06.3.3. Noah on the Earth Beyond the Flood

III. -- NOAH ON THE EARTH BEYOND THE FLOOD Genesis 8:15-22, and Genesis 9:1-17 THE scene here changes as from earth to heaven; from sin and floods to joy, and rest, and liberty. Blessed had been the transition from the old world of sin to the safe but dark and narrow ark; for, with all its straitness, blessed is the cross: we are shut up indeed and tossed, yet safe and not forgotten. But now comes a further wondrous change, from straitness to freedom, and from floods to quietness. We have felt what it is to be in the old world, grieved by its confusions and corruptions, which we cannot remedy. We have known the stage when we are separated thence by the cross, and yet have not reached the better world. Now we reach that land of rest, and stand, as Noah here, on a new and purged creation, brought forth from that earth on which we were born, to a new world where death and judgment are behind us. Man in Christ has long since reached this. Baptism is our profession of faith, that as Christ is risen, and we are in Him, we too are risen with Him (Colossians 2:12). (Note: In baptism "we are buried and risen with Christ through faith;" but this is very different from "the power of Christ’s resurrection," which Paul longed for, Php 3:10. This latter is experience rather than faith.) But now in experience our spirit comes there, from the things of the old man to a sphere where Adam and his carnal seed cannot enter. In one aspect, as in Adam, we are still in the old world, still on this side death, shut out from Paradise. In another, as Noah, as the spiritual mind which has experienced the judgment of the old creation, we are risen with Christ, consciously brought with Him into another world. The blessings and responsibilities of this high calling are shewn in seven distinct particulars recorded here of Noah.

(i.) First, "They went forth" (Genesis 8:18). This is true liberty, known in word perhaps, but not in power, save by the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and the power of His resurrection. Up to this point the elect is more or less in bondage, a "prisoner of hope," secure, yet still a prisoner. But when through grace we have so passed the judgment of the first creation, and have felt the tossings cease, and then have seen the hill-tops, and received the olive-leaf, the earnest of the inheritance, from the mouth of the gentle dove, which thus assures us of a world beyond the water-floods, then our freedom is near; all things are lawful, if all things are not expedient, for us. Many a conscientious doubt as to rules, or times, or places, now is resolved for us. To the pure all is pure. Henceforth we are free; we may "go in and out and find pasture" (John 10:9).

(ii.) But there is more than freedom here; for now "Noah builded an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings" (Genesis 8:20). This is worship, in the main like that of Abel, though the burnt-offering testifies rather of obedience and acceptance than of sin and trespasses; in answer to which God opens all His heart, with secrets of love never fully told in Adam’s world. Now beside the altar, those who have passed the flood understand God’s heart, saying, "I will not curse again." Yea, "though man’s heart is still evil," God’s heart speaks out, "I will not curse or smite again" (Genesis 8:21). The risen man cannot say that in selfhood his imaginations even now are other than evil continually. But he knows that, spite of this, God is saving and has saved him. Here, too, he learns how the changes in the earth are all divinely regulated: -- "While earth remains, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Before this, as darkness fell, he may have feared that the light was for ever leaving him, and that his fits of coldness would have no limit. Now he learns that these things are part of a divine plan. Darkness brings into light heavenly things unseen before. By the cold many a weed is nipped and withered, and many a hurtful worm perishes. "While earth remains" such changes are well. When earth is passed, we may be fit for changeless things. All this in its depth is learnt at this place, by the holy altar of burnt offering. Oh, how many things are only cleared up here! The same man who said, "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are unknown," says again, "Thy way is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?" (Psalms 77:13; Psalms 77:19).

(iii.) Fruitfulness is another special blessing of this stage: -- "God said, Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 9:1). Just as in creation, when the third day rose, and the waters were restrained, the earth was made fruitful; so now in Noah, the third great stage in man, the flood being passed, man increases wonderfully. "Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Now having died to the world by the cross, and the evil fruits which grow out of old Adam being judged by the overflowing waters, the new man within increases yet more. Being purged, he brings forth much fruit (John 15:2). (Note: Ambros. de Noe, c. 21, § 77, and c. 24, § 87.)

(iv.) But the blessing goes further. Power is given over beasts: -- "The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast, and upon every fowl, and upon all the fishes of the sea: into thy hand are they delivered" (Genesis 9:2). Animal faculties now are not only restrained by the ark or cross, but reduced to submission: the man or reason governs them. The ox strong to labour, the strength in us formed to serve, is not henceforth to spend its energies without direction. The lion and the bear, fierce thoughts, must be still. And if, when night comes down, these beasts will yet creep forth, and the young lions roar against their prey, -- for in hours of darkness these beasts at times will still be heard, -- when the sun ariseth they must lay them down in their dens, for then man goeth forth to his work and labour until the evening (Psalms 104:20-23). (Note: Ambros. de Noe et Arca, c. 24, § 87.) I know indeed that even after this, after man has passed the flood and is regenerate, lions may be loosed in judgment by the Lord: the man in us may be slain, and the beast may be seen standing by the carcase (1 Kings 13:24-25); or, as in another case, the man may be blind, and the beast, which should be guided by the man, may see more than that inward man which was formed to govern it (Numbers 22:23-31). All this may be through sin. Yet our calling as regenerate is to rule the beasts, not to be ruled by them. If the animal in us is not subject to the mind, it is because the mind or man is not subject to the Lord.

(v.) Further, on this ground flesh is given to man for food. Before the flood man’s food is "the green herb." He has "for meat every herb bearing seed, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree" (Genesis 1:29). Now it is said, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herb have I given you all things" (Genesis 9:3). Before the flood the bodies of beasts had been consumed by the fire of God: they had been His meat: their death had satisfied Him. Now, on resurrection ground, man too can eat, that is, find satisfaction in the same sacrifice. Before we know resurrection life, while we are yet in the world before the flood, in the home or sphere of the old man, we feed on the fruits of the earth, those fruits of righteousness, which, whether in Christ or in ourselves, naturally afford man some satisfaction. As yet the death of the creature is no satisfaction to the elect, though God is satisfied and we are clothed thereby. God’s fire may fall and consume the offering: we give it up, but we do not really eat with Him. It is otherwise when this stage is reached. Then the death of what is animal is not only a witness, but it affords us food. We, too, can now be satisfied in the giving up of life, and great is the strength which the spiritual man derives from the meat which is thus given to him. (Note: Ambrose De Noe c. 25, § 91. See also Augustine, Contr. Faust. l. xii. c. 22, respecting the pouring out of the blood, which is commanded here, Genesis 9:4.)

(vi.) At this stage God gives authority to man to judge that which quenches the life which "was formed in God’s image;" for God, having now by regeneration restored that image in man, would not have it again mutilated. At the hand of every man, therefore, He now requires the life of man, for in the image of God made He man (Genesis 9:5-6). Before the flood it was not so; on the ground of the old man, Seth’s line do not avenge the blood of Abel; just as before regeneration, while we yet abide in the sphere of the old man, the spiritual mind bears witness against the sins which in us grow out of old Adam, but has not power to correct or judge them; for on that ground the evil cannot be remedied. The old man is corrupt, with his works. God’s image cannot be seen in him. God will not therefore prune his branches; for He is resolved to cut him down. But after the washing of regeneration, when the image of God is again brought forth through the judgment of the old man, when the spiritual mind has reached the risen life, and looks on Adam and his works as judged of God, with Him it judges any reviving remnant of them; for, being regenerate, it has power to correct wickedness. All murder therefore now is judged; and since "he that hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 John 3:15), for hate destroys the inward man, all such workings of the flesh must be sharply judged by the regenerate. Woe to us, if we use not the power committed to us, if the hateful works of the old man are suffered in us without self-condemnation.

(vii.) And now, to crown all the gifts peculiar to this stage, the covenant is re-made, and a heavenly token given of it: -- "And I, behold, I, establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you. And this is the token of the covenant: I do set my bow in the cloud; and it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more be a flood to destroy all flesh." This is the "new and better covenant," not "of law," with "Thou shalt," but "of grace," saying, "I will." "I will establish my covenant with you ... and I will remember my covenant ... and I will look on the bow in the cloud, and the waters shall no more destroy." For now man has learnt that all is of grace, resting not upon his own, but upon the Lord’s, will.

Oh, that the force of this "new covenant," and all the difference between "Thou shalt" and "I will," were fully known by God’s children; and that in every soul the "Thou shalt" of the old, had given place to the "I will" of the new and better, covenant! Let this be understood. The covenant of law, as given to the old man, first and last, is all "Thou shalt." So God to Adam said, "Thou shalt not eat of it; in the day thou eatest, thou shalt surely die:" and by Moses repeating the same covenant of law, each command reiterates the same, "Thou shalt:" -- "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart;" "Thou shalt not steal;" "Thou shalt not covet." Such a covenant is all "of works." There is a command to be fulfilled by man, and therefore its validity depends on man’s part as well as God’s being performed perfectly. Such a covenant cannot stand, for man is always sure to fail in his part. Thus the covenant of law or works to man is and must be only condemnation. But, finding fault with this, the Lord will make "a new covenant;" and this new covenant or gospel says throughout, not "Thou shalt," but "I will." It is "the promise," as St. Paul says to the Galatians (Galatians 3:16-18; Galatians 3:21-22; Galatians 3:29). All that it requires is simple faith. "This is the covenant I will make in those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts; and I will write them in their minds; and I will be merciful to their transgressions; and I will remember their sins no more; I will dwell in them; and I will walk in them; and I will be unto them a God, and they shall be unto me a people." It is this "I will" which Noah now hears, and to which at this stage God adds "a token" set in heaven. This token is "the bow set in the cloud." Before the flood, the elect, though not so fully instructed, yet had "the covenant" (Genesis 6:18). But of its "token" nothing had been heard: for this is only learnt experimentally, when we have known and in spirit passed the deep waters. This token now appears "in the cloud." The cloud, brought over the earth, was not only a remembrance, but something like a remnant, of the judgment. We therefore sometimes "fear to enter the cloud" (Luke 9:34). If it might be so, we would have "tokens" of the covenant without the dark waters. But it cannot be. Only in dark and cloudy days can the bow of heaven be seen spanning the lower earth. Then, mid dark waters, when the sun breaks out, though the cloud may be dark, a bow appears amid the darkness; half a ring -- half that ring with which the regenerate soul is now married to the Lord, and assured of endless rest with Him. The lower world yet hides the rest of the ring; but on high "a rainbow" shall be seen "in a circle round the throne." (Note: So we read, iris kuklothen, Revelation 4:3. See Ambrose, De Noe, c. 27.)

Such are the joys to which we are called by the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

------------ And this, too, is fulfilled without. In this more outward view, Noah’s blessings here are the joys of the Church as dead and risen with Christ. The Man of Rest and His sons are brought by the washing of regeneration to things which fallen Adam never heard of. Here freedom, and worship, and increase, and power, -- power over those who are as beasts, -- is freely given to them. Here the death of the flesh, in ourselves or others, is found to be, even as good fruits, the means of strengthening life. Here, too, sin is judged. In the world saints judge not: -- "What have I to do to judge them that are without?" (1 Corinthians 5:12). In that sphere our work is to set forth grace, even while we witness that God’s judgment is hastening. But in that Church which stands on risen ground, we must "put away from ourselves the wicked person" (1 Corinthians 5:13). Would to God that this were laid to heart. But too often judgment is exercised in the world, where grace should be manifested; while excuses are offered for want of discipline in that redeemed body, where all evil should be rooted out. Labour enough is spent to correct a ruined world: nothing is done to purge a failing Church. But this leads us to another stage, where the failure of the regenerate is fully revealed to us.