And God Remembered... (Genesis 8:1)
The Noah story is a horrific tale in which God, the sovereign creator of the earth and all of its the vast species or plant and animals, found His creation ruined by humanity. They had filled the earth with violence. So God decided for a do-over. He would wipe out all life with a great flood. He would start over with Noah and his family, for Noah pleased God. He walked blamelessly before God. God placed Noah and his family and two mating pairs of every kind of animal in the ark "to keep them alive." (Genesis 6:19) God made a covenant with Noah and his family and all the animals with Noah on the ark. It's the first time a covenant is made with non-humans.
I've always loved the fact that God make a binding contract with the animals on the ark, along with Noah and his family who serve as caretakers for the animals. In that little detail I see a vocation for humanity that includes keeping animals alive as part of our covenant relationship with God, the creator of all creatures. We're doing a poor job as species of animal continue to become exist due to the destruction of habitats. As humanity continues to use land for their own purposes, without considering the needs of animals who depend on the land, species will continue to vanish.
If science fiction has any truth in how it can sometimes depict the future, I hope there's an ark of sorts that saves the DNA of lost species which we might be able to resurrect through cloning. The whole Jurassic Park series of books and films warns against bringing to life species that died out due to natural selection, but what of animal species lost because of human consumption of the land and its resources? And if we were able to renew an extinct population, would there be resources for them to live and breed and repopulate the earth?
I love science fiction, so my mind goes there as I think of humanity exploring other planets in the universe in our desire to discover what's out there. One such film was Silent Running starring Bruce Dern, in which an ark of sorts maintained protected environments for earth's threatened creatures. Earth was so polluted and over populated there was no way to sustain these biospheres on earth. But funding got cut and Bruce Dern's character was told to destroy these protected species of earth's plants and animals. Dern's character went rogue to save the them form complete and utter extinction. They drifted in the solar system until it was clear they needed to remain near the sun for the biosphere and creatures to survive. A robot carried on the work to care for those on the space ship in orbit nearer to the sun. For a young boy it was a very impactful story. It was sad, but it held hope that these threatened species were going to survive.
In Noah's story, after the terrible flood wiped out all life, God remembered those on the ark. He made a wind blow on the waters and dried up the flood waters so that the ark came to rest on dry land. Life returned to earth by those kept alive on the ark. God remembered His covenant, His promise to Noah and the animals. And God kept that promise to keep them alive. Indeed, after Noah offered burnt sacrifices to God upon an altar or uncut stones, God made a new covenant with Noah and all the animals, a promise to never again destroy all life by the waters of a floods.
21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
22 As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night,
shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:21-22)
Notice that the promise is made in response to a sacrifice, a pleasing aroma for God, in spite of the fact that humanity's evil inclinations from youth. And God gives humanity "everything" for food, including the flesh of animals. (Genesis 9:3) However, blood it not to be ingested, for the life of the creature is in the blood. Blood is set apart only for to the Lifegiver.
God established the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of His covenant with the earth never to destroy all life with the waters of a flood. The sign is a reminder to God of His promise.
I am encouraged by the thought of God remembering His great promises to us through Jesus Christ. The church is an ark of sorts, a covenant community where we are kept alive in the grace and love of God. We belong to the new covenant in Jesus Christ. In His blood shed upon the cross we are kept alive through His sacrificial death and resurrection. The sign of the new covenant is the waters of baptism. In baptism, the sign of our belonging to the new covenant community in Christ, we drown (die) with Christ to our former lives lived in slavery to the evil inclinations of our youth, We rise from the waters of baptism, emerging as new creations transformed by the love and grace of God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live and serve as Christ did.
So the next time the torrents of chaos beat against the doors of your heart and life, be encouraged that God sees the sign of your participation in the covenant community in Christ, your baptism. God sees the sign of your baptism and remembers to keep you alive, even beyond the grave.
I've always loved the fact that God make a binding contract with the animals on the ark, along with Noah and his family who serve as caretakers for the animals. In that little detail I see a vocation for humanity that includes keeping animals alive as part of our covenant relationship with God, the creator of all creatures. We're doing a poor job as species of animal continue to become exist due to the destruction of habitats. As humanity continues to use land for their own purposes, without considering the needs of animals who depend on the land, species will continue to vanish.
If science fiction has any truth in how it can sometimes depict the future, I hope there's an ark of sorts that saves the DNA of lost species which we might be able to resurrect through cloning. The whole Jurassic Park series of books and films warns against bringing to life species that died out due to natural selection, but what of animal species lost because of human consumption of the land and its resources? And if we were able to renew an extinct population, would there be resources for them to live and breed and repopulate the earth?
In Noah's story, after the terrible flood wiped out all life, God remembered those on the ark. He made a wind blow on the waters and dried up the flood waters so that the ark came to rest on dry land. Life returned to earth by those kept alive on the ark. God remembered His covenant, His promise to Noah and the animals. And God kept that promise to keep them alive. Indeed, after Noah offered burnt sacrifices to God upon an altar or uncut stones, God made a new covenant with Noah and all the animals, a promise to never again destroy all life by the waters of a floods.
21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.
22 As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, day and night,
shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:21-22)
Notice that the promise is made in response to a sacrifice, a pleasing aroma for God, in spite of the fact that humanity's evil inclinations from youth. And God gives humanity "everything" for food, including the flesh of animals. (Genesis 9:3) However, blood it not to be ingested, for the life of the creature is in the blood. Blood is set apart only for to the Lifegiver.
I am encouraged by the thought of God remembering His great promises to us through Jesus Christ. The church is an ark of sorts, a covenant community where we are kept alive in the grace and love of God. We belong to the new covenant in Jesus Christ. In His blood shed upon the cross we are kept alive through His sacrificial death and resurrection. The sign of the new covenant is the waters of baptism. In baptism, the sign of our belonging to the new covenant community in Christ, we drown (die) with Christ to our former lives lived in slavery to the evil inclinations of our youth, We rise from the waters of baptism, emerging as new creations transformed by the love and grace of God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live and serve as Christ did.
So the next time the torrents of chaos beat against the doors of your heart and life, be encouraged that God sees the sign of your participation in the covenant community in Christ, your baptism. God sees the sign of your baptism and remembers to keep you alive, even beyond the grave.
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