Episode Details

Remsen Bible Fellowship, 01/28/2024

“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. 21 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.” 1 Peter 3:20–21

Introduction

Of all the problems facing humanity, here is the greatest: God. God, the Creator and Ruler of all, is a just judge. And we, his creatures, have all rebelled against him. What this means is that we, like those in Noah’s day, are in a place of needing salvation. Because the judgment of God will come. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” We have sown rebellion, and so we are in line to receive wrath. 

If you remember our text from last week, this is precisely where the people of Noah’s day were. The wickedness on earth had increased to the point where God had determined to blot humanity out. We’ll pick up in Genesis 6:9 and read through the end of chapter 7.

Read the Text

Transition

Before I get too far into this sermon, I should address a common question: is this narrative true? I’m not going to delve into the scientific and historical reasons that we can have confidence in this text: there are plenty of resources along those lines, and if that’s the sort of material that turns your crank, I can give you some suggestions. For the purposes of this morning, I think it’s simple enough to say that all of the later Old Testament writers, as well as the New Testament writers - and our Lord Jesus himself (Matthew 24:37) - took this narrative to be historical. Here’s how I reason through this (argument from the greater to the lesser): if someone tells you something impossible - that he would rise from the dead three days after his crucifixion - and then does it…well, let’s just say I’m going to take his word about history, even if it conflicts with modern theories. This text presents itself as a historical narrative, that’s how Jesus read it, and so as Christians, that’s how we read it. No one today is smarter than Jesus.

As we look at the very long text, I want to focus on three words: earth, Noah, and Ark.

Earth

I was amazed, when I read this passage out loud [sidenote: a helpful thing to do if you’re having a hard time concentrating or staying awake while reading the Bible - stand up, walk slowly, read out loud - involve multiple sense if you are struggling to stay awake or comprehend], how frequently the word “earth” occurs. By my count, it occurs at least 18 times between 6:9-7:24. And what do we learn about the earth? Well, primarily we learn what an awful place it had become. 

Verse 11 tells us that the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. This is repeated in v12 when we are told that God saw the earth’s corruption, and that it had become so corrupted because “all flesh” had corrupted their way upon the earth. The level of corruption had become so bad that God determined to destroy the entire earth. 

This feels like whiplash from just a couple of chapters earlier when in Genesis 1-2 we hear repeatedly, “it was good, and God saw that it was good, it was good, and God saw that it was very good, etc.” Now it has become so ruined, so corrupted, so polluted by sin that God decides to undo everything and essentially start over. 

How can this be? Couldn’t God have just sent some kind of super disease to only kill humans, I mean, it was their fault, right? Why did the rest of all the living creatures have to die - and why destroy the earth itself? 

Two observations along those lines: 

* It’s worth noting that v12 says that “all flesh” in this passag