Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

Sound Theology Has a Way of Doing That

In a Peanuts cartoon strip Lucy and Linus are staring out the window, watching it rain. The magnitude of the storm impresses Lucy. “Boy! Look at it pour. What if it floods the whole world?” “It won’t,” Linus assures her. In Genesis 9, God promised Noah that would never happen again. The sign of that promise is the rainbow.” Turning back to the window with a big smile on her face, Lucy says, “You’ve taken a great load off my mind.” Linus responds by saying, “Sound theology has a way of doing that.”
For the past several weeks we have been examining sections of the book of Hebrews that deal with the covenants in Scripture and the theology associated with these covenants. God relates to us covenantally. So, it is important to understand the concept of covenant in order to understand the language and teaching of Scripture. We learn something new about God and about our relationship to Him with each covenantal ceremony.
This week we will be looking at the theology stemming from God’s promise to Noah. The covenant with Noah tells us quite a bit about two things: mercy and hope. This week I want to look at how Noah is related to two major biblical figures and where he stands in the history of the covenants. The first comparison we’ll make is with Adam, and it’s there that we’re going to see hope. The second comparison we’ll make is with Jesus, and there we’re going to see how mercy is given to us. I think you’re going to appreciate how Noah is related to both of these men, and how the covenants that God makes are really one covenant of grace.
Speaking of the covenant of grace, we are quite naturally drawn to the night Jesus established the new covenant with us. On the night when Jesus was betrayed he offered the bread and the wine as a sign of the new covenant, which was in some ways remarkably similar to the covenant God made with Noah. Just as Noah could look at the rainbow and know that God’s judgment was past, so we can contemplate the emblems of the Lord’s Supper and know that His judgment for us is past. The storm is over. Christ bore the flood of God’s wrath for us, and gave us a sign to assure us. It is the sign God has given to us in Christ that there will be no more judgment. The judgment has fallen on Christ. He bears the full penalty of sin on our behalf. This takes a great load off our minds. Sound theology has a way of doing that.