Re-Creation

Introduction

Last week we saw the wrath of God poured out onto the earth in the form of a flood. Everything that was outside of God’s protection in the ark was killed. This is not a sunshine and rainbows story but a story with bodies piled high and death everywhere. It was as though God was undoing the word of creation.

This week we see the story shift. God is going to almost re create everything. he is going to act on behalf of his servant Noah and bring salvation to those in the ark. Throughout it is highlighted the obedience that Noah has.

As we read this story and think about it tonight I want you to reflect on a few things. The first is your own personal obedience to God. Are you living in obedience to him? The next is salvation. God is saving people from his wrath here, in our lives we are deserving of this wrath and without faith in Jesus it will come. Are you ready for this? If you are ready for this do you see the significance of your salvation?

With these thoughts in mind let’s now pray and then turn to the story of the recreation of everything.

The Story

Genesis 8:1 ESV

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

What a great start to a chapter. God remembered Noah. This is not implying that God forgot about him but rather pointing towards the fact that God is about to act on behalf of Noah and all on the ark. We see this language used later in Genesis 19:29 “So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.” and again in Genesis 30:22 “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.” These were people that God was working in their lives at that moment, his remembering is pointing to him about to act.

he does act here too. He causes a wind to blow over the earth and the waters subside. This continues as we go too.

Genesis 8:2–5 ESV

The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

The action continues as God stops what he started at the beginning of the flood. He closes the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. He restrains it all and ends the flood. Over this period of time the flood was completed and the ark comes to a rest.

The flood came about over the course of 150 days and then receded over 150 days. This is a long period of time that Noah and his family had to trust completely in God.

The land of Ararat where the ark came to rest is believed to be in modern day Turkey. The exact location is unknown but this is also one of the possible locations for Eden making it a fitting location.

Now Noah begins to survey what is happening outside of the ark.

Genesis 8:6–12 ESV

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

In stages he sends out the raven and then a dove. Through these birds going out and coming back Noah could see the progress of the drying of the land. In the end the dove does not return and he knows that the waters have reseeded, the flood is complete and safety is here. Notice though that Noah does not leave the ark.

Genesis 8:13–19 ESV

In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

Noah removes the cover of the ark and looks out and can see that the land is dry. He does not leave the ark though until the command of the Lord comes. Noah waits until God tells him to go out from the ark.

When God tells them to go out he list them out just like in creation and then gives them the divine mandate to be fruitful and multiply. This is the recreation of everything. God brought them out of the ark and sent them forth to go out and do what he had originally said.

Upon the command of God Noah obeys and they go out just as he said.

This should make us wonder, a man came and brought salvation. there is a sort of recreation, is this the promised one? Is there still sin? Well there is still sin but Noah is a type of savior. This is not the final salvation though. The Bible acts in patterns and there is a pattern of salvation but each time it is incomplete until the final salvation found in Jesus. Noah is the first installment in this pattern.

Obedience

When we look at the story of Noah it is hard not to notice his obedience. We saw his obedience last week with constructing the ark and being faithful to God’s commands when it was something that would have sounded crazy at the time. Tonight we see him continue in obedience. He does not try to take things into his own hands but waits on the Lord. We see when it came time to leave the ark Noah knew when it was safe to go out and when everything was dry, yet he waited on the Lord and walked in obedience to him. He did not leave the ark until he was commanded to.

In our won lives how obedient are we? How often do we wait on the Lord to see what he desires of us? It’s probably not as often as it should be. We rush from one thing to the next before even seeking God in that. Or on the inverse we see clearly that God wants something of us but we deny that and run from it.

So how can we become more obedient to God? The start is going to be the start of everything, be in the word, be in church, be in prayer. Doing these things will always help cultivate a complete Christian life which includes being obedient. One more specific thing that you can do towards obedience is when faced with a decision don’t rush to what you want but reflect upon that from a biblical perspective and spend time in prayer over that decision. This points you more towards God and you can do what he desires of you and not just what you want to do.

Salvation

The second thing that I want us to draw out from our passage tonight it salvation. God saved Noah and all on the ark through the flood. This is not salvation from Hell but it is salvation from the judgment that came on the earth. It is important to see this for what it is in this respect.

In the early church the ark was highly symbolic for the cross. In places where Christians were being persecuted they couldn’t have a big cross on the wall but they could have an ark and it meant the same thing.

Noah was saved by the ark, we are saved by the cross. The flood is a type in a pattern that spans the Old Testament. The cross and Jesus are the final completion of this pattern. This is where our salvation is. It is in the sacrificial death of Jesus. We accept this salvation through faith and faith alone. When we trust in Jesus and him only for salvation we are saved. This is why Jesus took the punishment for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. This is the gospel and it is what the Old Testament is pointing us towards with its patterns.

If you have never put your faith in Jesus and tonight you see your need to be forgiven then put your faith in him. There is nothing magical or any formula. There is a amazing change in your heart though. Commit to Christ tonight.

Conclusion

As we wrap up the flood. I want to leave you with this. The only reason Noah was delivered through it was because he was a man of faith who walked through life in a way that was pleasing to the Lord and he was obedient to God in all things.

In these respects we should all ask ourselves how we can be more like Noah. How can we live in a way that is pleasing to God? How can we live lives defined by faith? This may be as simple as putting your faith in Jesus tonight. How can we be fully obedient in all things?

The judgment of God is a real thing. It is more real than many of you care to know. Salvation is possible though. Once we are saved we are called to live a set apart life, we are called to take up our crosses daily. We are called to obedience.