the earth; this wouldn’t be a blessing if that weren’t the case. So rather than destroying life, we must seek to join with God in creating it.
This means that we should stand against abortion and for children. This is one of the reasons why we support the Metro Women’s Center as a church, but it isn’t enough for us only to put money in the offering plate and then sit back thinking we’ve done our part, we must do what we can to encourage them with our presence and support in prayer, volunteering, attending their events, and giving personally. And let me add that to use verbal or physical violence against abortionists or clinics is not the way to end abortion. That only serves to close people off to the truth we proclaim.
We must also stand against violence whenever it happens in our society. Let me just preface that what I am about to say is not a political statement about gun rights; whether or not I am for gun rights is something I will never say from this pulpit. It is common for some Christians to get vocal about defending gun rights in the wake of mass shootings in our society, but if our first thought is to defend our political right to bear arms before we defend the lives of those who have been lost, then we are not valuing life as God does. God’s heart is broken over violence and ours should be too. As Christians we should be caring more for the families and survivors of such violence than we should ever be caring about our right to carry a gun.
This also emphasizes that there is something praiseworthy about those who protect life as they should. We have many civil servants who risk their lives on a daily basis to protect our lives, and they deserve our support and respect. In a way even unbelieving police officers, firefighters, and paramedics are acting in a godly way when they do their job well.
We must also stand against violence in our society. Let me just preface that what I am about to say is not a political statement about gun rights; whether or not I am for gun rights is something I will never say from this pulpit. It is common for some Christians to get vocal about defending gun rights in the wake of mass shootings in our society, but if our first thought is to defend our political right to bear arms before we defend the lives of those who have been lost, then we are not valuing life as God does. God’s heart is broken over violence and ours should be too. As Christians we should be caring more for the families and survivors of such violence than we should ever be caring about our right to carry a gun.
Let me finally emphasize that these verses imply that children are a blessing from God, not a curse. We should love children; we should have children; we should welcome children. Couples may or may not have children for various reasons, many which we cannot control, but if any of us refuses to have children because they are inconvenient, noisy, expensive, or for any other selfish reason then we are not valuing life like God does. If any of us are ever more annoyed by children than we experience joy from children then we are not valuing life like God does. If we question those with big families sarcastically wondering if they know how that happens, we are not valuing life like God does. We must rejoice with and in children because God does, because He values creating life.
But that is not the only way God values life. In addition to valuing the creation of life, God also values the sustaining of life.
God values the sustaining of life (9:8-17)
God values the sustaining of life (9:8-17)
This is in v8-17
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9 “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14 “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
God’s value on sustaining of life is seen here in two ways:
First, the covenant itself reveals God’s desire to sustain life. The establishment of the covenant is an expansion of . This covenant emphasizes two important facts: The first is who is making the covenant: God. The Hebrew in v9 emphasizes in three different ways that it is God Himself making this covenant. It seems to emphasize the same point that makes:
13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
God is emphasizing that this covenant is dependent upon Him and no one else. This is not a conditional covenant; it makes no requirements. This is God swearing by Himself the greatest of all, meaning this covenant is sure and irrevocable.
The covenant also emphasizes the recipients. Six times in these ten verses God emphasizes the recipients of the covenant. The covenant is not made with Noah only, nor with Noah and his sons; it is not made with humanity; this covenant is made with every living creature that is on the earth. The animal list in v10 repeats the list of animals God commanded Noah to take on the ark connecting this covenant with the flood.
The covenant itself also emphasizes that connection since God promises never to spoil the earth and annihilate all flesh with a flood of waters again. Again the Hebrew brings out this emphasis a bit stronger than our translation as God emphasizes this will never happen again. God desires to sustain life on this planet; rather than destroy it, and this covenant shows how much God values life and how it is godly for us to value it too.
The second way we see God’s value on sustaining life is in the sign of the covenant. God puts a bow in the sky to emphasize that this covenant is over-arching over all flesh. Just as a rainbow seems to arch from one horizon to the other, so the covenant arches over all living flesh. The word for bow is the word for an archer’s bow, a weapon of war. God uses a reference to a weapon of war to be a sign for peace between Himself and humanity. It brings to mind passages like
4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.
In the kingdom humanity will do away with weapons of war in favor of farming tools. God brings peace out of struggle. This same point is seen in the emphasis on the connection between rainbows and clouds. Without clouds and rain, we have no rainbows; so we must endure the storm to see the joy on the other side and it is fitting that after the storm in which we might doubting this covenant, that God gives the sign of the bow as a reminder of His covenant to stop the rain before we all are destroyed. It is almost as if the rainbow says, “See, I kept my promise!” This is what is implied by the remembering that God will do when He sees the rainbow in v15-16.
All of this emphasizes how much God values life. He promised to sustain life for generations, and He has. It is a godly thing to sustain life.
But how do we do that? Let me note some implications:
First, we must realize that ultimately we cannot sustain life by ourselves. We are reminded elsewhere in Scripture that our days our God’s.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Col 1:
So we must depend upon Him to sustain our lives. Don’t ignore medicine, but don’t trust it too much either. Depend on God and trust Him. He provides doctors and medicine and such to sustain our lives, but even these things are not foolproof. Be careful not to depend more on modern medicine that you do on God. He values sustaining life and will sustain yours until He determines not to; then nothing the best of doctors can do will sustain your life because God holds it all together.
A second implication is that we must do our part to sustain life around us. This means that we must be generous with the gifts that God has given us to help and encourage those around us. Don’t hoard all that you have for yourself! Share it! Give it away. Just as God uses doctors and medicine to sustain life, He also uses us to sustain life. Maybe ways you can sustain life is by opening your home to those who are struggling. Maybe you’d be willing to take on the risk of being taken for granted or even losing some of your earthly treasure for the good of someone else. Maybe you could pick up the tab for lunch or have someone into your home for a meal. The number of things you can do are endless, but don’t hoard the life God has given you; share it and sustain someone else.
A third implication is that we should support and encourage adoption. Our missionary and pastor Seth Grotzke and Crystal are right now pursuing adoption, and we should be doing everything we can to support them in this process. We should be praying for them, encouraging them toward that adoption, and giving to facilitate the adoption. There are few pictures of the gospel that are better than adoption. God had adopted each one of us into His family, and even though we don’t all look alike or come from the same recent family tree, God has now made us one family through Christ. Adoption does the same thing on a physical level that God has done for us on a spiritual level. Adoption takes one who may or may not look like or come from the same recent family tree and makes a new legal family out of those who before were not family.
God has created and sustained our lives until now because He values life; we also must value it in the same way.
God has created and sustained our lives until now because He values life; we also must value it in the same way.
One day Jesus was approached by a man in the dark of night. The man was important and well-respected among the Jewish elite, so He needed to maintain His reputation; that’s why he came at night. Jesus knew the man had come to find out how to be in the kingdom, so He cuts through the pleasantries right to the point. “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
God does not only value physical life; He does not only create and sustain physical life. He also creates and sustains spiritual life. The only way to seek God’s kingdom is to be born again, or to put it another way, to be recreated. God is in the life-giving business, and He wants to give life to you. That is what we have been singing about and thinking about in this entire service, and it is why we are about to come to this table.
This table is a memorial to us of the life that God was willing to destroy so that we might be able to experience His life. Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. But we can never have that kind of life in and of ourselves. Oh, we may try to find that kind of life in all kinds of earthly idols, like money, food, possessions, friends, popularity, winning, or beings successful, but these things always fail to create and sustain real life and that is because they can’t do anything about the real problem we have. We all have rebelled against God in more ways than we would ever care to admit. We have rejected God and His life for this world and our own life, so we are prone to cheat, lie, murder, covet, and disrespect others to get what we think is life.
But God values real life; so He sent His Son Jesus who became a man and willing lay down His life so that we might partake of His life. Jesus did this when He died on the cross. God takes Jesus’ life and gives it offers it to all of us as a free gift if we will only trust Him and align ourselves with Him. That means giving up all of the things that claim to offer life but are empty, and it means to trust God for real life.
It is this life that Jesus gave for us to live that we memorialize at this table this morning, so as we partake of this bread and juice; value the life of Jesus in which you have been given a share, and value all life because in this is at least one aspect of true godliness.