Episode 105 – A Flood of Truth Part 1 - the Covenant of Grace

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script:

When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

… the boat floated safely on the surface [of the water].

Genesis, chapter 7, verses 11 through 12 and 18, New Living Translation

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day… before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.”

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 37 through 39, New Living Translation

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VK: Hello. I’m Victoria K and today on Anchored by Truth we are starting a new study series brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re going to revisit one of the most familiar of the Bible stories: Noah and the Ark. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, the story of Noah and the ark is such a familiar one to just about everyone – even people who do not identify as Christians are familiar with it. Why did you think it was a good idea for us to take another look at a story that is so well known?

RD: Well, as you’ve said, the story of Noah and the ark is one of the best known of all of the Bible stories. In certain ways it’s so simple that it’s almost child-like. Certainly, the basic details are familiar to almost everyone. But when you probe beneath the surface …

VK: No pun intended …

RD: … no pun intended – when you probe beneath the surface of the story I think you get a story that’s far more profound than most of us normally think about. I think it’s far more engaging and encouraging when we actually get beyond the immediate facts that are so well known. To help remind us of some of those facts, though, let’s start by enjoying the first lesson about Noah and the ark from one of Crystal Sea’s humor series we call Life Lessons with a Laugh.

---- NOAH 1 – Applied Wisdom – 2 by 2

VK: Well, obviously you and Jerry have a good time together. And despite the fact that Noah and the ark is one of the best known stories from the Bible I picked up something from that Life Lesson I hadn’t really focused on before. You rarely think about how long it really took Noah to build the ark. You said many Bible scholars believe that Noah was involved in building the ark for more than 50 years. Maybe as much as 75 years?

RD: 50 to 75 years or maybe even more. When Noah is first mentioned in the Bible it says he had his 3 sons after he was 500 years old. Then it says the flood waters came on the earth when Noah was 600. So that’s a span of 100 years. If Noah had his first son when he was 500, then even if it took 75 years to build the ark that son, Japheth, would have been 25 when the construction actually began. But there’s no reason Noah had to wait until Japheth was that old. Noah could easily have begun making preparations even while his sons were growing up.

VK: That’s true. You know when we hear the stories of the famous people in the Bible we have a tendency to forget that their lives were just like others. Their babies took time to grow up just like ours do. They went through their equivalent of diapers and teen age years but all the while that’s happening that doesn’t mean that Noah had to be idle. Likely Noah would not have been idle because he had already been told by God that he had a major building project in front of him – one that would consume a substantial portion of his life.

RD: Yes. So one of the first things we need to take note of in Noah’s story is that much of Noah’s story – the unfolding details of his life – are not described in depth in scripture. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t take place in just about the same way they do for us. And that brings us to the second point I want to observe. Noah’s story is an amazing story. He’s a regular man – he grows up, gets married, and has kids. Noah’s life is just like most of ours. What makes Noah’s story so amazing is not who Noah started out to be – but the fact that Noah turned was willing to turn his life over to God. We know about Noah because the Bible says that Noah was a righteous man – which means Noah was first and foremost a man who was willing to serve God, even when God gave him some instructions that would have seemed laughable at the time he received them.

VK: You’re referring to the fact that Noah was told to build an enormous boat – the ark – even though it is entirely possible that Noah did not live anywhere near the ocean. Though it is hard to know exactly how current geography relates to the pre-flood geography it is certainly true that right now the locations referred to in the Noah story are nowhere near an ocean. So, Noah’s decision to honor God’s command really was an act of faith. Undoubtedly, that faith was one of the reasons the Bible says that Noah was a righteous man.

RD: Yes. So, let’s think about this for just a second. The Bible is very clear that wickedness was very widespread in Noah’s day. In fact, the Bible seems to indicate that men, in general, were so wicked that Noah was the only man who could have been called righteous. The Bible actually says that God was sorry that He had made man and put man on the earth. Now, when the Bible says that it is using an “anthropopathism”…

VK: An “anthro – what” …

RD: Anthropopathism. It’s a figure of speech where a human emotion or feeling is attributed to God. The Bible is clear that God is omniscient and knows everything that is going to happen before it happens. But what the Bible is doing when it says that God was sorry He made man the Bible is conveying the depth of God’s grief and anger over man’s wickedness. Also, I think it’s important to note that I don’t for one minute think that Noah’s righteousness was accidental. It is far more correct to say that God had prepared a righteous man to continue the survival of life on the earth knowing the depths of wickedness to which man was going to descend. This, then, is another great illustration of the covenant of grace that God had launched in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s fall.

VK: We’ve often talked about the covenant of grace on Anchored by Truth. But maybe it would be helpful to do a brief review of the concept of a Biblical covenant. Covenants are similar to contracts aren’t they?

RD: Yes. One theologian I heard described covenants as contracts that have a sacred dimension. I like how the New Geneva Study Bible describes a covenant. It describes covenants in scripture as “solemn agreements, negotiated or unilaterally imposed, that bind the parties to each other in permanent defined relationships, with specific promises, claims, and obligations.” The New Geneva Study Bible goes on to note that “When God makes a covenant with His creatures He alone establishes the terms.” God’s covenants are the same are same as the best earthly contracts. They are consistent, unified, and always directed toward a purpose of eternal significance. So one of the thoughts, or hopes, that’s behind us doing a Life Lesson series on the story of Noah is to get people take a second look at the story of Noah and spend some time with the details of the story. There’s so much there besides just a woodworker, a boat, and a cargo of critters. The Noahic covenant is one of the earliest and most important covenants in the Bible.

VK: So the lesson we heard today and the others in this series are designed to entice readers to go back and study the story of Noah because Noah wasn’t just a great boat builder and zookeeper. He was also important to the overall story of redemption?

RD: Exactly, or to quote from the lesson, Exactamundo. Noah’s story is an important part of the covenant of grace as well as being a great illustration of God’s grace. It’s also a great story to begin to examine how the Bible fits in with the broader culture that is present today. And it’s an example of how the books and stories of the Bible all fit together in one perfect story, even though the individual books were written over a span of 1,500 years. In an odd way, Noah’s story is so simple that even children can learn valuable lessons from it, but so profound that we could spend hours and hours talking about its ramifications.

VK: Can you expand on that idea just briefly?

RD: The story of Noah and the flood has charming details. A family is miraculously preserved from a violent catastrophe. The family obeys God and builds a boat that saves all kinds of animals. At the end of the saga a rainbow signals that all is well. The earth is renewed and repopulated. If the story were fiction it would be captivating, exciting, hope filled, and inspirational – a prime example of virtue triumphing over evil and danger.

VK: But the Bible doesn’t treat the story as fiction. And that’s when the problems begin?

RD: Precisely. The Bible treats the story of Noah as history. It recounts the story is a straightforward narrative including dates and details, along with its description of a devastating deluge. And, since in this day and age we look to science to solve all mysteries, the notion that a world-wide catastrophic flood once occurred sets believers and skeptics alike off on a search to see if there is evidence that can either prove or disprove the story. This search has been widely and popularly reported, spawned television specials and series, and generated no small amount of debate, some of it intense and passionate. So when we enter Noah’s world so to speak we find ourselves at the intersection of history, science, faith, academia, and culture. Some of the intellectual waters into which you wade can get very deep very quickly.

VK: Ouch. You mean a flood of conflicting ideas?

RD: Yep. It’s pretty easy to get inundated. The point is that to responsibly unpack how Noah’s story fits into the larger world of today we have to consider some questions that require quite a bit of study and thought. What is the nature of truth and how can we know it? Are science and faith opposed to one another? Can science and faith be in harmony if each is properly understood and applied? What do the latest scientific findings say about the possibility or probability that the entire globe was at one time under water?

VK: Well, that’s a lot to address. Are we going to get to it all in one lesson?

RD: Definitely not, but that’s ok. We’ll do several lessons in the Noah series. So we’re going to touch on all these subjects while we enjoy listening to me trying to master tricky two-syllable names.

VK: Do you ever get them right?

RD: Listeners will just have to tune in to find out.

VK: Well, before we close for today let’s reinforce the point about Biblical covenants especially about why the covenant God made with Noah is so important to redemptive history.

RD: Great idea. Genesis, chapter 9 is really important to do that.

VK: You’re thinking of verses 9 through 12, “Then God told Noah and his sons, ‘I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. ... Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth. … I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.’”

RD: Yes. The covenant of grace was what God inaugurated immediately after the fall to begin the process of redemption. Grace is unmerited favor – that is grace is the mercy that is bestowed on undeserving recipients. Grace is God’s sovereign election to redeem to His creation and His people notwithstanding there is nothing that His people can do to “earn” it. As the Bible says if a benefit is earned then the benefit is wages or compensation, not grace. But redemption must come from grace because an offense against an infinite being carries with it infinite consequences. So, one part of the Noahic covenant that we see immediately is that the Lord promised Noah that He would never again destroy life on the earth by means of a flood. That was probably pretty important to Noah and his family who had just lived through as traumatic an experience as we can imagine. If God had merely made the promise, that would have been encouraging all by itself. But God didn’t stop there. He proceeded to tell Noah that there was a visible sign that Noah and his family could use to remind themselves of the promise He had made.

VK: Then that raises the question of whether rainbows existed before the flood and its aftermath. Did God change the natural laws when He caused the flood?

RD: Well, Biblical commentators are not in agreement on the answer to the question, but I think John Calvin is correct in his assessment. I’m paraphrasing here.

From these words certain eminent theologians have been induced to deny, that there was any rainbow before the deluge: which is frivolous. For the words of Moses do not signify, that a bow was then formed which did not previously exist; but that a mark was engraven upon it, which should give a sign of the divine favor towards men. … Hence it is not for us to contend with philosophers respecting the rainbow; for although its colors are the effect of natural causes, yet they act profanely who attempt to deprive God of the right and authority which he has over his creatures.

There’s also a great article about this subject on Creation.com by Jonathan Sarfati. Sarfati notes that “There are other examples of existing materials or practices that God decreed to be a new sign. E.g., Jesus ordained the Lord’s Supper out of bread and wine. He declared that this was now to be a memorial to His sacrifice of His body and blood.”

VK: That’s a great lesson isn’t it? Rainbows may have been present in the sky before the flood but God assigned a new meaning to their presence. As you said earlier about contracts and covenants, covenants have a sacred dimension that serves an eternal purpose. So after the flood God used rainbows as part of His covenant to show Noah and the rest of us that He not only created everything, but also that He continues to superintend His creation today.

RD: Yes. And while we’ll have to delve into this subject a little more deeply on future shows for now let’s introduce two more thoughts for today. First, God began His covenant of grace long before He sent the flood. God could have ended all life on earth because of the wickedness that was present, but He didn’t. He ensured that there was a righteous man available who would employ the wisdom imparted to him – to save not only himself and his family, but also enough of the land animals to repopulate the earth. This calls to mind Jesus’ comment to Peter in Matthew 16:18 that all the powers of hell would not prevail against His church. God is not going to let anything prevent the complete fulfillment of his covenant of grace. So in the story of Noah we see a continued progression of the grand saga of creation, the fall, and redemption. In Noah’s day evil was widespread and probably seemed as if it would triumph, but it didn’t. God intervened, rescued the righteous, repopulated the earth, and ensured that those alive on the earth would have a continuing reminder of His saving grace. Second, God is continuing with the plan of redemption today and He is still using righteous people to do it. So, who knows what part of any of us might play if we would be like Noah and surrender our lives to Him.

VK: Sounds to me like a good time for a prayer. Today's prayer comes from another one of Crystal Seas’ offerings, the book Purposeful Prayers and is a prayer for the renewal of the church:

---- PRAYER OF ADORATION FOR THE FATHER.

We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

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(Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation)

Genesis, chapter 7, verses 11 through 12 and 18, New Living Translation

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 37 through 39, New Living Translation

https://creation.com/rainbows-and-the-flood

https://creation.com/topics/global-flood

https://activechristianity.org/6-unbelievably-good-reasons-to-read-your-bible

https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/safety-investigation-of-noahs-ark-in-a-seaway/

https://christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a007.html

Safety investigation of Noah's Ark in a seaway - creation.com

https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/geologic-evidences-for-the-genesis-flood/

https://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-biblical-type-floods-real-absolutely-enormous

https://considerthegospel.org/2014/03/28/the-noah-controversy-could-that-flood-have-happened/

https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/there-evidence-flood-was-global