Just as the Flood of God’s Wrath came upon the ancient world, so a far greater judgment of wrath is coming upon our own world, and the only way to be saved from it is to find our refuge in Christ!
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Christ – Our Refuge From Wrath
Genesis 6:1-7:24
In our study of the Book of Genesis thus far, we have seen Christ as our Creator, Sabbath, Tree of Life, Bridegroom, Obedient Son, Righteous Covering, and Conqueror of Satan. This morning, we are going to move from Genesis 4 to Genesis 6 and consider the ark of Noah as a type of Christ. We see three different aspects of Christ here – one in chapter 6, another in chapter 7, and a final one in chapter 8. In chapter 6 we see the ark being prepared. A great flood was coming and a waterproof ark must be prepared to carry its inhabitants to safety so that they wouldn’t perish with the rest of the world. Genesis 6 speaks of the incarnation of Christ, and His perfect life. The only One who could save sinners, was a perfect man, One who had in Himself a perfect righteousness would He could impute to those who trust Him. If Jesus had died on the cross as a sinner, He couldn’t have saved anyone. His death could only be His own punishment, not anyone else’s. In Genesis 7 we see the ark in the flood. The floodgates of the sky were opened, and the great rains battered down on the ark unmercifully for 40 days and 40 nights. This, of course, speaks of the sufferings and death of Christ, in which He bore the wrath of God for sinners. Genesis 6 speaks of the Incarnation of Christ. Genesis 7 speaks of the Propitiation of Christ. In Genesis 8 we see the ark resting on the mount, after it had borne the fury of the wrath of God. This speaks of Christ, having satisfied the wrath of God for sin, being raised from the dead, ascending to heaven, and sitting down at the right hand of God. Genesis 8 speaks of the Exaltation of Christ. So, in these three chapters we have three great truths about Jesus presented: The Incarnation of Christ, the Propitiation of Christ, and the Exaltation of Christ.
The flood was both historical and universal. Many people pass off this story as fiction or fable. However, to those who believe the Word of God we receive this account as a historical account. Interestingly, many different nations around the world have their own version of a great flood in their history. It was also universal. This flood covered the entire earth. Genesis 7:19 says, “And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.” I would like you to try to hear this story this morning as though you’ve never heard it before, and then look away from this historical account to that which it typifies – the awful wrath of God that will come upon all who have ever lived who don’t enter into Christ to find salvation.
There are 5 great truths that I want you see about God’s wrath in this story of the flood. The first thing I want you to see this morning is that
1. God’s Wrath Was Decreed
Not only was God’s wrath deserved, but it also decreed. Genesis 6:7 says, “And the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’” God decrees this destruction He is about to bring on the earth again in verse 13 and 17. So, why did God determine to destroy the earth? The answer lies in God’s own nature. God cannot act contrary to His nature. God is just, and God is holy. Because God is holy, He hates sin. Because God is just, He must punish sin. God would have to cease to be God for Him not to hate or punish sin.
Not only did God decree that He would bring judgment upon the earth in Noah’s day, but He has decreed that He is going to do it again. 2 Peter 3:6-7 says that in Noah’s day “the world was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” There is going to be a day in which God will destroy and judge all the ungodly people who have ever lived. Paul said that God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30). God has decreed this destruction in 2 Thess. 1:6-10. The apostle Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 that when Jesus returns He will deal out retribution to those who don’t know God or obey His gospel and will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power. Make no mistake about it. God has decreed a day of wrath. There will be no escape, no place to hide, no justification or excuses we will be able to make to shield us from that wrath. On that day men will cry out to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” (Rev.6:16-17). That day of wrath is coming, and it is unavoidable! Paul tells us in Romans 2:5, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” My friend, are you ready to face God on that day of wrath? The only way we can be saved from God’s wrath on that day, is to be justified by His blood now!
2. God’s Wrath Was Deserved
We find something very interesting in Genesis 5:1-3, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” Did you see the shift in these verses? Adam was made in the likeness and image of God, but when he had a son, he was born in Adam’s likeness and image. The only problem is by the time Adam had a son, he was fallen and depraved. Adam passed down his own depravity to all of his children, who passed it down to all of their children. That’s why 7 times in this chapter it says “So and so lived so many years, and he died.” God wasn’t joking when he said that if Adam ate from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die. Adam died, and all of his descendants will die too, unless Christ comes back first. Further Genesis 6:5 gives us a very graphic picture of the condition of man before the flood, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” We need to see several things from this incredible statement. First, man’s wickedness is called great. Second, his wickedness did not just have to do with his actions, but a wicked heart. Third, his wicked heart produced wicked thoughts. Fourth, his wickedness is seen in his intentions, not just actions or thoughts. Fifth, notice the words every, only, and continually. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, and that continually! Things can not get any more wicked than this, can they! Later in verses 11-13 the Bible says, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.” In verse 11 and 13 we are told one of the manifestations of corruption of man was violence.
When we read these accounts of wickedness, we are tempted to think that this was just an unusually wicked time in the history of the world, but we are better today. But are we? Is it true that violent crimes are not a problem in the world today? In 1957 there were 60 attempted murders for every 100,000 people. In 2011 there were 386 attempted murders for every 100,000 people. That’s over a 600% increase. We are seeing an incredible increase in mass murders in the United States. In December of 2012 a single person shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults in an elementary school in Newtown Connecticut. He also killed his mother and himself. Just a few weeks ago the world was shocked when two Islamist brothers set off bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing 3 and injuring 264 others. We’re no different today than the ancient world that God destroyed! Cain was the first person to commit a wicked act of violence, but he sure wasn’t the last. Today, men by the scores are following in Cain’s footsteps. We really shouldn’t expect it to be any different. Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” That’s a commentary on the human heart from the beginning to the end of time.
3. God’s Wrath Was Delayed
Genesis 5:21-22 says, “And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.” We are told here that Enoch walked with God after Methuselah was born. Why? The name Methuselah means “when he dies, it shall come.” Apparently God gave Enoch a special revelation when his son was born, that when his son died an unparalleled judgment would come on the world. In other words, “See that baby? The world will last only as long as this son lives.” What if God communicated same message to you about your baby? Every time your child got sick world’s doom would stare you in the face! What if you were unsaved? Because you would never know when your baby would die, you would begin to prepare to meet God! Interestingly, Methusaleh lived 969 years – longer than any other person in the world! God allowed Methuselah to get older and older, hardly able to bring Himself to judge world. Indeed, 1 Pet. 3:20 says, “the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark.” God waited, and waited, and waited. In Genesis 6:3 God says, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Instead of bringing swift destruction on the human race immediately, God gave Noah a 120 year countdown! God actually gave mankind 120 years to repent under Noah’s preaching.
And you know, God is incredibly patient today. Psalm 103:8 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in wrath. But even though the world deserves to be punished now, God is patiently waiting. “The Lord is not slow about His promise [to return], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). God is very, very patient, but His patience will finally come to an end. There will be a day in which He won’t strive with many any more. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies (Ezek.18:32). God’s patience should lead sinners to repentance, but instead it often has the effect of hardening men in stubbornness and impenitence. My friend, won’t you acknowledge God’s goodness in not destroying you long before now, in spite of your rebellion and sin? The fact that you are taking a breath right now, and your heart is beating, and you can still reason and think is a sign of God’s goodness to you. Let His goodness lead you to repentance!
After Noah and his family and the animals entered into the ark, there came a day when the Lord closed it behind him (Genesis 7:16). Up until that point, there was a chance of escape from God’s wrath, but after the Lord closed the door, there was no more possibility of escape. Jesus once told a crowd that they must strive to enter by the narrow door now, because there would come a time when many would try to enter through the door and would not be able. The head of the household would get up and shut the door. When that happened it didn’t matter whether you stood outside and knocked and shouted, “Lord, open up to us!” The Lord would simply answer, “I do not know you. Depart from me you evildoers!” (Luke 13:24-28). Although the Lord has delayed His coming, He won’t delay forever. There is coming a day in which the door will be closed. If you haven’t entered into Christ by then, you never will. You will hear the angels say, “The harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20).
4. God’s Wrath Was Declared
God decreed that His wrath should fall upon the entire earth, wiping out the race of mankind, except for 8 persons. God did not make this decision capriciously. It was His holy response to the corruption and evil on the earth. In spite of God’s holy hatred of evil, He still waited, and waited, and waited, 120 years after announcing judgment was coming. What I want you to see now, is that during these 120 years, God declared and warned the people of earth that His wrath was coming, and that there was a way of escape. How, do God declare that His wrath was coming? He did it through His servant Noah. You say, “Brian, there is nothing in Genesis 6 or 7 that says anything about Noah warning anyone that God’s wrath was coming.” Yes, that’s true, but 2 Peter 2:5 says, “God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” Noah, according to Peter, was a preacher of righteousness. God’s Spirit strove with man for 120 years as Noah preached righteousness. Noah must have preached that God is a God of righteousness, and this God requires us to possess righteousness. Noah would have preached that no one is righteous before God, and so God is going to destroy the earth with a flood. However, there is a way of escape for those who lack righteousness. They can find refuge from God’s wrath in the ark that Noah was building.
Of course, Noah’s preaching seemed like nonsense to the people of Noah’s day. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” God warned Noah about things that Noah had never seen before. Genesis 2:5-6 says, “Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth; and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.” God watered the earth through a mist, not through rain. So, when God told Noah that He was going to send rain on the earth (7:4). Rain? Noah must have thought, “What’s rain?” And when Noah preached to the people of his day that God was going to send rain on the earth to destroy it, but that he was building a huge boat so that they wouldn’t be destroyed, they must have thought he was absolutely crazy! In fact, they paid absolutely no heed to Noah. Jesus said in Mt. 24:37-39, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.” What were people doing when the flood came in Noah’s day? They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. In other words, they were going on business as usual. They didn’t believe a flood was coming, and they weren’t preparing for it. They were living their lives as if Noah’s preaching was the delusion of a madman. Noah was a man of great faith. He preached on for 120 years with no converts. No one else beside his family entered the ark. But he kept on preaching day after day, year after year. That encourages me. Sometimes we labor, and witness, and preach and see precious little results. However, when it is all said and done, faithfulness to God’s call is what the Lord wants. He will say, “well done, good and faithful servant,” not “good and successful servant.”
God, in His mercy, called Noah to not only build an ark, but to warn the people that judgment was coming, and to flee to the ark for safety. Likewise, God is calling people all over this world to be preachers of righteousness. God has called us, you and me, to warn people to flee from the wrath to come. We must live up our voices and warn, “God’s wrath is coming! But there is a way of escape. Flee to Christ before it is too late!”
5. God’s Wrath Was Deflected
Why Was Noah Saved? In the end God’s wrath came upon the entire world of mankind, except for eight persons. Why did God spare Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives? Was it because they were sinless, without guilt? Of course not. Every man, woman, boy and girl who has ever lived, except for Jesus Christ, are sinners, guilty before God. Noah was born in the image and likeness of his father Lamech who was born in the image of his father Methuselah, and on and on all the way back to our father Adam who was fallen and depraved. Adam’s fallen nature was passed down to every member of the human race, including Noah. Why then, was Noah saved, when the rest of the world perished? Grace! Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found favor (grace) in the eyes of the Lord.” Noah was saved by sovereign grace alone. He deserved destruction for his sins along with everyone else, but God bestowed His sovereign grace upon him, and his family.
How Was Noah Saved? How did Noah and his family find escape from God’s wrath? By entering into the ark. Notice that every person in the ark was saved, and every person outside of the ark was destroyed. Inside the ark they were absolutely secure and safe, even though their hearts may have trembled with fear as they heard the ear-splitting thunder and saw the lightning, and heard the deluge crashing on top of the ark. Outside the ark they must perish, even though they felt absolutely secure. What made the difference? Whether or not they were in the ark. That was all that mattered. My friends, the only thing that really matters this morning is whether or not you are in Christ. Christ is the ark! He is the way of salvation. “But by his doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Enter the ark. No one would be saved simply by virtue of there being an ark. Someone could look at the ark, and admire the ark, and praise Noah for his architectural skill. But unless he entered the ark, he would be lost. Even so, you can know about Christ and His salvation, but unless you entrust your soul to Him, you will be lost. Faith involves commitment. It is the committing of your soul to Him for salvation.
Why Were They Safe In The Ark? They were safe in the ark, because the ark bore the awful storm instead of them. The roof and sides of the ark absorbed the pounding of the waves and the great deluge of rain crashing down on it. But inside the ark, everyone was dry and safe. All outside of the ark had to bear the fury of the storm themselves. This is exactly how salvation works, my friend. Someone has to absorb God’s holy wrath. It’s either you or Christ. If you bear God’s wrath, you will perish in hell. If Christ bears God’s wrath, you will be everlastingly saved. “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Is. 53:5-6). “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). What kept the water out so that Noah and his family were dry inside? Genesis 6:14 says that Noah was to cover it inside and out with pitch. This pitch is elsewhere translated atonement. If it weren’t for this pitch, the water would have leaked into the ark, and it would have sunk to the bottom of the ocean, killing all inside it. What is it that keeps us from perishing with the rest of the world? It’s the pitch – the atonement of Jesus Christ. A substitutionary atonement means that someone else bears the punishment that you deserved. The ark took the beating so that Noah and his family could be saved. Jesus takes the beating, so that you and I can be saved.
How Many Ways Of Escape Were There? Only one. No doubt those that perished tried all kinds of ways to be saved. Some ran for the hills. Others climbed the highest trees. Still others held onto logs for safety. But all of them perished. The only way of escape that was successful was the ark. And notice that God commanded Noah to make 1 ark – not 2 or 20. Further, there was 1 door into the ark. Christianity is an exclusive religion. There is only one way of escape from the wrath of God, and that is Jesus Christ. There is only one way to get into Christ, and that is true saving faith.
Those Who Are Lost: My friend, get into the ark! Flee from the wrath to come! Don’t just admire the ark. Don’t just talk about the ark. Don’t just analyze the ark. Get into it! Get into Jesus. Trust Him. Commit your soul to Him. Bank your soul on Him and what He has accomplished. If you do, you’ll be saved. If you don’t, you’ll perish.
Those Who Are Saved: Tell everyone you know that God’s wrath is coming. Warn them! But also tell them that a way of salvation has been provided! If we really believe that a fixed day of God’s wrath is coming, and that all who don’t flee to Christ for refuge will be cast into eternal hell, won’t we be more active in telling others the gospel? Whether or not we see results, let’s press on. Faithfulness, not success is the issue at hand.
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