The Storm is Over

Introduction

-Sin had so defiled God’s creation, that He regretted having made man and prepared a judgment that would destroy all flesh except a small remnant saved in a big box. Noah found favor in God’s eyes. Noah and his family were shown grace by God and protected in the midst of God’s great judgment. God created a place of refuge for those that He would save. The world would be cleansed and a new start would come.

-In Genesis 7 the flood begins. Water from above and water from below overwhelmed the earth to the point that it rose somewhere around 20 feet above the mountains. After raining 40 days and 40 nights, the storm itself stopped, but the waters continued on the land. Any land or air creature that was not on the ark was killed. And now those on the ark waited and waited and waited. And we pick up the story.

Genesis 8:1–5 ESV

1 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. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 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.

-This chapter begins by telling us that God remembered Noah. That might not be the best English translation because we automatically connect remembering with forgetting. For us, if we remembered something, that means we first forgot that something, and then all of a sudden out of the blue it just popped right back up in our head.

-If this was in reference to humans, that wouldn’t be that big of a deal. We humans are forgetting things all the time. I’ve forgotten things in the oven and they got burned. I’ve forgotten about a meeting and forgot to put it in my calendar, and all of a sudden someone’s calling wondering where I’m at. You expect forgetfulness in humans. It’s a little disconcerting to assume that God forgot something and then remembered something.

-But we don’t need to worry, because God never forgets. Sometimes we may feel forgotten, but God never forgets. And maybe Noah felt forgotten. Here he is taking care of all these animals in this big box. They’ve been tossed around for 40 days. Who knows how seasick the people or the animals got. And then they either floated around for another 150 days or the 150 days included the 40 (the calendar of the flood is hard to follow)—but either way, they’d been on the boat somewhere between 5-7 months already. For that long, it might be easy to feel forgotten. But they were not forgotten.

-Most often when this word is used with God as its subject, it speaks of God turning His attention to someone with whom He made a promise, and He acts on their behalf. God made a covenant with Noah, He made a promise of preserving everyone on the ark, and beginning with them anew. Now God was going to actively do things to get that ball rolling. First, the waters would have to abate. Noah wasn’t going to start a new water planet. Men weren’t going to turn into fishes or mermaids. They needed dry land again. So, the waters slowly began to recede. It says in v. 1 that God made a wind to blow over the earth to make the waters subside. The process of evaporation started up again. The waters started trickling back down into the underground caverns from which they came.

-The fact that this had begun is shown in v. 4. It tells us that 7 months and 17 days after the flood had started, the ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. So, before, the waters were 15-20 feet above or so above the mountains. Now the waters were below the tops of the mountains.

-Some Bible teachers are quick to assume that the Ararat mountains spoken of in the Bible are those of the same name in Turkey. However, the Bible does not give direct geographic connection to any particular area of the globe. It gives the name without any sort of designation of where those mountains are in comparison to other geographical locations. So, while this may refer to the mountains in Turkey, they might not. And I know that years ago there was some great claim that Noah’s ark was found via plane or helicopter or something in Mount Ararat, but that is highly unlikely. We Christian’s cannot just blindly believe everything that makes claims just because we think it helps our cause. It must come from credible sources. So, more than likely, Noah’s ark has not been found. Just like the ark of the covenant has not been found (Indiana Jones notwithstanding).

Genesis 8:6–12 ESV

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 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. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 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. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.

-After 40 days since the mountain tops reappeared, Noah wants to see how things are progressing with the abatement of the waters. The ark doesn’t have portholes to just look out and see what is going on. The ark is built tight, not a lot of openings. There is a window near the top of the ark. Might have been used for fresh air. Might have been used to look out and see the stars (by which ancient navigators figured out their positions). Because you have to consider, Noah was not a professional boatsman. He had no navigational equipment on board. Noah had to fully trust in the promises and providence of the Lord God for his provision and protection.

-So since Noah couldn’t fully see what was going on outside the ark, he enlists the help of some of the animals that he has on board to track the progress of the water receding and the land reappearing. First, Noah enlists the help of a raven. Ravens are pretty hearty birds that are able to fly long distances without stopping. We might say that the raven was sent out for long-distance reconnaissance. If the raven failed to return, Noah would have known that some land was somewhere out in the distance. From what the end of v. 7 seems to indicate, the raven was used consistently.

-Then Noah also used the dove. The dove would not have been able to go as long of distances as the raven, so it would have indicated if habitable land was nearby the ark. At first, it flew for a bit and returned, indicating that the flood waters still dominated the area. After a week the dove was sent out again and returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. This would have been a joyous sight for Noah because that meant that plants had already begun to sprout. Vegetative life had begun again. Man and animal would be sustained by the earth again like it had before. Noah sent the dove again who did not return, and by that Noah knew that the flood waters receded enough to sustain life. And we pick up...

Genesis 8:13–19 ESV

13 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. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 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.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.

-V. 13 gives a date a little less than a year after the rains had begun (using Noah’s birth date as a means of following the chronology). It says that the face of the ground was dry, which might mean that water levels returned to normal. Not that the flood hadn’t changed the geography and topography of the world—it most certainly had. But the waters returned to where they would remain from then on. But the land was not ready to receive its inhabitants quite yet. It isn’t until almost another 2 months that the Bible recorded that the earth dried out. Once the water levels evened out, the ground was probably still much to soggy to actually live on. You know, after a hard rain and you walk through your yard and you squish along and sink into the ground in some spots, imagine how bad it was after this whole flood ordeal. But now the earth dried out enough to inhabit—a little over a year later.

-But Noah doesn’t merely leave the ark because he thinks its safe based on his own work with the birds. Noah, who was probably anxious to get out, did what is near impossible for us to do—he waited until God spoke, and then he acted. You can imagine that this whole ark experience took cabin fever to a completely new level. You think you had cabin fever when you were sick or whatever, imagine being on that ark with the same animals and same people for over a year. But Noah didn’t jump the gun.

-God calls Noah and all the ark’s inhabitants to come forth. God had provided them shelter from the storm of His judgment, and now they were safe to live in a renewed world. Again, the picture with reference to us as God’s people is intentional. Jesus Christ is our refuge who protects us from the rightful justice of God. But Christ not only saves us from something, but saves us to something. We are protected and preserved for what will be the final renewal of creation. We are in refuge and are secure for the day that our bodies will be renewed (at the resurrection), and we are in refuge and are secure for the day that the heavens and earth will be renewed. And there will come a day when Christ returns and He will call us out to walk in the new eternal state.

Genesis 8:20–22 ESV

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

-After over a year cooped up in that big box, what is the first thing that you do? Throw a party? Go bowling? What do you do with your newfound freedom? Look at Noah. Noah gets out and he builds an altar. The first thing that Noah does is worship God. God just spared him and his family and safely kept them through the storm. His first reaction is worship. That’s somewhat the essence of Purple Sunday, but honestly should be our initial reaction in most any circumstance. God has done great things. Worship Him! God has protected and provided. Worship Him!

-Noah builds an altar and offers sacrifices to God from some of the clean animals that he had on board—remember, Noah took in seven pairs of clean animals. He left enough for them to be fruitful and multiply. And God, in response to the worship, reiterates promises and covenant.

-We have a great covenant with God through Jesus Christ. Every time we worship it ought to bring to remembrance what it is God provided and promised in this new and everlasting covenant that we now have, so that we go forth and live in light of that covenant.

-Every day gives another opportunity to worship God. Every day gives another chance to remember His goodness. Why would we not take advantage of that?