Beginning Again
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Key Verse: “The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” Selected Scriptures: |
IT WASN’T LONG AFTER man’s creation that a change took place in Earth’s society. The Scriptures say, “It came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”—Gen. 6:1-5
The bringing forth of a hybrid race, when these angelic creatures took the daughters of men, was something God had not planned. As a consequence, all the earth became corrupted and the earth was filled with violence. Only Noah and his family remained free from the corruption. God then, decided to “destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air.” (Gen. 6:7) He instructed Noah to build an ark, and eventually only Noah and his family, and the animals God instructed him to take into the ark, survived the disastrous flood which came upon the earth to destroy all life therein. It rained forty days and nights. All flesh died in the flood, except Noah and his family and those creatures he had taken into the ark.
It took months for the waters to abate, but when they finally did, God instructed Noah and his family to leave the ark. God blessed them, and said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply,” and fill the earth. (Gen. 9:1) This was the same mandate given to Adam, and was like a second beginning. It was illustrative of the time that God will deliver all mankind from the death sentence and will give life to all the willing and obedient to his laws. This might appear like a second chance. In reality, it will be a second chance for Adam only. It will be a first chance for all of his progeny.
The deliverance of Noah and his family is also a picture of the deliverance of the church from the corruption of this present evil world. This picture is brought to us by Peter when he writes of the angels that sinned, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (I Pet. 3:20,21) Baptism is a picture of death. Those who have been immersed in this Gospel Age are immersed into Christ’s death. The ark pictures Christ carrying over from this present evil world those who take up their cross to follow Jesus.