The God who Recreates
The God who Recreates
Genesis 5-8
“The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the shy; for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
The story of Noah has long troubled people. How could a loving God destroy all humanity except for one family? It troubles us because we want to conform God to our perspective. However, our viewpoint is marred by sin, so we justify sin and regard sin as trite and unoffensive. How can a God judge humanity for the actions that we justify? The answer lies in the holiness of God. God is perfect and holy, and every sin is not only an affront to His character but is a denial of His right and position as God. All sin is birthed in the attitude of rejection of God and the desire to supplant God as King. Sin is spiritual treason and treachery against God. Therefore, sin cannot go unpunished. What is remarkable in the story is not that God brings judgment, but amid the total depravity of man, God still acts with grace. The answer for man’s sin is not just a minor adjustment but total recreation.
When we read the story of Noah, we need to recognize that humanity has become so corrupt that God’s plan for humanity is threatened by rebellion. Of all the people who lived on the earth, only one small family remained faithful in their worship of God. Humanity had degraded to such a depth of depravity that humanity itself was on the verge of spiritual extinction. However, God does not judge unjustly. Even though the totality of humanity became corrupt, God still knew those who sought Him, and he protected them from His judgment. Amid judgment, God still demonstrates love and grace towards those who seek Him.
In response, God recreates the world. So corrupt has the world become the only solution is complete destruction and recreation. God’s grace is seen in not only the salvation of Noah and His family but also in His recreation of a new world for them to live in. He not only destroys humanity, but He destroys everything on the earth so that He might recreate a new world for Noah and his family to live in.
This redemption serves to become a type of salvation. A type is a person or event in the Old Testament that serves to foreshadow and point to a New Testament person or event. The salvation of Noah becomes a foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah and the salvation He will bring. In Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20, and 2 Peter 2:5, the writers point to the ark as a type of Christ to symbolize God’s salvation and our baptism with Christ in His death and resurrection. Sin results in death, but God provides the means to protect and deliver those who trust Him. While the physical ark delivered Noah, God delivered us through a spiritual “ark,” Christ Himself. For those who trust in God, God protects them from judgment (2 Peter 2:8-10). However, for us to be delivered, this also requires a recreation. Just as God recreated the world in the days of Noah, destroying the effects and control of sin to build a new world, He recreates us by destroying sin and its power in our lives. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that in our salvation, we are a new “creature.” The word means “creation.” God does not just readjust our lives but completely recreates us as a new person.
However, there is one final recreation that we find in Revelation 21. The present history of humanity will ultimately culminate in a final recreation of the whole universe. In this final recreation, sin is completely removed so that it is no longer present and its effects in the universe. In the first creation, God created a world for humanity to live in. In the second act of creation, God brought judgment upon humanity because sin threatened to destroy His plan for humanity. In the third act of creation, God changes us to conform to His righteousness. In the final act of creation, God creates a new world free from sin for all eternity. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth; in the end, He created a new heaven and new earth so that we are now free from sin. The rest of the Bible is the story of how God works to achieve this end. To save us from judgment, God brings a spiritual ark in Christ to bring us salvation. Today, as you reflect upon God’s judgment and grace, thank Him for His recreative work in your life to make you completely new in Him.
Genesis 5-8
“The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the shy; for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
The story of Noah has long troubled people. How could a loving God destroy all humanity except for one family? It troubles us because we want to conform God to our perspective. However, our viewpoint is marred by sin, so we justify sin and regard sin as trite and unoffensive. How can a God judge humanity for the actions that we justify? The answer lies in the holiness of God. God is perfect and holy, and every sin is not only an affront to His character but is a denial of His right and position as God. All sin is birthed in the attitude of rejection of God and the desire to supplant God as King. Sin is spiritual treason and treachery against God. Therefore, sin cannot go unpunished. What is remarkable in the story is not that God brings judgment, but amid the total depravity of man, God still acts with grace. The answer for man’s sin is not just a minor adjustment but total recreation.
When we read the story of Noah, we need to recognize that humanity has become so corrupt that God’s plan for humanity is threatened by rebellion. Of all the people who lived on the earth, only one small family remained faithful in their worship of God. Humanity had degraded to such a depth of depravity that humanity itself was on the verge of spiritual extinction. However, God does not judge unjustly. Even though the totality of humanity became corrupt, God still knew those who sought Him, and he protected them from His judgment. Amid judgment, God still demonstrates love and grace towards those who seek Him.
In response, God recreates the world. So corrupt has the world become the only solution is complete destruction and recreation. God’s grace is seen in not only the salvation of Noah and His family but also in His recreation of a new world for them to live in. He not only destroys humanity, but He destroys everything on the earth so that He might recreate a new world for Noah and his family to live in.
This redemption serves to become a type of salvation. A type is a person or event in the Old Testament that serves to foreshadow and point to a New Testament person or event. The salvation of Noah becomes a foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah and the salvation He will bring. In Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20, and 2 Peter 2:5, the writers point to the ark as a type of Christ to symbolize God’s salvation and our baptism with Christ in His death and resurrection. Sin results in death, but God provides the means to protect and deliver those who trust Him. While the physical ark delivered Noah, God delivered us through a spiritual “ark,” Christ Himself. For those who trust in God, God protects them from judgment (2 Peter 2:8-10). However, for us to be delivered, this also requires a recreation. Just as God recreated the world in the days of Noah, destroying the effects and control of sin to build a new world, He recreates us by destroying sin and its power in our lives. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that in our salvation, we are a new “creature.” The word means “creation.” God does not just readjust our lives but completely recreates us as a new person.
However, there is one final recreation that we find in Revelation 21. The present history of humanity will ultimately culminate in a final recreation of the whole universe. In this final recreation, sin is completely removed so that it is no longer present and its effects in the universe. In the first creation, God created a world for humanity to live in. In the second act of creation, God brought judgment upon humanity because sin threatened to destroy His plan for humanity. In the third act of creation, God changes us to conform to His righteousness. In the final act of creation, God creates a new world free from sin for all eternity. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth; in the end, He created a new heaven and new earth so that we are now free from sin. The rest of the Bible is the story of how God works to achieve this end. To save us from judgment, God brings a spiritual ark in Christ to bring us salvation. Today, as you reflect upon God’s judgment and grace, thank Him for His recreative work in your life to make you completely new in Him.
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