The book of Genesis is the seedpod or the beginning of all things. After six days, the triune God pronounces all of his creation including mankind, very good. What once was formless and void, an uninhabited chaotic ball of water, is now teaming with order and beauty and life. The man that God created (Adam) is the king of the earth. He lives in perfect harmony with God, his wife (Eve), and nature. But this perfect world was short lived. Man chose to rebel against God by eating from the one tree of the garden that God forbid him to eat from. Adam’s fatal choice (the fall) plunged the human race into total depravity. God exercised his justice along with his grace by punishing Adam for his disobedience while letting him live outside the garden in hopes that the promised seed of the woman would soon redeem them from there sinful condition.
In Genesis chapter 6, we have pictured for us what life was like east of Eden. Man was fruitful and multiplied upon the earth but with the multiplication came multiplied sin. The condition of mankind was so corrupt that God looked upon the hearts of the people that he created and saw that they were completely wicked and that the very intentions of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it GRIEVED him in his heart. So the Lord once again turned the earth back into a chaotic ball of watery judgment.
“It grieved him in his heart,” is not a throw away line. As many times as we have read the story of Noah and the great flood, how many times have we stopped to think about these most important words? Six words that give us a window into the heart of our God. A God who is not first, creator, but who is first, Father. A loving Father who is grieved to his very core that the world that he created has fallen so far from glory. Our God cries! He cries for mankind, who was created in his image to live in perfect harmony with him, but who has fallen into the depths of depravity and lost his first love.
The awful and wonderful thing about God’s grief is that it is our salvation. The whole story of Noah and the ark is about Jesus. It is a foreshadowing of the one who would come (the seed of the woman) and save mankind from the final judgment (by fire). For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God, our Father, sent his Son into this world to pay the penalty for our sin. He lived a perfect life, he died on the cross and shed his blood, and he rose again defeating death and sin. Only a relational God who is intimately involved in the lives of his children would do such a thing. His grief is motivated by his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
While the story of Noah and the ark is a real event in history that had very real affects on all of creation, we must not overlook the redemptive note that cries out from the pages of Scripture. Just like Noah, Jesus was chosen by God to save mankind. Just like Noah, Jesus went through the waters God’s wrath. Just like Noah, Jesus endured the wrath and lived. But unlike Noah, Jesus endured the wrath and emerged victoriously sinless. Jesus died once, the righteous for the unrighteous, to appease the wrath of God so that we would not have to experience the fiery judgment to come. That’s Good News!
Although thousands of years separate us from our great ancestor, Noah, and from our earthly elder brother, Jesus Christ, the world that we live in is not so different (sinful, violent, and awaiting judgment). Like Noah and Jesus, Christians are God’s ambassadors warning the world of the judgment to come and spreading the good news of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The question is, “is your heart GRIEVED for the lost and dying peoples of the world who face impending doom or are you indifferent?” Beloved, God is love so let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. If you’ve been born of God then the love of God should lead you to grieve for the lost. But like Noah, who by faith built an ark and warned the people of his day of coming judgment, we must not be paralyzed by grief but persevere in faith and good works for the glory of God.
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