DAY FOUR:

God's Covenant with Noah

Genesis 8:1-9:17

Good morning!  Yesterday ended with Noah, his family and all the animals on the ark, being swept along in the raging flood.  Today we move on to life after the flood.

"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark." Can you imagine forty days and forty nights of torrential rain and crashing waves? There might have been times when Noah and his family wondered if God really did them a favor by putting them in the ark. I was serving a church in Wisconsin when January of 1985 brought a long spell of cold and snow.  By snow, I mean one big snowfall of 18 inches followed by temperatures as low as -30º!  We weren't able to have worship that month. That's when I understood cabin fever! Surely it must have been far worse for Noah and his crew. But God didn't forget them. The rain stopped and the waters started to recede. It took another 150 days, however, for the waters to recede completely. But the sunshine and being able to go topside and smell the fresh air must have been heavenly!

One day they felt a jolt as the ark came to rest in the Mountains of Ararat (not necessarily Mt. Ararat itself, but in that range of mountains). This is in the far eastern part of modern-day Turkey, near the border of Armenia and Iran. Mt. Ararat itself is nearly 17,000 feet high. They knew that the waters were going down, but they couldn't yet see land. After a while Noah sent out "drones," first a raven and then a dove, to look for land. The raven didn't come back, apparently finding a place where it could stay. He then sent out a dove, which came back. Seven days later he sent the dove out again, but this time she returned with a twig from an olive tree. There's dry land somewhere out there!  When the dove went out after seven more days, she didn't return. She'd found a place to nest.

Soon God told Noah to open the door and let everyone out of the ark. The animals left and headed off to "be fruitful and multiply," replenishing the earth's animal life. Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God, thanking Him for keeping them safe through the flood. This pleased God, and He said, “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. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” God had destroyed the earth because of the wickedness of mankind. He could do that over and over and over again, but that bent to evil will still be there and will still infect all people and taint all that they do. So God promised never to flood the earth again. The seasons will follow after one another until the end. We read in the next chapter that God gave a sign: "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 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." What a beautiful reminder of God's love! I have to smile every time I see a rainbow, because it reassures me that God keeps His promises.

God commanded Noah and his sons to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." It's a great big world that needs to be repopulated. In chapter one God told man, created in His image male and female, to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. He reasserts this command to Noah and his sons. He put a fear of man into the animals so that they would respect our God-given authority. I thought about that when we were out at the Grammer Farm for our church picnic. Those cows weigh 800 pounds or more and could easily hurt or kill their caretakers. But they don't. They obediently submit to milking, and they gratefully receive their food. I think of this every time I get on a horse (which, I admit, I haven't done for a long time), I think of this half-ton beast between my legs. He can easily throw me off and stomp me to death. Instead, he lets me saddle him, put a bit in his mouth and he takes me wherever I want to go. Even the wild animals which could harm us have a healthy fear that causes them to run from us. This dominion carries with it responsibilities as well as privileges. This is not a blank check to abuse animals or to rape the earth for its natural resources. We must be wise stewards of God's world, which we will pass on to our children and children's children.

Yesterday we looked briefly at Abel's murder at the hands of his brother Cain. It was just the first of many to follow. God said in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." Human life is precious to God. He made us for a relationship with Him, and no one has the right to murder someone who offends us or has something we want. Anyone who does so with "premeditation and malice aforethought," to borrow language from Perry Mason, must himself die. Not because the life of the murderer is worthless, but because the life of the victim is priceless. It is entirely appropriate for the judge to say, after sentencing someone to death, "May God have mercy on your soul." Murder, like any other sin, can be forgiven through the work of Christ received in faith.

Manslaughter, self-defense and war are special circumstances, which we'll discuss when we get to the Ten Commandments.

Thank you for reading this. I eagerly await your replies!

Pastor Marty