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Sermon preached on Genesis 6:19-22 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/30/2023 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
We come today to the next main section of Genesis, the section regarding Noah, with verse 9, “These are the generations of Noah.” This section continues through chapter 9. However, the bulk of this section has a distinct subsection about the Flood which starts here and goes through the end of chapter 8. I’ll be taking us through the Flood section over three sermons, focusing today on 6:9-22. This section on the Flood spanning almost three chapters demonstrates a beautiful literary framework, with a chiastic structure that mirrors the rising, prevailing, and then subsiding of the Flood waters. This structure simultaneously paints the imagery of de-creation and re-creation. What we ultimately find is that this Flood narrative is a type or picture of the end, that some of our eschatology is prefigured here. In other words, what we expect to happen at the end of this age, essentially a smaller version of that happened here with Noah and the Flood. For here in the Flood narrative, we find the judgment of the wicked, the salvation of God’s elect, and the ushering in a of a new creation. We will be studying and seeing those eschatological themes over the course of three sermons on the Flood narrative. Today, we’ll especially consider how God saves his elect. We’ll see how he saves his people in Noah through this Ark, and that is a type of the salvation of God’s people that will come at the end when Christ returns.
Let us begin with verses 9-12 which serve as a prologue to the Flood narrative. In this prologue, we are painted a picture of the state of the world at that time. This state of the world is what precipitates the Flood. We are told about Noah, and we are told about earth in general.
For Noah, we are told that he was righteous, and that he was blameless and that he walked with God. For Noah to be righteous speaks of his being in a right and favorable standing with God. We naturally think of how he would have been one who lived in godliness in trying to do good and not do evil. Similarly, for Noah to be described here as blameless, it speaks of being above reproach. In fact, the language here of blameless is what is used elsewhere to describe a sacrifice that was without blemish. Noah was a man that could be described as one without a blemish. Of course, from other Scripture, we know that no human save Jesus is perfectly righteous, and only Jesus is without any blemish of sin. While that is true enough, you might say that is right doctrine from the wrong text. Because that is not the emphasis here. Noah is emphasized here for his godliness in contrast to everyone around him.
So then, in verse 11 we see the state of everyone else in this world. God looked and saw that the world was filled with violence. To describe the world as full of violence is to describe its wickedness with rather jarring language. If we say people are wicked that speaks of their evil and depravity. But to speak of such in terms of violence is to say how their evil afflicted and harmed others. Violence against neighbor is the opposite of the love for neighbor that is true godliness.
But not only was the world full of violence, verses 11-12 say that God saw how corrupt it had become. The word corrupt could also be translated as ruined or spoiled. This is said three times here. In other words, this is really emphasizing how horribly messed up this world had become. It’s like if you take some nice painting and splash a bunch of black paint on it, then you’ve ruined it. So then, God designed this world to be full of his image bearers reflecting his image over all the creation. But instead of the world being full of Noahs, it instead had become a world full of murderers and liars and robbers; full of people who rejected God and disregarded his image. Full of people who were followers of the serpent, whether they realized it or not.
Now what I want you to recognize here is that this opening prologue to the Flood narrative parallels how Genesis started. Remember, Genesis 1:1-2, began saying that God created the heavens and the earth. Then it said, “Now the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.” In other words, after the initial creative act, God observed problems that needed to be addressed with the earth. So, then the six days of creation put to resolving those issues. Here then, in Genesis 6:9-12, this prologue functions similarly. “Now the earth was corrupt and full of violence.” God looks upon this finished earth at this point and see problems that needed to be addressed. What then will take place starting in verse 13 and on through chapter 7 will be akin to the creation days in reverse. God will set out to resolve the problems with this earth through a sort of work of de-creation. We’ll look further at that de-creation next week. But for today we will recognize that it will not only be a work of de-creation, but also a rescue missions. God will rescue a remnant from earth before it is destroyed, because that is also what God had observed as the current earth, not only the violence and corruption, but he also saw righteous blameless Noah, so God’s work to destroy the earth would also include his work to save Noah and all that are his from the destruction.
That leads us then to our next point to consider the construction of the Ark in verses 13-21. God will speak his command to build the Ark, and Noah will obey and build it. As a side note, let me say that it is quite possible that what we have here is only a summary of the instructions that God gave Noah on how to construct this. I remind you that Moses is the one who wrote the book of Genesis and it never claims to be an exhaustive account. Rather, Moses recorded this account of these early events of human history to give Israel some background for what God was then doing in their lives after the Exodus and in the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. In comparison, when God gives Moses instructions for how to build the Tabernacle, the instructions span many chapters at the end of Exodus. Likely, God gave more detailed instructions to Noah than what we have here, but what is here is a sufficient summary for us to be able to understand the big picture and keep tracking in this retelling of ancient history. As a proof that this was only a summary, we’ll find in 7:2 that Noah is told he needed to take more clean animals than unclean animals onto the Ark. Yet, nowhere in Genesis do we have record of God defining what is a clean animal. But surely Noah knew what God was talking about, and that is because surely Noah had more revealed to him than Genesis chose to record. Just like how we see last chapter that we find elsewhere in Scripture a prophecy that Enoch received, even though it is not recorded in Genesis.
So then, the summary of the construction details begins in verse 14. There we find that Ark was to be constructed with gopher wood and with pitch to waterproof it. In case you are wondering, we aren’t sure today what kind of wood gopher wood was; maybe some kind of cedar or pine. It describes how there are to be rooms or compartments in the Ark. We are then given the dimensions in verse 15, and those cubits were probably a little over 20” each. At this point, I might mention that there is a museum in Kentucky called the Ark Encounter where the museum is built along the size and shape of the details of what we have in Genesis to help people experience what the Ark may have been like. I understand that they tried to be as faithful to the text as possible, obviously having to fill in with their best judgment where details were not given. But that Ark Encounter settled on a ship size of 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. That’s bigger than most modern ships, though not quite as big as some of our largest cruise or container ships today. Verse 16 says that it had a roof with three decks, with the language for roof suggesting some sort of top that could open and let in light. There was a door on the side which would have been the main entrance.
It is often asked if an Ark like this could really have been big enough to hold so many animals? Chapter 6 mentions two of every kind, and chapter 7 will elaborate that of clean animals and of birds they actually took 7 pairs of each kind. Well, the answer is that if you are talking “kinds” of animals, then yes, there would have been enough room. Some critics want to speak in terms of modern taxonomy and say if every single exact species was brought, then there would not be enough room, and I think that is fair to acknowledge. But if the category was a more general category, something defined more along the lines of kinds of animals that can breed together, then the answer becomes yes, absolutely, there would have been enough room. To illustrate what I’m saying, consider wolves. Today, we have classified a lot of different species of wolves, which include domestic dogs, but among such wolves and dogs they can interbreed. So, on the Ark, they would have at least one “kind” of a wolf pair, but surely not every single various species of wolf or dog. According to some sources, then, this might bring you in the category of some 16,000 animals on the Ark, which likely would have only required about half of the space on the Ark. Of course, they would need a lot of that remaining space for food and other things.
As we consider this Ark’s construction, let me reflect theologically for a moment. Many a theologian has recognized that there is something temple-like here. Like how Eden was a sort of temple, the Ark has elements that make you think of the Tabernacle and later Temple. It’s been pointed out that this ship’s description seems to describe something that sounds more like a house than a ship. That’s not to say it didn’t sail, but to say that God had them make a ship that resembled a house. In other words, this is like a sort of a floating house of God. The fact that God gave such instructions for it, is compared to the fact that the only other structures God gives building instructions for are the Tabernacle and Temple. Also, that there is a reference to clean and unclean animals makes you think of worship, and how only clean animals could be offered as sacrifices to God in the Tabernacle and later Temple. And in fact, the altar for the Tabernacle and later Temple built not inside the building, but just outside in the courtyard, which is what will happen in chapter 8. They’ll exit the Ark after the Flood and there Noah builds an altar and sacrifices some of the clean animals to God. Of course, it was God himself who called them into the Ark and God who closed the door, 7:17. I think we’ll see when we get to 7:18 that there is a subtle comparing of the Ark with the Holy Spirit too. So, it’s a place where God’s people gather with God, but the world is not there, which of course we would call such a place a holy place. So, for various reasons, I think the Flood narratives describes the Ark as the house of God, as a temple-like structure.
I’d like to turn now in our third point for today and recognize how God used this Ark as an instrument of salvation. God saves Noah and his family through the Ark. So to begin, I point you to verses 13 and 17, where God declares his intension to destroy all the world. We’ll delve into that final judgment of that old world next week in more depth. For now, let us understand it from this point of salvation. For God to save Noah and his family, he has to save them from something. Like I say today when I tell people the gospel, you can’t talk about the good news without also talking about the bad news. So, verse 13, God declares his determination to destroy all flesh. At the end of the verse he says that he will destroy them with the earth, that is all the violent people. I would note that the language there of destroy is the same word used before for corrupt or spoil. Wicked humans had ruined the earth, so God would really ruin the earth, with them along with it. This is some of that idea again of the punishment fits the crime. Verse 17 then reiterates this declared judgment, with the added specificity that God will use a flood to accomplish this, and in so doing, remove the breath of life for all these creatures.
While we mention the judgment here, let me note that it is often asked if this Flood was a global flood, or just a local flood. A simple plain reading of the text, does seem to clearly speak in global terminology. It speaks of destroying all flesh, and how the waters covered even the highest mountains under all the heavens, 7:18-23. To interpret this as a local flood instead, you would have to understand the language here as phenomenal language. In other words, from the perspective of Noah, as far as he could see and know, the flood wiped out the whole earth and everyone on it. But, of course, while phenomenal language is a hypothesis one could make here, there is no good way to be able to prove that from the text itself. The arguments for just a local flood then spin off into extra-biblical data. Yet, when you start going down that route you find there is a large amount of ancient literature and legend that speaks of an ancient worldwide flood, with such accounts ranging from even distant peoples like the Chinese and the Native Americans. That is not to say that all the accounts are exactly the same as the Biblical account, but if there was such a worldwide climactic event, you would imagine that not all the tales and stories of it that got passed down would end up perfect to the original. Even from a geological standpoint, there is quite a surprising amount of evidence that would point to some huge cataclysmic flood along the lines we read of here in Genesis. But I digress.
Coming then back to verses 13 and 17 that declare God’s judgment on the whole earth and on all flesh, let us realize that if that is all that God told Noah, then Noah should be pretty concerned. Noah and his family are part of the all flesh, and they do live on that same earth. But praise be to the grace of God, that God reveals to Noah his plan to save him. Yes, that plan is made clear to Noah in various verses here, but none more wonderfully than in 18. There, God tells Noah, “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come in the ark, you, your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” God goes on to speak of the animals too that will be saved in the Ark with them. But you see what God is doing there? He isn’t just telling Noah that he will save them. He’s covenanting that he will save them. When we get to chapter 9, after the flood, we’ll see that God will again make a covenant there with Noah – that’s the one with the rainbow sign – and when we look at the details we’ll see it really is a common grace covenant that God is making there not just with Noah but with all humanity. But this covenant in 6:18 is different than that one in Genesis 9. This really seems to be another outworking of that one overarching covenant of grace with its various administrations in history. God makes this covenant that will bring salvation from this type of the final judgment that all who are in Noah as his federal head will be saved from it. So then, think of what God does here. Out of all humanity, God saves a chosen remnant. And this he does by way of covenant.
Let us point out then that while God does the covenanting here, and God gives the sure promise of salvation, Noah still needs to respond in faith. That does not make Noah and his family saved by works. This is ultimately an act of God’s grace, for Noah too is a fallen son of Adam. But Noah will need to exercise faith. He’ll need to build that Ark. He and his family will need to get on to the Ark when the time comes. Hebrews 11:7 says that it was by faith that Noah did this. And Hebrews 11:7 even says that Noah had reverent fear when he built the Ark. Realize that his reverent fear was even an expression of his faith. He believed God when God foretold the judgment. But he also had faith that God would save him in that Ark.
In 1 Peter 3:20, Peter comments about all this. He affirms how God saved these eight people on the Ark. Peter describes them as being safely brought through the water, and then makes a connection with our Christian baptism. He basically says that the Ark passing safely through the Flood waters was like our baptism. In both cases, there’s a symbolic sense in which water is washing away sin. Implied in both, is our sin is evil and we deserve death because of it. But our baptism declares that in Christ, we pass from death to life, even as Noah and family in that Ark passed from death to life so to speak.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, today’s message is really a gospel message. God will save his people, even though he is going to yet bring a final judgment of fire upon this world. He will carry us safely through that in Jesus unto the glorious new world that is in store for us his people.
As we think of salvation, I would like to see how Noah is emphasized here as a type of Christ. Noah is painted as the only righteous person in the whole world. Realize, that nothing is said of his sons, good or bad. Nothing is said of the wives either, good or bad. But they are all saved in Noah. In righteous Noah. Yes, Noah was not a perfect man, and we’ll yet see that as we keep studying Genesis. But in this snapshot of Noah, we see a type of Christ. Christ is everything Noah was and even more. Christ Jesus is the only perfectly righteous man. Christ Jesus is the only man truly without blemish or spot. These two things are the basis for his active and passive obedience for us, that saves us, all of us who are in him, in righteous Jesus. God again saw a world corrupted and full of violence, not one righteous, and he sent Jesus into this world to save us. Noah was a type of the one to come. Jesus is our savior, and through the cross, we will pass safely through the fire unto the glory of the age to come. Respond by faith in Jesus and be saved in Jesus!
Amen.
Copyright © 2022 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
