Genesis 8:1-9:17: Worshiping in God's New World

Have you ever gone out on a limb to meet someone half way?  If you knew the person, maybe you didn’t feel like it was that much of a risk.  But if you didn’t, the experience was probably an anxious one.  There is a period of time when you feel vulnerable.  You’ve laid your cards on the table, and you wait for what seems like an eternity to see what the other person has in their hand. 

That’s probably what it was like for Noah.  He builds the ark in obedience to God, and then he leads his family onto the gigantic boat.  No matter how great Noah’s faith, there had to be that small voice that seemed to get louder with each moment that the rain didn’t come, “God has forgotten you, and you’ll look like a fool”. 

That voice was silenced with the coming of the rain.  Did it start with just the trickle of a few rain drops, and then crescendo into a downpour?  Or, were the full might of the rain and the fountains of the deep bursting forth unleashed in one moment, one powerful deluge?  We don’t know exactly how it happened, but one thing we do know is that God remembered Noah.  When we say that God remembered Noah, it doesn’t mean that for a while God had forgotten him.  In Hebrew, “remember” means to act on a previous covenant, not “to forget”.  God had made a promise to Noah, and in sealing Noah in the ark, God remembers and acts on that promise.  Remembering is not just a corrective action taken after something slips our memory.  Remembering can be proactive in nature.  When we greet a friend with a card on their birthday and they respond, “You remembered!”  Or, when we stand by the graveside of a loved one and promise ourselves that we will always remember the impact that they made on our lives.  Old Testament scholar Brevard S. Childs would say that “God remembering always implies his movement towards the object of his memory”, so that in a way when we say God “remembered” Noah what we are really saying is that God drew near to him. 

When God remembers Noah, He by extension remembers humankind.  When the flood waters subside and Noah worships, God is “reminded” of the positive side of humanity.  Because Noah demonstrated humanity’s ability to be faithful, even if that faithfulness isn’t perfect, God’s heart was transformed.  Whereas before the flood “the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Genesis 6:6), after the flood “the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth…’” (Genesis 8:21).  After the flood, the new history begins with an altar.  Noah’s first act is to build this altar and worship God.  It is the first time an altar appears in the Bible.  Lest we think that the construction of the altar sanctions the sacred/secular divide, we should take note that part of worship is obedience not just at the altar, but during the whole period leading up to our arrival there.  While the altar isn’t built until the end of the flood, Noah’s whole life was worship because of his obedience.  Noah was so obedient, that he didn’t even leave the ark until God commanded him to do so.  In the words of noted theologian and church reformer John Calvin, “How great must have been the fortitude of the man, who, after the incredible wariness of a whole year, when the deluge has ceased, and new life has shone forth, does not yet move a foot out of his sepulcher, without the command of God.”   What would the altar have meant if Noah had approached it in disobedience?  What if Noah had come to the altar simply to go through the motions, all the while living his life in disobedience and open rebellion towards God?  Even more important, what does our own worship mean if our lives don’t mirror our actions at the altar?  In worshipping, genuinely and wholeheartedly, we express our gratitude to God for the new beginning that he has brought about, not just in Noah, but more importantly in Jesus Christ. 

As residents of this new world, worship is not just our response to salvation, but something we enter into as we live out our redemption.  In Noah’s case, part of the reminder was not just in worship, but in nature itself.  God places the rainbow in the sky so that when humanity gazes upon it, they will remember their collective experience through Noah of judgment, but also redemption.  When commenting on the rainbow, Franz Delitzsch said that, “Stretched between heaven and earth, it is a bond of peace between both, and, spanning the horizon, it points to the all-embracing universality of Divine mercy.”  Many believe that the rainbow is meant to symbolize an actual bow turned on its side, a weapon of war hung up never to be used again.  According to Franz Delitzsch, “The symbol of divine bellicosity and hostility has been transformed into a token of reconciliation between God and man.”  This is not the only reminder we have of judgment and redemption.  As Christians God has given us two acts which inform our identity as the redeemed people of God.  The first of these acts is our baptism.  When we remember our baptism, we should at the same time remember our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)  In addition to this initiatory act, we regularly gather together as Christians around our Lord’s Table, all the while proclaiming the truth about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  Paul reminds the church in Corinth of this when he writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” (I Corinthians 11:26)

These reminders come to us not just to bring comfort concerning what God has done, but to convict us of what should be doing as His people.  They remind us that God has opened up the possibility of a new world.  However, the possibility of a new world will forever be a dream deferred unless we adopt Noah’s faith and obedience for our own life.  God calls us to bring forth a new world where the worth of every human is respected.  God’s image in man is why he saves humanity, and is why the worth of every human must be maintained.  When human lives are taken, John Calvin says, “God deems himself violated in the violation of these persons.”  God calls us to boldly live out the reality that the Holy Spirit abides with us in this world.   Despite our failings, God is committed to His promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood.  Theologian and Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann said it this way: “The only thing the waters of chaos and death do not cut through (though they cut through everything else) is the commitment of God to creation.”  Finally, and most importantly, we are to go tell the world that God continues to save.  The story of the flood shows us that redemption has happened before.  Redemption however, is not limited to the past.  Redemption is in the present as well, with God bearing us through the waters in an ark as sturdy as any ship ever built.  The Apostle Peter would write to a group of Christians persecuted by the world, and encourage them to imagine how they were living as present-day Noahs:

 “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”(I Peter 3:17-21)

Do we trust that God can bear us through the waters of sin and death just as surely as he bore Noah and his family through the flood?  If we truly trust in God’s redemptive work, will we worship not just at the altar, but with lives of obedience as a present-day Noah?  Or, will we be washed away by the consequences of our own rebelliousness and pride?       

Genesis 6:1-7:24: the ark of grace in the flood of judgment

Noah and the ark is perhaps one of the most well-known stories from the Bible.  If you also take into consideration that many other Ancient Near-Eastern cultures had stories about great floods, it becomes obvious that something happened, with the shared experience of that event being recorded in various ways, by various peoples.  So what does the Bible tell us about the flood, Noah, and the ark?

The flood was not so much an act of destruction by God, as it was an act of self-destruction by humanity.  While it’s true that it was God’s might that drove the flood waters, it was man’s wickedness that made the flood a reality.  Who were the sons that so offended God?  The possibilities include descendants of Seth, angels, or a dynasty of tyrants who succeeded Lamech.  Whatever the answer, the result was the same.  Their actions followed in the footsteps of Adam and Eve’s original sin.  Our Bibles say that they saw something beautiful, and they sought to make it their own.  If you read the passage in the original Hebrew, the phrasing is literally what we find in Genesis 3:6 when Adam and Eve’s sin is described: they “saw” what was “good”, and they “took” it.  This selfish behavior passed down through the generations, has caused God to look down and see not the goodness and beauty that was present in creation, but the wickedness that is the result of human sinfulness and rebellion.  Man’s wickedness has spread from being reactionary, to being of the proactive sort.  The heart, the locus of thought, feeling, volition, and morality has turned to planning methods of carrying out the wickedness found in its inner depths.  After seeing this disastrous turn of events, God responds.  The Spirit of God hovered over the waters during creation, now that same Spirit is about to be withdrawn.  Why doesn’t God act immediately?  Why does God delay 120 years?   The truth is that even when God is prepared to react to human disobedience with vengeance, He withholds His wrath long enough for Noah to build the ark.  The word used to describe God’s intention, “destroy”, is the same word used to describe human actions in Genesis 6:12, though it is often translated “corrupt” instead of “destroy”.  The use of the word “corrupt” or “corrupted” makes plain that what God intends to destroy has actually been self-destroyed already.  Nahum Sarna would say, “The idea is that humankind cannot undermine the moral basis of society without endangering the very existence of its civilization.  In fact, through its corruption, society sets in motion the process of inevitable self-destruction.”

In the midst of all the wickedness and God’s plan to destroy the earth, we find obedient faith in the person of Noah.  God has delayed His plan to wipe out mankind because in Noah He sees a glimmer of hope.  Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and through him we found grace as well.  It isn’t that Noah is perfect, but he is obedient. When God speaks, Noah listens.  The delayed entrance of Noah in the story opens up a new possibility, that of obedience and faith.   With Noah’s appearance on the stage, the words “righteous” and “blameless” are used for the first time in the Bible.  Righteousness is a combination of piety and ethics, while blamelessness denotes an abstention from sin, even if one is not entirely without fault.  Noah is described as one who “walked with God”, which links him with Enoch.  While Enoch is saved from death, Noah is saved from the flood.  If Noah isn’t perfect, he is a man of action.  He is not a man who professes something, but then fails to validate that profession with his actions.  The simple statement that “Noah did” underscores his living by faith.  It also puts the emphasis on God’s actions, rather than Noah’s, because Noah simply does what God tells him.  Today’s Christian should note that Noah’s fulfillment of God’s plans would have been a life-long endeavor, not one emotion-filled response.  Noah didn’t agree to build the ark after his heart-strings had been plucked by a well-orchestrated combination of emotional appeal and mood-lit praise music.  Noah’s “yes” to God is one that will cost him dearly.  One-hundred and twenty years Noah labored to build the ark.  How much did he have to pay for materials?  Did he have to go chop down every tree with the help of his sons.  What did it cost him in terms of his social standing?  How did people refer to this crazy man whose faith led him to build a huge boat?  A better question is ‘What if we were more like Noah, caring more about God’s plans for our world rather than our popularity with the world?’    

God sees Noah’s faithfulness, and responds in-kind.  No matter how faithful Noah was, that faith could never save him without God’s intervention.  In Noah’s case, God intervenes in three major ways.  First of all, God designs.  Noah receives from God plans for a boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.  In the Babylonian flood epic, the boat used by the hero is a 180 foot cube, hardly a vessel likely to be seaworthy.  Here however, we find a boat that is large, and yet proportioned to sail.  Its plans make it bigger than the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, and yet with a 20 foot draft it is shallow enough to not ground on the mountains.  Noah’s obedience brings God’s expert design to fruition.  After God designs, God guides.  There are no navigational aids, so that once in the ark the humans are totally reliant on God.  While there is relative safety inside the ark, there is also a degree of helplessness, as Noah and his family rely on God to deliver them safely through the flood.  Even the animals seem to be guided to Noah.  Just as God brought the animals to Noah’s ancestor Adam to be named, so He brings them now to Noah to be saved.  After God designs and guides, we see that God saves.  God shuts them in the ark, showing the grace and salvation of the ark to be a result of divine action rather than Noah’s.  The ark serves not just an immediate purpose, but also a more enduring one as it serves as a prefigure of the salvation that God will deliver to humankind through Jesus Christ.  While in Noah’s day God blots out humanity, when Jesus Christ comes, God blots out our sins.  It’s the same exact verb used in both instances!  The ark, in many ways, foreshadows our own salvation.  God opens the door to the ark and offers to bear us safely through the waters of sin and death, which threaten destruction just as surely as those torrents did so many millennia ago.  Will you, like Noah, have the faith to step inside?

I Peter 3:18-22: Noah's wasn't the only ark

In the previous post, we saw how even in the midst of suffering, we are to “apologize”, or give a defense of our faith.  The reason for this is simple: Jesus Christ did the same thing.  Peter uses some very familiar stories to help us understand what it looks like when we find shelter in God’s grace during difficult times.  Specifically, he uses the story of the ark.  The story of Noah is parallel to the situation of the recipients of Peter’s letter.  They, like Noah and his family, are an oppressed minority.  The reason for the oppression they face is their faith in God, and the trust they have placed in God, that His word is true.  They are waiting for something that has not happened yet, and the waiting is taking its toll.

Consider the parallels between Noah, and the early Christian recipients of I Peter.  Notice the similarities between the ark, the flood, and the baptism that we receive when we begin our journey as Christians. 

-          God provided an ark so that Noah’s family might pass through the destructive waters safely. Similarly, God works through baptism, leading us safely by His grace through death, and out the other side, where we enter into the life promised us in Christ. 

-          We pass through the waters of baptism, of judgment, just as the ark passed through the waters of the flood. We arise unscathed, just as those in the ark came through the waters unscathed.

How exactly does this happen?  Oh, we understand roughly what it would have looked like for Noah to build a great big ark.  We can imagine his family being tossed about inside by the waves of the flood.  We can wonder how nerve-racking it would have been to hear rain on the roof, for forty straight days!  As incredible as the story is, we can envision it in some way, but what about baptism?  What does getting physically wet have to do with our spiritual lives?  It’s hard to comprehend how God’s grace is made manifest in a very physical act. 

The waters of baptism are not magical, any more than the ark was magical.  Sometimes because it’s easier to imagine, we forget about exactly how ridiculous the ark was at the time.  Picture it, Noah and his family out there day after day, week after week, month after month, building a huge boat nowhere close to water, when it had never even rained!!  Despite all the work that Noah put in, the ark was still a result of God’s grace.  He told Noah about the flood, and because Noah believed him, he acted accordingly.  Similarly, God tells us about the coming judgment.  We might think we are doing something by wading into that baptismal pool, but our physical acts of obedience are made possible only in light of the truth revealed to us by God.  Like Noah, we believe that what God tells us about the future is true.  The real question is, like Noah, do we trust God’s word enough to find shelter in His grace?