God's Covenant With Noah

Story: God's Covenant With Noah

Passage: Genesis 8:20-9:17

Summary: Noah immediately sacrificed clean animals to God after the flood. The Lord was pleased and promised to never curse/dishonor the ground or kill every living creature as long as the Earth survives. God gave Noah permission to kill and eat animals. But the life, the blood, could not be eaten. God cursed anyone who shed the blood of man. God provided the rainbow as a symbol of His promise to never flood the Earth again.

Notes: Noah immediately offered a sacrifice to the God who had just destroyed and rebuilt an entire planet. I don't blame Him! He had just witnessed the power of God and he was heavily moved by it! He also would have been moved by God's merciful decision to let him survive. It is interesting to me that God viewed the flood as having cursed or dishonored the ground. God's covenant was with humans, animals, and the earth itself. All of creation was protected by God. I feel like God had love for all of His creation, which makes sense! He just showed a crazy, undeserving love for man, I find it funny that God gave Noah the right to eat animals right after Noah had spent months on a boat with them. You would think that Noah would have appreciated animals at this point, but maybe God knew that Noah wouldn't go animal killing crazy and make some of the sparse species extinct right away. Who know! The importance of not eating blood is significant to me. Blood carries life. Without blood, there is no life. Jesus coveered our spiritual nakedness with His blood, that is His life. We have been covered with His life. Now this use of the word life is different than saying someone had a tough life. This use is life, the vibrant energy which we all have which really can't be explained. That is what Christ covered our nakedness with! The rainbow would have been a very significant reminder of God's promise to Noah and his family. They had just just witnesses total destruction via a rainstorm, I imagine there was some apprehension whenever the clouds gathered and rain began falling. But then they would see the rainbow and remember that God was not going to flood the Earth again!

Questions: Why did God make a promise to the inanimate ground? How does God's mankilling curse show itself today? What is the significance of a rainbow?

Lessons: God's promises still affect us today. It is important to learn from Noah and how he reacted to seeing the power and holiness of God. He made sacrifices to God immediately! We need to react to God's holiness by giving Him all of us as living sacrifices!