“A New Covenant in a New Way”

Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17

During Lent, we will be taking a look at how God continues to make new things in him out of the old things that are in us. In Revelation 21:1-6, we read about the new heaven and earth that will replace the old ones. We read about the new Jerusalem that will come down from heaven. We read “And the One who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’”

Almighty God not only brings about the newness of this existence, but he is the Newness that we experience in this life. And since he is the author of all that is, it is his to do with as he knows best. As we begin our text for today, the waters of the great Flood have receded, but life as Noah and his family had known it had completely changed. I have little doubt that these 8 remaining people were beginning to have major concerns about their chances for any continuation of life.
But the Lord proclaims that this will be the one and only time that he will destroy all life on the planet through water, and tells these few survivors – “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:22) He is reassuring humanity that not only will life continue, but it will continue in a way that is as old as creation itself.

But there have been some changes. Before the Flood, rain had yet to water the earth, or at least we have no evidence in scripture that it had existed, but now it would become a routine event. Before the Flood, veganism was the norm, but now, all food would be acceptable. Before the Flood, the lifespan of humanity, and possibly of all animals, was excessive – Noah’s grandfather Methuselah lived 969 years and Noah himself would be 950 at his death, but after the flood, God would limit human life to 120 years.
Some things would continue as before, but other things would change radically. And in the change, God’s newness would reign.

Read Genesis 9:8-11

Covenant was a new concept, too. But then, there was never a need for God’s promise before this. In the Garden, he had a true and full relationship with the Man and the Woman, – an official covenant wasn’t needed then. But the relationship would be broken, not by God, but by the humans, and the world would proceed without either a relationship or a promise for many years.
Now, we read that this new covenant that God offers is for all life, not just humanity. Every creature who survived on the ark would enjoy the promise. And this new covenant establishes a boundary for God – that he will never again cover the entire earth with water as a punishment, that he would never again destroy life in order to start fresh – he would create a new way to make humanity new without ending the life that was before. Forgiveness and redemption would become the way of new relationship between God and the people of earth.
But there would be a problem! Isaiah 43:25 – “I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” God’s forgiveness is so complete that not only does he forget the sin, he forgets the specific forgiveness that is tied to it. The entire episode is erased from the Lord’s memory! Good news for us, but what about his covenant? If God no longer remembers the sin, and if his response to sin is also eliminated, how will he remember that he promised to hold his anger against sin in check? What if he forgets his promise about no more floods that destroy the earth?

Read Genesis 9:12-17

God creates a reminder to help him recall the covenant! The promise is vitally important, the promise is eternal, the promise is unbreakable - it isn’t just with Noah and his family, but with all creatures – human and animal – for all time. It must never be forgotten, and yet, the Lord has put himself in a position that might cause him to forget! And isn’t it interesting that the reminder is set so creation can see it, too?
The rainbow was a new thing. Since rain had never before fallen from the sky, there had never been a means to refract the sunlight, and therefore, no separation of the color components of the white light. From out of the destructive rains that had once brought the Flood waters, God plans to give us a sign of peace.

Ancient civilizations saw the rainbow in a totally different way, though. The “bow” was seen as a divine weapon that fired lightning bolts upon the earth. But does the rainbow’s promise now overshadow its recognized judgment? Or does it now represent a promise of peace that keeps the divine judgment under control? We have to remember that without the storm clouds, and without water droplets in the atmosphere, there can never be a rainbow. The move from divine judgment to divine restraint has been put in place. It has become, as the New Interpreter’s Bible says, “an important sign of God’s ongoing, deep commitment to the life of the creation”

Creation set in motion a Godly plan that would bless every living being in all the earth. Unfortunately, and even though the Lord knew what would transpire, human sin caused a disruption, a break in the plan – one that we could never set right again. If the rift was to be healed, it would be up to God to do it.
We like to think that the Created Order was a once and for all event, but as we can see, humanity keeps breaking it, and God has to keep fixing it. You might think that Almighty God could create us so that we would never go astray, but he knew that if that happened, we would not be the people that he wanted us to be. We were never intended to be robots who had no choice but to do the Divine bidding – he wanted us to be thinking beings who would want to follow in his way, who would choose to follow his way. But we don’t live in his will, we can’t live in his will, and so the Great Plan had to include a way for us to live in him just the same.

Redemption and forgiveness would be that way, but it must always come at a price, and paid with a payment that must be perfect and complete. If we attempt to make restitution, it is never perfect and never complete, so we have to do it over and over again. Israel would come to know that, as sacrifice would become a routine matter, and for most, it would lose much of its focus. The only redemption, the only effective sacrifice to God would have to be made by the Lord himself.

Covenant may look easy on the surface, but the kind that God offers is deep and complete and sure, and we not only struggle to understand it, but we can only strive to truly live within it – we’ll never actually get there! The truth is that it is only be God’s grace that it can work its way within our lives.

To express his covenant in a simplified way, God is offering to exchange our old sinfulness for his new forgiveness instead of forcing his old destruction upon us. So what do we do about it? In the Wesley Covenant Worship Service (c.1780) that we have on New Year’s Eve each year at Campville, we pray this prayer together:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on Earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

In response to the Lord’s covenant with him, Wesley offered one in return, and I believe that John did everything in his power to live every word of it, in every moment of every day.

Can our response to the Lord’s offer of peace be any less?