The Great Flood

A quick google search revealed that no one, so far, has undertaken this monumental question. My best guess is - based on the limited number of church nurseries I’ve see, is that it’s Noah’s Ark. Which makes sense - you can include lots of cute animals walking in pairs, or maybe looking over the edge of the boat - then there’s the boat itself, very distinctive. Rainbows - colorful and beautiful against background of blue, a nice calming color.

But of course these decorations always depict Noah’s Ark after the flooding has occurred, rain has stopped, sun has come back out, the worst is over, everything is happy and good.

What’s never depicted is the actual flooding itself, when the rains came, when the earth was being devastated, when people all over the world, other than the eight in the boat - and all the living creatures all over the world, other than the pairs of each in the boat - are drowning to death.

What I’m trying to remind us of is the fact that the story of Noah’s Ark and the great flood is a dark and tragic and terrible story. It is a story of evil dominating over the earth - and God’s response to that evil.

That’s story we want to look at today as we continue to make our way through the story of the Old Testament, book of Genesis, how we got to this point of such darkness and what does this reveal to us about God.

Evil is here - What will God do?

So let me begin with a few thoughts on what led to the destruction of the earth by flood - and we’ve already seen the arc of evil moving in this direction.

Talked about that last week, as we saw severity of evil growing from Adam & Eve, who, when they first sinned, hid from each and from God, start blaming one another - all the way to Cain & Abel, where the one brother, Cain, intentionally murders the other.

Move into greater evil simply continues permeating the earth - I want to offer you one particularly pointed example, it’s small, but I think it speaks volumes.

It comes from Genesis 4, where we find the line of descendants from to Cain to his son, Enoch, down several generations to Lamech, father of Noah. We get a little insight on Lamech in Genesis 4:23-24...

Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

Do you hear the cold and callousness of Lamech, evil he’s embraced?! He’s bragging to his wives (by the way, this is the first example we see of polygamy) about killing a man simply for injuring him. He’s bragging about it, absolutely unashamed! I will avenge not seven times, but seventy-seven times. No one hurts me and gets away with it.

Evil embraced - this is what God encounters throughout the earth, Genesis 6:5-6...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. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

“Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Do you hear how thoroughly sin has infested mankind, how tainted they (we) had become - every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart - not mind, but heart, very center of our being, only evil, all the time?

God’s heart is broken - deeply troubled, it pained him. What he had created for good had become everything but.

We find a further description in Genesis 6:11-12, Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

Now we’re not given an explicit description, but places today that might well fit this description: think about Taliban taking over Afghanistan, how desperate people were to leave that country when their takeover began, because they knew how brutally violent and corrupt it was going to be. North Korea, perhaps, Iran, I think would fit that description - all places we’d love to live, I’m sure.

So, what does God decide to do about all this evil - and what does this teach us about God?

The Great Flood, God’s Justice and Mercy

Quite simply, God decides to enact a great purge, a do-over, a great re-set, by destroying the earth by flood. Genesis 6:17: 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. Let that sink in for a moment. It’s a sobering declaration. The life that God breathed into every living creature he will now destroy.

And he will start over through one man, one righteous man, and his family: Genesis 6:9, 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.

This is the essence of the story which I think most of you are at least somewhat familiar with:

Noah is instructed to build an ark - 450 feet long (football field and a half, 75 feet wide and 45 feet tall, consisting of three decks. That is one massive boat. Completely covered by roof (only a foot and a half opening around the top).

Then Noah is to bring an animal of every kind (every species) into the ark, and to bring food, lots and lots of food. Turns out they are going to be on that boat a long time.

All of which Noah does - its a huge task, monumental, it must’ve taken years and years and years of his life, constant work. Did he have to pay for it all? Where did he get the materials? It’s mind-boggling to think what it must have taken. But Noah did it, an absolute act of faith and obedience: Vs. 22, Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Then floodwaters come - come up from the ground and come down from the heavens, the sky. And they come and come and come, for 40 days and 40 nights. The water comes until it floods the entire earth, every bit of land covered over, even the tallest mountains were submerged under twenty feet of water.

Destroys all life on earth. Everything, every human being, thousands upon thousands of them drowned. Every bird on earth, all of the animals, the livestock, the wild ones, creepy-crawly ones. All life on earth destroyed by the flood.

We like to think of Noah and the animals sitting safely on a boat, but they were the very rare exception. The vast majority of life, all other living creatures, destroyed. This is a dark and terrible story. God’s justice released on the earth.

Important question to address (or maybe it’s just me) - but did this really happen? Is this a historical event? This is one of the stories that people refer to in order to dismiss the Bible, because it seems so improbable. A couple of quick points here:

There are well-regarded scientists who see in the fossil and geological record evidence to support a global flood. There’s no shortage of marine life fossils found on top of tall mountains, which suggests they were once covered in water. Some scientists see evidence of a global flood in the layers of rock.

Helpful to remember that scientists are all working with same data, same evidence, it’s how they interpret that data that makes the difference.

But this is the thing I find really fascinating and compelling - stories that appear in ancient writings in various parts of the world of a great flood that occurred in ancient past.

If you were to take a guess, how many of these ancient narratives do you think we’ve found? We have over 200, and they literally come from all over the world - Middle East (Egypt, Persia), Europe (Germany, Italy, Spain), Pacific Islands, Asia (China, Thailand), Australia & New Zealand, Alaska, British Columbia, Guatemala, Peru, Argentina - Africa is the only continent we don’t find any.

Here’s the thing - if you took the details of these stories that are contained in most of them - and to be clear different versions have different details. So, 88% of ancient writings have this detail, 95% have this one, 57% this one. But if you took the common details reflected throughout the various stories, here’s the story these writings tell:

A favored family was warned in advance of a universal (massive) flood. The survivors used a boat to save animals and eventually landed on a mountain. Sound familiar?

So, back to the story and more particularly, what this story reveals about God

One of the things it absolutely reveals is that God is the God of justice. That he will - and does - come against evil. Because God is good, he wants good for us. He is determined to destroy evil. Because evil is always against God, God is good, because everything evil is that which is against him.

God looked upon the face of the earth - every inclination of the heart was only evil all the time. There’s no inclination toward good.

God doesn’t do this gleefully or joyfully, he does it grievously, he mourns this. His desire is for life, life for us. Evil brings death, goes against his goodness, so he must come against it, destroy it. He cannot, will not allow it to continue.

If you think about it, this is the natural and proper response to evil. When you see a violent act, when you read about some corruption, our hearts are grieved - they are, like God’s deeply troubled.

When Russia invaded Ukraine - it’s been almost a year now, it bothered us - how could they do that? Putin became public enemy number one.

I heard a story on the news the other day about the marked rise in violent crime among teenagers - it’s jumped up. Kids as young as 12, 13, and up, involved in carjacking and assaults.

When we hear about those things, we want it stopped. We want someone to come against it. To stop the violence and corruption, the evil. Our hearts yearn for justice.

Thankfully, God is the God of justice. God will destroy all evil one day. This is the promise of the return of Jesus, when he comes in the fullness of his glory. Listen to how it’s described in Matthew 24:37-39...

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Implication here is that just as God enacted justice against all those who’d done evil before the flood, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

But the story of the Great Flood isn’t just about God’s justice, but his mercy as well. You will always find God’s mercy in the midst of his judgment - always. His desire to save, to let life and goodness flourish throughout the earth.

The whole intention of Noah building the ark, gathering pairs of every kind of animal, gathering all the needed food, was to start again, to start with anew with a righteous and faithful man.

So, after 150 days (think about that for a moment, five months, five, floating on the water, nothing but water all around you), the waters begin to recede. God sends his wind on the earth and slowly but surely the waters recede until the tops of the mountains begin to emerge and the Ark comes to rest on the mountain of Ararat (located in modern day Turkey, which, by the way, one of the ancient flood narratives came from).

Noah sends out the various birds, first the raven, then the doves to determine if dry land has appeared. Finally, one of the birds does not return - so the covering of the Ark is removed and Noah and his family and all of the animals (likely there’s a few more than just the two of every kind - they’d been on the boat for a while), they make their way off the Ark back into the world.

Listen to God’s instructions as he invites them to leave the Ark, Genesis 8:15-17...Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

It’s a reiteration of the command in Genesis 1, when God had created the earth - fill it! Multiply, be fruitful, get those numbers up (notice how many words are included to describe this).

This is God’s mercy in action, his redemption. In spite of the overwhelming evil, the violence and corruption on the earth (every inclination of human heart towards only evil all the time), God redeems, he saves. He saves Noah and his family and animals in order for life to flourish on the earth once again.

Then God makes a promise, a covenant, setting his rainbow in the sky as a sign, as a reminder to us - and to himself (not that he needs reminders, but as a way to affirm his promise). Promise of mercy - that he will never destroy the earth by flood again. (I love that the covenant is not just with Noah and his family, but to all the living creatures - birds of air, wild animals, all of them). His rainbow is God saying to us, don’t worry, I’ve made a promise, I will keep it.

So, in this story, this terribly dark story - we see both the justice of God - he will not let evil stand. And we see the mercy of God - God will save those who turn to him, who are faithful to him. His heart is for the goodness and life that he created to flourish.

Spiritual Disciplines - Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart were only evil all the time. To grow as a follower of Jesus is to grow in the exact opposite direction - that every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts were toward Jesus all the time. We engage in soul-training exercises to incline our hearts that way, that being for Jesus is natural inclination of our hearts. We do this by cultivating an awareness of God, and a willing surrender.

Cultivating an awareness, practicing the presence of God…Discipline of solitude. To be alone to be with God. Is this a part of your schedule? What does your schedule reveal about the inclination of your heart?

Ways to practice discipline of solitude: Be attention through God’s creation (part of what this story teaches us). The rainbow…water…bread…wine…living creatures. Quiet place / time in your house, to be alone, reading Scripture, in prayer. Taking a prayer walk. Take an advantage of moments alone (no phone, no radio on in the car).

Inspiration - I want to finish this morning to pointing us to the story of the great flood and how Peter writes about it in the New Testament.

1 Peter 3:18-22...For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

By the way, if you’re confused by the “imprisoned spirits” you are not alone - lots of guesses as to who that refers to.

What I want to draw your attention to - “saved through the water” - think about that phrase. The waters were instrument of judgment, means by which God destroyed all evil on earth. Noah and his family were saved because they were on boat.

But then Peter makes connection to water and baptism, and how water of baptism “saves you also”, he says that it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What does he mean by that? He’s using the story of Noah and the flood to point us to the salvation we have in Jesus Christ, where God demonstrates to us once again his justice and mercy - but in a very different way.

This time, his justice is enacted upon Jesus. Jesus didn’t get a boat - he endured the death. In a sense, he was taken by the waters of judgment - not for any sin he committed, but ours. Jesus bears the punishment - the death due us is put on him. In his sense, like the masses of people during the time of Noah, Jesus went down into watery grave.

But he didn’t stay there, he rose to new life, he defeated death. He conquered sin. He justifies us. This is great mercy - he offers us opportunity to share in this new life with him - we do this by joining ourselves to him.

This is exactly what baptism symbolizes - we join with Jesus in death, into watery grave, and we rise to new life. Listen to Romans 6:3-4: Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

May our hearts rejoice that God is God of justice - he will not let evil stand. He will come against it. And rejoice in his great, great mercy - Jesus taking our evil upon himself, dying to it and inviting us to rise to new life with him.

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