Genesis 7 & 8 – Selected verses
Psalm 18:7-19

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from our Creator God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray.  We give you thanks, O God, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters and by your Word you created the world, calling forth life in which you took delight.  Through the waters of the flood you delivered Noah and his family and through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery into freedom.  At the river your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit.  By the baptism of Jesus’ death and resurrection you set us free from the power of sin and death and raise us up to live in you.  Pour out your Holy Spirit, the power of your living Word, that those who have been washed in the waters of baptism may be given new life.  To you be given honor and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen

Please open your Bibles to Genesis Chapter 7.  As with the creation stories, I am not going to talk about whether this story of the flood is an actual historic account of events, in the way that we understand historical accuracy.  If you want to talk about that, find me in the Gathering Space after worship and we’ll have a discussion.

This sermon will focus more on what we can learn and apply to our lives today.  Almost every ancient civilization has a story of faith that includes a flood and their god saving humanity from total destruction through the faith of one person or one family.  We can be certain that terrible floods were something that plagued the ancient world, since all of these cultures held onto a faith story that reassured them of God’s power to save humanity from the worst flood imaginable.

For us, today, what can we gain from an ancient story about a faithful man named Noah and his interaction with God?

First, I want to call your attention to some of the numbers in the story.  Often in stories of faith, especially those from ancient cultures, the numbers have significance beyond “just being numbers.”

In chapter 7, verse 2, Noah is told to take 7 pairs of all the clean animals into the ark.  Keep in mind the timeline that we are working with – Moses had not yet lived, according to the timeline of the flood.  Without Moses, there is no Torah.  Without the Torah, there is no definition of clean or unclean animals.  As far as Noah was concerned, there was no difference among the animals – there was no clean or unclean.

However, the number 7 would have a great deal of significance.  7 is a holy number.  7 is often a symbol of what is associated with God.  7 pairs of clean animals can be a sign that Noah is taking everything that is right and true and holy into the ark with him.  7 is the sign that Noah is righteous and blameless in God’s sight, because he packs up into the ark EVERYTHING that is good and right in the eyes of God.  Noah does not miss anything.  Noah obeys God completely and fully. We heard it before in chapter 6, and we hear it again in chapter 7 verse 5.  

And since Noah is the ancestor of all humanity – we can be assured that we also have all that we need in order to be righteous and blameless in God’s sight.  Nothing was lost to us even though the power of the waters of chaos could destroy everything else in creation.

In verse 11, we hear that “the great fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened.”  (visual aid)  The waters of chaos were released from below the earth and above the dome of the sky.  The barriers that God had created to keep humanity safe were broken or breeched.  Whenever chaos breaks into creation, we know that there is deep trouble ahead.

In verse 12, we are told that the rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights.  40 is another important number in the faith of ancient cultures.  40 is a sign of completion.  As we read the description that follows, in verses 17-23, we see that everything is destroyed.  The same list of animals that we heard in the creation stories, we now hear have been destroyed … birds, domestic animals, wild animals, swarming creatures, creeping things, and humans.  Only Noah was left, he and his family, and those things that he rescued and packed into the ark are all that are left.  The time of the flood, the time that chaos had reigned and destroyed creation, was complete.  Everything was gone!  And then it was over.  The rain stopped.  40 days and 40 nights – it was complete – it had run its course – it was finished.

And in chapter 8 verse 1, we hear, “God caused a wind to blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”  This sentence is very, very similar to one back in Genesis chapter 1, when the wind blows over the waters of chaos.  Remember that the Hebrew word for wind is also the word for Spirit – and here we see creation being restarted with the Spirit flowing over the surface of the waters and calming them.

In chapter 8 verse 2, God once again contains the waters of chaos – shutting down the fountains of the deep closing up the windows in the sky.  We are back where we started in the first creation story – dry land is the next step, and indeed the ground eventually begins to show.  The raven and the dove bring evidence that the waters have receded, and Noah along with everything and everyone in the ark emerge.

Creation is restored.  In chapter 8 verses 17-19, we see that list of living creatures one more time … birds, animals, creeping things, your sons & their wives … and the command given in the Garden of Eden is repeated.  “Be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Life has been restored to creation.  The world has been born again.

No doubt it was comforting in the ancient world to know that no matter how bad the weather might get, no matter how high the flood would rise, God would be with them and the world would not be destroyed.

Some have said that the story of Noah tells us that natural disasters are a sign of God’s judgment upon those who are destroyed by them.  I do not believe that is true.  

The focus of the story is not upon the people who died or the creation that was destroyed.  The focus is upon Noah and the new start that is given to Noah and his family.

Natural disasters may remind us that we are taking God’s creation for granted, or that we are abusing creation for our own gain.  The tsunami that hit in Asia was not slowed as it came ashore, in part because the resorts and towns were built right upon the beaches – no natural buffer was left to keep out the devastation of the powerful sea.  In the rebuilding efforts, trees are being planted along the beaches.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, there was nothing to slow it down, in part because the natural swamplands and wetlands have been destroyed as the city has grown and as the waters of the Mississippi River have been “controlled” through man-made means.  There were those who saw such a disaster coming.  Perhaps now they can now push harder for the restoration of some of those natural buffers against the devastation of the wind and the sea.

There is also evidence that Global Warming is part of the cause of such powerful hurricanes as Katrina and Rita.  And we humans are responsible for the warming that is happening so rapidly in our world.  Perhaps there are lessons to be learned about our own behavior in relation to God’s creation.

On a lesser scale of destruction, recently there have been reports from the western United States about people whose homes have been broken into by bears.  This happens, at least in part, because humans are moving deeper and deeper into the territory where theses bears live – destroying their natural habitat and creating one that is designed for human dwellings.  The bears are adapting to the change, and taking advantage of this new source of shelter and food – since their other sources of shelter and food have been destroyed.

So, these disasters may remind us that we humans are partly responsible for what has happened.  It is not that God is punishing any particular group for their sins, but that humanity as a whole needs to take better care of the creation that God has so generously given to us.  Caring for creation is our job, after all.  It is one of the first things humans are told to do in the Garden.

We may find ourselves convicted of our sins, when these terrible things happen.  And perhaps such events will be motivation to change our ways before more devastation comes upon us.

Even more, however, we can learn from Noah about how we can face the struggles that come our way in our everyday lives.

Remember that Noah took into the ark all that was good and right and holy.  In the face of pending disaster, Noah listened to God and obeyed God and held tightly to the things that God had taught him.

We can also do this.  When life brings disasters to our doorstep, we can wonder why God is punishing us or try to examine our lives for some terrible sin that caused these events in our lives – but that isn’t necessarily going to get us out of the mess that we find ourselves in.

Rather, we can take a look at our response to the circumstances.  We can look for the hand of God at work, because God WILL BE working – even if it seems that the ways of God are absurd!  Remember, Noah lived in an area that is more desert than rain forest, after all – and he was asked to build an ark!  Look and listen for God’s guidance as the disaster looms and cling to what is good and right and holy.

Will the disaster go away?  Maybe, maybe not.  And if it goes away, it might not depart immediately.  It will run its course.  Remember, the flood lasted as long as the flood lasted – until it was finished – 40 days and 40 nights.  And I imagine it was not particularly pleasant to be in an ark on a storm tossed sea with a whole mess of animals as shipmates!

But God will be with you, as God was with Noah, and you will survive the disaster and the power of chaos.  And when it is over, you will be invited to follow God once again.  Let free the good things that you have held onto through the storm – be fruitful in your new life as you pursue a new direction.  Be fruitful and multiply your witness to the power of God’s grace.

Amen