The Flood
Text: Genesis 6:9-7:24
Core Idea: Our God is a holy God, and He will justly punish the wicked. But He’s also a gracious God. Because of His love for us, He won’t let us go. Then, let’s run to Him today. Cling to Him, for He truly is mighty to save.
INTRODUCTION
Well, we are currently going through the Book of Genesis – looking at how all things started. And two weeks ago, we saw that God’s heart was deeply troubled to see how great the wickedness of the human race had become and that every inclination of their heart was only evil all the time. Everyone did as they saw fit – and as a result, God declared that He would destroy everything He had created to cleanse the earth. Now, before we turn to our passage for today, I want to prepare our hearts so that we don’t miss the gravity of this story. This is the deadliest and the most tragic event ever to be recorded in the history of mankind – and yet it has often been tamed to be put on our children’s book, which is why so many of us associate this story with these images. But, friends, there was nothing pretty about what happened here. It was ugly and terrifying – in fact, it’s the kind of story that should cause us to shake in fear. I mention this because I don’t want us to miss the point. This isn’t just a fable manufactured by the church to teach people a moral lesson – no, it’s a historical event that’s meant to display God’s holiness and His grace. Then, with that in mind, please open your Bibles to Genesis 6:9-7:24 – and I will read this for us.
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. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 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. 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. 7:1 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 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. Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Now, I’m sure your mind must be filled with all kinds of questions – “Is it really possible to have the waters cover the entire surface of the earth? Is it possible that the flood may have come where Noah lived but not the whole world? Is there any evidence from geology or archeology that this flood came? If it rained that much, where did all the water go after it had flooded the earth? How did Noah have the knowledge, technology, and resources needed to build this ark? How were they able to fit all those animals and birds in the ark? What about the dinosaurs? How hard was it to care for all those animals for a year?” I could go on and on, but the point is that this passage leaves us with a lot of questions. Now, I don’t want to disappoint you, but I’m not going to answer any of those questions today – not because I’m trying to evade them, but because this passage wasn’t ultimately written for that purpose. One of the rules for interpreting the Bible is that we should always find out why the author wrote this book in the first place. Then, what was the author trying to communicate to us here? One thing’s for sure: this passage wasn’t ultimately written to explain how these things happened (the details to prove their validity) but why they had to happen and what this means for us. Then, let me help you see that by pointing out three things from this passage:
· THE FAITH OF NOAH
· THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
· THE PATTERN OF SALVATION
1) THE FAITH OF NOAH
Our passage begins with the introduction of Noah – verse 9, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” Now, this doesn’t mean that Noah was a perfect man. But we do learn three things about him. First, when it says that he was righteous, it means he was morally upright before the Lord. His heart posture was Godward in that he desired to please God in all that he did – so, as a result, he lived a life of obedience. Second, when it says that he was blameless, it means he had a godly reputation among the people. People thought of him as a good and honest person because they could see that he was a man of integrity. In other words, he was godly in the eyes of both God and others. Lastly, he walked faithfully with God – which, by the way, is a description given only to two people in the entire Bible, Noah and Enoch. And it describes the closest personal communion one can have with God – it’s this idea of moving in the same direction as if they were glued together. In other words, Noah’s aim was to please God, serve God, and honor God in all circumstances because he loved and trusted God with all of his heart. In fact, we know this to be true when we see the way he responded to God’s call to build an ark. Think about it. This would’ve sounded ridiculous, considering that there has never been a flood like this before. In fact, most of the days were sunny and dry – so I could understand if Noah was a bit confused by this command. It probably didn’t make sense to him. Not only that, but the ark that Noah was told to build was gigantic in size. If we convert the numbers from verse 15, it would be around 137 meters in length, 23 meters in width, and 14 meters in height. Now, if that’s hard to visualize in your head, think of it this way – it would’ve been 1.5 times longer than a football field, as wide as a six-lane highway, and as high as a three-story building. All that to say, it was huge – and Noah had to build it on his own. “Where would he get the knowledge to make this kind of ark? Where would he get the resources? What if he doesn’t finish on time?” To make matters worse, people must have ridiculed him for spending all that he had (money, time, and energy) on something they thought would never happen. Now, to be fair, there may have been some who were at least interested in what Noah had to say – but they would’ve quickly concluded, “Well, if it didn’t happen for this long, it’s, for sure, not going to happen.” Noah had to stand alone (other than his family). But despite all these challenges, Noah still obeyed. He clung to God’s Word. He was a man of faith, and he demonstrated his faith through his works – by building the ark. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” What do we learn from this? Well, we learn that true and saving faith is always accompanied by obedience. James 2:17 puts it like this, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” In other words, faith and work are inseparable. Faith creates works and works complete faith in that the more we trust God, the more we will obey God, and the more we obey God, the more our faith will mature and grow. Then, let me ask you, “Is your belief in God’s Word inspiring and moving you to action? Is your faith producing a transformation of your life?”
Let me go a little deeper. Just as God warned Noah, the Bible clearly tells us that Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead – and those who trust Him will be saved, but those who reject Him will be condemned. Listen to 2 Peter 3:10-18, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him… Since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Did you hear that? Knowing that the day of the Lord is coming, live godly lives today – make every effort to be spotless and blameless in your actions and decisions. The call is clear – be holy in all you do. In your speech and your thoughts, at home and work, in your highs and your lows, in your singleness and marriage, whether you’re content or discontent, whether you’re growing or apathetic, whether you’ve arrived or still pursuing, be the kind of people God desires you to be. Then, let me ask you, “Just as Noah went to work to build the ark because he believed in God’s Word, are you making every effort to be holy in all that you do because you believe in God’s Word?” If not, why not? Are you lacking wisdom? Then, ask for it. Are you lacking courage? Then, ask for it. The truth is that just like Noah, we, too, live in a world that is hostile to Christianity. People think that we’re foolish for believing such nonsense – “How can you believe that God exists when science can explain everything? How can you believe that the Bible can be true since it’s been manufactured by the church to promote its own agenda? How can you believe that someone can die and come back to life? How can you believe that someone who lived 2000 years ago has anything to do with your life today? How can you believe that this God will one day come to judge and send people to hell? Why would you give your money, time, and energy to a God like that? You’re crazy. You’re wasting your time. Judgment is not coming. Just enjoy your life now – do what makes you happy because this is it. There’s no life after death.” Brothers and sisters, if we faithfully follow Jesus in this world, we will face persecution at some point in our journey. We will receive verbal harassment, rejection, humiliation, public mockery, or unjust treatment. In other words, persecution is the normal experience of every Christian. Of course, not everyone is going to hate us, but we will be hated. Then, let’s continue to pray for greater faith – to believe that His Word is true, that He’s with us, that He loves us, and that He will come back to wipe away our tears and bring justice against His enemies. Let’s ask God to grow our faith because it will give us the strength to obey, even if the cost may be great. Friends, what is God asking you to do today? Trust Him and obey.
2) THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
Verse 11 tells us that the promised judgment finally came – “all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” God wasn’t bluffing. He sent the flood, and even the mountains were covered under the waters. And the result was, verse 22, “everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died… Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.” Every living thing on the earth perished. Other than the ones in the ark, everyone else was wiped out – no one outside the ark survived. This portion of Scripture may be hard to swallow because it makes God look like a cruel and merciless monster rather than a trustworthy and loving Father. Richard Dawkins wrote, “The moral story of Noah is appalling. God took a dim view of humans, so he (with the exception of one family) drowned the lot of them, including children and also, for good measure, the rest of the (presumably blameless) animals as well.” I’ll be honest – this is not an easy subject to understand because it feels like it goes against what we believe to be just. But let me point out two things. First, we must remember that our God is a holy God. There’s no one like Him because He alone is perfect in every way – He’s perfect in wisdom, power, justice, anger, patience, mercy, grace, and love, which means that even His decision to bring the flood was perfectly just. Because our God is unimaginably holy, because our sin is immensely offensive to Him, and because God so loved the world, He could not passively watch the wickedness of mankind destroy all that was meant to be good. In fact, that’s exactly what we see in Genesis 6:12 – listen to what it says, “God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.’” Interestingly, the words “corrupt” and “destroy” are from the same Hebrew word that was just translated differently. This is important to point out because what God was basically saying was this, “I will no longer watch them corrupt (destroy) everything I’ve created. I’m going to stop the destruction by destroying them. In order to save the world, I’m going to destroy the source of evil – be it every human being on earth.” J.I. Packer wrote, “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect? Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath.” In other words, the intensity of God’s wrath simply displays His hatred for sin. That’s how much He despises sin – He won’t tolerate even the smallest sin, for He is holy.
Now, some of you may be thinking, “Okay, I get that. But doesn’t the flood seem too much? Why couldn’t He just condemn the really bad ones but give another chance to those whose sin may be smaller compared to those wicked people?” If this is you, here’s the second thing we need to remember – it’s that death is the only fitting punishment for all sin, no matter how big or small it may be because of whom we sin against. Let me explain. Imagine walking down the street, and you notice someone sitting on a bench focused on something in his hands. You go closer to take a look and realize that he was pulling the legs off a grasshopper. How would you respond? You would think that he’s weird, but you probably wouldn’t confront him about it. Now, what if it wasn’t a grasshopper but a frog? You would be a bit more disturbed but still reluctant to do anything about it. What if it was a bird? Would you say something or just walk away? How about if it was a puppy? Now, you’ll definitely call the police. Finally, what if it was a child? Would you stop him? Absolutely. At risk to yourself, you would intervene and physically fight him to protect the child. Now, what’s the difference in each of these scenes? Why would most people just walk away if they saw a grasshopper but stop if they saw a child? What prompts a different reaction? Technically, in each case, the act is the same – pulling off legs. But what’s the difference? It’s the one who is sinned against. The more valuable the creature, the more serious and unacceptable it is to assault them. Friends, we should never forget that there’s no one who compares with God in terms of beauty, worth, and glory. As the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe, He alone deserves the praises of all creatures – which is why any sin against Him (small or big) is considered the highest form of evil. Does that make sense? If we don’t see sin as an attack on God’s infinite worth, we’ll never understand why the flood was necessary. But when we see the gravity of our sin, we’ll understand that the punishment does indeed fit the crime.
Brothers and sisters, I’m laboring on this point because we must learn to be fearful of God. It’s true that He’s our Father, our Good Shepherd, our Friend – but we cannot forget the fact that He’s also a holy and righteous Judge who won’t let evil go unpunished. This is why we should have a healthy fear of Him. We should not cheapen His grace by casually indulging ourselves in sin. We should make every effort to live a life that is truly worthy of the gospel – not out of guilt but reverence for the One who gave us life. We should stop being lukewarm in the way we live but be intentional to fight the good fight of faith out of our desire to honor Him and see Him be lifted up through our obedience. Then, my prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit will convict your hearts today so that you’ll feel the weightiness of this truth. But I also pray that it won’t stop there but that this conviction will lead to action – that you’ll begin to live every single day in fear of the One who is perfectly holy.
3) THE PATTERN OF SALVATION
What we see in this passage is that God gives Noah very precise details about His salvation plan. Nothing was just left for Noah to figure out – God told him why He was doing this, what He wanted to accomplish, and exactly what Noah was to do. Verse 13 – God says He’s going to put an end to all people because the earth is filled with violence because of them. Verse 14 – God tells Noah to make an ark of cypress wood (very specific) and coat it with pitch inside and out for waterproofing purposes. Verse 15 – God gives Noah the exact measurement of the ark he was to make. Verse 18 – God assures Noah that he will be saved, for He wants to establish a covenant with him. Verse 19 – God instructs Noah who should go into the ark – Noah, his wife, their sons, their sons’ wives, two of every kind of bird, animal, and creature that moves along the ground (male and female). Verse 1 – God tells Noah exactly when to go into the ark to be saved. Verse 4 – God sets a limit as to how much and how long it will rain. Verse 15 – God sends all those living creatures to the ark so that Noah doesn’t have to go out looking for them. Verse 16 – God shuts the door to make sure that everyone in the ark is safe from judgment. In other words, nothing was left to chance – God initiated, God instructed, God executed, and Noah simply obeyed. This is so important to note because it’s no different today in that we don’t need to figure out on our own how we can receive this salvation – God has already given us a clear instruction as to how we can be freed from the wrath of God.
The truth is that the world we live in is not very different from the world Noah lived in because we, too, live in a world where every inclination of people’s hearts is only evil all the time. And the Bible clearly tells us that another judgment will come again. 2 Peter 3:3-7 writes, “You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” Peter shares that just as the judgment of water came in the past, the judgment of fire will one day come to destroy the ungodly. God’s Word will be fulfilled. Now, Peter foresaw that there will be scoffers who will laugh at this promise of judgment – who will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? We’re doing fine. Don’t be fooled by these religious institutions. Don’t live in fear. Don’t let them control you. Enjoy your life now. If it didn’t come for 2,000 years, it’s not going to come.” Now, doesn’t this sound like what the people around Noah must have said? They, too, doubted – but the judgment did come. It took time – possibly 120 years. But it did come, and it swallowed them up. Now, if you’re wondering why the judgment hasn’t come yet, God tells us the reason in 2 Peter 3:8-9 – “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” The judgment hasn’t come because God is patient with you, because He doesn’t want you to perish, because He wants you to come to repentance so that you can be saved.
Then, let me speak to my non-believing friends right now. I pray that you won’t take God’s warning lightly. Just as the judgment of water came to wipe away all evil from the earth, the judgment of fire will come and burn away all that is impure in order to usher in the new heavens and the new earth, for that is the will of God. Nothing will thwart His plans. Then, don’t be like the scoffers. Believe the Word of the Lord. Now, if you’re wondering what your next steps might be, as I said before, know that God has given us a precise way of receiving this salvation. The Bible tells us that all of us, without exception, are sinful beings – and that the wages of sin is death. Implication? It’s that we deserve this judgment to come. But John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus Christ took our place and received the judgment of God for us on the cross so that we may be forgiven and be welcomed into the presence of this holy God. He made a way for us when there was no way. Friends, Jesus Christ is the new ark that has been provided for us. There’s no other way – Jesus is the only way we’ll be saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. Only through Him will we be freed from the sting of death. Then, stop searching for a solution to your problems elsewhere. Turn to Him today. Put your faith in Christ today. Don’t delay because the door won’t stay open forever. I’m not trying to scare you into believing, but I am pleading with you because I don’t want you to experience the fullness of God’s wrath and the absence of His life-giving presence. Get into the ark of Christ, for He will give you life and life to the full.
Christians, we’re the recipients of God’s grace – and for that, we should praise the Lord today. But it shouldn’t stop there because we now know how one can receive this salvation. Then, how can we keep this wonderful news to ourselves? We must go and tell others about it. Yes, we will be ridiculed. We will be unjustly treated. People will mock us. And I’m sure you’ll be tempted to give up. But just as Noah trusted God and did not give up, let’s continually proclaim the gospel to those around us as we trust in the grace of our God.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, our God is a holy God, and He will justly punish the wicked. But He’s also a gracious God. Because of His love for us, He won’t let us go. Then, let’s run to Him today. Cling to Him, for He truly is mighty to save.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What does Noah’s obedience teach us about faith? In what ways can we demonstrate faith in God even when His commands seem difficult or unreasonable? How does Noah’s faith challenge or encourage you in your own walk with God?
2) In what ways do people today react similarly to the people in Noah’s time when warned about God’s coming judgment? How do you reconcile the idea of a loving God with His judgment of sin? How does our understanding of sin impact our view of God’s justice?
3) How does the story of Noah and the ark point to Jesus and salvation through Him? How do we see God’s mercy in this story, even in the midst of judgment?
4) How can we prepare ourselves spiritually for Christ’s return? What practical steps can we take to live holy and godly lives in a world that rejects God?