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Genesis 8: It came to pass.

‘It came to pass.’

The greatest storm, the biggest flood in the history of the world ‘came to pass’. A day arrived when Noah, and his family, and all the creatures with him, were able to vacate the ‘boat’ they’d been living in for, it seems, a little more than a year. The predicted storm ‘came’ – and it was cataclysmic, as I said yesterday – but it ‘passed’.

God brought Noah and his family through that storm. They didn’t avoid it. They had to face it. But they were kept safe through it, as they trusted God and obeyed His Word.

The Lord never forgets His own (1). He remembers; He cares for those with whom He has entered into a covenant relationship. He brings them through.

The ‘storm’ you are currently facing; the flood of difficulty buffeting your life – ‘this too will pass’. God will bring you out, sooner or later, in time or in eternity, into a brand new world. There you will worship Him (20, 21) and trust in His promises afresh (22).

It is good of God to make promises to people so utterly sinful as we are by nature (21). It strikes me how relevant these words (22) are for us in these times, when such fears exist around the issue of global warming’.

THOUGHT: ‘Difficulty is sent to reveal to us what God can do in answer to the faith that prays and works’ (from ‘Streams in the Desert).

Genesis 7: Safe and secure.

“7 The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.’  ⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.  ⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. ¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights. ¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in. ¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. ²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.” NIV

‘…what drowns other men only lifts the child of God nearer his home. The waters bear up the ark.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary, p.17.

Some people argue that it was only a localised flood, limited to the Middle East. But the language employed seems to point to a world-wide flood. It truly was a cataclysmic event. Not only was there a deluge from above, but a bursting out of waters from beneath. Tom Hale suggests that the world must have looked pretty much as it did in the earliest days of creation.

Note:

• Noah had the faith to believe what God said: He had a vision of the future, based on God’s Word, and he acted on it (Hebrews 11;7. This passage shows clearly that Noah’s righteousness:e.g.7:1, was not the basis of his salvation, but the expression of his faith ).
• Noah had the courage to witness to God’s Word: (2 Peter 2:5).There is inevitably some reading between the lines going on in my saying this, but we envisage Noah preaching for 120 years, in tandem with building the ark. Ministry over the long haul takes great patience and endurance. You can imagine the ridicule he must have endured.

Noah was safe in God’s salvation: ‘’Then the LORD shut him in’’ (16). There is something so lovely about these words. The storm was outside; Noah and his family were cosy within. Those in Christ know they are safe from the judgment of God. They recognise that they are there by grace. They don’t gloat over the fact that they are inside while others are without. But they do revel in the grace and mercy of God to undeserving sinners like themselves

Genesis 6:17-22: A covenant of a grace.

^“17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.’ ²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”NIV

In a world spiralling downhill; a world ripe for judgment; God chose to save a people. This is God’s way, and salvation always comes at His initiative. At times, His people may be just a tiny remnant. But their presence in a wicked world is testament to the saving grace of God.

It is true that: ‘’Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God’’ (9). It is also a fact that:’’Noah did everything just as God commanded him’’ (22). But this was not the basis of his salvation. He did not earn his escape out of judgment. The life he lived was an expression of his salvation. But he did not buy God off by right living. No-one can. Noah and his family were saved because God took the initiative to save them (18); to ‘’establish’’ His covenant with them.

‘’For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’’ (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Genesis 6:14-16: Pencil at the ready.

^“14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: the ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.  ¹⁶ Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit  high all around.  Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ” NIV

There is a difference between walking with God and having a ‘quiet time.’ Having a regular quiet time, during which you pray and read your Bible, can help you to walk with God; but the reality of walking with God is so much more. Some people tick off their daily devotions in a perfunctory manner; it’s like ‘punching the clock.’ I know this, because I’ve been there (and, alarmingly, can quickly get back there). But it’s possible to arrive at a place where much of your daily life is a conversation with God; an interaction with Him.

People who walk with God should keep a pencil and notebook handy – in a manner of speaking. Because they will find that God will talk to them. He will call them to do things. Sometimes, He will give detailed plans. If you don’t believe me ask Noah (or Moses! Another good example).

Okay, the Lord may not call you to build an ark. Noah got that contract! But, ‘there’s a work for Jesus none but you can do.’ One day, as you try to keep in step with your Heavenly Father, you may find yourself saying, ‘Just a moment; I need to write this down.’

Need I add that walking with God is a total adventure! Furthermore, the more dangerously He calls you to live, the greater the thrill.

PRAYER: Lord God, you don’t have to speak to me, but I earnestly pray that you will – and that I will hear. Help me to be so sensitive that I am attuned even to your gentlest whisper. May you find me ready, available, to do your bidding.

Genesis 6:9-13: A stark contrast.

A sharp line is drawn (or so it seems to me) between the ‘’righteous man’’ (9), and the ‘’corrupt’’/‘’corrupted’’ and ‘violent’ people (11-13). Noah was a vastly different man, and he stood out from the crowd. It is probably true to say that the longer he walked with God, the more he took on His character. That’s how it goes in life: you tend to become like the people you regularly hang out with. (That’s why the book of ‘Proverbs’ warns, for example, that bad company corrupts character. But it can also work in a positive direction).

Violence is one of the marks of a corrupt world. I would venture to suggest, so is being entertained by it! During this week alone, probably millions of people will sit in cinemas, eating popcorn and watching people ‘die’ in crashes and explosions; in stabbings, stranglings, shootings and the like. Now there’s room for nuance here. I’m not saying we should never watch or read stories which contain violent elements. We each have personal decisions to make about what we should or should not be exposed to. It’s not for me to judge anyone else, or their choices. What I do want to highlight is this point: I believe the appetite for gratuitous scenes of violence is a symptom of a terribly sick society. I fear we too are headed for destruction, apart from God’s gracious intervention.

PRAYER: Lord have mercy on us. We have drifted so far away from you. It feels like we are close to ‘the eve of destruction’ if we are not already there. Please graciously turn our hearts to Jesus, the only true ‘ark of safety’ provided by you for our salvation.

Genesis 6:9- 10: Swimming against the tide.

^“9 This is the account of Noah and his family.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.” NIV

The lovely man who was my pastor, during my teen years, often used to say, ‘Any dead old fish can move along with the stream; it takes a live one to swim against it!’

Noah was very much ‘alive’. Although he was ‘’among the people of his time’’ (9), he was not of his time. He ‘marched to the beat of a different drummer’. He ‘’walked with God.’’ So, while he found himself in the sea of his culture, he also received divine strength to move against the tide of evil, to swim against the current. He wasn’t sucked under and drowned.

We are told, in 2 Peter 2:7, 8, that Lot was ‘’a righteous man who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men’’, and that ‘’day after day’’ he was ‘’tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard’’. We can,  no doubt, identify with him. Well, Noah shows us that we can do more than just curse the darkness. In fact, that is not our calling. Rather, we can light a candle. We can let our lights ‘’so shine’’ before our contemporaries.

‘’The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine’ (Proverbs 4:18: ‘The Message’).

Genesis 6:5-8: Grief and favour.

^“5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created – and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground – for I regret that I have made them.’ ⁸ But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. ” NIV 

Before the flood, life on earth deteriorated so badly that ‘Genesis’ paints it in colours of utter depravity (5,6). Things had come to such a pass that God resolved to start from scratch with one man and his family.

The God of the Bible is not impassive. He has feelings. He has deep feelings. To have emotions is one of the facets of being made in the image of God. Our passage twice speaks of God being ‘’grieved’’ (7,8); and there is the heartbreaking statement: ‘’…his heart was filled with pain’’ (6). As someone said, it’s like a parent, broken in two over a wayward child. Reading this, I can understand the preacher who said, ‘Never preach about Hell except with tears in your eyes’. God’s judgment is real and it is a crying matter.

But against such a dismal backdrop, there is hope (8). It remains the case that even in a wicked and chaotic world, God is choosing out a salvation people. It is worth noting that Noah ‘’found grace’’ in the eyes of the Lord; He did not earn it. Noah may have been a godly man, but this was a mark of God’s grace in his life; it was not the basis of it.

Genesis 6:1-4: Living under a cloud.

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with humans for ever, for they are mortal;   their days will be a hundred and twenty years.’  ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterwards – when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” NIV

There are question marks over part of this passage. We are not sure if ‘’the sons of God’’ were fallen angels who had intercourse with earthly women, and produced a race of super heroes. Or, were they members of Seth’s line marrying women from Cain’s line? In other words, is it a reference to being unequally yoked? Frankly, the jury is out. We just don’t know for sure.

But what we can clearly say from today’s reading, is that we are witnessing a gradual shortening of human life-span. It is now to be ‘’no more than 120 years’’ (3). That still sounds a long time to us, but it is considerably reduced from the numbers we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

We are reminded that sin has brought death into the world, and sooner or later the grave awaits us all. Every cemetery we pass is witness to the power and presence of sin in the world. This is what it has brought us to. We now all live under this cloud. It strikes me that each cemetery is a kind of large garden; and since sin came into the garden, death has also entered with it – just as God said it would.

‘’…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment’’ (Hebrews 9:27)

Genesis 5:18-32: Spiritual exercise

^“18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.  ²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.  ²⁵ When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.  ²⁸ When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. ²⁹ He named him Noah^[a] and said, ‘He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.’ ³⁰ After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. ³² After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.” NIV

The cycle of birth and death is broken by a short story of one man who lived, but did not die: ‘’Enoch walked with God!’’ One preacher said that there came a day when he walked so far that God said to him, ‘It’s too far to go back now! Come on home!!’ There’s poetic license there, but it’s a lovely thought.

‘’And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God…’’ (22). Becoming a parent is life-changing. For some people the experience is more intense and profound than for others. Was there something about holding his baby son in his hands which caused Enoch to begin walking with God? We don’t know for sure, but it’s an interesting thought.

What we do know, however, is that Enoch ‘’walked with God’’. Ultimately, to walk with God by faith is the way to overcome death (Hebrews 11;5). ‘Thus, in the seventh generation after Adam, Enoch became an example of hope for mankind…’ Tom Hale: ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’,p.141.

 In Genesis 5, ten names are mentioned, starting with Adam and ending with Noah. Although each person listed had numerous offspring, only these ten were in the direct line leading through Noah to Abraham and David, and eventually to Christ. These ten names are repeated in Luke’s genealogy of Christ (Luke 3:36-38).

‘In contrast to Cain’s line in the previous chapter, we have Seth’s in this. Note the curious similarity in the names in the two lines, as though the Cainites professed all that the Sethites held, but lacked the reality and power. There have always been these two families in the world – tares and wheat, goats and sheep. This is an old-world cemetery; we walk among old monuments with time-worn inscriptions. Though the Sethites were God-fearers, they were tinged with Adam’s sin. He was made in God’s image, but they in his as well…The birth of Methuselah seems to have had a profound influence on his father. After that he walked with God. Faith will enable us to do the same, because it makes the unseen visible and God real. Go God’s way. Keep God’s pace. Talk to him aloud and constantly as the great Companion.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, pp.16, 17.

PRAYER: Lord, I want to keep in step with your Spirit. Please help me to not run ahead or lag behind. What a privilege to have your Friendship and company.