Among being thankful and
relieved, a human Noah likely had disembarked the ark overwhelmed,
malnourished, and depressed. Like a good teacher knows the attention spans of
his students, God knew the hearts of the eight humans stepping off the ark.
They could wander as easily as the hearts that had stopped beating in the flood
water.
God calmed their fears by promising he would never again destroy the world in a flood (Genesis 9:14-16). God, the Master Teacher, gave his Word to a group that was processing their desolate new world. To accommodate their overwhelmed minds, he gave his Word along with a visible sign of his promise: the rainbow. The promise attached to the rainbow still hangs in the clouds today.
God calmed their fears by promising he would never again destroy the world in a flood (Genesis 9:14-16). God, the Master Teacher, gave his Word to a group that was processing their desolate new world. To accommodate their overwhelmed minds, he gave his Word along with a visible sign of his promise: the rainbow. The promise attached to the rainbow still hangs in the clouds today.
Noah wasn’t the only who
needed signs to remind him of God’s promises. The apostle Peter told us,
“God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it
only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water
symbolizes baptism that now saves you also” (1 Peter 3:20-21).
God, the Master Teacher,
knows we get distracted in church. He sees our Google calendars fill up--even
on Sunday mornings. His watchful eye is on us when our attention zings away
from our open Bibles.However, our Master Teacher has graciously accommodated our learning deficits, like he had with Noah. He provides his "visible Word" for our senses. He not only tells us our sin and guilt are washed away. In baptism, he has us see and feel a substance we use everyday--water.
We aren't simply told
Christ's body and blood were given for us (Matthew 26:26-28). We see, feel and
taste the promise of eternal life when we are nourished by the body and blood
in, with, and under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper.
Finally, mankind got to see God's promises fulfilled in Jesus, the Word made flesh with the same five senses we have. Because he died and rose for us, putting our fingers on his nail marks and wounded side is a hands-on lesson we can look forward to in heaven.
Finally, mankind got to see God's promises fulfilled in Jesus, the Word made flesh with the same five senses we have. Because he died and rose for us, putting our fingers on his nail marks and wounded side is a hands-on lesson we can look forward to in heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment