The Flood and the End
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
I used to clean and take care of our family pool. I wasn’t great at it, many times I forgot to even check the chemicals as I was told. My father luckily was checking my work and was making sure their pool was not being destroyed through my inaction and forgetfulness.
If my actions led to the pool being overrun with greenery, filled up with scum and the motor for the pump was ruined, it would have been no leap of the imagination that I would have to work to pay off my debt. Thousands of dollars of damage to something through mistakes completely my own is something most people would agree deserves some sort of punishment.
When we look to the story of Noah, however, we bristle at this idea. That God would punish all people, in such a difficult to understand way. How could a loving God do this? Two things come to mind when we struggle with the judgement of God here in Genesis.
First, we need to understand the level of punishment does not only fit the crime, but who the crime was committed against.
I’ve used this illustration many times before, but if we lie to our parents, we can get grounded, but if we lie to the police we can get accused of a crime. If we lie to the highest authority in existence, i.e. God, we are punishable to an infinite scale. This means that when the ancient world in Genesis states that “every intention” was evil, there was near infinite reasons why God had every right to have the equal punishment of the lives of those on the earth. If we think being punished differently between a parent and police officer makes sense, we must understand that any number of evil thoughts against a perfect, all powerful God is deserving of the most extreme punishment.
Second, we need to understand that depth of the sin being committed.
Today we are surrounded by examples of the law of love, through Christ, being applied liberally to our world. We desire the best for others, we give tax write offs for charitable gifts, we believe that all people should have opportunities to a better life and many more examples. When we are surrounded by this type of world it can be hard to imagine the depth of evil and darkness we are learning of here in Genesis. Every thought could be traced back to selfishness, evil and darkness.
So in the face of this reality, God punishes those in the earth with a flood. It is righteous and a payment that is not above the just amount due to God.
In our recent cultural memory we can think of many examples of the destructive power of flooding. But we must remember that when God destroys his creation, it is not the mindless destruction of a storm, but the careful work of a cultivator. Whether this destruction is in the time of Noah or the future return of Christ. God is a creator God and desires His creation to be made new. Instead of viewing this destruction in the lens of pure force, I think a helpful terminology would be the powerful pruning of God through focused destruction.
As someone prunes their fruit tree, if you focus only upon the tool ripping through a branch. The pressing of the blade upon the tender branch, breaking through the bark and ripping through what was recently holding leaves and life. This picture can only be described as destruction. Somewhat that was attached and alive is now separate and doomed to a wood pile near the house. However, if we can zoom out from this picture and see the whole work of the pruning upon the tree, we see that this small act of seemingly violent ends, is actually bringing about life and abundance to the tree.
What is perceived as utter destruction in the flood is washing and building a new land. What is seen as complete destruction of the earth in the return of Christ is actually the pruning of sin to bring about the New Earth, perfect and Eden-like for all eternity. Our God is not simply some ancient destroyer of worlds, but the creator and cultivator of our future and hope.
So this story of Noah and the story of the end of all things are truly stories of Hope. God loves His creation and is grieved when it chooses to lean towards evil and not the ways of it’s Creator. He will prune to make it grow. But he shows mercy in His judgment. Evil though the pain and sin is real, He points the bow of punishment, instead of at the earth, up toward the heavens. The rainbow pointing toward the sky gives us the future shadow of the pain God will inflict upon Himself to make the payment of all sin upon the cross. Instead of forcing humanity to pay its own debts with their lives again, God offers an ark to escape, He offers a mercy to survive. He offers the cross of Christ as a payment, and extends the promise of Hope to all who would believe.
The story of the end is everything will be made right, everything will be made new, and GOd will keep all His promises. The story of the Flood points forward to the complete work of saving and creating that God plans to do in the end, and in that promise there is Hope.
Hope that all wrongs to us and others, if not made right in this life, will be made right in the future judgement.
Hope that through the destruction of evil, good will finally flourish in God’s perfect new Creation.