Genesis 6:5-8 & 18 – The Great Flood is one of the most controversial events when it comes to God and apologetics.

Some people who look into the faith shrivel back into their disbelief, for how could an all-loving and all-compassionate God kill millions of people? It is a tough question, I admit it. I don’t pretend I know the perfect answer, or that I personally like the event.

But the thing is with close examination, when one focuses on the lives spared and the details rather than the ones who were judged (rightfully I might add) perish, the event is an honest joy to think over. Since this is a grace post I won’t be digging all that deep into multiple theories on why God found only a flood adequate to bring judgement on those living in that time.

However, I’ll sum the two most popular theories up: man and women’s hearts filled with all kinds of evil, and not just a little but to the maximum. That means 99.999% of people were narcissistic, not compassionate, passive, violent, impure, destroying creation boundaries, ravaging Earth, unintentional, and every bad trait you can imagine. 99.999% of all the human population had literally no goodness to them, all besides that 0.001%.

The other theory is that humanity was literally corrupted with half-human, half-demon blood. In either case, Noah and his family were the only family found in all the Earth as pure, and thus the only people God could use to begin humanity all over again without the screaming taint of corruption. Another obvious grace here besides the ones listed below is that God chose to restart the human race again. We fell so far from God’s intentions that God grieved for our suffering in that He wished He’d never made us. But because the Creator loved us so much, He searched the ends of the earth to find Noah, the last hope at the time. He made a covenant with Noah after the flood, promising to never judge humanity with a flood ever again (rainbow, rightfully claimed by God).

Now I’m going to fast forward. With the help of pastor Joseph Prince and his sermon titled “Hidden Treasures In the Story of Noah (You Are Safe In the Ark)”, here’s a whole extensive list of grace acts and foreshadowing to the ultimate act of God’s grace embedded, for most, right into the mundane descriptions of the ark.

1) God tells Noah to build an ark out of gopher wood: “rooms shall you make in the ark.” In Hebrew, “rooms” is actually “gen,” a word that translates to “nest.” Why did God say “nest?” Because you can use a room at any hotel without knowing the owner, but when animals rest in nests, they are loved and cared for by another. Such was the case to Noah, his family, and the animals inside the ark. They were in a place of safety, provision, protection, and love. God was the loving and protecting parent.

2) In order to make a boat you have to cut trees, and hammer them into place so they can save lives inside the shape you make. In order for Jesus to save sinful humanity, He had to leave Heaven, suffer on the cross and be cut off from communion with the Godhead. He had to have His hands and feet hammered on a tree that we might live in His resurrection and one day dwell with Him in His Kingdom.

3) God tells Noah to “pitch” the ark within and without, to keep water out. In Hebrew, the actual word used for “pitch” in this instance is “zethed.” But an original copy of the account of Noah and the ark would show the word “kafer.” “Kafer” means to make atonement for. The Holy Spirit chose that word instead of “zethed” because later on it becomes the picture of the mercy seat (Ark of the Covenant), where God chooses to talk to priests after a sacrifice purified the priest as well as the Hebrew people before the Lord seated on the mercy seat. Here again God confirms that He makes atonement for humanity out of His grace and love for us. Ultimately He atones us through the blood of Christ. In His resurrection, just like all were safe in the ark coated with pitch, we are safe and taken care of. Though the scenes around us ring chaos, there is peace in Jesus Christ. When God looks at us, He sees the perfection of Christ, but not because we became perfection, but because Jesus was and is our perfection for us.

4) In ancient Israel, the Hebrews had to use animal sacrifices in order to make atonement for their sins. The person would lay their hand on the lamb, “transferring” their sins to the lamb. The lamb becomes refuge for the offerer. The fire does not come on the offerer anymore, but on the lamb. When you are in Christ, the storm with its wind and the rain do not fall on you, but on the ark.

5) God had Noah put windows on top, so as not to see the disaster happening around them but rather for them to focus on Him. Look around you and you will be depressed. Look within you and you will be stressed. But look to God and you will be at rest.

6) Then the Bible says there is a door in the ark. Where do you put the door? On the side. If the Holy Spirit referred to the Messiah here, He’s alluding to the cross of Christ. For one, Jesus died on the cross earlier than the two thieves, so the guards did not have to break His legs so He would pass faster. This fulfilled the prophecy that the Passover lamb would not have any broken bones—He would be perfect. However, one of the soldiers pierced His side. [Living] water and blood [of perfect life] came out to wash away our sins. Jesus is the only way to life just as the ark had only one door, surrounded by windows that helped Noah and his family and animals trust in God alone.

7) “Those that entered the ark, male and female of all flesh went in as God had commanded, and the Lord shut them in.” The Lord shut Noah and his family in. Here lies our perfect security. If God shuts you into safety, you are closed into safety. If God shuts, no one can open, neither human, neither demons, neither angels, no, nothing. You are shut into safety, preservation, and protection in Christ. Though the world around you is full of chaos, you are hid in Christ’s wings, safe. You might bend from the weight around you, but because of Jesus you will never break.

So here was seven points of grace God showed through the story of the Great Flood. I pray this gives you peace, that God is indeed just but graceful at the same time.

By Alina Sopt, Phoenix, Arizona