Genesis 9:5-7
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
These are weighty words.
The Flood is over, but the problem of sin is not. Noah steps into a washed world, but not a sinless one. So the Lord begins to lay down order for life after the Flood, and He starts with something foundational. Human life is sacred because man is made in the image of God.
That is the heart of the passage.
When a man strikes another man, he is not merely harming another creature. He is assaulting one who bears the imprint of the Creator. That is why the language here is so serious. God is teaching Noah that life is to be treated with gravity, with reverence, with a sense that every human being matters because God says he does.
And when a culture forgets that, everything starts to come apart.
Once life is cheapened, justice starts to weaken. Once justice weakens, violence spreads. Once people stop seeing the image of God in man, they begin to measure worth by strength, usefulness, age, beauty, or convenience. But the Lord cuts straight through all of that. Man is made in His image. That is enough. That settles the question.
That means the unborn matter.
The elderly matter.
The weak matter.
The unnoticed matter.
The difficult person, the broken person, the poor person all matter because they bear the image of God.
Then in the middle of this sober word, the Lord says again, “Be fruitful, and multiply.” I like that. God speaks strongly about justice because life is precious, but His desire is still life, fruitfulness, and order on the earth. He is not speaking this way because He delights in severity. He is speaking this way because He values what He has made.
And that makes me think again about how badly we need Jesus Christ. Because if man bears the image of God, then sin is even more serious than we tend to think. Hatred, violence, cruelty, and contempt are not light things. They are all part of the ruin sin has brought into the human race. Which means I need more than advice. I need forgiveness. I need cleansing. I need redemption.
And that is exactly what God has given.
The One in whose image man was made came into this world Himself.
The One we sinned against walked among us.
The One who values human life so deeply laid down His own life to save us.
That is why the Cross shines so brightly. It shows me both the seriousness of sin and the greatness of God’s love. Life matters so much to God that He sent His Son to redeem fallen men.
Beloved, never speak lightly about people. Never treat a human being as though he does not matter. God says he does. And if He says life is sacred, then I want to live that way, think that way, and thank Him for every person He places in front of me.