November 27, 2022

Genesis 6:1-7:24: God Floods the Earth

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: Genesis: In the Beginning Topic: Default Scripture: Genesis 6:1– 7:24

Genesis 6:1-7:24: God Floods the Earth

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of Genesis, and today the next passage we come to is Genesis 6:1-7:24, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. It says,

5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 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. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch….17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female….22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. 1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.”… 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood….10 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth….17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He 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. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, your word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our paths. Shine your light brightly this morning. Help us to see everything we need to see about who you are, what you’ve done, what you promise, what you teach, and what you desire for our lives. Minister to us by your Holy Spirit, for it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

One of the most cherished teachings of the Bible is that “God is love.” Those are the exact words we find written in 1 John 4:8. It tells us quite clearly, “God is love.” And what a wonderful and glorious truth about God that is. However, many people seem to embrace this idea of God’s love in a way that deliberately excludes the idea of his judgment. 

Tim Keller writes, “Today, many of the skeptics I talk to say, as I once did, they can't believe in the God of the Bible, who punishes and judges people, because they ‘believe in a God of Love.’ I now ask, what makes them think God is Love? Can they look at life in the world today and say, ‘This proves that the God of the world is a God of love’? Can they look at history and say, ‘This all shows that the God of history is a God of love’? Can they look at the religious texts of the world and conclude that God is a God of love? By no means is that the dominant, ruling attribute of God as understood in any of the major faiths. I must conclude that the source of the idea that God is Love is the Bible itself. And the Bible tells us that the God of love is also a God of judgment who will put all things in the world to right in the end.”

So, the same Bible from which we get the concept of God’s love in the first place is the very same Bible that teaches us about God’s judgment. And that puts those who reject the idea of God’s judgment in a very interesting predicament, doesn’t it? On what basis do they embrace God’s love but reject his judgment? Yet, perhaps more often than not, that’s exactly what they do. 

Most people have no problem with the idea of God’s love. It’s a very enjoyable subject for them to talk about, and they’re very happy to do so with a smile on their face. But as soon as someone suggests that this God of love is also a God of justice who judges people for their sin, their expression immediately changes, and it’s quite clear that they don’t like the idea of God’s justice or judgment at all. Many times, they’ll even say something to the effect of, “I could never believe in a God like that.” And maybe that’s sort of where you’re at this morning. Or, even if you’re not ardently opposed to believing in a God of judgment, maybe you still struggle with the idea of a God who judges sin. 

I mean, just thinking of what we read in Genesis 6-7 a few minutes ago about God wiping out the vast majority of the earth’s population with a worldwide flood, maybe you’re not sure whether you want to embrace a God who would do something like that. After all, there are many who would say that the action God undertakes in Genesis 6-7 is something only a monster would do. So, do those people have a point? Is God a monster for flooding the earth in this passage? Well, my hope is that, before our time together this morning is over, you’ll be able to confidently maintain that God is absolutely not a monster but rather that he’s altogether worthy of our worship, even as he pours out judgment on people for their sins. 

Now, the main idea of this passage is that God responds to pervasive and worsening corruption by flooding the earth. And that will be our focus this morning. I know there’s a lot of discussion about the historicity of this account from a scientific perspective. However, I’ll leave that discussion to those who are more knowledgeable about such things than I am. And, instead, I’ll just assume that it’s not difficult at all for a God who spoke the universe into existence to cause this earth to be engulfed a worldwide flood. If you’re interested in a scientific defense of the historicity of these chapters from a Christian perspective, there are some excellent resources I’d be happy to point you to. But our focus will be on the main idea of this passage and what it’s actually teaching us—that God responds to pervasive and worsening corruption by flooding the earth.

In Genesis 6:5-6, we read, 5 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. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So, at this point, the human race has devolved into a state of unimaginable wickedness. God says that every intention of the thoughts of people’s hearts is only evil continually. People now have no hesitation about committing sin, no remorse over their sin, and almost no limit to the sins they’ll commit. The first few verses of chapter 6 described this world as a place of grotesque sexual perversion, and we can only imagine the utter depravity exhibited in other areas of life as well and how commonplace even the vilest of sins had become. “Every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually.” And God’s understandably grieved that the creation he had once pronounced “very good” back in Genesis 1:31 is now so inundated with sin. 

Then, verse 7: 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.” The language of this verse and the various kinds of creatures it describes is intentionally crafted to be parallel to the language employed in Genesis 1 describing God’s creation of the world. The implication is this is now a reversal of sorts of God’s creative work. Just as we’re told in Genesis 1:2 that the entire earth was originally covered in water, everything’s about to be submerged in water once again. And God’s statement about blotting out the vast majority of living creatures, including humans, is obviously a very shocking thing. Yet, this is how bad things had become and how pervasive evil had grown to be in the world. Sort of like an arm or a leg might become so badly infected that the only option is to amputate that arm or leg, the earth was now in a situation where wickedness had to be cut off in order for God’s redemptive purposes to be fulfilled. 

Yet, verse 8 tells us that “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord,” and verse 9 explains why. It says that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” And let’s just acknowledge what an achievement that was in the world especially at that time. Imagine being born and raised in the most drug-infested and crime-infested neighborhood in Chicago and rising above that to become a world-class doctor and philanthropist. That would be pretty amazing. Similarly, Noah “beat the odds,” so to speak, by rising above the depravity that was all around him and living as “a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” Of course, that doesn’t mean he was completely sinless in the eyes of God since he still possessed a sinful nature. However, humanly speaking, he was righteous and blameless compared to the evil that was in the world at that time. 

The story then continues in verses 11-19: 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 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. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 

So God informs Noah of what’s about to happen and tells him to make an enormous boat called an ark. We then read in verse 22 that “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” Now, just think for a moment about what this obedience to God required from Noah. It required that he take God at his word and reorient his entire life around building this vessel. And keep in mind that it’s not like Noah had trucks or cranes or chainsaws either. Building this ark was an even more massive undertaking than it would be in modern times. So, based on some data in Genesis, scholars estimate that it likely took Noah somewhere between 50 and 100 years to build the ark. And he presumably did so with the help of his sons but probably not with the help of anyone else. In fact, not only did others not help him, it’s very likely they ridiculed him and that Noah became a laughingstock around that region. 

By the way, that’s a good reminder for us that, if we’re faithful to God and to the instructions God’s given us about how to live, we also will often find ourselves to be swimming against the strong cultural current of society. And we have to be prepared for that. We have to be prepared to swim this way even when everyone else is swimming that way—just as Noah had to do here in this passage. Yet, Noah continued to labor year after year with the confidence that the flood God had announced to him would indeed happen. 

We then read, in verses 1-16 of chapter 7, how Noah and all of the animals he had gathered enter the ark, God shuts the door behind them, and the flood waters come, just as God had said they would. Picking up the story in verses 17-24, it says, 17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He 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. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days. 

Again, this is a very sobering account of God’s judgment on the earth. And some might wonder, how could God do such a thing? Like we discussed at the beginning, is God a monster for doing something like this? Can we really worship a God who kills off the vast majority of the human race with a worldwide flood? Well, in answer to these kinds of questions, I’d like to lay out six principles for us to keep in mind as we consider the judgment and wrath of God. 

First, the Bible makes no apology for God’s judgment and wrath. It doesn’t whisper to us in hushed tones about these things but rather tells us quite plainly about how God pours out judgment on those who persist in their rebellion against him. From Genesis to Revelation, we see stories of him punishing people for their sins. And, yes, that includes the New Testament. 

As J. I. Packer insightfully observes, “People who do not actually read the Bible confidently assure us that when we move from the Old Testament to the New, the theme of divine judgment fades into the background. But if we examine the New Testament, even in the most cursory way, we find at once that the Old Testament emphasis on God’s action as judge, far from being reduced, is actually intensified. The entire New Testament is overshadowed by the certainty of a coming day of universal judgment, and by the problem thence arising: How [can] we [as] sinners get right with God while there is [still] time? The New Testament looks on to ‘the day of judgment,’ ‘the day of wrath,’ ‘the wrath to come,’ and proclaims Jesus, the divine Savior, as the divinely appointed Judge.” 

So, as you can see, our main passage in Genesis isn’t the only place where we read about God’s judgment. God’s judgment and wrath are found throughout the Bible, and, arguably, even more in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. So, since the Bible makes no apology for God’s judgment or wrath, neither should we. 

Then a second principle for us to keep in mind is that God’s wrath doesn’t have the qualities that ours often does. When we think of someone being filled with wrath and anger, we usually imagine them losing control of their emotions and acting irrationally—basically flipping out at someone and usually doing so for no good reason at all. Maybe their pride was wounded or maybe they didn’t get their way. Whatever it was, they just lose it and go off on someone. Not that long ago, I witnessed a road rage incident near the Walmart in West Mifflin. Apparently, one of the drivers at a four way stop intersection went when it wasn’t his turn to go, and another driver went absolutely berserk on the guy. When the guy was stopped at a nearby red light, this other driver got out of his truck, walked up to the guy’s window, and started screaming the most obscene things at him for probably for close to a minute. I thought the dude was about to throw a punch. And that’s the sort of thing many people picture when they think of wrath. 

Yet, if you read the Bible, that’s not at all what God’s wrath is like. Instead, God’s wrath is always a righteous and necessary response to human wickedness. Let me say that again: God’s wrath is always a righteous and necessary response to human wickedness. God’s only angry when anger is appropriate and never has a higher level of anger than what the situation calls for. He also never loses control of himself but always exhibits his anger in a manner that’s measured and controlled. Even in Genesis 6-7, notice that God doesn’t just lose his temper one day and make a spur-of-the-moment decision to flood the earth. No, we see in the text that he informs Noah of his intention to flood the earth over 100 years before he actually carries it out. 

Moving on, a third principle for us to keep in mind is that God’s wrath is ultimately something people choose for themselves. In 1 Peter 3:20, Peter talks about how God waited patiently in the days of Noah for people to repent. He waited for over a century! And yet, nobody repented. Even though they saw Noah building the ark and undoubtedly heard Noah testify about the flood God had announced, they chose to continue in their rebellion. Therefore, I believe it’s very appropriate to say, in a certain sense, that drowning in the flood is something people chose for themselves. And the same can be said for all of the other instances when people suffer God’s wrath as well.

Again, to quote J. I. Packer, “The decisive act of judgment upon the lost is the judgment which they pass upon themselves, by rejecting the light that comes to them in and through Jesus Christ. In the last analysis, all that God does subsequently in judicial action toward the unbeliever, whether in this life or beyond it, is to show him, and lead him into, the full implications of the choice he has made….The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his preference. Nobody stands under the wrath of God except those who have chosen to do so. The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give men what they choose, in all its implications: nothing more, and equally nothing less. God’s readiness to respect human choice to this extent may appear disconcerting and even terrifying, but it is plain that his attitude here is supremely just….[W]hat God is hereby doing is no more than to ratify and confirm judgments which [people] have already passed on themselves by the course they have chosen to follow.”

And this leads us right into the fourth principle for us to consider, which is that judgment and wrath are essential aspects of God’s moral perfection. Think about all the evil that takes place in the world—violence, rape, abuse, genocide, and countless other atrocities. Would a God who didn’t take any action in response to these things really be a good or righteous God? Would a God who treated wickedness and righteousness in the same way really be righteous himself? Obviously not. I once heard a preacher named Paul Washer talk about how people will sometimes tell him that “God can’t hate because God is love.” And he says, no, God must hate because God is love. Loving what’s good requires hating what’s evil. Loving babies requires hating abortion. Loving abused women requires hating sex trafficking. Therefore, in order for God to be good and righteous and even loving, it’s necessary for him to judge wickedness. His judgment and wrath are essential aspects of his moral perfection and even of his love.

Then, a fifth principle to keep in mind is that it’s the anticipation of God’s future judgment that enables us to forgive wrongs committed against us. And when I speak of wrongs committed against us, I’m not primarily talking about those who wrong us in the sense of hurting our feelings. I’m talking about people who wrong us in some very significant ways—acts committed against us that have lasting consequences. If someone ever does something like that to you, it’s natural to crave revenge. Yet, when we understand that God will one day make sure that every sin is punished, it frees us from feeling like we have to dole out that punishment ourselves. As God says in Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” Notice that he doesn’t say to just stop worrying about it. He helps us stop worrying about it by assuring us that he himself will take care of things. And I think there’s something in us that needs to hear that if we’ve been the victim of a significant act of evil. Listen: forgiveness isn’t pretending that something didn’t happen. It’s referring the matter to God so that he can take care of justice instead of you trying to take care of it. No one is getting away with anything. 

I think Miroslav Volf makes this point very well. Volf is a Christian theologian at Yale and is from the country of Croatia. And as many of you may know, Croatia, several decades ago, was the site of a terrible genocide. And Volf is coming out of that. He watched as his friends and family members were slaughtered before his eyes. And so, as a Christian theologian, he’s had to think through how you can forgive people for crimes like that. Again, we’re not just talking about people hurting your feelings; we’re talking about them killing your family. How can you ever forgive that? Miroslav Volf says that one component of being able to extend that forgiveness is believing in a God who judges sin.  

Listen to what he writes, “To the person who is inclined to dismiss the belief in divine vengeance, I suggest imagining that you are delivering a lecture in a war zone. Among your listeners are people whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit. The topic of the lecture? A Christian attitude toward violence. Soon you would discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home to believe in God’s refusal to judge. If God were not angry at injustice, God would not be worthy of our worship….The certainty of God’s just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it.” In other words, the only way we can relinquish our right to demand payment now for the ways people have wronged us is to believe that God will eventually sort things out. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” he says. And believing that is the only way you and I can be free from the deepest levels of bitterness, hatred, and despair. So that’s another reason why the idea of God’s judgment isn’t something we should shun but rather something we should embrace. 

Then, a sixth and final principle for us to keep in mind is that God’s judgment is completely and utterly deserved. When people rebel against the God who created them and who has showered them with blessing on top of blessing, they deserve to be punished for their rebellion. They’ve committed what amounts to cosmic treason against the God of the universe. Therefore, we should expect God to hold them responsible for their actions by punishing them. That’s the normal pattern for the way things typically operate. Crimes deserve punishment. So, it shouldn’t surprise us when we see references in the Bible to God judging people. Instead, what should actually surprise us is God’s mercy. That’s the truly astonishing thing. So, as we look at a passage like Genesis 6-7, the astonishing thing isn’t that God would pour out judgment on so many and save so few but rather that he’d save anyone at all. If there’s anything scandalous in these chapters, it’s that God saved eight unworthy people—Noah and his family—from the justice they deserved. Because, as we’ve already said, even though Noah was righteous compared to the rest of society, he was still sinful—as we’ll see very clearly next week in Genesis 9. So, for him to be spared from God’s judgment is astonishing. Likewise, the astonishing and scandalous thing today isn’t that God condemns sinners to hell but rather that he shows mercy to any hell-deserving sinner at all by redeeming them from their sin. 

So, hopefully these six principles help us see that the God of Genesis 6-7 is indeed a God who’s altogether worthy of our worship, even as he judges people for their sin. Yet, all of this talk about God’s judgment should also lead us to do something else as well, and that is to consider where we stand with this holy and just God. Our sins may not be as bad as those of the people of Noah’s generation, but let’s not forget that we also have sinned against God. Instead of following his ways, we’ve so often followed our own ways. Instead of seeking to exalt him, we’ve sought to exalt ourselves. We’ve done things we shouldn't have done, said things we shouldn't have said, and thought things we shouldn't have thought with the result that we now stand condemned before God. 

And the Bible teaches that God’s judgment will come just as surely as the flood waters of Genesis 7. Like the flood, it might be delayed for a long time, but make no mistake: it’s coming. As Jesus himself says, with reference to this coming judgment, in Luke 17:26-27: 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. So be warned that destruction is coming and will come so suddenly that the vast majority of people will be caught off guard, Jesus says. And even if this worldwide judgment doesn’t come in your lifetime or my lifetime, the fact remains that each one of us will still one day die and stand before God. There’s no escaping that. 

Yet, thankfully, the good news of the gospel is that God’s provided a way for us to be saved. Just as he provided an ark for Noah and his family so that they could be spared from the flood, he’s provided a way for us to be spared from his judgment as well. And that way is through Jesus and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay for our sins. Because, even though we deserved God’s judgment, Jesus suffered that judgment in our place in his death on the cross. In his love, he actually took upon himself the judgment we deserved. So, it’s through the cross that God’s provided an ark of salvation that rescues us from the coming judgment—and only those who enter that ark will be saved. 

So, the choice is yours. Will you enter that ark like Noah and his family by putting your trust in Jesus to save you, or will you refuse to enter the ark and endure the consequences you’ve chosen for yourself? Jesus stands ready to save you if you’ll simply renounce your sins and look to him for rescue. He’s already accomplished everything that needed to be accomplished through his death and subsequent resurrection from the dead, and his arms are now wide open for you to come to him and receive all the benefits of what he’s done. Will you do that, even this morning? 

 

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Oct 22

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Oct 8

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