A BRAND NEW WORLD

THE STORY OF NOAH reveals an important principle about God's Kingdom and its relationship to the world.  We cannot overstate the corrupting influence that the world can have on the children of God, nor on the insidious ways in which it presents itself to them.  The world often comes to us dressed in its finest clothes, and with its seemingly best intentions; and we are often duped by such a masquerade.  We should not be surprised, "... for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14).  The Apostle Paul warns us not to be conformed to this world but, instead, to be transformed in Christ by the renewing of our minds. (See Romans 12:2).

 

In Noah’s day, the whole world had become so corrupted that God determined to destroy everything.  Man's condition was so vile that God was grieved, and He regretted making man.  "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." (Genesis 6:5-7a).  The Hebrew word "yetser" that is translated "imagination" in this verse also refers to the purposes, desires, and very framework of man's thoughts.  In other words, it wasn't just what man did that was evil: his very thoughts, purposes, and desires were corrupt at a foundational level.  "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." (Psalms 51:5 NKJV).  Because Adam sinned, all of mankind became sinners.  Even before they committed their first sin, they were already sinners because of their heritage.  Just as surely as their eye color or their body type was stamped into their DNA when they were formed in the womb, the sin nature was already stamped into man’s flesh - passed down from their parents.  As man increased on the earth, so did his sins.  Man's sensitivity to God died when he chose to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than to eat of the Tree of Life.  God had warned Adam and Eve that this would happen, but they broke the only commandment that God had given them at that time, and their descendants (all of mankind) have suffered the consequences of that choice ever since. 

 

When the flood waters eventually came, they covered everything, right up to the tops of the mountains.  Not only was man destroyed, but all the works of man were destroyed as well.  His cities, his palaces, his monuments, his temples, and all of his good works, along with his bad, were washed away by the waters.  Nothing was salvageable, nothing was redeemable, it was all under the curse, and therefore, had to be destroyed lest it corrupt the new world that God intended to make after the flood waters subsided. 

 

To many, this may seem harsh and not the act of a loving God, but then we read the next verse.  "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."  (Genesis 6:8).  Grace is always God's answer to judgment.  It not only forgives, but it also empowers.  Scripture tells us that Noah was not just a boat builder: he was also a preacher of righteousness. (2 Peter 2:5).  If Noah was preaching righteousness to the people of his time, then it naturally follows that the intent of his preaching was that they repent, and had they repented, then God would have made room on the ark for them.  There was a way out of this judgment, but sadly, no one accepted God's mercy except Noah and his family. 

 

The principle that God wants us to be keenly aware of in this story is this: that God has placed the whole world under judgment.  Things are no better today than they were in Noah's day; in fact, they are probably far worse.  All those who are outside of Christ are racing blindly toward God's final judgment, and even many who name the name of Christ may find themselves so entangled by the world that they find it impossible to extricate themselves, and wind up like Lot's wife who still longed for the world that God had delivered her out of even when she knew that Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed. 

 

Jesus said, “But of that day and hour [the day and hour of our Lord’s return] knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:36-39). 

 

Noah’s message to the sinners of his day was not too different than the message that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles of our Lord preached: “Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Those who ignored their warning were destined for destruction along with the world that they then knew.  Those who received the message, however, would walk into a new world that was invisible to them just then, but was promised to them who believed.  They were called to leave the kingdoms of this world in order to inherit one that God would prepare for them.  “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10).

 

God has provided us with a place of safety from the impending storm.  Through the cross of Christ we find deliverance from the world and all its snares.  "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galatians 6:14).  Just as Noah and his family passed from death to life onboard the ark, so too must we pass through death to life by means of baptism into Christ's death and resurrection.  Jesus is God’s Ark of Safety to all who will believe and enter into His grace and mercy. 

 

After the floods subsided, Noah and his family stepped into a brand new world that was no longer tainted by sin and evil.  In the same way, we have stepped into a whole new world, and a whole new life in Christ Jesus.  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

 

We must all decide, under the Holy Spirit's tutelage, where we may touch the world, and where we may not.  We are in this world, but must learn not to be of it – entangled by it.  We have help with this task.  The Holy Spirit has been given to us to lead us into all truth, and to convict us of those things that will cause us to suffer spiritual loss.  "And when He [the Holy Spirit] is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment... I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come.  He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:8,12-14).  This is what Paul describes in Romans 8 as "walking in the Spirit."  Every Christian must learn to walk in the Spirit, and refrain from walking in the flesh.  We walk in the flesh when we allow ourselves to live according to our old carnal nature and obey our passions and lusts, rather than according to the new nature that we have in Christ.  None of us can do this in our own strength or will power.  We must believe in the transforming power of the Spirit to change us from the inside out.  It is our faith in the finished work of Christ that is the victory that overcomes the world! (1 John 5:4).

 

Noah’s whole story underscores the importance of realizing that this present worldly system is under the condemnation of God.  It is not because God has rejected man, but that man has rejected God!  The imagination of their hearts is evil continually.  There is but one hope for mankind, and one place of refuge from the destruction to come.  That place is in Jesus Christ, God’s Ark of Safety.  Like Noah, there are many preachers of righteousness who are warning us to repent and take our spot in that Ark, but they are mostly ignored, and even ridiculed.  There is a Kingdom that God has promised to those who love Him.  That Kingdom is invisible now, but will be very real on that day that we step off the “Ark".  It will be a new world where only righteousness will prevail.  The Lord Himself will be there to greet us and He has prepared a place for us to dwell throughout eternity. 

 

The Kingdom of Heaven is real today.  Just as Noah trusted in a better place that God would prepare for him and his family, we, too, can trust that our Father has something much better for us.  Noah spent his life working on the vessel that would become his salvation.  We must also spend our lives perfecting our relationship with Jesus our Savior.  Everything that this world promotes as important will rust, rot, and eventually burn; but what we do for Christ in this life will be like precious treasures in heaven which can never be destroyed.  Those things will be waiting in heaven for us to one day claim.  The greatest treasure of all, however, will be when we look upon the Savior’s face and hear Him say to us, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”