It has been painful to consider the gruesome details this week in the murder trial of Victoria Stafford. Her father has been particularly vocal with the media in his natural desire for justice. Although nothing will bring his daughter back, after much waiting, he expects to find some degree of peace following a just sentence for the murder of his daughter.
Following the death of the majority of humanity in the flood, Genesis 8 recounts the end of waiting by Noah and his family. Justice had been executed against a guilty humanity and there is now a sense of peace in moving on with life.
How does one comprehend death? Every day we experience either first hand or through the stories of war and famine, someone suffering, often violently. Death and violence is the natural result of living in a world in rebellion to God. Dealing with traumatic events and the emotional turmoil that follows is an often slow, arduous process. The place that we turn to find comfort in these times makes all the difference.
Genesis 8:6-11 presents the aftermath of cataclysmic events of the flood. Noah, a man of faith, leads his family into a new world. After a period of great waiting, God offers hope and peace. In this narrative, we see the 1) Looking for Peace (Genesis 8:6), 2) Lacking of Peace (Genesis 8:7), and the 3) Locating of Peace (Genesis 8:8-11)
1) Looking for Peace (Genesis 8:6)
Genesis 8:6 [6]At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made (ESV)
The whole planet was under water. This is a universal global flood. It covers the entire earth. We learn from the first five verses of the eighth chapter that when it was time for the flood to be over, God began to remove the water. And He did it, first of all, verse 1, by a great wind. "He caused a wind to pass over the earth," and this wind began to blow the water away. And, certainly, the breakup of the canopy exposed the sun and its full, blazing brightness to the planet earth. And there, of course, was an evaporation going on, as well. As the water in verse 3 and 5 steadily is decreasing. The wind blows it. The sun evaporates it, and the great sea basins are created. The mountains are pushed up, and they force the water by gravity down into these great basins. The rain falls on the top of the mountain. It runs down. It forms snow, and then it runs down in little rivulets and finally becomes rivers, and the rivers run into the sea. And that’s the hydrological cycle. The water in the sea evaporates into the clouds. The cloud goes over the mountain, drops the rain, drops the snow again, and the cycle goes on all the time.
Please turn to Psalm 104
The earth that appeared after the flood was very different from before the flood. It had these massive high mountains, and it had these deep, deep ocean basins. There were mountains that go as high as 30,000 feet, and oceans that go as deep as 35,000 feet. It was extreme from the comparison to the earth before the flood.
Psalm 104:1-8 [104:1]Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, [2]covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. [3]He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; [4]he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. [5]He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. [6]You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. [7]At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. [8]The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. (ESV)
Scientists will tell you, most mountain ranges are made up of igneous rock. Igneous rock, is there because there was this explosive kind of volcanic movement on the crust of the earth. Igneous rock is typically in mountain ranges of the world covered with sedimentary stratified rock. If you go down deep into the mountain, you find this igneous...this almost volcanic kind of rock. Whereas, on the surface, you see layers of sedimentary kind of rock. Before the great flood comes: The mountains haven’t been raised up. The seabeds haven’t come down. That’s not until the latter part of the flood time. The flood comes, and water literally drowns the whole earth. Since the mountains aren’t that high, and the basins of the ocean, the valleys aren’t that deep at that time, so the earth is completely submerged in water. This causes massive mudslides and movements of sediment. Sedimentary rock is not formed by one generation of rock and another and another and another over millions of years. It’s formed in a holocaust by a tremendous force of water moving in this direction and pushing layers on top of layers on top of layers on top of layers. This is just plain geological science. The great flood transported and deposited material in massive layers all over the world. That happened in the first part of the flood...The earth was opening up. Massive amounts of water were coming out of the bowels of the earth. Rain was pouring down from the sky. These massive mudslides were forming, and sedimentary rock was literally being pushed and accumulated all over the face of the earth.
Then, in the latter half of the flood, God begins to push the mountains up with volcanic movement. And, as the mountains push up, they push up the sedimentary rock so that what you find on the top of the mountain is the sedimentary rock. That is why in almost every mountain range on the face of the earth, you find marine fossils at the top of the mountain...because that’s where the sedimentary rock was that once was at the bottom of the flood. And it was in those great mudslides and great stratification that burial of life took place.
The ark rested in the mountains of Ararat 150 days after the rains began. Assyrian records may identify such a name in Armenia of eastern Turkey, but the precise location remains unknown (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Ge 8:4–19). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
When Noah and his group came off the ark, they probably saw the bones of dead people all over the place. Dead animals, as well, that had dried, floated, bloated, decayed, and settled back to the ground. And there they were, lying on the ground decomposing in the sun. Many other bones, of course, were deposited and buried in the sediment. So when they stepped off that...that ark that day, when they walked into a post-flood world, the first thing they were extremely aware of was divine judgment. They would’ve seen a devastated earth. Different, high mountains, low valleys, ocean basins, stripped, death everywhere, and nobody there but them. No one alive. No one...No neighbors...And the flood would be stark, indescribable evidence of the judgment of God. Creation was a generation of life. This situation was a recreation, a regeneration.
• In regeneration you find the same thing. God brings life from what was previously dead.
At the end of forty days...that’s forty days after verse 5 , you have forty days after the water decreased steadily and the tops of the mountains became visible. The allusion to “forty” was also the period of Israel’s captivity in the wilderness until God’s wrath was satisfied (e.g., Num 14:33–34) (Mathews, K. A. (2001). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (387). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
• There can never be peace until God’s wrath is satisfied. The flood is a picture of consequences for sin. Since God is holy, He cannot allow sin to occur without consequence. The ultimate consequence is the execution of His wrath. For those who sin, until they repent of that sin there is no peace. A lifetime of failure to repent of sin, brings God’s wrath.
For Noah and his family, the water’s going down. The mountains are pushing up. Forty days later...It says that, "Noah opened the window of the ark." This would be in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, eleventh month, tenth day. He waited until the water, which had subsided, to reveal the tops of the mountains. Very patient man, by the way. You would think he would really want to get off that thing as fast as possible. But he had learned to be patient and obedient to the Lord. Now Noah doesn’t move very far. It doesn’t say he kicked open the door and they all ran out. It...it just says he opened the window. He didn’t go very far without hearing from God. He didn’t know anything about the new world. He didn’t know what was out there, what to expect. He had developed a pattern of obeying the Lord for 121 years, and he wasn’t about to change it.
• This is a picture of faith. God doesn’t promise to give us all the answers to what is happening or going to happen. Faith is trusting in God that He is worthy to be trusted especially when we don’t immediately have al the answers. God expects us to follow His instructions and use biblical wisdom to make decisions that would most please Him.
Illustration: ("You Can’t Organize It")
Woodrow Wilson’s dream for world peace produced the League of Nations, but this organization did not achieve peace. Following World War II the United Nations was formed.
This organization provides a forum for debate, but insofar as preventing war is concerned, it, too, is an exercise in futility. The idea is good, but its higher goals cannot be attained when the organization is controlled and engineered by finite, sinful persons. The world will never know a “just and lasting peace” until people and nations submit willingly to the absolute and benevolent will of Jesus Christ (Hobbs, H. H. (1990). My favorite illustrations (194). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.).
2) Lacking of Peace (Genesis 8:7)
Genesis 8:7 [7]and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. (ESV)
It is Noah’s responsibility to ascertain whether the land is sufficiently dry so that he and the others may leave the ark. But the actual moment of departure awaits God’s command (8:15–17) (Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (302–303). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
• God has given us responsibilities and abilities that pertain to those responsibilities. We are to follow God’s direction for action but that does not negate our responsibility to be aware of what is happening. Therefore, when God’s command to act occurs, we will be sufficiently prepared, know the resources at our disposal and the situation we are being deployed into.
Now, why would Noah send a raven? Well, he would send a raven, because a raven was a scavenger bird. A Scavenger bird who would eat just about anything...It would be like the crow chewing on road kill...The raven was a scavenger bird. And...if there was any dead flesh bloating and floating on the water or lying around anywhere, the raven would sniff it out. They were able to eat anything. Its departure from the ark signified that the impurities of the past had been removed and the creation of the new world had a fresh start (Mathews, K. A. (2001). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (387). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
• Peace only occurs when the past is removed. When people hold on to guilt, they cling to the past. Faith in Christ is not only receiving His righteousness, but the realization that He suffered God’s wrath for our sin. In faith, we release our past sinfulness and realize that it has been atoned for, no longer to be carried by us.
In releasing the raven, Noah would be able to tell, at least in part, if the raven didn’t come back, that the raven had found some flesh floating in the water. He wanted to know if that’s what had happened. He wanted to get a little bit of preview of what he was going see when he got off. And, apparently, the raven did find some flesh, because "It went to and fro/flew here and there until the waters were dried up from the earth." It stayed out there. It just flew here and flew there until the water was completely dried up. That was several weeks later...In the Mosaic Law, the raven was considered unclean. It was unfit for food. They were not to eat it, and it was unfit for sacrifice (Leviticus 11:15, Deuteronomy 14:14.).
• After regeneration there are several things that you will choose not to do. You won’t have peace when you do them for your conscience as prompted by the Holy Spirit will lead you away from certain activities. That’s why it is a dangerous thing to try to convince someone to do something against their conscience.
Quote: As the raven was sent out of the ark and finds no place to rest its foot, and so it roams endlessly and restlessly over the earth. It is as Daniel Defoe wrote in The History of the Devil: “Satan, being thus confined to a vagabond, wandering, unsettled condition, is without any certain abode; for though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature, a kind of empire in the liquid waste or air, yet this is certainly part of his punishment, that he is … without any fixed place, or space, allowed him to rest the sole of his foot upon.”( Freeman, J. M., & Chadwick, H. J. (1998). Manners & customs of the Bible (Rev. ed.].) (15–16). North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers.)
3) Locating of Peace (Genesis 8:8-11)
Genesis 8:8 [8]Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. [9]But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. [10]He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. [11]And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. (ESV)
What Noah needed to know was not only that there was death out there, but what he needed to know was that there was life out there. Right? Because they were gonna have to find some life in order to what? To eat...And while a raven was a scavenger bird that ate flesh, a dove was a very docile bird, easily tamed, that ate vegetation... A raven didn’t care where it was. It could just land on a corpse and pick away and fly and hit another corpse and pick away and fly and hit another corpse and pick away...didn’t have to land anywhere. But that wasn’t true of a dove. Doves were birds of the valley, according to the old rabbis, and they needed to find a settled place in a valley or a place on a low cliff, just above the ground. They would make their little nest in a low cliff.
They would make their little roost there, so they could fly out that low cliff down and get the vegetation that was in the valley. The dove was able to be tamed. The raven was wild. The dove was a clean bird, according to the same passage, Leviticus 11:15, Deuteronomy 14:14. And the raven was unclean. The dove was the symbol of gentleness. Of course, later on in the Old Testament, symbol of beauty. It was used also for sacrifice, because it was clean and also could be eaten. It was also viewed as a pet and a symbol of peace and joy.
Genesis 8:9 [9]But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. (ESV)
Noah had waited seven days to send that dove out. Now he waits another seven days. Verse ten says:
Genesis 8:10 [10]He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. (ESV)
Noah is doing this for the same previous purpose: To see if the water had subsided so that plants begin to surface.The author here is specifying these time periods for a reason. Not only does it specify that we are talking about history and not myth or fable, but it also corresponds to the rest of the narrative.
We see:
7 days of waiting for flood (7:4)
7 days of waiting for flood (7:10)
40 days of flood (7:17a)
150 days of water triumphing (7:24)
150 days of water waning (8:3)
40 days of waiting (8:6)
7 days of waiting (8:10)
7 days of waiting (8:12)
One can clearly see the importance of the “7 days” in this pattern. It is the same 7-day pattern that plays a central role in the Creation account of chapter 1 (J.W. Wenham (Genesis 1–15 Word Biblical Commentary [Waco: Word, 1987])).
Genesis 8:11 [11]And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. (ESV)
One of the trees in the world that can survive under water for a long time is an olive tree. In fact, olive trees are hearty trees. They have so much oil in them, olive oil, so much oil in them that when you cut a branch and you want to carve it, you have to let it sit for a long, long, long time, or it remains green and very difficult to carve. And even after you’ve carved it, it’s liable to split and not give the effect that the carver wants. So it takes a long time to dry out, even a cut branch. They’re very, very hearty trees. And so that fits into the account very well.
This little dove found a freshly plucked olive leaf. The raven showed Noah there was death. The dove showed Noah there was...life. There was life...A freshly picked or plucked olive leaf. That meant the little hills were exposed. That meant the land was being dried. That meant the valleys were becoming clear. So Noah at the end of verse 11 knew the water was abated from the earth. As a fresh leaf, it was newly born and thus was confirmation that the earth again was yielding its herbage (as 1:11–12 30). Noah knew that the waters had receded to the lower elevations where olive trees commonly grow (Smith, J. E. (1993). The Pentateuch (2nd ed.) (Ge 8:1–19). Joplin, Mo.: College Press Pub. Co.).
This emblem of life and prosperity gave this second Adam reassurance of continued life and safety. Both anointing oil and dove had symbolic value in Israel for the empowering presence of the Spirit, especially the ministry of the messianic figure (e.g., 1 Sam 16:13; Ps 89:20; Isa 61:1). Jesus of Nazareth took up that ministry (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38), and at his public baptism all four Evangelists note that the Spirit came upon him in the form of a descending “dove” (Matt 3:16 pars.). (Mathews, K. A. (2001). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (388). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
Please turn to Isaiah 61
The law was first sent forth like the raven, but brought no tidings of the assuaging of the waters of God’s wrath, with which the world of mankind was deluged; therefore, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his gospel, as the dove, in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended, and this presents us with an olive-branch and brings in a better hope (Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ge 8:6–12). Peabody: Hendrickson.).
Isaiah 61:1-4 [61:1]The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; [2]to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; [3]to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. [4]They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (ESV)
Through the Spirit of the Lord, there is peace after devastation. You don’t have to suffer for the sins of the past, you don’t have to be discouraged, or fearful. There is liberty from the captivity of sin: that is the good news of the Gospel. Now is the time of the Lord’s favour for those who repent of sin. God wants to turn your mourning to gladness, hope and peace. For those who God had given this liberty to, we are anointed to bring the good news to others in captivity. Now is the day of liberty, hope and peace. We are the anointed messengers with an anointed message of peace.
(Format note: some base commentary from http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-261/gods-miraculous-restoration-of-mankind)
