Scripture Reading: Genesis 8
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 8. Genesis chapter 8 deals with the conclusion of the flood. We have seen the preparation of the ark in Genesis chapter 6, the actual flood in chapter 7, and here the end of the flood and the subsequent sacrifice, and then the covenant of God with Noah. I'll read beginning in chapter 8 at verse 1.
Then God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth.
At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. And the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. and the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.
And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth. And Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
And it came to pass in the 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.
Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. And the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.
Amen."
Introduction
Well, as we have seen in this particular section, the genealogy of Adam proceeds through the line of Seth to Noah. in chapter 5. Noah's death is highlighted in chapter 9, but before we get there, we learn of the great accomplishment of Noah's life was basically living through the flood in the ark that God had provided him. And in terms of the flood narrative, we see the decision to send the flood and rescue Noah in chapter 6, the command to build the ark in chapter 6, the command to enter the ark in chapter 7 along with the floods coming and here tonight we see the floods abate or the waters decrease or subside and then the command to exit the ark and then ultimately we see this building of the altar and then this covenant made by God with Noah termed the Noahic Covenant. So tonight we'll look first at the abatement of the waters in verses 1 to 14.
Secondly, the departure of the family from the ark in verses 15 to 19. And then finally, the covenant of the Lord in verses 20 to 22.
Abatement of the Waters
Now in the first place, we note that the waters subside. Notice in verses 1 to 3. Verse 1 says,
God Remembers Noah
Then God remembered Noah. And as has been the case throughout this section in our study in the book of Genesis, we see this kind of language used very much concerning God. It's the language of anthropopathism or anthropomorphism. Ascribing bodily parts to God, we'll see that later when the Lord smells this soothing aroma.
And then ascribing human passions to God is called an anthropopathism. Well, here it says, then God remembered Noah. Again, this is language used in the manner of man. God doesn't remember because God never forgets.
All knowledge is always present to God. He doesn't increase. He doesn't diminish. He doesn't lose.
He doesn't forget. He doesn't wake up one day and say, oh yeah, I've got eight people in an ark. I need to get to them and make sure that they land safely on Ararat. John Gill says, not that God had forgotten Noah, for he does not and cannot forget his creatures, properly speaking.
But this is said after the manner of men and as it might have seemed to Noah. You can see where it might have seemed that way to Noah because Noah's floating in this vessel with all of these animals for quite a long time. But the text highlights, then, God remembered Noah. So it's anthropopathic language, language that is descriptive of God, not properly.
It doesn't actually mean that God remembers because God forgets, but it's what's called an improper predication. It's something designed to teach us, the creature, something true of God. In other words, what we are to be alerted to here is God's intervention, divine intervention. And then this language is as well suggestive of covenant.
The reference could be covenantal. The language signifies to act upon a previous commitment to a covenant partner. You see this kind of language used Later on, you'll see it in Genesis chapter 9 at verse 15. You see it in Exodus chapter 2 and Exodus chapter 6.
God remembers in terms of his covenant partners. You also see it in Luke's gospel in Luke 1.72. Wenham sort of summarizes this section. He says, the floodwaters have done their worst in the previous scene with the total annihilation of all life outside the ark.
Now divine intervention begins, the reestablishment of order and life on earth. Remember that we have seen or we have looked at the Adam-Noah parallel. In many respects, Noah is a new Adam and life is being recreated or re-established on the earth, and this particular chapter essentially reverses everything we saw in chapter 7. The floods come and they devastate.
The floods now cease and God builds. God uses Adam. He gives the command specifically to the animals, to Adam, to his family, to be fruitful and multiply. The very same command that was given to Adam in terms of populating the earth.
This is a new era. The old world has been judged and shot down, and the new world has emerged. And we see that with reference to God's remembrance in this section. And then
Waters Subside and Ark Rests
note the Lord God caused the waters to subside in verses 1b to 3. At the end of verse 1, and God made a wind to pass over the earth and the water subsided. The same sort of wind that we learn in Exodus 14, 21, that was able to cause the Red Sea to dry up so that the children of Israel could pass through safely and evade Pharaoh's armies. There's a lot of connection between the water scenes here in Genesis 6 and 7 to later water scenes in the Old Testament.
Time does keep us from looking at all of those, particularly though. And then notice what we find in verse 2 is a direct reversal of what was said in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 11. Here in verse 2, the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained." As I said, it's almost as if it's an exact parallel, the opposite way, as to Genesis 6. Genesis 6, these underground waters were let loose.
Genesis 6, the windows of heaven were opened. Here in Genesis 7, and here in Genesis 8, these things stop. God is in sovereign control. He not only initiates this devastating judgment, but he also stops it when the annihilation is complete, and he comes to bring restoration to Noah and to his family.
And then in verse 3, the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the 150 days, the waters decreased. And then the ark rested in the seventh month, the 17th day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. Now, most of the commentators, at least that I read, say this was in Armenia.
It wasn't one particular mountain. It was a region of mountains. I'm sure Answers in Genesis will probably nail down for you which particular mountain that was. And I should say that once again, if you want the science behind the flood, answersingenesis.com is probably the best place that you can go as far as I know.
I'm sure there's others out there that do great job in terms of the scientific explanation of these chapters. I simply do not have the ability to comment that way but to simply explain what the text says. There was a lot of water and now there wasn't because God brought judgment and now God is bringing restoration and deliverance to His chosen ones, to Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives. And then note, the tops of the mountains were visible, according to verse 5.
The waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. Remember, it was 15 cubits above that, so the water is starting to decrease. I did pop on to Answers in Genesis last week looking for something very specifically.
I didn't have time, but I noticed they have a particular article on what happened to all this water. Because that's probably a big question. What happened to all this water? I know that there's no new water, water either. evaporates or it goes into the earth, but they give an explanation or at least as far as I can tell, they give an explanation as to the decrease or the subsiding of this great mass of water.
It's a great question. Where did it all go? Again, answersingenesis.com. Ken Ham probably never would have thought he would have gotten so much free plugs as I'm giving him tonight.
And then
Ravens and Doves Deployed
note, with reference to the birds deployed. This is ingenious, and this is something that not just NOAA did, but sailors have done, or sailors did do before electronic navigation, and radar, and sonar, and that sort of thing. They used birds. They would send birds out, and if the birds came back, that would indicate certain things.
And so NOAA does that. But the order that NOAA does this is intriguing, and it makes sense. Now, I don't say that to sort of confirm that the Bible makes sense, but I've mentioned that there are other flood stories in other religions and in other civilizations. The most famous is the Gilgamesh epic and the great flood story recorded there.
But Waltke makes this observation concerning these competing flood narratives versus the biblical account. He says, Noah's release of the birds into the air is the first sign of renewed life. In the Babylonian account, the hero sends out a dove, a swallow, and then a raven. The difference in the sequence profiles, again, the superiority of the biblical account.
The raven braves the storm, can feed on carrion, and as the stronger bird can remain in flight much longer. It makes sense, as in the biblical account, to send out the stronger raven before the gentle, timid, and low-flying dove, but none to reverse the sequence as in the Babylonian epic." In other words, it doesn't make any sense the way that the Babylonian epic describes it. versus what the Bible describes, would have been the most natural way to do it. You send out the strong raven first, and then you send out the timid dove. And that is precisely what happens.
Verse 7, he sent out a raven which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. And then in verses 8 to 12, he sends out the dove. Initially, the dove finds no resting place. And, you know, I mentioned last week, I think it was, that we're not to read the flood narrative as sort of an ecological tract and, you know, conservationism and that sort of a thing.
But at the same time, we ought to make the observation that Noah did have regard for the lives of his beasts. If you look specifically at verse 8, I'm sorry, verse 9, the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put his hand and took her and drew her into the ark to himself. That's kind of a tender moment, isn't it?
I mean, this is a dove and Noah reaches out his hand and the dove lands on his hand and he brings the dove back into the ark. ecological or conservationist sort of tirade, but certainly we ought to appreciate God's kindness with reference to the animals, God's kindness with reference to the stability of the earth as we leave this particular chapter, and then Noah's kindness with reference to the animals. He doesn't say, you know, I'm so sick and tired of these birds, I hope they never come back. No, he sees the dove and he brings the dove back into the ark with him. So the dove initially goes out and finds no resting place.
The dove then goes out and returns with an olive leaf. This is promising. This is good. This evidence is that the waters are, in fact, subsiding.
You see that specifically in verse 11. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth, and no one knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. Now, I had seen this before I started in the commentaries today, but you probably all heard it, that doves, once they match up as a male and a female, they're together for life.
Apparently, doves are, you know, the model monogamous creatures on, you know, in terms of the bird kingdom. Doves just, you know, they match up, there's no divorce, there's no separation, you know, till death do us part as far as you're a dove. So now this dove doesn't come back to his mate. That actually causes some issues in the commentaries.
Why didn't the dove come back? The dove found it nice to be out of the boat. He was happy and content to live life no longer in the ark. I don't know that that's what we're supposed to get hung up on.
The idea is that when the dove did not return anymore, that indicated, again, for Noah, that these waters were residing or subsiding. And then
Waters Fully Dried
notice in verses 13 and 14, we see the waters are dried up. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Now the New King James translates the verbs the same, dry, but the second means more dry or completely dry.
In fact, Waltke says the verbs of 8, 13, and 14 rendered dry differ. Even after Noah sees the earth has dried out, he waits patiently almost another two months until it is completely dry, waiting for the divine word that it is safe to disembark. And that's something that we ought to observe here. Verses 13 and 14, Noah now looks for himself.
He sent out the raven, he sent out the dove, the dove brought back the olive leaf, the dove didn't come back. Noah now lifts the cover from the ark. He sees it for himself, but just because it's dry doesn't necessarily mean it's time to jump down and start doing everything that man does on the earth. He waits for divine instruction.
God commanded Noah and his family to enter into the ark, and Noah concludes that God's going to command him to exit the ark as well. Noah walks by faith consistently. Noah walks by faith in the living God. He listens to the voice of God in terms of those decisions that he is to make in life, and
Departure from the Ark
that brings us specifically to the departure of the family from the ark in verses 15 to 19.
Divine Command to Exit
There is, as we ought to expect, a divine command. Noah waits, God commands, and that is what we find in verses 15 to 17. Again, just the opposite of what we find in Genesis chapter 7. They're commanded to enter the ark, now they're commanded to exit the ark.
Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." Again, we ought to hear the ring of Adam in this section. We ought to think in terms of this is a second Adam, not the last Adam. We know that Christ is the last Adam.
But this is the same sort of vocation given to Adam at the creation account. It's being duplicated here in a sort of a recreation account after the devastation of the old world by this water, by these waters, And now God gives instruction to Noah on what he is to do in terms of life in this post-flood world.
Animals Dispersed from the Ark
And then notice this specific instruction concerning the animals. Bring out with you. I doubt he would have had to actually carry them. All he would have had to do is whistle and they probably all ran.
I mean, come on, they've been in this ark. From what everybody says, and you know, math again, I mean, the science eludes me. Math, I'm sure I could work it out, but there's not enough time on a Wednesday. From what I gather, the total time in the ark was one year and ten days.
I'm sure those animals were more than happy to exit the ark, as were Adam, or rather Noah, his wife, his sons, and their their wives. I'm sure they were all chomping at the bit to get out of there. But you'll sometimes meet this question. In fact, I did see it on Answers in Genesis.
I didn't read it, but you know, how did the animals get from there to everywhere else in the world? It's a good question, isn't it? How did the animals get from Asia to America? How did the animals traverse the ground or get from point A to point Z?
Well, I want to share Matthew Poole's commentary. Now, Matthew Poole's commentary was first published in 1685. That's some staying power, isn't it? I guarantee you Benny Hinn's books aren't going to be sold in 300 years from now.
Matthew Poole is, John Owen is, John Calvin is, John Gill is. All those guys have staying power because they spoke the truth. But I found this very intriguing in Matthew Poole's commentary on this subject. He says, question, how could these creatures which came out of the ark in Asia get thence to America or to the islands remote from the continent?
Answer? One, as for America, it is sought by divers learned men that is, I'm sorry, I must have missed, that is either joined to this. Oh, yeah, that it, America, is joined to this continent or separated from it only by a narrow sea which diverse living creatures could easily swim over. He says, second, many living creatures are, and always were, transported by men in their vessels, either for their supply or profit or diversion or other ends, and thence might easily be propagated there.
But it was his answer number three that really intrigued me. He says, the same God who made all these creatures and caused them to come first to Adam and afterwards to Noah could afterwards both incline and empower them to go whither he pleased without the advice of these vain men who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do. In other words, if God made the world, and God does what the Bible says he does, he can get an elephant to America. That's like chump change, as far as God is concerned.
And I thought that was very intriguing, because it's not the case that it's only 21st century man that's sort of questioning these things. In the 17th century, there were men questioning these things, and the Reform were always answering these sorts of things. But I love that. The same God who made all these creatures and caused them to come first to Adam and afterwards to Noah could afterwards both incline and empower them to go whither He pleased without the advice of these vain men who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do.
It's a beautiful thing. So they are commanded, divine command in verses 15 to 17, and then compliance in verses 18 and 19. So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him, every animal, every creeping thing, every bird and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Again, compare this with chapter seven and see how it's just the opposite, the complete contrast. parallel in structure, parallel in terms of the players, parallel in terms of the instructions, except just the opposite.
Chapter 7 deals with the devastation of the flood. Chapter 8 deals with the restoration after the flood, vis-Ã -vis Noah and his family occupying that particular position of rebuilding the earth.
The Covenant of the Lord
And that brings us finally to the covenant of the Lord. Now it's important for us to understand that in verses 21 and 22, God is speaking to himself. Now, I don't think that means he looks into a mirror, but it says that God said in his heart, Verses 21 and 22 are not communicated to Noah. That's what chapter 9 is.
So what we have in verses 21 and 22 is the divine purpose and then in chapter 9 is the divine explanation or the divine sort of blessings that are going to take shape in this Noahic covenant. So it's important to understand that. 21 and 22 are basically programmatic for what God is going to do. Chapter 9 is the actual act of God, where any covenants with Noah, in terms of those things He had purposed in His heart.
Noah's Sacrifice
But before that covenant, or before that promise that God makes, note the sacrifice of Noah. Look at what Noah does when he exits the ark. Beautiful thing, isn't it? He doesn't go look for fruit.
He doesn't say, wow, we didn't have these on the ark. He doesn't say, oh, wow, I need to build a shelter. I need to make fire. I've got to find clothes.
He worships God. He immediately sacrifices, verse 20, that Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Go back for just a moment to chapter 6. Chapter 6, remember verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
There's a contrast being set forth in chapter 6 that is consistent with the contrast in chapters 4 and 5. You have the Lion of Adam through the ungodly Cainites in chapter 4. Then you have the Lion of Adam through the godly Sethites in chapter 5. There's this contrast.
There's this collective seed of the woman. And there's this collective seed of the devil. You see that contrast make its way into chapter 6, and here specifically you have the great mass of men that have filled the earth with corruption and violence, and then you have Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah did not achieve this righteousness in and of himself, but rather God was gracious to him.
Now that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, that led to what we learn concerning Noah in verse 9. Notice it says, this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations, Noah walked with God. Remember, it's not that he was these things and therefore grace was given to him.
No, grace was given to him, therefore he was these things. He didn't receive grace because he was upright. He was upright because he received grace. That's the pattern, the conspicuous pattern, in the entirety of Scripture.
It's grace through faith, and that yields the fruits of righteousness and godliness and blamelessness. We know Noah had faith according to Hebrews chapter 11 at verse 7. It's by faith Noah did what he did. So he receives the grace of God, he looks unto Christ savingly, and that yields this kind of a man, or that produces this kind of a man.
He's a just man, he's perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. Now no doubt on the ark Noah walked with God. No doubt on the ark Noah prayed.
On the ark, Noah worshipped. On the ark, Noah sacrificed. On the ark, Noah engaged himself in communion with the Lord God Most High. The very first thing Noah does when he steps off the ark is to build an altar to the Lord and to take of every clean animal and every clean bird and offer them up to Yahweh as a burnt offering.
Gil says, not an house for himself and his family, but an altar for God. His first and greatest concern being for the glory of God and not for the temporal good of himself and his. That's indicative of a man who's just. That's indicative of a man who is described as perfect in his generations, as a man who walks with God.
He seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He doesn't seek the food. He doesn't seek the shelter. He doesn't seek the clothing.
Not that he doesn't need those things, but he seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that then those things will be added unto him. In other words, Noah sets forth the priority that all of God's Noahs ought to follow in suit with. We ought to make sure that the Lord God Most High comes first. And in terms of the actual sacrifice, there's reasons for this.
First, to renew the public worship of God. We know that sacrifice was already in play. God sacrificed animals in order to make skins to atone for Adam and Eve's sin, or to cover Adam and Eve. And in Genesis chapter 4, at the end of days, at the end of the days of the week, what do Cain and Abel do?
Cain goes and he offers the first fruit to the ground, or the fruit of the ground, and then Abel offers up the first fruits from his flock. So sacrifice was already in place, and so Noah is renewing public worship of God. As well, he is expressing his thankfulness, his gratitude to God for divine preservation. Now, you know, we read these passages and we come through narrative like this and we don't really stop and consider the magnitude of it all.
I mean, everybody on the earth except for Noah and his family are gone. There's nobody else. Noah and his family alone are spared. So Noah comes to sacrifice to the Lord to renew the public expression of the worship of God, but as well this thankfulness to God for his preservation.
And then certainly sacrifice in the Old Covenant ought to be seen as typical of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice the promise of the Lord. Again, this whole idea of anthropomorphism that's so frequently used in Genesis at least 6, 7, and 8, we really ought to be in tune with it. We ought not to be shaken when that sort of convention is used.
I mean, it's just employed over and over and over again. in the narrative here, then the Lord saw, then God remembered. Well, obviously, God always sees, God always knows, so these are anthropomorphism or popathism, and here we have that. Notice verse 21, and the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. The word is actually a resting aroma, relative to Noah, which means rest or comfort.
What Noah's offering up here is something like Noah in the nostrils of God. That idea that something was soothing aroma. Listen to Calvin here. He says, yet nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that God should have been appeased by the filthy smoke of entrails and of flesh.
But Moses here, according to his manner, invests God with a human character for the purpose of accommodating himself to the capacity of ignorant people. It's a beautiful way to understand this language. This is a beautiful way to understand anthropomorphism or anthropopathism. It's God's making something simple for his people.
God doesn't smell. He doesn't have a nose. He doesn't get some sort of a pleasure off of filthy entrails and the smoke of entrails and of flesh. It's the language of approval.
God approves of what Noah is doing. God is using another anthropomorphic sort of statement. He's happy with Noah at this particular time. That's what the language is designed to convey and it uses language in the manner of man to communicate to us those things that are true of God.
It is for the purpose of accommodating himself to the capacity of ignorant people." Now, I would suppose, at least in our day, people would take offense to being called ignorant by Calvin. You get the point. In comparison to God, we're all ignorant. In comparison to God, we're all childlike.
In comparison to God, we need to be lisped to by God in order for us to understand. That's what Calvin means here.
God's Promise: No Second Flood
Now, note the Lord's promise in verses 21 and 22. Verse 21, the Lord smelled a soothing aroma, then the Lord said in his heart. Go back for just a moment to chapter 6 at verse 6. It says, and the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.
So this idea of God's grief in the heart at the condition seen in Genesis chapter 6, and here in Genesis chapter 8, then the Lord said, in his heart. So we move from one place in terms of God, the revelation of God's displeasure with sin and sinners, and here the revelation of God's musing on the condition post-flood. And then it says, God said this in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Now, it's an intriguing thing.
It says, he would never again curse the ground for man's sake. Genesis 3.17, God cursed the ground when Adam fell into transgression. I don't think that means, or this verse means, that that curse is being lifted but the specific curse further explained at the end of verse 21. Nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
That's what's in view when it says I will never again curse the ground for man's sake. It doesn't mean All that was meant by Genesis 3.17 is going to be reversed, and there's never going to be a thorn or thistle, there's never going to be sweat on your brow, there's never going to be harm. That's not it at all. The specifics of this curse that will not be duplicated is that he will destroy every living thing as he had done in this worldwide flood on this particular generation.
But notice, we might ask the question, why? Look at sort of right in the middle of this statement in verse 21. I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Go back to Genesis chapter 6. Verse 5, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
There, the statement of man's depravity is the reason for or the rationale behind God sending the flood. Here in chapter 8 at verse 21, it's almost as if it's the rationale for God not sending another flood. So how do we square that? Well, I think this ought to suffice.
If it is the case that man continues unabated in his sinfulness, then God would be required to send a flood each and every day. In other words, something that's true after the flood is that man still has a sin problem. And it may be pointing us forward to the reality that there's only one champion that will ultimately deal with the sin problem, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The floodwaters didn't eradicate the problem of sin in the human condition.
And so if God does not purpose in his heart, If God does not stop or cease or desist from sending floodwaters upon man whose wickedness is there from his youth, then life will only be defined by constant floods to purge the earth of wicked sinners. John Gill says, so that if God was to curse and drown the world as often as man sins, he must be continually doing it. In other words, God does send this flood in this generation. After the flood, he says that the problem of man continues unabated, but I have purpose not to send floods again and again and again and again.
John Calvin says, here it behooves us more deeply to consider His design. For it was the will of God that there should be some society of men to inhabit the earth. If, however, they were to be dealt with according to their deserts, there would be a necessity for a daily deluge. So, on the one hand, Genesis 6, it's the reason, the rationale behind the coming of the floodwaters.
Genesis chapter 8, it is the reason, the rationale for the cessation, at least indirectly, of the floodwaters. Because man's sin is such that God would continually have to pour out a deluge each and every day to deal with it. And again, I think there's a hint for us or it's pointing us forward to every particular instance in the Old Testament dealing with the sin problem ultimately should cause us to reflect on the glory of Jesus Christ, not the floodwaters that is going to deal with sin. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that's going to deal with sin.
And then
Noahic Covenant and Common Grace
note, finally, the Lord promises a stable environment. This is going to be opened up in detail in Genesis chapter 9. You've heard me probably say it before, I will say it again. The Noahic Covenant is a common grace covenant.
It's God's promise. to maintain the earth as a stable environment for the proclamation of special grace. So it's not necessarily a redemptive covenant, but it serves the redemptive purposes of God by creating the context in which Mankind lives and breathes and moves and has His being and Jesus Christ ultimately comes to the sons of men and He lives and He moves and He breathes and He has His death and His resurrection to redeem His people from their sin. So it's a common grace covenant that will be more expounded or rather explained in Genesis chapter 9, but the sort of framework is set forth in verse 22. while the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." This sort of amplifies what he means when he says, "...nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done." This does not preclude localized floods. This does not preclude locust plagues.
This does not preclude various challenges that men face in farming, or in heating, or in getting cool. It doesn't preclude that. The idea is that God will establish a common grace order vis-a-vis the Noahic Covenant for the operation of mankind until the fullness of the time comes when Jesus comes to save his people from their sins. Actually, the Noahic Covenant continues to the very end.
It doesn't cease at the coming of Jesus Christ. I mean, the sun rises today because of Genesis 8. The rain falls today because of Genesis 8. You can plan on taking out your winter clothes earlier this year than it was last year, I think, because of Genesis chapter 8.
You can probably plan on, hopefully, May or June, wearing shorts again because of Genesis chapter 8. that this is God's establishment of a stable order so that His plan of redemption can be carried out. As I said, Genesis chapter 9 will flesh it out in more detail on how things are supposed to function in civil society with reference to this common grace order.
Application
Well, in conclusion, in this whole narrative thus far, we ought to see the judgment of God. Genesis chapter 8 is a positive statement. It's a wonderfully positive thing. The cover is thrown off, the doors are opened, the family runs out. the animals run out, they don't drown, there's not water, they get to engage in seeing the sunshine and all those blessings and benefits.
But we cannot forget what took place in terms of Genesis chapter 7. And I would imagine that Noah doesn't forget that either. because Noah builds an altar to the Lord, and he praises God, and he thanks God, and he worships God for God's preservation. So the judgment of God. Secondly, the grace of God.
That statement in Genesis chapter 6, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, it's fleshed out here. It's fleshed out in the preservation of Noah. It's fleshed out in the fact that he has come into this new world. I don't mean that in the George Bush sort of sense.
I just mean in the new world order of things. Please don't say Butler's advocating. I'm not. It was.
It was a new world order. That's really what it was. Before that was a, you know, diabolically charged phrase. It actually meant something and it certainly means something here.
And then finally, the Noahic covenant was a covenant of common grace that establishes the stability necessary for the preaching of redemptive grace. So in terms of God's covenant with We see that covenant of grace, we see it first revealed in the promise in the garden in Genesis 3.15. It's moved along in farther steps until the final realization and discovery of it in the New Testament with our Lord Jesus. But there are these historical covenants made with persons in the Old Testament.
One was with Noah, and it's not so much the covenant of grace. but it does undergird or serve the covenant of grace in terms of providing a stable order. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and neat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease. That's the promise of God. The covenant sign as we move into Genesis chapter 9 is that rainbow.
When we see it, we're to thank God's faithfulness. Well, let's close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for what You tell us concerning sin and concerning Your great grace. We thank You for that grace in our own lives and in our own hearts. Help us, God, to rejoice in You, to present our bodies as living sacrifices.
We know that's our reasonable, our rational service unto You for Your having saved us. We also pray, God, that You would help us to see the great judgment of God, that is on the horizon for all those who do not repent and all those who do not believe. May you give us compassion. May you move our hearts to consider the plight of men in our generation.
And may you give us opportunity to speak the truth of the gospel in love to people that are on their way to hell. Help us, Father, in this. Help us to set forth the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, your Son. And we ask this in his most blessed name.
Amen.