Transcript
Stephen:
Is God all about destruction? You might get the idea of that reading the story of the flood or any of the judgment passages in the Bible. There's this idea that ultimately, at the end of the day, God's just going to destroy everything, judge everything, and it's all doom. What do you say to that?
Joel:
Well, no! That maybe isn't that surprising. He's not all about destruction. But when you read about the flood and the wiping out of basically the entirety of the human race, that certainly is how it would seem. But God doesn't destroy the entirety of the human race. He preserves one man and his family, Noah. They're brought through the flood.
And you might ask the question, how are they brought through the flood? And there's obviously a very simple answer, the ark.
If you know the story at all, if you went to Sunday school or Bible club, you'll know that. But this is a very rich picture of what God is doing in the world right now, because the world that we are in is ripe for judgment. There is coming a day when God will judge the world, and we will all be held accountable for our sins. But right now, God is saving out of fallen, ruined humanity. He is saving a people for himself. Not people who are in an ark, but people who are in Christ.
Stephen:
So the story of the ark and Noah’s own story is ultimately going to be a picture that’s immensely relevant to us. It tells us something really important about how we can be saved, but also what lies beyond.
Joel:
Exactly. In terms of that first thing you mentioned, how he was saved, Noah wasn't saved by anything of his own efforts. God commanded that he build the ark, and Noah listened to God. He had faith in the promise of God, and he obeyed God. And that's the way of salvation. It's upon hearing the word of God, faith in the promises of God, and obedience to the word of God. That's the way that we are saved.
Noah was saved in the ark. We are saved in Christ. And the picture in the ark is really quite remarkable, because Noah actually goes through the judgment. But it doesn't touch him. It falls on the ark instead.
And the thing is, at the cross of Christ, you and I, as humanity, we are judged. We are revealed to be sinners, to be worthy of the condemnation of God. But for those who put their faith in Christ, they're not touched by the judgment of God, even though they deserve it, because they're in him. The judgment, instead of falling on us, which is what we deserve, falls to him. And we are preserved from that.
Stephen:
It’s even like the old pictures of the refuge or the rock that you hide in. It gets the battering of the storm, but you’re safe within it.
Joel:
Yeah. There are a number of chapters in Genesis which deal with Noah's story, his experience of going into the ark, God shutting him in, and him being preserved through the most devastating flood that has ever been. But then you get to the other side, in chapter 8, and it opens up to this new world.
Noah and his family step into this new world, where in that moment, the violence and the wickedness of man has been dealt with. There are so many parallels between that chapter, which you could describe as a new creation almost, and the beginning of Genesis in chapters 1 and 2, where you have the creation.
Stephen:
That’s a big theme through Scripture, this idea that God is ultimately interested in creation, and he’s interested in new creation.
Joel:
Yeah. So out of the ashes, if you like, the wreckage, the carcass of fallen humanity, or the fallen creation, God brings forth a new creation. That’s what he did in Noah’s day. That’s what he’s doing today.
He is bringing people out of this world who will approach him by faith and the value of the death of Christ. The New Testament actually says, "If any man is in Christ Jesus," that’s again our expression, the link with the ark, "they are a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come."
This is who those who are Christians, who have believed in the Lord Jesus, this is what they find themselves to be. They're part of that new creation.
One of the things, you’ve linked Genesis chapter 8 with Genesis chapter 1. Whenever God finished the old creation, it says that he rested.
In Genesis chapter 8, again we find various things resting. The ark rests, the dove rests, the father rests. And this is what now, that which has been lost because of the fall, which has been lost because of sin, now right here in the present, as a new creation in Christ, we can experience in this world, which is still experiencing the wreckage of sin, the new creations, the new creatures in Christ Jesus, experience the peace and the rest of God.
Stephen:
Yeah. And those things are real, literal blessings for the believer right now. Even though there's a world filled with unrighteousness and conflict and sorrow, there are little glimmers of that new creation even now.
Joel:
And the thing that’s really interesting about Noah when he comes out of the ark, what’s the first thing he does? And this is very much connected with the rest of God, he worships.
And that’s what God is saving people out of the world for in this day and age. He is saving us to become worshippers, because that’s how the rest is enjoyed. That’s how peace is experienced, by worshiping God, by enjoying the relationship with him.
So in a sense, yes, it is absolutely a new creation, totally, but it’s also reverting back to what the original creation was. In the day that God rested, in the day that humanity enjoyed that perfect relationship with God, it is returning to what God initially intended.
Stephen:
There’s obviously so much more in this chapter. There are also things that God repeats in terms of his purpose for man, to be fruitful, to multiply, and God reminds man of the value, the dignity of life.
But is there anything else we want to just cover off on this idea of a new creation before we wrap up?
Joel:
It wasn’t just that Noah, because in one sense, he stepped out into the old world. The old world made new. So it’s an internal thing. It’s about the change in a person’s heart. That’s not necessarily seen in a physical way, but it is lived out in actions.
That was the difference. That was the change that was produced in Noah.
Stephen:
Great. Thanks, Joel.
