Dear friends,
Last week’s episode of Two Ways News was very dark and gloomy. This week, we are looking at the same passage, but turning our attention to the light of salvation that is caught in the rainbow covenant of God as we read of the saving of Noah and his family.
Yours,
Phillip
Phillip Jensen: Peter, you gave your life to Christ at the Billy Graham Crusade back in 1959, here in Sydney.
Peter Jensen: It was on Sunday, 19 April, at three or four o’clock in the afternoon.
Phillip: Can you remember what Billy Graham was preaching about on that occasion?
Peter: He preached his sermon on Noah’s ark, the judgement and salvation of God, and how Christ saves us from judgement today. Billy Graham was a charismatic speaker, with such a commanding voice; but most importantly, he used to stand with the Bible open, continually saying, ‘The Bible says…’ which was an indication of him preaching the word. That’s when I gave my life to Christ. What about you?
Phillip: The Billy Graham Crusades were in our showground, which was at that time beside what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground. On that day, 70,000 people were there. I can’t remember what he said. I gave my life to Christ on the very same day, a little bit after you. Some attendees walked down the front at the invitation to give their lives to Christ, which prompted me to follow. When I did so, the counsellor there asked, “Why have you come down the front?” I said, “Because my brother did.” He was likely taken back, and decided to pat me on my head and send me back to my seat. But I had meant more than I could have expressed. That is, everything that Billy Graham said, I agreed with. It was what I’d been taught in Sunday school. I was around 13 at the time.
But when he asked people to give their life to the Lord Jesus, that astonished me, because it never occurred to me that you had to. So I thought, “Who is he talking to?” We came from a part of Sydney where the Jews were almost in the majority; I assumed he’d been inviting Jews to become Christians. I knew they weren’t Christians because they went to Saturday school instead of Sunday school. But as I looked around, I knew there were no Jews there, because we knew the Jews of Sydney, and they weren’t attending. Then I thought, ‘Who else could he possibly be asking?’ I assumed two categories: alcoholics and prisoners. I was watching curiously because I’d never seen drunks and prisoners before, and thinking, ‘They don’t look like it, but who else could they possibly be?’ Then I saw you going down the front. I knew you weren’t Jewish; you hadn’t been in prison, nor were you an alcoholic. So I figured that if you needed it, I needed it. So I went down the front. There was a logic behind it, which I didn’t communicate to the counsellor too well.
But let’s get back to the story of Noah. What do we know about him?
Peter: We first hear about him at the end of chapter 5, where there is a genealogy that starts with Seth, who is the replacement for Abel. That line is the godly line, and the culmination of it is Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who are mentioned at the end. It is the family that worshipped the true God and proclaimed the name of the Lord. His sons are also mentioned: in other words, we are being tutored about the past with Adam and Eve; the present, namely the coming of Noah; and the future, the sons of Noah. Each of these is important in the ongoing story.
Then we move to the horror of the world gone wrong, which we discussed in chapter 6, ending with the threatened judgement of God on the sinfulness of humanity as a whole. That could be the end of it all, but then comes the exception. We come to Noah again, Genesis 6:8-10
But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
We are introduced to Noah, who is given these extraordinary accolades in contrast to the world around him.
Phillip: This doesn’t surprise me because of the mention of the sons, which reminds us that there is this ongoing line that has come from Seth through Enosh: this line of the preachers of righteousness, of which Noah is part. The genealogy goes on all the way to Jesus. But what might be surprising is the description of one who pleases the Lord and is righteous. This could be read as if salvation relied upon his good works. But the clue to his righteousness is that he walked with God. In other words, he was first and foremost a man of faith. It’s like Abel and Enoch: Abel who was killed, and Enoch who walked with God and “was no more.” That’s how the New Testament understands the genealogy. In Hebrews 11:5–7
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 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.
Any righteousness we possess is first and foremost granted by God in whom we trust; we are walking with him. Just as sin is rebellion against God, righteousness is being in fellowship with God. Our secular morality removes sin, if it uses the word at all, from any relationship with God, and likewise removes righteousness from anything to do with having a relationship with God. But the Bible is very clear that without faith in God, you cannot please him. In fact, as Romans 14:23 mentions, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
Here is Enoch, and Abel before him; and now Noah, who walked with God. What else would the New Testament say about Noah?
Peter: The apostle Peter seems to be particularly interested in Noah. In 1 Peter we read about the Lord’s patience as he waited while the ark was being built, and that judgement was thus delayed. But people did not obey by turning to him, although the ark was being built in the midst of them.
By word and by example, Noah is warning his contemporaries of the judgement to come, saying, ‘This is the salvation that has been prepared,’ but all to no avail. In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called “a herald of righteousness”, but one whose ministry had no effect in the sinful world, which was, as he says in 3:6, “deluged with water and perished.” Is our world in any way like that world?
Phillip: It’s exactly the same. There are any number of ‘heralds of righteousness’ in our society today, yet people continue on. Every Sunday morning, I see joggers running to what they think is health, with the end goal of reaching a state of near-immortality. But there is no immortality in jogging. They are running away from God. If they would just walk into the church buildings that are open in all suburbs, they would hear the ‘heralds of righteousness’, but they don’t listen any more than they did in Noah’s day, because we’re the sons of Adam. Deep inside us is rebellion against God.
We do not like thinking of ourselves as being manufactured by God or for Christ. We like to think of ourselves as the determiners of good and evil, as the lords of our own lives. We think, ‘No one is going to define me except me.’ But of course, death defines me all the time.
Peter: Are there ideological factors? Are we being taught to think in ways that take us away from God?
Phillip: In every generation and culture, though it’s different in different places. The secularisation of our society means that those who go through public education today are taught to reject God.
The curriculum has become increasingly opposed to anything other than a secularist view of the world. This worldview is the only thing allowed in our educational system today.
So yes, ideological factors are there because atheism is given every opportunity to speak in our media. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation used to have Bible readings every day. Television used to have Bishop Goodwin Hudson finishing the evening broadcast with a little thought for the evening. That’s unthinkable in our world today.
Peter: We can think of this, too, in the medical system, where healthcare workers are not supposed to talk about religion with patients. They’re not supposed to talk about God, let alone pray with a patient.
Phillip: Most social work has come from Christian organisations, but professional social workers aren’t allowed to refer to God. Our government has now made legislation that there are certain people with whom I am not allowed to pray, even if they ask me to pray for them. So there is an ideology in Australia, but there are other ideologies in different countries. In some countries, there is an ideology of Islam, or in others, an ideology of communism. How society works against people’s faith in God is different from culture to culture, but it’s the same in that it’s always anti-Jesus.
Peter: That is valuable insight, but what have you noticed about the story of the ark?
Phillip: Firstly, many children’s Bibles which recount the flood depict lovely little boats. But the ark was a vast building. It was about one and a half times the length of a football field, about four or five storeys high, and shaped like a coffin.
The second thing is the significance of the animals, which indicates the future. God speaks in terms of keeping their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. Chapter 7 also talks about how the unclean animals enter 2 by 2, but the clean animals enter 7 by 7. That is another indication of the future, that the judgement is coming, and the whole world is going to be destroyed but then recreated. The animals are kept alive so they can reproduce. The sacrificial animals, the clean ones in particular, are in large numbers so that the sacrifices can also continue.
Thirdly, there is the significance of the family. It’s not just Noah, but also his sons and their wives, because there is going to be humanity in the new world with the animals. Then something extraordinarily significant in Genesis 6:18
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.
It’s the first reference in the Bible to the word ‘covenant’ and one of the great themes of the Bible. The Bible is made up of two testaments, but the word ‘testament’ is the Latin word for ‘covenant’. The Bible itself is constructed on the principle of the old covenant and the new covenant. A covenant is not simply a contract. It’s a solemn oath of intention. It carries with it the promise, and it comes in different forms. Marriage is a covenant, where you promise to live with your wife for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.
Peter: A covenant helps us to control the future. Although we can’t control the future directly, we make our promises about it, which gives us trust that the other person will keep their promise. But when God makes a promise, that’s the future. In Genesis 7:16, there’s a reference to the Lord shutting the door of the ark. I mention this because my memory of Mr Graham’s sermon was that he particularly mentioned this. He saw it as both a saving and a judging moment; the door was open. Others could have come in, had they wished to do so. But then the door was shut. It’s a judgement moment, because there comes the moment when it’s too late. You’ve made these decisions; you must live with the consequences.
Phillip: That sense of being ‘too late’ is a very important principle, because people think they’ve still got time. They say, ‘I can repent in my old age,’ but nobody knows when their time comes. Sometimes in your old age, you’re not able to repent anymore, because your mind may go before your body dies. Furthermore, the more you addict yourself, the more you convict yourself in a particular pattern of life; then the harder it is to turn around. If I’m used to always saying no to good, or always saying yes to something that’s bad, to change that behaviour is very difficult.
Peter: But the door is still open. As we are told in Acts 17:30, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world.” There is still time. The door is still open, and if we are addressing anyone in this podcast who has yet to repent and turn to the Lord, let me say that this is possible. You are invited to do so, but the day will come when judgement is upon us, and then it will be too late. Serious matters, but on the other hand, here is the ark of salvation, namely, Jesus himself.
The rest of chapters 7 and 8 talk about waters rising and falling and doves. Is there anything in particular to draw to our attention from this?
Phillip: The salvation of the sacrificial animals in chapter 8 is significant. Those that were going to be sacrificed came in greater numbers. There’s the covenant that God promises Noah and all of creation, seen when he comes out of the ark in Genesis 9:11, when God says, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” That includes the great sign of the rainbow. As the storm finishes, the rainbow reminds us that there will be an end to every storm in this creation. The new heavens and the new earth will not come to us through the drowning of the old; the new heavens and the new earth will be one of righteousness. So the flood, which destroyed the world by water, held the ark up, keeping alive the family of Noah and the animals, so that when the waters would go back, then the new, washed world could commence again.
Peter: Does that mean we have a new Adam? He’s been described as righteous, as walking with God. Does that mean that now we have a new Adam who’s let loose on the world and that sin and perversion are no more?
Phillip: I think that if you’re reading through chapters 6 to 9, you would expect that Noah is the new Adam, that this is the reversal. When he’s introduced to us at the end of the genealogy of chapter 5, he sounds like one who’s going to reverse the curse. The very words used at the end of chapter 5 are like the judgement words at the end of chapter 3, that this is the chance for it all to go right with the new start.
Peter: But it doesn’t happen. Sin, perversion, and family quarrels continue in 9:20-27, demonstrating these things even in the family of Noah. Adam’s sin is transmitted. The flood is not our salvation; it is the forerunner of salvation.
Phillip: It’s like the disease of sin travelled in the bodies of Adam’s descendants, so that Noah and his family still did wrong. But it is a forerunner of salvation, just like the New Testament is a forerunner of the judgement. In the days of Noah people were eating and drinking, unaware that the coming judgement would sweep them away. In the same way, salvation came to Noah’s family, because the means by which God brought the judgement of the world was the means by which they were saved.
The story is a reminder of the cross. It’s about judgement, which demonstrates that God is just. But it’s not the whole story, because out of this justice, the love of God is so transparent in inviting all to salvation. The love of God is overwhelming in the story of Noah and the ark.
It’s both in the judgement and the salvation, because his love for the world is why he grieved so much at seeing its corruption, which led to the judgement. But at the same time, his love for the animals and for Noah was such that he provided the way of salvation in and through the judgement. So it’s a forerunning explanation of the gospel for us.
Peter: Do you think Billy Graham would succeed in Sydney these days? 1959 is a long time ago, and many people these days have never even heard of Billy Graham.
Phillip: There would be differences. We were a generation that all went to Sunday School. The baby boomers did, their children didn’t, and their grandchildren don’t at all, though we’re now seeing these grandchildren trying to find out about God and Jesus. So maybe there’s another change happening. Billy could speak to a generation of nominal Christians. But on the other hand, what he preached was the gospel. The power of God in the words of the gospel works in every generation, even if they work differently. We may not go out to the showground and sit on the grass anymore. The technology and culture of today are so different, but the gospel doesn’t change. The power of God for salvation; the need to turn men, women and children back to God; the ways in which people are still playing, dancing, eating, and working under the shadow of God’s judgement; none of that has changed. If Billy Graham were to preach the gospel today, it would be no different.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Links & Recommendations
For more on this topic, check out this sermon by Phillip on Genesis 6-9. It’s called The Promise of Peace.
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