Old Testament: Genesis 9:8-17 (Pentecost 10: Series B)
Old Testament: Genesis 9:8-17 (Pentecost 10: Series B)
Here is your sign, the Son of God who took the Law and gave you the Gospel by His saving death and resurrection.
Our text for this Sunday needs no in-depth introduction. The Flood has just destroyed all the inhabitants of the earth, besides Noah and his family, eight in all, and all the animals, who He brought from death to life through the water. This text is hands down and simple Law, then Gospel. God has brought death, but He is eager to repopulate the earth with life (verse 7). He makes a promise with Noah and his family, but more than that, He makes a promise with the whole of creation that He will never again destroy the earth with another flood.
When God makes promises, though, they are not abstract concepts. No, when He makes promises they are concrete. He makes His promises tangible, visible, and real. He provides a sign so you can know these promises are for real and for you. God has given in this text a “sign” (verse 12) of His promise to end His righteous wrath for sin. Of course, we know it is the rainbow, but it is also an excellent foreshadowing of the even greater sign that God has given us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Here we can recall what the shepherds were told about Him: “This will be a SIGN to you; You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). This babe is a literal sign in the promised Word of salvation who takes on real, tangible flesh and blood (Genesis 3:15; John 1:14). God gave His Son as the greater means of grace than Noah’s ark. Jesus came to bring you from death to life through faith in Him (John 3:16).
God gave His Son as the greater means of grace than Noah’s ark. Jesus came to bring you from death to life through faith in Him.
Perhaps some of you are familiar with the Blue-Collar Comedy Tour. In it, Bill Engvall had a bit he would do called: “Here’s Your Sign.” His refrain would come as the punch line to several head shakingly, humorous fails. This could be a humorous way to get at the Law and serve the Gospel in our proclamation as well. Spend some time in the sermon rehearsing all of those head shakingly, humorous fails of God’s people as they stumbled or ran into their own hubris in the Old Testament. Each one will end with the Engvall-esque line “Here’s Your Sign.” As you do this, be sure to highlight the signs God used to point His people to that serious and future sign of the Christ. They are the things like a rainbow, the blood of a lamb on a doorpost, manna, a bronze serpent, water from a rock, a fleece for Gideon, and so many more, each ending with the refrain: “Here’s Your Sign.” Then, you get to the Gospel of Luke and here is the True Sign. You meet John the Baptist who points to Jesus as the Lamb as a sign. Jesus points at the bread and the wine in the Supper as a sign of His real presence for the forgiveness of sin. He tells Nicodemus to look to the cross (John 3:14) for salvation. Paul points to Christ as the rock (1 Corinthians 10:4) and to so much more with the folded-up linen in an empty tomb. But here is your sign that you survived the flood of God’s wrath for your sin and have been saved by God in Christ, the waters of your baptism. Just look at 1 Peter 3:18-21 and see there the sign of Baptism which connects you to the story of our text but more significantly to the saving work of God in Christ on the cross and resurrected for you (Romans 6:3-4). Here is your sign, the Son of God who took the Law and gave you the Gospel by His saving death and resurrection.
The best structure to guide this way of preaching the text is the Frame Refrain Structure:
“This sermon structure uses a single image (sign) in the opening, throughout, and at the closing of the sermon for the hearers. In the opening use of the image, the preacher describes the image and then offers a thematic statement (Here’s Your Sign) that he associates with the image. The central body of the sermon then becomes a preaching of that thematic statement. The thematic statement becomes a refrain which holds the sermon together. The preacher uses that thematic statement to interpret the text and to apply the text to the lives of the hearers. It often helps if the refrain is gospel-centered so it enables the preacher to proclaim the Gospel as it is heard in the text, the theological teaching, and the lives of the hearers today. The sermon concludes by returning to the image (creating a frame around the body of the sermon) and offering the hearers a final climactic statement of the refrain.”[1]
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Genesis 9:8-17.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Genesis 9:8-17.
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach Genesis 9:8-17.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
Lectionary Podcast- Blake Martzowka of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN walks us through Genesis 9:8-17.
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[1] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/imagistic-structures/frame-refrain/
