Genesis 6-9 For God so loved the world, that he destroyed it with a giant flood?

Transcription

1 1 Genesis 6-9 For God so loved the world, that he destroyed it with a giant flood? The defeat of evil EVIL MUST BE DEFEATED! [Walk to the front with the Imperial march going and maybe an entrance by Darth Vader on the screen.] Things could not get any worse. What God had planned, the human experiment, has gone all wrong. It has failed. God went to war against the forces of chaos and made a good world and put his representative in it. But his representative went against him, choosing to follow the ways of the world and listen to the false words And now we find that Adam s child also has an evil inclination. He is at war with himself. Truly a battle with the devil, the world, and flesh. And today we will find that it has moved from Adam to Cain to Lamech to mankind and the entire cosmos itself. And so God says, EVIL MUST BE DEFEATED! Creation must be undone and begun again. It s a war and God... will... be... victorious. The cute and cuddly animals of Noah s ark [Flannelgraph] But wait, we all know the story of Noah s Ark. It s not a war. It s a great kid s story. Cute and cuddly animals, a beautiful rainbow and a lesson about God s faithfulness. We can t tell our children a story about evil and destruction.

2 2 Look at the giraffe, so cute and he is there with the nice Lion and they may just team up with a Zebra and a hippo and some brilliant penguins and go in search of the wild. But this isn t Madagascar. It isn t about Baloo and Bagheera and King Louie on a boat having a party. It s more like 28 days later, an end of the world zombie apocalypse with political allegory. It s like 12 monkeys, The day after tomorrow, Deep Impact, I am Legend and 2012 all combined but with an actual purpose. If it was made into a movie it would have to include the dude from Gladiator because that is a real man and we need a good looking chick, how about the girl from Harry Potter all grown up?

3 3 We would need at least one man of wisdom and maybe give him some supernatural power because that is cool. How about the guy from Silence of the Lambs? He just wreaks ancient wisdom (and cannibalism). He also played C. S. Lewis so it kind of fits. It would have phenomenal special effects, epic scenery and more extras than exist in the whole town of Pool esville. Now that would be a movie. But it wouldn t be fun. It would be dark. Because the human experiment has failed and must be restarted. It s really a disappointment story. Like hypothetically if Bryan s lab had some drug in phase 4 and the testing just didn t come through. They had to scrap the project. Everything gets cleaned out. All the Bunsen burners and flasks and microscopes and radioactive spiders and gamma rays are destroyed so it can all be started over.

4 4 But this is God. Can t he find a better way to make things right? But let s be careful. We don t want to mistake literature for God. Or interpretation of event for actual event. We need to transport ourselves into the time of the writing, to the time of a much more primitive man. They aren t asking the questions we ask about genocide, about the impossibility of a global flood or about why the dinosaurs didn t make it aboard (some scientists do ask this question) We need to recognize a couple of things that will allow us to see through their eyes 1) Israel s neighbors have flood stories too. 2) Israel s flood story was written after the other stories Older-than-the-Bible Flood Stories That is, they are based on these other stories that we actually have in Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian that give us some pretty phenomenally similar stories. I love mythology so let me just tell you the basic outline of a couple of the flood stories. There are more than these two like the Sumerian Epic of Ziusudra, but Atrahasis and Gilgamesh are from Mesopotamia and are very similar and you might remember that the Hebrew people lived there during the exile. Atrahasis Atrahasis is the title of the Akkadian story and the main character of it. He is a regular guy who is saved from a flood. Basically, the great god Enlil wants to take a nap. It s Sunday afternoon and he deserves a nap. But he has four kids, I mean 4 million kids (or whatever) and they can t seem to be quiet. He is kind of a Grinch up on the mountain and the stinking whos in whoville are singing Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome Christmas! Bring your cheer Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze! Welcome all who's far and near Enough! And the lightning flies and the water rises. But Ea, the water God helps him escape in a boat. So, we have a flood, we have a god, we have a boat. So some similarities at least. Gilgamesh Gilgamesh is another story about an historical 3 rd millennium BC King of Uruk. We are pretty sure the king is a real one, but the story is more mythical in nature. In the story version, Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 man and he loses his best friend Enkidu. That loss hits him pretty hard so he travels the world looking for the secret to immortality. This quest leads him eventually to Utnapashtim who explains to Gilgamesh that his immortality was received through

5 5 special circumstance directly from the god Ea. Basically Ea, without a reason mentioned in the text, decides to flood the world and then has second thoughts choosing to save Utnapashtim. He is saved through the grace of Ea. The similarities are too striking not to notice Both are given precise instructions regarding the dimensions of the boat Both are told to bring animals on board and family Both have the boat and door sealed with bitumen (pitch, not the normal Hebrew word for pitch but the one related to the Babylonian story) Both find the boat resting on a mountain after the ordeal Both let go a series of birds in hopes that the water would have receded. Now we can t really prove that one story was borrowed from another story, but it seems at least that there was a common thread of a story that existed in the air. And the Sumerians or Assyrians or Israelites took that common story and used it to make a larger point about how they understood themselves and their God/gods Not about what happened, but it happened That is, it s not really about what happened, it s about why it happened. Most archaeologists say that there was a massive flood in the ancient Near East in 2900 BC. So this story would exist in cultural memory, and it flooded all of the world. All of the world that they understood. Remember their cosmology it is a flat earth, with mountains on the side holding up the dome that held up the flood waters above the earth. Exactly what it looks like if you live in a valley and look up at the sky. So, the authors of Genesis have taken something very real and have given it purpose. They had to have an answer to why. This isn t that different than us actually. Whenever some natural catastrophe happens, every blog in existence comes out with answers or questions regarding why this happened. The tsunami in 2006 was because God was angry at people in Asia who are Buddhists The twin towers went down because America has accepted abortion and gay marriage. My team didn t win the playoffs because I didn t wear my lucky underwear Facts aren t as important as the reason and place of the people in the story. And of course this had to do with Israel s God and how they saw themselves in relation to him. So, why did God flood the world? So, there was a real historical flood and Israel had to explain why so many people died. And in so doing they have to explain God. It s not that God was capricious or arbitrary. It s not that God just wanted a little peace and quiet. It s not that he is just a Godzilla kind of god who loves to destroy everything.

6 6 Not, it s because he has standards and those standards have been trampled on. Cosmic order of the universe is being ignored. Or as it says in Genesis 6:5, every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. Everyone. We had problems with Adam and Eve, but Cain took it a step further. His own desires led not just to exile, but to actual death. And that evil inclination multiplies in his progeny when we see Lamech brag about killing seven people. A complete total number. And presumes on God in so doing. And then Genesis 6:1-4 talks about the sons of God cavorting with the daughters of man. Most interpreters say these are the watchers of Enoch who come down to teach mankind evil things and even cross the divine/human threshold. The cosmic order has been disregarded. And now, 6:5 again, God regrets what he did in making humanity. Wow! His experiment was a complete failure. So, what does he do? You know the story. Noah appears to be the only righteous person left, we aren t told exactly what that means, but it seems he is crying out to Yahweh, like it said in chapter 5 The word Noah means and Noah is a new. So God decides to start over with a new humanity. A new Adam. His name is Noah. It means rest. Remember Eve had a child that she assumed was the one who would bring things back to right. That would end the striving. That would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). She named him Cain. She was wrong. Now we are told by the name given to this person that rest is coming. This is the one who would end their suffering and bring them back in line with God and repopulate Eden. All is well, or will be once he builds a giant shopping mall of a boat and bring on his family and two or seven of every animal aboard. I find it interesting that sacrifices are included shows that this text probably comes at least after the Levitical codes are stipulated? But that is neither here nor there. Noah hears from God one day while he is working on a tree house for the kids (that s not in the text, but it s implied in the Hebrew) Vuppa, Vuppa, Vuppa Noah! Pause. Look around Vuppa, Vuppa, Vuppa Noah! Who is that? It s the Lord Noah. Right. Where are you? What do you want, I ve been good.

7 7 I want you to build an ark. So he does. Its massive. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 30 feet high (if we use normal cubit measurement there is a slightly longer one that might be applicable too). It has three levels and there are a ton of traditions in Judaism, Christianity and Islam to explain how all the animals fit. If I were making an epic movie about Bad Noah, I would just have all the animals being knocked out for a year in some kind of weird hibernation that most animals cant do. But it s God so why not? (of course it didn t seem to be miraculous in the movie, so what the heck?) How do you answer the scientific questions? If you have actual questions about the animals and how this is all scientifically possible, talk to Bryan. Or talk to some scientist, because the Bible just doesn t care to make such historical or scientific comments. It s not so much about what happened, as to why it happened. And why did it happen? Because there needed to be a new beginning. A new hope (if you will; star wars reference) The Un-Creation story [flannelgraph again] It s an uncreation story that fits with the creation story God went to war against chaos and shaped it and molded it so that the tohu vabohu, the deep, became habitable. Then he divided the upper and lower waters, creating a dome to hold back the chaos waters so the world could be habitable. Then he separated the waters horizontally, so the world could be habitable and each of these domains is a habitat for something stars and moon, birds and fish, animals and people. Then in Gen 7:11 the windows of the dome are opened (we didn t know there were windows) and the fountains of the great deep burst forth. All the order of the first three days is undone. Tohu vabohu reigns. Creation is undone. But that is not the end. It ends with a receding flood. It ends with 8 people that walk away from the destruction. It ends with thousands of animals who will begin the world again. It ends with praise to Yahweh for his mercy in saving some. It ends with the bow of destruction being hung in the sky not to be used again (or maybe the bow pointing heavenward as an oath, or maybe the dome once again stable and the windows closed). Regardless, it ends with a new beginning. God s people come through the other side. Israel is saved through a sea. Chaos/Rahab/Egypt is destroyed by using chaos on itself. Israel will begin again and the human experiment will thrive.

8 8... for about five minutes. Another story about nakedness Until Noah gets drunk and strips. Ham dishonors his nakedness somehow (won t get into the theories about this euphemism) and Ham s son is cursed to be the slaves of Shem and Japheth s children. Do you notice that the story actually ends with nakedness again? Just like Adam and Eve. At minimum Ham notices and mocks his dad in some way. Ham has no shame in the seeing. His brothers, on the other hand, show honor. His brothers respect and cover dad by walking backwards. Ham is a brute, no knowledge, no shame. Adam and Eve got the knowledge the wrong way, Ham it appears has not yet acquired the knowledge of order and properness. Why this ending story? To show that Canaan (the son of Ham) deserves everything it gets or has gotten. That the land rightfully belongs to Israel. That the people of Canaan have not yet received the truth and must be removed. The story of Creation, uncreation and recreation Primeval History There is so much going on in this story, but let me focus on the theme I hope we can all recognize. Genesis 1-11 (primeval History) is the story of the creation of the world and the creation of Israel. And it s the story of the uncreation of the world and Israel (both in Egypt exile and in Babylonian/Assyrian exile) and it s the story of their becoming a people again. A new creation. Will they end up being saved on the other side of destruction like Noah? Will they then go back to their old brute ways, having been given the truth will they revert back to untruth and be cursed like Canaan? It s a choice for them, but it s also part of the grand narrative of what God is doing in the world. The human experiment has failed. Twice. The promise of Genesis 3:15 and rest for his people has not come to pass. Noah did not fully deliver. And so they wait and we see them try to build a tower to reach the knowledge of God. A Babylonian zigurrat for worship, but not the prescribed ways. The patriarchs But there is hope. Abraham. An idol worshipper from Mesopotamia will follow God and travel back to Eden. He will make a promise to God and he will largely keep it. His son as well. And his son. But every son is flawed. Sometimes fatally flawed. Out of Egypt Even through Moses, the great king and Aaron the great priest and Miriam the great prophetess, we see that the people of God are still failing to represent God. Still failing to live up to the knowledge they have attained.

9 9 Who will defeat the serpent? Who will bring rest? Into the land Joshua? Hebrews says that although he brought rest he didn t really bring rest. The land was still filled with defilers. Order and righteousness was not completed. The judges helped, but Samson should quickly convince us that this was not the key to righteousness regained. United Monarchy Then Samuel, Saul and David. David The man after God s heart. He united the clans and destroyed all false worship. His son was a paragon of knowledge. He understood how to lead and how to bring righteousness. The wisest man in the land. But he ignored his own insights and chased after other dreams. Divided Monarchy The kingship split. Israel was a joke. The Israel/human experiment was a failure. And king after king proved that they could not live suitably under the law. There were exceptions, people of hope and rest for a time, but then, not. Post-exile They returned to Israel, rebuilt the temple, rebuilt the wall, but the grandeur is gone Maccabees Judas and Jonathan and Matathias rose up and tried to make things right by the sword, but the sword doesn t ultimately make right. So, who will fulfill Genesis 3:15? Who will crush the head of the serpent? When will creation be brought back the way it should be. When will death and exile no longer be the default? If all the human experiments failed, where is the hope? If the best representative of the force has switched allegiance to the dark side. If all the Jedi have been killed or exiled. If the empire now has a fully functional battle station called the death star to wreak havoc on all who seek to undermine them. Then where is the hope? We need one who masters the evil inclination. Someone who doesn t give in to the lusts of the flesh, the world and the devil. Someone who follows righteousness no matter what it costs.

10 10 Of course in Star Wars that new hope is Luke Skywalker. He will bring peace to the galaxy. We won t dwell too much on him, because the analogy is pretty weak. Star Wars is really a lot more like Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism (looks like Ramayana) or maybe some sort of Zoroastrian dualism than Christianity, but it s been fun nonetheless. But the true hope is the one who comes not with a lightsaber. New Covenant The one who fulfils Gen 3:15 says that those who live by the sword, die by the sword and heals the wound inflicted by Peter. The one who crushes the head of the serpent doesn t do it with armies or weapons, but with peace and love. He knows that Adam, Cain, Lamech, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and every other great or less than great man of the past has contributed to the failure of the human experiment. Each of them result in creation being undermined and God s work devalued. Until a baby cries out in a Bethlehem stable and kings worship Until he shows his wisdom through conversation with the priests in the temple. Until he, on Behalf of Israel, is baptized by John, identifying with the people. Until he stands in the valley and on a mountain and reminds people that those who value peace are blessed. Until he rebukes the religious and loves on the unloved and the outsider. Until he takes 39 lashes and nails in his hands and the greatest creation in the world is destroyed. (I know this destroys the momentum but just a word about creation. Jesus wasn t created in the sense that he didn t exist prior. He was created in the sense that Noah was created on the other side of the flood and Israel was created anew when they went through a parted sea) But this creation as perfect as it was, was destroyed, scrapped. Was it a final failure of the human experiment? That s what God has done throughout history created, uncreated and recreated with someone else. So, it only makes sense that this is another moment in a long line of disappointment. But then in a flash we have a recreation like never before seen. Someone literally dead, is created anew. Not a new generation, not a new leader of an old group, not a metaphorical re-creation, but someone who actually gets up from the dead. The ultimate recreation a true resurrection. Do you understand after centuries of scrapping projects, God has placed his seal of approval on this one? When he scrapped it, it was only temporary and had nothing to do with the creation itself, but completely to do with this creation (Jesus) standing in for the rest of us.

11 11 It s the culmination to the creation, uncreation, recreation story. All of these attempts over the centuries were to make clear that what was required was for God himself to become small and go through the creation, uncreation, recreation process on our behalf. Applying Noah s Ark So, how do you apply Noah s ark? Christotelic It s not just by saying that God is faithful to a few and won t flood the world again. It is that for sure, but it s so much greater when you read the whole history together. The flood was to point to Jesus. The Cain and Abel story was to point to Jesus. That Adam story was to point to Jesus. The creation of the world story was to point to Jesus. So, your most immediate application is the simple knowledge that Jesus climaxed history. That he is what everything else pointed to. That he is the ultimate recreation story. New Creations But friends it goes so much further. Because Paul totally recognizes this fact, but then goes so far as to call us new creations. He says in Galatians that circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing (A big claim for a Jew who considered this his identity as a person of God), but rather what counts is a new creation (6:15). In 2 Corinthians he says that if we are in Christ which we have been talking about in Ephesians, then we are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. How do new Creations live? Morally pure So what does this imply? Who are we to be if we are new creations? We are people seated in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6) because Christ was in the heavenly places (Eph 1: 20), we are living in the future world as we live in the present one (Eph 1:10, 2:3, 2:7), we unify so that all of creation can see that God s plan was wise. I am so glad we are doing Ephesians alongside Genesis because you can see so clearly what Paul is trying to do. Who is wise? Who has taken the path of wisdom and not of folly? Jesus is. Jesus has. Jesus is the new Adam choosing wisely in God s timing. Jesus is the new Cain, a better one who while struggling with temptation defeats it and does not sin. Jesus is the new Noah who follows the ways of righteousness defeating evil as he goes and ultimately as he dies and rises. Sacrificially loving

12 12 And we are called to imitate God, living a life of love. How? According to Eph 5, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. We are to be sexually pure, not greedy, not obscene, not foolish, not coarse, proper and holy, filled with thanks,.. read the rest of Ephesians 5. Defeating Evil This is what it means to be a new creation. And by doing these things we defeat evil. What does the flood story mean to me? It means I am a new creation. It means that like Noah (partially) and like Jesus, I am to put an end to evil [Darth Vader entrance pic] and I am to bring rest to the world. That is the goal of Poolesville Baptist Church every week when we gather and throughout the week when we are scattered. Bringing Rest Look at the first page of your bulletin: To all who are spiritually weary and seek rest; to all who mourn and long for comfort; to all who struggle and desire victory; all who are strangers and want fellowship; all who hunger and thirst after righteousness, all who sin and need a Savior; this church opens wide her arms and offers welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who we are. People who open wide our arms and give rest.