“Then God told Noah and his sons, ‘I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, and with the animals you brought back with you—all these birds and livestock and wild animals. I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth again.”
- Genesis 9:8-11
Last week we looked at God’s initial intentions at creation. That the whole world may enjoy His presence, humanity was given the responsibility to care for creation, but it all went sour when humanity said that was not enough and tried to become like God is by eating the one fruit forbidden for them to eat. Such was the small domino that would move a mountain.
Context of the Flood:
What do I mean by the domino and mountain? Well, the events at the fall of man would lead directly to what causes the flood. What started as a forbidden fruit, would later become Cain’s murder of Able. Sin was working its way through the whole world, one man’s soul at a time. Wickedness was like a sixth sense, the second nature, or an act of muscle memory for humanity at some point. It reached a point, that if God’s plans were going to be achieved the wickedness needed to wipe away for they made the earth their own version of hell. God needed a reset so that wickedness, murder, cheating, theft, and so on were not the reflex of man.
Out of everyone on the planet, God saw Noah, a righteous man who really was the only person standing between the end of everything and God.
Brief interruption, this can make it seem like God was unjust in this and perhaps overreacted, or simply should have done something else. However, we must remember, God is good, love, just, powerful, gracious, and all-knowing. God allowed man to choose their own ways for that time, perhaps hoping someone would turn to Him with love, but no one ever really did. If God’s intentions are for loving communion with humanity, God must have seen no other way to get there. Meaning, humanity had been so thoroughly corrupted they were always going to choose to rebel against God, minus Noah, and his family of course. The point being, God wants us to choose to love Him.
This takes us to the flood. God told Noah to build a boat for judgment is coming, God sends the flood as a radical form of recreation, wiping out the previous creation to start fresh with Noah and all the animals that were saved. With that, we come to God’s new everlasting promises between Himself and humanity.
Everlasting Covenant:
Verses 8-11 are simply the middle point of this covenant being made. Here, God makes multiple promises, and various stipulations to those promises to encourage our faithfulness to Him.
First, humanity’s responsibility over creation and the blessing to multiply was given again. Humanity was once again given authority over the animals and land to produce crops so that they may fill the earth and subdue it. Of course, there are good and bad ways to subdue the earth. At its best, the resources are stewarded well, and creation is taken care of. In its worst, resources are utilized to no end and creation becomes a wasteland. The only stipulations along with this re-established authority are 1) Not eat an animal with its “lifeblood” in them, 2) Not murder another human who bears God’s image, and 3) Permission to execute those who do murder.
Second, we get our above verses that state that God will never send a world-ending/re-creating flood again. This God says is an eternal covenant, so never, for all eternity will a world-ending/re-creating flood happen. God has ensured that even if the world were to get as wicked as it was before the flood, the Son of God would return instead. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. This sign has been twisted in a lot of ways, both by Christians and those who are not Christians, but when we see a real rainbow, we may remember God was just and gracious enough to not end all humanity.
The beauty in all this is how God’s covenant with Noah reveals God’s unending faithfulness to those who are faithful to Him. Often this sometimes limits God but in doing so reveals God’s sovereignty, will, and power. Unlike other gods who regularly need appeased by people and sometimes even then still betray them, our God is faithful, even more than we are, and regularly proves why we should trust Him so much. After nearly every rainstorm we see God’s faithfulness when we see the sign of His covenant.
Our Responsibility:
Just because God is faithful does not mean we are off the hook. We still have responsibilities from God. First, we need to steward well the resources around us both of creation and of society. This is seen in both the command to subdue the earth and in the command to not murder. Much like last week's devotional we need to be stewards of creation. Creation is not merely a tool and resource to utilize for our vain wills, but rather to be cherished and cared for without abuse. The difference between stewardship and utilization can be seen in the metaphor of marriage. In a healthy marriage, both parties love each other and make sacrifices to care for and edify one another. However, in an unhealthy, even wicked marriage the other person is utilized and abused for the other person's gain. The same can be said for our responsibility to God’s creation.
This also means social responsibility to ensure true justice is enacted when wickedness strikes and to aim to be personal stewards of society.
Final Blessing:
God’s covenants are a beautiful thing, for they reveal who God is, and how God refuses to give up on humanity entirely. His core desires will always be there, and He’s working to fulfill them. We just need to be as faithful and fulfill our responsibilities as well.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breathe, and every heartbeat of your journey.
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