Floodwaters of Divine Wrath – Genesis 7

The Flood is one of the most well-known and hotly-debated accounts in the Bible, but all too often, as Christians, we are too caught up in defending pairs of animals and a submerged globe to notice the shadow of the Cross on the Ark door and the story of our own redemption.

At a Glance…

1. The Callouses are worth it.
2. The Call is to Come in.
3. The Carnal man is rescued.
4. The Calendar is given.
5. The Case for the Flood.
6. The Connection to Baptism.
7. The Christ of Noah

 

1. The Callouses are worth it

• Often it seems as if we are struggling through something for the glory of God but we see no results.
• 1 Cor 3 – Paul probably felt the same way.
• But you cannot labor in vain if you labor in the Lord
• Do not lose heart in doing good.
• The Lord Himself is our reward

2. The Call is to Come In

• God said: “Come into the ark” not Go into the ark.
• God is not commanding Noah to go any place He is not.
• Go with God, for He goes with you.
• Often, we picture Noah and his family huddled in the ark as God storms outside, unleashing His wrath on the world. But God is with Noah. He goes with you and sends you nowhere that He is not already.

3. The Carnal Man is Rescued

• To rescue animals on the ark before the flood would not have appeared to Noah as saving food, as at this time, mankind were still vegetarian. They could only have been used for sacrifice.
• Noah would still be sacrificing to God after the flood because Noah was a sinner in need of a Savior.
• God was not saving the sinless, but rather, saving the sinner in need of a Savior.

4. The Calendar is Given

• Scripture grounds this event in real, space-time history.

5. The Case of the Flood

• This was a global flood.
• Jesus spoke of the flood as a historical event.
• This was a lot of water over a little amount of time, not a little water over a lot of time.

6. The Connection to Baptism

• 1 Peter 3:13-22
• In baptism, you testify that salvation is found in Christ alone and in no one else can it be found.
• Just as in our baptism, the salvation of Noah in the flood testified as he passed from death to life. He left behind the corrupt world so that he could be a new Adam, and bring about a new Genesis that would lead to the Last Adam and the final salvation.
• Baptism is not causal of new life. It is a symbol of the regeneration God has already worked in you for His glory and your redemption.

7. The Christ of Noah’s Flood

• God uses means (Noah), but it is God who gets the glory.
• Christ is the Ark of our safety and the ground of our justification.
• Like Noah, it was not our faith that turned God toward us, but His grace that turned us toward God.
• God remembers Noah