The most mixed up gospel song ever sung, “Mary Don’t You Weep,” includes the verse:
God gave Noah the rainbow sign
It won’t be water, but fire next time
It won’t be water, but fire next time
The lyric refers to the covenant that God re-established with mankind after the Great Flood. In Genesis 9:11-17, God declared that the refraction of light into its component wavelengths of visible colors following atmospheric precipitation, i.e. rainbows, would be the sign for perpetual generations (Genesis 9:12) that God wouldn’t send another globally fatal flood.
The details of the deal are called the Noahic covenant, but that name is a little misleading. Noah and his descendants weren’t the only parties to the contract.
“And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you . . . (Genesis 9:9-10)
The next clause of the covenant specifically identifies living creature as the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark: every beast of the earth. (Genesis 9:10)
The rainbows that recall God’s promise to mankind also reaffirm Nature’s status in the covenant.
I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13)
In the Noahic covenant, Nature is an equal partner with humanity. In God’s eyes, the Earth isn’t just where humans beings get our food and stuff. Nature, Earth’s animals and ecosystems, i.e. “the environment,” matters to God (which makes sense, considering God invested 5 ½ of 6 Creation days building it).
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)
Don’t forget that the God’s plan of salvation isn’t just a plan to save the souls of people; it is also God’s plan to save the planet --- from us.
From our physically destructive conflicts.
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them lie down safely. (Hosea 2:18)
From our general sinfulness.
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. . . because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8: 19-21)
Under a 3-way agreement like the Noahic covenant, each party is responsible to the other two. God gives us the privilege of dominion as the alpha predators of the planet, but we are uniquely predators who also act as stewards of that which we dominate.
We get that right only SOME of the time. We consume vegetation, but we cultivate more than we eat. We don’t just hunt meat; we also raise and multiply herds of meat animals. So also, we shouldn’t just drink and breathe and extract natural resources for our needs and desires. We have a covenantal duty to preserve, return, and replenish what we remove from the Earth.
It is all ours to use and it is equally all ours to manage. The Noahic covenant of Genesis 9 declares that in the end, God expects a increased return on His people and on His planet. I mean, if He’d wanted the place wrecked and desolate, He would’ve left it like that Himself after the Flood.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
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