3. God’s Promise of Authority and Sign of Hope

Genesis 9:13 Reads


1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.


6 “ Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.

7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”

8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants[b] after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: 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. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

This is a very extensive and beautiful promise. It begins with verse 1, which reads

“1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

This is important because everything that follows is in this context, God Blessed Noah and his son’s, so God’s Favour was towards them. So what follows in because of God’s favour towards them, It’s reassurance to the Noah and his sons. God commands Noah and His son’s to be “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”, Which literally means to reproduce and fill the earth with the mankind. We see evidence of this command being fulfilled by man, as almost every region of the earth that is inhabitable is filled. It started under this Promise that God made with Noah. It is repeated in Genesis 9:7. It’s a beautiful command because God’s favour was towards them and He told them to reproduce to build up mankind to grow and expand as a people.

In the next verse, God grants man ( through this promise with Noah ) power of all inferior creatures, both animals of the land and animals of the sky. This is an important note because in the world there are teachings that all creation is as one and equal. This is not true, God gave Mankind dominion over the animals both of land and sky into our hands. This is also the Revival of a previous command of God which can be found in Genesis 1:28 –

28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

But there is a key difference here which we may not see if we’re not careful, that is before we were ruling by the establishment of Love and God’s Order, now we are ruling by Fear, because before we were not fallen into a state of corruption, we lived in a state of peace in the Garden of Eden, animals had no desire to eat us nor for us to eat them but that is no longer true, So we rule in fear because of sin’s influence on the world and the fall taking place. We still have the benefit of this promise. If it hadn’t been for this promise, animals may group up and rebel against man, especially considering if it hadn’t been for the authority over animals that God placed in our hands, we would constantly be in struggle with wild life. While we still suffer incidents with wildlife, animals have been restrained by God’s Command, It’s a beautiful promise because this applies not only to those who acknowledge God both those who do not. Again showing how much God’s heart is towards mankind, that even those who turn a blind eye to Him, He has blessed.


The next verse which is Genesis 9:3 which reads –

3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herb

This is an expansion on something God commanded in the Garden, that was in Genesis 1:29 which reads –

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

Originally man was created to just eat food from the earth and not intended to eat the beasts of the earth, and the beasts of the earth were also intended to only eat vegetation and so all lived in harmony and peace. This is outstanding because it does make further sense of why God made a promise that the beasts would fear man, because now beasts of the earth also eat on meat. So the introduction of fear amongst the beasts towards man is a very gracious gift from God. Prior to this, it wasn’t necessary but due to the fall and now the nature of even animals changing due to mankind. God says “given” which confirms to us that He holds all things in His Divine Authority even in corruption.



With the Promises of God there is often a condition, now in this promise there is not a condition to the Promise, because God has given this Promise onto all man through Noah, but there is a command attached to it. That is found in Genesis 4:4 which reads –

4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

This is important text, especially in context to old testament law, Because the Blood was of great significance to sacrifices which were used as atonement for there sins, It could not be something that is to be viewed as cheap. The very “life” of man depended upon the blood of the sacrifices. Thus God commanded this to illustrate that anything given up in offering to the Lord cannot be viewed or treated as common. This is why the first fruits are important, because the first fruits of any crop or live stock are before stability has been established to that farm or live stock, so to sacrifice it is risky and uncommon. As we see with Cain and Abel, Abel gave the first fruits to The Lord God ( Genesis 4:4 )



Now in Genesis 9:5-6, We see we are beings under authority, Everything we do will be held accountable to us, this doesn't change when Jesus Christ fulfilled the law either ( Matthew 12:36 ). In the Old Testament, we are accountable to Him. We do not have authority to end our own lives or the lives of another. God says that we shall be accountable to Him, Not only for our lives but also if we were to end another’s life. Prior to the flood, the nation before lived very wickedly archaeologist’s who researched into this time, have found there to be an exceedingly high amount of murders and violent crimes.



Verse 9-11, God establishes His covenant with Noah and his descendants which carries on to this day. I absolutely love this

“And as for Me, Behold, I establish my covenant with you…”

“Behold” literally is a Call to Attention, LOOK!, Observe!. God is saying there is something of importance that Noah is about to witness and must be alert to. What was important is the words that follow. “I establish my covenant with you…” An ever lasting promise from God was poured onto Noah, his family and all his descendants. Our God is so gracious in His actions, He Blesses so many through one person. It’s outstanding what God does for the loved ones of a person who is obedient and has a desire towards God. To this day, we witness this promise; Everyday is a testimony to God’s work through this Covenant. This is a Covenant God made with You.

Behold! -

What are your desires today ? Desire this one thing, to be near and pleasing to God. From that everything else will stem. ( read Psalm 27 )


God says this not for the benefit of His Promise, but to the Benefit of Noah, that Noah may have confidence in the Word God has spoken, that he may know that God spoke a truth, and to the extent of which that truth operates.

( Scientific Speculation ) - It’s believed by many scientists and evident to them that during this time there was a canopy over the earth of water, which would of drastically effected the weather and such. It’s evidence that this canopy is what God brought to earth to bring about the great flood. So imagine Noah, literally witnessed the world change drastically and all by God’s Word and Command.

In verse 11 – God speaks of the promise not to flood the earth again nor harm all the animals of the earth again. In the midst of the world we live in with constant warning of Global warming, we as Bible believing Christians. Holding to God’s Word as Truth, We know that certain things will not pass on the earth due to God’s word as a protection, we witness locational floods and small floods, God isn’t saying that floods won’t befall the earth but He is saying that, the entire earth shall not fall to a global flood as it once did before.



“12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.”

I think the important thing we take notice here of is, why God gives us signs ?

I believe this can be found in our nature, Signs are given to us for our reassurance and to help us believe, They are gift’s from God to help reaffirm our Faith and reminders of God’s Presence. God uses them because the nature of God’s Love is so intense and abstract to our human culture and society, it’s a hard for us to process. God provides these signs to give us security. This is a perfect example of God uses a sign as a point of reassurance of His promise, It’s for our sake, that the Rainbow has become a symbol of God’s Covenant it’s a gift from God to remind us. Jesus Christ said in John 4:48 -

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

I saw a rainbow 2 days ago, and was reminded of Jesus Christ and how His Love allowed us to have a relationship with Him from earth to on High.

We being humans are more affected by our senses than anything else, we can easily be deceived by our senses, that’s why it’s important for us to have a good grounding in God’s word, In His word we find Truth, that isn’t subject to our natural bodies. God has provided us this truth, so that we may be guarded against deception. God also provides signs that testify of His Majesty and in this case His Merciful Love that was Poured upon the earth.

A Rainbow has significance both to non-believers and believers, to non-believers people still see it as a symbol of Hope ( though what Hope they do not know ), We believers of Jesus Christ, Know that this is a Symbol of God’s Mercy and Love, It’s a Symbol of Hope in God’s Order in the world, It’s a Symbol that God is God.



This promise has great significance, As we went through verse by verse, the meaning of what God is saying and what God is giving to us. He commanded into us and blessed us, with authority and protection by His Promise. From that moment onwards there was a New Govern for mankind and new rules amongst the land.


Isaiah 54:9-10 says –

9 “ For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

I think Isaiah 54:9-10 illustrates, God’s heart towards His Covenants and more so His Love towards myself and You.