Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 7:1-16

405 Standard Equipment On Pony Express

The pony express was a thrilling part of early American history.

It ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California—a distance of 1,900 miles.

The trip was made in ten days.

Forty men, each riding 50 miles a day, dashed along the trail on 500 of the best horses the West could provide.

To conserve weight, clothing was very light, saddles were extremely small and thin, and no weapons were carried.

The horses themselves wore small shoes or none at all.

The mail pouches were flat and very conservative in size.

Letters had to be written on thin paper, and postage was $5.00 an ounce (a tremendous sum those days).

Yet, each rider carried a full-sized Bible!

It was presented to him when he joined the pony express, and he took it with him despite all the scrupulous weight precautions.

There was a time when owning a Bible was truly a treasure.

In our country, access to the Scriptures has never been greater than today.

And there is a very larger variety of translations you can find in the English language (I’ve counted 47 of the more prominent versions).

There is 1 version that was published late last year (Legacy Standard Bible “endeavored to follow through on the NASB’s stated intent to be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek”).

Many Bible apps have this now for download—I’d recommend it.

According to Wycliffe Bible Translators…there are at least 7300 languages spoken or signed around the world.

At least 1.5 billion people do not have the full Bible in their language.

At least 1600 languages are still in need of a Bible translation to be started.

Currently work is being done in more than 2800 languages worldwide.

Recognizing the blessing and importance of having the Scriptures in our own language, there are many who devote themselves (labors and giftedness) to helping others receive God’s Word.

And there’s a great deal of scholarship that goes into creating a quality/accurate translation of the Bible (visit with Jan G).

Sometimes that scholarship is more self-promoting and produces a version that the world is better off without.

a little over 100 years ago there was 1 such version “Polychrome Bible.”

Polychrome means many colors.

Its intent was to take the scholarship of the day and print a Bible in many colors that represented a growing theory of the OT in the late 19th C. That theory came to be known as the “Documentary Hypothesis” and was popularized by Johannes Wellhausen (German scholar).

The idea is that much of the OT (particularly the Pentateuch) was not written by a single author (Moses) but that editors wove together different sources (at least 4 sources) to produce the OT—or specific books like Genesis.

The documentary hypothesis is easily recognized by the letters JEPD (Jehovah source, Elohim source, Priestly source, Deuteronomist) source).

If you’re reading a commentary and the author insists that this is his understanding of the book you might be studying—toss it aside.

The developer of the Polychrome Bible asked the scholars of his day to tell him who wrote what.

He color-coded different sections of the OT according to what the “scholars” told him: JEPD—each a different color).

(Similar to more recent efforts of Jesus Seminar—red pink, grey, black).

Beginning in Gen 7—the colors began to change more frequently, indicating the belief that this section was more of a composite of the Jehovah and Priestly sources which some editor brilliantly assembled and only a more brilliant scholar can untangle it.

They reason that b/c the names for God reveal the different sources, there must have been 2-3 sources used for the flood narrative (Elohim and Jehovah/YHWH).

So all these scholars begin to pat themselves on the back—congratulating each other for their brilliance.

You might think that the work of some—150 years ago—might be obsolete today but this is the leading theory of Genesis presented in commentaries that you might read.

I believe however, that Moses wrote Genesis (thru Dt) and we can have great confidence in all that he describes b/c he wrote under the inspiration of HS.

That’s the nature of your Bible in its entirety (regardless of your translation).

You can trust your Bibles and further, it ought to be something we cherish since God’s truth is the means of our sanctification—being conformed to image of Christ.

Even though there are changes between the names used for God (you see them in your Bibles) there is good reason why Moses chose to use the terms he did.

This is explained in one of the literary devices found in Hebrew called a “chiasm” where a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order.

It has been compared to a mirror...

Example: Gen 7-8

C The Lord commands the remnant to enter the ark (7:1–9)

D The flood begins (7:10–16)

E The flood prevails 150 days, and the mountains are covered (7:17–24)

F God remembers Noah (8:1a)

E1 The flood recedes 150 days, and the mountains are visible (8:1b–5)

D1 The earth dries (8:6–14)

C1 God commands the remnant to leave the ark (8:15–19)

Its a beautiful picture of the structure of these verses but it also explains why sometimes Moses uses the name “God” and other times “LORD/YHWH.”

The difference is seen where God relates to His creation (Elohim) and when He relates to humans as redeemer (YHWH—the personal covenant name God reveals of Himself in relation to His people).

In a very special way YHWH closed the door.

In our passage today, God’s character is on full display.

There are at least four attributes of God highlighted beginning with:

1. God’s Righteousness

vv 1, 11-12

The Lord (YHWH—the covenant name of the redeemer, drawing on the special relationship He has toward the redeemed) is speaking directly to Noah with the command to enter the ark.

By this time, the ark has been completed (about 100 years after 6:13-16).

Then the YHWH explains why He is going to save them “for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation” (LSB).

Thru Moses God already revealed Noah to be a righteous man.

And we’ve seen that is attributed directly to Noah’s faith, believing God.

In fact, the only way for a person to righteous is thru faith.

One has to be careful though b/c this could give the impression that Noah’s obedience in building the ark is the direct reason for his salvation (this would make righteousness works-based—contrary to the entirety of God’s revealed Word).

God says “you alone I have seen to be righteous”.

The key to understanding this is the word “seen.”

Let me take you to 2 places where this same word is used:

Several dif.

translations:

Gen 22:8,14;

To see to something (even in our language) is to provide it.

When God tells Noah I have seen you righteous—it means He provides for that righteousness—the only righteousness He accepts.

Thus God saves Noah, not b/c he was living a better life than all his contemporaries (which was certainly true), but only b/c God provided the righteousness that made Noah acceptable before God.

Before us, then, is the revelation of God’s righteousness.

Wayne Grudem (Systematic Theology) defines God’s righteousness (justice) “Righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right.”

This means that He infinitely, perfectly, and independently does exactly what He wants to do and how He wants to do it.

Since He defines the standard whatever He does is right/just.

William Perkins “We must not think that God doeth a thing because it is good and right, but rather is the thing good and right because God willeth and worketh it.”

Isaiah 45:19 (NASB95)

19 I, the Lord, speak righteousness, Declaring things that are upright.

God’s righteousness/justice means that it is necessary to deal with people according to what they deserve—So God justly punishes sin.

This is what Gen 7:11-12 is expressing—the final point when God determines to act “all the fountains of the great deep...” Water to flood the earth (as an act of judgment) comes from the sky but also subterranean bodies of water exploded to the surface in unimaginable power.

Later we’ll look at some of the physical properties that produced and resulted from the flood.

God’s righteousness is on full display as the earth floods with water, destroying “all flesh.”

In Noah’s case…he too deserved to be destroyed (he was a sinner).

But God’s salvation and forgiveness of Noah’s sin might appear at first to be unjust (all sin must be punished), however, Paul explains:

So, Noah’s sin is dealt with as it was also placed on the LJC (just like ours) and the righteousness of LJC was put on Noah, just like it is for anyone who has faith in JC.

2. God’s Patience

vv 2-4

Earlier God indicated that there would be a reprieve of divine justice that would end after 120 years (6:3).

So Noah and his sons begin the process of building the ark, preaching righteousness to that generation.

The ark is finished and the final countdown begins—and yet still giving men time to repent.

God’s patience could be described as being perfectly at peace and undisturbed in Himself and toward sinners in spite of their continual disobedience and disregard for His warnings of coming judgment.

God does not “lose His temper” but acts calmly with perfect affection according to His eternal sovereign plan.

In Noah’s time:

And today:

God doesn’t shrink from being responsible for the upcoming cataclysm.

“I will…I Will” This is indeed a judgment, before which God extends great patience.

During this time, God also revealed to Noah that he was to take 7 pairs of all the clean animals (not explaining why).