OT Promise 3: No further Curse

  1. No further Curse

Genesis 8:23 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

After the Flood and after Noah sacrificed to the Lord, the Lord made a covenant with Noah (and all his descendants, which is everybody). He promised that He would not again curse the ground. He would not ever again send another great flood to kill every living thing on the earth. The original curse in the Garden came upon the earth because of the sin of man. Again the Lord cursed the earth with the Flood on account of the sin of man. Sin and violence increases on the earth until the Lord must put a stop to it with a judgment.

The next time the judgment will be by fire, not by water, and it will be final for it will burn up everything in the universe. God will create a new heaven and a new earth (universe) in which righteousness dwells after the final judgment by fire. Until then, we enjoy the promise that a global flood will never again cover the earth. The ground has been cursed enough, and we live with it.

The original curse was placed upon the innocent man, Jesus, on the cross. “Cursed is every man that hangs on a tree.” Jesus took the curse of sin upon Himself and suffered the judgment of God in our place. We have received the judgment of God upon our sinful self when we were baptized, which is a picture of the Flood. Just as the Flood drowns and destroys living things, so also does Baptism drown and destroy the old self so that a new self may arise to life. 1 Peter 3:20-21: “Eight persons were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 

We activate and energize this Event when we remember our baptism through daily repentance and faith. God will not again curse the ground more than it has been cursed in the Garden. Jesus has taken the curse, but we still live with the results of sin and curse. We live in two worlds, the cursed one and the non-cursed one. The watery judgment destroys the self-life in the spirit. The fiery judgment will destroy it forever. Meanwhile, there will be no further curse, or major upheaval, until then.