Text: Genesis 8:20 – 9:28
The Bible is a collection of different books written by different authors spanning centuries and covering a period of centuries. Although the Bible is made up of different books and characters, it is important to understand that it makes up one single redemptive story. This is called a metanarrative—a big picture, or an over-arching storyline.
Ultimately, the Bible is one story by one Author. It is God’s story in His own words. And while the Bible is complete and closed (meaning: we’re not adding anything else), God’s story of redemption continues well beyond the scope of the Scriptures and their original audiences, even to you and to your children and to your children’s children.
One of the things this means then, is that the story of Adam and Eve, of Noah and the flood, the genealogies and the lists, are all giving way to something. Creation, gives way to the fall. And the fall gives way to the flood and the flood gives way to a family and that family gives way to Christ and to the nations. All of the distinguishable stories and characters are being crafted together. They are all together in the good hands of the great Storyteller to culminate into one grand story of redemption and glory.
Let me give you a different analogy. Think of a baker. Think of his ingredients. Those ingredients are all unique. They are distinct and distinguishable. Some of those ingredients, taken by themselves are bitter and some are sweet, but the baker uses all of them masterfully to make exactly what he desires.
When we approach the Bible, we should try and see the metanarrative, in other words, we should always be looking for Christ and His Gospel. Frankly, that can be difficult at times.
From beginning to end, God is drawing a line to Christ and to His consummation of all things and He wants each generation to get a sense of the scope of that bigger picture. One of the ways He does this is by leading each generation through cycles of fall and redemption, blessing and curse, bitter and sweet, judgment and repentance.
As we read our text this morning, take note of the cycles and patterns. Notice the similarities between Noah and Adam for instance. Take note of the grace and sin, blessing and curse, bitter and sweet. While we look at the post-flood life of Noah and his family, keep in mind that their story is giving way to something bigger than themselves.
I am going to pray for us, and then we will go to His Word.
Heavenly Father, would you open up our eyes and hearts and minds to the grand scope of Your story. We confess that so often we try and make the scriptures about us, by seeing ourselves as the hero of the story. We confess that we often water down Your word to make it merely about how we are to act. Father, would help us to see, with eyes illuminated by the Holy Spirit, Your Son and His Gospel in our text this morning. It is in Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Read: Genesis 8:20 – 9:28
The flood, although a judgment, was also a grace to Noah and his family and creation, but it did not, and in fact could not cure the disease. When righteous Noah and his family walked out of the ark, sin walked out with them. Sin once again entered the earth.
As Noah and his family walked off that ark, they were walking into a kind of new creation. It was a fresh start, but the flood was never meant to be the permanent solution, and this is proven very quickly.
“Noah built an alter to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” Here we have a picture of worship. Noah was undoubtedly full of gratitude for being spared from the devastation that he had witnessed and was surely relieved to be back on dry ground, and therefore, Noah worshipped God who saved Him.
We may be tempted, perhaps because of the receding of the flood waters and the close of that chapter so to speak, to gloss over the graphic reality of what exactly is being described here.
If I were to say to you, “Tomorrow night, we are going to get together and worship, you should come.” When you come, what are you expecting us to do? Most, if not all of us, would be expecting to sing and maybe pray together.
Noah does not just grab a guitar and sing a song to worship God. He takes some of every clean animal and bird and systematically slaughters them and offers them to the Lord as a burnt offering.
What do you suppose this should make us think of? This should make us think of what God did in the Garden for Adam and Eve after He found them naked and ashamed. It should make us think of Abraham preparing to offer up his son Isaac upon the alter. And ultimately, it should make us think of the bloody reality of the cross and that once-for-all-time, offering of the perfect blood of Jesus.
Worship of God is impossible unless we have been forgiven of our sin and Hebrews (9:22) tells us that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. This was the difference of Cain and Able’s offering: Able brought blood, Cain didn’t. Noah brought blood.
Because of Christ and His perfect blood, we do not offer animals to God, instead we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. I hope you can get a sense of the mystery and paradox in that we are to be a living sacrifice, a living dead thing. We are living sacrifices who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Noah and this offering, are picturing that meta-reality. This is picturing Christ, and it is picturing Christians, those who are spared from the wrath of God to be put upon the alter of God to be consumed by God.
God responds to Noah’s worship with a commission that is reminiscent of God’s original charge to Adam in the garden. (This is one of those patterns and cycles.) We won’t get into all of the parallels but they should be obvious enough to you to grasp that this is not some new plan or idea. God is giving mankind a second chance, but He is not making a separate covenant, rather He is expounding on one, perfect and eternal covenant.
Think of this as a link in a chain. God has made one grand redemptive covenant with mankind, that is the chain, the specifics laid out at different times to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets, and the apostles are all links in this one chain of redemption.
You could think of those covenants as chapters in a single story of redemption. God from the beginning has promised one redemption and one redeemer for His people, and that is Jesus.
Verse 21 is really a play on words. Noah’s name means rest. The word that my Bible translates “pleasing” actually means “restful” (a better translation is “soothing”). Think of the word play like this, “Rest built an altar, and a restful aroma is what the Lord smelled.”
This restful aroma, evoked a restful response. This offering soothed God’s indignation against sin. And again, this points us to Christ who finally and fully soothed God’s indignation against sin.
God promises to never again destroy the earth with a flood. And right on the heels of that promise God makes sure we are clear that this isn’t going to be because we finally get our act together. It is and it was always by grace and mercy.
God then demonstrates His patience and kindness to us by promising us that the as long as the earth remains, there will be order. There will be summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, hot and cold, night and day.
This passage is a wonderful text that speaks of our responsibility to steward nature and creation. However, our stewardship must not be because we believe that we are capable of destroying the balance and order that God promised would never cease while the earth remains. A true stewardship of nature and creation comes by believing God the Creator.
Twice in our text God gives the same command He gave to Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply (vv. 1, 7). The repetition speaks to this being a second chance for mankind.
But what does it mean to be fruitful and multiply? Have you ever considered that God could have made many men and women in many gardens and filled the earth Himself? God could have saved multiple families in multiple arks. But God gave the responsibility to man and women to procreate and to produce offspring; to be fruitful and multiply.
This is a command that is to be understood both naturally and spiritually. It is a command that speaks generally to fruitfulness and multiplication. You can fulfill this command by tending a garden, or in your vocation, or in creative expression, but I believe it finds it’s most obvious fulfillment in marriage.
Husbands and wives, men and women are to be fruitful and multiply. (This, by the way, should probably inform and prescribe our view, not only of abortion, but also our opinion of birth control.) Because marriage is a picture of Christ and His church, there is an inherent spiritual aspect to this command as well, that extends to theological families and biological families. In other words, it applies to churches as it does to husbands and wives.
God then goes on to speak to man’s dominion over the animals and creation, and lays out His provision and restriction for food, specifically to avoid devouring blood. The command to not eat blood I believe is not mainly about what we are eating, but rather how we are eating. We are not animals. Pastor Jared Wilson understands this prohibition as a command to not be bloodthirsty savages in how we are to exercise dominion over the earth.
And this interpretation clarifies why God then lays out the principle of capital punishment.
And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for 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.” (Genesis 9:5-6)
It is the prohibition of devouring blood that leads God to speaks about capital punishment. Like it our not, God says what He says, and lays out this principle (for man and animals mind you) and He does this as a means of preserving order.
Instead of getting into the in’s and out’s of a debate about capital punishment, I would like to hone in on the last part of verse 6. This is so very important. All men are created in the image of God. Whether or not we believe this, and how we understand this, bears immediate weight on our attitude and actions toward others. We must understand that when man violates man, God says it is as if man violates God Himself. When we wrong others, it is as if we are wronging God.
Therefore our kindness and hospitality and charity should not be withheld simply because someone is not an American, or is a different race, or a different religion. When injustice is done to man, whether legally or illegally, God demands serious consequences. Blood for blood.
But instead of devouring flesh and blood to exert our power and exercise our dominion, I find it interesting that Christ who receives power and dominion forever, who holds all authority in Heaven and on Earth, offers us His flesh to eat and blood to drink. This, I think should teach us something about how we are to receive dominion and power, not by taking, but by giving.
In verses 8 – 11, God confirms His promises, by making a covenant. Notice that this covenant is not just with Noah. It is with Noah and his offspring and all of creation. In the same way Moses was a mediator between God and His people, Noah here is a mediator between God and His creation. And both are types and shadows of Jesus, the great Mediator who would eventually come.
While Noah is a picture of Christ, he was still a very flawed man. Verses 18 and following let us know that very plainly.
Chapter 9 ends with righteous Noah, who obediently spent decades following God’s detailed commands, who was saved by grace from the terrifying and devastating global flood of God’s wrath, getting drunk and dying. The last taste we are given of this man who walked with God, is that of vulnerability and shame, a father scorned by his son, and a man lacking self-control. A feeble old man, drunk in his shame, needing to be covered by another.
After disembarking from the ark, Noah became a man of the soil and planted a vineyard. This naturally led to winemaking and Noah drinking wine. And right here we start to see Noah’s sinful flaws surfacing. Noah became very drunk and passed out naked in his tent.
Noah’s son Ham saw his father’s nakedness and told his brothers. Seeing someone naked in this culture was an extreme violation. On top of that, instead of covering his father’s shame, he uncovered his father. Ham was supposed to be revering and honoring his father but instead he is found here gleefully scorning and dishonoring him.
(It is unclear whether Ham literally uncovered his father and perhaps took the garment to show his brothers, there is a case for that, or perhaps it is speaking more figuratively. Either way, Ham’s sin was severe.) Now you might be thinking, “What about Noah’s sin? Why does it seem like Ham is getting the brunt of the condemnation in this passage?”
I heard one pastor with a good observation about this, He said, “Noah’s sin was a serious one, but a more serious sin is denying a sinner grace.”
After Ham told his two brothers, they took the garment and went into to the tent to cover their father in such a way as to not look upon his nakedness.
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” (Proverbs 10:12 )
“Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)
Peter, in exhorting us to love one another above all else, tells us exactly why. He says, “because love covers a multitude of sins.”
Noah’s son Ham was not loving his father, he was hating him. He was stirring up strife. At the same time, this does not mean that Noah’s other two sons, in covering their father, were winking at his sin. God, in exhorting us to love in this way, is certainly not calling us to ignore or shrug at sin.
The fact that this account is recorded for us in the first place may make some of you wonder, why God didn’t just “cover” this. Why did God insist on telling Noah’s drunken night story to all generations? The answer to that, is because He takes sin seriously and because God loved Noah.
Remember, Moses wrote Genesis centuries after Noah and the flood. Think about this, Moses is inspired by God to essentially give us one grim snapshot into what would for us today, be 4 lifetimes—350 years. Of all the things that took place during this time, this is what God saw fit to record for us.
Why do you think that is?
Up until chapter 9, there are no recorded words of Noah. We can only assume that he has been quietly obedient and unquestionably faithful in his resolve to walk with God. I confess, it can be easy for me to think that this one misstep, this one sinful failure could (maybe even should) be easily overlooked and forgotten. But it isn’t. Why?
The fact that God doesn’t ignore it, or just brush it under the rug, but instead recorded it for Christians of every generation to remember, tells us how we are to read and understand Noah’s story. That this is only a part of something much bigger, that this story is giving way to something and someone much more glorious.
God is also teaching us that He uses our sin and sinfulness to accomplish His purpose.
This story, this grim account is giving way to one who would finally redeem men from the curse of sin and death and the devil. And as we will see in the next chapter, death didn’t win. Noah’s flawed life, and eventual death, gave way to something and someone.
Paul in Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”
The Bible says that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, that he was righteous, that he had faith. However, Noah was no different than anyone else in that he too fell short of the glory of God. He needed a savior. He needed grace. Noah’s name means rest, but Noah had no perfect rest in and of himself. (Noah’s rest got him passed out naked in his tent.)
God has in view a greater rest than Noah. God showed Noah this then, and He continues to show the world even to this day. In verses 12 through 17 God gives the sign of that coming rest—the rainbow.
Some translations (NKJV, NIV) use the word “rainbow” and this is no doubt what God is physically showing Noah, however, the text doesn’t actually say rainbow. God didn’t actually say “Rainbow.” The text only says “bow” and this is a word that literally means a taut bow, or bent bow as in a bow and arrow. The word speaks of an aimed and readied battle bow.
Why might God be using this word and image? Why wouldn’t God give the rainbow it’s own name, like “rainbow” instead of using the word for a battle bow? Notice this comes just before Noah’s drunken account that God told us about because He takes sin seriously. This is in fact what the rainbow is all about. The rainbow is a symbol of the Gospel.
Let me explain. You will always find a rainbow at the conjunction between light and dark. Between sun and storm. This speaks to that paradoxical union of sorrow and joy that is such an indispensable part of the Gospel. The rainbow means wrath and storm, but it also means beauty and mercy.
The rainbow shows us that covenantal mercy of God and at the same time, it shows us with the most vivid imagery that God is absolutely just and His wrath is inevitable. He does not shrug at sin. He does not ignore sin or sweep it under the rug with a wink.
However, the rainbow also shows us how this can be good news for sinners. Think about it. The taut bow shows us His wrath and judgement are inevitable. And the fact that He isn’t aiming it down at us, reminds us that His mercy and grace are abundant. This is what makes the rainbow so beautiful, it isn’t simplistic, it doesn’t just brush away the sin problem, but it also doesn’t terrorize us with impending wrath and doom.
The bow is pointed up. God is pointing to where the arrow of His wrath is going to be released. God is not naive about man’s condition. God is not confused about what the flood accomplished or what kind of man Noah was. God knew Noah and his family. He knew that they were not going to be the final solution for mankind. He knew that they were going to produce offspring that were going to have the same sin-sick hearts that were heavy in their chests. He gave us the rainbow to point us to the cure.
One pastor put it this way, “We are saved from the wrath of God by the love of God as these two attributes of God collided in the agony of Jesus Christ. In that collision, the wrath was satisfied, and the love entered into resurrection joy.”
This is the metanarrative. This is the over-arching story. Noah’s story, his bloody worship, the promise and prohibitions, the covenant, his drunken failure, one sons curse and the other sons’ blessings, are are giving way to this good news. To this evangelical call for Noah to come and die and find new life.
For sinners, with all of our flaws and failures to come and let them fall by the wayside. To be set free from barrenness and to finally be fruitful and multiply. To have our nakedness covered by a garment of righteousness carried to us on the shoulders of mercy and grace. No more condemnation.
What this means then, is that the cross, for Christ, was an instrument of death, but more than that it was the Father releasing the arrow of wrath from that beautiful and terrible bow. On the cross Jesus drank the cup of the Father’s wrath. For us, the cross is also an instrument of death, but instead of a cup of wrath, it was a cup of blessing. We are not spared death, we are spared wrath.
Paul in his 1st letter to the Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 says, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him.”
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we ask that You would strengthen us to endure. As we wait for You to make Your work plain, give us patience and peace. Remind us that you have not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation. That Your arrow of wrath was not aimed at us, rather in Your mercy and in Your justice, You took aim at Your Son and our Savior. We did not deserve this mercy and we do not understand Your ways, but we are thankful for Your grace that goes beyond our understanding. Help us to see that grace more, and more clearly. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Charge: Remember that your individual narrative is a part of God’s metanarrative, God’s grand story, so live accordingly and when your time here comes to a close, exit the stage accordingly, knowing that the story goes on.
Center your life in the gospel. Soak up grace like a sponge so when you are pressed and when you bleed, you will bleed grace. And when you fail, and wake up naked and ashamed in your tent, you will not despair, but you will remember the rainbow and run to your redeemer.
Benediction:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
Amen.