Genesis 6.9-22
Messenger Dox
Call to worship:
OT reading:
dr. brett eckel
Jeremiah 31.31-34
NT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Hebrews 11.7
song:
How firm a foundation
Historical reading:
pastor zachary mcguire
Apostles Creed
song:
I stand amazed
Confession & Pardon:
pastor michael champoux
song:
See the Destined Day Arise
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Genesis 6.9-22
Introduction
The date was August 11, 2014. I only know that for sure because I know it was the day Robin Williams died and I looked that up. I remember hanging out at our house with Vadnais and Stephanie – they weren't married yet – but we were hanging out at the table and talking about how crazy it was that Robin Williams was dead then we heard our dogs whining from the basement. At the time we had 2 dogs: a dachshund named Dallas and a Great Dane named Moose. Both dogs were crated in the basement but they just kept on whining, so Bethany went down there to check on them and discovered that our basement was flooding. The water had risen so high that the dachshund was on his back 2 legs, scaling the crate with his front 2, or else he’d be under water. The Great Dane kept lifting his front 2 paws, confused as to why he also was in water.
That was the day we had all that crazy flooding all over southeast Michigan. Remember 696 was submerged? Cars were abandoned all over the place. We walked down to 13 Mile from our house over by the civic center, and the high school, and Lamphere Hill, and 13 Mile was under water. We tried to drive Steph home to her parents on the east side and we got as far as 13/Mound and had to turn around because the roads were submerged.
Seems like everywhere you go there’s flood lore. When we lived in Louisville, right down the road from Southern Seminary at the corner of Grinstead and Lexington there is an historical marker for the Ohio Valley flood of 1937, which is the largest natural disaster in the history of the U.S. 70% of the city of Louisville was under water. 175,000 people were evacuated from their homes and there was $250M worth of damage, which adjusted for inflation today is over $5B.
Flood stories are not just a modern obsession, of course. According to answersingenesis.com there are at least 9 global flood stories found in modern cultures like Hawaii, the Americas, Peru, Scandinavia, Tanzania, Western Australia, and China. Even further back, there are at least 4 ancient Near Eastern Mesopotamian global flood stories: the Sumerian account, the Atrahasis epic, the Gilgamesh epic and Berossus. The 1st century Jewish scholar Josephus even mentions the Mesopotamian flood account given from Berossus, who was a Babylonian priest (ca. 280 BC). And Josephus argues the same thing that God’s people have believed for all of history, that all of these different flood accounts, especially the oldest accounts from the ancient Near East, are all re-tellings of the flood account inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by Moses in Genesis 6-8.
Besides the fact that understanding the God-breathed account of the global flood answers the question of why there are varying flood accounts from other cultures, what does this ancient flood narrative mean for us today? How should this Scripture affect the way you feel, which affects the way you think, which affects the way you act? What does this proto-historic narrative have to do with the Lord Jesus? And what does God’s Word have to say to Christ Community Church in 2025?
Israel Wandering
In order to understand what this pericope means to us today we must start with what it meant to the original audience, which was ancient Israel. Moses wrote the book of Genesis (and the rest of the Pentateuch) after the Exodus, after he received the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai, as Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land. So let’s try the best we can to image what it’s like to hear this in their shoes. Imagine you’ve lived most of your life wandering around the wilderness with 2 or 3M people. You were young, or maybe not even born, for the Exodus, your parents’ generation is not allowed to enter the Promised Land, but now you’re going to. The Pentateuch is the Bible you have to guide you as God’s Kingdom in this new land – it tells you where we’ve come from and how to follow yhwh now.
And our text begins in verses 9-10 revealing Noah as an example for Israel to follow – Israel was to be righteous like Noah. Noah was righteous, blameless, and walked with God. Noah stands in line with the other seed of the woman we’ve seen in Genesis thus far. Like Noah, Israel was to walk with yhwh in the Promised Land, blameless and righteous.
If they don’t, there will be judgment; that’s what we see in verses 11-17. God saw that the earth was corrupt and He is going to destroy everything. Noah walked with God, everyone else on earth walks in line with the seed of the serpent. Sin had compounded so progressively since the garden that by this point that every intention of the thoughts of everyone’s heart was only evil continually (vs. 5). The world had been judged through the flood and Israel must heed the warning that if they practice sin, they will be judged too. Their judgment will not be a global flood, but exile.
And just like Noah and his family were only safe in God’s presence and power revealed in His gift of the ark, so Israel would only be safe from the judgment of exile within the confines of God’s presence and power revealed first in the tabernacle and later in the Temple. Just as God gave Noah specific instruction for the dimensions to construct the ark, God did the same thing for the construction of the tabernacle, and later the Temple, which contained the ark of covenant. They would be safe in the tabernacle where God dwelt, where there was sacrifice for sin.
This was all laid out for them in the covenant Moses received on Mt. Sinai. That’s why Moses reminds them here that they are not the first to enter a covenant relationship with yhwh. In verse 18, God tells Noah that He will make a Covenant with Noah too. This shouldn’t surprise us because redemptive history organically progresses through covenant.
This is the first time in Genesis the word covenant is used, but Israel knew that it wasn’t the first covenant given. Scripture reveals that before God created the world, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made the pactum salutus, the covenant of redemption. And, of course, ancient Israel even knew of yhwh’s covenant with Adam. Some Reformed theologians view the covenant with Adam as two separate covenants – the covenant of works and the covenant of grace (every following covenant falls under grace). Others view all of it was one covenant, simply the creation covenant, or the Adamic covenant. Regardless of how we do systematic theology here, there’s no question Israel understood Adam to be in covenant relationship with God; Hosea 6.7 leaves no doubt there.
But Moses also links Noah back to Adam here in verse 18. Moses writes that yhwh will establish His covenant with Noah and his family [בְּרִיתִי-אֶת וַהֲקִמֹתִי]. The word establish (םקוּ) means, “to arise, stand up, or stand;” and the verb is a 1st person singular perfect verb, meaning yhwh is saying, “I will remain standing the covenant I already made.” So verbally this supports the Reformed understanding that Genesis 3.15 is the covenant of grace and that Noah’s covenant (and every subsequent) are administrations of the covenant of grace. Regardless, what Israel knew is that just as Noah was in covenant with yhwh, so are they.
Along with covenant another theme revealed at the beginning of Scripture that continues here in verses 19-21 is creation. Moses recapitulates a lot of the same vocabulary from Genesis 1-2 here to Noah about the animals on the ark. God is telling Noah the post-flood world will be like a new creation; Noah will be like a new Adam in a new world, leading the world to worship and obey God. What Israel heard was that the Promised Land was a type of new creation, as well. The Kingdom of God has always been God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s blessing and rule – whether that was Adam in Eden, Noah in the ark/postdiluvian world, or Israel in Canaan – the mandate was the same: trust the promise, repent of sin, worship, and obey God.
The Good News of Jesus
That’s what this pericope meant to the original audience; that was the original author’s intent, but we do not yet know what this passage means. The New Testament reveals to us that of all Scripture is Christian Scripture – the Bible is about Jesus. So we don’t truly know what any passage of Scripture means until we answer the question – why did Jesus have to die and resurrect for this passage to be true? Let’s think about these 4 themes we’ve touched on (righteousness, judgment, covenant, and creation) through the lens of the good news of Jesus.
The first was righteousness – Noah was righteous and Israel was called to be righteous. Well the New Testament makes clear to us that no one is truly righteous – there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3.10); all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3.23). So we can see clearly that Noah was a type of Christ, Noah was a shadow of Jesus, who was without sin (Heb 4.15). Jesus is the only truly righteous man who ever lived – He kept God’s Law in thought, word, and deed; Jesus always loved God with His whole heart and Jesus always loved His neighbor as Himself. This is what theologians call the active righteousness of Christ.
But Jesus Christ also has a passive righteousness and this is where we see the fulfillment of judgment. The flood was God’s judgment for sin, just like the penalty of death and the curses of Genesis 3 were for Adam, just as exile was for Israel. These providential pictures of judgment are signposts pointing us to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross we see the passive righteousness of Christ as Jesus endured the wrath of God for the sin of the elect.
Because that’s true, through the lens of the gospel of Jesus, we can look back on the ark and see a shadow, a signpost, and type of the person and work of Jesus. Just as Noah was saved from God’s just wrath because he was in the ark, so are we saved from God’s just wrath against our sin when we are in Christ. Did you know that the word Christian is used 3 times in the New Testament to describe followers of Jesus? But the phrase in Christ is used over 200 times in St. Paul’s writings alone. Just as the ark endured the storm of God’s justice, and just as Noah and his family were only safe because they were in the ark, so did Jesus endure the storm of God’s justice on behalf of the elect, and you are only safe if you are in Christ.
Of course the clearest line to Christ in this pericope is through covenant. Just like the monorail takes you where you need to be at Disney World, the covenants are the vehicle in Scripture that organically lead us to Christ. Every covenant (regardless of how you systematize them) – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David – was given to lead to Jesus. And Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant, the New Testament, the final covenant.
Not only did Jesus Christ inaugurate the New Covenant, but also He has inaugurated the new creation. When Jesus walked out of the tomb on that first Easter Sunday, He took us back to the future. In the resurrection of Christ, the new world broke through the midst of this old world. Colossians 1 says Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. 1st Corinthians 15.20 says Jesus is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Ancient Israel believed that on the last day God would resurrect them from the dead, but they didn’t understand that one man would resurrect from the dead in the middle of history, but that’s what Jesus did. He is new creation and through faith He makes us a new creation.
CCC in 2025
That’s why we can only interpret and apply this passage (and every passage) through the lens of the good news of Jesus. For instance, we know that we are only made righteous when we are justified by faith alone. This was true of Noah, as well. In our call to worship we read from Hebrews 11.7, which says that by faith Noah constructed the ark and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Romans 1.16-17 says that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel and the righteous shall live by faith. 2nd Corinthians 5.21 says, God made the sinless Jesus to be sin for our sake so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.
So we can only be righteous when we are justified by faith alone in Jesus alone. Justified means, “declared righteous.” So we are declared righteous by faith in Jesus. Faith begins with the knowledge that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5.8). We can’t just know that we’re guilty before the one true holy God though, we must assent to the validity of this truth claim; we must confess our guilt and the exclusivity of Jesus. And most importantly, we must transfer our trust to Jesus alone. Our salvation comes exclusively through the judgment of Christ.
And then Scripture tells us that the clearest assurance that we have faith is repentance. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. To repent of your sin means to confess your sin and turn from your sin. This is the good news every one of us need every week. If you are not a Christian, if you have never trusted in Jesus, if you have never repented of your sin, then I pray today is your day of salvation – repent and believe the gospel!
But you know what? If you are a Christian, there’s nothing you need more than every week, from every passage of Scripture, to see clearly the good news of Jesus and to trust Him and to repent of your sin. Whether it’s your first time or your 1B time, look to Jesus and turn from your sin because if you won’t repent of your sin, if you won’t confess your sin and turn from your sin, whatever it is, then you should not feel assurance of your faith because those who have received the gift of faith, repent.
This is true because of the nature of the New Covenant. Unlike the Old Covenant, in the New Covenant of Christ we experience personal regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ezek 36.27; Jer 31.31-34). So if the Holy Spirit has regenerated your heart, if He has made you a new creation, if He dwells in you, you will trust Jesus, and you will repent. If you refuse to repent, it reveals you’re not actually trusting Jesus, and if you’re not trusting Jesus it reveals that you have not experienced the regeneration and indwelling of the Spirit that marks the New Covenant.
Regeneration and indwelling are the internal witnesses to the New Covenant; the external witnesses are what we call the sacraments – baptism and the Eucharist. If you have trusted in Jesus, if you have repented of your sin, then you must be baptized. Baptism is the first sign and seal of the New Covenant. Like we will see the rainbow is the sign of the Noahic Covenant, the sacraments are the signs of the New, and so if you are a member of the New Covenant, if you are trusting in Christ, you must be baptized.
When you are baptized, you become a member of the church and you are then invited to the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist. Communion is only for baptized Christians because it is the 2nd sign and seal of the New Covenant. The sacraments are not disconnected, they do not go lone ranger; they are inseparable and build on each other. Baptism is the initiatory rite, or sacrament that brings you into the church. Baptism is the church’s way of declaring we believe you are a Christian, you are a member of the covenant, and you have experienced regeneration, and justification by faith alone. The Eucharist is the church’s way of declaring we still believe you to be a Christian. That’s why when a member is excommunicated, placed under church discipline, they are refused the Eucharist, because if they refuse to repent of their sin, we are warning them, we don’t see you acting like a Christian because Christians repent, so unless you repent, you should have no assurance of your salvation.
In this way the church serves as an outpost of the New Creation. When Jesus Christ returns He will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. Until that day we have, in the local church, a foretaste of glory divine. The church is where we live out the new creation in the midst of this old one. Like the ark in the flood, the church is the Kingdom of God – God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s blessing and rule – between the advents.
Conclusion
As we look forward in hope to that new world we do so by looking back to the old world – the next few weeks we will inhabit the flood narrative together; this flood narrative that we inherit as our family history. The flood is part of our family history as humans; that's why so many cultures have their own version of the global flood narrative because after God separated the languages and spread humanity out after the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, every people group brought the flood story with them. But we also inherit the flood narrative as redemptive history, not only as part of the family of humanity, but as the family of God. And because the flood is part of redemptive history, it is not merely historical, but it is also theological – it teaches us about righteousness, salvation, covenant, and creation. Most importantly it points us to Jesus, the true and better Noah, who is our righteousness and who brings a better covenant and a new creation.