God made physical laws for the earth. These are laws like gravity, the invisible force that pulls all things down to the ground. When physical laws are broken, this causes other things to happen. For example, if something falls from a great height, it will be damaged. If something falls into a fire, it will be burned. In the flood, God was showing us that sin affects everything in the creation. God also made moral laws, which we should respect. These moral laws of right and wrong and the physical laws of nature are tied together. Sin breaks moral laws and can also bring physical or natural suffering. If God had not sent the flood to cleanse the world and to show his judgment on sin, man’s evil would have totally destroyed what God had created.
God wants to use his mercy when deciding how to judge people. Without his mercy, we would have no chance of living in a world ruled by Satan. Through Prophet Noah, God gave mankind another chance to walk the path of righteousness. God’s judgment also offers a way for people to be rescued from their sin. In the case of Noah, God saved him and his family from judgment by keeping them safe from the water in the great boat. He saved the lives of all kinds of animals so that the creation could have a new beginning. God has the power and authority to judge and destroy people who sin. Yet, he does so with mercy for those who seek his true path.
God made a special agreement (covenant) with Noah. We read that Noah offered a sacrifice to God after coming out of the boat. God said:
“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.… Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth…. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.… But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.… I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood.… This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you…. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth…. I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Genesis 8.21-9.16
We see the great importance that God has placed upon this covenant. It is a holy agreement between God and man. This does not mean that man is equal to God. It rather means that God is full of kindness. He can be trusted. God is true to his Word. When God makes a promise, we can believe it because he understands our need for mercy and he will never lie to us. He kindly calls us to obey him. We can lift up our eyes to his holy ways and see the way to escape the judgment upon sin.
We have seen how important blood is in the affairs between God and man. After Cain killed Abel, Abel’s blood cried to God from the earth. God warned that the spilling of blood must be judged. God shows us that blood stands for life itself, and life is the holy gift of God to every man and woman. Life is a very special gift from God, and it should be honored and protected. This explains why God instructed prophets like Noah, Abraham and Moses that animals should be sacrificed to God. The sacrificing of animals was a symbol of how important blood is. The spilling of the animal’s blood says how important it is to come to God with the greatest gift of all: life. Many years after the time of Noah, God revealed to Prophet Moses in the third book of the Torah, Leviticus, the following words about sacrificing animals:
I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Leviticus 17.10-11