Genesis 7:12-23
For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished – birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out, men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
At 11:20 pm on April 14, 1912, RMS Titanic, the greatest ocean going vessel ever engineered by man, struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank to the bottom of the sea in less than 3 hours.
We all know the basic outline of the tragic story. Of the 2,200 and some passengers and crew on board the great ship that night, over 1,500 perished in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic. But the part of the story that is particularly tragic is that of the 1,178 available seats on lifeboats, only 700 or so were taken, meaning there were almost 500 available seats in the lifeboats that were not filled. In some cases the boats launched before passengers had time to understand and react to the gravity of the situation. But in other cases, passengers simply refused to get in the lifeboats because they could not fathom that the great ship could sink.
As we noted earlier in the week, the story of Noah and the Ark is not a children’s story. It’s a story of sin, judgment, faith and salvation; it’s the story of the world in a nutshell; it’s the story of the gospel.
By Genesis chapter 6 the world had become a very broken place; and the world is still a very broken place.
Just this week I saw a story in our local newspaper about an 18 year old girl who was beaten to death with a hammer and her body then set on fire.
The Bible says God sees the wickedness of the people he created and that his heart grieves. Even our hearts tell us that such wickedness cries out for judgment. Genesis tells us that long ago God judged the wickedness of humanity through a great flood, saving only a righteous and obedient man named Noah and his family.
But God has promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood. God promised to deal with our sin in a different way; not through judgment but by grace. God promised to provide salvation to those who believed his word; not through a boat, but by his Son.
In Romans, Paul writes:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:8-9
And just as those who entered the doorway of the ark were saved, Jesus says that those who put their faith in him will be saved.
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. John 10:9
So, just as the ark was God’s salvation for the few; Jesus is God’s salvation for the many.
In that sense, then, Jesus is like the lifeboats on the Titanic. The ship itself is like the broken world in which we live; the brokenness of our own sin. The Bible says the ship is taking on water and is going down. No matter how much we insist that it is not true; no matter how much we would like to believe the ship will sail on forever; no matter how we try to ignore the captain’s warnings; the ship is sinking.
But there is a lifeboat and there is plenty of room.
Brian Coffey
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