01 Mar Post-Flood Promises
Genesis 8:22
22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
This promise God made follows Noah and his family leaving the Ark and making an offering to the Lord. God said He would never again curse the ground because of man, nor would He destroy all living creatures. Pursuant to that, verse above addresses four promises that are conditionally tied to however long the earth endures. Another passage in Psalm 119:90 mentions the endurance of the earth, “Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.” Here we see that God’s faithfulness is related to the endurance of the earth. These are the only two passages in the Bible that are based on the earth enduring. These are temporal promises as we know that the earth is not eternal. To add scriptural basis to that is the passage in Revelation 21:1, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” This is where the end of the promises based on “As long as the earth endures” will occur. So as long as the earth endures, let us examine what promised cycles to expect and how that affects us as God’s children.
Seedtime and harvest recognize the basic cycle of sowing and reaping. Seedtime is the expected process of placing seed in the ground. This presupposes that the seed has been collected and prepared at the end of the previous harvest for use at this time. Not being an agriculture expert by any means, the basic functions in this time can be inferred from what we generally know. Fields, vineyards, orchards, paddies, or whatever other types of growing environments are appropriate for crops must be prepared. Some require plowing, most if not all require fertilization, and so on prior to introducing seed for those crops requiring re-seeding. Orchards, with proper management, will continue to produce their fruit without re-seeding, unlike wheat for example.Harvest is the time during which the expected results of the seedtime are to be gathered. Care must be taken in observing weather patterns, the maturing of the crops, and fending off harmful invaders in the form of disease or pests.
This linked pattern of seedtime and harvest certainly has parallel spiritual implications for the believer. Relationships can be nourished by the proper planting of seeds and knowing when to expect results. This can be a very healthy cycle for how we can pour into the lives of people around us. It can also be helpful for us to recognize when others are pouring themselves into our lives as well. Of course, the ultimate relationship for this type of interaction is our relationship with our creator, savior, and Lord. The plowing, preparation, weeding out, and harvesting the results aren’t always comfortable processes.
Cold and heat is an interesting cycle to consider. Prior to the climactic flood it is generally assumed that there was not a large swing in temperatures in general. Some surmise that there was something like a vapor canopy that created a universal climate without extremes of cold or hot. God created an ideal climate, a universal greenhouse environment worldwide. One of the things that resulted from Noah’s flood was a much wider variation in temperature that could now be expected. Summer and winter was now also part of the normal seasonal cycle that could be counted on, as was day and night. Of these, day and night were specifically mentioned in the creation account and had been part of the original pattern in creation from the start.