Hanningfield Green
Lawshall
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP29 4QD
New Year 2024/2025
Genesis 6: 5 – 8
Read Matthew 24: 36-39
How has the year 2024 been for you? Good, bad or indifferent. Was it any better than the year before?
What are your hopes and aspirations for this coming New Year?
Today we are reminded of the world that was in Noah’s day and the world that he was perhaps hoping for. Then we can look at the world that we live in and the world and indeed the New Year that we are hoping for!
Just what was Noah’s world like as we are not told much about it in the book of Genesis. Yes, we know that as soon as Ch3 Adam and Eve sinned and as a result everyone after them (including us) have inherited that sin and continue to live in a fallen world. Yes, we know that by Ch 4 their sons Cain and Able were born and that Cain killed Abal resulting in the first murder and the first murderer! However, although there are ten generations between Adam and Noah, which equates to around 1600 years we are told very little.
But surely what we are told in Genesis 6: 5 – 6 gives us a vivid picture, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So, the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them”. Now, these verses unfold in a very simple way.
First, what the Lord saw as, Verse 6 says, “The Lord saw the wickedness of man.”
Secondly, what the Lord felt in, Verse 6, “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
Thirdly, what the Lord said in, verse 7. “So, the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things, and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them”.
And finally, if we go to V8 we see what the Lord gave, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Don’t you find this startling because through 930 years of this period, Adam was alive, and his children would still be alive! Surely, there were no evolutionists as everybody understood that God had made the universe as Adam was there to tell them. They wouldn’t have even had to have a second-hand testimony about how he and Eve were made by God. They would have been told how every one of them had been born through them. They could describe what paradise was like before they met the serpent and how deceptive and cunning Satan, and his fallen angels are. In addition to this he could tell them what a horrible thing they had brought upon their family and everybody else because of their sin.
But even the testimony of Adam was not enough! Because, within five chapters they have gone from a world that God pronounced was very good to one that is so evil, to one in which God is not just sorry that He has made them, but one where He wants to destroy! It’s a reflection on not just the wickedness and immoral actions of Noah’s generation, but their preoccupation on living with mundane matters of everyday life rather than recognising and taking heed of the coming judgement. as we read in Matthew 24: 37-39, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” Surely this should be a warning to our own generation!
So later in the same chapter we see God warning Noah of the devastation that is going to be brought upon mankind and tells him to build this ark which will save him and his family. And vs 22 tells us “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did”. Noah’s response wasn’t too question God or His judgement, and Hebrews 11: 7 tells us why, “By faith Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear and prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
We are not told how many people died so we can only speculate, but what we do know is that it must have been an astonishing number and furthermore only eight were saved.
Are we ourselves not reminded of this ongoing rejection of God by the majority in Matthew 7: 13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”.
The modern definition of sin is that man is basically good and noble, but that’s not the Bible definition of man. The Bible definition of what is wrong with him isn’t really his behaviour, that’s only a symptom. What’s wrong with him is his nature. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. And here He goes right to the core of the issue, “That every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” He goes right down to where the corruption really lies. It’s down in the depths of the nature and the heart of man.
How can we compare Noah’s world to our world as we see it? Surely there is some remarkable and disturbing likenesses!
We live in a world that is PC (in other words Politically Correct). But what does that mean and how does it affect us who believe in the bible and the inspired word of God? The fact is that being Politically Correct means that we have to be extremely careful not to offend or upset any group of people in society who have a disadvantage. It refers to social, political and educational changes designed to redress historical injustices in areas such as race, gender, ethnic background and sexual orientation. Therefore, people who challenge PC views are often targeted with personal abuse!
So how does it affect us? Surely, we already see it in churches today as scripture is challenged, misquoted and openly abused yet people fear to challenge these issues! 2 Timothy 4: 1 – 5 warns us, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables”.
What does all this mean to each one of us as we enter a New Year and what does it mean to you personally? What are you hoping for? Are you going into the New Year with genuine expectations? Or are you just glad that you have just left last year behind you?
We are told in Genesis 8: 13, “And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark…” What did this first day of this New Year mean to Noah and his family, what were they hoping for, what expectations had they or were they just glad that the previous year had passed.
Surely, theirs was a sense of bewilderment and sadness, as the events leading up to where they were now where astonishing. They had been living with close families, neighbours, and friends before they entered the ark and in just 40 days and nights they had seen and experienced the loss of all of them! What must have been their conversations as they lived on that ark for just over one year? Surely, they must have discussed what had happened? Surely, they must have felt the remorse of the loss of loved ones and friends. After all Noah was that witness for 120 years whilst building that ark but seemingly not effective in his witness because no-one listened. Surely, they must have personally reflected upon the graciousness of God to have saved them.
But we can only assume this based on how we may have felt or what we would have done, as there is no mention of these things.
And the question has to be asked as to what did this experience really mean to each of them for they were entering, not just a New Year but a New World and a new era. The old world has been left behind them and this New World consisted of just eight people and a few animals. Surely, they represented a New People who were favoured by God, as those whom God had judged where all destroyed. This world was indeed different, they had been transported to a new place in a new country, they had no home, and their whole environment and vegetation as they knew it would have been different or even non-existent. They had to start all over again by cultivating this new land and to adapt by becoming farmers and furthermore from that time on the age of human life also started to decline.
Can you imagine their thoughts though as the covering of the ark was removed. What would ours have been. Would they have been excited as to what God had instore, or in fear as the reality of all that had happened hits them or even what the unforeseen future held instore for them! Or would they feel privileged or blessed even as the truth is revealed to them. They are after all the only ones that God has saved, and didn’t God reveal to them in Ch 6: 9 that “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” Surely His hand is upon them as God himself tell them in Ch 9: 1 “to go forth and multiply” so God is going to use them to create a new people!
It started very well as Noah’s first response on leaving the ark was to build an alter to the Lord as an act of worship for sparing him and his family’s lives, and God gave him a promise that there would never be a flood on the earth again and that we will remember it by the sign of the rainbow! Which we are reminded of even today! What blessings they had received. And furthermore, it was going to be through Noah’s son Shem’s line of genealogy that Jesus would come.
But No, it wasn’t just Gods blessing that was with them in the ark, man’s sinful nature was still present, and it didn’t take long to surface as in the very same chapter Noah gets drunk and is naked and his son Ham sees him, but instead of covering him, he goes instead to tell his brothers who do the descent thing by walking in backwards and covering their father so that he would not be shamed. From this we find surprisingly enough that Noah doesn’t curse his son Ham, but his grandson Canaan in Genesis 9: 24. And through Canaan and his descendants came the enemies of Israel, which are still present today! Chapter 8: 21. Coming out of the flood, God says the intent of his heart is still evil. The flood doesn’t change that.
As we come out of one year and enter this New Year what do we take with us. Personal heartaches possibly, immigration problems, economic hardships, pressure on national health services, long term health and mental health issues, and that’s just our country. Then you have global wars, disorder, poverty, famine, human rights etc, etc. If we were to focus on these alone, we would be in constant fear and with no joy in our hearts whatsoever. Alongside of all this we also take into this New Year God’s blessing, His patience and all that He has mercifully provided by His grace. But we also take our own sinful nature and a fallen world just like Noah and his family.
We live in a society that works feverishly to preserve its future, to preserve the planet, to preserve the environment and to preserve the human race. People who are trying to conquer sickness, studying DNA, trying to figure out genetics and trying to correct deviant genetics to prolong human life and to conquer sickness, cancer and heart disease. All of which is commendable in itself.
But the big falsehood that is presented to us and which people seem eager to accept, is that everything has gone on for billions of years at the same rate and it’s going on today and will continue the same way in the future.
But no matter how hard people work, no matter how clever their scientific understanding might be, the guarantee of the continuity of human survival is not going to work. There is nothing within the power of man to stop the certain destruction of the human race and the earth and the universe as we know it. The bible tells us that history is going to end!
History tells us that in Noah’s day a flood came which destroyed the world about sixteen hundred and fifty years after the original creation, so the warning to us is that all humanity was lost, except for eight people and that humanity started once again through them.
And in Matthew 24: 37 - 39, and in Luke 17, verses 26 - 30, the Lord Himself with His own mouth describes the future judgement of the coming of the Son of man as being “like the judgement in the days of Noah”.
And the apostle Peter, you will remember, writing in 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3, also describes the future judgement “where the created becomes the uncreated, as being like the judgement of God in the days of Noah”. So, the Lord and the apostles, in the writing of the New Testament, made sure that we made the connection. If you want to understand what the final judgement is going to be like, the best view is given to you in Genesis Chapters 6 to 9.
Noah was warned of an impending judgement, and he chose not to question God but to obey, while literally thousands upon thousands ignored the warning. We have been warned of an impending judgement which God has graciously and patiently extended to us. And just like Noah’s day it will be a reflection on not just the wickedness and immoral actions of our generation, but their preoccupation on living with mundane matters of everyday life rather than recognising and taking heed of the coming judgement and our need of a saviour!
Surely, as we look around us at the evilness that encompasses our world and the evil intent of our hearts, millions upon millions are heading towards a final judgement where God will and in some cases has already removed His presence.
This is not however a message of sadness as we go into a New Year, but rather one of hope and assurance. Because we are told that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, let alone this New Year. But God does, Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Colossians 1: 17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together"
If we go into this coming New Year standing in faith on with the assurance that Jesus is our Saviour, we go into it with all the promises of God.
We are also told that we don’t need to rely on a wooden boat to carry us safely through and not even a wooden cross, as the ark for us is Jesus Christ. He is the one that rescues us if we have taken Him as our Saviour.
Noah, we were told stood in faith having been divinely warned of things not yet seen. He was moved with godly fear and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
And we have also been divinely told and became heirs of righteousness because Ephesians 2: 8 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not by yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Therefore, we can say with confidence, I do not know what lies ahead, the way I cannot see, yet one stands near to be my guide, he’ll show the way to me. Because I know who holds the future and He’ll guide me with His hand; with God things don’t just happen, everything by Him is planned. So, as I face tomorrow, with its problems large and small, I’ll trust the God of miracles, give to Him my all.
