THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 8..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. from the ESV. But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.

And God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed. The rain from the heavens was restrained and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days, the waters had abated. And in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains at Ararat.

And the waters continued to abate until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground.

But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark. He waited another seven days and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening and behold, in her mouth was freshly plucked olive leaf. So no one knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.

Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove and she did not return to him anymore. In the 600th and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from of the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and behold, the face of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth had dried out. Then God said to Noah, Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing and every bird, everything that moves on the earth went out by families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt sacrifices on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man.

For the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains sea time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

Last week we went through chapter 7 of Genesis which spoke about the evil of man's heart that reached the point where God was compelled to judge the earth. In His fury He opened up the windows of heaven and He opened up the fountains of the great deep which burst forth and flooded the whole earth. The Bible tells us that every living thing under heaven that had breath in its nostrils was destroyed. Every living thing. All the animals and all the humans, only Noah and his wife, their three sons, and their three wives, and all the animals that God had instructed Noah to bring onto the ark, only they were spared of this cataclysmic worldwide event.

They were safe on the ark. but outside was screaming, weeping, sheer terror. Death and destruction surrounded them on the ark. But those inside the ark, and the ark is a type of Christ, we spoke about that last week, they were safe and they were secure. Their confidence was not in Noah's workmanship because it's very unlikely that Noah was a master builder, no.

Their assurance was in the one who placed them in the ark. Their assurance is in the one who promised to preserve their lives in this global disaster. And global it was. Many would say that the flood is a local flood. They say it affected only the region of Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia is the region that is most of Iraq and Kuwait and Turkey, a little bit of Turkey and Syria and some of Saudi Arabia. But the Bible evidences in both the Old Testament as well as in you that the flood was indeed worldwide. In a few minutes we have together, there's no way that I can exhaustively be able to state my case, but it would suffice to say for now that the all-inclusive language that the Bible uses, such as all flesh under the heaven, living thing all the high mountains under heaven were covered and he blotted out everything on the face of the ground. This language surely speaks to a world-wide flood. But I won't push this point any further this morning, simply because the purpose of these short explanations is not apologetic, although that is useful, but rather to see God's wonderful plan of redemption unfolding throughout history and being fully fulfilled in Christ.

The text in chapter eight starts with these words, but God remembered Noah, and of course, the animals on the earth. I love those words, but God. Whenever you see those words written in sacred scripture, you know that they drip with grace. God didn't forget about Noah and his family. He divinely instructed them to get on board.

He sealed them in and he kept them safe and secure from his wrath. No, no, God never forgets about his own. Ever. God remembered is meant to focus our attention on God's special, gracious, loving care upon Noah and his family. In particular, I think the focus to remember the covenant God made with Noah to preserve his life and that of the life of his family, also back in chapter six.

A covenant that he will fulfill because God always keeps his promises. So now the old has been destroyed, and God will reestablish the new creative order starting with Noah and his family. The rain stops and the fountains of the deep are closed after 40 continuous days and nights of heavy deluge. But even then we're told that the waters prevailed or remained on the earth for 150 days. Is this not an eerie resemblance to the creation account in Genesis chapter 1?

There also waters covered the whole earth, and the Spirit of God hovered over those waters. The word translated wind in the first verse of our chapter, here in chapter 8, is the same word. In Hebrew it's ruach, meaning breath, wind, or spirit. And in both chapter 1 of Genesis and here in chapter 8, the waters were separated from the land. You see, God once again is graciously preparing the earth to be inhabited by His creatures, most particularly His covenant people that He'll call His own.

But Noah and his family are still on the ark. Even when Noah removes the covering of the ark, and we're not told what that covering is, in verse 13, he sees the ground was dry. but he doesn't get off the ark, he remains on the ark. You see, he waits. God called him onto the ark and God will call him off the ark.

He knows God is a covenant keeping God. He preserved his life and that of his family through the flood and he knows that he'll continue to be faithful. So he waits for the Lord's instructions and then Noah will obey. Let me make this one point. Apart from Christ, when the Bible speaks of a righteous person, as Noah was described, it doesn't speak of a person who's sinless or inherently righteous.

You see, we only have to read to the next chapter to know that Noah is a sinner, and we'll hear about that next week. But rather, when the Bible speaks of a righteous person, it speaks of a person who trusts completely in God, because God is ever faithful. This explicit trust in God always brings about the fruit of obedience. A righteous man is one who trusts and obeys. In verse 15, God instructs Noah to get his family and the animals off the ark.

No doubt the world has changed. You can't have this amount of water rushed through the whole earth without some, at least, topological effects. What exactly? We don't know. We're not told.

But it's a changed earth. And it seemed very different to Noah. In a sense, it was a new world, a new creation. And this explains the striking similarity with the creation account in Genesis chapter 1. And although God has wiped out almost all living things, the mandate of creation continues.

It's the same mandate He gave Adam in chapter 2 of Genesis. And we're told here in chapter 8 verse 17, and again in the next chapter, chapter 9, and that is, be fruitful. and multiply, both animals and humans. In this context, it speaks to the animals. In the next, it speaks to humans.

God has allowed life to go on. He makes a covenant never again to curse the ground and destroy the inhabitants of the world or the earth with water. Even though, hear this, man is still evil to the core. Even though man is still totally corrupt and depraved, yet God will hold back his judgment. There'll be consistency, sea time and harvest, summer and winter, night and day.

Mankind must continue to flourish on the earth, but why? Because God always keeps his promises. You see, God made a promise back in Genesis chapter three that is yet to be fulfilled. The seed of the woman has yet to crush the head of the serpent. So God graciously and mercifully makes a covenant never again to destroy the earth by flood, but not before a blood sacrifice offered by Noah.

You see, the first thing when we're told that Noah does when he gets off the ark, the ark that he and his family, the animals have been on for well over a year now, is to gather the clean animals and offer a burnt sacrifice to God. We can deduce that Noah already knew what was deemed as an acceptable sacrifice to God. And accordingly, he offers the clean animals as an offering. And remember, he brought more clean animals on board than he did any other. He offers these sacrifices in celebration of God's goodness, thanksgiving, and thanking God obviously for his protection, for withholding his judgment on him and his family.

These were probably also consecration sacrifices to acknowledge on behalf of all humanity that this re-creation belongs to God and exists for God's glory alone. God made it and it belongs to God. But I think ultimately these sacrifices point to something much more profound. You see, it is written that the aroma pleased God. Only then God made a covenant never to destroy the earth by water again.

Beloved, God doesn't hold back his judgment because he likes the smell of burnt animals. And he was not pleased because he loves to see these animals slain. No, the shedding of the animal's blood can never appease God. We are told this in Hebrews chapter 10. No, God was appeased because these clean animals represent something far greater.

They symbolize the once and for all sacrifice of his beloved son, Jesus Christ. Beloved, the reason for God's grace upon Noah and his family, the reason for God's grace in making a covenant to withhold his wrath upon the earth is found in Christ. He's the one without spot or blemish. He is the only acceptable fragrance sacrifice to God for the sake of his people. Christ is the only refuge for sinners.

I hope that you're found in him.