And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Does “the Lord was sorry” mean that God sinned? Or that God made a mistake? Or that God regretted what He did? All of these things go against the definition of God
But the Fathers teach us an important lesson. That for God to connect or relate to us, as men, uses some expressions of humans that we can understand. God is incomprehensible and God is Spirit – it is hard for me to understand or comprehend God. It is impossible for me to contain Him. So God’s use of human expressions lets us understand the meaning.
When it says God was sad (grieved in His heart) – it doesn’t mean that God had a human feeling of sadness before His incarnation – but that His rejection of evil let Him be something like “human sadness” and feel something like “human sorrow”
So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air”
Imagine if the whole story of mankind was just six chapters… Creation in chapter 1, and the end of the world in chapter 6… this is what it seems like so far
Many times we contemplate on God’s love – but we should also contemplate on God’s hatred of evil. The same amount that God loves us, He hates evil. And this should give us fear – the same amount that we rejoice in God’s love, we should fear evil.
“for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Why is God so upset? You know when Christ said “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” – imagine that if just one person on earth had repented, there would be rejoicing in heaven. But there was not even one.
When the judgement day comes, God will not ask you “why did you do this sin” or “why did you do this sin” – He will ask you “why didn’t you repent!?”
You sinned because you’re weak; because Satan wants you to fall; because your nature still has sin; because your environment is full of evil. Fine. But why didn’t you repent? Repentance is as easy as a prayer “Have mercy on me O Lord a sinner”
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
This verse gives us comfort for three reasons
In the midst of God’s sorrow and plan to destroy man, one man found grace in the eyes of God
God does not look at the whole group or humanity as a whole – He looks at each individual one-by-one
In the midst of evil – even when everyone around you is evil, it is still possible to be good
Many examples of this: Joseph in Egypt kept his righteousness, Abraham in his generation interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses was told by God leave this congregation and I’ll make a people from you
How did Noah do it? Is he an angel or a man? He’s a man. Did Noah make mistakes? Yes, and we’ll see this soon
Why did Noah find grace in the eyes of the Lord when no one else around him did? Because he had faith in God
The person who is different from his generation – finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. The person who rejects evil – finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The easy way is to do like all the people and think like all the people and live like all the people. “But narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14)
We can learn a prayer from this verse “Lord let me find grace in Your eyes – give me grace in Your eyes. Be happy with me. Don’t let me be the reason of sorrow but the reason for rejoicing when I live my life of repentance”
This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.
Just! Perfect! Big words. Who is just or who is perfect?
In 2 chapters we will see that Noah sinned – so how is he perfect? The Bible is telling us that as humans, being perfect doesn’t mean that you never sin again. No – because no one is without sin. But it means to live with God. The person who lives his whole life with God – he is perfect.
Of course he is not perfect – only God is perfect. But relative to his generation – he was perfect.
Noah walked with God.
When did we hear about someone who “walked with God”? Enoch! And he was translated or taken by God!
What does it mean? He is living with God – as two people who live together.
Walking with God makes man perfect
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses – all of these walked with God. Must be nice! But what about us? Can I walk with God?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever – if you want to walk with God, you can do it. Walk with God and don’t think of anything but Him. If God hates laziness, I won’t be lazy. If He hates liars, I won’t lie. If He hates jealousy, I won’t get jealous. That is the way to walk with God.
And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Lest someone claim that their wife or kids get in the way of them being with God, the Bible tells us immediately that Noah had a wife and children
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
Why does it keep bringing up the earth? Because God created the earth to be like heaven – as we say “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – He even came down from heaven and was incarnate to the earth – but man did not want that. Starting with Adam and Eve.
“All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth”
Each person has the choice to corrupt their way and to live a life of evil, or to live a life of good. Each person has the choice.
If you want to live a righteous life, you will live a righteous life, and God will help you. But if you want to live a life of sin, you will live a life of sin, and not even God can stop you
And God said to Noah
Every time we see “____ walked with God” we’ll soon after see “God said to _____”
All of us love God. No one here will say they don’t love God. But when will someone say “he walks with God” or “she walks with God?” When he or she hears God’s voice.
Walking with God leads to hearing God’s voice
“The end of all flesh has come before Me”
Who is Noah that God would tell him His plan for all of earth? Noah is a human – one of Your creation – and You tell him what You’re thinking?
God is telling His friend – like when God goes to Abraham and says “Sodom and Gomorrah” or when God goes to Moses and says “the children of Israel are being difficult”
And none of those people were gonna go out and say “oh God told me His plans yeah I’m cool with God” – because God would not tell His secrets except to those who are humble. If they weren’t humble, the devils would play with them and give them false messages as if from God – and this is where false prophets came from. But the difference between false prophets, and real prophets like Enoch, Noah and Abraham… is humility.
For the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Noah is listening to God tell him that He’s gonna destroy the earth
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood
God is giving two truths here that still have 100 years until they happen. God is giving him the news early!
We will destroy the whole earth
Make yourself an ark
If You created me, and You’re destroying the world, don’t You have another way to save me besides spending 100 years building an ark? You’re a God of wonders and miracles – why don’t You just take me somewhere, destroy the earth and bring me back? Is anything too much for God?
But God chose Noah’s salvation to be in this way. For Noah to play a part in his own salvation
If God didn’t wait for Noah to build the ark; if God didn’t bless Noah’s work building the ark; if God didn’t shut the door on Noah’s ark – Noah would have drowned like anyone else!
But God loves the salvation of His children, but He also loves His children’s role in their salvation
Make for yourself a way of salvation – draw a circle around yourself that you won’t go outside. Take care of yourself. Separate yourself from the other people
The Ark in the New Testament
The Church is in the shape of an ark to remind us with the meaning – he who is inside the ark lives, and he who is outside the ark dies.
The Fathers say “there is no salvation outside of the Church” – and of course “the Church” doesn’t refer to a physical building, but even the physical building is a sign of something spiritual
The ark, which brought salvation, is made of wood The Cross, which is made of wood, brought salvation
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood – take up your cross and follow Me
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
To fix your tongue, first fix your heart
Fix your inside then your outside – when you fix your inside, your outside will follow
The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits
Allegory: Numerology – Origen: See page 96 part (5)
You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side.
Allegory: Why the side? The wood of the ark represents the Cross and on the Cross, out of Christ’s side was a wound [didn’t really understand this part – something about he who lives by the sword dies by the sword maybe?
But it made me think that the door to the ark was on the side, and with the Ark as the Cross, out of Christ’s side came blood and water – a representation of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the door to salvation
You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
Allegory: Origen says that these three decks represent the three levels of Biblical Interpretation: Lower deck – literary, Second deck – moral, Third deck – allegorical (relationship of these words to our salvation)
And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
Why would God destroy the animals and the birds?
Remember that all creation was made FOR man. Man was given dominion over all of the animals and the trees. So if man is walking in the way of death, then all that is his and all that is for him is also walking in the way of death. As if God is trying to convey to us – all of these good things were made for you, so all of these things must die because of you.
But I will establish My covenant with you
This is the first time we hear the word covenant
Covenant means a deal or a promise
God makes a Covenant in the Bible and He always keeps His end of the deal, but man fails to keep their end… so God renews the covenant again. And He keeps His part but man fails… so God renews the covenant and tries again
And you shall go into the ark – you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
The Family
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… and yet because of Noah and on behalf of Noah, his whole family gets to enter the ark.
This doesn’t mean that his family had no faith – if they truly had no faith, they would have done like all the other people – laugh at him and not get in the ark.
Noah’s sons had less faith than him – but they still had the foundation. This is why parenting is important. Raise your children in the way of God – even if they aren’t as faithful as you. Because of you, they could be saved… or because of you they could be lost.
Take your wife because you and your wife are one. Take your sons – and your sons bring their wives because they and their wives are one. So the law here, though it isn’t written down yet, is already established by the words of God in Genesis 2
The Church
We can say that the Garden of Eden was the first Church ever made but it was made by God. So then the ark is the first Church ever made by hands.
He and his family will enter and they will pray (Noah is a man of prayer)
All who are outside die, and all who are inside are saved
The ark is a symbol of Baptism
The number 8 (eight people were saved) is important
God created the world in 7 days. The 8th day or 8 in general represents “what is after the world” or “what is after life” – the number 8 represents eternal life
Sunday is which day of the week? You can call it the 1st day of the week, or the day after the 7th day of the week which is (1 + 7)? 8th day of the week
7th day is for the earthly. 8th day is for the heavenly. “This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.
Those who understand science know there’s a difference between Domain/Kingdom/Phylum/Class/Order/Family/Genus/Species. He did not need to take one of every species, but one of every family or maybe of every genus. And from those kinds you arrive at many different species (microevolution, cross breeding, etc).
So Noah’s job ended up being pretty hard – gather a bunch of wood, build a huge ark, bring all the animals in, gather up a lot of food, keep the animals alive, feed your family. So it’s very hard. And it will take a long time. And it’s the kind of thing that will make you seem crazy.
If you were going to build a boat in those days… where would you do it? By the water – by the sea. Because why build it and then try to figure out how you’re gonna move it to the water – just build it at the water. But to build a boat in the middle of nowhere or on a mountain requires – faith. Noah believed exactly what God told him – that a flood was coming.
Of course, when Noah told this to anyone, they laughed at him – what do you mean a flood to the top of the mountains? If it rains, we’ll just go to higher ground – it will never reach the top of a mountain. And with every nail he hammered and every piece of wood he glued, they laughed at him more and more.
And the same thing happens with us
Every time you do the right thing – give to the poor, serve others, live a chaste life, people look at you and say “are you crazy” or say “you’re weird” or say “you’re not cool” – and if you look at them and say “I do this because I want to go to heaven” they’ll ask “have you seen heaven with your eyes? Do you have proof?” No. But I know it. I know it because God said it and I believe God. Noah had faith.
But it’s much easier for us – we have millions of people before us and tens of thousands of people among us alive today who believe the same thing as us – encouraging one another. Comforting one another. Teaching one another. Noah had no one to be his rock – he supported his seven family members, and the whole world was against him.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
