Saturday, July 21, 2012
AN EVEN GREATER FLOOD: ACTS OF SALVATION
Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
When men "remember" it is an action of the mind. It is a thought. When God remembers it is an action of the hand. This statement "God remembered" is used many times throughout the Old Testament and once in the New. The statement, however, is always immediately followed by an action in which God reaches down and brings the fulfillment of His promise. In Genesis 19:29 God remembers Abraham and saves Lot from the destruction of Sodom. In Exodus 2:24 God remembers His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and delivers His people from Egypt. In Luke 1:72 God remembers his "Holy Covenant" and sends His son.
So it is that in the middle of the complete destruction God describes in chapter seven, that He remembers Noah and reaches down to save him. We often think of the flood as a terrible tragedy, yet in it God brought His faithful who had previously suffered the wickedness of the ungodly out of that suffering and into a new world. God acted to fulfill His promise even when it seemed all was lost, even though it took one hundred or more years.
God does not forget, though He may wait long to send His deliverance. So it is that we can be certain that He will not forget the promises that He made to us for Christ's sake through our baptism. We have been born again not of this world but of Him. We have, therefore, become His children and heirs. And because we have died with Him we will also live with Him.
John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you ..."
