Life After the Flood
Posted on August 5, 2007
Genesis 8-9
ONE GREAT TRUTH: In spite of all of the gracious provisions of God, man still sins and still stands in need of God’s grace for forgiveness and newness of life.
We are witnessing the passing of two former “dispensations” (innocence under Adam, conscience from Cain to Noah). Now we see the beginning of the dispensation of government. The question in every dispensation is, will this new provision of God be enough for man to completely choose God and forsake sinfulness? And each dispensational failure provides more mounting evidence that “the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint.” We fail, we falter, no matter the conditions God provides.
I. God Remembers His People. (8:1-22)
A. First, God rescues His people. The waters relented and returned to their banks and boundaries and aquifers. Then Noah removes the covering of the ark and his family sees the renewed creation.
B. Second, God communes with His people. He speaks to them about life after the flood and there is worship. Noah sacrifices an animal to God and this worship/sacrifical system is restored once again as the basis for communion between God and His people.
II. God Establishes Government. (9:1-6)
A. Man would continue to govern the earth, having dominion over the animal kingdom.
B. Man would also govern one another. The death penalty was committed to the hands of God-ordained human authority and it continues to the present (Romans 13:1-7).
III. God Issues Promises. (9:7-19)
God’s promise never again to destroy the earth by water is signified in the physical attribute of a raindrop. A rainbow can be seen in every cloud if sunlight passes through it and we see it at just the right angle. There are no pots of gold at the end, but there is a promise that God will never again completely destroy the earth with water.
IV. Man Fails Again.
Noah began to be drunken, he uncovered himself purposely in his tent and defiled his son. His son shamed his father and mocked his nakedness. Noah’s words were observations about the directions his sons were taken. They were not binding upon God. God did seem to honor them, in part, but the major thrust of this passage deals with Noah’s defiling of himself, his family, and the race to come by taking a naturally occurring, God-given fruit and fermenting its juice to be intoxicating.
No matter what God’s gracious provisions may include, man always fails and is always in need of a Savior! Thankfully, for all people, in all ages, He has given His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!
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