"But God remembered ..."
Genesis 8:1
Chapter 8 of Genesis picks up in the middle of the worldwide flood to destroy all flesh. The event showcases many of God’s characteristics.
God’s holiness is made vividly clear. God is perfect. He is set apart from sin and cannot abide by wrongdoing. When the world becomes full of wrongdoing, the holy God cannot stand it.
On a similar note, God’s sense of justice is on full display. Like a good judge, God cannot simply overlook a crime. God sees into the hearts of man and lays bare every motive and thought. He serves righteous justice on it all. God is fair, and every good deed and bad deed will be rewarded and punished rightly. The problem for people is that everyone has transgressed the Lord’s perfect standard, and the proper penalty for even one sin is death. The flood and destruction of the human race is God’s righteous and deserved judgment.
However, there is another key characteristic of God that the flood puts on full display. In the midst of this righteous judgment of humanity, God saves a man (Noah) and his family. While God is unleashing His wrath, chapter 8 begins with the phrase, “But God remembered Noah …” Although Noah was not perfect, he was counted as righteous for His faith in God. God showed him mercy and spared Him. Although God is both holy and just, He is also kind, merciful, and full of grace. In verse 21 of chapter 8, God promises, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” Despite the persistence of man’s wickedness, God shows kindness and mercy in withholding His wrath.
The salvation of Noah points directly towards Jesus Christ. How could a just God show mercy and grace toward someone who deserved punishment? How can He allow some to escape his judgment? The answer is that every single sin deserves death. Every single one of us has earned hell, but God is able to forgive us because His son Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and did not deserve any punishment, yet he willingly took the penalty of others upon Himself. So when a person believes in Jesus, God sees that the person’s debt has already been paid by Jesus, and God’s justice is satisfied. Thus that person can enter into the presence of a Holy God, having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
written by Casey Hust