2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
June 10, 2015
Genesis 8:1-22
Today we will look at the entire chapter 8 in two parts. How God remembers Noah and his people and how Noah remembers God.
Noah may have felt like that after being on the ark for a while. The whole world had been destroyed by the flood. The rain had beat down in torrents upon that lonely ark for 40 days and nights. Finally, the rain stopped and the only sound was that of the water sloshing against the sides of the ark. Noah probably expected to hear from the Lord about then. But if God spoke to Noah, the Bible doesn't report it. When God finally speaks to Noah again, telling him to come off the ark (8:15), the impression you get is that He hadn't spoken since the last time recorded in the text, over a year before, when He told Noah to get on board (7:1). What do you suppose Noah was thinking during all that time on the water? At times he probably felt forgotten by God. Maybe you're there right now. You need assurance that God hasn't forgotten you. That's what Genesis 8 is all about. We read words of hope in verse 1: "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark." Not just Noah, but the animals! It reminds us of Jesus’ words that the Heavenly Father's eyes are on each sparrow, so you know that He cares for you. And while the Lord remembered Noah, we see Noah waiting patiently and obediently in the ark until God tells him to go out. Then Noah offered a sacrifice to the Lord. When the text says, "God remembered Noah," it does not imply that somehow He got busy with other things and Noah slipped from His mind for a while. Then something reminded Him and He snapped His fingers and said, "Noah! l forgot all about him down there!" Rather, in the Bible the word is used often of God in the sense of God taking action on His promises. When God was about to destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, He "remembered Abraham” and spared Lot on his behalf (Gen. 19:29). When Rachel wanted to bear children, but could not, we read that "God remembered Rachel” and she conceived (Gen. 30:22). When Israel was in bondage in Egypt, we read that “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Exod. 2:24). When Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, she praised God who remembered His mercy as He had spoken to Abraham and his offspring (Luke 1:54-55). The penitent thief on the cross asked, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom" (Luke 23:42). In every case, the idea is the same: God remembers in the sense of taking action on His promises. So here, God remembered Noah and those on the ark. God’s faithful remembrance is seen in three ways in Genesis 8: in His salvation; in His promise of future preservation; and in His present provision.
God's salvation is seen in the ark. Noah and everyone on board the ark had been spared God’s judgment. It was not a luxury liner, but those on board were safe. As Noah and his family felt the ark come to rest on the mountain, even though God was yet silent, they knew one thing for certain--by God's grace they had been spared His awful judgment. If you have trusted in God's only means of salvation, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, even if God seems silent at the moment, you can rest assured that you are safe in Jesus Christ.
God preserves us. God had provided all that Noah and his family needed to survive both on the ark and once they set foot on dry ground again. The earth again sprouted with vegetation, as seen in the olive leaf in the dove’s beak. (The olive tree can sprout even under water.) The olive leaf showed Noah that the water had greatly subsided, since olive trees grow at lower elevations than where the ark came to rest. God's provision is also seen in that He had instructed Noah to take seven clean animals on the ark, rather than just two. He used one of the seven for his sacrifice (8:20). But in 9:3, God ordains that man may now eat meat. Thus the clean animals provided food for the survivors of the flood until they could grow new crops and until the animals multiplied. God's provision is also seen in His promise (8:22) that "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." God gives us many reminders of His faithfulness: Each new day, every changing season, and the food we eat should remind us that He is a faithful God who provides for all our needs.
God promises to keep us. As he came off the ark, Noah must have had some mixed emotions. On the one hand, he was grateful for God's deliverance. But on the other hand, he must have felt a bit apprehensive. God had wiped out every other person and all other animals on the face of the earth. Noah must have thought, “What if we disobey Him? Will He wipe us out?” But those whom God saves, He keeps. Our final preservation doesn’t depend on our grip on God, but on God's strong grip on us (Jude 24). It doesn't rest on our great faith, but on His great faithfulness. In 6:18, God said to Noah, "l will establish My covenant with you.” While this is the dominant theme of chapter 9, God mentions His promise here in 8:21, when He vows never again to curse the ground on account of man or to destroy every living thing as He did in the flood. Note that God's promise of sparing the earth from such severe judgment is not conditioned on Noah's or anyone’s obedience. In fact, God promises to do it in spite of man's sinfulness. The Hebrew word translated "for" (8:21, NASB) can be translated "though" (see Josh. 17:18, "though"). So God is saying, "Even though l see that man's heart is still the same [the flood did not eradicate man's sinful nature], I will look ahead to the atoning sacrifice of Messiah and will spare the earth and its inhabitants for Messiah's sake." Aren't you glad that your future deliverance from God's judgment depends on God's faithfulness, not yours?
Genesis 8 reminds us of the creation account in Genesis 1. In both accounts, the earth is covered with water. In Genesis 1 the Spirit moved; here God caused the wind (same Hebrew word as "Spirit") to blow. In both accounts the dry land is separated from the waters, vegetation sprouts and the earth is prepared for man. Both chapters show us God's gracious provision for His creatures. Often when God is silent in our lives, it’s because He wants to bring us into a situation where He makes all things new. But sometimes He has to destroy the old before He can remake the new. But we can count on His faithfulness during the silence, knowing that He has saved us in the past, He has promised to preserve us in the future, and He is providing for us in the present. Noah clung to those assurances when God was silent for that long year in the ark. You can cling to those assurances right now, if it seems as if God has forgotten you.
So first we see God's remembrance of Noah; we also see Noah's remembrance of God. Noah's remembrance of God is seen in three ways in this story, ways we can imitate as we seek to remember the Lord.
Noah remembered God by trusting in His salvation. Noah’s obedient faith is seen in his building the ark and by getting on board when God told him to. If he hadn't trusted God's word by doing that, he wouldn't have been delivered from the flood. God has provided Jesus Christ as the "ark" which will carry you safely through the judgment to come. Just as Noah had to believe God by building the ark and getting on board, so you must believe God by "getting on board." Christ as the only One who can deliver you from God's judgment. In the world’s eyes, the ark was Noah's folly. But in God's plan, that which was foolishness to the world was His means of salvation. Even so, as Paul said, "The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). If you have never by faith entrusted your eternal destiny completely to Jesus Christ, laying hold of His death in your place, you must start there.
Noah remembered God by waiting patiently and obediently for God's timing. Once God has saved us, like young children, we want everything instantly. We want all our problems solved now. We want answers to our questions now. But God shapes us by making us learn to wait on Him. After a year in a crowded, dark, smelly ark, Noah must have had a bad case of cabin fever. But we find him patiently and obediently waiting for the Lord to give the word. God didn't dry up the water instantly, but used the wind and other natural processes. It took time. That's usually how God works. Finally Noah sent out a raven. Ravens will eat anything, no matter how foul. Perhaps it landed on carcasses floating on the water, and fed off them, but it never returned to the ark. Next Noah released the dove. Doves want a clean, dry place to land. Not finding such a place, the dove returned. Noah kept waiting. Seven days later, he tried again. This time the dove returned with an olive leaf. Noah waited seven more days. This time the dove did not return. Still Noah waited. In the 601st year of his life, on the first day of the first month, the water was dried up (8:13). Still Noah waited. Finally, on the 27th day of the second month, God told Noah to disembark (8:14-16). Only then did Noah leave the ark. God had shut Noah in; God must bring Noah out by His command. Noah kept waiting on God even when God was apparently silent. Obedience during the silent times is the best guarantee that you'll obey God in those critical moments which determine the course of your life. If God has shut you in to some difficulty, wait patiently and obediently upon Him to bring you out in His way and time. Maybe God has shut you up to being single, but you want to be married. But God doesn't seem to be listening to your prayers. If you disobey God and take matters into your own hands by dating unbelievers, you will thwart what He is trying to teach you about waiting on Him and you may miss His provision for you later. In the silent times, we must remember the Lord by waiting patiently and obediently for His timing.
Noah remembered the Lord by offering a sacrifice of gratitude. Noah got off the ark and offered a sacrifice to the Lord. Noah would have been a busy man once he set foot on dry ground again. He had to build a shelter for his family. They had to tend to the domestic animals. They had to move everything off the ark to their new homes. And yet Noah took time to remember the Lord by building an altar and offering sacrifices. Noah’s sacrifice showed that he still must approach God through shed blood. Noah wasn't presuming on some new privileged relationship with God since he had survived the flood. He still knew himself to be a sinner, and he offered sacrifices as the only way he could approach a holy God. Noah's sacrifice also was an expression of gratitude for God's salvation. Noah knew his own heart. There was no reason God should have spared him, but He did. And so Noah expressed his thankfulness with this sacrifice.
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