So, Noah and his family, and all of the creatures involved, have left the ark. What is the first thing that you would have done? Start building a house, or at least erecting a tent - just in case it rained!!!! Perhaps you would have thought that gathering wood for a fire would be a priority. Maybe you would have encouraged the land animals to get as far away as possible - you wouldn't really want the larger ones to be wandering around too close to where you were! But what did Noah do? The record states it simply: "... Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Gen 8:20).
This is a new order that God has brought out of the chaos of the Flood. But it was more than just a new beginning; it was a new peace after hostility - the hostility that had grown between the holy Creator, and His disobedient and sinful creation. Noah's sacrificial offering was not merely a "Thank You" to Almighty God for His safe-keeping. It was an understanding that sin had been the cause of God's judgement, and that Noah and his family were still sinners. Noah knew that sin would remain as a barrier between God and humanity. So we are informed that "... when YHWH smelled the pleasing odour, YHWH said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy 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." (Gen 8:21-22).
God accepted Noah's sacrifice with pleasure, not because of any virtue in Noah, or in the clean animals and birds, but because of the coming Peace-maker that they represented. Peter reminds us that we, who are in Christ Jesus "... were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake." (I Peter 1:18-20). God then declared peace in two ways:
1. by a covenant.
Part of that covenant is in His promise at the end of chapter 8. However, in chapter 9, we have more spelled out: "Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, « Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I 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 which 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. When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. » God said to Noah, « This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. »" (Gen 9:8-17).
YHWH guarantees that the world is under His protection. Note the repetition of the words "never again". Note how long the covenant is to last - "for all future generations". Note how wide is the scope of the covenant - "between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh;". Then as a reminder of that covenant, He gives us the rainbow - a picture, it has been suggested, of the laying aside of His war-bow.
But we must note, also,
2. His commands.
"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, « Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it. »" (Gen 9:1-7).
YHWH restores mankind's mandate to look after the planet, but He recognises that it is no longer the "very good" world that He had created. It is now a sinful world of fear and bloodshed. In order to recreate order in a tangle of disordered relationships, He stresses the supremacy of human life, and the sanctity of all life. People may now use animals for food, but this is not to lead to inhumane, or murderous, violence. As I read the daily newspapers; as I watch the news programmes on television; I realise how far humanity has travelled from those simple commands.
Of course, under the New Covenant in the Lord Jesus, each of us may enter into a relationship with our Creator that is personal - "God has no grand-children" to use the title of one of the books on my shelves. The salvation that is offered is offered to individuals, and each of us must make our own decision as to whether we accept it, or reject it. For those who accept it, it is greater by far than being saved from drowning, by entering a wooden ark. It is being saved from sin - its penalty, its power and, ultimately, its presence - and the assurance that when we fall (and we do!) "... if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (I John 1:7-10).*
May all who read these words be among those who can say with Paul: "Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing." (II Tim.4:8).
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