Series: Isaiah
Title: As the Waters of Noah
Text: Isaiah 54: 8-10
Date: April 13, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Isaiah 54: 8: In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on
thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9: For this is as the waters of Noah
unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go
over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee. 10: For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
I. WHAT IS A COVENANT?
A
covenant is a promise—Isaiah 54: 8: I
will have mercy on thee,…9: I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee,
nor rebuke thee….10: my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Also,
God’s covenant to his people is everlasting and eternal. Plus, the covenant God
makes with his elect, in the heart of those born of God, is not conditioned
upon something we do—it is unconditional.
God’s covenant to us is performed by God, apart from our works. Someone might say that faith is a condition. No,
God giving us faith is part of his promise toward his people. We would not have
faith if God had not promised to give it and faith would have nothing to
believe if God had not made a promise to us.
Our faith believes God and the covenant he has made unto us, God who has
promised and cannot lie. God’s
everlasting covenant is the faith of our faith.
Jeremiah 32: 39
And I will give them one heart, [one faith] and one way, [that way is
Christ] that [so that, in order that—our faith is of God—so that]--they may
fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in
their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Jeremiah 31:33: But this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will
put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be
their God, [included in that covenant, as the effectual result of God’s work,
is this:] and they shall be my people.
Application: So God’s everlasting covenant is unconditional—not based
on any work performed by us, not even on our faith—but all parts of his
everlasting covenant are wholly performed by our triune God. Our faith is not a
condition but is included in God’s covenant. We have no room to boast in our
faith.
Application: So here are the three things to define God’s covenant to
his people: God’s covenant is a promise to his people, God’s covenant is
unconditional—there is nothing to be performed by us—all is finished by our
God, and God’s covenant lasts forever and is eternal.
II. SECONDLY, LET’S COMPARE GOD’S COVENANT TO
THE BELIEVER, WITH NOAH’S COVENANT—Isaiah 54: 8: In a little wrath I hid my
face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on
thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9: For this is as the waters of Noah unto me:
God
compares this covenant to the covenant God made with Noah in this way: Isaiah 54: 9:…for as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would
not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
Let’s
read God’s covenant to Noah in Genesis 8. The ark is a type of Christ. In Noah’s day, God judged the world
because of their sin against God. The
rain covered the earth, the waters from beneath were broken up, so God justly
killed all men because they sinned against God. The flood represents the
judgment of God upon sinners like us. But
instead of judging in himself, God judged Noah in the ark, when he sent the
flood upon the ark. Noah was inside the ark. The floods beat upon the ark rather
than upon Noah. So Noah lived and God was just.
Be sure to get this: Just as the whole world was judged in Noah’s day, when
God judged Christ on the cross, the whole world was judged at that time: God’s
elect were judged in Christ and the judgment of the rest of the world outside
of Christ was settled—their end was settled—because judgment was settled in
Christ. Like as the whole world was judged
when God sent the flood upon the ark: some in the ark; the rest outside the ark—so
it was when Christ died: some in Christ, the rest outside of Christ. Christ said, “Now is the judgment of this
world.” (Jn 12: 31) The only work that
remains in our day is for God to call those he redeemed with the good news that
we are redeemed. That is what the preaching of the gospel is. In the last day, in the last judgment, God
will declare publicly who is righteous in his Son; all the rest outside of
Christ shall be damned because they believed not the gospel and did not get in
Christ just as those in Noah’s day were damned because they believed not the
gospel Noah declared and refused to get into the ark.
Application: Sinner, hear this gospel today! Are you one for Christ died? Can you believe
him? All for whom he died, shall be made
by God to believe and each shall believe on Christ.
In the
passage we are about to read, the flood of judgment is over. The ark as
ascended up out of the water, Noah is delivered to the new world—
Genesis 8: 20: And Noah builded an altar unto
the LORD;
This is
a picture of Christ, ascending to the throne of God, presenting himself to the
Father—Christ is our Altar and Christ is the offering which God is pleased
with.
Genesis 8: 20:…and took of every clean beast,
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21: And the
LORD smelled a sweet savour;
Christ
did this for a chosen people—for us who believe.
Ephesians 5: 2:…Christ also hath loved us, and hath given
himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Christ
loved his people. Christ gave himself for us—in our room and stead—the same way
that Noah’s ark bore the flood of judgment in place of Noah, so Christ gave
himself for us and bore the flood of judgment in our room and stead. Christ
gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
savour--Christ is the offering and the sacrifice that satisfied God—satisified
judgment, on behalf of those for whom he died. Christ ascended out of judgment
to the Father and presented himself and God smelled a sweet savour.
Application: Believer, outside of Christ God smells an abomination
from us. But in Christ, God smells a sweet smelling savour from us.
So the picture
in our text is that work of redemption has been accomplished, for all God’s
elect. We are righteous—not by our
doing—by Christ’s doing. Christ
having finished the work is the one cause that God comes and makes this everlasting
covenant in our hearts, like as God came and made a covenant to Noah. Here was the covenant he made to Noah—Genesis 8: 21:…and the LORD said in his
heart,
God
said this into Noah’s heart. If God
makes his covenant with you today it will be through this gospel I am
preaching. If God makes his covenant with you today ti will be by God saying into
your heart as he did Noah. Here is the covenant God made with Noah—Genesis 8: 21:..I will not again curse the
ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is
evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as
I have done. 22: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
God’s
covenant with Noah is that the earth will never again be cursed by a flood. God
will see to it that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Our
text in Isiah 54 says, Isaiah 54: 6: For the LORD
hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of
youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God 7: For a small moment have I
forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8: In a little wrath
I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
We
sinned in Adam. It seemed to us God forsook us. He turned his face from us until
Christ came and bore the judgment of God in our place. Now, God has called us
and made this covenant in our heart, saying, “with great mercies will I gather
thee, with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy
Redeemer.”
Isaiah 54: 9: For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go
over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee.
Application: Believer, our judgment is forever settled in
Christ. God will no more be angry with
us. God will not more rebuke—judge us—because he judged his Son in our room and
stead. Sinner, if God has given you the ability to believe on Christ then you
can rest assured your judgment is setteled before God. You will never be
punished but have everlasting life with God.
III. THIRDLY, LET ME SHOW YOU TWO CONTRAST
BETWEEN THE COVENANT GOD MAKES WITH THE BELIEVER AND THE COVENANT GOD MADE WITH
NOAH—
First,
our covenant is everlasting and eternal, whereas Noah’s was only temporal. God put a limit on his covenant to
Noah, while the earth remains—Genesis 8:
22: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and
summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
The ark
in Noah’s day was only a picture. It only saved from temporal judgment. So God
only made an earthly covenant with Noah. But God put no time limit on his
covenant with his people—Isaiah 54: 10:
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Christ
is eternal God. What Christ accomplished is eternal. So God’s covenant with us
is eternal
Application: Believer, we have an everlasting & eternal covenant
of peace established by our God in Christ.
The
second contrast is in God’s token of assurance to us. God gave Noah a temporal, temporary token to
assure him—a rainbow set in the cloud—Genesis
9:11: And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood
to destroy the earth. 12: And God said, This is the token of the covenant which
I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for
perpetual generations: 13: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a
token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14: And it shall come to pass,
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15: 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 become a flood to
destroy all flesh. 16: And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon
it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
But our
assurance is Christ at the right hand of God.
God raised and set Christ as he did the rainbow to be a token of
assurance to his people. Christ is the Covenant of his people.
Isaiah 49:8 Thus
saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of
salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a
covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the
desolate heritages;
God set
the rainbow in the clouds above us, God set Christ at his right hand.
Hebrew 1:3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high;
Revelation 10: 1: And I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2: And he had
in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his
left foot on the earth, 3: And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth:
and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
God
looks upon the rainbow, not upon us—God said, “I will look upon it,”—God looks
upon his Son, not upon us.—“he shall see his Seed, he shall prolong his days.”
(Is 53: 10) God, looking upon the rainbow, is the one who remembers his
covenant and keeps his covenant, not us—God said, “I will look upon it, that I
may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of
all flesh that is upon the earth.”—even better, God looks upon Christ remembers
his covenant with his people. The rainbow is an empty bow, pointed up, but it
has no arrow in it—Christ holds a bow, but the arrow of justice has forever
been shot and settled in Christ.
Application: Let me end by saying to you sinners, who believe Christ,
by this everlasting covenant, which God has made with us in Christ, we can say
with David,
2 Samuel 23:5: Although my house be not so with God; yet
he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:
for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to
grow.
And to
you who do not yet believe on Christ, hear God speak,
Isaiah 55:3: Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear,
and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David.
Amen!