Jesus in the Old Testament 4: Jesus and the Ark

Jesus in the Old Testament 4: The Ark and Jesus

Thesis: The flood narrative is a complete picture of the judgment and mercy of God working in concert.  Jesus is the future judge of all things and the means of redemption for all who will be saved.  He is seen both in the destruction of the multitudes of wicked men and in the salvation of the elect.

1. Nutshell with kids (<5 min)
1. What does the word “justice” mean?
2. What does the word “mercy” mean?
3. Can you think of times when you have received justice from your parents because of something you’ve done?
4. Can you think of a time when you’ve received mercy from your parents?
5. Can you think of a time when justice and mercy happened at the same time?
6. Jesus is going to come one day to judge the world.  When he does, he will bring justice.
7. Those of us who have believed in Him and have trusted in Him for salvation will not face that justice, though.  We have received mercy.
8. In the story of Noah’s ark, we see both parts of Jesus: justice and mercy. 
1. Justice: the destruction of all the wicked people.
2. Mercy: the saving of Noah’s family and the animals.

2. Deeper
1. Gen 6: Man’s favor vs. God’s favor
1. Vs 4: Nephilim, a product of sinful unions, “men of renown.”

a)    Hated of God, part of the reasoning for the flood

b)    Adored and storied by men (demi-gods in most ancient stories).

2. Vs 8: Noah “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

a)    Noah had good character (vs 9), but that isn’t how the story leads its description of him.

b)    First, he “finds grace.”  Passive verb. He does not earn grace.  He receives it. (vs 8).

c)    Hints of the sovereignty of God in salvation, although not leaving his own efforts without merit.

d)    This construction, “found grace” or “found favor” is used 67 times in the OT.  Always in the passive voice. The assumption is that the authority figure being addressed has chosen to see the petitioner in a favorable light, not strictly dependent upon the petitioner’s action.  Not “earned favor.”

e)    Similar to Paul’s description in 1 Cor 15:10

f)     Heb 11:7.  God’s warning brought about obedience, faith, and righteousness.

2. Universal wickedness of men.
1. Saw last time that, due to the headship of Adam over all humanity, that all are born into original sin.  All have sinned; therefore, all will die (Gen 3:19; Romans 5:12).
2. The universal evil is called out several times in Gen 6:

a)    Vs 5, 11, 12

b)    Very similar to language in Romans 3:10-18.

3. God cannot tolerate or overlook evil.  His nature requires justice and judgment.

a)    Vs 6-7, 13

b)    How different from our culture, which encourages us not to call out evil!  We are expected to tolerate evil, but God does not.

c)    We are not judges.  Jesus is the only one who has that right, but we certainly aren’t to accept it or call what is evil good.

(1)  Romans 1:32

(2)  Isa 5:20

4. People have looked at the flood as a moral failure of God in annihilating every living thing and all the people.  Sin→ Death for all.  All those people would have died anyway. 
2. God tells his plans to his chosen (vs 13-21)
1. Abraham before the destruction of Sodom Gen 18:17
2. Generally: Ps 25:14
3. Prophetically: Amos 3:7
4. God declares the way of salvation before he brings his judgment Num 23:19

a)    The salvific work of Jesus was revealed in great detail by the OT prophets long before it came to pass (Isa 53)

b)    Gods timing was announced clearly in both cases

(1)  120 years (Gen 6:3)

(2)  7 days (Gen 7:4)

(3)  173,880 days (Daniel 9:25)

From Chuck Misler (https://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552/)

A very specific prediction occurs in 9:25:

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

— Daniel 9:25

This includes a mathematical prophecy. As we have noted in previous articles, the Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 360-day year; 69 weeks of 360-day years totals 173,880 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 173,880 days.

The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 B.C. (The emphasis in the verse on “the street” and “the wall” was to avoid confusion with other earlier mandates confined to rebuilding the Temple.)

During the ministry of Jesus Christ there were several occasions in which the people attempted to promote Him as king, but He carefully avoided it: “Mine hour is not yet come”.

Then, one day, He meticulously arranges it. On this particular day he rode into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling a prophecy by Zechariah that the Messiah would present Himself as king in just that way:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

— Zechariah 9:9

Whenever we might easily miss the significance of what was going on, the Pharisees come to our rescue. They felt that the overzealous crowd was blaspheming, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah the King. However, Jesus endorsed it!

I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

— Luke 19:40

This is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King. It occurred on April 6, 32 A.D.

When we examine the period between March 14, 445 B.C. and April 6, 32 A.D., and correct for leap years, we discover that it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!

5. 2Pe 2:5 calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness.”

a)    Did he actively preach?  Jewish extra-biblical sources have a tradition of Noah declaring, “Be ye turned from your evil ways and works, lest the waters of the flood come upon you, and cut off all the seed of the children of men.”

b)    Even if he did not say a word, the construction of the ark, over the span of 120 years, was a testimony to the coming judgment of God.

c)    2Pe 2:4-10

6. Destruction by water.  Remember that water was a symbol of the chaos out of which the world was formed.  God is “unmaking” the world. 
3. Gen 7:
1. God executes his plan, and Noah obeys.
2. Vs 16: God shut the door.

a)    Only one way into the ark.

b)    God kept the door open for a long time (120 years), but then in His time closed it.

c)    The age of grace is long and upon us, but it will come to an end (2Pe 3:9, 2Cor 6:2).

d)    Jesus is the door John 10:9

3. The rain came for 40 days and 40 nights. 

a)    40 a sign of judgment:

(1)  40 years in the wilderness for Israel

(2)  40 days in the wilderness for Jesus

4. During the judgment of God, there is a digital outcome (vs 21-23):

a)    Those in the ark survive and are carried into a new earth.

b)    Those outside the ark perished.

5. It is the same as the judgment of Christ at the end of time.

a)    Matt 25:31-34, 41

b)    Rev 20:11-15

6. There is no other option for salvation: Acts 4:12
4. Application:
1. God’s nature demands that he judge sin.  His love has made a way of escape.  He is both judge and savior. 
2. In which way will Christ relate to you?  There will be no middle ground. Jn 3:16
3. We live in the age of grace. The warning has gone out, but the judge has not yet arrived.  We are to be useful to God in spreading this double message of justice and mercy.

Family Discussion Questions:

1. Have you been living your life in a way to find favor with men or with God? Is there something you need to change in this regard?
2. How does it change the way you look at Jesus to realize that He is both Judge and Savior?
3. Since Jesus will be either your judge or your Savior, have you placed your faith in Him to escape His judgment?
4. Just like Noah, we live in a time of grace, between the announcement of the coming judgment and its arrival.  Are we doing what we should to help our friends escape judgment and find mercy?

Jesus in the Old Testament 03: Jesus and Adam

Jesus in the Old Testament 3: Jesus the Second Adam

Thesis: Adam, the earthly son of God, failed to fulfill his calling, sinned, and led all of humanity into judgment. Jesus, the heavenly Son of God, filled His calling, lived in righteousness, and led those who trust in Him into everlasting life.

1. Nutshell with Kids (<5min)
1. Family relationships
1. Have you ever had anyone tell you that you look like your Mom or Dad?  What have they said
2. Are there any things that are special about your family?  Things you do that make you a little different than other families?
3. Do you have jobs/interests/hobbies that seem to run in your family?
2. Adam
1. Adam was the first man, the one God made in the Garden of Eden.
2. What kinds of things do you think we’ve inherited from him?
3. Can you think of things that you wish we hadn’t gotten from Adam?
3. The Bible says that Adam was the first one to sin, and all of the sinfulness of everyone’s lives can be traced back to his one first sin. 
1. How does that make you feel?
2. Don’t you wish there was a solution?
4. Romans 5:19 Jesus came to be the “second Adam” and free us from this problem.
2. Deeper with Adults
1. Biblical Federalism
1. Federalism: The idea of the power or responsibility of a large group being invested or shared with a central entity.
2. Biblical Federalism: That the spiritual reality or condition of a group can be dealt with through the actions of its leaders.

a)    Family examples: Josh 24:15; Acts 16:15, 33

b)    Political Federalism 2Sam 24; 1Kings 11:9-13

c)    Punitive Federalism: Numbers 16

3. God’s self-revelation in Exodus 34:6-7 is highly Federal
1.  

Feature	Adam: Genesis 1-3	Christ:
Image	1:26: In our image, after our likeness.	Col 1:15a: He is the image of the invisible God. Heb 1:3: the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
Dominion	1:26: And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth	Matthew 8:27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Fruitfulness:	1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,	Romans 8:16-17: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Source of Life	2:7: then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.	1 Cor 15:45-49: Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mandate of Holiness	2:16-17: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”	Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Husband and Wife, Christ and the Church	2:18: Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”	Eph 5:32: This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Sleep and Side	2:21: So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.	(1 Cor 11:30; Acts 13:36; Daniel 12:2; 1Cor 15:20; 1Thess 4:14) Isa 53:12: Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. John 19:34: But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. John 20:27: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
To be unified	Gen 2:24: Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.	1 Cor 6:15-17: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!  Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”  But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Intimacy and Purity	2:25: And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.	Eph 5:25-27: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 2Cor 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Failure of dominion	Gen 3:1, 6 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.	Explanatory: 1 Tim 2:13-14: For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Failure to present the bride blameless	Gen 3:11-12: Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”	Eph 5:27 (above)
Bringing Death	Gen 3:19-24: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.	Rom 5:22: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

            C.  Romans 5:22-21

1. Paul obviously considered Adam a historical person, not a mythical figurehead.
2. Adam, our first federal head, was the source of sin in humanity and the consequential death, even though Eve ate the forbidden fruit first.  His was the charge of keeping the covenant, and his was the sin of its violation.
3. Death entered because of sin. 

a)    It is not a natural part of God’s intention for mankind (Gen 3:19, 21)

b)    Last enemy 1 Cor 15:26, 54 to be conquered.

4. Death before the law.

a)    Even without the law to delineate sin, the natural law is alive in our souls (Romans 2:14-15).

b)    The universal condition of death testifies to the universal guilt of every person before a Holy God.

5. “Many” and “All men”

a)    Terms used as synonyms.  Not teaching universal salvation.

b)    The universality of man’s guilt as a child of Adam is linked to universal death. (Ps 51:5; Eph 2:3)

c)    Isa 53:11 Justify the many.

d)    People must “receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness” in order to live forever (vs 17).

e)    All people are born under the federal head of Adam.  Faith aligns us under the federal head of Christ. Heb 5:8-10

4. Application:
1. You are under the headship of Adam.  Your sickness and injuries prove this now, and your eventual deal with solidify this in the end.  You are a sinner.  You do stand condemned.
2. Have you accepted, by faith, the offer of Christ to be your second federal head?

a)    Numerous times mentioned as a “free gift.” vs 15 (2x), 16 (2x), 17.

b)    You must receive this free gift. Jn 3:16; Romans 6:1-4

Questions for Review:

1. What do you think about the idea that we are all guilty because of the sin of one person thousands of years ago? Does that seem fair?
2. How does it make you feel that we can all be forgiven because of the righteous loving action of one person thousands of years ago? Does that seem fair?
3. How should we live differently because of what we have received from Adam and Jesus?
4. Does anyone need to receive the free gift of forgiveness that Jesus offers?