Integral to the doctrine of providence is the covenant God established with the entire human race, as part of the cosmos, recorded in Genesis 8-9. “Noah and his sons” (Gen. 9:1) are the human race following the flood. The covenant entails the restoration and renewal of the created order, encompassing procreation, dominion, and the food supply. It comes in a new context, after the fall, the ravages of sin, and judgment. It is therefore with the fallen human race that this covenant with Noah is enacted, together with the rest of creation, animate and inanimate. In this covenant, God promises preservation from universal judgment by a flood.
This covenant addresses the modern-day threat that humanity will be destroyed by a nuclear war, of great concern at times such as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, the cold war confrontation of the mid-1980s, and escalating tensions relating to North Korea. The human race could now be wiped out within an hour or two on a Friday afternoon. Environmental catastrophe is another threat; Moltmann comments, “The standard of living in the USA, Japan and the European Community cannot be universalized without ecologically exterminating humanity.” The Noachic covenant counters this notion, as well as the fear of universal annihilation through a collision with a large asteroid or an eventual cosmic implosion. God affirms that he is in charge of the universe and covenants to preserve it so as to bring his purposes to realization.
No doubt there will continue to be major catastrophes; this is in part the result of sin (Rom. 8:20-23). Pandemics and wars have eliminated one-third of the world’s population on occasions. The Black Death and World War I are stark examples of such horrors. However, in the Noachic covenant God promises that a universal judgment will not occur throughout the age until his planned final judgment. This requires, on our part, active care for the environment, responsible political leadership, and prayer.
The Noachic covenant does not promise simply a restoration of the Adamic state. The gifts of creation are extended. The human food supply is increased to include animal flesh as well as fruit and vegetables. The original creation was but the beginning, not the goal. Moreover, it establishes the covenantal responsibility of all people to God. None can evade it, for it relates to Noah and his sons. It underlines the responsibility of humanity to care for the environment.
Moreover, the Noachic covenant is linked with redemption, the goal of which is the renovation of the cosmos. The New Testament affirms that Christ is the Mediator of creation, who upholds all things by the word of his power (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:15-20; Heb. 1:1-3; Revelation 21-22). This covenant displays common grace; God’s benevolence extends to the whole human race, irrespective of the redemptive status of any part of it: “God blessed Noah and his sons” (Gen. 9:1).
Robert Letham, Systematic Theology, 294-295.
Two features characterize the revelation of this period [i.e., the period developing and leading up to Noachian revelation]. In the first place, its significance lies not in the sphere of redemption, but in the sphere of the natural development of the race, although it has ultimately an important bearing on the subsequent progress of redemption. Second, revelation here bears on the whole a negative rather than a positive character. It contents itself with bestowing a minimum of grace. A minimum could not be avoided either in the sphere of nature or of redemption, because in the former sphere, without at least some degree of divine interposition, collapse of the world-fabric would have resulted, and in the latter the continuity of fulfilment of the promise would have been broken off, had special grace been entirely withdrawn. These two features find their explanation in the purpose of the period in general. It was intended to bring out the consequences of sin when left so far as possible to itself. Had God permitted grace freely to flow out into the world and to gather strength within a short period [during the post-fall / pre-flood era], then the true nature and consequences of sin would have been very imperfectly disclosed. Man would have ascribed to his own relative goodness what was in reality a product of the grace of God. Hence, before the work of redemption is further carried out, the downward tendency of sin is clearly illustrated, in order that subsequently in the light of this downgrade movement the true divine cause of the upward course of redemption might be appreciated. This constitutes the indirect bearing of the period under review on redemption. . . .
We now come to the Noachian Revelation which took place after the flood. In this positive, constructive measures were taken for the further carrying out of the divine purpose. . . . God declares, ‘I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake . . . neither will I smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease’. The regularity of nature in its great fundamental processes will henceforth continue. There is, however, added to this a qualification–‘while the earth remaineth’. This pertains to the eschatological background of the deluge [cp. 1 Pet. 3:20, 21; 2 Pet. 2:5].
Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, 51-52.