Sermon Idea: The Noahic Covenant is a promise to preserve creation so that God might fulfill His redemptive plan through the promised seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.
Introduction: I have heard preachers occasionally poke fun at children’s lessons and coloring books on the flood that focus only on animals, the ark, and the rainbow, all the while overlooking God’s wrath and judgment in bringing the floodwaters against sin. That’s fine, I guess, but there is something more critical missing, and that is how God’s covenant with Noah connects with the big story of the Bible in a way that’s centered on Jesus Christ.
One notable exception to this is Sally Lloyd-Jones’ excellent little book, The Jesus Story Book Bible. In her conclusion to the flood story, she points children to the new beginning God made with Noah, but also the greater need for Jesus, who was yet to come.
“It was a new beginning in God’s world. It wasn’t long before everything went wrong again, but God wasn’t surprised; he knew this would happen. That’s why, before the beginning of time, he had another plan—a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world, but to rescue it—a plan to send his own Son, the Rescuer.
After God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head, people began to expect and hope for the birth of this Savior.
Eve seems to possess this hope when she says in Genesis 4:1, “I have gotten a man from the help of the Lord.” Cain proves to be anything but a savior as he kills his brother Abel. The promised deliverer is still needed. Who will he be?
Noah’s father, Lamech, clearly is hoping for a future deliverer and wonders if his son might be it. In Genesis 5:28-29, we read, “…he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, ‘Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” (Ge 5:28-29)
Do you hear the hopeful expectation of a savior? In the early chapters of Genesis, numerous themes emerge, but two stand out prominently: the havoc that sin has brought upon creation and the hope for a deliverer. Creation is no longer a paradise but has been corrupted by sin. If paradise is going to be regained, God must fulfill his promise to bring about the savior who will crush the head of the serpent. The storyline of Scripture is more, but never less than, an eager expectation for the promised seed of the woman.
Lamech hopes that Noah will be the one who brings relief from the work and painful toil that sin has brought. Might this be the one?
Noah will not be the seed of the woman, but he is a type that points forward to the savior to come. Noah is a righteous man amid an evil generation. God is going to work through this one righteous man to bring about the salvation of the world. How?
God is going to bring the seed of the woman through Noah, and the covenant God makes with Noah in Genesis 9 guarantees his line will continue until the seed of the woman arrives. Even still, Noah will prove to fall short and sin just as Adam did before him. Noah is not the promised seed of the woman, but his obedience and his failure point us to the need for the savior to come, Jesus Christ.
This morning, we aim to explore the connection between God’s covenant with Noah and God’s eternal, redemptive plan, as revealed in the Bible and centered on Jesus Christ.
The Noahic Covenant is a promise to preserve creation so that God might fulfill His redemptive plan through the promised seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.
That is what I am to show you this morning, and I hope to achieve that with three points from these chapters: God’s judgment of wickedness is the context of the covenant, God’s new creation commission sets the terms of the covenant, and God’s preservation of creation is the promise of the covenant.
I.) God’s judgment of wickedness is the context of the covenant
(Genesis 6-7)
The Bible does not sugarcoat the state of creation and the wickedness of humanity after the Fall. Things have progressively gotten worse so that Noah and his family are a faithful remnant living among a wicked generation.
Time does not allow me to discuss Genesis 6:1-4 in detail, because it’s a minefield of interpretive problems, and if we enter, we may not emerge unscathed. I do have opinions, and I’m happy to share them whenever we preach through Genesis or in private conversation. For our purposes, we only need to consider verses 5-8.
5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Ge 6:5–6)
This is not a description of unintentional mistakes, slip-ups, or errors. It is not a description of a small segment of the population. Humanity’s wickedness was great on the earth. The language is comprehensive and total.
Tom Schreiner says, “Evil had become a tsunami that had swept away all goodness: ‘every intention,’ ‘only evil,’ and continually.”
The wickedness of humanity rightly evokes God’s judgment, which sets the context for God’s covenant with Noah.
When the text says that the Lord “regretted that he had made man” and was “sorry that I have made them,” it is language that communicates God’s judgment on the wickedness of humanity in a way we can understand. It does not mean that God has made a mistake, nor that He regrets it in the same way we do. The Bible tells us that God is not like us and that he doesn’t have regret.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should
change his mind (Nu 23:19)
29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” (1 Sa 15:29)
What is clear is that God declares his intent to judge the wickedness of the world, and that judgment is total except for one family.
“I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:7-8)
God, being faithful to his promise, will bring salvation through judgment. Noah has found favor in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, he has seen the grace of the Lord. God is going to bring judgment but save Noah and his family by grace, through whom he will preserve his promise to bring about the seed of the woman.
God saves Noah by instructing him to build an ark large enough to accommodate his family and the types of animals that God instructs him to gather.
13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. (Ge 6:12–14)
Noah obeys all the commands that God gives him. God then shuts Noah’s family in the ark, and then the rain comes.
21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. (Ge 7:21–24)
Judgment washes over creation, but Noah’s family is saved inside the ark of God’s grace. The ark serves as a type of our salvation. Just as God’s grace saves Noah from God’s wrath while safely in the ark, we are saved from God’s wrath as we are united to Jesus Christ, the ark of our salvation.
If you’re here this morning and you have not taken seriously the reality of God’s holiness and righteousness. If you have not reflected on the gravity of your sin and your standing before God in light of sin, you need to.
Just as the ark was the only refuge for Noah and his family from the waters of judgment, so faith in Jesus Christ is the only refuge for sinners from the judgment to come.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew that the judgment that will accompany His second coming will come rushing like the floodwaters in the time of Noah.
38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Mt 24:38–39)
Are you safely abiding in the ark of our salvation, Jesus Christ, or are you at risk of being swept under the waters of judgment?
The Apostle Peter says that baptism corresponds to the ark which saved Noah and his family. Baptism does not save us by itself, but it is a pledge by all those who have been saved through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pe 3:20–21)
The context of God’s covenant with Noah is the total judgment of wickedness that points forward to the final day of judgment. God’s salvation of Noah in the ark points forward to the salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ.
The catastrophic and comprehensive nature of this judgment places the covenant in its proper perspective.
II.) God’s new creation commission sets the terms of the covenant (Genesis 8:20-9:7)
The floodwaters subside because God blows the wind over the water. Genesis 8:1 tells us that God remembered Noah. God had not forgotten or misplaced him. To say that God remembered Noah is a way of saying that God acts graciously toward Noah in faithfulness to his promise.
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. (Ge 8:1–3)
With the waters receded, Genesis presents Noah as a New Adam of a New Creation. There are numerous connections in the text to make this point, but I want to focus on the most explicit. Noah is given the same mission that God gave to Adam. Look with me at Genesis 9:1-3.
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. (Ge 9:1–3)
Noah and all those who come after him are to be fruitful and multiply. They exercise dominion over creation, especially animals, which, in our fallen world, will often fear human beings. There is, however, a key difference. Adam and Eve were meant to be fruitful and multiply to extend God’s garden-temple all over the world. They were to fill the earth with faithful, righteous image bearers of God. Noah cannot do this. That was lost when Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden.
When God gives this commission to Noah, the curse of sin has already tainted all of creation and every human being. Noah is to be fruitful and multiply to bring the promised seed of the woman.
There is another element to this covenant because of the fall. To preserve life and restrain evil, God institutes human societies or governments to protect life and execute justice as a restraint for evil.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. (Ge 9:4–6)
For God’s promise to be fulfilled, life is valued and protected. The purpose of government is to protect life and restrain evil that threatens life. The consequence for a crime as heinous as murder is capital punishment, reinforced and nuanced later in the Mosaic Law.
What God institutes here in Genesis 9 is the foundation for Paul’s teaching about the God given authority of earthly governments to wield the sword of justice.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Ro 13:3–4)
Samuel Renihan explains this connection well.
“In the Noahic Covenant, human societies therefore have two basic and related jobs: to preserve life, and to preserve family…As a result, any society or government that corrupts the family or murders the innocent is a government in direct treason and disobedience to the God of the universe. They are abusing the sword entrusted to them by turning it on the innocent, rather than the guilty.”
God is the God of life, and his people are to follow him in valuing the dignity of life. We follow him in speaking on behalf of vulnerable life who cannot speak for themselves, whether it be innocent life in utero, non-verbal image bearers, or even the poor and marginalized when appropriate.
God brings salvation through judgment. Noah is the second Adam commissioned to be fruitful and multiply. Through Noah’s obedience to that command, God will preserve a holy line to fulfill His promise to provide a Savior, the promised seed of the woman.
God’s judgment of wickedness is the context for the covenant. God’s new creation commission set the terms of the covenant. Now let’s close by reflecting on the promise of the covenant.
III.) God’s preservation of creation is the promise of the covenant (Genesis 9:8-17)
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “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. (Ge 8:20–22)
This promise is reiterated in Genesis 9:11, and it is referred to as a covenant.
11 I establish my covenant with you, 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.” (Ge 9:10–11)
The covenant that God made with Noah, which remains in force today, is to preserve the creation so that He can fulfill all His promises through the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ. This covenant is much more than a promise not to flood the earth. It is a promise to pass over sins, to be patient, to preserve creation, assuring that salvation will come through Jesus Christ.
This means that you can trust God to keep his promises. Four out of the eight occurrences of the word “covenant” have the possessive pronoun “my” before it.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you (Ge 6:18)
9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, (Ge 9:9)
11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, (Ge 9:11)
15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. (Ge 9:15)
This is a covenant that God binds himself to. He is obligated to keep it for the sake of his reputation. This covenant will be kept no matter Noah’s failure or those after him. It depends on God.
A covenant sign accompanies this promise.
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.” (Ge 9:12–17)
As many scholars have noted, there is no Hebrew word that directly translates to the English term “rainbow.” The word used here is bow, as in a weapon used in warfare. God has set His bow of wrath in the sky, pointed upward toward heaven, as a sign that promises to preserve creation and fulfill His promises in Christ.
The Noahic Covenant is a promise to preserve creation so that God might fulfill His redemptive plan through the promised seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.
This is the only biblical covenant that the New Covenant has not fulfilled. It remains in force today and will continue until Christ returns. On that day, God’s grace and patience will reach their end. Salvation will be completed for those in Christ, and judgment will be meted out to those in rebellion against Christ.
God’s judgment of wickedness in the flood story reminds us of God’s holiness and justice. It reminds us to take sin seriously and reflect on the one refuge from his wrath—the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Noah obeyed God and built the ark, here is the command to repent and believe the gospel.
Nathaniel R. Martin 