Genesis 9:8-17
A Covenant of Common Grace

Finally, the moment we've been waiting for. God has established a new creation under Noah. By what covenant will he administer this new creation? When he had created the heavens and the earth, he rested; and thus he established a covenant with Adam - Work and you will rest. That is, you will enter my eternal rest. But Adam by disobedience had forfeited his right to the blessings of that covenant. If man is to be restored to God a new covenant must be established. Will this be it?

  1. God Establishes a Covenant with the Earth
    1. The Parties and Their Responsibilities
      1. The promise made to you (plural) and your (plural) seed after you (8,9)
        1. I.e. not just to Noah, the righteous man by faith
        2. But to his children, including Ham who is about to prove himself a child of the devil rather than a child of faith.
        3. So it is like the civil government God sets up in vv. 6,7 - something given for the benefit and restraint of all, whether believing or not.
      2. The covenant is made as well with all the animals (10)
        1. The floodwaters had covered the earth and destroyed all living things both man and beast
        2. And this was a picture of the severity of the God's wrath and judgment, destroying everything in its path
        3. So now the covenant is made with both man and beast
        4. And this is a picture of the magnitude of God's mercy, so all-embracing, so expansive, and reaching down to the most insignificant of his creatures.
        5. We will spend more time on this in point III
      3. The covenant is unilateral
        1. Noah and his sons have no more responsibility to keep this covenant than the cattle or the birds of the air.
        2. God has undertaken to keep this covenant himself, swearing an oath to Noah and sons and even setting a sign in the sky, not to remind them but to remind himself that he will not again destroy all flesh.
        3. And this is wonderful news
        4. God has mused that man is evil from his childhood (8:21)
          1. Yet that was the reason he sent the flood in the first place
          2. So, technically, he's always got a good reason to come with another flood, another judgment.
          3. And no one can bind him not to
        5. So if he's not going to, it has to be his own free decision
        6. Wonderfully, he makes that decision and offers Noah the assurance he has done so
        7. For Noah and sons to benefit from it they must simply believe that God will not again come in flood-judgment and thus they will have peace of mind.
        8. And even if they don't believe, they'll still get the benefits of this covenant, but as we'll see in a moment they'll also be heaping up judgment for themselves in the last day.
    2. The Promise that He Will Not Again Destroy by a Flood
      1. This is the outworking of God's resolve in 8:20-22
        1. God is establishing the created order until the final judgment
        2. He will keep the earth from returning to that formless void from which it was molded and to which it had returned in the days of the flood.
      2. God is in control of this creation; he has set the world on its foundations so that it cannot be moved:
        1. Ps 104:5-9 - You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. 6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight. 8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
        2. Jer 5.22 - Do you not fear me? says the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
        3. This is what we were singing about when we sang "God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength" from Psalm 46
          1. God is our refuge and our strength, our ever present aid/ and therefore though the earth remove, we will not be afraid/ though hills amidst the sea be cast, though foaming waters roar/ yea, though the mighty billows shake the mountains on the shore.
          2. The Psalmist isn't just contemplating a series of natural disasters, he's contemplating a world in which God appears to have lost control.
          3. And he steadies his heart with the word of the Lord, "Be still and know that I am God, o'er all exalted high."
          4. God may appear to lose control, but he has promised that the earth will stand in order until the final judgment; we can bank on that.
      3. As we noted this is a unilateral covenant with believer and unbeliever alike
      4. This is what we call "common grace"
        1. to distinguish it from saving grace which is bestowed only on the people of God
        2. This is a sort of grace of God that is common to all, to believer and unbeliever alike
        3. Matt 5:45 - he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
        4. And that's exactly what this covenant is about. God is carrying out what he purposed in 8:20-22. (Read v. 22).
        5. Everyone gets the benefit of this covenant with the earth
          1. Everyone alive today is alive because of the mercy of God, who could have come again in judgment to destroy Noah and sons right there.
          2. Or he could have come at any time since; but he has mercy and patiently waits.
          3. This grace is common to all, but it does not save. Indeed, as we shall see, it serves to harden the hearts of those who do not believe.
      5. For that reason some argue this should not be called grace at all
        1. For the wicked simply abuse this kindness and heap up judgment for themselves in the day of wrath.
        2. Everything God provides - summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, they take for granted.
        3. Everything he gives them under this covenant - life, health, prosperity, stability - these things they credit to themselves or simply accept as their natural "rights."
        4. But they have no rights. Everything they receive is due to the mercy of God.
        5. But exploiting his mercy, they neglect to honor God and give him thanks.
        6. Indeed, they use God's mercy as an excuse to pretend he will never come in judgment:
          1. 2 Pe 3:3ff. - First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!" 5 They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, 6 through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.
          2. And the Preacher laments in Ecc 8:11 - Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil.
        7. Therefore it will be worse for them in the day of judgment than if they had died in infancy.
        8. But that is not God's fault.
          1. This is the kindness of God
          2. And it ought to lead them to repentance.
          3. The wicked are themselves responsible for hardening their hearts and ignoring the abundant goodness of God.
          4. As Paul says, "In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; 17 yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good-giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy." (Acts 14:16,17)
          5. Make no mistake, this changing of seasons, this stability of the created order, this allowing you life and breath and enough consistency of cause and effect that a shrewd man may make plans and often succeed - All of this is a witness that God is a God who does good, who is patient even with evildoers if perhaps they may turn and be forgiven.
        9. Therefore we may indeed call this a sort of grace - wholly unmerited goodness from God - but let us be careful always to distinguish it as common grace
      6. Let us as believers, then, tremble to abuse even the commonest of God's grace
        1. Did we not deserve to die the moment we were born? (Or if you were a covenant child, holy to God, did not your parents deserve this? Or theirs?)
        2. We were miserable, wretched, conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity
        3. Yet God granted us breath and health. He sent no great flood to wipe us out, or such inconsistency of weather as would make it impossible to grow food. No the rains came at the right time and at the right time the sun shone so that we could eat and drink and gain strength.
        4. And how for a time so many of us used that strength only to blaspheme God and take all credit to ourselves, our shrewdness, our ability, our good sense in being born into a wealthy nation, whatever.
        5. Let us blush to reproduce such thoughts now.
        6. Casually, almost ritualistically, we give thanks for food at the beginning of a meal.
          1. No more! Remember and be amazed!
          2. Your thanks goes all the way back to this point in history
          3. You are thanking God for sending the seasons in due order, for blessing the earth so that crops might grow and food be harvested and cattle fed and your table filled with good things.
        7. Let us remind one another of the goodness of God, even in these common matters - Praise to the Lord who with marvelous wisdom hath made thee and decked thee with health and prospered thy work. Surely this is of his goodness and mercy.
        8. And let us then be all the more amazed at the spiritual benefits that are ours in Christ. (More on this in point III)
    3. The Sign of the Rainbow and It's Meaning
      1. God is no longer at war with the earth
      2. The "bow" is not merely a curve but an archer's bow
        1. This is the only meaning of that term
        2. And this is how Hosea interprets it when he compares the new covenant to the covenant with Noah - I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolishthe bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
      3. This is the bow of God which sends forth the lightning as arrows against his enemies
        1. Ps 7:11-13 - God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.12 If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.13 He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
        2. Ps 18:14 - He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
        3. Ps 77:16-18 - The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were afraid; The depths also trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. 18 The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook.
        4. Ps 144:6 - Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
        5. Zec 9:14 - Then the LORD will be seen over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning.
      4. But how is the bow displayed?
        1. Is it as in Near Eastern pictures of kings going to war, their bows strung tight and arrows at the ready? No!
        2. Rather as in Near Eastern pictures of those kings returning from war, their bows loose and hanging at their side
        3. So God has hung his bow in the heavens; he will not again come in war against the earth lest the earth be destroyed.
      5. God will remind himself to be faithful to his promise
        1. this sign of the covenant will remind God not men
        2. Yet we may also be reminded how God withholds his judgment and thus be moved to thank him for his mercy and reflect upon his goodness.
  2. This Is Not the Covenant We've Been Waiting For
    1. It Doesn't Take Away Sin
    2. It Doesn't Bring Eternal Life
    3. But It Does Establish a Measure of Peace until the True Covenant Comes
  3. But It Is a Picture of It
    1. Noah Is Not the True Second Adam but a Picture
      1. He is not perfect, but he was "righteous" - righteous by faith in the true 2nd Adam, Christ Jesus.
      2. Christ is the one who has really caused God's warfare and judgment to cease
        1. Thus at his birth he was portrayed as one who would establish peace in the Kingdom
        2. And so he did in a way no one could have imagined, by bearing the wrath of God himself. He submerged under those judgment waters and sank down to death.
        3. And thus God's wrath is spent, all of it poured out on Christ and he has none left for us.
        4. We were his enemies but he is reconciled to us in the body of Christ.
        5. With Noah, God said, even though man is sinful, yet I won't destroy him.
        6. With Christ, God says, because the sin of my people is destroyed, therefore I have no cause to come against them in judgment.
      3. Christ is the one who truly brought in a new creation, one that will last forever
        1. He was raised again to new life
          1. Not the same old kind of life, like Noah.
          2. For Noah in a picture passed through death into life
          3. But was his life any different after than before?
            • He was still a sinner.
            • He still grew old and died
          4. But our Lord passed out of the realm of sin entirely and into a truly new heavens and new earth.
          5. He passed into eternal life
        2. And so we have been brought into that realm of eternal life and a new creation in Christ Jesus
        3. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold! all things have become new.
        4. Let us therefore put on that new man who was created in Christ in the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.
        5. Let us press on to know the Lord and be found in him at the last day, clothed in his righteousness.
    2. The Covenant in Christ is the True New Covenant
      1. It is as expansive as the covenant with Noah and the whole earth
        1. The entire new creation is involved; everything else will pass away
        2. Yet we are not talking a handful of people and a vast multitude of animals
        3. But rather a vast multitude of people out of every nation and tribe and tongue gathered round the throne with you this very day to sing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
      2. It is as unilateral
        1. God has required of you no impossible work to be made right with him.
        2. No, he voluntarily hangs up his bow, for its arrows have been spent on Christ
        3. By grace - not common grace, but at last! the real thing, special, saving grace - he has called you to himself
        4. By grace he has undertaken everything necessary for your salvation.
        5. He has left no stone unrolled away; It has all been done; Christ Jesus has finished his work and sat down.
        6. And so this wonderful work begun in you will be carried on to completion in the day of Christ Jesus. God is faithful. He will do it.
          1. Even though you should experience the spiritual equivalent of Ps 46
          2. I.e. there God appeared to forget that the flood waters weren't supposed to return
          3. What if that happens to you spiritually so that God appears to have forgotten you or to have allowed a spiritual assault against you greater than you can bear?
            1. The temptation seems beyond you
            2. You are near despair or caving in
            3. You feel as though you've lost all hope.
            4. Yet God is faithful, he has not really neglected his promise
            5. Be still and know that he is God and he will faithfully perform all that he has said. He will bring you to himself at last.
      3. You have passed through the judgment waters in baptism
      4. And now, like the rainbow, you have a recurring sign that God is at peace with you - The Lord's Supper
        1. That peace was made in the body and blood of Christ
        2. As surely as that body and blood bore the wrath of God, so surely is that wrath not aimed against you.

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