Genesis 6–9 — The God of Salvation

After seeing how the legacy of Seth was so different from his brother Cain in the last

passage, you might think that by the time of Noah, we have two kind of very clear opposing

factions of people. There's the good God-worshippers from the line of Seth and the prideful

self-worshippers from the line of Cain. And you might think that these people who were still living

like many hundreds of years in the pre-flood world had plenty of time to kind of figure it out,

so to speak. From a humanist perspective, the view that people just need to evolve out of their

immorality, at several hundred years old, they probably would have accomplished that.

Because of their long lives, many of these people do overlap significantly.

So, for example, Noah is born only about 100 years after Adam dies, which is wild to think

that Noah's father could have very well heard the account of the garden from Adam himself

as a direct descendant who lived at the same time.

But instead of a victorious kingdom or utopia, Genesis 6 describes a very different backdrop

for the world into which Noah is born.

The world we see here is one in which mankind

is absolutely losing a spiritual battle

that is taking place on two fronts.

First, there is the battle against their own sinful flesh,

which is all but lost.

But second, there is a spiritual battle

being waged by a spiritual enemy,

that is Satan and all of his following angelic beings

that fell with him.

So in the four chapters that follow that we're looking at today, we have this account of

the grief of God over the state of his creation, and particularly over these people created

in his image who are now corrupt and evil.

We see the judgment of God very clearly on display in a worldwide flood that brings complete

destruction on mankind.

But we also see the patience of God, the mercy of God to Noah and those on the ark with him

as God provides a way out of destruction to those who have faith in him.

And ultimately, at the end of chapter 9, we'll see that the problem of sin persists past

the flood and a greater savior is needed than even Noah and his incredible ark because it

is only our God that saves, which is why I called this sermon the God of salvation.

This will be a really fast trip through these chapters, so if you have questions, write them down, and we'll address those at our next Sunday gathering before the worship gathering.

If you are only listening to the podcast version of this, you can actually submit those questions through our website at ecclesiachurches.org.

So in the beginning of chapter six, we have this account of humanity continuing to multiply,

and with them, corruption multiplies as well.

And I have to be honest, this part of the chapter gets very dark very quick.

There is a demonic component to this section, and there is a sinful people component as well,

and the two of them together is truly an awful reality.

So most of the uncertainty around these first couple of verses has been around these figures

in verse two that are called the sons of God.

There have been a lot of people with some very wild ideas over the years who have tried

to answer this, but I find very few of the theories out there that actually line up with

the rest of God's word.

And when there's something that we're not told everything about in scripture, we have

to defer to the whole counsel of God.

Referring means in light of everything else that the word of God clearly teaches, this

is the most clear that I can be about this.

If you want a list of references on this, I can certainly provide them to you, but here's

kind of what's happening here in a nutshell.

Mankind has become so wicked that they are actively seeking partnership with evil spiritual

entities, that is demons who also oppose God.

These demon-possessed men, then, are taking women as wives and are having children with them.

And the result is children who grow into wicked men and are also somehow empowered by this

demonic alliance. So that's truly awful, and it's really twisted. And if we hyper-focus on just the

clearly demonic portion of this, we fail to see how awful the human part is. We dismiss the little

details like the only way that marriage proceeded in the ancient world was with the parents willfully

giving their daughter to be married to these men. So how disturbing that parents would give their

precious daughters into the hands of men such as these. We miss how these physical unions between

the man and wife are no longer relational. They knew each other is the way that Adam and Eve were

described. And instead they carry a connotation of force or use or even sexual violence. And finally,

we miss how these violent, wicked, demon-possessed men are viewed not as evil, but as heroes by the

people. These are the men of renown, it says. So the people of Israel, who Moses is giving this to,

would have heard stories about these people. But the stories that they've heard from the pagan

cultures around them didn't actually reflect the truth. The pagans remembered these people as the

heroes of old, and God shatters that story in four verses. And then how does God respond to this?

So let's look at verses 5 through 7.

It says,

The Lord saw 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. 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. We are often painted the picture of the God of the Old Testament as being

vengeful and unfair somehow, as if mankind is somehow just trying his best and is undeserving

of the harsh punishment that is laid upon him by this angry God. But the picture that we're given

here is very different. Here, mankind is actually exposed as completely depraved and wicked. Man may

look on the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. And what he sees is a level of corruption

in the heart that is almost beyond recognition with not only his every action, but his every

thought being evil continually. This God from whom all good things have come and have been given to

mankind, this God who has given breath and life has every right to simply wipe them all off the

face of the earth. Yet, what is the posture of God's heart first and foremost? It's regret and grief.

So regret, we have to qualify because God does not experience regret like we do. We regret things like

our mistakes and our errors, our brokenness, our sin, things that we don't know, but now we know

better. Those are the things that we regret, but that doesn't apply to God because God does not

make mistakes and he knows all things and he's without error. So God's sense of regret is really

more of a deep grief, not over his error, but over the error of these people that he created

in his image. God is expressing in very human terms for the sake of our understanding

that he is at this point opposed to everything that humanity has become. He is not complacent.

He is not just simply allowing this to happen.

He is opposed to it.

And the picture we are given of God is of an agonized father over what these people have

become.

And it's at this point that while he is patient, he does begin to intervene, to limit the power

of sin.

The first hint that something is changing in the dynamic here is that God begins to limit

the lifespan of mankind.

And so what we'll see over the next few generations after the flood is that lifespan will begin

to decrease significantly, ending up at around this 120 years or so by the end of the patriarchs,

with very few exceptions.

Men have proven that multi-century lifetimes have actually only increased the level of wickedness,

and God moves to limit it in the generations to come.

But the second limitation is far more drastic.

God will bring a flood of judgment upon the earth, putting an end to this wicked generation.

But God will provide a way of salvation for the one who has faith in him.

And it turns out it is just one.

If you haven't noticed yet, the story of Noah does an awful lot of forward pointing to the

salvation arc, to Jesus.

So keep your eyes peeled for those kinds of connections through these couple of chapters.

Noah somehow finds favor in the eyes of God. And while certainly Noah is a righteous man compared

with his generation, he's not chosen because he's sinless. Certainly he is obedient to God

among his generation. And verse 9 says that he's blameless in his generation, but what makes him

blameless actually isn't his obedience alone, but it's his faith. Even this man whose scripture

quite literally says was a better character than anyone else on the face of the earth,

wasn't saved by that. He was saved because he had relationship with and trusted in God and his

salvation. It says in verse nine that Noah walked with God. Who else have we heard this description

of recently? Enoch. It is this close relationship with God and a dependence on him that God praises.

And it's the basis for this covenant or this promise that God will make with him.

Let's read about that in verses 17 through 22 of chapter 6.

For behold, God says, 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.

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.

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, of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals

according to their kinds, of every creeping thing on the ground according to its kind.

two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food

that is eaten and stored up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this. He did

all that God commanded him. So God tells Noah that a cataclysm, the likes of which the world

has never seen is coming. The judgment of God is coming, but he says, I will establish my covenant

with you. Notice that God doesn't say, I'll tell you how to save yourselves. His instructions for

salvation to Noah begin with, I will establish. The burden of creating and keeping and completing

this rescue falls entirely upon God. God is going to provide for Noah and his family,

all that they need to do and is continue to put their faith in God and follow his word.

Do you hear the echoes of the gospel here? Just like the gospel, there is a response that's

required and Noah responds with obedience. It says, he does all that God commanded him. Verse 22 says,

because he believes God. He believes God and so he obeys. And we see even more exposition or

explanation of this in the New Testament. In Hebrews 11, verse 7, it says,

Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed

an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the

righteousness that comes by faith. The righteousness of God came by faith, even to Noah. We've been

given very similar news, that judgment is coming, but salvation has already come. The gospel is good

news because it is rescue for all those who will believe in Christ, but it is also sobering because

it is the news of certain destruction for those who refuse him. So I guess as a Christian, this

leaves me with a string of more and more unsettling questions. Am I, like Noah, walking with God?

If I am a person who proclaims that I love Jesus and that he is my savior, is that true

of the way that I am living?

Am I, like Noah, living a life of obedience to God that comes out of this relationship

with him?

Do I love him enough to obey his word and to trust his plans?

Remember that Noah didn't obey God and build the ark to earn his favor.

He obeyed God because he knew and trusted him.

He had relationship with him.

He had faith in him, which Hebrews 11 verse 7 says was the basis of his salvation, his

Hebrews 11:7

faith in God.

So am I living like I know that the world is going to end and destruction will come for

everyone who doesn't find their salvation in Christ?

I want you to know that I realize this is hard to hear because I sit under the same conviction

of the Holy Spirit as I say these things.

But the conviction of the Holy Spirit, while it is uncomfortable, it is good because it

leads to life in Jesus.

The truth is that our sin leaves us under the condemnation of it, but the conviction

of the Spirit leads us to forgiveness and new life that is found in Christ, should we

accept it.

So Noah's decision to submit obediently to God leads to his salvation from destruction.

and in chapter 7 on the very day that the flood began, they enter the ark and destruction comes

to the rest of the earth. Let's read a few verses about this. In the 600th year of Noah's life,

in the second month, on the 17th 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 40 days and

40 nights. On the very same day, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife,

and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark. They and every beast according to its

kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on

the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every winged creature,

they went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh, in which there was the breath of life.

and those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God commanded him and the Lord

shut him in. The Lord shut him in. God gave Noah the instructions, the knowledge to build this ark.

He caused the animals to come. He was patient for 100 years while this ark was built. And even in

the last moment, God is the one who seals the door to the ark. And what follows is this global

unleashing of water and chaos, and the entire earth is covered. It says 20 feet higher than

the highest mountaintop with water. What we want to recognize on a theological level, what is God

trying to communicate to us here? This is an undoing of creation in several ways. Remember,

when God created this expanse for us to live in, he separated the waters above and the waters below.

He created this pocket of air and atmosphere and life. Now we have all that water coming,

crashing back in from what verse 11 calls the fountains of the deep and the windows of the

heaven. From a scientific aspect, this has actually become interesting because for a long time,

Scientists argue that there wasn't enough water on earth to do this, so that it was impossible.

But if they would have just trusted God's word, in the last few years, we've discovered the

existence of water that is miles beneath the surface, that is around triple the water contained

on the surface of the earth today, making the fountains of the deep suddenly a very practical

description of what happened and where that water came from. Additionally, there's evidence for an

event in which superheated magma from under the earth was suddenly released beneath the ocean

surface, which would have created these hot geysers of vaporized water that would have exploded into

the atmosphere and then cooled, which would have caused heavy global rainfall for an extended

period of time. And so that makes the windows of heaven being opened seem like a pretty good

description. This was a violent explosion of water and a closing of the space. And the science isn't

the point here. The destruction is. The only reason that there was dry land, that there was atmosphere,

that there were green plants and animals and people with breath in their lungs, all of that came

through the provision of God the creator. So with the flood, we have a judgment that is largely

brought about by God simply allowing things to return to chaos. In Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

Paul talks about Jesus in a unique way, saying that not only was everything created through him,

but he also holds all things together. Because our God created and sustains everything that is,

apart from him, everything falls apart. Apart from him, there's no breath of life at all,

because the breath in your lungs is a gift from God. So the absence of God's sustaining work

is actually part of how we think about something like hell or punishment. The punishment of hell is

certainly an experience of God's righteous anger and judgment and wrath against sin,

but it is also an absence of even the most basic good blessing.

And that is what we are headed towards, certainly, if we reject the giver of all good things.

And it makes me so glad for what have become my favorite two words in scripture whenever

they show up.

And they show up right at the beginning of chapter 8.

It says, but God.

But God remembered Noah.

And God doesn't remember like we do because, again, he can't forget.

When you see this God remembered in scripture, it does come up quite a bit.

It means God is keeping his word.

So from a human perspective, as the earth violently broke apart and water flooded from

below and poured down from above, it would have felt even in the ark, like God had forgotten

them.

You've probably had an experience like this in your life where it felt like the world was

crashing down and God had abandoned you.

And it may have seemed like God had forgotten here about Noah and his family as this took place,

but he didn't for a second do that. Through the next chapter, we see the rain actually cease and

hope returns. So let's read just a few verses of that. This is Genesis chapter 8 verses 1 through 3.

Genesis 8:1–3

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 heaven were closed and 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.

By the time Noah exits the ark, they have been on it for a little over a year.

And during that year, God sustained and protected them.

He kept the boat from sinking.

He kept them alive.

And so the first thing that they do is they worship God and they make an offering giving

thanks to him.

In the beginning of chapter nine, God begins to make this new covenant, a new promise with

Noah and all of the earth in mind.

And some things have changed.

Some things will be different with this group of people coming off the ark.

First, people will now stop living for as long.

The animals will start to have a natural fear of mankind, and mankind is actually given animals

as food here, in addition to plants, though there will be some restrictions on how those

animals should be consumed.

God also introduces the idea here of capital punishment, highlighting that the value of

men and women created in God's image is high. But one thing has not changed, and that is the grace

of God. In chapter 9, verse 8, this new covenant is made and held up by God, that as long as the

earth continues, meaning until the final judgment, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth,

he will not allow this space that we live in to cease again. There will be no more flood that is

wide. And to remind mankind, God puts a sign in the sky that we still see today, sometimes when it

rains and the sunshine returns and shines through it. The sign of the rainbow was instituted by God,

and it is intended to remind us, particularly after a storm, of the patience of God with men.

It is clearly, I would say, a work of Satan, the deceiver, that a specific group of people

have tried to co-opt the rainbow as a symbol of freedom to sin when it was created as this

promise that God will hold back the destruction that mankind deserves for their sin.

But the symbol of the rainbow doesn't stop there.

If you notice, if a rainbow was a bow with an arrow, where is it pointed?

It's pointed at God because who would end up bearing the ultimate cost of keeping this

covenant and even offering salvation to mankind?

God would do this.

And the truth is that it's almost immediately evident that further remedy would be needed

for all that is wrong with mankind.

Noah may have trusted God, but he wasn't perfect.

and we don't even get one chapter into the post-flood world before more problems become

apparent. After this covenant is made with God, what's the first thing that Noah does?

He plants a vineyard, he makes wine, and he gets drunk. 600 years of life experience,

witnessing the provision of God firsthand, and yet he still struggled with a sinful heart that

yearns for excess. What's the second thing that happens? His youngest son, Ham, finds him passed

out drunk and naked in his tent. And what does he do? He immediately runs to laugh and tells his

brothers about it. After spending a century building with and living with his father, his

first reaction is to mock him when he has made a mistake. Noah and his sons may have built the ark

And they may have been more righteous than those that perished in the flood, but we're

going to need someone with even more righteousness to save us from our sin.

And as we finally close chapter 9, there's this blessing and curse that is prophesied

by Noah over his children and their family lines.

First, he says of Canaan, which is the son of Ham, that Canaan will end up being a servant

or being dominated by his brother's family lines.

And if you remember back to who Genesis is being given to,

it's the Israelites in the desert with Moses.

And where are they headed at this very moment?

The land of Canaan.

So what God speaks through Noah here does come to pass

as the Canaanites are enemies of Israel

and are ultimately expelled from their land

by the hand of God through the nation of Israel.

But what's maybe of more interest to us is what he prophesied about Shem and Japheth.

So Shem is the middle child, not the oldest.

And he will be chosen by God as the line which leads to Abraham and the nation of Israel,

and ultimately to Jesus.

And from Japheth's line comes a number of people who actually leave the area via the

coastlands, and they go out to populate much of the rest of the world.

these people will largely be referred to by the time of Jesus as Gentiles.

And where do the Gentiles find their rest, their salvation?

Noah says, in the tents of Shem.

So here in Genesis 9, 27, we have the second flashing arrow pointing forward to a Savior

who would bring us, even as the Gentiles, rest.

A Messiah who would come from the Jews, from the line of Shem, and his name is Jesus.

ultimately we can walk away from the account of the flood being convinced equally about two things

first the brokenness of mankind and our need for a savior but also the faithfulness of god

who would come to be the savior that we need

Ekklesia is a church of house churches gathering weekly in Council Bluffs, Iowa and in homes

throughout the week.

We are a Bible-centered church focused on preaching from Scripture and making disciples

of Jesus.

You can learn more about what we believe and contact a pastor at ekklesiachurches.org.