The horror of judgment followed by the promise of grace

September 24, 2024 • Series: The Story of Redemption

The Noahic Covenant is a pause in God’s judgment, a promise of preservation that sets the stage for the continuation of his redemptive story.

Despite what we may have learned from children’s books, the flood in Noah’s day was not a gentle spring shower. It was the fierce outpouring of God’s wrath against a world rotting from within. Genesis paints the picture with chilling clarity. “The earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence” (Ge 6:11).

Humanity had reached the zenith of its rebellion, and God’s righteous anger came crashing down in waves that wiped the slate clean. For forty days, the heavens opened, and the earth broke apart, unleashing a deluge that drowned every last vestige of human arrogance. There’s a tendency to sanitize the story, to make it about animals marching two by two, but the flood was God’s judgment in its most violent form. The wages of sin, after all, is death (Ro 6:23).

Yet, when the waters finally recede, and Noah steps off the ark, it’s not to a world of devastation but to the surprising sound of mercy. You might expect God to lay down the law, enforcing cosmic probation on humanity after such rampant sin. Clearly, the flood was more than a warning shot across the bow. It was the righteous fury of a holy God against unrepentant sin. Instead, God does the unexpected. He makes a covenant, not just with Noah, but with all of creation. It’s a promise pointing to God’s grace and unshakeable commitment to his redemptive plan, even when humanity’s heart remains as stubborn as ever.

Picture Noah standing ankle-deep in the mud of a newly washed world, the air still thick with the weight of what has just transpired. God speaks into this moment, declaring, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth” (Ge 9:9, 10). This is a universal pledge, a divine commitment that spans all creation.

But God doesn’t stop at promises. He acknowledges the elephant in the room—humanity’s incorrigible sinfulness. “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” he affirms (Ge 8:21). The flood didn’t wash away the stain of sin, but God, in his unfathomable patience, vows never again to destroy the earth with water. So, the covenant isn’t a reward for Noah’s righteousness. It’s an act of unmerited grace, a divine assurance that God’s redemptive purposes will not be derailed despite the twisted state of human hearts.

To seal this covenant, God sets a sign in the sky—a rainbow, arching like a bridge between heaven and earth (Genesis 9:12, 13). But this isn’t just any rainbow. It is God’s bow, an ancient symbol of war now pointed away from the earth. It’s as if God has hung up his weapon of judgment, choosing instead to bear with sinful humanity for the sake of his more excellent plan. Every time rain clouds gather, the rainbow is a visible reminder that God’s mercy restrains his judgment, holding back the waters even when the world seems determined to repeat its mistakes.

The Noahic Covenant is a pause in God’s judgment, a promise of preservation that sets the stage for the continuation of his redemptive story. The flood may have cleansed the earth but didn’t change the human heart. Instead, it points to the need for a better covenant and a greater Savior than a boat made of gopher wood. This covenant does more than preserve life. It creates the necessary space for the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to step into history and fulfill the promise made back in Eden—to crush the head of the serpent and bring about a final and complete redemption (Genesis 3:15).

The Noahic Covenant is a divine commitment to hold back the waters of judgment and let mercy flow forward. It’s a covenant that keeps the story going. God’s promise endures while the world remains broken, and his ultimate victory over sin and death is sure. Until that day, the rainbow stands as a luminous reminder that God’s wrath has been stayed, and grace continues to reign.

The horror of judgment followed by the promise of grace

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