Monday, July 16, 2012
AN EVEN GREATER FLOOD
Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done."
The Lord has just wiped out everything from the face of the earth because of the wickedness of man. Man's violence and sin had become too great and needed cleansing. And yet God knows that even the flood with all of its destruction, even with its complete annihilation of man except Noah and his family, has not succeeded in wiping evil from the face of the earth. The problem the Lord knows is that that evil is not something on the outside that can be cleaned with water, but it is on the inside. Evil is the thought of man's heart from his birth. And thus God began on a new plan, one that would not wash the face of the earth but the hearts of man. Peter talks about this:
1 Peter 3:18 Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit ...
What the flood with all of its power could not do, the blood of Christ did cleansing the heart of man.
Yet Peter continues, showing us that the flood was not a failure but a precursor. It was to be a sign showing beforehand physically the power that afterwards would be used spiritually to cleanse the heart of man. Just as the flood with its raging power would cleanse the earth, so Baptism with an even greater power would bring the cleansing power of God into the hearts of men.
1 Peter 3:21 There is also an antitype which now saves us -- baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ ...
