Good Gifts in Hiding
Have you ever realized that you had something really good without knowing it? In August of 2018, Laura Young bought a 52-pound marble bust at a Goodwill in Austin. She said it looked interesting, so she bought it. She paid $35 for it, went home, and started researching what it was.
Turns out that it was a 2,000-year-old bust of Sextus Pompey, a Roman military leader. It was from Germany, was placed in storage during World War II to keep it safe, but was stolen sometime after the war.
You never know what kind of treasures you’ll find at Goodwill! For $35 Laura Young went home with a 2,000-year-old piece of history from antiquity.
Right now, at this moment, all of us possess something really good perhaps without even knowing it. The fact that any of us are alive and that the world is still running is a gift from God. If your heart is beating, that is God’s good gift to you, especially if you don’t yet know him.
Slow to Anger, Abounding in Love
As we’ve studied the opening chapters of Genesis, we’ve seen God create a wonderful world, humans ruin it with sin, and God decide to wash it clean with a flood of water. Because God is just and because the world was thoroughly corrupt and violent, God sent his judgment, a judgment resulting from his goodness. As Abraham Heschel says, “Indifference to evil is itself a great evil.”[1] What kind of God would God be if evil went unpunished?
In the flood, God’s judgment was comprehensive. Everything and everyone were destroyed, with one exception (6:8). Noah was loved by God, walked with God, and obeyed God. God chose him to build an ark that would save him and his family and the animals when the flood came. And the flood waters of judgment did come and everything and everyone died, except those who were on the ark.
God doesn’t leave Noah on the ark but remembers him and dries out the earth so that Noah can exit the ark and life can start over on the earth. The first thing Noah does when he disembarks is worship God (8:20). This pleased God and he promised to never flood the earth again and that things would return to normal (vv. 21-22).
The Lord knew that the flood didn’t wash sin from the human heart. Yet he decides to not judge the earth like that again, even though he’d be justified in doing so.
The Only Reason Anyone is Alive
This brings us to Genesis 9, where Moses the narrator fills out more of what God is doing with Noah and the earth post-flood. In this chapter we’re going to see why we all have something really good even if we don’t realize it.
In this chapter, God recreates the earth and promises to preserve the earth until he redeems the earth from the sin that still lives on the earth. The main takeaway for us from this text is that God’s grace is the only reason any of us are still alive and the world is still running. In this text, we’ll see a new Adam (vv. 1-7), a new-old covenant (vv. 8-17), and a new fall (vv. 18-29).
A New Adam
In verses 1-7, we see Noah presented as a new Adam. In these verses, and back into chapter 8, Moses draws parallels between the new start with Noah and the first start with Adam, between the new earth that Noah walks into and the first earth inhabited by Adam. His clear intention is to present Noah as a new Adam.
There are at least seven parallels between the new world and the first world. First, God’s initial work of creation took place when the earth was covered with water (1:2). After the flood, a new beginning takes place when the flood waters recede.
Second, God created birds, creeping things, and animals to multiply on the earth (1:20-21, 24-25). After the flood, they begin to multiply on the earth again (8:17-19).
Third, God created the sun and moon to divide the day and night and to establish the seasons of the year (1:14-18). After the flood, God promises that these patterns will continue (8:22).
Fourth, God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to multiply and fill the earth (1:28). After the flood, God reissues this command to Noah and his family (9:1, 7).
Fifth, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth (1:26, 28, 2:15). After the flood, God reinstates Noah’s rule and says that all creatures are under the rule of humans (9:2).
Sixth, God provided food for humans (1:29). After the flood, God’s provision of food is reiterated, though it now includes animals (9:3).
Seventh, God made humans in his image (1:26). After the flood, we learn that humans retain God’s image despite sin (9:6). Verse 5 is the foundation of human government, as God tells Noah that “man” will be responsible to enforce justice on the earth. Verse 6 also provides biblical warrant for governments to use the death penalty.
Noah is meant to be seen as a new Adam. The major difference is that Noah stepped into a fallen world with sin in his heart, whereas Adam stepped into a perfect world with no sin.
Why does the Lord make it clear to us that the world of Noah is so much like the world of Adam? Because even though he just killed everything and everyone with a flood, he wants us to see that his care for the earth and its inhabitants hasn’t changed. That God would remake the world after the flood with all of its original elements and rhythms and blessings still in place despite sin is a sign of God’s grace.
God’s judgment doesn’t cancel his love. It reveals his goodness. He is good so he must punish sin and sinners. But his goodness also means that he doesn’t quickly give up on them. Noah’s world shows us that God still cares for the earth and for his image bearers.
A New-Old Covenant
God further reveals this care with a covenant in the next section (vv. 8-17). This covenant is further evidence that Moses the narrator wants us to understand Noah as a new Adam.
Notice the language the Lord uses. He says that he is “establishing” his covenant with Noah (vv. 9, 11, cf. 6:18). In Old Testament times, when a covenant was made it was called “cutting a covenant.” But when an existing covenant is referred back to and its terms are upheld, it was “established.” So when the Lord says he’s “establishing” a covenant with Noah, it means that a covenant has already been made, or “cut,” and is now being renewed.
So who did God make a covenant with before Noah? Adam. This covenant in chapter 9 is a new covenant for Noah, but it’s an old covenant because it started with Adam.[2]
The Nature of the Covenant with Noah
Verses 8-11 show us the nature of this renewed covenant with Noah, verses 12-17 the sign of the covenant. Let’s take these one at a time.
Verses 9-10 say that the covenant is for everyone and everything. This is so important that it’s repeated two more times in verses 16-17. We call it the covenant with Noah, but it’s really a covenant with all creation.
What is this covenant meant to do? Verse 11 makes the purpose of the covenant clear. The promise of this covenant is that God will never again destroy the earth by a flood. It’s a covenant of preservation. By promising to never flood the earth again, God was pledging that humans will be preserved on the earth until the end of history.
Earthquakes, hurricanes, climate change, pandemics, wars, fires, or freezes won’t destroy the earth. The earth will be preserved against all cataclysmic events until the end. This covenant doesn’t guarantee universal salvation, but it does guarantee universal preservation.
The Sign of the Covenant
In verses 12-17, we see the sign of this covenant. The “bow in the cloud” (v. 13) will remind God and man of God’s promise to preserve the earth. Not because he’ll forget. But as an ongoing testimony to God’s faithfulness to his covenant promise.
This is also the function of the signs of the new covenant, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They remind us that God will be faithful to all who’ve been buried and raised with Christ, all who’re trusting in Jesus’ broken body and shed blood.
The sign of the “bow” reminds us that this covenant with Noah isn’t temporary. It’s an “everlasting covenant” (v. 16). This covenant won’t be withdrawn or revoked. This means that it’s still in effect today. Scripture never says that this covenant has been annulled.
The rainbow, especially to ancient eyes, portrays a weapon of war. But this bow is pointed up, not down, meaning that God has put his weapons down and won’t wipe out humanity again. If he unleashed his bow on the earth again, we’d all die.
The beauty of a rainbow against the gloom of storm clouds is meant to remind us of God’s mercy triumphing over his judgment. Rainbows only exist when sun and storm collide. Mercy and judgment collided in the flood. Later, they’ll collide on Jesus as he hung under God’s bow on the cross.
Why is this Covenant Needed?
Why is this covenant with Noah needed? The reason is because if there’s no world and no people there can be no redemption. This covenant with Noah isn’t redemptive in and of itself, but it means that the world will continue until God’s purposes of redemption are achieved.[3]
God has promised that the world will continue until the return of Jesus Christ. This means that God’s creation of the earth and human beings won’t end up being a failed experiment. Life on earth will persist “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). Before God created the earth, he put names in the book of life who will be his children and the earth won’t end until they all come home to him (Rev. 13:8).
Humans will be preserved on the earth until the end of history because God’s plan to rescue his people from the seed of the serpent hasn’t ended. This covenant, then, creates a stage on the earth where God will work out his plan to rescue his world.
This is no small thing! It means life on this planet is more precious than you realize. It means that the world isn’t going to implode or go crazy until God’s work on it is done. There will be stability and order and life until all of God’s people come to faith in Jesus. Creation will continue until redemption is complete.
Life is a Beautiful Mercy from God
Friends, if you’re interested in Jesus but not sure about trusting and following him, what I’m saying is that the fact that you’re alive means that God hasn’t given up on you. I know he feels distant. It seems hard to believe his word. You wonder how he can be good if so much bad is happening. But if you’re alive, you can wrestle with these things knowing that he’s not done with you, that he loves you, that he sees you, that he wants to give you mercy instead of judgment, that you can take your questions and fears and doubts and complaints and tears to him and he’ll hear you and walk with you while you figure things out.
You’re alive because God wants to know you. We all long to be known by someone don’t we? The Goo Goo Dolls captured this in their 1998 song “Iris”:
And I’d give up forever to touch you
‘Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be
And I don’t want to go home right now
And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
When sooner or later it’s over
I just don’t want to miss you tonight
And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
And you bleed just to know you’re alive
And I don’t want the world to see me
‘Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
What if our deep desire for connection means that God made us to know him? Friends, there is someone who sees you, understands you, who gave up glory to rescue you, who bled for your life.
The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that God wants to know you. He created you and he wants to redeem and rescue you. Your life is God’s gift to you so that you can know him. He wants to be known. The Bible says that God made us “that we should seek God, in the hope that we might feel our way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). Life is about knowing God now before we meet him later. This is why Paul says, “To live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).
Friend, if you don’t yet know God, know this: God created you, but your sin separated you from him and deserves judgment. But Jesus died on the cross to take away your sin and to take your judgment and bring you back to God. Everyone who confesses their sin to God and believes that Jesus died for it will be ushered back into the arms of the God who made them. God wants you to know how big and strong and safe and good he is. Jesus is where you have to go to learn this. If you’re alive, God is preserving your life because he loves you. Life is a beautiful mercy from God.
A New Fall
In verses 18-29, we see a new fall. This section continues to mirror the opening chapters of Genesis. We see a vineyard that reminds us of the garden (v. 20). Noah sins by taking fruit of the vine (v. 21). There’s nakedness and shame (vv. 21-22). There’s a covering for nakedness (v. 23). And there are curses and blessings (vv. 25-27). This is a repeat of the Fall from Genesis 3. Noah, like Adam, was in a garden and sinned in a garden.
What exactly was the sin of Ham in verse 22? The best way to determine this is to notice what his brothers do in response to Noah’s nakedness in verse 23. Shem and Japheth turn away from their father’s nakedness rather than looking at it. They cover it rather than reporting it. Ham looks and doesn’t cover and reports. The root issue is that Ham doesn’t honor his father. Shem and Japheth cover his shame and so honor him.
Later God will tell Israel that honoring parents will create life and blessing (Ex. 20:12). But honoring them doesn’t cancel the need to be honest either. Ham dishonored his father. But his father was so drunk that he took off all this clothes and passed out. Both parties bear responsibility for what happened here.
Like the first Adam, the second Adam Noah is a gardener whose sin resulted in shameful nakedness. The new beginning with Noah is starting to look a lot like the first beginning with Adam. God promised to preserve the world, but the world was no longer paradise. Noah’s family has all the problems of Adam’s family, and our families.
Starting Over Won’t Change Anything
At some point, we all become disgusted with what’s going on in the world, the hatred, prejudice, greed, cruelty, corruption, war, abuse, suffering of all kinds. Because we can’t seem to change anything, we become skeptical and cynical and think that we’re basically doomed. The idealistic ones among us suggest that we just start over, that we wipe the slate of history clear and begin again. Elon Musk promises colonies on other planets. Science and medicine promise to extend the quality and quantity of our lives. Education hopes to eradicate all ignorance and injustice in the earth. Religious groups hope to make the world a better place through humanitarian efforts.
But then we remember that there was a time when God started everything over and nothing changed. The human heart was still bent on using good things in ungodly ways. Shame and dishonor still worked its way through Noah’s family. And life still ended with death (v. 29).
We Are Alive because of God’s Mercy
In Genesis 9, we’ve seen a new Adam, a new/old covenant, and a new fall. After the flood, God recreates the earth and promises to preserve the earth until he redeems the earth from the sin that still lives on the earth.
Like Noah, we possess something really good perhaps without even knowing it. The fact that any of us are alive and that the world is still running is a gift from God. If your heart is beating, that is God’s good gift to you, especially if you don’t yet know him.
When you wonder why you’re still alive, the reason is because of God’s mercy and faithfulness to his covenant with Noah. You’re alive because God is faithful to his word. You’re alive because God loves you and wants to know you. Your life is a beautiful gift of mercy.
[1]Quoted in Thomas R. Schreiner, The King In His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013), 13.
[2]See my sermon on Genesis 2:4-7 for more on God’s covenant at creation, https://prestonhighlands.org/2021/12/05/the-creator-comes-close/
[3]Thomas R. Schreiner, Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Short Studies in Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 39.