Genesis 7:1-16

The pattern we have already seen in the previous chapter repeats itself again here. God gave Noah clear direction. The direction was absurd...'go into the ark and take a bunch of animals with you'!!! Noah again demonstrates his great faith. He could have wavered half way through his mission and tried to save face but there are no signs of Noah compromising his commitment to God's call. He is single minded in his obedience and nothing will deter him. God's plan to save the human race rests on the obedience of one man (and the submission of his wife and family...I guess Noah would have struggled to multiply on his own). This picture of salvation foreshadows God's ultimate plan to use the obedience of one man for the redemption of all.

The triumph of Noah's faith must not cause us to overlook the darkeness and tragedy of this moment. The world had reached a point where there was only one man who sought the Lord. Men had projected themselves into the centre of the world and the Maker of heaven and earth had been denied. It is only in Him that anyone can find eternal life. Now the human race had cut itself off from that hope and life, leaving God no option but to execute his judgement. This decision is carried out in the depths of grief as we have already identified. It is the bleakest day of this unfolding story. All of creation must have wept.

Realising the darkness of this moment it leaves me with mixed emotions as I face verse 11. "In the six hundreth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heavans were opened". This is a verse of epic proportion. It shouts of 'finally'! Noah worked so hard and so faithfully and finally the ridicule his community subjected him to was over. The questions and the moments of doubt had passed. It all made perfect sense. It would be easy to write triumphantly at this point but Noah's heart was so closely aligned with God's that it is hard to believe that he did anything but weep. It must have been a harrowing time as Noah knew that shortly the community he had grown up with will be washed away. The thud of every rain drop must have have caused Noah to here the screams of his generation echoing in his imagination. The sunday school images of Noah and his family floating around happily on a boat can be no further from the truth. This was devastating.

The final verse in this section reminds us again that Noah's salvation was dependant on the hand of God. God shut Noah in the ark. It was God's providence that ensured Noah was safely concealed in the ark and protected from the battering waves.

Genesis 6:22

This isn't the first time you will hear this said about Noah. The magnitude of this sentence can only be appreciated when it is set in the context of what precedes it. Noah had been set an absurd task. In the midst of a community that he lived with for hundreds of years he was called to build a boat three and a half football pitches long and yet there wasn't an ocean to be seen in any direction.

Society is full of rules about appropriateness. We manage our behaviour according to the situation we find ourselves in and if we don't we quickly learn from those around us that if we continue in that manner we will soon find ourselves excluded. I'm sure we would find this effect at work in all cultures and throughout history. It seems a condition of humanity. How, then, would Noah's community have responded to him when he begins a project that must have taken decades and made absolutely no sense at all. Inevitably he would have been labeled as a cause for concern or something far worse. What value would Noah have been to the community while he was busy with his woodwork project?

Noah response to God's commandments required deep and enduring faith. Obedience and faith in the seemingly absurd reflects Noah's conviction in the faithfulness and character of God.

At times we do not always see the purpose and reason behind God's instructions or his prophetic leading but if we know God and his character then his command can be confidently embraced.

As Christians we may struggle with questions about war in the Old Testament, hell in the New Testament or we may feel left confused by a season of suffering or a challenging situation we find ourselves in. However through all of these challenges we must come to know and trust the character of God that has been revealed to us in the scriptures. We then will be able to trust the God that Noah had walked with and so deeply depended upon.

Genesis 6:9-22

The concept of walking with God emerges again in this passage. Noah is described as 'blameless in his generation'. I would imagine this passage is making a contrast between Noah and his corrupt generation rather than suggesting Noah was completely without sin. The evil that pervades society is suffocating the world of life and goodness. God is left with no choice but to bring judgment.

Passages such as these may be uncomfortable for many of us to digest. Judgment and justice are concepts and characteristics of God that are easily ignored in our times. However they are foundational to our understanding of God's plan and the world we live in. God's sense of justice permeates his character completely. With God "Right is right, even if nobody does it. And wrong is wrong, even if everybody's wrong about it." (G.K. Chesterton). God holds men accountable for those actions and punishes wrong. Until God draws the line above our own lives we are usually comfortable with God's justice. However when we fall short of his standard our excuses begin to multiple and our tendency is towards outrage that God could be so unfair. Did the thief you despise chose his poverty? Sin is sin and we should be prepared to face the consequences of our actions whatever our circumstances. Humanity without accountability is the slope to destruction and this proverb is played out in our papers daily.

What manifest next is a demonstration of the outrageous nature of God's grace and the limitlessness of His kindness. As I have already pointed out Noah was surely guilty of sin and deserving of death just as his generation was. What takes place next is God's miraculous intervention. Responding to Noah's heart, which sought to walk with the Lord, God unfolds a detailed plan for salvation. The ark that Noah faithfully builds is not attributable to Noah's own genius, God's means of salvation is divinely provided with every detail carefully delivered by God himself. What a beautiful picture of how God would work time and time again in Israel and the Church's history. Just when it seems impossible for us to be saved, when our weakness is laid bear and hopelessness would be the logical emotion, God steps in and provides the gift of salvation and deliverance. The ark becomes an inspired picture of Christ. Those choosing to abide in it are safe from waves of judgement that battered its decks. The execution of justice fell all around but those sheltering inside this boat were preserved from the consequences of their own actions and the actions of their generation. When we are least deserving and most in need of God our response should not be to stand in the rain but to run for cover under the water tight walls of God's ark - Jesus. With God justice does not have be settled through the judgment of the guilty because repentance and faith are the pathway to a shelter from all the punishment we deserve.