The Covenant with Noah
Read: Genesis 6-9:17
Noah and the Ark is one of the more popular Bible stories. I know I heard it more than once as a child growing up in church. It’s always a good one for the felt boards and coloring pages. And don’t forget the animal cracker snacks that really bring the whole thing together.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I like animal crackers as much as the next person, especially the frosted ones. However, I feel these efforts have lessened the gravity of what is actually happening in this story. As adults reading about Noah and the Ark, we need to experience the story anew.
Let’s start by considering Francis Danby’s The Deluge. This piece of artwork is not an easy picture to view. Take some time to really observe what is going on in the painting, and then come back here for more of the story.
The website I chose briefly described Danby’s painting below the picture, highlighting the main points quite well if you wish to read them. I would add a few other thoughts of my own.
The colors in this painting stand out to me—the dark blues, shades of grey, and black make this painting feel heavy. The lighter colors serve to highlight the people drowning in the water. The forefront of the picture holds violent waves showing people being swept away, hitting rocks, and smashing into trees. The sky is filled with heavy clouds pouring down water. A blood red sun peaks over the horizon in the back left corner, bringing to mind the sailor’s warning. None of these colors or images are encouraging or hope-filled. This is an image of intense despair and loss.
We need to feel the horror that the painting evokes. It may help us understand the following verses a little better even:
“When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. Then the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.’” (Gen. 6:5-7)
The human condition has not improved since the fall. If anything, it has only gotten worse. Twice in these verses, God says that he regrets making mankind. I like how Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum talk about God’s regret in their book Kingdom through Covenant: “God’s regret means action must be taken, not that a great cosmic mistake has been made” (180). What action does God take? He sends the flood, and in effect, begins a re-creation story.
Noah has found favor with God (Gen. 6:8). We learn in other verses that to find favor with God you must learn God’s ways and come to know Him (Ex. 33:13), you must walk with God and obey His commands(Gen. 5:22, 6:22, 7:5), and you must have faith because without it, “it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Noah was declared righteous before God because of his faith in God, and it was because of his faith that Noah and his family were preserved through the flood.
God tells Noah, “‘Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you…’” (Gen. 6:17b-18a). This wording is significant because it shows God initiating a promise to humanity that will ultimately preserve creation and allow for the eventual fulfillment of His covenant of grace in Christ. But I’m getting ahead of myself now.
Let’s go back for a moment to Danby’s The Deluge. This time, focus on the background of the painting. In the center of the background, you see a shaft of light shining down on calm water, and if you look through the v of the rock in the foreground, you will see the ark drifting on the quiet water. It is the only tranquil part of the whole work.
By contrasting the ark's small moment of stillness with the raging waters and dying people in the foreground, we can see just what it can mean for God to take action when He “regrets” something.
The creation that God had once declared “very good” (Gen. 1:31), now had to be remade because the sinful inclinations of the human heart and mind were “nothing but evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5b). Try to imagine with me how much this must have pained God. The very ones He had created to be His image-bearers had so harmed themselves and creation that they could not be allowed to live any longer. They had betrayed God, their Creator, to whom they owed everything.
Except for Noah. Noah found favor with God. Noah was righteous and blameless. Please keep in mind that blameless does not mean sinless, but rather it describes a person who has turned from their sin and sought God’s mercy (Piper, “God’s Covenant with Noah”). Being described as righteous and blameless simply means that Noah was a man who trusted God, a rarity in his time.
Thus, it is with Noah that God institutes the first administration (or application, if you will) of the covenant of grace. In the Noahic covenant, we see a progression beginning that will ultimately lead us to Christ. Joanna Kimbrel writes in the Daily Grace Co. study Faithful, “…God promises to preserve humankind, from which will come the promised Messiah, thus protecting the promised seed.” The promised seed is the offspring of the woman promised back in Genesis 3:15. The seed, or offspring, will come through the line of Noah (and forward through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Judah, and David, until Christ is born a human baby). By preserving Noah and his family, God preserved his promise to humanity of a Savior.
Following the flood is a time of re-creation. Noah and his family are given similar blessings and mandates (Gen. 9:1-7) as Adam and Eve were earlier (Gen. 1:26-28): God tells them to be fruitful and multiply, places creation under their authority, and provides food for them. Additionally, God promises to never destroy creation in such a manner again: “When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done’” (Gen 8:21). He promises to preserve creation and keep his covenant with the day and the night (Jer. 33:20, 25).
The covenant with Noah is also called a covenant of preservation because God promises to preserve creation. We are left to ask—for what purpose? Why does God promise to never flood the earth again? We can find the answer in 2 Peter: “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance” (3:9). God’s covenant with Noah lays the next layer on the foundation of the covenant of grace. This layer preserves creation until such a time as God’s Messiah comes to redeem sinners and to bring the new creation to fulfillment. In Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Thomas Schreiner writes, “The covenant doesn’t promise universal salvation, but it does guarantee universal preservation.” Salvation must come through Jesus, but that will only be possible if creation continues until He comes.
The covenant with Noah now sets the stage for God's next covenant with humanity, the covenant with Abraham.
Author’s Note:
Please realize that the resource list is a work in progress, and not all the sources listed are ones that I necessarily used or heavily considered in the development of this series. I also realize that a variety of schools of thought may be represented. I am not intentionally promoting one theological system over another. I also recognize that there are multiple approaches to the study of covenants, and I am not here to promote one over another. My goal is to present a basic understanding of the various covenants and how they progressively reveal God’s overarching plan of salvation for humanity.
