THE PROMISE IN THE STORM

Genesis 9:8-17

Sunday, July 30, 2006

I wish you could have seen it. It was amazing. It had been raining early that day last June in Saint Louis. I was there for some of my doctoral classes. When it rains in Saint Louis—or anywhere in the Midwest—it does not just rain hard for twenty minutes and move on, as it does in Denver. It storms—just a few weeks ago, a storm made the national news in Saint Louis, knocking out the power for 300,000 people. That June morning saw one of those kinds of storms.

I decided to wait until it stopped to take my morning walk. I went out about 5:30 in the morning. The sun had just broken above the clouds on the horizon; it was shining through the Gateway Arch. That was not the amazing sight, though. Just above the Arch was this gorgeous double rainbow. It was brilliant, and it was one of those three-fourths halo rainbows—as you see from the airplane window. I stood there just looking at the beauty of it all. I noticed I wasn’t the only one.

Rush hour was just beginning, but this time it was different. People getting on their bus stopped at looked at the rainbow. Cars pulled over—this was a major intersection, Clayton Road and Skinker Boulevard—to look. People got out and talked to each other—this was Saint Louis, remember, people do not just chat! Nevertheless, they did that morning, believers and non-believers, sharing a moment of beauty and hope in the glory of that rainbow. Whether they had ever heard God’s promise in Genesis 9 or not, there was this moment shared after the storm, wanting hope, wanting a promise that there was beauty and a reason for hope.

Then, as rainbows do, it faded. The sun rose higher in the sky and the storm moved further away, and the rainbow was gone. People got on their buses. Cars resumed their traffic and people went back into their lives. The moment for hope and beauty to be shared was passed. That is why you and I have Genesis. The rainbow might pass, but the promise God makes to Noah and his family does not. In Genesis, God makes His promise after the storm. God calls us again to listen to His promises, both in Genesis but also in Jesus. In Jesus, we have that promise after the storm, to be sure, but also, we have the promise in the midst of the storm.

What promise?

As we reflect on the answer, we need to remember to listen to God’s Word, rather than our desires. Certainly, we would like to hear the promise made to Noah to preclude any ruin. We would want to hear God promise that there would be no more storms, tsunamis, earthquakes—no more ruin at all. Such hopes on our part set God up, because we can walk the streets of New Orleans post-Katrina or visit Florida, still recovering from four hurricanes. We have seen images from Indonesia and China and we know that storms, floods and earthquakes happen. Putting our hopes in God’s mouth set Him up for blame. How easy it is to accuse Him of being unfaithful to His promise. (Never mind He never promised such a thing).

Our wishing for a better world underscores the problem that led to Creation’s ruin in the first place. We do not believe God is doing the job He should be doing and we do believe we can do better. Such thinking brought sin into Creation at the beginning and it continues to ruin our relationship with our Creator. Before sin, God calls everything, “very good.” After sin brings death and separation, Creation is ruined, too. We are at odds not only with God and with each other; we are also at odds with Creation. We would blame God, when the blame—if it can be assigned at all—belongs with us. Our hopes are stained with sin, our ears plugged with our words and plans. Recognizing this, we are ready to listen to God.

God promises Noah He will never again destroy all flesh with a flood. An odd promise until you remember the context. Sin totally ruined Creation to the point that God was disgusted by the perversion. His plan for rescue in Genesis 6 was to start over with Noah and the ark. The flood was a plan of rescue and salvation. After the flood, after the storm, God promises not to destroy everything to save it. He promises to find another way to rescue.

God’s response to sin is indeed revulsion, but His promise to you and me is salvation and rescue. He chooses not to destroy Creation or all flesh to accomplish this rescue or offer a new beginning. Instead, He chooses to destroy His Son. No matter how amazing a double rainbow is—no matter how amazing Jesus walking on water is—God is carrying out His plan of rescue through His willing Son, Jesus, is even more amazing!

The One through Whom Creation came into being is the One by Whom it is rescued. The Word, the Son, was spoken, and Creation happened. The Author of Creation died so that Creation would be rescued.

The promise spoken to Noah not to destroy all flesh becomes flesh in Jesus. He is the Promise Himself. He is the Promise Kept. God does not destroy all flesh to rescue flesh—He lets His Son die in our place. With His life, Jesus pays the price to ransom us from sin’s power and He dies so that the penalty of death for sin would also be paid.

Jesus’ resurrection is God’s completion of His promise. The new beginning that was God’s plan after the Flood is completed in Christ’s resurrection. The Apostle Paul spoke of this completion as he wrote to the Corinthians, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” The promise made to Noah after the storm is kept. God is faithful to keep His Word. We can trust Him.

God makes more promises in Jesus. At His Ascension, Jesus promises, “I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth—or the end of the world, it can be translated either way.” What does that mean for you and me as we live lives facing storms and trouble in a Creation still waiting for redemption to be completed at that end? Do we have a promise in the storm?

Jesus invites you and me to trust God’s promises. Knowing Jesus is not a guarantee there will be no storms—the disciples found that out in the Gospel lesson today. It is a guarantee that He will meet you in the storm. One of the promises with which He meets us is the one from Genesis: the storm is not sent to destroy you. God has carried out His judgment on Jesus. The storm may happen still in your life—not to punish but to call you and me back to trust. Jesus calls us to trust Him with the same words with which He called His disciples: “Take heart; It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Take heart. Be encouraged. Let what He gives you from His heart—forgiveness, help, and rescue—strengthen your heart. Let His hope change your from the inside so that your heart is encouraged for each day’s living. Be confident of your God’s love and rescue—you know how much He loves you and how far He will go to rescue you by looking at Jesus.

It is I. The One who is with you is the One who has overcome death and sin and the power of the devil. John says it so beautifully in one of his epistles: “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” The One who is with you always is able to rescue and help. More than that, He promises He will.

Do not be afraid. The disciples were afraid of what they did not know. We might be as well—we do not know how fierce the storm is—but we know Who meets us in the storm. No ghost--this is Jesus, the One who has been raised from the dead. Listen to Jesus and trust the One who meets you in the storm with His promises.

After the first time I preached this sermon—with a different ending—someone pointed out the double rainbow here in our sanctuary. The two stained-glass windows on either side of the cross form something of a double-rainbow. Unlike the double rainbow that morning in Saint Louis, you and I don’t have to wonder what promise or what hope might be there for us after the storm. Right between our “rainbows” in the chancel hangs the cross, reminding us of the promise made after the storm that has been kept in Christ. The cross also reminds us of the One who meets us with His promise in the midst of the storms—that He is able to help so that you and I can live in trust and hope. A trust and hope that last, longer than any rainbows.