We are looking at the story of Noah in the context of what has come before. Jen says, never read a story in the Bible independent of what has come before and what is going to come after.
If we believe something like this happened, we should expect that it's recorded not just by one culture but by several cultures. There are literally hundreds of recorded tales, Jen says, about a flood that happened. These stories have been gathered by scholars and analyzed. There's a lot of debate out there of whether the flood was global or local, she says.
The only way the flood stays in orthodox belief is to say it was regional; it wiped out all human kind except the 8 people preserved. Why? Because the whole point of the story is that God is cleansing the earth of all its wicked inhabitants. Because of the doctrine of original sin that says we're all born with a bent towards sin, it makes sense, Jen says, that even if the flood was regional, all human kind not on the ark would have had to be swept away.
Original Sin
Because Adam messed up, we have to walk around from our earliest days wanting to commit sin. The God of the universe orchestrated this original sin and made Adam our representative. One of the most difficult pieces of coming to terms with the flood narrative, says Jen, is that it's only a temporary solution.
Genesis 6:1-10
Notice that the text is mentioning Shem, Ham and Japheth. This should raise our awareness and look for those names to occur again.
What do we see here?
- Noah was a righteous man
- He's the great-great-grandson of Enoch who walked with God
- And Noah also walked with God following in the line of his ancestors
Noah is dwelling in a time when wickedness is pervasive. The NT refers to him as a preacher of righteousness. He will be given a task of building the ark which will be difficult because of the era he is living in of wickedness.
Genesis 6:11-13
Notice the word "corrupt" used three times. Notice how blame has been established:
- The people have corrupted the earth
- Violence because of the people
He says in verse 13, He will destroy both them and the earth. The root word for destroy is corrupt.
Genesis 6:14-22
When you hear verse 22, does it sound familiar to you? What Moses will do when he writes his narrative throughout Genesis, is he employs the same patterns of language, Jen says. Why is this? Because he wants his listeners to be able to remember, so he's giving them listening and memory tools.
Look at verse 13: "God said." Look at verse 22: "Noah did." Do you feel the rhythm of the creation account here? But rather than God being the one who accomplishes the work, Noah is brought in as a partner to the process. This is a good picture of our sanctification. In the process of sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit, we work through grace-driven effort to grow in holiness. We see that here in a typology that it's God who gives the command to create and Noah carries it out.
God has specifics. He has an exact plan. He wants Noah to know what it is and be able to carry it out. God tells Noah exactly what's going to happen.
In verse 18, a word is introduced in the Bible for the first time: covenant. The first mention of God making a promise with humans. It's not the first time we've seen the concept though. We saw a covenant implied back in the garden after the first sin - when God slays the animals and clothes Adam and Eve and promises the seed will come from the woman.
They were to bring two of every kind, male and female. This too is an echo of the creation narrative of Adam and Eve to symbolize the completeness of the pair.
We need to know how Noah heard this command. Where does Noah live? In the desert. This command is:
- ludicrous (what if Noah fails?)
- laborious (100 years)
- protracted (lasting a long time)
- expensive (great financial sacrifice)
But "Noah did this."
Genesis 7:1-5
We see here again "God said" and "It was so" - Noah did. Notice 7 pairs of animals clean and a pair of unclean (we will see why in the next session).
Genesis 7:6-10
He spends 7 days waiting for rain (the first period of time). The next interval is 40 days and nights of rain.
Genesis 7:11-12
In these verses, it's just as God had said in the previous verses.
Genesis 7:13-16
First we have this litany which feels like to us a needless repetition. But what is it? It's "God said" and "Noah did", and it happened just as God said. We then have this statement "and the Lord shut him in." Think about this: 7 days of waiting before the Lord shut the door. He shuts the door. Why? Because their safety will rely wholly on Him.
We see three things regarding this:
1) we see the perfect security that is found being in the ark. Look at Revelation 3:7b .... "what He opens no one can shut and what He shuts no one can open." Noah's ark corresponds to the NT regarding baptism (I Peter 3:20-22). Just as Noah and his family are sealed in the ark and pass through waters of death and raised to life on the other side of the flood, so also we are buried with Christ, pass through death and are raised to life as He is raised from the dead. The door being shut and sealed corresponds to us being sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
2) God's grace. We see that God is slow and waits. When all of the preparations have taken place, and nothing else left to be done, the last thing that happens is the door is closed. Up to that point, the door of salvation remained open to anyone who would come. Noah preached for about 120 years about the coming judgment.
3) There is an end to grace. A word of warning here. The most significant parellel here is John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved." So we as believers in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit can know that we will, as well, persevere and be safe in Him.
Genesis 7:17-24
The third time interval in the flood account - 150 days the waters prevailed.
Genesis 8:1-5
"God remembered Noah." What we take from this phrase and where we see it elsewhere in the scriptures is that God remembered His promise to Noah. It was time to bring it to pass. God sent a wind over the earth and the waters receded. The word for wind is Ruach. Do you remember that from Genesis 1? The Spirit hovering over the waters. What do we see here again? We see Ruach hovering over the waters. We see the earth in the flood has been returned to its primordial state. This is a de-creation narrative. The earth is now the way it was in Gensis chapter 1 when the Spirit hovered waiting for the sign from God to speak and have light come in play, to separate the waters from the waters, and the waters from the dry land. We're going to see the same things happen now. We begin to see dry land separate from water in verse 5.
Genesis 8:6-7
The seas are returning to their proper boundaries and the dry land is now emerging. He sends out a raven.
Genesis 8:8-9
Forty days the waters are receding and a dove is sent out. Now we will have 7 days waiting for the waters to recede and the dove returns.
Genesis 8:10-12
The symbol for peace is the dove with the olive branch because God's covenant is being made with Noah. When the dove does not return, Noah knows there is enough dry ground that they now can leave the ark. This last period of 7 days when the dove does not return, is a total of 6 different increments of time. Why do you suppose that is? Because in the creation account of Genesis chapter 1, we had 6 intervals of time to describe creation. So now what would correspond to the 7th day, the day of Sabbath. What happens?
Genesis 8:13-17
This correlates with Genesis 1:24 (read this).
Genesis 8:18-19
God said and it was so, like the creation account. Now here we have Noah and his family and all the animals to go forth and fulfill the cultural mandate again.
Notice that Noah doesn't walk out of the ark for himself; God called him. Does this remind you of any NT story? Lazerus (John 11). Jesus walks up to a sealed door and calls a dead man to life. Why doesn't Noah exit on his own? Because it is God who speaks us into life. This scene is a re-enactment of John 11. Passing from death to life. The flood marks the psyche of Israel and also all who believe.
Closing
In closing, Jen reads Psalm 29. Our God sits enthroned above the flood. He brings us safely through and meets us on the other side with an olive branch and a call to life.
Next: Session 9 "God's Covenant with Noah"
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