I want you to take special notice of two, simple, little words in our text – "As" and "So". Those two words are the title of my message. They stand in our text like two hinges. Everything in the text hangs upon and is opened to us by these two words. Whenever you read them together in a text the meaning is – "As surely as the one is true so surely the other is true, "or" in the same manner as the one thing has been as the other shall be." These two words ("as" and "so") are used together numerous times in the Scriptures and are always full of instruction.
In John 5:21 and 26 they are used to show us and assure us of the absolute, sovereign, life-giving power of the Son of God.
In John 10:15 they assure us of Christ's omniscience and of his everlasting equality with the Father.
John 12:50 uses these two words ("as" and "so") to assure us of the authority and divinity of Christ's doctrine as our Divine Mediator.
John 14:31 uses these words ("As" and "So") to assure us of Christ's love as a man to the Father, and to show us what the evidence of love to God is – Obedience!
Look at John 15:9. Here our Lord Jesus assures us of his everlasting, immutable love to his people.
In Colossians 2:6. Paul uses these two little words ("As" and "So") to teach us how we are to live in this world – By Faith! – Trusting Christ!
Now, back here in Isaiah 54:9, the Lord God uses these words ("As" and "So") to assure his people in this world of the immutability of his covenant and of the immutability of his grace.
Proposition: In this text the Lord God himself uses Noah and the covenant he made with Noah as an allegory, a spiritual picture, to represent the Lord Jesus Christ and the covenant made with him on our behalf.
I. Noah stands in our text as a beautiful, instructive type of the Lord Jesus Christ.I cannot elaborate upon this now; but it is a theme worthy of much meditation and study. For the present, simply take note of the points of similarity between Noah and Christ, of when Noah was a type.
A. Noah's name means "rest." 1. Christ is our Rest, our Sabbath (Heb. 4:9-10).B. Noah, in a time of universal corruption and depravity, was the only man in all the world who was found righteous before God – (Gen. 6:9, 22; 7:1).
Like us, Noah was a sinner saved by grace. The only righteousness he had was the righteousness God gave him in Christ.
Yet, in so far as the type is concerned, Noah was the only righteous man in a fallen, ruined race of men. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ is the One Man, the only Man, upon whom the holy Lord God could look and say, "I am well-pleased." He is "The Lord our Righteousness." (Jer. 23:6).
1. By His Obedience to God's Law as our Representative!C. As Noah was A Preacher of Righteousness, So Too Was The Lord Jesus Christ – (Ps. 40:9-10).
1. In the eyes of the world Noah was a miserable failure – After 120 years of preaching no one believed him but his own family. But all his family believed him!
2. So Christ, after preaching for 3 ½ years appeared to the world to be an utter failure – Only 120 people believed him. But all his family believes him! All God's elect trust him!
D. As Noah built an ark for the saving of his house, so the Lord Jesus Christ built the ark of grace, redemption, and salvation for the saving of his house; and he is that ark!
1. The ark was built by divine design – "A body hast thou prepared.
2. The ark was built and provisions were made for a specific number of chosen sinners – (8 souls!) – (John 10:16).
3. All to whom Noah preached were urged to come into the ark.
4. There was plenty of room and abundant provision for all who entered into the ark – "All things are ready."
5. Allwho entered the ark were saved from the flood of God's wrath – (John 3:36).
6. The ones who entered into the ark and were saved by it were Noah's family, Those for whom the ark was made. – "Lo, I and the children!"
7. The wrath of God spent itselfupon the ark and those who were in it; and no wrath remained in God against Noah and his house – No Need to Fear– (Rom. 8:1; 4:8; 8:33-34).
E. It was with Noah that God made his covenant even as the covenant of grace was made for us with Christ our Mediator.
As the world is preserved from a flood of water by a covenant God made with Noah, so God's elect are preserved from the flood of divine wrath by a covenant made for us, with Christ before the world began.
II. But the primary point of our text is this – As the Lord God Swore to Noah that He would Never Again Flood the Earth With Water, So He has Sworn that He Will Never Be Wrath With or Punish His Elect for Any Reason.
What a word of grace and mercy this is! As there is absolutely no possibility of another universal flood, for any reason, so there is no possibility that the Lord our God will ever impute sin to, be angry with, or punish his elect! God has so thoroughly forgiven us of our sins, and so justly, that he will not and cannot be wrath with or punish us! That is the meaning of our text. "God, who cannot lie," will never break his oath, his covenant promise, for any reason.
Not only does our text mean "as" one oath or covenant is sure. "so" the other is; but in the same manner "as" God confirmed his oath and covenant to Noah, "so" he has confirmed his oath and covenant of grace to us. That is to say, "as" God promised Noah with a symbol, or sign, or token (the bow in the sky), that he will not destroy the earth again by water, "so" he has promised us with a symbol, a token, a sure sign, that he will not be wrath with or rebuke his chosen people.
A. In both cases the Lord God has made promise by an oath of what he will not do.Notice, there is not an "if", "perhaps," or "maybe" in either covenant. No Conditions! No Circumstances! No Secondary Considerations! The promise is absolute.
1. The Lord said to Noah, "I will not again destroy the earth with a flood.
The promise was, I repeat, absolute. He did not say, "Unless this or that contingency arises." He said, "I will not!" Under no circumstances, at no time, for no reason whatsoever will he destroy the earth with water.
a. Dark clouds arise, but no deluge!
b. Partial floods sweep over lands and nations, but no deluge! The covenant stands. It has never been broken and shall never be broken!
2. In exactly the same manner the Lord God has sworn, absolutely, "I will not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee."
Trials come. Persecutions arise. We pass through deep waters and fiery furnaces. It sometime looks like God is angry with us and feels like he is punishing us. But that can never be true. Read his promise again – "I will not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee!" We must not judge God's love, grace, and faithfulness by outward providence, anymore than we would imagine that when the rain falls he is about to destroy the earth with a flood!
C.H. Spurgeon said to his congregation, "Get a firm grip of this glorious truth, that there is not a drop of divine wrath in all your sufferings!"
I have no doubt that as there have been terrible convulsions in the earth in the past, there will be more in the future. But there will never be another universal flood. And I am sure that until time shall be no more, in the church of God and in our personal lives, as in the past, so in the future, there will be terrible convulsions. Physically, materially, morally, and spiritually. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." (v. 10).
Dark days and stormy ways we must endure. Our God has chosen us in the furnace of affliction. But all who trust him are "Safe in the arms of Jesus!" The foundation of God standeth sure!"
3. Here are five blessings of the covenant that demonstrate the utter impossibility of it ever being broken; five blessings of grace that say "Amen" to God's promise "I will not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee."
a. The Sin-Atoning Blood of Christ!There is such a close union between Christ and all his people that, if God's wrath should fall on any of his people it must fall upon Christ too!
c. The Immutability of God's Saving Grace!"The Father himself loveth you." He loved us from everlasting." He loved us without cause or condition. He loved us when there was nothing but sin in us. He loved us when he knew we would never be worthy of his love, except he make us worthy. He loved us, knowing full well all the evil that would be in us, with which we would requite his love. It cannot be reasonable to imagine that he would cease to love us now. The evil that is in us may take us by surprise; but it does not surprise him.
B. Briefly take notice of this one last thing in our text – In both covenants there were signs.
1. The Rainbow is the token of God's covenant with Noah. (Gen. 9:11-17)."As" in Noah's day "so" today only those who enter into the Ark can be saved. Only when you pass through the flood can you enjoy the covenant.
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