Covenant Theology 2: The Covenant with Noah (Gen 6-9)

 

Throughout the Bible, God relates to his people. From the start, relationships are part of God’s plan for us. God made us in his image so we can have a relationship with him. Also, God designed us for relationships, friendships, and community with human beings. Genesis 2:18 spells it out: “It is not good for man to be alone.” Christian psychiatrist Curt Thompson puts it this way: “We all are born into the world looking for someone looking for us, and we remain in this mode of searching for the rest of our lives.” Covid 19 has forced us to stay home, quarantine, and stay socially distanced. This goes against our nature, but no matter what hardship comes our way, health, or social, we can always cultivate our relationship with God who earnestly wants to know us. Some people insist they do not like being around people. Alone-time is good for spiritual growth, creativity, or productivity. Some people get tired from being in a crowd for too long. No one should feel guilty for wanting and even preferring alone-time. However, it is not good to avoid social interactions altogether. We may be anxious, uncomfortable, or feel like we cannot be ourselves around people. Like all areas of life, we can grow. We can improve our social skills to have fulfilling relationships as God intends. A healthy church must value intimate relationships between its members, and provide a healthy environment for healthy relationships to develop.

Adam and Eve had a relationship with God. We looked at the different elements of the first covenant. We saw that God, the all-good, powerful, wise king, and mankind made in God’s image were the parties of the covenant. We saw that God required Man to be fruitful, fill the earth, and rule over creation. They were to take care of the garden in Eden. We can assume that as the number of humans grew, the boundaries of Eden were to expand to fill the earth. God commanded Adam and Eve to trust in him for wisdom by not eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. The promised blessing of the covenant for obedience was eternal life. The curse following disobedience would mean being barred from the tree of life, so Man would eventually die. Adam and Eve broke the covenant (Hos 6:7). Humanity has struggled with sin ever since. It is impossible for us to live up to God’s perfect standards to enter his presence. Because of Adam’s sin, all humanity lives in sin. But there is great news! God responds to Adam’s sin with mercy! God initiates a new covenant. He adapts the terms of the covenant for sinful humanity. This time there are no more requirements, just a promise, that God makes a way for sinners in Christ. In Gen 3:15, God curses the devil and tells him, a son born of the woman will one day crush his head. We read the good news in Rom 5:12 “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” v.15 “many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” V.18 summarizes: “one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” We see then that after the first sin, though sin separates us from God (Isa 59:2), and no sinner can dwell in God’s presence (Ps 5:4), God still loves humanity. God has a gracious posture towards us. He wants to give us what we do not deserve, the forgiveness of sin and a relationship with him, in Christ. In this message, we continue to look at the working out of God’s relationship with humanity, with the first mention of the word “covenant” in the Bible. SIOS: The covenant with Noah shows us the punishment our sins deserve, and the grace those who trust the Lord receive. We will look at the background of the covenant with Noah, the covenant elements, and then how this covenant is relevant for us.

(1) Sin and Mercy are the backgrounds to God’s Covenant with Noah. (A) Gen 3–6 describes human sin. Gen 3 describes the first sin. Gen 4 describes the first murder and first polygamy. By the time we get to Gen 6, humanity is so corrupt. We read in Gen 6:5 that “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. ¹¹the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.” The unconditional promise of a Messiah does not mean there will be no judgment. In Gen 6:7, the Lord decides to wipe out mankind and all creatures. Our times are like Noah’s. Our generation is wicked: sex trafficking, abortion, corruption, corporate greed, and any kind of oppression you can think of exists. God’s response to evil is still the same today. God delayed his response to the wickedness in Noah’s day. 1 Pet 3:20 tells us “God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.” God is patient in our day. God destroyed the wicked with a flood in Noah’s day. At the return of Christ, God will judge the wicked with fire (Isa 66:16). God is just and punishes sin.  (B) God is also merciful in the midst of judgment. God’s judgment does not fall on everyone. We read that Noah escaped God’s judgment in Gen 6:8: “Noah found favor with God….6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” In response to Adam’s sin, God promises a way of salvation. If we want to avoid God’s wrath, we need to be like Noah. We are to be righteous, blameless, and walk with God. What does this mean? It cannot mean sinless. The story of Noah ends with Noah’s sin. Rather these terms: “righteous”, “blameless,” and “walking with God” all speak of people who trust God. The way we think of “belief in God” is often too intellectual. We often believe in Jesus the same way we believe Alaska is a state. Biblical faith is life-transforming to the point that having trust in God and living blamelessly before God become synonymous. If our faith does not change our life, it is not saving faith. The sin in Gen 3 was not trusting God. The attitude God required of Adam and Eve was faith in him, not a desire for self-sufficiency. In our day, lack of trust works itself out in any kind of perverse living: idolatry, not resting, murder, adultery, theft, lying, and jealousy. Consistently through the Bible, trusting God is counted as righteous living. Not trusting is counted as wickedness. In Gen 15:6, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. The people of Nineveh believed God when Jonah preached against them in Jon 3:5, and they were not destroyed. In every covenant, the righteous are those who trust in the Lord. Their faith transforms their life so they seek to obey God’s law. We fail. We fail often, but we also continually seek God’s will. This is blamelessness. If someone says they are Christian but do not go to church, do not read the bible, do not share their faith with anyone, rarely display anything that looks like the fruit of the spirit, what do they mean by Christian? If judgment is coming it is important to be able to tell the difference between real and false Christianity. We must know with certainty whether our sins are forgiven or not.

(2) Genesis 6–9 describes the Covenant with Noah. The word covenant appears in Gen 6:18; 9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17. A covenant is a formal relationship between two parties that includes obligations, promises/blessings, curses, a sign, and a domain over which it applies. Gen 6:18–22 has covenant elements: “¹⁸But 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. ¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. ²⁰Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. ²¹Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.” ²²Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” In these verses, we see a special relationship between God and Noah. They are the two parties of the covenant. The covenant has commandments: “go in the ark with your family and animals”. There is a promise tied with obedience: entering into the ark means they will be kept alive! The passage ends in Gen 6:22 with Noah doing everything to meet his side of the covenant: “he did all that God commanded him” (Also in Gen 7:5, 9, and 16).

In God’s interaction with Noah, we see both the original covenant with Adam and the adapted covenant after the fall at play. God still punishes sin with death. In Gen 7:23, God wipes out all flesh not on the ark. And, God keeps the promise of a Messiah he made in Gen 3:15. To keep that promise God could not kill all humanity. In saving Noah and his family God preserves the line of the Messiah. Even in judgment, God always provides a way for salvation. After judgment, there are more covenant elements. Gen 8:1 begins with “God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.” God never forgets those who trust him and have a relationship with him. Once the floodwaters subsided in Gen 8:20, Noah built an altar and made a sacrifice to the Lord. This sacrifice was pleasing to God. In Gen 8:21, God promises: “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime, and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” God repeats this promise in Gen 9:8–17. This time, God gives a sign to remember the promise. God promises he will not destroy all flesh by the waters of a flood in Gen 9:11. In Gen 9:12, the rainbow is the sign of the covenant for Noah and all future generations. Whenever it rains and we fear that God may be judging all flesh for the violence and wickedness we commit, the rainbow reminds us of God’s mercy. In Gen 9:16, we read: “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.” God’s covenant was with Noah, the righteous man, but also everyone else, the worst sinners, and all living creatures. Like the promise of the Messiah, the promise is not connected with obedience. It is God’s grace. Today, humanity deserves a flood because of sin. But God promised that he would not destroy humanity and living things again as he did. Sinners still benefit! Finally, in Gen 9, we see more covenant parallels between Adam and Noah. God blesses Noah and commands him: “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” like in Gen 1:28. Gen 9:7 repeats that man is made in the image of God. God’s plan remains the same. Because we are made in God’s image, God wants us to fill the earth to represent him by the way we live and rule as he rules the universe. God’s covenant with Noah was for all mankind over all the earth.

(3) What do we learn about our relationship with God in the covenant with Noah? (1) We learn that humanity is wicked even from a young age, before (Gen 6:5) and after (Gen 8:21) the flood. The story of Noah ends in a similar way to Adam in the garden in Eden. Gen 9:20, “Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father.” In this story, like Adam, Noah ate a fruit of a tree. He was naked and needed to be covered. (2) We learn that God still punishes sin. God has delayed the punishment, but that day is coming. God provided a way through Noah for the salvation of humanity since he is Jesus’ ancestor. (3) We learn that to avoid God’s judgment on our sin, we must have a relationship with God. We must trust God, walk with God, and have a relationship with him who can save us. The same way that Noah’s family who got on the boat was saved from judgment, those who follow Jesus, who trust in him for the forgiveness of their sin, and submit to him as Lord are saved. We know this for certain because Jesus has already paid the punishment for our sin. (4) We see God’s plan did not change after Adam’s sin or the flood. God wants the world under his dominion through his human representatives. Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples, that the world would be full of God worshipers.