Genesis 9:1-17
Sunday, 14 August 2022
"And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you…” -Genesis 9:9
A NEW BEGINNING
Noah and his sons had now disembarked from the ark into a new world. What was there earlier has already been lost and destroyed in the flood. The earth was in a new condition after the great flood. In a way we can say that a total new beginning to mankind and the animal kingdom is happening in this context. This new beginning is again blessed by God as was in the beginning. The same way as God blessed Adam, He blesses Noah and his sons. Gen 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
COVENANT AFTER FLOOD
The new beginning is established with a covenant. God is the one who guarantees and establishes the things upon earth. This is very important for us to understand. God would love to relate to man with covenant. Later he made covenant with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. He taught them under this covenant how to be the people chosen and blessed by God to represent Him on this earth. The covenant blessings are conditional and have to be followed by both parties. Again we see the new covenant relationship established through Jesus Christ which stands as the gateway to the new heaven and earth.
As we examine the covenant with Noah, we see that at first Noah and his family was separated by God from the rest of the mankind by an Ark. Now in order to continue with God; He establishes the covenant, that will sustain the smooth relationship with God. The very core of this was that He will not destroy them again with the flood. Gen 9:11 “… thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." A covenant sign was given as a token of assurance. Gen 9:13: “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” This token was important in that context because those who came out of the Ark has seen how rain had devastated the earth. Now when they see the rain again this fear will still be there in their minds, hence God wants to assure them about His love and care for them by showing this sign in the cloud.
THE NEW COVENANT
In a similar way God is preparing the present world for the next coming great change. 2Pe 3:6-7 “…by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Jesus gives ample warning how this is going to happen. Matt. 24:37-39: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
He has established a new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ and all those who voluntarily come into this covenant with God will be prepared by God to enter into the new heaven and new earth. All the history was written as a foreshadowing of this great and irreversible change that is going to happen. Let us heed to God's loving call and come under this covenant and be united continually with God under this blessed covenant.
Remember: Jesus said:
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matt. 26:28)
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