God’s Unconditional and Everlasting Promise - Sermon by Canon James Juhari

 Lent 1

Old Testament: Genesis 9.8-17

Epistle: 1 Peter 3.18-end

Gospel: Mark 1.9-15

Sermon

Let me start my sermon this morning with the statement we made at the 2Collect for today: Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit; and, as you know our weakness, so we may know your power to save…”

 That Collect is a statement admitting the sinlessness of Jesus even though He was tempted.  It is also an admission that we are all struggling with our human weaknesses, our shortcomings and sin.  And it is not just our own sins that we are struggling with: we have to suffer because of other people’s sin and other people also suffer because of our sins. 3Just look at the evil things and the problems that are happening in this world – the war in Ukraine and the Middle-East and other threats of more wars.  4On a personal level, we think about the crisis and struggles in our own community, families, and our own personal lives.  This is especially so if we are struggling with illnesses that seem to have no cure, problems that refuse to go away, or misfortunes that seem to come one after another.  Sometimes we feel as if God is not in control of our lives, and so we are tempted to seek solutions outside God.

It is for this reason that I invite you to reflect on the story of Noah in Genesis 9: 8-17, especially touching verses 12-16.  5The verses said: ¹²And God said, "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: ¹³I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Last Sunday I made this statement: 6“The message that God gives to us during our time of sadness and agony will be the same message that He gives us during our time of happiness and joy.  God’s messages to us do not change with circumstances and time”.  I want to emphasize that again this morning: that our God is a God who stays true to His promises, whether they were made thousands of years ago or today.

There are several stories in the Bible about God making covenants with the Israelites.  7God made covenants with Abraham (Genesis 17:7) and with Moses (Exodus 34:10).  A covenant is an agreement between two parties.  In it promises are made, where sometimes the promises are conditional, and certain fulfilments have to be made if the covenant is to be effective and honoured. At other times, the promises are unconditional. The covenant in the story of Noah is an unconditional one, based on the sign that God used – the rainbow.   

8There is a couple of things that I want to point out here regarding this covenant. In verse 13 God said: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth”.  That does not mean that the rainbow was only created when God made the covenant with Noah.  The rainbow has always been there all along, but from that time onwards, the rainbow would become a sign of the covenant between God and the earth that “never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life”.  

The second thing that I want you to understand is that when God says, “I will remember my covenant …” it does not mean that God sometimes forget something.  The God who knows everything cannot forget, and He was just using human terms to convey His message to Noah.

Now, to understand this covenant we need to look at the characteristics of a rainbow. In the Bible the rainbow is connected with the glory of God.  9We find it mentioned in Ezekiel 1:28, where the prophet sees the glory of God: “Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.  10In Revelation 4:3 & 10.1 John also speaks about the rainbow when describes his vision regarding the glory of God in heaven. 11Later, as John concludes his story he says, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Revelation 21:23). 

12Second, you don’t see a rainbow on a bright sunny day.  Rainbow only appears when it rains while the sun is shining simultaneously. Very often rainbow appears in the sky at the end of a storm. After the thunder and the lightening are all over, the rain begins to subside, and the sun comes out - that is when you see a rainbow.

13Rainbow reminds us that joy and sense of relief come only after we have gone through the hard work, the difficulties and hardships.  Last Sunday I pointed out that the resurrection only took place because Jesus suffered and died on the cross. Without the pain of the crucifixion and death there would be no resurrection and salvation.  The fact is that we can only experience the greatest riches of our God after we have weathered the storms of life.  You don’t see rainbow every day. The rainbow won’t be there while the weather is fine or during a storm.  Rainbow appears after the storm is over.  What does it mean?  It means that God is always there watching over us in good and bad times.  Sometimes God allows us to go through storms in life to learn and grow out of those bad experiences.   Many of us who are in church this morning, have gone through bad and difficult times, and later experience the effect of God’s grace, mercy, and love.  When we look back at those days and where those terrible days have led us now, we understand the significance of the rainbow.  We know that if or when bad things strike our lives again, we need to keep our trust in God, to hold on to Him.  

14Third, rainbow can be seen anywhere in any part of the world.  It is a universal phenomenon.  It appears anywhere after a storm.  That tells us something about our God. The love and grace of God is everywhere and it is forever.  That is what the rainbow is, a promise, a reminder between God and man forever!  It is an unconditional covenant. It does not depend upon our faithfulnes, but upon the love and faithfulness of God.  The rainbow in the sky that we see is a sign of God’s promise to us never to destroy all of life again.

There is yet another reason why the rainbow is a sign of God’s grace to us.  15The rainbow is light, broken up by a prism into color.  16The rainbow appears when the sun captures drops of water and then white light bursts into seven different colours. 17Here we are given a visible symbol of unity and diversity; of harmony and beauty and love all working together. The fact that the rainbow is born out of the rain as well as the sunshine reminds us too of our lives. In life we all face ups and downs, times of storms and struggles, times of quiet and peace. 18When someone extends a helping hand to a needy person; when someone consoles another person in grief; they can give us a beautiful and moving picture of love in action.

That rainbow in the sky is more than a promise that God will never send a big flood again. More importantly, it is the reminder of our baptism through water, our salvation in Jesus Christ, and our promise of eternal life.  19As we are baptised in water, God draws us all into a unity as one, big family, as His children.  201 Peter 3: 18-21 explains it this way: “in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also…”

21Finally, note also that the covenant is made not only with Noah; it also includes his descendents and every living creature.  It means God is concerned not only about human beings, but about creation itself.  God loves this universe that He has created.  The rainbow reminds us again what God had said in Genesis 1:26 that He wants us to become responsible stewards and managers of His creation, and remember that our survival as a species on this earth is related to our connection with the survival of every other living creature as well.  As recipients of this covenant, and as humans created in God’s image; our calling is to reflect God’s wishes in the covenant by living to the best of our abilities in harmony with all things that God has created.

22And one final aspect of this covenant between God, Noah and his descendants and all living creatures is its permanence. This covenant is an everlasting one.  In verse 16, God says: “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  This covenant is still a valid one that God continues to honour and keep even to this very day.

In other words, the New Covenant God makes with humankind through Jesus Christ does not end this older covenant with Noah. The two belong together; and they complement each other. Our belief in Jesus guarantees us salvation and a place heaven; and God’s covenant with Noah assures us that as we go through life here on earth, where our fortunes and predicaments keep changing, It also reminds us that we need to think about the future generations: they too need clean water and air and land where they reap their harvests.  If we don’t live responsibly today, our children and grandchildren will suffer because of what we do.  God’s grace may be unconditional, and His love stays the same. The problem is us humans who are not faithful to our covenent.  Let us look at the rainbow differently from non-believers, who see it as a natural event. Let us see the rainbow is a sign of God’s gracious love for us, and our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation.  

 

~Can. James Juhari~