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The
Battle Belongs to the Lord
The
Rainbow as Battle-Cry Scriptures
Genesis 9:8–17; Psalm 25:1–10; 1 Peter 3:18–22; Mark 1:9–15
Theme
Baptised and Enlisted into God’s Kingdom.
Sermon
Summary
At the beginning of this Lenten season, let us prepare our hearts, to journey towards the cross
with Jesus, by remembering the perpetual covenant of God, given as a battle-cry, to all of
humanity through Noah.
Introduction
*This sermon is the second part of an exploration of Genesis 9:8-17. If you have already read There Shall Be Showers of Blessing:
The Rainbow as Blessing for Life, then you have already read the “Introduction”, “The Story of Noah and the Great Flood”, and
“God is Pro-Life” sections of this sermon. Feel free to skim over them here.
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9“I now establish my covenant with
you and with your descendants after you 10and with every living creature that was with
you —the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark
with you— every living creature on earth. 11I establish my covenant with you: 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.”
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.
14Whenever 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. 16Whenever 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.”
17So
God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant
I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
(Genesis 9:8-17) 
1. Regardless of any controversy arising over questions of its historicity, this story is crucial
for our Christian worldview.
a. A worldview represents a person’s unique beliefs and values, which influence his or her
behavioural choices (i.e: their somewhat unique way of comprehending and interacting
with the environment around them).
b. This passage is deep enough to accommodate two somewhat divergent interpretations
when coupled with the scriptures assigned by the RCL lectionary:
i) The NT reading, 1 Peter 3:18–22, which we explored this morning, draws out the
baptismal imagery.
ii) The Gospel reading, Mark 1:9-15, draws out the battle imagery of God's covenant
with Noah.
c. Both
interpretations have interesting implications for developing
a Christ-centred worldview.
The baptismal imagery is certainly the more beautiful of the two possible lines of
interpretations, but the battle imagery is the more manly, and perhaps even the more awe-inspiring.
The
Story of Noah and the Great Flood
1. The gist of the story of Noah and the great flood is this:
a. God
felt grief over the state of His creation, particularly
over the wickedness of humankind.
b. The
righteousness of one person, Noah, made all the difference
to God, so that He was inclined to spare humanity from
total extinction.
c. Noah is instructed to build an ark, through which he can save his family and sufficient
breeding stock to maintain animal kind on the planet.
d. The rains fall; the flood rises; the planet is destroyed, yet transformed; the ark, with its
passengers, is spared.
The Sunday School rendition is pretty and quaint, acceptable enough even for toys made by
Fisher Price. Yet, this watered-down, sugar-coated, and simplified version misses the majesty
and power of God revealed by the rainbow, as well as the revelation of God’s basic inclination
towards Creation.
God
is Pro-Life
1. God establishes a covenant with Noah, on behalf of all of Creation, that “never again will
the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Genesis 9:16).
a. The covenant with Noah is a royal grant rather than a suzerain treaty.
There are many types of covenants in the Bible. The covenant with Moses, for example,
takes the form of what the scholars call a suzerainty agreement; it’s laid out according
to the same format as the treaty a conquering emperor would impose upon a newly
defeated king. There’s an element of negotiation to it: “I’ll do something for you, and
you do something for me in return.”
This
covenant with Noah is different. It’s what biblical
scholars refer to as a “royal grant.” In
a royal grant covenant, a king rewards a loyal subject
by granting an office, or land, or an exemption from
taxes. In a royal grant covenant, it’s only the
superior party who is bound by its terms. There are
no conditions imposed upon the inferior party. The covenants
God makes with Noah, Abraham, and David all fit this
pattern. In each of these cases, it is God alone who
chooses to make covenant, to be bound by a solemn oath.
b. Although God limits the human lifespan to 120 years (6:3), He thoroughly represents
Himself as pro-life, that is pro-human-life.
i) God provided a Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden that would provide humans with
healing and longevity (3:22).
ii) God renews his mandate to humanity to “be fruitful and increase in number and fill
the earth” (9:1, 7; cf 1:28).
iii) Humans and animals were initially herbivorous (1:29); from the time of this covenant
with Noah, humans are allowed to be carnivorous (9:2-4).
iv) With
this covenant, God indicates that He will adversely
judge the killing of a human whether by an animal or
by another human (vs. 5ff).
“Human beings are to have complete discretion
over the lives of animals, but not over human life.”
c. This covenant is universal and perpetual (vs. 12ff).
God is pro-life because He intensely desires to remain in a positive relationship with His
creation, which includes but is not limited to human kind. He felt grief and disappointment
over our rebellion and wickedness, and, although He was inclined to –and would have been
completely justified in– destroy His creation, He choose to rescue and restore us because of the
righteousness of one person. The story of Noah and the Great Flood is overwhelming in the
depth of its implications.
The
Rainbow as Battle-Cry
1. While a rainbow is a beautiful demonstration of God’s grace, we must not forget that it is
also a demonstration of His glory and power.
a. Who else can calm a storm but God (cf. Mark 4:39-41)?
b. The rainbow may be beautiful to behold, but it is still a bow (i.e. a weapon of war).
[In
classical mythology] the rainbow was thought to typify
the ancient connection between the world of the gods
and the world of men [...] Underlying the whole
idea is perhaps the belief that the bow of the god of
war or the god of thunderstorms is set in the clouds
and is thus robbed of its force. In support of this
kind of historicising of a mythological feature it might
be pointed out that the original speaks of the קֶשֶת
(qešet) of God, and that basically this term signifies
the bow of the warrior or the hunter.
2. Our God is an awesome and dangerous God who enters battles on behalf of humankind.
In C. S. Lewis’ much loved children’s fantasy novels, The Chronicles of Narnia, the figure
who’s symbolic of Jesus Christ is the fierce lion, Aslan. The two girls, Susan and Lucy,
are getting ready to meet Aslan for the first time. They admit to Mrs. Beaver, who’s
preparing them for the encounter, that they’re feeling a bit anxious. “Is he quite safe?”
asks Susan. “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie,” replies Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone
who can appear before Aslan without his knees knocking, he’s either braver than most or
else just silly.”
“Then isn’t he safe?” asks Lucy.
“Safe,”
said Mr. Beaver, “don’t you hear what Mrs.
Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course,
he isn’t safe, but he’s good. He’s
the king, I tell you!”
a. Let us not underestimate His power (cf. Deuteronomy 32:36-43).
b. Despite His despair over our wickedness, God will fight to be in a relationship with us,
to be our God.
i) The Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Elijah’s altar, Pharaoh, etc.
ii) Jesus
charges the gates of a prison (1 Peter 3:18-20).
iii) The best example is Jesus’ death and resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55).
iv) The examples will continue ...
The warrior-God only hangs up his bow-as-weapon after a mighty battle has been fought. It
may be that this image of a bow in the sky signifies a holding-back of the onslaught.
Baptism
as Enlistment
1. In Mark’s rendition of Jesus’ baptism and subsequent temptation, he uses violent language
to describe the event.
a. Heaven is “torn open”, as if an aggressive God is declaring, “You are my son”.
b. Jesus is set-up by God, and “driven” with violence into the wilderness where He is
forced to confront the animals and spirits opposed to God and His creation.
In
Mark Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the desert.
This rocky wasteland is the home of jackals and mountain
lions (Isa 34:11–5) and is also the traditional
dwelling-place of spirits inimical to man. Jesus’
testing here described is not one of interior struggle.
It is a joining of eschatological forces, the holiness
of God versus all that is opposed to it.
2. With His baptism and temptation over, Jesus begins His ministry: “‘the time has come’, he
said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
3. With the Great Commission, Jesus passes the baton of the ministry of reconciliation to us
(Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:18).
a. We can and should expect that with commission come confrontation (Romans 5:3-5).
Conclusion
“Mark
has it in mind to assure his Christian readership that
their resistance to hostile forces is part of the same
ongoing battle.”
With the waters of our baptism we not only complete our
salvation, but the presence of the Spirit is fulfilled in our lives, so as to commission and prepare
us for battle.
God has fought for us and expects of us to fight alongside Him for His kingdom. Where will
you stand when the lines our drawn and allegiance is expected?
When we are sad and despairing, O God ... show us the rainbow.
When we are racked with doubt ... show us the rainbow.
When we fear we are all alone ... show us the rainbow.
When we find ourselves believing sin has won its final victory over us ... show us the rainbow.
In the name of Christ, who by his cross brings us redemption. Amen.
sermon delivered by Ian Forest-Jones
at Hurstville Church of Christ
on Sunday, 5 March 2006
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