God Will Save His People | Genesis 8:1-14
Read Genesis 8:1-14
The Point: God will not forsake His people. God Remembers His people. God will save His people.
“Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.”
“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. Also, the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.”
--Genesis 7:23-24 & 8:1-2
- Humanity is God’s prized possession. God works through and to humanity.
The structure of Genesis 8:1-4 repeats the language and themes found in the creation text given in Genesis 1. The phrase:
“But God remembered Noah and all the beast and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.” –Genesis 8:1
Reminds us of how God views humanity; and of God’s sovereign work both in creating the world and flooding the world because of His judgement of the wicked. Noah, his family and the ark were floating for 150 days and Genesis 8:1 starts with a clear reminder: God remembered Noah. The water prevailed but God is not done saving humanity; saving His family.
- Humanity is the prized possession of His created order, humanity is made in the image of God, with the likeness of God Humanity rules over the created world (Genesis 1:26) just as Noah is in charge of caretaking the animals on the ark. This is why God remembers Noah the work of God in Genesis 6-9 revolves around and through Noah and His family.
- The wind passes over the earth and that passing wind starts the miracle of the receding water. That wind is not an ordinary wind. The word used is:
רוּחַ rûwach, roo'-akh; wind and/or Spirit, by resemblance of breath
The Holy Spirit is in action flooding the world and receding the waters just as it created with God as God made the world from nothing.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and thee earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”—Genesis 1:1-2
The exact same wind is used for “spirit of God” in the Hebrew text, Ruah, in Genesis 1:2. This reminds us of the power God has; God is always at work, God is always moving and here God is showing his sovereignty over creation once again by commanding the waters to recede.
God shows Noah of his control and power when he rests the ark on the mountains of Ararat in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month. This number seven reminds us of the complete work of God’s created world in six days and His rest on the seventh.
“…and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.” --Genesis 8:3-4 & Gen. 8:8-11
“The significance of “seven” is woven throughout our lives and experience. The seven branches of the Temple Menorah. The sprinkling of blood seven times in the Temple. The seven days of shiva. The seven days of celebration for chatan and kalah…Seven completes a cycle fully and wholly.”
--Rabbi Eliyahu Safran
This signifies God’s work of the flood complete. God’s judgement in this instance for the wicked people on the early earth is now complete and God’s salvation for Noah, his family is now complete.
- God’s people need to patient; we need to wait for God, to be with God and to be ready to follow God when God calls us to move
From Genesis 6-7 the writing of Noah’s ark was intentionally repetitive, action packed and driven. There is much repetition especially with the commands that God gives to Noah. Noah follows God and listens to his instructions carefully.
“Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.” --Genesis 6:22.
Noah built an ark, Noah gathered the animals, Noah fed the animals, Noah took care of the animals, Noah took care of His family and finally the God closed the door to the Ark (Gen. 7:16) and the waters prevailed on the earth. God killed humanity. God even killed some the animals and some of the other living things on the earth…and now Noah has to wait.
“The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.”—Genesis 7:24
God brought the flood and now Noah, his family and the animals in which he had saved are not floating on the waters; on this giant boat. Noah has to wait for 150 days before God starts to bring the water levels down. Waiting is a consistent action or theme in Genesis 8:1-14. There is much waiting in Genesis 8:1-14 as Noah waits for the waters to recede.
“…the tops of the mountains became visible. Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth…so he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark…then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove…Now it came about it he six hundred and first year in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth…” –Genesis 8:5-6, 10, 12-13
Noah must wait on God for God to unveil or even put the next into action. Noah even has to wait with His family and the animals for God to close the door in Genesis 7:16 “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it(the door) behind him.”
Noah and God walked together which mean that Noah was patient with God and God was patient with Noah. God favored Noah because Noah was righteous, Noah acted out God’s law and moral commands because he loved God. Noah has to wait for the water to start recede, for God to close the door, for God to open the door, for the water to recede, and for the dove to bring back signs for dry land.
Much of the waiting happens over 40 days and nights or a 7 day period (for the dove) reiterating the creation pattern of the 6 day creation period with the 7th day of rest.
“Obedience isn’t legalism; it is a symptom of salvation.” –C.S. Lewis.
The Christian life is a patient life. It involves waiting on God. It starts with waiting on God.
“Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath;”
--Psalm 37:7-8
“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” –Isaiah 40:31
“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD.” –Lamentations 3:25-26
Even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shows how patience works in a Christian’s life especially during times of suffering.
“In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” –Hebrews 6:7-9
Remember Jesus calls out to the father in the garden of gethsemane.
“My [Jesus] soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will…Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” –Matthew 26:39-41.
What did Christ do when He was distressed? He went to the Father and prayed. He even warned the disciples to pray to withstand temptation. Christ’s suffering on the cross is a form of patience. Jesus was patient as He willingly went to the cross to take the cup of judgement upon Himself on our behalf—for our salvation. We are to wait on the Lord and as Christians today we still wait patiently for Christ to come back, to reclaim His church, to judge the lost—remember, He promised He would come back and He is faithful.
“But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”
--1 Thessalonians 5:8-11
“Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.” –Genesis 8:13b-14
From the beginning of the flooding of the world to this moment where the earth is dry and God is about to tell Noah and His family to step foot onto the dry land was 1 year and 2 months, 27 days. Noah was patient—which is why his name means “Rest” in Hebrew. He waited for God. He waited with God.
The Point: God will not forsake His people. God remembers His people. God will save His people. God remembers you. God will not forsake you.
“’I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who lives Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.’”
--John 14:18-21