This morning we are looking at Genesis chapter 6 starting at verse 9 through to chapter 8
verse 19.
I won't read the entire passage just because of its length, but I'm going to begin by reading
the chapter 6, 9 through the end of chapter 6.
I think it's page 5 in your pew Bibles.
Let me read this for us.
Genesis chapter 6 beginning at verse 9.
These are the generations of Noah.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.
Noah walked with God.
And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.
Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.
Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch.
This is how you are to make it.
The length of the ark, 300 cubits.
Its breadth, 50 cubits.
And its height, 30 cubits.
Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above.
And set the door for the ark in its side.
Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven.
Everything that is on the earth shall die.
But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you.
They shall be male and female.
Of the birds, according to their kinds.
And of the animals, according to their kinds.
Of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come into you to keep them alive.
Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten and store it up.
It shall serve as food for you and for them.
Noah did this.
He did all that God commanded him.
So of the major characters in Genesis, Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Joseph, the most popular one may well be Noah.
One person compared over 30 children's Bibles published from 1831 to 2013,
and the number one most commonly included story from the Old Testament was, you guessed it,
Noah and the ark.
If you grew up going to Sunday school or vacation Bible school or any kind of children's church, something or other,
you can probably remember at least one song about Noah.
Who built the ark?
Noah, Noah.
Or the Lord told Noah there's going to be a floody, floody, so get those animals out of the muddy, muddy.
Even outside the church, references to Noah and the ark abound, whether it's the Russell Crowe movie or Evan Almighty
or the full-size tourist attraction replicas of Noah's ark that you can visit in the Netherlands, in Hong Kong, or in Kentucky.
And it's not only in cultures influenced by the Bible where we find stories of a great flood.
The story of a great flood is found in many cultures and people groups on every inhabited continent in the world.
And in particular, in the ancient Near East, in the time and place where Genesis was written,
many other nations, the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Akkadians, and later the Greeks,
had stories of a devastating flood sent by the gods.
But one man builds a boat, and only those with him in the boat survive.
Now, it's impossible to know for certain whether the author of Genesis knew about these other stories or vice versa,
or whether they were drawing on a common source,
but the overall story was almost certainly familiar in one way or another.
And yet, many of the details in the biblical story of the flood are distinct and different.
And we'll point out some of those distinctive aspects of the biblical story as we go along.
But when we look at the biblical story about the flood,
it's much more than a cute children's story about a floating zoo.
And it's far more than a familiar pattern that one finds across many cultures and religions.
On the one hand, the biblical story of the flood paints a picture of God's terrifying judgment.
On the other hand, it paints a picture of God's promised salvation.
And so this morning, we want to look at those two themes, God's judgment and God's salvation.
The first thing we see from the story of Noah is that God's judgment is coming.
Verse 11, chapter 6,
The earth was corrupt and filled with violence.
That word translated violence can also mean deceit, slander, idolatry, and lawlessness, as well as bloodshed.
We saw last week how tyrannical leaders were abusing power and sex,
and how the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and every intention of the human heart was only evil continually.
The righteous remnant, those who trusted and obeyed God,
had been reduced to only one faithful family, namely Noah's.
At the end of Genesis 1, it says,
God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Chapter 6, verse 12 says,
God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt.
So, verse 13, God determines to destroy all flesh on earth.
The word translated destroy in verse 13 is the same verb that's translated corrupted in verse 12.
All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
In other words, all flesh had disfigured, spoiled, ruined their way on the earth,
and so God would disfigure, spoil, and ruin them along with the earth.
You see, we see here that God's judgment is entirely just.
Over and over, human beings had refused to live within the moral boundaries that God had put in place.
Human beings had exalted themselves to God-like status.
They had blamed and mistreated and threatened and murdered fellow image bearers of God.
They had trampled upon God's creation and spoiled it, and they boasted of their exploits.
This is what we've seen in the last couple of chapters of Genesis.
And so, God says,
because you have rejected my moral boundaries and transgressed them,
I will now remove the physical boundaries that I set in place to sustain life on earth.
Behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth.
Everything that is on the earth shall die.
Creation would revert to a state of watery chaos without any of the wise boundaries between sea and land.
Waters and the sky that God had instituted to promote and preserve life.
Everything would be let loose.
Now, the justice of God is one of the distinctive aspects of the biblical story of the flood
compared to other stories of a flood from the ancient Near East.
In the other stories, the gods send the flood because the world is overpopulated
or because the people become too disruptive or for no stated reason at all.
And then after they send the flood, they are frightened and dismayed by it,
and they realize they don't know what they've got themselves into.
But the God of the Bible sends the flood because of humanity's moral corruption.
He destroys the earth because its people are destroying themselves.
In some ways, the flood prevents sin from simply spiraling downward to its ultimate conclusion.
It cuts it off and puts an end to it.
God's judgment in the Bible is entirely just.
But God's judgment is not only just, it is also inescapable.
Genesis emphasizes the totality of the corruption and the totality of the destruction.
All flesh, verse 12, had corrupted their way on the earth.
Verse 13, I have determined to make an end of all flesh.
Seven times in chapter 6, that phrase, all flesh, comes up.
Verse 17, everything that is on the earth shall die.
Chapter 7, verse 4, every living thing I will blot out.
Chapter 7, verse 21, all flesh died that moved on the earth.
Chapter 7, verse 23, every living thing that was on the face of the ground.
Now, modern scholars debate how we should interpret these expressions.
Some say that these expressions indicate that the flood literally covered the entire globe.
Others say the language could just as well refer to a localized flood.
The author was speaking of the known world,
where the author used intentionally expansive language to communicate an important message.
For example, later on in Genesis 41, verse 57, it says,
all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain,
for the famine was severe over all the earth.
The author is painting a picture, not necessarily making a precise statement,
but the picture, regardless of how we interpret that,
the point that Genesis is making is very clear and should not be missed.
Nothing and no one can escape from the just judgment of God.
If you go to the end of chapter 7, verse 17 or verse 18,
it talks about the waters prevailing.
Four times, verse 18, verse 19, verse 20, verse 24,
the waters prevailed, the waters prevailed, the waters prevailed, the waters prevailed.
That word prevailed is the same word that's translated triumphed.
Like hostile warriors, the flood waters attack and undo God's creation
until the devastation is complete.
God's judgment is just and God's judgment is inescapable.
And when we go ahead to the New Testament,
the New Testament says that God's judgment is not just something that happened way back then,
once a long time ago in the days of Noah,
Jesus says he will come again in the future to judge the world
and his judgment will be both just and inescapable.
Jesus himself said,
just as it was in the days of Noah,
so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage.
In other words, people were carrying on
with their daily activities and with their worldly ambitions and pleasures
until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
We read earlier from 2 Peter,
the world that then existed was deep, deluged with water and perished.
And the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire.
The day of the Lord will come like a thief.
The heavens will pass away with a roar.
The earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
You see, the Old and New Testaments speak with one voice.
God's judgment is coming.
Because the earth today, like the earth back then,
is full of deceit and violence and idolatry and lawlessness
that cries out for divine intervention and justice.
Tyrannical leaders still abuse sex and power and boast about it.
God still looks upon the corruption of the human heart,
our evil intentions, our self-deception,
our stubborn refusal to live within God's wise moral boundaries.
And God says, this must not last forever.
One day I will expose and wipe out the evil in the world for good.
But the scary thing is this.
We are all tangled up in the corruption.
That God is utterly committed to wiping out.
Sin infects each of our hearts far more deeply than we realize.
We have all transgressed God's good moral boundaries.
And we participate far more than we want to admit
in the deceit and violence and idolatry and greed
of the world in which we live.
God cannot wipe out evil without wiping us out too.
So is there any hope for creatures like us?
Well, thankfully, the story of Noah is not only a story of God's just
and inescapable judgment.
It's also, and perhaps even more,
a story of God's promised and provided salvation.
Judgment is coming.
That's the first thing we learn from the story of Noah.
But the second thing we learn is that salvation is provided.
And the story emphasizes two aspects of God's salvation.
First, it emphasizes God's initiative in providing salvation.
And then it emphasizes Noah's obedience through which many are saved.
So throughout the story, we see God's initiative to provide salvation.
Verses 11 to 13 of chapter 6, God declares to Noah in advance
his intention to destroy the world.
But then in verses 14 to 16, he provides Noah with the means of escape.
Make yourself an ark.
And God doesn't leave it up to Noah to figure out what kind of ark to make
or how to build it.
He specifies precisely how the ark was to be constructed,
just as later on in the book of Exodus,
God would specify precisely how the tabernacle was to be constructed,
where he would come and meet with his people.
Now, chapter 6, verse 14, 15 says it should be 450 feet long,
300 cubits, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
Now, it's hard for us to imagine Noah building such a massive ark
without any modern power tools.
It's also hard for us to imagine,
and even people who have studied it don't really know,
how people in the ancient world built the pyramids in Egypt,
the largest of which is 750 feet long and 450 feet high.
Yet, unless those pyramids are evidence of the existence of aliens,
somehow or other they did.
Now, some scholars suggest that the dimensions are meant to paint a picture,
shouldn't necessarily be taken at face value,
but regardless, nobody in the ancient world
would have been troubled by the dimensions of the ark.
That's a particularly modern concern.
In the Gilgamesh epic,
one of the other ancient Near Eastern flood stories,
the boat is a cube,
180 feet on all sides,
which ends up being four times the cubic volume of the biblical ark,
far bigger and more unwieldy in the storm.
So, the dimensions would not have been a worry back then.
What people in the ancient world probably would have noticed
is that this is no ordinary boat.
There's no rudder,
there are no sails,
there are no oars,
and there are no professional boatsmen
or sailors.
In the other ancient stories of the flood,
it's not just the hero and his family who go into the boat,
but they also bring sailors and a boatsman,
professional people
who can help them with their skill.
And in fact, the word ark does not normally mean boat,
it means something more like a box
or a chest
or even a coffin.
Now, here's the point that we shouldn't miss.
The ark is provided by God.
It's not a marvel of human ingenuity.
And the ark is preserved by God,
by divine grace,
not by human skill.
All the way through the story,
God, it emphasizes that God is the one who provides salvation.
Chapter 6, verse 18,
God says to Noah,
I will establish my covenant with you.
In other words, God's saying to Noah,
I'm promising to preserve you through the flood.
I will stick with you
and I will not let you go.
And in the rest of the story,
God makes good on that promise.
Now, look for a moment.
Take your bulletin
and look for a moment at the middle of the bulletin
where it says,
Sermon Supplement.
Because there,
you will see an outline of the flood story as a whole.
Now, when modern people
read the story of the flood,
they often feel
that it's excessively long
and unnecessarily repetitive.
That's partly why I didn't begin
by reading all three chapters straight through
because it sometimes feels like
it's hard to stick with it.
But it's actually
a very carefully organized
and unified story.
And the pattern of the story
could have been readily memorized
and retold in the ancient world
even by people who couldn't read
or who didn't have access
to a written copy of the story.
Because the story builds up
to a climax
and then it goes back down
sort of the same way.
Right?
Just like the ark.
Goes up on the flood
and then comes down to the land.
Story goes the same way.
So throughout chapter seven,
so the action builds
throughout the first half of the story
and each section repeats.
That's why there's repeats.
Each section repeats
or further elaborates
on the detail of the previous section.
So that's why there's repetitions.
So that,
and then the tension gradually builds.
God tells Noah,
enter the ark.
The animals go in two by two
along with him.
Chapter seven,
verse two and three
tells us that he brings
some extra animals
who are clean animals
because he's going to use them
at the end
to offer a sacrifice to God
of thanksgiving.
Then in verse 10,
the flood begins.
And by the end of the chapter,
the flood covers everything.
But the turning point of the story,
which is also structurally
right at the center of the story.
And that's how these ancient chiasms,
that's the technical term
for this literary structure,
worked.
The middle of the story
is the key turning point.
It's chapter eight,
verse one.
But God remembered Noah.
Now, when the Bible talks
about remembering,
it doesn't just mean
bringing something to mind.
What it means is
following through
on a previously made promise.
God remembered Noah
and he followed through
on the promise he had made
in chapter six
to preserve him
through the flood
and not to leave him alone.
And the whole story hinges
on God following through
on his promise of salvation.
Salvation is from the Lord
all the way through.
God remembered Noah
and he followed through.
The rest of chapter eight,
if you look at chapter eight,
we see God recreating the world,
forming and filling it
just as he did in Genesis one.
So God remembered Noah,
chapter eight, verse one,
and all the beasts
and all the livestock
that were with him in the ark.
And God made a wind blow
over the earth
and the water subsided.
That might remind us
of the beginning of Genesis one
where the spirit of God,
the same word,
spirit and wind,
same Hebrew word,
translated both ways,
the spirit of God
was hovering over the waters
at the beginning of creation.
And here God sends a wind
or his spirit
over the earth
to renew it.
In Genesis one,
God had separated
the waters above
and the waters below
and the waters in the sea
and the dry land.
And that's what we see
in verses two to five.
The waters receded,
the rain from the heavens
was restrained
and the waters receded
from the earth continually.
End of verse five,
the tops of the mountains
were seen.
Then in verse six to 19,
God begins to fill the world
with life once again.
First with birds,
Noah sends forth a raven
and then a dove
in verse six to 12
and then with animals
and human beings
in verses 16 to 19.
So the flood is not only destructive,
it's also purifying
and preparing,
God's preparing his whole creation
for a new beginning.
So throughout the story,
we see God's initiative
to provide salvation
to Noah
and Noah's family
and ultimately
to all of creation.
But there's another theme as well.
Along with God's initiative
to provide salvation,
we also see Noah's obedience
through which many
find salvation.
At the beginning of the story,
chapter six, verse nine,
Noah is introduced
with three characteristics.
He was righteous.
Now that's a legal term.
It means right with God
or approved of by God.
Then it says he was blameless.
That was a term used
to describe ritual offerings
or sacrifices
that they were whole
and without blemish.
Noah was whole and complete.
He was approved of,
right with God,
whole and complete.
And finally,
like Enoch and Adam,
Noah is described
as one who walked with God.
And as the story unfolds,
we see Noah embodying
these characteristics.
One of the interesting aspects
of this story
is that through the entire story
of the flood,
Noah doesn't say a single word.
But he always listens to God.
And he faithfully obeys God.
Twice, the end of chapter six
and then again,
chapter seven, verse five,
it says,
Noah did all
that the Lord had commanded him.
So we see Noah
as an example
of faith-filled obedience
to God.
We also see Noah's character
on display
toward the end of the story
in chapter eight.
Look at chapter eight,
beginning at verse six.
Now, by this time,
Noah has been in the ark
for many months.
For a long time,
things seem to be getting
crazier and crazier,
floodwaters raining down,
everything getting destroyed.
Now they're finally
just starting to settle down.
The mountaintops
are becoming visible.
Now, just imagine
what your psychological state
would be
if you were confined
to a three-story boat
with only one window
for several months
with only your spouse
and your three children
and their spouses,
countless animals
of every sort,
and you are responsible
for overseeing everything.
Yikes.
But here we see Noah.
He sends out a raven
in verse six.
A week later in verse eight,
he sends out a dove.
So he's neither cynical
nor desperate.
He's patiently waiting,
actively hoping
for the fulfillment
of God's promise.
And then in verse nine,
there's this unexpected
flourish of detail.
When the dove comes back,
the dove found no place
to set her foot
and she returned to him
to the ark,
for the waters were still
on the face of the whole earth.
So he put out his hand
and took her
and brought her
into the ark with him.
That detail is not
strictly necessary
to the story.
But it's a picture
of Noah's
tender kindness.
Even after managing
a zoo
for several months,
which is probably enough
to drive even the most
animal-loving person
crazy,
Noah is still
kind
to the needs
of a little
bird.
And
the
little bird.
Proverbs 12,
verse 10 says,
being kind
to the needs
of animals
is one of the marks
of a righteous person.
You see,
righteousness
is embodied
not just
in big
decisions
and bold
ventures
like building
an ark,
but also
in small
acts of kindness
and steady
expressions
of patience.
Caring
for people
and even
for animals
who are
vulnerable
and hurting.
In the end,
it's through
righteous Noah's
faith-filled
obedience
that many
are saved.
It's not just
Noah who's brought
safely through the
flood.
It's his entire
family and even
the animals
that reap the
benefits
of his
obedience.
And throughout
the Old Testament,
we see this
pattern.
In the midst
of a dark
and corrupt
world,
God raises
up a
righteous
one
through whom
many others
find salvation.
Through the
obedience of
one,
many are
made
righteous.
And yet,
what we'll
see next week
is that even
Noah falls
short.
Just like
Adam,
Noah and his
sons will
become corrupted
by sin
and they
will continue
to be
subject to
death.
And we'll
see that the
salvation that
came through
Noah still
leaves much
to be
desired.
And throughout
the Old
Testament,
that pattern
continues.
God raises
up Moses.
Right?
Through Moses,
the people of
Israel find
salvation.
They're delivered
from slavery
in Egypt.
And yet,
in the middle
of the desert,
Moses dishonors
God.
And Moses is
prohibited from
entering the
promised land.
And then they
get into the
land and then
God raises up
David to reign
over his people
and to deliver
them from their
enemies.
And then David
becomes an
enemy of God's
own people when
he commits
adultery and
murder.
Through the
obedience of
one, the many
are made
righteous, but
no one quite
lives up to
that description.
Until the
coming of
Jesus Christ,
when we see
the fulfillment
of that
hope.
In the midst
of a dark
and corrupt
world, we
see a man
who is
righteous and
blameless, who
walks with God
and obeys his
word, who is
bold and
brave, who is
tender and
kind.
And Jesus
did not need
to build an
ark because he
came to be
the ark.
He did not
need to build
a temple
because he
came to be
the temple.
You see, in
his life and
ultimately in
his death,
Jesus himself
entered the
flood of
God's judgment
upon corrupt
humanity so
that all who
enter into
him might
find refuge
and salvation.
salvation.
God
promised and
God provided
salvation for
Noah, and
today God
promises and
God provides
salvation for
all who
enter into
Jesus Christ.
Until the
final day of
God's judgment
comes, the
door of the
ark is still
open.
man.
Now from
the outside, on
a nice sunny
day, when
all seems like
it's well in
the world, you
could look at
the ark and
say, entering
into that seems
like entering
into death.
Go with Noah
into that box,
that seems like
walking into a
coffin.
And similarly,
many people look
at Jesus, and
they say, my
life seems to
be going pretty
well, why
would I want
to surrender
to him?
That seems
inconvenient and
unnecessary.
But when you
are confronted
with the
darkness of
human nature,
and the
persistent
corruption that
infects our
human world,
when you see
the storm
clouds of
God's
approaching
judgment,
when death
rears its
ugly head and
intrudes upon
our pleasant
existence, then
the ark, then
Jesus Christ
himself starts
to look like
the way of
salvation.
You see, all
the sunny days
and all the
pleasant things
of life are
expressions of
God's kindness
and patience,
that he doesn't
immediately judge
us as we
deserve, but
God's word warns
us, do not
presume upon
God's patience.
The Lord is
patient toward
you, not
wishing that
any should
perish, but
that all should
reach repentance,
friend, that
includes you.
Come to
Jesus.
Enter into
him today.
Find refuge
in him.
Come into the
ark of his
saving grace,
and don't
delay.
For those of
us who have
come to
Jesus in
faith, rest
in his
covenant
promise.
Look at
chapter 7,
verse 16.
There's another
little phrase
that we haven't
looked at yet,
ark, but it's
right after
Noah and
the animals
and his
family all
enter into
the ark, and
it says,
and the
Lord shut
him in.
In every
other flood
story from the
ancient Near
East, the
hero shuts
the hatch
himself.
He goes
into the
boat, and he
closes himself
in.
He protects
himself.
But here
it is the
Lord, who
has established
his promise
to Noah, who
also secures
him safely
within the
ark.
Are you
worried that
you lack the
resolve to
persevere as a
Christian?
Are you anxious
that something
outside of your
control could
throw you off
the path for
all eternity,
take comfort
in this
verse?
The Lord
shut him
in.
Charles Spurgeon
has a whole
sermon on that
one little
sentence.
You can look
it up online.
But he says,
when God has
brought us into
union with
Jesus, he
shuts us in,
and we are
saved in the
Lord with an
everlasting
salvation.
The great
door of God's
covenant
faithfulness is
shut behind the
believer, and he
is surrounded by
the power and
grace of God.
Even as Noah was
housed within the
strong timbers of
the ark, God's
omnipotent love has
shut us in.
So, brother or
sister, rest in the
security of God's
great love to you in
Jesus Christ.
Christ, he is
upholding you by
his love and by
his power, and he
can keep you.
You know, maybe
you're facing trials
and temptations that
seem completely
overwhelming.
Listen to the
words of 2 Peter 2.
If God preserved
Noah, a herald of
righteousness with
seven others when
he brought a flood
upon the world of
the ungodly, then
the Lord knows how
to rescue the
godly from
trials.
The Lord knows
how to rescue the
godly from
trials.
If he brought
Noah and his
family through the
flood, he can bring
you through whatever
seemingly overwhelming
trial or temptation
that you are
currently facing.
And know that on
the other side of
every earthly trial,
no matter how
severe, and
ultimately on the
other side of
death itself, the
Lord Jesus Christ
has promised to
make all things
new.
just as God
did on the
other side of
the flood.
Because Jesus'
once-for-all
death ended
in resurrection,
every death
that we die,
everything that
we have to
sacrifice in
union with
Jesus will
most assuredly
lead to
resurrection
life as
well.
Judgment is
coming, but
salvation has
been provided
through Jesus
Christ our
Lord.
Let us
pray.
This morning
I want to
lead us in
two prayers.
First, a
prayer for
those who
want to
turn to
Jesus.
Lord Jesus
Christ, I
admit that I
am weaker and
more corrupt
than I ever
dared to
admit, but
through you I
am more loved
and accepted
than I ever
dared to
hope.
Thank you for
paying my debt
on the cross,
taking what I
deserved to
offer me
complete
forgiveness.
believing that
you have been
raised from
the dead, I
turn from my
sin and
receive you as
my Savior and
Lord.
Amen.
Second, for
those who
trust in Jesus
and who are
enduring great
trials, Lord
Jesus Christ,
grant us your
assurance that you
are behind and
before us, that
we are surrounded
by your faithful
love.
Help us, like
Noah, to hold
fast to your
word and to
persevere in the
obedience of
faith.
Pour out your
Spirit within us
that we may be
bold and brave,
compassionate and
kind.
For Jesus'
sake, amen.
Amen.
Well, we're
going to close
this morning by
singing this
great song about
Jesus, our
solid rock, the
one in whom we
find refuge, the
one on whom we
stand.
Let's stand
together as we
sing.
Amen.