God’s way of mercy, the first unconditional covenant with Noah

Readings this week, leading up to first Sunday in Lent, February 18
Genesis 9:8–17
Psalm 25:1–10
Mark 1: 9–15
1 Peter 3: 18–22

Theme of the week: God establishes His ways as an invitation for us to follow and so discover Him

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Genesis 9:8–17

God’s way of mercy established in the first unconditional covenant with Noah

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…

This is the first of a number of covenants in Scripture between God and His people, some unilateral like this one, others bilateral and participative.

God had already promised this covenant, Genesis 6:18.

10 …and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you — every living creature on earth.

This covenant has a wider scope than God’s providence for people. It includes “every living creature”, livestock and wild, and “all life” which can be understood as everything biological and made of cells.

11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

This is the only recorded covenant where God undertakes not to do something.

Worldwide judgment at the end of the Last Times is not ruled out by this verse. It says there will never again be a worldwide destructive flood.

For further study read 2 Peter 3:4–13

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

Covenants in the Bible often go with a particular sign, e.g. circumcision, the Sabbath observance, the bread and wine of the Lord’s supper.

For further study see Genesis 17:11; Exodus 31:13,17; Luke 22:20

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Literally “I have set My bow…” Hebrew uses the same term for bow and rainbow. One of the OT images of God is as a warrior who shoots arrows of judgment. This in Hebrew thought could be God hanging up his bow of judgment.

For further study see Psalm 7:12, Psalm 18:13–14, Habakkuk 3:9–11

14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Verses 12–13 and verse 16 together make an ‘envelope statement’ of emphasis.

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Application

From now on, in this new start, covenants will be an important feature of the relationship between God and His people. This is the first of five covenants which are called ‘Everlasting’ — looking forward to the end of time.

The other four main covenants which are everlasting are:
• The covenant with Abraham, Genesis 17:7
• The priestly covenant, Numbers 25:10–13
• The Davidic covenant, 2 Samuel 23:5
• The promised New Covenant, Jeremiah 32:40

The covenant with Moses, or the Sinai covenant, is rather different — a rule of life for the Jewish nation until the Holy Spirit was given. It was terminated on the Cross, Romans 6:14, Galatians 3:10–13. Jesus has fulfilled the Law and wants us to choose to live like Him, in the awareness of the Great Commandment, Matt. 22:36–40, rather than live under law. That choice that we make as Christians is both guided, and enabled, by the Holy Spirit, who trains us, “I will inspire them to fear (revere) Me” in the words of Jeremiah, to more than fulfil the objectives of the law (the 10 Commandments and much more) given to Moses — but willingly and intentionally and creatively, in other words, by grace rather than by rule and obedience.

This covenant with Noah makes no demands on Noah or on us. It is all down to God stating, and demonstrating His faithfulness. The seasons will take their course, and rainfall, perhaps heavy rainfall will be a part of that. But the ‘bow hung in the sky’ is a promise that God will keep. It is also a covenant we can go back to in prayer, ‘returning His word to Him’ Isaiah 55:11 whenever the natural order of things seems under threat.

For reflection and discussion

How do you hold on to the reality of God’s promises and faithfulness, while living in a fallen world where bad things happen to ‘good people’ and we are faced with so much uncertainty and unpredictability?

Originally published at The Living Word.