Preserved for Redemption

God’s Covenant of Preservation
(Genesis 8:20-9:17, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, August 17, 2014)

Every human being has breathtaking dignity, for each of us has been knit together by God to bear his own image (9:6).  God made us to care for and rule over his creation.  He made us to live forever in relationship with himself.  From the successful billionaire to the homeless man on the street corner—remember that each person is made in the image of God.  Animal life is also important to God (8:21b; 9:4, 10-12, 15-16).  We are given animals to rule over, and to eat, but not with savagery.  It is clear that God cares about all life, and so must we.  Yet God is so adamant about the dignity of humankind, that he demands a reckoning when human life is taken (9:5).  Indeed, when one person takes the life of another, God has established that the murderer deserves the death penalty (9:6).  Some would argue that the death penalty is itself a violation of the dignity of human life.  But according to our Maker’s sense of justice, it is right for society to put a murderer to death.  God has given authority to the civil government to carry out such justice (Romans 13:1-4).

Every human being has great dignity, and yet it is also true that every human being is grossly depraved (8:21).  God promised Noah that he would not destroy the world again in a flood: “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”  In other words, the sinfulness of man that motivated God to send the flood had not gone away, and God is pledging not to respond to that sin again with a worldwide flood.  God’s indictment of the human heart is hard to hear, but it is true.  Apart from God’s grace, our heart’s natural bent is not to trust and obey God.  Therefore left to ourselves, the intentions of our hearts are evil from youth.  The fact that we are made in God’s image makes our depravity all the more heinous.

After the flood, God looked upon Noah and his family.  He looked into the future at the generations of humanity that would indeed fulfill his commands to be fruitful and multiply upon the face of the earth (9:1, 7).  Human life was precious to God, but it was also depraved and in need of redemption.  God made a covenant with humanity, and all living creatures, that he would not destroy the world again with a flood.  He promised to preserve the world so that in time he could redeem the world from sin and all its bitter fruit, which redemption God had already promised to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15).  The LORD made his promise to Noah to preserve the world when he smelled the pleasing aroma of the burnt offerings Noah made on an altar (8:20-21).  Was it really the death of a few animals that could appease the justice of God against sin and bring about redemption?  No (Hebrews 10:4).  Yet these offerings foreshadowed the sacrifice of God’s own Son, the God-man Jesus, who would die on the cross to truly redeem us.  His death satisfied God’s justice so that we can be redeemed from God’s deserved judgment.  It is only through Jesus that we, whose hearts are evil from youth, can be fully cleansed of guilt and have our hearts renewed so that we do learn to trust and obey God.  Jesus died to redeem depraved image-bearers like us, and restore us into perfect reflections of God’s goodness.  One day he will redeem the whole of creation (Romans 8:20-21).  God’s covenant with Noah, and with all living creatures, made this redemption possible.  He gave us a sign of his promise: the rainbow.  The next time you see a rainbow, remember that God has postponed worldwide judgment so that he could send his Son to be our Savior.

Put the Word to Work:  How should we view each person in our home, neighborhood, school, workplace, church, etc.?  This person has both great dignity and tragic depravity.  This person needs Jesus, our Savior.

Memory Verse from the Psalms of Ascents: Psalm 122:2 – Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!

Gospel Reading: Matthew 13:44 – The Parable of the Hidden Treasure