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Today we’re going to look at this from 2 angles.
We’re going to consider the fact that God is a just judge.
And then we’re going to consider the fact that in the midst of God’s judgement, he is always preserving a remnant.
That’s our two points.
God is a just judge
We’ve been endeavoring to answer the question,
“What is the text trying to do?”
And we’ve been looking at Genesis through the lens of
“Why did the Israelites coming out of captivity need to know this story?”
It is first of all important to note that at this point in the story we are getting wayyy more biographical information about Noah than anyone in human history.
And we are actually a good chunk of the way through human history at this point.
Thousands of years.
So obviously this story will be one of great importance.
What is the text shouting out to us?
Even though mankind has free will,
God does not let evil run unrestrained forever.
We also see that God is incredibly patient.
It’s just Noah.
God has been patient and merciful already by not wiping out the wicked.
Another example of God being patient, merciful, and just can be found in
It’s worth mentioning that this concept of God wiping out almost everyone on earth with a flood is one that is challenged in our day and age.
The flood narrative is often held up as an example of God being a genocidal God.
This is a misunderstanding of justice from our western viewpoint.
(Where we have strayed from biblical justice).
God cannot commit genocide.
We do not use the same categories for God that we would use for a human being.
We do not hold God to the standard that we would hold any other God of our own creation to.
2 paintings
Scripture tells us that it is God who causes nations to rise and fall.
A commonality that we see between nations that fall in history is their commitment to systemic violence, and often human sacrifice.
We don’t get a snapshot view of the world before the flood, but based off what we know from other cultures that God has allowed to be wiped out, we can infer some things.
Amorites - Child sacrifice
Israel - Child sacrifice “Something that never entered my mind.”
Sodom - Violent sexual crimes and murder
Rome - Human sacrifice for entertainment
Aztec - Human sacrifice
We can almost assuredly bet that the people of Noah’s time had begun sacrificing living human beings to demons.
God holds us to HIS standard.
If you are interested in advancing the cause of justice in this world, consider long and hard by what standard you are advancing justice.
Is it your standard or God’s?
And this is another interesting feature of the flood narrative.
By God’s standard, Noah was also deserving of being drowned in the flood waters.
But it is precisely BECAUSE of God’s mercy and grace that now even one person is being saved.
And His salvation is not based on him being a good guy.
It’s based on his faith in God.
Everyone in history is deserving of the wrath of God,
and God has made a way for them to be saved.
Faith, is the way that humans all across time can be saved from their sin by receiving the grace of God.
And this is an astonishing point in the story where
And now it’s just one guy.
So why the flood?
A theology of water:
Water is connected with order.
OR Disorder.
God has ordered his creation and put the chaos waters at bay.
All creation has an order to it.
In the garden, we see everything that God made living in obedience to him.
Birds fly
Fish swim
Bears do bear things
The sun shines
Mankind rules and cares for the creation.
After the fall mankinds relationship to God changes.
The nonhuman creation keeps obeying.
But the human creation has turned to chaos.
The actions of mankind on earth were slowly chipping away at the dam.
“To rebel against God is to embrace death because you are turning away from the giver of life Himself.”
- Tim Mackie
YAHWEH is the God of the Remnant
In the midst of God’s judgement, there is always a remnant.
What’s a remnant?
A surviving trace.
A small group remaining.
As we survey the entirety of the story, we see that the heart of God is interested in drawing sinners to himself so that they can be washed clean of their sin and be new people.
That’s what God is doing in history.
He is calling a remnant out of every nation and tribe on earth.
Sometimes this remnant is strong, as whole cultures submit themselves to God’s will for a time,
And sometimes it’s very very weak, like in the time of Noah, where the remnant is just 8 people.
Marks of the Remnant
If you’re a Christian than you’re a part of this remnant crowd.
And so I want to talk about what are the marks of a remnant.
We will see all of these in the experience of Noah.
Faith
Remnant people are faithful people.
Why should we care about the fact that God saves a remnant?
The book of romans talks about this in chapter 9 vs 27 as it quotes Isaiah
This section of Romans is making the astonishing claim that true sons of Abraham are people who have placed their faith in God.
Reminder from last week.
It’s not the size of your faith that matters.
It’s the object of your weak, battered, limping along faith that matters.
Your faith is weak.
But if you’ve placed your faith in Christ than you have placed your faith in the only person in the universe who has breathed stars out of his mouth.
… who transcends time who walked with Adam in the garden and walked with 12 bumbling disciples like you and me too.
… who has killed death.
… Who has rose from the dead.
… sits on the throne at the right hand of God in heaven ruling His creation with a rod and a staff.
You have placed your faith in the strongman.
But you are weak.
Being a part of the remnant is almost a guarantee that you will be hurting.
A helpful reminder for those living in the remnant is the reality that what God is doing is so much bigger than what we can comprehend.
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