And there is a deliverance greater and mightier than all, of which every faithful servant in the gospel is enjoying, at once, both the hope and the benefit; a deliverance, of which Noah’s was a type, from the bondage and penalty of sin; from eternal misery, and ruin. Are we penetrated with a sense of this marvellous mercy? Do we worship our great Redeemer in spirit and in truth? Do we love Him with all our heart and soul? Do we proclaim abroad our gratitude and love, in the presence of a contemptuous world? Noah was immediately and powerfully reminded of the divine goodness accorded to himself, by beholding the face of nature all desolate and void: and thus, when we behold around us the dismal ravages of sin, and contemplate, with the eye of faith, the ruin which they will finally bring, are there not afforded to _us_, exulting as we are in the hope of our own redemption, abundant memorials of the favour of God to ourselves? “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who redeemeth thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.” { 71}
My brethren, if we would find, as “Noah found, grace in the eyes of the Lord,” we must be like him, in faith and obedience, in “faith which worketh by love.” We must be ready, at the divine command, to leave the “pomps and vanity of a wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh,” and prepare the means of our deliverance, in the way which God mercifully points out. We must dare to be singular in the midst of a gainsaying and reviling people; and maintain our integrity in the face of a backsliding age. If, in the hour of danger and destruction, we would have God for our deliverer and friend, we must seek Him and serve Him, whilst we are in health and safety: thus will He be our portion in life, in death, in judgment, and for ever.
We are hereby led, in the last place, to consider the promise and pledge, which God was pleased to afford to the patriarch immediately after the flood; that “the waters would no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth—and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” Whether there had ever been a rainbow before the flood, is a point that cannot absolutely be determined; probably not; but if there had been, it makes no difference; the bow was then consecrated to be the token of a covenant of mercy, between God and man; and whenever the descending shower and the darkened sky recal to mind his former vengeance on the ungodly, we may take comfort on beholding this bright display of majesty and beauty, “this faithful witness in heaven;” { 73} our hearts may then be gladdened by the remembrance and assurance of God’s everlasting love: we behold the seal of heaven, ratifying the promise of divine favour: and the believer may justly regard it, not only as a token of security against a future deluge, but also as a hopeful intimation of God’s mercy in all the storms of this mortal life, in every threatening flood. We may view it, with delighted eyes, as a blessed memorial of the truth and faithfulness of that Almighty Protector, whose word is pledged for the preservation of His people, at all times and under all possible circumstances. His mercies, of providence and grace, can never fail; and an earnest of these mercies we may discover, when we look upon the bow in the cloud; it is, in a secondary sense at least, emblematical of God’s everlasting covenant with His faithful people, that He will “never leave them nor forsake them.”