One of the most epic accounts in the Old Testament is that of the flood. We know from the beginning of scripture in the garden of Eden that God sees His people, knows what they are up to, and knows what their hearts are like for better or for worse.
In Genesis 6:5-8, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” However, we are told, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”
Do you ever feel like Noah? If you pay attention to politics or the news, you may feel like “the wickedness of man is very great on the earth,” and most peoples intentions and thoughts are primarily evil. Maybe (hopefully) are not this cynical, but life may feel that way at times. A few verses later, the Holy Spirit goes into even more detail about the evil in the world, saying that, “the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth’” (Genesis 6:11-13).
Then, God sends the water. It rains for 40 days and 40 nights, with only 8 people and 2 of every animal safely on board the ark that Noah had made. As the floods came, “everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. [God] blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:22-23).
After the flood though, God creates a rainbow, which He explains to Noah is a “sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” (9:12-16).
Ultimately, God makes it clear that He took no pleasure in destroying mankind, but rather was sorrowful and only sent the flood to wipe out the evil that mankind had become involved with. God is holy and righteous and created everything, including humanity, to be perfect and good. He created us so that He could love us, and to reject God by sinning goes against the very purpose for which we were made. God loves us and wants to bless us, but He is also holy and just and cannot allow evil to continue unchecked. I would imagine if we were to “put ourselves in God’s shoes,” so to speak, when we read about the horrible, rampant violence that was all over the earth and in the hearts of all mankind before the flood, we can understand why God would want to take drastic measures to “clean house,” and restore His creation to the perfect state it was in when He created it. Obviously, it did not stay perfect forever, and even Noah himself committed a terrible sin at one point (Genesis 9:20-29). However, the flood serves us as an example of God’s judgment: He wipes out evil with a mighty hand, and sees and preserves the righteous, using them for His purposes and sparing them in the day of trouble.
In the New Testament, Peter directly correlates the flood to baptism, explaining how we too are “brought safely through water,” redeemed, and made righteous, despite our sins and the sinfulness of our world:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when 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. 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 3:18-21)
Let us be perfectly clear: baptism saves us. Jesus came and suffered, taking on death on our behalf, so that through baptism we could be cleansed from our sins. Just like in Noah’s case, our salvation requires the grace of God, our faith in Him, and action both on God’s part and on ours. In his second letter, Peter assures us that, “if [God] did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:5, 9-10).
No matter how evil, vulgar, and violent the world around us may be (or how much worse it may get in the future), God’s instructions are simple: have faith, listen to Me, and I will bring you safely through the water.
“…He who promised is faithful.”(Hebrews 10:23)
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