“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.’ ” (v5,13,14,17,18)
This was truly an epic event – God was so disheartened by this completely corrupt world (which was originally “very good” [Gen 1:31]) that He chose to wipe the slate clean and start over – only one righteous man and his family were to be spared.
On a side note, I could spend days talking about the details and scientific evidences around the ark and events of the flood – it’s one of my favorite topics and I thoroughly enjoy apologetics, however, I will refrain from entering those deep waters at the moment.
The question I want to discuss is – why go to all the trouble of saving Noah’s family and some of the creatures? Couldn’t God have just wiped everything out completely and started over with a new earth and new people? The answer is obviously “yes, He could have”. Then why didn’t He?
I believe God chose to this path very intentionally, and I’ll mention a few of those reasons:
1. It’s symbolic – redeeming a completely corrupt and fallen world through “one man”, with only “one way” out so that they may have “life”. (foreshadowing of Jesus’ “way, truth and life” Jn 14:6)
2. It’s critical to the true history of mankind and sin – if God started over with a new earth and new people, there would not be the history of how sin entered the world. Would sin no longer exist and mankind would have to rebel against God all over again, or would a new people start out sinful with no explanation why? It would be confusing.
3. Sin has consequences – if God started over, then there would not be a record of consequence for the sin of mankind, and mankind needs to understand that sin has consequences (sometimes massive ones like repopulating the earth). Sin is very serious, and God wants us to know that.
4. It would undermine God’s integrity – starting over with a new earth and people would be basically be God saying: “You know what, that didn’t work out so well, let’s try that again until we get it right. It’s okay if they don’t know what happened the last time, they don’t need to know the truth, ignorance is bliss. Let’s just sweep this mess under the rug.” Since when has God ever withheld the truth about something? God has never been the “easy way out” kind of God, His integrity and character demand that He tell us the truth about what we’ve done.
5. It would undermine God’s love – if God started over, instead of redeeming a completely broken world, what would that say about His love for us? If He replaced each one of us with a new person every time we sinned, where would the reckless redeeming, and supportive love be? The unconditional love that was death on a cross? God would not be a God of love if He replaced us instead of redeeming us. Starting over and replacing us would be the equivalent of getting a new car every time you needed to change the oil or buff out a scratch – where’s the loyalty?
I’m sure there are more reasons and I could ramble on for a few more paragraphs, though I’m convinced that God did the right thing in redeeming this world through Noah, and more importantly through Jesus Christ. ” ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.’ ” (Isa 43:1b,3a,4)
My prayer for each of us today is that we humbly acknowledge the overwhelming and reckless love of God, that redeemed us, rather than replaced us. Go in peace today, knowing that you are loved that much.
~ Conqueror in Training