Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Gen 9:1 onwards. Indeed, the earth has been swept away from the consequences of sin. But the source of evil is still there, in that human heart that all the water of the flood could not cleanse. God blesses the patriarch and his family, and entrusts them with the government of the earth. How will Noah’s descendants respond to this divine goodness? In the same way as Cain in Gen. 4:3-8: by shed blood! God announces it: violence will reappear. Yes, the blood of the Son of God himself will be shed, and it will be this blood that alone can wash the human heart. The land is delivered to the man who has since dominated it hard. Under His yoke, “the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth to this day” (Rom. 8:19-23). As a sign of his covenant God gives the bow in the clouds. His appearance at the time of a downpour is still today a mark of his grace, a reminder of the promise of v. 15. In the spiritual sense, it is so for the Christian. Through all the storms of this world, he has the privilege of raising his eyes of faith to a God faithful to his promises. Christ’s presence at His right hand (Heb 9:11-12; Hb 10:11-14), speaking better than the bow, is a constant reminder that a judgment more terrible than the flood has forever passed for the child of God.
When God spoke to Noah of an impending judgment, there was no sign of it. The judgment “was not yet visible”; but the word of God made it a present reality for the heart in which this word “was mingled with faith.” Faith does not wait to see before believing, for “faith is of what is heard and heard by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). All that is needed for a man of faith is to know that God has spoken. The “thus said the Lord” is sufficient to communicate to his soul a perfect certainty. A single line of Scripture suffices to answer all the reasonings and imaginations of the human mind; and he whose convictions are based on the word of God can withstand the floods of opinion and prejudice throughout the world. It was by the word of God that Noah’s heart was sustained throughout his long service; and it is with this same word that thousands of saints have been sustained from the days of Noah until now, in the face of the opposition and contradiction of the world. The word of God cannot be overvalued.
Without it, everything is uncertainty; With her, everything is peace and light. Wherever this word shines, it traces a sure and blessed path for the man of God; while he whose way is not illuminated by it, is reduced to wandering in the midst of the labyrinth of human tradition. How could Noah have been able to preach “righteousness” for one hundred and twenty years, if the word of God had not been the foundation of his preaching? How could he have resisted the mockery and contempt of an ungodly world? How could he have persevered in proclaiming the approach of a “ judgment to come ,” when no clouds appeared on the horizon of the world? The word of God was the foundation upon which he relieved, and the “Spirit of Christ” enabled him to dwell in holy firmness on that unshakable foundation.
And what else do we Christian readers have to stand firm in our service to Christ in the evil days of now? Nothing, certainly; the word of God and the Holy Spirit by which only that word can be understood, applied, and put into practice are all we need to be “perfectly done for any good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). What a rest for the heart! What deliverance from all the deceptions of the devil and the imagination of man! In their place, we have the word of God, pure, incorruptible and eternal: may we give thanks to God for this priceless treasure! The imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man was wickedness at all times; but Noah found his refuge, the perfect rest of his heart, in the word of God.
“And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh came before me…; Make yourself an arch of Gopher’s wood. These words tell us of man’s state of ruin, and God’s salvation. God had allowed man to pursue his career to the end, so that his principles and ways would reach maturity. The sourdough had operated and had made all the dough rise. The evil had reached its peak. “All flesh” had become evil and had corrupted his way; and corruption had reached its last limits, so that there was no other resource left for God than to completely destroy “all flesh” and, at the same time, to save all those who, according to his eternal counsel, were united “with the eighth” and only righteous man then existing. This brings out in a striking way the doctrine of the cross: on the one hand, God’s judgment on nature and all its perversity; on the other hand, the revelation of salvationary grace in all its fullness and its perfect application to those who have really arrived at the lowest point of their moral condition, as God sees it. “The East from on high has visited us” (Luke 1:78). And where? Precisely where we were sinners. God descended “into the lower parts of the earth.” The light of the East from on high penetrated into the depths of the darkness of the sinner, and thus revealed to us our true character. Light judges everything that is not in accordance with it; But while she judges evil, she also gives “the knowledge of salvation in the remission of sins.”
The cross, by revealing God’s judgment on “all flesh,” also reveals salvation to the guilty and lost sinner. Sin is perfectly judged, the sinner perfectly saved, God perfectly revealed and glorified, on the cross. If the reader opens the first epistle of Peter, he will find valuable teachings on the same subject. In chapter 3, verses 18-22, we read: “For also Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by whom also having gone, he preached to the spirits who are in prison, who were once disobedient, when the patience of God awaited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built, in which a few, namely eight persons, were saved through the water; yet this antitype also saves you now, that is, baptism, not the stripping of the filth of the flesh, but the request to God of a good conscience, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God (having gone to heaven), angels, and authorities, and powers being subject to him. This passage is of the utmost importance, and sheds great light on the doctrine of the ark and its connection with the death of Christ.
As in the flood, so in the death of Christ, all the waves and streams of God’s judgment passed over what in itself was sinless. Creation was buried under the waves of the righteous wrath of the Lord, and the Spirit of Christ, in Psalm 42:7, cries out, “All your waves and streams have passed over me.” “All the waves and waves” of divine wrath passed over the pure and spotless person of the Lord Jesus, while he was hanging from the wood; and therefore none of these waves will have to pass over him who believes. At Calvary, we see in all truth “the fountains of the great abyss broken and the locks of the heavens opened.” “One abyss calls another abyss to the voice of thy cataracts” (Psalm 42:8). Christ drank the cut and endured the wrath, perfectly. He judicially took upon himself the full weight of the responsibility of his people and gloriously satisfied all this responsibility. The soul of the faithful finds here an assured peace. For if the Lord Jesus faced all that could be against us; whether he has removed all obstacles; whether he has taken away sin; if he emptied the cup of wrath of judgment, for us; If he has cleared all the clouds, will we not enjoy a sure peace? Peace is our inalienable part; it is to us that belongs the deep and unspeakable happiness and holy assurance that redemptive love can give with righteousness, by virtue of the perfectly accomplished work of Christ.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
God makes a covenant with Noah:
- Blessings spoken to persons by the Lord
Gen. 1:28 God blesses them, and God says to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every animal that moves on the earth. Gen. 9:1 God blesses Noah and his sons, and says to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Gen. 32:30 Jacob called this place Peniel: for, he said, I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved. Luke 1:28 The angel entered her house and said, Hail, you to whom grace has been given; the Lord is with you.
- Human domination of the natural world
Gen. 1:26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, Gen. 9:2 You will be a subject of fear and dread for every animal of the earth, for every bird of the sky, for all that moves on earth, and for all the fish of the sea: They are delivered to your hands. Psalm 8:7 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands, You have put everything under his feet, James 3:7 All species of beasts and birds, reptiles and marine animals, are tamed and have been tamed by human nature;
- Temporal gifts of God
Gen. 1:29 And God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed, and which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree having in it the fruit of a tree and bearing seed: it shall be your food. Deuteronomy 8.18 remember the Lord your God, for he will give you strength to acquire them, to confirm, as he does today, his covenant which he swore to your fathers. Psalm 127:2 In vain do you get up in the morning, go to bed late, And eat the bread of sorrow; He gives as much to his loved ones while they sleep. Psalm 136:25 He who gives food to all flesh, For his mercy endures forever!
- Dispersal after the flood
Gen. 11:8 And the Lord scattered them away and there over the face of all the earth; and they ceased to build the city. Deut 32:8 When the Most High gave an inheritance to the nations, When He separated the children from men, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel,
From all of the above, we note that the rainbow of the covenant of grace lasts forever; it never melts. The one Noah was looking at soon lost its luster. Weaker and weaker, it grows, until, like a colored mist, it trembles in the air, then fades from vision. Ten thousand rainbows since have arched our earth, then melted into the clouds; but the rainbow of God’s mercy in Christ remains forever. Itshines with an undiminished splendor from all eternity, and its brilliance will dazzle the eyes of redeemed humanity through the countless cycles of the same eternity. As someone said, it shines in heaven tonight, yes, it radiates gently on the earth with harmonious, softened and mixed hues with each other as fresh as ever. And when the sun has traveled its course and given way to eternity, this arc of grace will remain forever forever, and will be the theme of the incessant songs of the glorified spirits in heaven, as, wrapped in the radiance of this sinless and sunless earth, they realize that the darkness of the earth was only the shadow of the wing of God protecting them from the too burning sun of the earth. In the new development to be traced now, the character of the sons of Noah must be given to show that the hope of the race in the Messiah was not to be in the line of Ham, nor of Japheth, but of Shem – also leading to an enlargement of Japheth. This is consistent with what is seen in the conduct of the brothers. In the individual character of the sons of Noah, we have the basic plan of the whole story. Shem and Japheth are very different, but are, in their piety, the root of every ideal and human tendency. The people and kingdom of China are a vivid example of the immense power that lies in the blessings of filial piety; but at the same time a proof that filial piety, without being founded on something deeper, cannot preserve even the greatest of peoples from falling into decadence, like an old house, before their extremities of history. In Shem and Japheth, we have the representatives of action and contemplation. These types of characters appear in the Christian Church as Peter and John, Martha and Mary. The dark type of evil is not lacking either: there was a Ham in Noah’s family, and there was a Judas among the Apostles. It was clearly God’s purpose and intention that mankind should not maintain uniformity of manners and feelings; but that by dividing them into separate communities, and dispersing them in different countries and climates, they should be made to differ from one another by an indefinite diversity of customs and opinions. After the account of the covenant naturally comes the declaration, that through the three sons of Noah, duly enumerated, the whole land was extended. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and for ever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “The peoples of the earth. (Gen 10)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.