Session 2 Recap: Trent Hunter, “Noah”
Editor’s Note: Grant Blankenship is the Preaching Elder at Cedar Springs Church, Cedar Crest, NM. He is a member of the Albuquerque Chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This post is a summary of Trent Hunter’s message from Friday evening at Clarus, March 16, "Noah."
In session 2, Trent explained that like a puzzle, the Bible can feel like a whole lot of work but, in time it can reveal clarity and purpose. Yet like a puzzle, in order to put the pieces together, we must see three things: we must see the piece at hand, we must see what has been completed so far, and we must see the finished picture on the box. Meaning, In order to see where each story fits, we need to see how it fits into the picture of the whole.
A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
First, looking at Noah as a single puzzle piece Hunter walked us through the account of Noah from three perspectives:
Before the boat
How are things going for mankind since we left Adam? Answer…when you leave Adam’s sinful race alone the result will always be the complete corruption that originates out of his heart. Yet, Hunter displayed, the corruption before Noah is not isolated to back then. For example, today we have schools painted with innocent blood, dictators in different countries manipulating and murdering thousands of people and these are just a couple of similarities. And while the world was hammering away at each other, Noah was hammering away at a boat. However, his obedience and righteousness looked like madness to the sinful world around him.
On the boat
Hunter explained that, as is always the case, things take a dark turn when the wrath of God shows up. Seeing this corruption in Genesis 6, God said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land…” and He included animals and everything on the earth. Yet, the boat the Lord told Noah to build would protect and preserve him and his family through the destruction. So, everyone inside the boat was alive but everyone outside the ark was dead; taken by the wrath of the God. Evil was completely put down and Noah was saved.
After the boat
Hunter said, “Never had things looked so good since the garden.” God covenanted with Noah that never again would he wipe out mankind again by flood. And God sealed this covenant between Him and Noah with a rainbow as an everlasting sign of His promise. The earth had been wiped clean of sin and all that was left was the one righteous man and his family to begin anew.
By the next chapter, Genesis 9, Noah, the man who had been called the only righteous person alive by God, gets drunk and is found naked in his tent lying in his shame. Noah, like Adam had failed. Noah like the rest of us couldn’t do it. Noah like everyone before him and everyone after him still needed a savior.
THE PUZZLE THAT’S BEEN COMPLETED
When doing a puzzle one must also see what has been completed in order to know how any single piece fits. So, Hunter described that, like Adam was the beginning of creation, Noah was a fresh start to creation; a new Adam. One cannot say that they would not have acted like Adam and therefore are not guilty. Like Adam, Noah had failed. Like Adam, the newness God had created had been defiled. But just like Adam, God covenanted with Noah to provide a Savior.
WHAT THE COMPLETED PUZZLE WILL LOOK LIKE
Finally, Hunter explained that when building a puzzle, in order to know where your piece fits, you must also know what the puzzle will look like when it’s finished. So, how does the story of Noah speak to the finished product? Hunter answered this question in two ways: first, by taking us to Matthew 24 to show that Jesus actually quoted the story of Noah to describe how unexpected the coming of God’s final judgement will be. Just like the flood that took the people of the earth by surprise, the suddenness of the return of Christ in judgement will be just as startling. Yet, Hunter explained, the 2nd coming of Christ will be far worse than the drowning souls in the Noah account. However, second, Hunter explained that if you are on board the ark of Jesus Christ his salvation will be infinitely better than the salvation Noah experienced on the ark. Similar to the ark, Jesus will safely carry any who believe through the flood of God’s wrath. Like Noah, those who board the ark of salvation offered by Jesus Christ will be protected and preserved.