I Give You Everything (Genesis 9:3)

 


Thursday, January 23, 2025


Psalms 54; 55:1-12

Genesis 9

John 8:21-30


I Give You Everything (Genesis 9:3)


God’s increase of the post-Flood resurrection continues. In the Garden there were forbidden plants; now all the plants are for eating. Adam was cursed with having to sweat and work the soil for food; but now that God has washed away the initial wave of evil, Noah may eat the animals as well. As befitting one bearing the image of God Most High, the fear and dread of man is upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. God has given humanity “everything”.


There is still a restriction, however. But it is not the restriction of a certain plant; and the meaning of the restriction is made more obvious. Blood itself is off the table, because blood means life, and everything that God has been doing has been for the sake of human life. God is so jealous of human life, in fact, that if anyone or anything takes a human life then they forfeit their own.


I give you everything, said God to Noah. Everything except that which threatens human life. As Noah’s descendants, that gift extends to us, as well. To have been given everything in God’s creation is grace upon grace; even though the intention of our heart is evil from our youth, God gives us everything. God’s goodness to us knows no bounds.


The importance of blood is a theme that runs through the rest of the Bible. Ultimately, it points to the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, that washes away our sins once and for all. The restriction against blood given to Noah finds its fulfilment in the cross of Christ. God gives us everything in order for human life to be in abundance; and the source of abundant life is Christ himself, given to us through his blood.


Are you saved by the blood of Jesus? Has God given you everything in Christ? How will you make use of everything in creation as an image-bearer and adopted child of God?


God of the eternal covenant: wash me in the blood of Jesus so that my sins may be blotted out, and give me abundant life in him.

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