"The Sign of God's Grace" based on Genesis 9:8-17

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - July 26, 2009

Pastor Troy Slater - Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

Our Old Testament reading for this morning was of course the story of the rainbow that the Lord gave to Noah and his descendants following the great flood. And of course the rainbow is one of the more beautiful sights in God's creation - something I imagine we all enjoy seeing. For not only is the rainbow a beautiful sight but because of how our storms tend to generally travel from west to east and the sun sets in the west – seeing a rainbow usually means that the storm has passed. The wind is generally calm; it's a rather refreshing time. Maybe a few falling raindrops yet but nothing at all threatening.

When my family and I were on vacation a couple of weeks ago we stayed with some friends in Sterling, Colorado for a couple of nights. But coming into town we followed a rather severe storm - had a tornado reported with it even. When we got into town there was hail piled along the road, the streets were very flooded in places and the rain was still coming down somewhat heavy. But after getting to our friends' house the rains soon began to let up and suddenly the evening sun appeared from behind the passing clouds. Seeing that I said, "I bet there's a rainbow over in the east." And sure enough, looking out their front door, there it was - a beautiful rainbow. A sign that the violent storm had passed, the earth of course has not been destroyed but rather the eastern Colorado plains had been renewed by the falling rains.

And of course that’s what the rainbow meant for Noah and his family. After forty days and forty nights of rain pouring down and the springs of the earth violently bursting forth - no doubt a very frightening time for Noah and his family as they witnessed the awesome power of God and of His wrath as He cleansed the earth of a very corrupt and evil people. But after being tossed by the wind and the waves on a huge ship with two of every kind of animal; after spending a full year and ten days on the ark, God told Noah and His family to come out of the ark and then He gave them a sign of His grace. He gave them a sign that His anger had indeed passed; He gave them a sign that the storm had ceased. It was now time for Noah and his family to begin moving about, repopulating a renewed earth and never again would the Lord send such a flood to destroy all the earth.

Of course God had sent the flood because as Moses tells us in the book of Genesis, "the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." The Lord God sent the flood basically to start over with the human race with Noah and his family. But I suppose we should mention here that even after the flood, sin still existed on the earth, didn't it? I mean Noah and his family were still sinners. Yes scripture tells us that Noah "was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time" and that he "walked with God", but that doesn't mean Noah was no sinner. He was. But by God's grace, he feared God - he believed in God - he trusted in the one and only true God. Noah was a sinner as were all his descendents including you and me, but Noah was a man of faith. And so while the flood of Noah’s day did cleanse the earth – it did bring God’s judgment upon a wicked and sinful humanity – it did not wipe away all sin. In other words it was not the final cleansing of God's creation.

But it’s also good to point out here in contrast to some of the junk that is taught in some churches today and some of what you might see on say the Discovery Channel for example, but the flood in Noah's day was not just a local or even a regional flood. If it was, then God is a liar. For number one, God's Word says, that even "all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered" with the flood waters. In His Word God says that this was a world-wide disaster and so if it was anything else but that, then God is a liar.

But also, think of the rainbow. For again, the rainbow is God's sign to us that He will never again send a flood like the flood in Noah's day. But if Noah's flood was just a local or regional flood, then God lied, didn't He? And God continues to lie every time He sends a rainbow for there have certainly been a lot of local and even regional floods since Noah's day. You see even the highest mountains at the time of the flood were covered by at least 20 feet of water - not even a single square foot of land on all the earth was left dry. No God will never ever send another flood like it - He promises - and the rainbow reminds us of that promise and God keeps His promises. God does not lie. …

Now just one more note here on Noah and the flood. There are actually several people over the years who have claimed to have actually seen and some who say they have even been in what appears to be a very large wooden boat-like structure high up on the side of Mt. Ararat - a 17,000 foot mountain located in Turkey. There's even a clan in Turkey that considers itself to be the "caretakers" of this huge structure they call "Noah's Ark". For various reasons - of course not the least of which would be that God does not yet want the Ark to be found and verified - but for various reasons these claims have not been able to be verified. But as Bible-believing Christians we shouldn't be surprised if some day Noah's Ark is found and verified. I mean after all, despite the cute little pictures in the Noah's Ark story books and the cute little Noah's ark toy boats that we give our kids to play with in the bathtub, the story of Noah and the ark and the great flood is no fairy tale; it is no "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" type of childhood story. The story of Noah and the flood is presented in Scripture as an historical fact. This is a real-story of our faith. I'm not saying Noah's Ark will ever be positively found and verified, God may have caused it to be destroyed thousands of years ago, He may leave it buried under Mt. Ararat's many glaciers. But it would be quite interesting to see how the evolutionists and atheists would try to explain it if the Lord does allow it to be found and verified. A huge boat - one and a half times the length of a football field nearly 17,000 feet up on a mountain. But of course we would know, wouldn't we? We would know how it got there. For we know that God in His Word says that Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat after being lifted up by the waters of the great flood. And God does not lie.

And we also know that Noah and his family, after being locked up in that ark for a year and 10 days, they came out and God established a covenant with Noah and all his descendants and all the creatures of the earth. God made a promise - a promise that continues to be made to us to this very day using His gift of the rainbow. “Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come; I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." The rainbow is a sign of God's grace - it's a sign that even our most violent of storms, they will come, but they will also go. Never again will God destroy the earth with a flood. Never again. God promises. …

Although if you look around at the world, sometimes it seems as if it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean society – as society has always seems to be in this fallen world – is a mess. And just thinking of the rainbow - that beautiful sign of God's grace - many today use it not to remind them of God's grace and faithfulness to His creation - but rather they use it as a symbol of their sick perversions. Yes the world is a mess to put it mildly.

But you know, even if all that we would say is wrong with society and our world was suddenly erased by a flood or by some other means, sin would still exist, wouldn’t it? I mean even if we were like Noah’s family – you and I or just you and your family – and you were the only ones left on earth – sin would still exist, wouldn’t it? For after all, we are each but “poor miserable sinners" as we regularly confess. "Sinful in thought, word and deed." Yes it's probably a good thing that the Lord promised never again to send such a flood to destroy all the earth - good thing for all of us.

But while we know that God will not destroy the earth by sending another great flood - yet God has promised to judge all the earth, hasn't He? One day the entire human race - each and every one of us who has ever lived or who will live - will stand before that same Creator who sent the flood. And for "poor, miserable sinners" that's not a good thing, is it? That's not a good thing for "poor, miserable sinners" to stand in the presence of a holy and powerful God. …

But there is a sign - even for "poor, miserable sinners" - a sign of God's grace not just regarding a flood, but regarding that day we stand before our Creator for that final judgment. And so what is that sign? What's that sign of God's grace not just in that the rain shower is over or that God's anger in the form of a great flood is forever in the past? But what's the sign to us that God's anger in any form toward our sin is forever in the past? What's the sign of God's grace in regards to that final judgment? …

Just a few chapters prior to this account of Noah and the flood and the rainbow, we have recorded for us God promising to send a descendent of Eve, a "seed" of the woman who would crush the head of Satan - the one through whom sin came into the world. God promised a Savior. And Noah had faith in God's promise of a Savior - that's what made Noah a righteous man in God's sight. He had faith in the promised Savior.

And of course that Savior whom God promised - that Savior whom Noah looked towards in faith, He came, didn’t He? The Savior from sin came. In Colossians chapter two St. Paul writes, "When you were dead in your sins … God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code…that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." What's the sign of God's grace to you and to me? What's the sign not just that the rain has passed, not just that there will be no more great flood, but what's the sign that God's anger against your sin has passed - forever? … It's the cross, isn't it? The cross of our Lord Jesus. The cross is the sign that God's anger has forever passed. For on that cross Jesus took the full wrath of God against the world's sin - against your sin - not just for a time, but forever. On that cross all our sins were washed away not by a flood but by the blood of the Son of God. It was all done on the cross of our Lord Jesus.

And so the cross is that sign that we can look to for the assurance of the forgiveness of all our sin. The cross is that sign that you can look to for the confidence that though you may die, yet shall you live. The cross is that sign whereby God promises that you shall stand absolved and forgiven on the day of God's judgment. The cross of our Lord Jesus is that sign that we can look to in life and in death for the assurance of God's eternal grace. …

Now, to be sure a rainbow is a beautiful sight - it is a sign of God's grace. But even more beautiful is that sign of God's eternal grace - that cross that we can look to both in life and in death. For with the cross - with what Jesus did on His cross - with that we can look forward to the day of our Lord’s return. That’s right, there will be a day when we look up into the clouds and see not a rainbow – but something far, far greater – something far, far more beautiful. We will look up into the clouds and see our coming Savior - the one who took all of our sin and God's wrath upon Himself; the one who went to the cross - the sign of God's grace. Amen.