QUARANTINE BLOG # 328

February 21, 2021 (The First Sunday of Lent)

THE PROMISE OF MERCY

Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you – the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals – every living creature on earth.  Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you.  Never again will flood waters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:8-11).

Twelve and one-half months earlier, Noah herded his family, and a pair, male and female, of every “unclean” kind of animal, and seven of each “clean” kind of animal into the ark.  Finally, the flood was over, the waters receded and the ground was once again dry.

Scholars debate how long it took Noah and his sons to build the ark.  Using known genealogical markers, the best guess is between 55 and 75 years.  Warning of coming judgment, the Apostle Peter looked back to the day of Noah and wrote, “Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment” (2 Peter 2:5 – NLT).  The King James Version is more specific.  It says Noah was “a preacher of righteousness.”

Try to imagine those years, those days before “all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky” (Genesis 7:11).  Building a large boat out of cypress wood 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high would have attracted a lot of attention.  If people didn’t take notice during the construction, the gathering of all of the animals and loading them onto the new vessel would certainly have been a topic of conversation.  And during all of those years, Noah preached righteousness, warning the people of God’s coming judgment, extending the offering of mercy.

When all was completed, Noah, his wife, their three sons and three daughters-in-law boarded the ark.  One week later all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky, and continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.

During all of that time, watching the giant rescue ship being built, hearing all of that preaching, no one was saved.  No one believed the preached word of God.

Seven decades of warning.  Seven decades of preaching.  And no one believed.

Seven decades of warning.  Seven decades of mercy extended.  And no one believed.

Some 400 days after the flood began “God said to Noah, ‘Leave the boat, all of you – you and your wife, and your sons and their wives.  Release all the animals – the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground – so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth’” (Genesis 8:15-17).

Then God showed Noah a rainbow more beautiful than any that had ever been seen before and he told Noah it had a new significance.  It was now not just 7 colors dancing on rain drops, but a symbol of God’s promise, of his covenant that never again would flood waters destroy all life.  God said, “When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth” (Genesis 9:17).

This covenant would remain for “all successive generations” (v. 12).  People have no responsibility to guarantee the perpetuity of this covenant; God will do all that he promised.  Eighty years earlier, no one believed Noah’s preaching.  No one responded to the offer of God’s mercy.  Today there is another symbol of mercy.  It is the reminder of an old rugged cross planted on a hill outside the walls of Jerusalem where God the Son died in the greatest act of mercy in all of the history of the universe.  Just as with the rainbow, it was all God’s doing.  All we have to do is respond to that mercy, reach out, and by faith, grasp those nail-scared hands.

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