Noah is told to go into the ark and take some extra “clean”
animals with him, seven pairs of each.
It appears that the family was in the ark for several days prior to the
flood waters coming on the earth. During
that time, what was the conversation like among the family? Did the rest of the family think Noah had
lost his mind with all these animals and talk of a flood? Once it began, however, it must have been
terrifying as they wondered if the ark would keep them safe and then to know
that everything else was being eradicated as the waters returned over the earth
as in the primeval days before the land appeared on the earth.
Jesus is teaching and healing and great crowds are following
him, enough so that He has the disciples get a boat lest the crowds crush in on
Him so that He can go out in the boat to continue teaching but put some
distance between Him and them. I don’t
mean this to be funny, but He could simply have walked out on the water without
a boat but that particular sign was for the disciples only and for a later
time. He neither needs nor desires the
demons to testify concerning Him, the signs should speak for themselves. After this, He called the disciples He chose
up on the mountain for the purpose of commissioning them to preach and cast out
demons. Like Noah with the animals,
Jesus chose those who would be the first of the new creation to journey with
Him.
The church is composed of those who were chosen by God to
continue the work Jesus began of heralding a new creation, the kingdom of God,
which will only be fully realized with His return. With the giving of the Spirit, we are the
harbingers, those who herald the coming of that kingdom and we do it in two
ways, with our words of proclamation concerning Jesus and with our lives as
witnesses to new possibilities. Those
new possibilities include changed desires as well as the gifts of the Spirit in
operation in and through us. We are to
be those whose very lives proclaim the kingdom of God being established within
us and as such, we should be different.
Our culture should be different from that of the world around us, the
way we think should be different, and the way we love should be the most remarkably
different. We are to be characterized by
an outward focusing of that love in the Name of Jesus. Does the world see a difference that brings
them to our doors? The ark was to keep
Noah and his family safe with the animals, no one else was allowed inside, the
church is to be a compelling community that reaches out and gathers in those
who will be saved from the coming judgment.
There’s a wideness in
God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.
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