Genesis 8v6-22
At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out.
Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh–birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth– that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (ESV)
Consider the following:
- The Missionary of God
Noah was exactly where God wanted him – where He put him. God is still continuing with His plan of redemption, still feels exactly the same about humanity and still has His missionaries. You would have thought that humanity has learnt its lesson after what happened during the Flood which destroyed all the people outside the ark because of what they insisted doing and what they refused to do. He destroyed all of them and now wants to fill the earth with His people and His glory.
It’s now 2023 and we’re living in times like in the days of Noah – listening to what people, e.g. politicians are saying about God and the Church.
We see that Noah:
a) was there by God’s means – not his own idea or design. God gives us His mercy in His Law and the means to live – like Calvary where we saw His Gospel means.
b) was in God’s moment – like just at the right time Christ died for sinners.
c) saw God’s mercy (v13).
- The Mission of God
a) God’s Call – by God’s Word expressing God’s Will – His place, people, provision and purpose.
b) Noah’s Compliance – his obedience (went out of the ark at God’s command) and offering (built and altar and sacrificed some of the clean animals and birds to the LORD).
c) God’s Covenant of Mercy – in His holiness God smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart that He would never again curse the ground – in our helplessness, the intension of our hearts being evil from our youth – in His help, not destroying the earth again with a flood and sustaining life, even in a post-flood world.
We have a covenant keeping God. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. He alone can destroy this planet, but we as humans also have a responsibility to look after the earth. We praise God for His mercy in His covenant with Noah and the New Covenant, even though He has the right to strike us down.