A New Beginning

A New Beginning

Genesis 8

It's still early enough in this new year to be able to commit to a new beginning and Genesis 8 gives us an attractive picture of a new beginning after the devastating flood. Noah was checking if the land had dried out and so he sends out a dove. We read in Genesis 8:11 (ESV, "And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth." We sometimes think that the dove with an olive leaf in it beak is a symbol for peace, but in this Genesis passage it's more a picture of new creation. The water has subsided, the land is coming back to life and the plants have started to regrow.

Genesis 8 points us to a number of things about a new beginning.

It begins with God.

The God who remembers.  

Verse 1 says, "But God remembered Noah". ' To “remember” in the Bible is often not merely to recall people to mind but to express concern for them, to act with loving care for them. When God remembers his children, he does so “with favor” (Ne 5:19; 13:31)' (NIV Study Bible note).

The God of mercy. 

We see the mercy of God towards sinful humanity in    verses 21-22 (ESV), '[21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. [22] While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

It begins with God's Creative Spirit. 

As the Spirit of God hovered creatively over the unformed, void, early creation to form and fill (Genesis 1:2), so God's creative "wind" (which is His Spirit) blows over the the earth after the flood to re-create (Gen. 8:1).

When God was launching the new creation ministry of Jesus, 'the Spirit of God descended like a dove and coming to rest on' Jesus (Matthew 3:16). This is a link to the new creation dove with an olive leaf in her mouth after the flood.

It begins with worship

Genesis 8:20 (ESV) says, "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.Genesis  [21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth."

As we worship the LORD, His mercy opens the way for sinners to experience new beginnings.