God
had created the world as a beautiful environment for mankind to dwell with God.
God created Adam and Eve, in His own image, to do ‘God’s will’ on the earth. As His royal representative they were to ‘fill the earth with God’s images’ and extend
God’s reign throughout the earth. But, they rejected God’s purpose and because
they aligned themselves with Satan they were ejected from the ‘Garden of Eden’.
God promised that he would put ‘enmity’ towards Satan in the hearts of the ‘seed of the woman’ and that a man would
come who would ultimately ‘crush the
serpent’ (Gen.3:15). The clash between the ‘seed of the woman’ and the ‘seed
of the serpent’ which characterizes all of scripture is illustrated when
Cain killed his brother Abel (Gen. 4). After this the history of mankind during
the ‘primeval history (Gen.1-11)’ is
one of widespread sinfulness leading to God’s judgment by a worldwide flood. All
mankind was found to be ‘depraved (6:5)’
and the earth was ‘full of violence
(6:13)’but Noah found ‘favor in the
eyes of the Lord (6:8)’ and his family
was preserved. Now listen to or watch the story of Noah being told and then read the comments below. https://www.dropbox.com/s/d4bgxorvdvyora4/5.%20The%20Flood%20and%20the%20Noahic%20Covenant..MP3?dl=0
Adam
and Eve were given Seth to replace righteous Abel whom Cain killed.Seth’s line sought
to do God’s will while those related to Cain sought to build cities and
cultures independent of God. We are told that the thoughts of man were
only evil all the time and that the world was full of violence. This so grieved
and pained God that He determined to wipe all life from the earth but that Noah
found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Gen.6:5-7, 8, 11).
The
world continued in hardened unbelief but God chose to bestow His grace on Noah.
Noah found favor with God not because Noah was righteous. The phrase ‘these
are the generations of’ introduces each new section of Genesis and prevents
us from thinking that Noah earned God’s favor by being righteous (2:4; 5:1;
6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2). Noah was righteous because
Noah found ‘unmerited’ favor’ (6:8-9). Grace is grace and it is not earned or
deserved. Notice how desperately Noah fell short of God’s glory even after God
had delivered and made a covenant with Noah (9:20-21, Rom.3:23).
God
gave grace to Noah and that grace extended to his whole family. Again and again
God indicates to Noah His commitment to bring Noah and his entire house into
the ark of salvation (6:18; 7:1, 7, 13, 23; 8:16, 18; 9:9, 12). God found
Noah righteous in that generation (Gen. 7:1 ‘you’ singular refers to
Noah) and as a result Noah’s whole family was spared from the flood. Noah,
as the head of his household, and his whole family were allowed to go into the
ark and were included in God’s covenant (Heb.11:7, Eph.2:8-9, Gen.9:9).
After
the flood Noah offered a sacrifice to God. God was pleased and promised to put
no further curse on the earth even though man’s corruption remained unaltered
(8:20-21). Then the responsibilities given to Adam to multiply God’s images on
the earth were given directly to Noah (1:26, 9:1, 7). God established His
covenant with Noah promising not to destroy all life on the earth by a
flood. God also promised to maintain a stable environment for man to do ‘God’s
will’ on the earth (8:22, 9:11). Moreover, God promised to preserve the human
race through Noah in order to ‘redeem the world’. God did this so that
God’s redeemed images could spread God’s Kingdom reign over all the earth as
God intended originally with Adam.
The
sign of the rainbow emphasizes the gracious character of God’s covenant with
Noah. The storm clouds depicted God’s just judgment (Isa 19:1; Rev. 1:7) while
the colorful rainbow is a sign of God’s gracious presence. In the Book of
Revelation the throne of God is depicted as having a rainbow around it
(Rev.4:3). The flood waters meant destruction for depraved humanity (‘seed
of Satan’) but God’s covenant with Noah meant life for Noah and his family
who were graciously spared. The flood left man essentially unchanged for only a
God-initiated ‘enmity’ toward evil in the heart can transform man. Yet, God
promised in his covenant with Noah to preserve mankind and the world for the
purpose redemption (3:15, 8:21, 9:1, 11).
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