Episode 255 - God's covenant with all living things - Genesis 9:8-17

Gen. 9:8 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.”

Many Bible scholars hold that the first covenant God made was with Adam. In Genesis 2:15-17 the LORD commanded the man to take care of the garden and enjoy it. However, the one prohibitive command to not eat from the one tree was the stipulation to continue receiving these blessings the LORD had provided. Disobedience would lead to certain death. The only problem with understanding this instruction as a covenant is that nowhere is it called a covenant. It has characteristics of a covenant. So, it may be a covenant. However, I cannot imagine why the LORD didn’t call it a covenant or why Moses didn’t explain that it was a covenant. Whether it is or isn’t, the covenant that God makes with Noah and all living creatures is the first time it’s recorded in the Bible that what God is promising is, in fact, a covenant.

A covenant is commonly defined in our language today as a solemn promise that may be conditional or unconditional. Some covenants offer promises to the recipients if they keep their part of the deal. That’s a conditional covenant. On other occasions, God makes an absolute covenant promise regardless of how the people respond. If God’s words to Adam in Genesis 2 constitute a covenant, then the covenant is conditioned upon Adam’s obedience to God’s command. What God promises Noah and his sons in this text, however, is an unconditional covenant. This fact alone is a significant thing to consider in our study today because it provides important truth about the character of the LORD.

First, notice that God included Noah’s sons in his audience. He didn’t just speak to Noah. I don’t recall the LORD including Noah’s sons in his message concerning the flood and the building of the ark. It was upon Noah to share God’s message and for Noah’s sons to follow him by faith. One can only imagine what that must have been like for Noah’s sons. “God’s going to do what?” “Water is going to come down from the heavens?” “You’re going to build a large boat and we are going to live on it with a bunch of animals?” I would think they believed their dad was a bit crazy. However, concerning this covenant promise, they each hear the same message. It seems to me that God is drawing them into a closer relationship, wanting to mitigate any fears that the God who brought about the flood might do it all again each time it started raining. It’s God’s way of helping them understand that he will not get angry and resort to annihilation at the drop of a hat. There are people today who live under this kind of fear that God is just looking for an excuse to smack them down. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

What’s more, is that God explained to Noah and his sons that this covenant promise extends to all living creatures. It reveals that God values animals to the extent that he makes an unconditional covenant promise to the animals and birds as well as to all humanity. What’s the promise? “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.” (Gen 9:11)

The text continues to explain that God’s sign of this covenant is the rainbow. I love rainbows. Whenever it rains, and the sun comes out, I often run or look outside to see if there’s a rainbow. They’re beautiful! It’s something visible that many people can see from different locations. Think about it. God made a sign for his covenant that he knew would bring joy and pleasure to look at and could be viewed by many at once. What a gift and encouraging message from the LORD. All these generations later, we get to enjoy its beauty and rest in its promise.

But the sign of the covenant is not just for us. Notice in verse 16 that God also sees it and remembers the “everlasting covenant” he has made with all living beings. I like to think about that. God doesn’t forget anything. I don’t think he has to be reminded that he made this covenant. When God “remembers” something, it’s that his promise is before him, and he acts in accordance with that promise. It’s like he’s saying, “When I see the rainbow, I will fulfill the promise I made in accordance with that sign. You can rely on it.” It communicates that God is trustworthy.

The rainbow is just one little sign of the LORD’s care for all living things, of his peace, beauty, and trustworthiness. Reflect on that this week.

Episode 233 - "Did God say . . ." - Genesis 3:1-3

Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

The first few chapters of Genesis are essential to understanding the Bible as a whole, and the third chapter of Genesis is no exception. What happens in Genesis 3 is the crisis or conflict for the greater story of God creating the world, designing humanity in his image, and giving them dignity and responsibility of being the stewards of God’s creation.

We recall that Adam named the animals. He exercised his God-given authority over the other creatures by naming them. So far, everything has gone according to what God has said. But every story has some type of crisis or conflict from which the plot develops, and a resolution is pursued. The crisis in God’s story through the Bible is revealed in this chapter. I believe that we are still experiencing this crisis today, but the resolution has been revealed, and we are waiting for the culmination of that resolution.

This third chapter opens by saying, “The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field” (Gen 3:1). The serpent then speaks in the following verse. For those of us, living in today’s age, this would obviously cause us to suspect the genre to be fantasy and that this is fiction. Who could possibly assess the serpent’s craftiness, and when has anyone run into a talking snake? But if we believe this is God’s story in which we play a part, let’s take this at face value and see if we can identify with what is going on.

The statement that the serpent was more crafty than any other beast suggests that the serpent was going to cause trouble. I believe that is its purpose in the narrative. It should heighten our sense of an imminent problem.

If you recall, God gave the command to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 to eat freely of every tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the unfolding of the narrative, the woman was not even created when the command was given. Yet, the serpent goes to her directly to ask what God said. Why doesn’t the serpent go to the man who has authority over him to ask what God said? If I’m not mistaken, the implied purpose is to test whether the message had been communicated to her. Based on the information that this creature is more crafty than the others, the serpent’s intent is not to discover God’s message but to confuse and contradict it.

This is evident in the first words it speaks, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen 2:1b) The serpent acts as though it knows what God has said, but is unsure of the details. Personally, I think it knew exactly what God said. Why? Because the first chapter of the Bible vividly describes God as one who expresses and makes known his will. If God is God, he could have thought creation into existence. But instead, he spoke creation into existence. This creator God clearly reveals his will. This fact alone distinguishes the LORD from other gods of the various people groups we read about in the Bible who worship gods represented by inanimate objects. They don’t speak. He also communicated with his people letting the man know that he could freely eat from every tree but the one tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God even communicated what would happen if the man disobeyed God’s one prohibition. I think we are supposed to understand that all the creatures heard God’s word and that in the harmony of all creation, everything understood God’s expressed word.

The craftiness of the serpent becomes more apparent in this question. Instead of repeating specifically what God said, the serpent turned God’s words 180 degrees. In doing so, the serpent indirectly challenges God’s goodness. It is using a question rhetorically to insinuate that God is cruel by putting them in such a wonderful place and not allowing them to enjoy it.

Eve correctly responded with what God said and the consequences with one little addition. She adds, “neither shall you touch it.” (Gen 3:3) Personally, I think this is supposed to get our attention. I think the reader is supposed to cry out at least in their thoughts, “No! God didn’t say that.”

Well, there’s more to this conversation. But I want to pause here to focus on a few things we should learn and even internalize.

First, God is good and desires good for his creatures. In a world in which there is a lot of trouble, we need to be guarded against the temptations to think otherwise.

Second, we should endeavor to know God’s word because it’s through obeying God’s word that we have life. When we get to the New Testament, we discover that Jesus is God’s Word. He is the most clear revelation of who God is. He has promised eternal life to those who believe in him.

Episode 226 - "And God saw that it was good" - Genesis 1:6-23

Gen. 1:6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Gen. 1:9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Gen. 1:11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Gen. 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

Gen. 1:20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

This may be the longest section of Scripture I’ve handled on one blog and podcast session. It’s not that we couldn’t say a lot about each day of Creation. But my intent is to not miss the forest for looking so closely at the trees.

In our last episode, we addressed how, in good story fashion, God resolved the problem of darkness over the formless and void earth. God spoke light into existence. This pattern continues through each event of Creation. God’s word has power.

As I read this section, did you notice that according to this story, God created light givers after He created light? Interesting. In fact, according to this story, it’s not until the fourth day that God created the Sun, Moon, and the stars. Some scholars have pointed out that the story is told to emphasize God creating the spheres of Creation: the heavens, the dry land, and the waters in the first three days of Creation and then filling each of them on the fourth through the sixth days.

The question I want you to consider is, “What is happening in this story that is important for us to understand?” One clue is the repetition that occurs throughout this narrative. Did you notice the repetition of the phrase, “And God saw that it was good?”

That tells us something about God’s character, doesn’t it? It reveals that God will not miss a detail and wants this creation to be perfectly suitable for the living things within it.

There is some more repetition. The word “rule” is repeatedly used to describe a function of the greater and lesser lights that rule over day and night, respectively. We will see this term more often very soon. I find it fascinating that God assigns things to rule over other things. It’s an essential theme throughout the Scriptures.

The final observation I want to make of this text concerns God’s action after He created sea creatures and birds. Verse 22 says, “And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’” God didn’t leave this to chance. It was God’s goodwill toward these creatures to multiply and spread throughout the realm of the earth.

My whole point in making these observations is that this story is not something on which people should be splitting hairs over questions like “Was a ‘day’ of God’s creation still twenty-four hours long before the fourth day when God created the Sun and the Moon?” The point of this text is to tell the original audience and later to us about this awesome Creator God.

The story is not over yet. If you haven’t noticed, the description for each day of Creation is getting longer with each day. The effect of this is to anticipate something big is still coming. We’ll get to that next week. But for now, focus on the awesomeness and goodness of the Creator God described in this first chapter of the Bible.

Episode 225 - "God said, 'Let there be light!' - Genesis 1:3-5

Gen. 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Before I begin engaging the text of this first day of Creation, I’d like to make a few things clear. First, the Bible is not a science book. Secondly, the scope of science is limited to the natural world. Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God because God is supernatural. My goal is not to attack or begin to address scientific arguments about the beginning of life. I believe there is a Creator God, and I believe the Creator God described within the Bible is God. What follows then is a somewhat limited interaction with the story of Creation and the beginning of the story of God, which, I hold, extends throughout the Scriptures within the Bible. Not only do secular scientists mostly disagree with Creationists and Intelligent Design advocates, but even Christian scholars have different views about how one interprets these early chapters of Genesis. My desire is simply to share with you observations about what is happening in this story and its significance.

We left off last week with the earth formless, void, and dark. Who would want to live on that earth? It’s the crisis in the story that we want and expect to be resolved. Furthermore, we read that the Spirit of God was “hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:2). That statement creates an excitement or expectation that something is about to happen.

In verse 3, something happens. What? God spoke. God said, “Let there be light.” What follows God’s command is what appears to be an immediate fulfillment of that command. Light came into existence. With nothing but expressed will, God created light. What’s the point? God is powerful. Furthermore, God has a mind and is not just a force in the universe. God can and does express His will and has the power to cause whatever He wills.

In verse 4, God does two more things. First, God “saw that the light was good” (v. 4a). We can draw a few things from this statement. One is that the light was complete- it was just the way God wanted it. God didn’t need to practice making light. This statement begs the question, “Good for what?” Did God need to create light? Was God incomplete before He created light? I don’t think so. I think this suggests that God saw or made sure that light was good for the earth and for the living things that He would put on the earth. In other words, this should give us a sense that God wants good things for His creatures and has the power to make it happen perfectly. I find that encouraging.

In verse 4, God also judges what is good and what isn’t good. God separated the light from the darkness. The author has told us that God saw that the light was good. Yet God separates the light from the darkness. Why? It’s God’s judgment that darkness is not good. We are not given any more details concerning that. But as we read through the Scriptures, we find that light and darkness are often used symbolically for good and evil or knowledge and ignorance. At the end of the Scriptures, the eternal scene of God’s realm is continuous light.

Finally, in verse 5, God names the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Thus, the first day of Creation is complete. The importance of this verse is God’s authority over light and darkness. At the end of God’s creative work, He will give humans the authority to name the animals.

So, what is the story revealing to us? God is powerful, thoughtful, and good and has the authority to determine what is good and what is not good. The story informs us about God’s character, doesn’t it? These truths about God’s character are essential for the people we will read about in the Bible and important in our walk of faith.

If an aspect of God in this text stands out to you, give God thanks for that, and pray that God impresses these truths upon your heart.