Text: Genesis 6:9-13; 7:5-18; 8:13-15; 20-22; 9:8-17
(South Shore, November 7/93 AM - Remembrance Day)
In welcoming Emperor Hirohito of Japan on his visit to England in 1977, Queen Elizabeth said, "We cannot pretend that the past did not exist. We cannot pretend that the relations between our two peoples have always been peaceful & and friendly. However, it is precisely this experience which should make us all the more determined never to let it happen again!"
As we approach Remembrance Day, there are still some alive who remember, first hand, the atrocities of World War II, and even more who remember later wars such as Vietnam, or Korea, or Iran. Yet, many of us have not really known what it means for the world to be at war. Conflict seems distant and outside our influence.
Sometimes we seem to think that if we were in control, it would never happen. But the fact is that any of these tragedies could still happen at any time. It is important for us to remember our own fallibility and the price that is paid for it. Remembrance Day serves draw our minds back to terrible times in our history for the purpose of preventing that history from repeating itself.
November 11th has become a sign to remind us of the dreadful consequences of sin that result in catastrophic, worldwide war; to remind us of the millions of men and women who gave their lives fighting to defend the cause of right in a world gone wrong.
In Noah’s time, there was also a reminder. A rainbow. A sign in the sky to remind people of the terrible consequences of sin – and of the grace of God.
God hates Sin. It was sin in the lives of corrupt people in Noah’s day that He detested, and that He felt He had to destroy. God came to a point where He grieved so deeply over the mess that man had become, that he decided the only thing left to do was to start over. And so the world was wiped clean.
The Flood seems distant now, just as for many of us, the World Wars seem distant, and yet both remind us of the fatality and futility of sin.
THE COST OF SIN
During World War II, it has been calculated that 54,800,000 men and women lost their lives in combat.
That is a horrendous number of people. To put that in perspective, that’s almost twice the entire population of Canada in 1980. The cost financially was $338 Billion dollars. To give you some idea of how much that is: if an average income were $60,000 dollars a year, and the average working life of a person was fifty years, 115,000 people could live comfortably on that much money – and those dollars were 1940’s dollars, so $60K represented a wealthy income!
And those dollars and lives were not the only cost of war. There were other losses to people as well. Millions of people were missing, captured in war camps, tortured, left homeless, left without parents or siblings.
Sin is costly, and not just in war. Romans 6:23 tells us "...the wages of sin is death…", but I wonder if Paul perhaps meant this in a broader sense than the literal statement? Could he have meant not only physical death, but mental, emotional and spiritual death as well?
In 2nd Kings 4:40, there is a story about a stew pot in which a vine that was not eatable was cooked. When the men of the camp tasted the stew, they exclaimed "there is death in the pot". They didn’t die when they ate it, so they probably meant it was poisoned. Perhaps it gave them indigestion, or made them sick.
In the same way, Sin corrupts us. It creeps in without us realizing it. Sometimes… we even invite it.
It corrupts us and it begins to destroy us. Maybe not all at once, but eventually it will cause broken relationships, tortured minds, loss of possessions, and yes, even death.
In the time of Noah, the people became corrupted by sin. Genesis 6:11 tells us "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence." Many times we have heard people ask why God allows those who sin to remain on this earth. Why should these Hitler's and Hussain’s remain to hurt so many people. Perhaps that is a question we should all consider as we continue to look at the story of Noah. I believe there is a clue in this story, and maybe even an answer.
THE CONSEQUENCES
At the time of Noah, God decided he would destroy everyone who sinned. No-one was exempt. I don’t even think Noah would have been exempt except that, as 6:8 tells us, “Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.” That doesn’t mean he was sinless, or even that he was a really great person. In fact, after he lands the ark, we find him drunk and naked in his tent (Genesis 9:21).
There was not one person in the land who was sinless, and this one time in the world’s history, God decided to totally destroy mankind, with the exception of one chosen family.
For forty days it poured rain and the waters rose. For another hundred and fifty days, the water remained. It took another forty days for the water to recede. By that time, there was not a living thing left on the Earth except those that could swim, and those that had been carried with Noah in the ark.
Greek culture used to teach their children that if you stole a chicken and got caught, you would be severely punished, but if you stole a chicken and got away with it, you would be rewarded for your stealth and your ingenuity. But they did not recognize the right of the farmer to enjoy the assurance that his chickens were safe from burglars and they did not compensate him for his loss.
One of the greatest grievances we have of sin is that it leaves victims. Sin does not only affect the sinner, but those closest to them as well. The person committing the sin is not always the one to suffer. Often it is the innocent party who suffers needlessly, while the sinner may even benefit from his evil deeds. Such is the economy of a corrupted world.
The good news is, that’s not the economy of God's Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom there is justice, righteousness, and fair play. God detests sin and all of the consequences of it. It was for that reason that he became so grieved at the world that he decided to destroy it and start over. There was not one man worthy on his own accord to be saved.
But wait a minute. Am I not a sinner? Am I not included then in those that God detests? Am I also one of those who, if living in the time of Noah, would have been washed away in the flood? It’s a sobering though that you and I are included in those who are unworthy – who sin.
THE SIGNS TO REMIND US
When the earth had been purged, and the Ark come to rest again on solid ground, Noah offered up a sacrifice to God. An offering of thanks. God seems to pause and consider this, and what he has just done. In 8:21 he says "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done."
It is almost as if it is for the sake of the earth that he decides to let man live. But in these verses, we find the first hint of God's. redemption. Here we see a glimpse of God’s working towards healing the consequences of sin in our lives. For the first time in our Bible, God shows that he is not only a wrathful God who judges sin severely, but that he has compassion for even those who have wronged him, and desires that we might be better than we are.
Right there and then, God makes a covenant with Noah, and with the whole earth. He tells Noah that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood because of man's sin. He does not tell Noah to go off and do as he pleases, though. There are limits to - what man can get away with. Very specific limits. Limits that show the boundaries of righteousness and will not allow Noah to sin.
What is unusual, though, is that there are no conditions to the covenant that God makes with Noah. God simply says that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood. He will give each of us the chance to live and find redemption; to follow his ways and find faith in His provision. “As long as the earth endures," He says in 8:22, "seed time and harvest, cold and-heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Along with the new covenant comes a sign: the rainbow. And, even more unusually, the rainbow is not a sign to remind the people of God’s promise, but a sign to remind God of His promise to the people.
Nonetheless, it is a sign that also speaks to us of God's desire to see each one of us redeemed for his kingdom. It is a sign of the love that no longer says, "I must destroy you because you are evil", but now says, "I will let you be for a time, so that you might come back to me and find redemption." It is a sign to us to remember that the only reason we are not destroyed is because we have "Found favour in the eyes of the Lord."
CONCLUSION
We have not yet had our stay-of-execution. We are still accountable to God for the sin in our lives, but God has given each of us an opportunity to come back to him. He has provided a method of payment for our past sins. He has displayed the sign of his love before all people: the sign of the rainbow, a promise of hope, and the sign of the cross, a sign of God’s providence.
Remembrance Day is a reminder to us. A reminder of the atrocities of war, and of the high price paid for peace. The rainbow is a reminder to us of God's love, but it is also a reminder of the high price of our sin. Similarly, the cross is a reminder to us of God's love, but it is also a reminder to us of the terrible price God had to pay to redeem us – a price too high for us to pay ourselves.
None of us can excuse the sins of the past. None of us can go back and fix what we have caused to go wrong in our lives, and how that has in turn hurt others. But it is precisely that lack of excuse that should make us cling to God and be even more determined never to let sin grasp a hold of us again!
God has given you time. Time to consider your sinfulness. Time to seek redemption. Time to accept the gift of blood offered on your behalf. Time to return to him; to set your life on the straight path of righteousness that leads to eternal life and not death.
As you are reminded of the sacrifices made so that you might live in a peaceful world, remember the consequences of what some call evil, and others call sin. Remember the promises God made to Noah, and to us; promises of forgiveness, and redemption. Remember the cross and the high price paid so that you may be forgiven.
Remember.
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