God’s First Unconditional Covenant

Do you remember as a kid ever making a promise by crossing your heart, a pinky swear, or swearing to God? By nature, we look for assurances and guarantees and we learn this early in life. As we grow older, however, we realize that we live in a world of broken promises and unfaithfulness. There’s cheating in business, in politics, in marriage, people forsaking their vows. We see unfaithfulness in the Christian realm as well - unfaithfulness to God, to His Word, His teaching, and to His family. Even when we have good intentions, we break our promises to people and people break their promises to us. This reality stands in stark contrast to God when He makes a promise. He is absolutely faithful, His Word is sure, and He has and will always keep every one of His promises.

We are continuing our series in the book of Genesis and are looking at Noah and his family after the flood. The world has changed, humankind's relationship with God, with each other, and creation itself has changed. Yet God hasn’t changed. Noah and his family were beginning a new life and were uncertain about what the future held for them. But we know that the same God who saved Noah and his family through the worldwide flood will be faithful to take care of them in this brand new chapter of their lives. As Spurgeon said:

How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold One who is faithful—faithful in all things, faithful at all times.”

Let’s turn to Genesis 9

Genesis 9:1-17 (ESV)

9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 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.

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

7 And you,[a] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

In order for life to continue in this new world, God commissions Noah to:

? Reproduce life

? Provide for life

? Protect life

? Preserve life

1. Reproduce Life

God commissioned Noah and his sons to repopulate the “new” earth just like He had commanded Adam and Eve to populate the earth at the beginning of creation. God, knowing all the heartache, sorrow, and evil that sin would bring on this earth, could have said, “enough of this, I’m done with you” and just wiped out everyone and everything. But we know that He didn’t do this. He had made man and woman in His image and still had a plan to display that image throughout the earth.