“The Promise In Peril”
Text: Genesis 9:8-17
12-7-2022
In the name of Him who fulfills all God’s promises, dear friends in Christ. Last week we began looking at God’s most precious promise of a Savior. And naturally, the logical place to begin was with the origin of the promise. That took us back to mankind’s fall into sin. But rather than destroy the people He loved and created; God set into motion His eternal plan of salvation. He promised that a Savior would be born from the offspring of Adam and Eve. However, not immediately. It would take thousands of years before that promise was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.
Along the way, over the centuries, it was not smooth sailing. In a sense, the Old Testament reads like a novel filled with drama. And the underlying tension as history unfolded was: Will the promise of the Savior be snuffed out or lost? Will it survive? With the benefit of hindsight, we can easily say, “Oh, most definitely the promise would be carried on and ultimately fulfilled. After all, God was in control and nothing can stop Him!” While that’s a true statement, if you were reading the story of Noah for the first time and didn’t know the ending, you might not be so sure. By the looks of things, the promised seed of the Savior appears to be in peril and very near to extinction. With that in mind, lets reviews what happened and its importance for our Advent faith-journey.
Beginning in Genesis 6, we are informed that the infection of sin, which was passed on from Adam and Eve, had continued to spread and get worse. Verse 5 tells us that, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” And so, in order to stop the ever-increasing violence and decadence, God determined to wipe out sinful mankind with a flood. That would also mean an end to the bloodline of the promised Savior. Thankfully, though, verse 8 quickly adds, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” Let’s pause for a second and clear up any possible misconception. That verse is NOT saying that Noah was sinless. Rather, like the Virgin Mary, he “found favor” with the Lord because he had faith and trusted in God’s promises. His family had evidently been inculcated with faith too. Sadly, that put them in sharp contrast with the rest of mankind, which had fallen into all kinds of wickedness, and their lack of faith was the cause of it.
So in chapter 6 verse 18, God tells Noah that the covenant of sending a Savior would now be established with him and continued on through his family. Imagine that! The survival of the human race, and more importantly the continuation of God’s promise, was narrowed down to only 8 souls. And to add even more drama to this scene, they would have to endure a treacherous flood that was about to kill every other living thing on the face of the earth. It certainly appeared that the promise was in peril. So God gave them directions for building an ark that would preserve their lives. But what if the ark sprung a leak and sunk? Not possible because God was there protecting them and the promise that they were carrying within them.
I think you know the rest of the story. Noah and his family got on the ark along with the pairs of animals that God instructed them to take in order to preserve the wildlife that would repopulate the earth after the flood. It’s significant that after they were all inside, it was the Lord Himself who shut them in. (7:16) In other words, God was personally making sure they were safe and secure because that ark housed the precious cargo of the Savior’s seed.
It rained for 40 days and 40 nights until the whole earth was covered with water. All Noah and his family could do was wait inside that ark and trust in the Lord’s providence. Fast-forward to when the rains ceased and the waters finally receded. At the beginning of chapter 9 as Noah’s family exited the ark God gave them a command that was identical to the one given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth again. Why? So that the promised seed could be carried on. That’s where our text for tonight picks up the story. God restates His covenant and adds the sign of a rainbow for the world to see. That rainbow wasn’t just a guarantee that the Lord wouldn’t destroy the earth again with a flood. It was also a visible reminder of God’s grace, and especially His grace found in the promise of a Savior, which would never face extinction. The same dark sky that had flashed with the lightening of God’s wrath due to the world’s rampant sin was now filled with a bright symbol of His mercy and love.
St. Peter makes it clear in our epistle lesson that this episode is an illustration of what God does now with that same seed of the salvation promise. Like the world in Noah’s day, we are all born wicked and evil. We have no faith or trust in God. We are separated from the Lord’s promises because of our sinful condition. By all rights, we should be destroyed by God’s wrath. But the Lord shows us mercy. In Baptism, He grants us faith and brings us into His ark of the Church where we are safe and secure from destruction. The wickedness of our sinful nature is drowned in that flood. And then, the Lord reestablishes His covenant of promise with us.
There is a church in Leipzig, Germany that has this beautiful scene of the rainbow painted on the ceiling. It’s a reminder of our connection to God’s promise in Baptism. Even though there isn’t a rainbow for us to look at each week when we enter this sanctuary, the Baptismal font stands as a visible reminder of God’s covenant with us. Each and every time we sin, we place that promise of salvation in peril. And yet, God in His mercy offers us His cleansing forgiveness as we confess our sins. The promise lives on and cannot be snuffed out.
In our Gospel for tonight, Jesus reminds us that we continue to live in a sinfully perverse world that is destined for destruction. People today are still wicked and unaware of the destruction that lies ahead when Judgment Day comes. But those of us who believe and trust in God’s promised Savior are ready for His return. As we continue our Advent journey, we are reminded of how God preserved His promise through faithful Noah. St. Luke lists him in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. So perhaps we should include a rainbow in our nativity scenes, hovering over the manger. It would be quite symbolic of God’s covenant that He made and protected throughout history and finally fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. And by it, we are reminded that the Lord continues to preserve His covenant of salvation within us. His promises are true. In that tiny baby born in Bethlehem, God brought us the Savior that He had promised so long ago. In Him we have been saved from the destruction of God’s wrath. By faith, we cling to that promise and joyfully prepare for His second Advent when He returns on the Last Day. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!