God’s Covenant with Noah :: By Dr. Donald Whitchard
Genesis 8:20-22, Genesis 9:1-7, Zechariah 14:1-3, Revelation 19:15
Summary: The flooding of the earth had accomplished its purpose. Noah and his family exited the Ark to witness the chaotic effects and consequences that the world’s disobedience brought upon itself. This was a new opportunity for man to renew their relationship with God. Sadly, it did not last long.
The Ark had kept Noah, his family, and the animals on board safe for over a year as the flood waters receded around the world, forever changing the geography, atmosphere, relations with the animal kingdom, and the life span of Noah’s sons and wives, all commissioned by God to repopulate the earth, spread across the world, and bring into being nations, empires, and civilizations. When Noah left the Ark, he made a sacrifice to God as a sign of worship and thanksgiving for His mercy (Genesis 8:30-32). The people of God are a worshipping people, as Israel would learn, and that worship was to take the form of giving God some of the best of what was His.
The redeemed of the LORD offer Him praises with their lips (Hebrews 13:15), the best of their possessions (Proverbs 3:9), and the willingness and humility of their spirits. Noah received the grace of God, walked with God in both obedience and righteousness, was preserved from judgment, entered a new age with the wickedness of man removed temporarily, and responded with worship and sacrifice. After Noah made the sacrifice, God promised never to curse the ground in this way again. The continuity of seasons is the evidence of God’s forbearance.
God commanded Noah to “be fruitful and multiply the earth” (Genesis 9:1, 7), just as He did with Adam. Noah, like Adam, was to have dominion over the animals (v.2). Also, both were given food to eat, with one prohibition (9:5-6). With Noah’s new beginning came a covenant. It was necessary now to have a covenant with obligations for man and a promise from God. Because of the massive destruction brought about by the flood, people might come to think that God holds life as cheap and to be viewed as capricious, regarding the taking of life as a small matter. This covenant will show that life is sacred and that we are not to destroy one another, as we are made in the likeness of God Himself. This was a covenant designed to ensure the stability of nature and help guarantee the order of the world.
Generations to come would learn that human law was necessary for the stability of life. Wickedness was to not go unchecked as it had before the flood. This is the start of human government.
The symbol in the sky that God would use was hijacked by the LGBTQ movement to “celebrate” their perverse and degrading sense of “pride.” They forget that the rainbow was God’s sign to not destroy the earth again for the very acts of sexual sins they flaunt and practice, which brought judgment to the world in the first place. It is time for the followers of Christ to retrieve from perverted minds what rightfully belongs to the Prince of Peace.
God’s rainbow was a sign in the heavens that He would not take life again by means of a flood. However, the Bible does say that the wickedness of man will bring about a final judgment (Zechariah 14:1-3; Revelation 20:6), where the world will be burned up with fire and recreated, free from the curse of sin. It will be Eden restored, and for those who have placed their faith in Christ, the new heavens and earth will be our permanent dwelling place. We will be forever free from death, disease, and the curse of sin (2 Peter 3:1-10; Revelation, Chapters 21 and 22).
The rainbow represents peace and deliverance from the storms. In the ancient near East, treaties between the nations were a sign of peace and deliverance from the specter of war. God, after judging the sins of the pre-flood world, made a covenant of peace. The rainbow was the everlasting symbol that Israel would see in the sky as a reminder of God’s promise of grace.
Genesis 9:8-17 anticipates that day when Israel will beat their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3). In the meantime, the grace of God will operate over the just and unjust, and He will continue to draw people to Him for salvation and true peace. God has promised to save you if you call upon Him (Romans 10:9-10). That is the greatest of all the covenants He had provided for us. However, instead of the rainbow, the symbol of this new covenant is the empty tomb and the promise of everlasting life made possible by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come to Christ today and be made new. He promised to do so, and He has never failed to keep it.
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