Without God's gracious intervention, Noah wouldn't
have had a chance under God's fierce justice. Nobody would have had a chance.
God got involved expressing His grace and that made all of the difference.
Solomon wrote, "I know that, whatsoever God
does, it shall before ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from
it: and God does it, that men should fear before Him" (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
God is active. God was doing things. God is doing stuff that will last.
In verse 1 we find that God was already in the ark.
He said, “Noah, Come... into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before
Me...." He didn't say, "Go into the ark," He said,
"Come." How comforting for Noah!
Consider also the phrase, "...thee [Noah] have
I seen righteous before Me ..." The immutable God did some justifying
there. In later passages we have clarification of this procedure. Justification
is described well in Romans 4:6, "...God imputes righteousness without
works" (see also Psalm 32:2). In Christ, God sees believers as being
righteous.
In verse 16 & 17 we find that "...the LORD
shut [Noah] in... and the waters increased and bare up the ark..." There
was only one door to the ark (and it was shut by God Himself... never to be
opened again). This is a pattern representing God's role in the salvation of
men today. In First Peter 3:20-21 says, "...in the days of Noah... eight
souls were saved by water. The like
figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us..." The waters of the
flood were swelling with death, yet the life sustaining ark was carried about
by those same waters. So too Christ's death is symbolized in the waters of
baptism. And yet, His death brings us life according to "the operation of
God" (Colossians 2:12).
Finally, in verse 23 we read, "Noah only
remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." Outside of the ark was only death and destruction.
Inside was only life and preservation. The Father is doing the same through
Christ (see Matthew 21:44 & Luke 20:18, "Whosoever shall fall upon
that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.")
God brought the flood. Some were saved through it;
most died in it and were destroyed by it (in a temporal program). Through His
Son, God is doing the same today in an eternal program. This truth is stated
plainly in Second Corinthians 5:18-19, "All things are of God, who has
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ... God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them..."
If anything good ever happens; for sure... God did
it!
People always say "why God" and blame him when bad things happen to them or are going through struggles . I think insted of blaming him we should be praising him , not only in the good times but also in the bad , in everything .....He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. (Deuteronomy 10:21 KJV)
ReplyDeleteAmen!
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