Tags
2 Peter, Bible Study, destruction of creation, family, farewells, Flood, Genesis, good-byes, Jesus the door, judgment, Motherhood, Noah, Noah's Ark, prayer, safety, Scripture, Sight and Sound Theater
Lunch? Check. Coffee? Check. Gym bag? Check. Three, two, one….launch for the day! This is a morning routine that probably sounds familiar to many, with a few minor variations. Usually it involves rushing, because we don’t want to be late. Often it involves irritation and raised voices. And what about saying “good-bye”? A peck on the check and a quick “love you” probably often suffices.
Do you know what good-bye means? It is a contracted form of “God be with you”, a blessing spoken as you part. The other words we use for parting have similar meanings. Adieu literally means “to God”, indicating you give the person into safe keeping in God’s hands. “Farewell” and “so long” both convey the meaning of being kept well until we meet again, which of course assumes that you will meet again.
I am still thinking about our trip to see Noah at Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA. One of the most poignant scenes was when the Ark was loaded and flood began. There were no good-byes, rushed or otherwise, when God opened the floodgates and brought destruction of the world.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. (Genesis 7:11-16)
The eight people on the ark were Noah’s family, but there were more family members too. Lamech, Noah’s father had other sons and daughters, so Noah had brothers and sisters and presumably nephews and nieces. His wife and daughters-in-law would have had families too. What became of them?
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
The rest of humanity was destroyed, along with creation. The rest of Noah’s relatives and friends were condemned for their unbelief, as Noah and his family were saved by his faith. The play at Sight and Sound depicted this scene from the perspective of inside the ark, where the door had been shut by the LORD (see Genesis 7:16). Noah’s family heard the cries of those who were perishing, now wanting to come into the ark that they had reviled and ridiculed earlier. But it was too late. And those inside were distraught at the pleading of those outside, who realized that destruction was upon them.
Is God unjust in this destruction? Not at all- He must punish evil to be just. Peter tells us: But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;…. then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.(2 Peter2:1-5,9-10a)
Jesus speaks of the seeming swiftness of the flood and compares it to when He will come again. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37-39)
Just as Noah entered the ark through the door, which God then shut, we can enter the ark of safety from eternal destruction through Jesus. He says “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”(John 10:9) The way into the ark is through the cross of Christ.
All of this makes me think that I want to be more deliberate with my good-byes. I want them to be more like a prayer. A prayer for God to watch over my loved ones and friends until we meet again, be it in this life, or in the next. A prayer that they are safe in the Ark of Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane