Genesis 6:17

DOOM AND DELIVERANCE

‘And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh.’

Genesis 6:17

With the exception of the black tribes and peoples, there is no branch of the human race that has not a tradition of the flood.—These traditions, of course, differ in many respects, and regard the event from many different standpoints, but in general features they are so constant and unvarying that it is impossible to regard the story as a myth. The Flood came before the family had scattered. God’s children were still in their ancestral home when the hour of tragedy and death arrived. The Flood, then, is not an idle story. It is the record of an actual event. What are some of God’s purposes in giving it this large place in His Word?

I. It teaches us the truth that God is watching.—Our Saviour has spoken of that, and so we put it first. For we are always tempted to think, as the years roll, that there is no eye fixed upon the scene. Day succeeds day, and night moves after night; men eat and drink, and love, and marry, and die, and all is so orderly and uninterrupted that they almost forget the power on the throne. But the story of the Flood was meant to teach that the Lord God is not indifferent. He does not sit apart in royal state, unconcerned with human sin and sorrow. He seems to be idle, but the hour will come when He will bare His arm and work in majesty. Men were utterly vile before the Flood, and God saw that. But among them there was one man who lived a holy life, and God saw that. Men thought they could live and sin just as they pleased, but the day dawned when they saw their tragic error. Let none of us think, then, that God does not see us. If we are struggling in evil surroundings to be good, He knows it all. No Noah can ever be hidden from the gaze of Him whose eyes go to and fro upon the earth.

II. Again, it teaches us that we are saved by faith.—The writer to the Hebrews dwells on that. There is no more sublime faith in the world’s history than the faith of Noah in preparing at God’s word. The skies were not dark when the first beams were laid. There was no murmur of uprising waters. Do you not think that people laughed at Noah? Did not the schoolboys mock him as they passed? It was the work of a dotard, in that golden weather, to be getting ready for a deluge. But Noah had been taught to scorn appearances, and he toiled on undaunted in his faith. By faith, then, Noah was saved through grace, and that not of himself, it was the gift of God. He had nothing but God’s bare word to hold to, but he held to it, though everybody mocked; and he found at last how wise it had been to walk by faith and not by sight. Are you ready to be true though others smile? Are you willing to pray and to believe that sin spells death, though all the appearances should be against it?

III. Once more it teaches us that God saves by separating.—That is one of the greatest of all Bible truths. Let us never forget the care and the love and the patience wherewith God separated Noah from the world. The thought of the ark and the plan of the ark were God’s. It was God who gave Noah strength to do the work. And at last, when all was ready for the voyaging, we read that it was God who shut them in. Did Noah grumble at his loss of liberty? Did he think it hard to lose the fair sweet world? Was it odious to him to be confined and limited after the long years in vale and meadow? I think he saw the wisdom of the limits when he stepped out to the large liberty of Ararat. So does God deal with every one of us. He draws us apart; He saves by separation. And at first, perhaps, when we are called to cross-bearing, we think it hard that our old liberty should go. But gradually through our separation comes our freedom. Through our separation we have entered a new world, and where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

IV. Then, lastly, it teaches us that God saves for service.—It was for the world’s sake that Noah was brought through. He was preserved that mankind might start again, and so was he a forerunner of the Second Adam. God never saves us merely to enjoy. God saves us that we may do His will. A man is brought through the deep waters for the sake of others, and his first task is always to build an altar. Note, too, that of the beasts and birds that were preserved, some were immediately offered on that altar. They, too, no less than Ham and Shem, were saved for service, and they served best by being sacrificed. Is not that sometimes the case with all of us? Was it not so supremely with the Lord? He was brought through the deeps and billows of Gethsemane to serve mankind, and His crowning service was being sacrificed on Calvary.

Illustration

‘Père Scheil, the Assyriologist, recently discovered a new account of the Deluge. It was found upon some fragments of a terra-cotta tablet which he dug up at Sippara, inscribed with cuneiform characters. One word, ‘ hibis’ (effaced), indicates that though the tablet is dated in the time of King Ammizaduga (about 2140 b.c.), it is itself only a copy of an earlier record. It is now settled, therefore, beyond all question that many centuries before Moses, men could and did make permanent records. The fragments of this newly-discovered tablet are large enough to show that the poem contains polytheistic and mythical details, in marked contrast with the divine story of Genesis.’