Genesis 6:11-14,17-18; 9:8-17 - The Noahic Covenant: God’s Grace Continued
When have you started something that became difficult to finish? When it was easy to begin, but hard to complete – because obstacles got in the way.
When it comes to keeping your faith in Christ until the end of your life, you may have wondered if you’ll be able to finish. Will you make it to the end with Jesus, especially when so many obstacles arise? You might be surprised at how many people think about that and struggle with it.
After God initiated the covenant of grace with Adam and Eve in Gen. 3, many obstacles arose. First of all, to be clear, God did not make the covenant of grace with Adam. He made the covenant of grace with Jesus Christ. But God showed grace to Adam and Eve, and He foreshadowed the covenant of grace in Christ in Genesis 3:15 as Brock pointed out last Sunday.
At that time, God predicted obstacles — hostility between His man and Satan’s man. That’s on display in the next chapter. One of Adam and Eve’s sons, the wicked Cain, kills his brother, the faithful Abel. It’s the first example of Satan’s continual attempts to eliminate the Savior foretold by God. Fast forward in history to the time of Jesus’ birth. The evil King Herod put out an order to kill all male children ages 2 and under, in an effort to eliminate just one: the baby boy who would be king and would save God’s people.
Adam’s son Abel was a man who knew and loved God. But He was not the Savior come. After his death, Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, and He later had a son, Enosh. And the end of Genesis 4 says, “At that time people began to call upon the name of Yahweh.” Some OT scholars strongly believe the correct translation is, “At that time people began to be called by the name of Yahweh.” Either way, God was establishing a people who would know and worship Him – which is further evidence of His grace shown at that time.
Neither Seth nor Enosh was that Savior yet to come, but at that point in history it seemed that God’s plan would come to fruition. However, obstacles. Genesis 5 and 6 tell us that the human population grew in number – and in sinfulness. Genesis 6 says, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Things were so bad that God determined to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. What about the plan? What about that first glimpse of the gospel in Genesis 3?
Well, Moses adds, in Genesis 6, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Noah was not the Savior to come, but the Savior would descend from Him. Noah was special, because God showed grace to Him. Dr. John Currid points out that the Hebrew wording of “Noah found favor” actually indicates an ongoing state of grace – not that Noah did something that merited God’s favor, but that God had acted long before to place Noah in this state of grace.
In 1 Cor. 15, the apostle Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul even says that He worked hard to preach Christ, “though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
Noah’s character amidst all the evil was ultimately God’s grace toward Him and mankind. Later in Genesis we see Noah’s sin. His righteousness was a credit to God. You see, God’s gracious dealings with Noah are just another example of God's commitment to our gracious salvation and perseverance of His people. God will see us through to the end because it is God who is seeing us through.
Through His gracious dealings with Noah, God continued His redemptive plan, which would ultimately lead to Jesus Christ coming into the world. And I want to point out two things this morning about God’s covenant with Noah – things that should encourage us as we walk with Jesus throughout our lives. Notice page 6 in the WG. God preserves and assures His people according to His covenant.
Now, verses 11-17 describes the corruption of the people of the world in Noah’s lifetime. God reveals to Noah that He will destroy them, but Noah should build an ark, that he and his family may survive. God is sending a flood of water. Everything will die. But, God says in verse 18, “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
God would destroy all the people of the earth — but spare Noah and his family. In other words, God was showing them grace. Most people are somewhat familiar with the events, but Noah built the ark, his family and many animals crowded inside, and God flooded the world with water.
Afterwards, everyone in the ark emerged onto dry land. When Noah and his household emerged from the ark, the events mirrored the creation account of Genesis 1 in many ways. There’s wind over the waters, the separating of water and land, the return of vegetation, and the inhabiting of the earth by various creatures, the greatest of which is mankind. They are told to “be fruitful and multiply.” In a way, God was pressing “reset.”
God had shown His grace toward sin, but now, He had also shown His great wrath against sin.
This is the first time the word “covenant” is used in Scripture, although later on the prophet Hosea refers to God’s agreement with Adam as a covenant. So what covenant is this? Well, God made the covenant of works with Adam, which Adam broke but which remained in effect. The requirement for eternal life in God was the perfect keeping of the cov. of works. The flood was a result of the violation of the cov. of works.But this covenant is God’s commitment to Noah – an agreement God entered into – to shield Noah and his family from His wrath against sin.
It’s not that Noah and his family were not sinners. Noah’s sin is on display later in Genesis. But God chose to show grace toward Noah and toward his family. One reason is through them the earth would be populated again. But also, from one of Noah’s sons – Shem – the people of Israel would descend. Eventually Jesus would come from that lineage. However, another of Noah’s sons, Ham, would display wickedness after the flood, and from him descended the Canaanites.
What was God doing here? He was continuing the redemptive plan He revealed to Adam in Genesis 3:15. This is another major event in the history of God’s covenant of grace. God is not making the covenant of grace with Noah here – that covenant is made with Christ. But this is another milestone in the process which culminated in Christ coming into the world and performing His saving work for God’s people. And this event shows us an essential aspect of God’s holy character. God preserves His people according to His covenant.
Now, yes, He poured out His wrath on sin according to His holy will. But for Noah – who God placed in a state of grace – and for those whom God chose, they were protected from that wrath. They found themselves curiously safe.
In 2011, after a terrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, survivors there used social media and online message boards to communicate with family and friends to let them know that they were OK. This inspired engineers at Facebook to add a new feature to their website, and now it’s a normal thing to post that you are “marked safe” in a disaster.
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul wrote, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” And in 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul told believers, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you are in Christ, you will make it to the end because of Christ, not because of you.
Salvation is by faith alone, which is a gift from God. And true faith results in a changing life. In other words, those with true faith will begin to bear fruit in keeping with true repentance. That process will be slow, with many steps forward and steps back, but there will be change. However, you must never lose sight of this reality – that the fruit of salvation neither earns or preserves your salvation.
You don’t change and bear good fruit to keep salvation. Paul says as much in Ephesians 2. He writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Then – listen to this – he writes, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Like Noah, God determined beforehand to place you in a state of grace, and any fruit you bear in keeping with true repentance is a result of what God has done.
God preserves His people, and He does so according to His covenant.But primarily we should interpret the events with Noah as one scholar says: “The earth must be preserved so that God’s plan of salvation can be fulfilled.”
Now look at this next section with me. This is Genesis 9, after the flood has subsided. God establishes a covenant with Noah and his sons, verse 11, “that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” So, sin will not cease, but God will not destroy the inhabitants of earth in this way again.
And look at verse [12] And 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 cloud, 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.”
Another aspect of God’s covenant dealings with His people is a sign of the covenant. The sign here is a rainbow – literally “bow” in the Hebrew, which was used for a rainbow but is also the word used for a bow for hunting. Some point out that the bow is aimed toward God and away from earth. Is this a foreshadowing of God taking on our sin in Christ?
Well, on one hand, though God will not send a flood, He will still judge the earth one day. The work of Christ does not mean eternal peace with God for all people, only for God’s people. However, this sign of the covenant should fill us with hope and assurance. God is merciful and gracious, and to that end, this does remind us of the work of Christ.
Back when we preached through Genesis, from late-2021 to mid-2023, we were continually reminded that the first recipients of the book of Genesis were the Israelites after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt. As they heard about these events, they learned about the one true God, about the history of redemption, about the history of grace, about the wrath of God and the mercy of God, about the flood and about God’s preservation of Noah and his family, from whom their nation descended. And while they were called to obey God, they were also assured of God’s love.
You see, in addition to preserving us, God assures His people according to His covenant. Hebrews 10 says, “Since we have a great priest over the house of God (who is Jesus Christ), let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”God work’s done in and through Christ for our salvation is our assurance.
This covenant actually has a component for all people – a common grace component, in that the whole earth will not be destroyed in this way. But greater than that is the special grace component. In Philippians 1, Paul says, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God’s covenant of grace in and with Jesus assures us that we will be preserved to the end with Him.
As we go to the Lord’s table today, we have a sign of God’s preservation and assurance of salvation according to His covenant. As often as we hear the words and take the elements, we are reminded that Christ has dealt fully with the sins of His people, He has borne the full weight of our sin, and His grace undergirds us always. At the same time, the table testifies that those without Christ must bear their own guilt.
And like those washed away by the ancient flood, those without Christ will be swept away by God’s judgment and wrath. Those who have trusted in Christ have admitted their sin and turned from it to pursue righteousness. They are convinced that following Jesus is the best way. And those who come to Christ by faith are assured that they will be preserved to the end, not because we are able, but because God is able, and His covenant is sure.
Bow with me in prayer.
When it comes to keeping your faith in Christ until the end of your life, you may have wondered if you’ll be able to finish. Will you make it to the end with Jesus, especially when so many obstacles arise? You might be surprised at how many people think about that and struggle with it.
After God initiated the covenant of grace with Adam and Eve in Gen. 3, many obstacles arose. First of all, to be clear, God did not make the covenant of grace with Adam. He made the covenant of grace with Jesus Christ. But God showed grace to Adam and Eve, and He foreshadowed the covenant of grace in Christ in Genesis 3:15 as Brock pointed out last Sunday.
At that time, God predicted obstacles — hostility between His man and Satan’s man. That’s on display in the next chapter. One of Adam and Eve’s sons, the wicked Cain, kills his brother, the faithful Abel. It’s the first example of Satan’s continual attempts to eliminate the Savior foretold by God. Fast forward in history to the time of Jesus’ birth. The evil King Herod put out an order to kill all male children ages 2 and under, in an effort to eliminate just one: the baby boy who would be king and would save God’s people.
Adam’s son Abel was a man who knew and loved God. But He was not the Savior come. After his death, Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, and He later had a son, Enosh. And the end of Genesis 4 says, “At that time people began to call upon the name of Yahweh.” Some OT scholars strongly believe the correct translation is, “At that time people began to be called by the name of Yahweh.” Either way, God was establishing a people who would know and worship Him – which is further evidence of His grace shown at that time.
Neither Seth nor Enosh was that Savior yet to come, but at that point in history it seemed that God’s plan would come to fruition. However, obstacles. Genesis 5 and 6 tell us that the human population grew in number – and in sinfulness. Genesis 6 says, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Things were so bad that God determined to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. What about the plan? What about that first glimpse of the gospel in Genesis 3?
Well, Moses adds, in Genesis 6, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Noah was not the Savior to come, but the Savior would descend from Him. Noah was special, because God showed grace to Him. Dr. John Currid points out that the Hebrew wording of “Noah found favor” actually indicates an ongoing state of grace – not that Noah did something that merited God’s favor, but that God had acted long before to place Noah in this state of grace.
In 1 Cor. 15, the apostle Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul even says that He worked hard to preach Christ, “though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
Noah’s character amidst all the evil was ultimately God’s grace toward Him and mankind. Later in Genesis we see Noah’s sin. His righteousness was a credit to God. You see, God’s gracious dealings with Noah are just another example of God's commitment to our gracious salvation and perseverance of His people. God will see us through to the end because it is God who is seeing us through.
Through His gracious dealings with Noah, God continued His redemptive plan, which would ultimately lead to Jesus Christ coming into the world. And I want to point out two things this morning about God’s covenant with Noah – things that should encourage us as we walk with Jesus throughout our lives. Notice page 6 in the WG. God preserves and assures His people according to His covenant.
Now, verses 11-17 describes the corruption of the people of the world in Noah’s lifetime. God reveals to Noah that He will destroy them, but Noah should build an ark, that he and his family may survive. God is sending a flood of water. Everything will die. But, God says in verse 18, “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
God would destroy all the people of the earth — but spare Noah and his family. In other words, God was showing them grace. Most people are somewhat familiar with the events, but Noah built the ark, his family and many animals crowded inside, and God flooded the world with water.
Afterwards, everyone in the ark emerged onto dry land. When Noah and his household emerged from the ark, the events mirrored the creation account of Genesis 1 in many ways. There’s wind over the waters, the separating of water and land, the return of vegetation, and the inhabiting of the earth by various creatures, the greatest of which is mankind. They are told to “be fruitful and multiply.” In a way, God was pressing “reset.”
God had shown His grace toward sin, but now, He had also shown His great wrath against sin.
This is the first time the word “covenant” is used in Scripture, although later on the prophet Hosea refers to God’s agreement with Adam as a covenant. So what covenant is this? Well, God made the covenant of works with Adam, which Adam broke but which remained in effect. The requirement for eternal life in God was the perfect keeping of the cov. of works. The flood was a result of the violation of the cov. of works.But this covenant is God’s commitment to Noah – an agreement God entered into – to shield Noah and his family from His wrath against sin.
It’s not that Noah and his family were not sinners. Noah’s sin is on display later in Genesis. But God chose to show grace toward Noah and toward his family. One reason is through them the earth would be populated again. But also, from one of Noah’s sons – Shem – the people of Israel would descend. Eventually Jesus would come from that lineage. However, another of Noah’s sons, Ham, would display wickedness after the flood, and from him descended the Canaanites.
What was God doing here? He was continuing the redemptive plan He revealed to Adam in Genesis 3:15. This is another major event in the history of God’s covenant of grace. God is not making the covenant of grace with Noah here – that covenant is made with Christ. But this is another milestone in the process which culminated in Christ coming into the world and performing His saving work for God’s people. And this event shows us an essential aspect of God’s holy character. God preserves His people according to His covenant.
Now, yes, He poured out His wrath on sin according to His holy will. But for Noah – who God placed in a state of grace – and for those whom God chose, they were protected from that wrath. They found themselves curiously safe.
In 2011, after a terrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, survivors there used social media and online message boards to communicate with family and friends to let them know that they were OK. This inspired engineers at Facebook to add a new feature to their website, and now it’s a normal thing to post that you are “marked safe” in a disaster.
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul wrote, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” And in 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul told believers, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you are in Christ, you will make it to the end because of Christ, not because of you.
Salvation is by faith alone, which is a gift from God. And true faith results in a changing life. In other words, those with true faith will begin to bear fruit in keeping with true repentance. That process will be slow, with many steps forward and steps back, but there will be change. However, you must never lose sight of this reality – that the fruit of salvation neither earns or preserves your salvation.
You don’t change and bear good fruit to keep salvation. Paul says as much in Ephesians 2. He writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Then – listen to this – he writes, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Like Noah, God determined beforehand to place you in a state of grace, and any fruit you bear in keeping with true repentance is a result of what God has done.
God preserves His people, and He does so according to His covenant.But primarily we should interpret the events with Noah as one scholar says: “The earth must be preserved so that God’s plan of salvation can be fulfilled.”
Now look at this next section with me. This is Genesis 9, after the flood has subsided. God establishes a covenant with Noah and his sons, verse 11, “that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” So, sin will not cease, but God will not destroy the inhabitants of earth in this way again.
And look at verse [12] And 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 cloud, 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.”
Another aspect of God’s covenant dealings with His people is a sign of the covenant. The sign here is a rainbow – literally “bow” in the Hebrew, which was used for a rainbow but is also the word used for a bow for hunting. Some point out that the bow is aimed toward God and away from earth. Is this a foreshadowing of God taking on our sin in Christ?
Well, on one hand, though God will not send a flood, He will still judge the earth one day. The work of Christ does not mean eternal peace with God for all people, only for God’s people. However, this sign of the covenant should fill us with hope and assurance. God is merciful and gracious, and to that end, this does remind us of the work of Christ.
Back when we preached through Genesis, from late-2021 to mid-2023, we were continually reminded that the first recipients of the book of Genesis were the Israelites after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt. As they heard about these events, they learned about the one true God, about the history of redemption, about the history of grace, about the wrath of God and the mercy of God, about the flood and about God’s preservation of Noah and his family, from whom their nation descended. And while they were called to obey God, they were also assured of God’s love.
You see, in addition to preserving us, God assures His people according to His covenant. Hebrews 10 says, “Since we have a great priest over the house of God (who is Jesus Christ), let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”God work’s done in and through Christ for our salvation is our assurance.
This covenant actually has a component for all people – a common grace component, in that the whole earth will not be destroyed in this way. But greater than that is the special grace component. In Philippians 1, Paul says, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God’s covenant of grace in and with Jesus assures us that we will be preserved to the end with Him.
As we go to the Lord’s table today, we have a sign of God’s preservation and assurance of salvation according to His covenant. As often as we hear the words and take the elements, we are reminded that Christ has dealt fully with the sins of His people, He has borne the full weight of our sin, and His grace undergirds us always. At the same time, the table testifies that those without Christ must bear their own guilt.
And like those washed away by the ancient flood, those without Christ will be swept away by God’s judgment and wrath. Those who have trusted in Christ have admitted their sin and turned from it to pursue righteousness. They are convinced that following Jesus is the best way. And those who come to Christ by faith are assured that they will be preserved to the end, not because we are able, but because God is able, and His covenant is sure.
Bow with me in prayer.
Recent
Genesis 15 - The Abraham Covenant: God’s Grace Confirmed
December 16th, 2024
Genesis 6:11-14,17-18; 9:8-17 - The Noahic Covenant: God’s Grace Continued
December 9th, 2024
Genesis 3:9-15, 21 – The Adamic Covenant: God’s Grace Shown
December 2nd, 2024
Revelation 22:16–21 - A Christ-Focused Conclusion
November 30th, 2024
Revelation 22:10-15 - Decision Time
November 19th, 2024
Archive
2024
January
February
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Categories
no categories
No Comments