Last night, we provided 3 frameworks for scripture as a whole from Genesis to Revelation. Those three frameworks were:
Law and Gospel: the two "words" God is always uttering
Redemption History: the "Greatest Story Ever Told"
Covenantal Scheme: the relationship and means of God's love revealed
And in our very first day of reading you could find all three in those 16 chapters of Genesis. If you were paying close attention you would see them all three present in the story of Noah!
What has fascinated me about the story of Noah for some time is the fact that God doesn't recreate humanity. There isn't Humanity 2.0, or even 1.1 , there is just a family that God declares to be righteous even though they aren't (as revealed in the events after they exit the Ark), a family through whom God will continue to contend with our sinfulness.
Noah's story begins with the declaration that God was sad that he had made humanity because all our thoughts and our hearts were committed to evil all the time. At first, you and I may recoil at this idea, but then all we really need to do is turn on the television or surf the web. Shootings, robbery, political corruption, child molestation, pornography, murder, rape, and incest are quickly found with just a scanning of the headlines. And that is just today! It doesn't include greed, gossip, lying, infidelity, cheating on tests, or good ole fashioned manipulation even! When we are honest with ourselves we can see how a just and holy God might grow tired of our antics and ways of being. Even we grow tired of it and despondent for change and we aren't anything close to God!
Law and Grace are present in the declaration that our wickedness will not go unpunished. God will flood the Earth. The law part of that is present but where is the grace component? Two places actually. Grace is unmerited favor. Noah is spared the fate of the rest of humanity. This is an act of Grace. God declares him worthy and spares him even though Noah must have been at least a little guilty of sin. He may have walked with the LORD, but their is no indication in the text that he is pure and righteous by his own right. Grace is present in his salvation and through him humanity will be given another opportunity. Grace.
The Redemptive History elements are easy to see. The whole story is ultimately an episode in the ongoing drama of redemption. The Redemptive History is the broadest theme of scripture, the scarlet thread, as it has been called, from our time in the garden all the way through to the glories on Revelation Chapter 1 where Jesus Christ tells us to not be afraid for he has the keys to death and Hell. The story of Noah is just one part of that broader whole. It is from the descendants of Noah that Abraham will come, it is from the descendants of Abraham that Jesus will eventually come.
Finally, Covenantal Scheme. Our God works through covenants. Covenants are sacred promises that God makes with his people. The story of Noah ends with a sacred promise between God and all of creation: never again. Never again will such a devastation at the hand of God come about. And as a sign of that covenant God's bow is put up in the sky.
As you continue to read through the Bible be on the lookout for these three frameworks or themes playing out. Take note of the mighty acts of God and the promises made. As you read you will begin to see connections in places you didn't know about before and you will find that this is a God that fulfills those promises.
