Genesis 6-9-8:22
The earth will not last forever. We don’t like to think
about that. We worry about climate change, storms on the sun, the currents in
the ocean, and when we see the potential danger these might bring to people we
ask, “What can we do to stop this?” What seems to be lost in the conversation
is that this world is destined for destruction and then re-creation. Even more
ignored is that the reason for this destruction is not pollution, a carbon
footprint, or any physical cause. The earth will be destroyed because of our
sin, because, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Sin always brings destruction. We can see the
ramifications of our sins in our lives through the consequences they bring to
us. Things like broken relationships, callousness, judgmental attitudes, and holding
un-Biblical worldviews are consequences of sin. They are marks of the damage
sin does to us, and they bring even more damage.
In Genesis we read of the destruction sin brought on a
global scale. The wickedness, violence, and evil of the time was so great that
God decided that the appropriate consequence was to start over. The Lord chose
to send a flood and wipe out all life on Earth, except for the few that He
chose to restart with.
People often balk at this claiming that God was unjust in
this action. (Or they deny it happened at all.) Noah’s account teaches a very
hard truth: that all have sinned and that the wages of sin is death. Our
concept of innocence is invalid in God’s courtroom, and God’s wrath at sin is
fearsome. Yet God is also merciful. He saved faithful Noah and his family. He saved
a remnant with which to begin again. Moreover, He promised to never destroy the
earth by flood again, and He preserves the seasons until the end.
But He will destroy the earth again, and for the same
reason. Mankind is still evil at heart. But again He has provided a way of
salvation. A better way. Through the cross Jesus took the brunt of God’s wrath,
and all who trust in Him will find the Last Day a day of salvation, when all
wickedness, violence, sin, and evil will cease forever, and we live forever
with God in peace.
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