God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Genesis 9: 1-3, NRSV.
Gracious God, We come into Your presence today asking You to speak Your creative Word upon us. Please teach us how to begin again, and how to find blessings, in our new beginnings. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
I was amazed at the great similitude that exists between the creation story, and the after-the-flood story. I have read this passage time, and time, again, without noticing just how much the two have in common, until today. Then I realized, that the reason, was that they both speak of “beginnings.” The Creation story is about, “The Beginning.” The After-The-Flood story, is about, “A New Beginning.” Perhaps you have heard me say this before, but I will say it again: “I thank God for new beginnings!” I believe that God delights in new beginnings.
Let us look at the similitude in these two stories: “In the beginning God…”
God said to humankind. In the beginning, He blessed them and said: ” ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’ ” (Genesis 1: 28, NRSV).
God said to Noah and his sons. After the flood – the new beginning, He blessed them and said: ” ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The dread and fear of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered’ ” Genesis 9: 1, 2).
God said to humankind: “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food” (1: 29).
God said to Noah and his sons: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything” (9: 3).
After sin entered the Garden of Eden God made a covenant with humankind…
God promised humankind: The “seed of the woman” (Christ), would “strike the head” (destroy) the serpent (3: 15).
After the flood God made a covenant with Noah and his sons…
God promised Noah and his sons: ” ‘I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood , and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth’ ” (9: 11).
At the cross, God fulfilled His covenant with all of humanity!
“For God so loved the world, that [H]e gave [H]is only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in [H]im should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3: 16, emphasis provided).
This is God’s pledge of a new beginning for you and me. May we make the best of it!