Wednesday, July 18, 2012
AN EVEN GREATER FLOOD: BORN OF PROMISE
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
In Genesis 6:2 the Holy Spirit tells us that the "sons of God saw the daughters of men." There is a fairly common misconception that this must be a reference to angels marrying human women. Jesus Himself makes it clear that this cannot be so when he implies in Matthew 22:30 that the angels do not marry. More to the point, the writer of Hebrews tells us that through faith Noah became an heir of righteousness. If Noah was an heir then clearly he was a son. And if Noah was a son of God through faith, then also those mentioned in Genesis 6:2 are humans who had received through faith the same inheritance as Noah.
Now they were born into the inheritance, having received from their parents the promise. Seemingly, they afterward lost that inheritance because they were more concerned with having the beautiful things of this world than of gaining the promise. So also we were born into the inheritance.
John 3:5-6 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Yet we were not born into it through our parents, but born by the power of the Spirit of the Living God into the inheritance that He has promised in our baptisms. Thus we, with Noah, may become heirs and receive through faith salvation and the righteousness of Christ.
