God’s covenant with all life on earth
Please read Genesis 9: 1-17, John 3: 1-17 and Colossian 1: 15-20 and then pray; Almighty God, as I come before your Word, help me to understand the depth of your love for all creation, and may we comprehend how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus brings reconciliation and hope for all. Amen!
May I introduce you to a very big and important theological term. It is the Latin term for the great and grand mission of God. The term is “Missio Dei” (which is pronounced “Miss-ee-oh-Day-ee). This wide-reaching term refers to God’s mission toward the whole created order, and it speaks about God’s mission to the world through the sending of his Son.
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. And – God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. (John 3: 16-17)
God has big mission plans for the world he created through His Son and which He personally entered by his Son’s incarnation. (John 1:1-3, 14) In recent years, many Churches have attempted to address and embrace the grand mission of God through the 5 marks of mission. These are very useful when it comes to understanding the broader picture of God’s love and mission for the world. Here they are;
TELL – Proclaim the good news of the Kingdom.
TEACH – Nurture and teach new believers.
TEND – Respond to human need in loving service.
TRANSFORM – Seek to transform the unjust structures of society.
TREASURE – Safeguard creation and sustain and renew the earth.
This is God’s Mission – and this is what God calls his people (you and I) to join. This is the mission of the Church under the Lordship of Christ and with and through the power of the Spirit. The five areas can be summed up in the 5 “T” words but also through the following areas of missional activity: Evangelism: Discipleship: Compassion: Justice: Ecology: They are of course all biblical concepts and come with biblical commands. The first two “Tell and Teach” stem from the “great commission” given by Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascension. (Matthew 28: 18-20). The fifth one “Treasure” is based squarely upon the call to Adam and all humankind to rule over creation, and to tend the earth with care and devotion. (Genesis 1: 28-30, 2:15). As Christians within Church fellowships, we are called and challenged to embrace this great mission – every aspect it of it – all 5 areas. What a challenge! A question. Has the Church, your Church, taken seriously all 5 areas of God’s mission and love for the world?
Today, we will once again consider TREASURE which has been an area neglected and misunderstood by many in the Church. This area relates to creation care and God’s love and delight in all created things. (Psalm 104:24) Nowhere is this seen more than in the epic story of Noah which dominates 4 chapters of Genesis and comes shortly after the accounts of creation and the fall in Genesis 1-3. But just before, I come to Noah, it is important to briefly revisit points I made about Genesis 1 and 2 a few weeks ago – and especially about God’s creation activity of Day 6. (Genesis 1: 24-31 – READ)
Note again the important points raised here concerning the relationship and commonality which existed from the beginning between all living things created on Day 6. As I have emphasised before, man does not get his own day, but shares it with all the other living creatures. The living creatures come first, then man, who is unique in that he/she is created in the image of God. Male and female are unique and have a unique relationship with and responsibility before God, but they still share an awful lot in common with all the other living creatures God created.
They are all going to share the land which man is charged to care for and steward with wisdom. All living creatures are created from the ground. They are all “of the earth.” All creatures share and are sustained by the same “breath of life.” All are equally dependent upon and sustained by the same plant life and vegetation. All creatures are encouraged to multiply their “kind.” All created things are pronounced very good, (1: 31) and all have a purpose within the creative ordering of a good and compassionate God. As Psalm 145: 9 states; The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
And then when you move on from Genesis 1 and 2 and the emphasis on the interrelatedness and interdependence of all created things – to Genesis 3 and the tragic fall of humankind into sin, we noticed that when the lord of creation (man) fell, creation fell with him. The ground was cursed and nature was also adversely affected by the sin of man. The consequences of human rebellion reverberated throughout all creation. When man fell, the creation over which he was commissioned to rule fell with him, and now suffers and groans waiting for the redemption of the sons of God which would come through the seed of the woman first spoken of in Genesis 3:15. The apostle Paul, with his masterful theological understanding puts it like this; (READ ROMANS 8: 18-23)
Now we can move on to Noah. And by the time we get to Noah just several generations later, the world has been reduced to a deadly corruption and chaos. Levels of corruption and violence have reached painful heights according to the narrative. The suffering started with Cain murdering his own brother Abel in Genesis 4, but by Genesis 6 we read this; (Genesis 6: 5-8)
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 was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So, the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and the birds of the air – for I am grieved that I made them.” But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.
That little word “but” appears in holy scripture on so many vital occasions. But Noah. In Ephesians 2 after speaking about the devastating corrupting power of sin Paul writes; But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2: 4-5)
But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. Now we face two monumental questions relating to the future of all created life, and all God’s ultimate purposes for this world.
- What task did God give to Noah which Noah responded to with great faith?
- What was the promise made to Noah (the covenant) after the flood with a rainbow sign?
What was Noah’s task? Build a great ark! Yes! But for what specific purpose? Noah’s primary task and responsibility under God’s direction was to preserve the life of all created life on the earth. It was not just human life that would continue through Noah and his family. It was the life of all created things – all the creatures that would go on to share the earth – all those blessed creatures that were created on Day 6 – Remember? Why did Noah have to build such a huge ark? His own family did not need such a big floating house. They were only 8 of them. Such an ark had to be carefully constructed to accommodate lots and lots of living creatures in their male/female pairings. Noah was not just a brilliant carpenter and engineer. He was an outstanding ecologist.
And so, we read of a story, not just about Noah and his blessed family, but about Noah and all the creatures that came to live on the ark with him and his family. There had to be enough food for everyone for many months – well over five months. (Read Genesis 7: 13-16)
We then hear about waters filling the earth and even covering every mountain to a depth of “more than twenty feet” causing all who were not on the ark to lose the breath of life. Noah and the living creatures are on that boat for quite a while until the waters recede. Time passed. Had God forgotten the ark and its occupants? The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. (Genesis 7: 24 – 8:1) And later in the story we hear this: So, Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. All the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds-everything that moves on the earth-came out of the ark, one kind after another. (Genesis 18-19)
Noah’s task was to save life, preserve life – and he did. His own life, the lives of his family members, and the lives of all the living creatures – all those living things God created on Day 6 (and the birds of Day 5). And just like in the opening chapter of Genesis, all creatures of the land are encouraged by God to multiply and fill the earth once again. (9: 1 & 7) Now on to the covenant promise of God shared with Noah along with the sign of the rainbow.
This is a very significant covenant, not just because it is the first covenant in the bible. Many more covenants with follow with great men of faith in the bible – Abraham, Moses, and David. But here, with bible covenant number 1, we have a covenant not just with a great man of faith and righteousness, but with every creature which stepped off that ark with Noah and his family. 5 times in chapter 9 are we told that this great covenant God made was with Noah and all living creatures. (9: 10, 12, 15, 16, 17). Read Genesis 9: 8-11 and v 17
The sign of the rainbow was for the animals and birds and not just humanity, and we should give thanks to God for this great and beautiful sign that appears amidst the rain clouds and the sunshine. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. (Genesis 8:22) God made a covenant with us and with the penguins – with all living creatures because He passionately loves and is committed to all that He has made.
There is a note of foreboding to this story, and we see and feel its truth keenly today. After everyone came off the ark and Noah made a worship offering on an altar to God, God said; Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. (Genesis 8:20-21)
God was never going to judge this world as he had done through a great flood again – but the problem of man’s sin and evil remained – and it would keep on increasing and affecting creation, and there would be pain and suffering and death for all creatures. But God would bring to fruition a great plan to save the world and redeem it from sin and death. This was an incredible plan, unbelievable really. It would involve, God himself, entering this world of pain, suffering, disease, and death. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son….
Other great covenants would follow on from this one in Genesis 9 with other men of faith. Abraham would be promised by God that a great nation would come from him – very numerous indeed – out of this nation would come the Christ of God. Moses would lead this great nation out of bondage. David would be its greatest king and be told that a “Son” of his line would always sit on the throne. Then, when the fullness of time arrived; God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Galatians 4:4)
God came to redeem humankind because the guilt, pollution and shame of sin lay at our feet. And sin would be tackled head on at the cross of Calvary. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Just as Moses lifted-up the snake in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world… (John 3: 14, 16a)
Now there has been some theological/biblical arguments concerning what the word “world” means in this most iconic of all bible verses in John 3:16. God so loved the world. The word in Greek in Kosmos, and it is obviously where we get our word cosmos. The primary meaning of the word according the Greek Lexicon is this: the universe, the world, the sum total of created things.
In John’s gospel Kosmos can mean that, but it sometimes means other things – for example, it can mean;
- humanity on the earth – the inhabited world
- humanity in rebellion and opposed to God
- the earth itself
The ongoing debate is this. Do this verse (3:16) refer to God loving “the whole universe and all created things” or does it refer to “humanity in rebellion against God?” I think on balance, it probably refers to men and women in rebellion against God, because this section is primarily focused upon calling for sinful men and women to “believe in Jesus” who God sent into the world, and who was lifted-up upon a cross to die for the sin of the world.
However, the wider biblical testimony reveals that God loves all that he has made so much, and that one day, when Jesus returns to this world in which he died and rose again, the whole creation (all living things / all creation) will be liberated and set free to know and enjoy total redemption along with redeemed humankind. (Romans 8 :18 – 23) Creation eagerly waits for humanity to be fully redeemed – then it too will be set free and there will be a fully redeemed, restored, transformed creation – indeed a new heaven a new earth – which is how the bible story ends with Revelation 21 & 22. A new world will be born from the old one. So perhaps the theme of “born again” in John 3 may also open-up the wider meaning of Kosmos in John 3:16. We must be born again so that all things can be born again at the last day. The great biblical scholar N.T. Wright says that we should expect “the drastic and dramatic birth of the new creation from the womb of the old.”
Some points of application to conclude:
Firstly, we must take very seriously the ongoing challenge to care for a creation in covenant with God, and which God cares for passionately. Caring for creation, protecting and preserving species was Noah’s task – it is ours also. Men and women of faith and who take seriously “Missio Dei” with all its wide-ranging aspects – will aim to be good stewards in creation care. We must love and care for penguins, and all creatures great and small. This is part of the call of God upon our lives and upon our missional energy and efforts. To quote the great evangelist John Wesley; “I believe in my heart that faith in Jesus Christ can and will lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth.”
Secondly, we must in this season of Lent and during the Easter period, understand and grasp that Christ came and died not just to redeem sinful men and women like you and me, but he came to redeem all creation and reconcile all things to himself. All things were made through Jesus – the Word of God (John 1:3), and all things will be reconciled to him through his cross and resurrection. (Read Colossian 1: 15-20) The resurrection of Jesus was the mighty historical starting point which launched the work of a new creation – the heaven and the new earth. It’s coming when He comes again in power and with glory!
Finally, if we are to be relevant in our outreach to a lost and suffering world, and especially to the younger generation, the Church must take seriously the whole challenge the entire world faces with regards to environmental degradation and the changing climate. If we are to speak and relate to young people, we must act as disciples of Jesus who honestly address their greatest worries and concerns. The Church, with its positive biblical understanding of creation responsibility and care, with the example of Noah, must lead the way in partnership with others to demonstrate God’s own love and care for the world – a world he loved so much that he sent His only Son to die for it – and a world God has every intention of fully restoring and redeeming through His Son. Amen!
Revd Peter Clarkson (6.4.25)