Bibles Stories: Ctrl+Alt+Del

Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC... 

Ctrl+Alt+Del (Excerpts Genesis 6-9)

God said to Noah, who was now living in the United States, "Once again, the planet has become wicked and over-populated and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save two of every living thing."

God gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have six months to build it.”

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard, but no ark.

Noah", He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah. "But things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations.

We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I argued that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls. But no go!

When I started gathering the animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study.

“I’m sorry, Lord, it’s gonna take me ten years to finish this Ark."

Suddenly, the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean, You're not going to destroy the world?".

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

The way we teach the story of Noah tends toward happy pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Ark with all the animals smiling under a rainbow. But when you read the biblical narrative, the story is quite horrific. It’s a terrible cataclysmic disaster on a global scale. The creator decided to hit Ctrl Alt Del and reboot. Everything dies, except those on the ark.

God was cut to the heart because His good creation had been ruined by violence and wickedness. It was time to wipe the slate clean. God chose to begin a new creation with the people and animals on the ark. 

Hidden in the story are clues pointing to Moses, the covenant and the tabernacle. For example, the dimensions to Noah’s ark would hold three tabernacle courtyards, end to end exactly. Each of the 3 decks on the ark are 10 cubits high, the same height as the tabernacle.

A key verse that helps me interpret Noah’s story is Genesis 6:14. 

Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

The word ark is a translation of the Hebrew word teba (tay-vaw’), which only appears in one other place in the Old Testament outside of Noah’s story. The same word is used to describe the basket in which baby Moses was set afloat upon the Nile. This parallel is intentional. Noah’s ark is pointing to Moses, the lawgiver, and the covenant. 

Just as God gave Noah specific designs for the ark, God gave Moses detailed instructions for the tabernacle. Gen 6:22 says, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” The scripture uses the exact same wording to show Moses’ obedience. Exodus 40:16 says, “Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him.” Both Noah, the blameless, and Moses, the lawgiver, set an example of strict obedience in following God’s commands. Obedience leads to God’s blessing.

God told the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan,

Pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised. (Dt 11:8-9)

The Law of Moses includes instructions to priests on how to carry out offerings and sacrifices. The story of Noah points to the temple’s sacrificial system. 

From Genesis 6:14 God tells Noah to cover the ark in pitch. The Hebrew word translated as cover is kafar, the same word used in reference to atonement. Just as pitch covers the ark, the blood of the sacrifice covers over sin.

The Hebrew word kopher is translated as pitch. It’s the same word used to describe a ransom payment. 

When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. (Exodus 30:12)

This ransom price would later be called the temple tax. We, Methodists, call it apportionments! 

The wood used to build the ark, gopher, is not found in any other verse in the Bible. English translations sometimes call it cypress wood, a high resin wood used in ship building. Other translations use a letter for letter substitution, gopher wood. Nobody knows what gopher wood is. In all likelihood, it’s a play on words in Hebrew. Gopher rhymes with kopher, the word most often translated as ransom. The resin from the wood is a major ingredient in making pitch. The resin tree is related to the ransom paid for each one’s life.

Now I know it’s getting a little deep in here, but bear with me. It is a story about a flood after all! There’s a few more things to consider. 

The story of Noah’s Ark is the first to feature specific dates on the Hebrew calendar. Those dates are there purposefully to point the reader toward dates in the Jewish religious calendar. 

The church has a religious calendar that differs from our regular calendar. The new year begins January 1st, but on the Church’s liturgical calendar the new year begins on the first Sunday of Advent. Jews celebrate New Years (Rosh Hashanah) on October 2nd this year. 10 days later is Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The rain started falling 5 weeks after Yom Kippur. 5 represents God’s grace. God is cleansing the earth of corruption.

5 months pass. The ark rests upon the mountains of Ararat on the 17th day of the 7th month (Nisan). Every good Jew would know that date corresponds with Passover.

God sent 10 plagues upon Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery. The final plague was the death of the firstborn. The Hebrew families sacrificed a perfect yearling lamb on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan. They spread its blood on the doorposts and mantles of their homes and the angel of death passed over their homes. On the morning of the 3rd day after Passover, that is the 17th day of Nisan, the Hebrews were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea. 

Pharaoh sent his chariots after them. God split the Red Sea with a mighty wind, and they escaped safely across dry land. The Egyptians chased them into the sea but perished when the water came crashing down upon them. 

The feast of first fruits occurs the Sunday following Passover. When the 14th day of Nisan is celebrated on a Thursday, the Festival of First Fruits is celebrated on the 17th of the month. It is the same day that the manna stopped falling from heaven to feed the Israelites. On the 17th day of Nisan, Joshua and the Israelites ate for the first time grain from the Promised Land! On this same day, Queen Esther risked her life to save her people from genocide. On the 17th Day of Nisan, the tables turned on Haman the Agagite. He was hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. Each one of these stories point to deliverance. And Jesus rose from the grave 3 days after Passover, the first fruit of the dead.

Can you see how the story of Noah points to the covenant through Moses, its temple sacrifices, the atonement for sin, and the ransom paid to save lives?

Gen 6:14 could be read this way, “Make for yourself a vessel of resin wood, and atone for it with a ransom.”

The ark came to rest on Mt Ararat. Noah sent out a dove to determine if there was dry ground. On the second try, the dove returned with an olive shoot in its beak, a sign that life was returning to the earth. 

The dove and olive shoot have come to symbolize peace. Olive oil was used as a healing balm in the ancient world. It was also used to anoint priests and kings. I think the dove and olive shoot tells us that God’s pained heart had healed and there was peace once again between God and humanity. The symbol points to Jesus, the Anointed One, the priestly king who restores peace between God and humanity.

Now if the story ended there, I might be able to accept happy pictures of Mr and Mrs Ark and all the animals under God’s rainbow. But the story of Noah takes a dark turn.

Noah plants a vineyard and gets drunk on wine. He passes out naked in this tent. I ain’t lying! Look it up in Genesis 9:20-27. Noah’s son Ham sees his father’s nakedness. To see one’s nakedness is a Hebrew turn of phrase meaning sexual activity. Something shameful occurred. Ham brags about it to his brothers, which says something about his character. He has no honor, no compassion for the vulnerable.

Noah learns what happened and cursed Ham’s son Canaan, which is a way of cursing Ham’s entire lineage. Genesis 10 records Ham’s lineage. It is a virtual who’s who of Israel’s future enemies; the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Jebusites, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and Egypt. This bizarre end to Noah’s story is making a statement. God learns along with us that genocide is not the answer. Sin persisted in its corruption of God’s good creation. Sin continued its corruption of humanity, giving rise to nations without honor or compassion for the vulnerable.

God gave Israel the sacrificial system to atone for sin. God provided the ultimate sacrifice, His only begotten, Jesus Christ to atone for all sin. His life was the ransom paid once for all upon the tree, his cross. 

The apostle Peter connects Noah to salvation through Jesus. 

God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Pt 3:20-21) 

The ark saved Noah from the waters of chaos. And the church is the vessel that rescues us from social chaos. The world is crazy with violence and threat. But here, held in this temple, we are saved.