Rescue Through Chaotic Waters

Introduction

When I was a young boy, I was taught that during the sermon, I should always have my Bible out and flipping to whatever Bible verse the preacher was talking about so I could follow along with the lesson. That was a good practice, but there were weeks when uncle Cher Yam was the preacher, and you know how much detail he packs into his slides. So there I was with my six-year-old hands flipping furiously to keep up, and by the time I found it, he was on to the next point.

We’re not going to flip that much today, but I’d like you to have your Bibles open to the book of Genesis, specifically chapters 1 and 6. Whether that means putting a bookmark in your physical Bible or having two tabs open on your phone, do it, because we’re going to be doing some close reading of the text today.

Slide

Genesis 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

What would you do if someone asked you to draw or paint this scene? Well, you can’t really do that, can you? There’s nothing. There are no planets or stars, no plants or animals, not even time and space. Just pure darkness and silence, and that’s not even quite correct because even darkness and silence don’t exist. This is so “nothing” that it’s “nothing-nothing”. It’s hard to wrap our minds around them.

And that’s how we normally imagine Genesis 1:1-2. There’s just one problem with understanding: that’s not how the biblical writers understood these verses. In the minds of the ancient Israelites, before God said or created anything, or what we might call the “pre-creation state”, there was ‘something’.

Slide: without form and void

Let’s start with this phrase: ‘without form and void’. Originally, this phrase did not mean ‘nothing’. Kind of.

Slide: tohu va vohu

This is the Hebrew idiom tohu va vohu which literally means “unordered and uninhabited.” What it means is that this pre-creation state has “no order” and “no purpose”. In other words, it is chaos.

Slide: deep, waters

There are two more words to note: “deep” and “waters”. These are Hebrew words that are talking about a massive ocean. But this isn’t an ocean that you can go and take a cruise with Royal Carribean or something.

Slide: storm

This ocean is a tohu va vohu ocean, full of chaos and destruction. Anything that this ocean touches gets destroyed instantly. These waters that engulf everything in a state of turbulence and unrest. In fact, it is so turbulent that it destroys and drowns everything. In that sense, there was ‘nothing’ in the beginning because this massive tohu va vohu ocean destroys everything.

It would take nothing less than a miracle for life to emerge here.

Creation

Which, as a matter of fact, is exactly what is about to happen.

Slide: Spirit of God

In the midst of this giant watery chaotic mess, we find the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters. And where the Spirit of God is present, something big is about to happen.

Slide: Ruach

Take note of the word ‘Spirit’ here. In Hebrew, this is the word ruach. This word is going to be important, so I need to make sure we all know this one. Repeat after me: ruach.

In this case, the word refers God’s Spirit, but this Hebrew word can also mean the spirits of human beings or more generically, wind. Keep that in mind, because this is not the last time we’ll see this word.

Just to be sure, how do you say this word again?

We’re in Genesis 1:3 now. And I need some help from the experts. You know who knows the creation story better than almost anyone else? Children. I’m told that children love the story of how God created the world.

What does God create on Day 1? Light!

What does God create on Day 2? The sky!

What does God create on Day 3? Dry land (and trees)!

For our purposes today, we’re just going to look at the first 3 days of creation. And as we look at each of these days, I want us to notice not just what God creates, but how He creates it. You’ll see what I mean when we get there.

Genesis 1:3–5 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

What actions do we see God performing here? (1) He speaks, (2) He sees the light and (3) names the light, and (4) He separates light from darkness. When you separate one thing from another, what's going on? When you have a pile of laundry and you separate the shirts from the pants, what are you doing? You are organising. You are bringing order to the mess that is your clothes. Which is something I need to do when I go home later. The point is that when things are neat and tidy and ordered, you feel good about it. Life can go on because the mess has been organised. So also, life can exist only when God organises the chaos.

And God continues to do that on days 2 and 3.

Genesis 1:6–8 ESV

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

To get the full weight of this passage, we need to see the world as the the ancient Israelites saw it. They understood that the earth sits between the waters above and the waters below, and the sky is a solid dome that holds up the waters and allows them to breathe air. That may seem strange to us, but that’s how Israel thought of their world.

So when we look at this passage again, what God is doing is basically creating a giant protective bubble in the middle of the chaotic waters. It keeps the waters apart so that the space inside is free from chaos. It is a sanctuary where life can emerge and be protected from the forces of chaos all around them.

We know that that view doesn’t conform to modern-day science. But there’s something very attractive about seeing the world this way. Because the Israelites understand that the only reason we breathe the air we breathe and walk on this earth is because God miraculously made it. And the fact that we are alive is because God is still controlling the floodwaters of chaos from crashing down to destroy creation. Were they correct in the scientific sense? Not really. But were they right in seeing God as the creator and sustainer of all life who deserves all worship and praise? Yes they were.

Genesis 1:9–10 ESV

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Once again, God creates by organising. After dividing the chaotic waters into the waters above and below the sky, God says that there’s still work to do. This water still needs to be organised so that there can be a place with water and a place without water—dry ground. And once that dry ground appears, life is finally ready to emerge.

Slide: The rest of Creation

The rest of Genesis 1 is about the emergence of life, and it is a beautiful world. All kinds of trees and plants springing to life on the earth. Fish and birds of all shapes and sizes fill the skies and the seas. Animals of every kind begin to walk on the earth, and at long last, man and woman are created to be the rulers of this beautiful, ordered, and peaceful world.

Slide: Summary statement

So to recap: God brings creation out of chaotic waters. Where everything was one big undifferentiated mess, God separated and organised and brought order and peace. He separated light from darkness, He separated the waters above from waters below, and separated waters from dry land. Creation has emerged from the chaotic waters.

Genesis 1 is setting a pattern that we’re going to see over and over again.

Throughout Scripture, God’s people will be faced with a massive obstacle that threatens to destroy them. Sometimes it is a literal body of water that threatens to overwhelm them and drown them, sometimes it’s a powerful army that is described like a destructive wave.

And every time, God rescues them from the chaos. The chaos that was once a force of destruction turns into an instrument for life. The ocean that used to drown life becomes a river that gives life.

And if we were to step back for just a moment, do you realise what this means? Here is God, King of heaven and Lord of the Universe, against whom there is no power. There is no chaos He cannot calm, no storm that will not be still at His whisper. There is no sickness that He cannot heal, no injustice that He cannot make right, no death so deep that He cannot bring back to life.

What chaos do you see in your own life? What thoughts make you discouraged when you wake up in the morning? What do you see in the world around you that makes you shake your head and say, “No hope, no hope, no hope”?

Brothers and sisters, there is a God in heaven who sits above the chaos of life, and He is faithful and mighty to rescue you from the chaotic waters. I’m not just saying this to make you feel good. I‘m telling you that this is true, this God is real, and what He has done before, He can certainly do again.

Need proof? I want to bring you to one story where we see this pattern. It’s a story that is very familiar to us, and it’s also in the book of Genesis. Think about it:

Where else in Genesis do we see a lot of water destroying all life on earth?

Where else in Genesis do we see God create a space in the middle of the waters where life can survive?

And where else in Genesis do we see God controlling the chaotic waters so that dry ground can appear and life can emerge?

This is the story of Noah and the Flood, or what I like to call a story of decreation.

Decreation

We are in Genesis 6, and we’re going to talk about this briefly, and the main thing I want you to see that this story has an uncanny resemblance to Genesis 1.

So this is hundreds of years after Genesis 1. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, things have only gotten worse. When God created Adam and Eve, He told them to be fruitful and multiply, basically to fill the earth with their children. The idea was that they were made in the image or likeness of God, and they would fill the earth with God’s presence and blessing. But they sinned, and the only thing they have multiplied is sin and violence and destruction and death. In other words, chaos. A lifestyle apart from God’s ordering presence.

Genesis 6:5–6 ESV

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. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Slide: Progression

Remember that when God created the world, He took the chaos and turned it into paradise. It’s a refuge, a sanctuary where life and beauty and goodness could flourish.

Slide: Regression

Now everything is reversed. The world has plunged back into chaos. Only this time, it’s not the water that’s chaotic, but the hearts of man. It’s chaos because they were trying to live in a way that they were not designed to live.

It’s like filling your petrol tank with milk instead of petrol. Your car isn’t designed to run on milk, and who knows what chaos will happen when you turn on your engine!

Humanity was made in God’s image; we are designed to live in God’s presence in His ordered world. But Adam and Eve didn’t want to live according to their design, and so plunged themselves and their descendants into chaos.

We still see the effects today. When we try to live apart from God, life loses its meaning and beauty. We wake up every morning feeling that something is missing, and we go to bed convinced that there must be something more than this world. If you don’t get that feeling and you’re perfectly happy with where you are, I beg you, wake UP! When we try to live apart from God, society falls apart. Husbands and wives try to find pleasure in someone other than the partner that God has given them. How many families have been ripped apart, thrown into chaos, because they’ve rejected the peace of God? When we try to live apart from God, morality and ethics fall apart. We call our culture “postmodern" because it has rejected any notion of true right and wrong, and that one should do what seems best to them. And the result? I dare anyone to look at the news and tell me that it’s not complete chaos out there.

Genesis 6:5–6 ESV

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. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

How bad do you have to be to grieve the heart of God?

Most of us know what happens next. This is Genesis 7.

Genesis 7:11–12 ESV

In the six hundredth 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 the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 7:19–22 ESV

And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

Many people, Christians and non-Christians, struggle with this story because it looks like God is being cruel. I mean, it’s understandable that God is upset and angry, but to destroy the entire world by drowning it with water? Couldn’t a loving God have done something different?

But if we compare the Flood story and the Creation story, the Flood story begins to make more sense.

Remember that Hebrew word, ruach? In Genesis 1:2, God’s Spirit, His ruach, is hovering over the chaotic waters, ready to order it and bring it to life. In Gen 6:3, God says that His ruach will not abide in man forever. It’s a reversal of creation; God gave and now He takes away. Instead of God breathing life into flesh, He is going to remove it out of all flesh.

God is not removing His Spirit because He has a temper tantrum. God is not lashing out because He lost His cool. Actually, Scripture is unanimous in saying that God is slow to anger. No, God is removing His Spirit because that’s what humans wanted. Humans had a choice between peace and order in God’s presence on one hand, and chaos and destruction on the other. And they chose the chaos. They’re essentially saying, “God, we don’t want you around here. We want to be our own masters and be in control of everything. We’ll decide right and wrong for ourselves, so you can buzz off and leave us alone.” So God did leave them alone.

And so the Flood follows. Look at how it is described in Gen 7:11, the “fountains of the great deep burst forth” and “the windows of the heavens were opened.” The waters below and the waters above.

In creation, it was God’s presence, His Spirit, that controlled the chaotic waters and divided them. It was only God’s protection that ensured that the waters above and below did not invade the middle space. When God removed His Spirit, that protection is taken away, and the waters above and the waters below invade creation.

Slide: Summary statement

The Flood story is one big reversal of creation. A “decreation”.

A lot of people ask why there is suffering. How can God and evil exist in the same universe? How can a good and loving God allow, much less do, something like this that destroys all of life? The story of creation and decreation offers some perspective to that. God is fundamentally good and loving. In His presence, by His Spirit, through His Word, chaos turns into creation, darkness turns to light, oceans of death turn into rivers of life. But when humanity chooses to step out of God’s presence, reject the Spirit and the Word, God gives them what they want. Suffering exists not because God is cruel, but because humans have rejected His goodness.

That still doesn’t answer a lot of questions, like why faithful Christians suffer even when they do exactly what God tells them to. They are caught up in the chaos of the world, and they are left asking “Why, God? How long O Lord? Will you forget us forever? Will you abandon us to drown in these chaotic waters?” Which, if you think of it, is exactly what Noah is going through.

Recreation

But that’s not the end of the story. Creation has been de-created, but it is about to be re-created.

Genesis 8:1–2 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. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained,

Doesn’t that just seem strikingly familiar?

God makes a “wind” to blow over the earth. Guess what the Hebrew word for “wind” is. Ruach. As in, the ruach of God that was hovering over the face of the chaotic waters in the first place that had the power to bring life. Now God sends His ruach over the face of the earth again, ready for something to happen again.

And then something happens to the water: “The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed”. The waters above are separated from the waters below, just as it was on the second day of creation.

Gen 8:3-4: “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.” Dry ground has reappeared out of the waters of chaos.

Oh and guess what, every kind of living creature, male and female, emerge onto dry ground.

Slide: recreation

Creation is happening all over again. Creation has not been totally destroyed, but has been rescued through chaotic waters. God is ready to start over with creation, or rather, a new creation.

So you may feel like your world is in complete chaos right now. You may feel exhausted, giving everything you have to satisfy everybody’s demands and expectations, but no matter how much you do, it’s never enough. You may feel swept away by the currents of our culture, of your workplace, of your school, of your family, of your social group, and you don’t have a moment to breathe or rest. Sure, when people ask you how your life is going, you’re going to say everything’s fine and good, but inside you’re drowning from the pressure.

But I read this book, and it says there is hope for people like you and me, and I believe what this book says. Brothers and sisters, we have a God who promises rest to those who are restless. He is a God who calms the chaos of our lives. All He asks us to do is to be still, watch and wait, and trust that there’s going to be something beautiful on the other side.

Why This Matters

Over the next few weeks, Irvin and I and the men-to-serve are going to keep exploring this theme of rescue through the chaotic waters. My task today was to introduce some of these ideas to you. We believe that this theme, this pattern of redemption and rescue from chaos waters—this is at the heart of the biblical story and the heart of Christian faith.

It’s specially relevant to us as a church as we go through this year of change and transition for all of us. It’s not exactly chaotic waters, but these are at least uncharted waters where so many things could happen. A lot of what we once knew is no more. We’ve changed our meeting place, we are going to have old leaders step down and new leaders step up, we’re entering a post-pandemic world, all in the space of about one year.

Now, we could say that this is a time where we need to slow down, take it easy, make sure we’re taking care of ourselves, wait for the chaos to pass. And when things settle down, then we can go back to the way things were.

But as we explore how God uses chaotic waters to transform creation, I pray that we will see this season of change and transition and many unknowns as a season of God refining and maturing us. I don’t know what PPCOC will look like in 5 years time or even 1 year’s time. But I believe that if we approach this season prayerfully, if we continue to be open to work of the Holy Spirit among us, God is going to do some amazing things in this church that will surpass our wildest dreams.

This is our chance to truly live into the story of God. To courageously go through the waters of chaos and emerge as a new creation.