What God did
after the flood is comforting. It shows us how magnanimous, generous and
forgiving He truly is. He chose to set aside what man had done. He promised
that the one and only cosmic flood would be the last. He would never again destroy
all of mankind and earth with another of such flood. He must surely know that
despite that catastrophic flood, it was not the end of mankind’s wicked
propensity. In Genesis 8:21 God Himself had said, “…for the intent
of man’s heart is evil from his youth….” Yet He
chose to deal with fallen man graciously despite being aware of how prone we
are to go against His desired path.
Without grace,
God would not have preserved Noah and his family and the animals. He could have
destroyed everything and start anew by creating a new man and a new order to
replace all that Adam and his fall had left behind. But God didn’t because He
took notice of Noah. Just one righteous and blameless man was enough to move
God. This shows us how just He truly is. His justice would not allow Him to
destroy that one man with the rest of the wicked. His justice was seen when He
chose a way to preserve that one man and his family. If one righteous man was
enough to move God, just imagine how much we can do to move Him, when we all choose
to live uprightly for Him. It’s worth it to live for God.
In these
verses, God established a covenant with Noah, his family and all the animals
that He had been preserved from the flood.
Notice that this unconditional covenant is not only unilateral, but also
universal. It’s unconditional in that God promised that He would never again
bring another celestial flood to destroy the whole of humanity and creation,
regardless of what mankind would do. It’s unilateral in that God alone
initiates the covenant. Twice from verses 8-11 God calls it “My covenant.”
Besides, mankind and creation were not required to do anything for the covenant
to be in force. God would never again annihilate them with a flood. It’s
universal because the covenant was made with all mankind - good or bad, all
animals and all creation on earth.
God had
promised unconditional mercy to mankind. And He wants us to know how gracious
He had been, and will be, by giving us an everlasting sign in the rainbow. Here
He merely called it a bow. Every time we
see a beautiful rainbow we are reminded of our gracious, faithful God. It is an
everlasting sign for all generations to come. Every time we see a rainbow, we
remember God’s gracious promise never to bring another celestial flood. The
appearance of a rainbow always reminds us that God is patient. It reminds us of
how in place of His anger, He chooses to give us peace. The rainbow also
reminds us of the greatest covenant God had made with man through the cross of
Calvary. At the cross, His only begotten Son gave Himself as a sacrifice to
appease His wrath. Christ, greater than
Noah, in His obedience and atoning sacrifice, has provided an everlasting ark
that will rescue us from the water of death.
Let us heed
the call of Paul in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I
urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Let us live
for the audience of one, God Himself!
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