Title: SAVED THROUGH THE WATERS

Focus: The story of Noah and the floodwaters points to God’s saving work throughout history. God’s work of salvation finds its peak in Jesus’ death and resurrection; and God’s saving work is visualized, marked and sealed in our own baptism.

Focus: To emphasize to the people that our baptism points to salvation in Christ, beckoning us to live unto him a sacrificial life of service.

Text: Genesis 8:1-22

How many in this sanctuary were baptized at one time or another—either as an infant or as an adult? Please, raise your hand. Now, how many of us who raised their hands hear God speaking to us through our own baptism? That is, how many of us live our lives with the awareness that we are baptized? Please, raise your hand.

That last question, of course, gets to the heart of baptism: does it matter at all whether you are baptized or not? Surely, if baptism does not matter and if it does not shape our lives, then why bother? Throughout the ages, the Christian church has emphasized the significance of baptism by such liturgical acclamations as “Remember your baptism,” and by such rituals as the “Renewal of one’s baptismal vows.”

While reflecting upon the story of Noah and the floodwaters, I want to emphasize that our own baptism points to salvation in Christ Jesus, and beckons us to live a sacrificial life of service unto the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The story of Noah and the floodwaters, as found in Genesis 8, is a fascinating and illuminating story. Let me make some quick observations about the text, and then I will explore with you some significant insights.

First of all, Genesis 8 presents us with new beginnings. As God judges Adam’s offspring through the waters of the flood, and saves believing Noah and his family by means of the Ark, we notice that God brings an end to the rain and the flooding. The text says “…God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark….” And we notice that it is God who calls Noah to disembark the ark. As the text says (vs.15) “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you….” Thus we see that the floodwaters recede and that a washed, renewed earth emerges. We also see that Noah—as the head of the new humanity, saved through the waters of the flood, may start a new life. Clearly, God presents us with new beginnings.

Secondly, from Genesis 8 we learn that God places all of creation at the service of the new man—Noah and his offspring. When God, for example, called Noah to come out of the ark, and to bring with him the animals found in the ark, God welcomed them all on the emerging, cleansed earth with these words: (8:17) “…multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.”

Centuries earlier, God spoke a similar blessing and gave a similar task to mankind. On the 5^th day of creation, God spoke such a blessing to all the creatures in the waters and in the air. On the 6^th day of creation, God gave the same task to Adam and Eve: (Gen. 1:24-27) “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over living creature that moves on the ground.” Clearly, as the floodwaters recede, and as the earth emerges from the floodwaters, God places all of creation at the service of the new head of humanity—Noah and his offspring.

Thirdly, as God provides a new beginning and places creation at the service of Noah and his offspring, we notice that Noah consecrates himself to God by offering a sacrifice of thanks.

Noah builds an altar and acknowledges his salvation and his new identity as the head of the human race after this devastating flood. His altar is Noah’s way of saying: “I offer my heart, myself to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely.” God provides a new beginning; God places creation at the service of Noah and his offspring; and God welcomes Noah’s heart of worship and service as seen in Noah’s altar and sacrifice. These are the three main features we quickly observe from Genesis 8.

But now we must draw insights from the text and see how these insights contribute to this statement that the story of Noah and the floodwaters point to God’s saving work throughout history.

Take note: Genesis 8: 1 tells us that God “sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” In the original language of the text, we read that God sent his RUAH over the earth. RUAH means wind, but it also means SPIRIT. For example, in Gen. 1:2 we read that the RUAH, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” When God created the world, his Spirit was actively involved in the formation of the heavens and the earth.

As God starts over by judging sinful humanity and by saving believing Noah and his family, God’s creative Spirit, God’s RUAH causes the waters to recede. Thus we see a relationship between God’s Spirit and the waters. They go together, as is also the case in your and my baptism.

Every year, on average we may expect 10 to 15 hurricanes to slam the coasts of North America. Every day, you will find stormy winds blowing here and there on the oceans of the world. But the waters of the oceans do not recede. No, it takes a special act of God—of God’s Spirit or RUAH to bring about new life and new beginnings on the earth.

This is what God’s people must always remember: God’s Spirit brings life. And that life is visualized and represented in our baptism. Do you remember the Israelites, fleeing Pharaoh and his army, standing before the Red Sea in great panic? What does God do to save his people? God sent his RUAH. Exodus 14 tells us that God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea, “…and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”

This is my point: the story of Noah and the floodwaters points to God’s saving work throughout history. So much so, that God’s salvation of the Israelites in the days of Moses is like a baptism.

As Noah’s salvation through the waters of the flood signifies a baptism and meant a new identity and a new beginning for him and his offspring, so the exodus event was Israel’s baptism. That’s why the apostle Paul could say to the church in Corinth that (I Cor. 10:1,2) “our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea; They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea….”

God saves us through the waters by providing us his Spirit and by sending us his Son--the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, God’s work of salvation finds its peak in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

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In the Scriptures we discover that God’s Spirit connects Noah’s baptism and salvation in and through the floodwaters with Jesus’ baptism and work of salvation. For example: Jesus begins his ministry of salvation when John the baptizer announces him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

At that time, John baptizes the Lord Jesus at the River Jordan. And there we see coming together these three things: the waters, the coming of the Holy Spirit, descending on the Lord Jesus and sealing him for the work of salvation that is to come. We also mark the presence of God the Son, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being affirmed by the voice of God the Father: “You are my Son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased.” Thus Jesus’ baptism at the River Jordan signifies the saving work of our triune God.

Note also that immediately after his baptism, the Lord Jesus reveals himself as the head of the new humanity, the new creation. For the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Adam failed the temptation that came to him in the garden when the serpent deceived him. But this Jesus, who was baptized, and destined to die and rise again, did not fail his temptations in the desert. In fact, the Lord Jesus rebuked Satan. And thus already at the beginning of his ministry Jesus foreshadowed that he would be victorious over sin and death. God’s saving work finds its peak in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Warning his own disciples and contemporaries, the Lord Jesus said at one time: (Luke 12:50) “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed.” His own death and resurrection pointed to the experience of judgment and grace, to the pattern of death and life, to the rhythm of dying and rising. The story of Noah and the floodwaters reveal to us the pattern of God’s saving actions, especially as God’s salvation peaks in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

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God saved Noah through the waters by means of the ark. God saves us today by sending his Son, Jesus, who is our ark. Our own baptism represents and visualizes for us God’s saving work. That’s why the apostle Peter could write: (I Peter 3:4:20ff) “In (the ark of Noah) only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It (baptism) saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”

Imagine this conversation between Noah and some of his grandchildren: “Grandpa, did the floodwaters save you and our parents, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, while the rest of humanity perished by these waters of the flood?”

“No children, the floodwaters did not save us. It was God who commanded and controlled the ark provided for us that saved us through the waters of the flood.”

So it is also with your and my baptism. It’s not the drops, or the bucket or tank of water that saves us when we are baptized. We are saved by Jesus’ shed blood, by his death and resurrection. But the waters of baptism remind us every day that we now have received the Spirit of Jesus, to live as new creatures—as followers of Jesus being renewed every day in his image—and being called every day to serve him with our lives.

Our own baptism confronts us every day with these two realities:

a. We participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We died with him, and we rise with him. And that’s why we must live out of our baptism. The Christian life is a new life and it marks a new beginning. That’s why the apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome: (Romans 6:2ff) “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with (Christ) through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Through faith in Christ Jesus, and through the workings of the Holy Spirit, we are one with Jesus Christ. That’s what our baptism cries out every day. That’s what shapes the man, the woman of God every day.

b. Our baptism also calls us to live a life of sacrifice, of purity, holiness and service unto God. Noah built an altar; as he assumed his new role as the head of the new humanity after the flood, Noah offered his heart to God in gratitude. Our own baptism calls us each day to assume the same posture of service. It’s as the apostle writes: (Romans 12:1,2) “…I urge you…in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

Remember your baptism! Renew your baptismal vows, everyday! For clearly, our own baptism points to salvation in Christ, and beckons us to live unto him a sacrificial life of service.

Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen.