(#10 5984) Day 2 - Ark of Salvation

FIRST POSTED ON 15 DECEMBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

Although God had to judge the world through a worldwide flood, it was not as though He wasn't merciful or long-suffering. He did not destroy mankind immediately but waited patiently for over 1600 years, holding back His judgment so that they could return to Him in repentance.

And God did not just sit back and do nothing during this period.

He warned them through Enoch of the coming judgment. Enoch even named his son Methuselah (meaning “his death shall bring”) as God’s message to the wicked, for on the year Methuselah died, his death brought about the Flood (Genesis 5:25-29, 7:6).

And God not only just waited and warned. As the title of my blog today indicates, the Second Day also revealed God’s plan of salvation through Noah’s Ark - this vault as it were separating the flood water below it from the rain water above during the first judgment.

This first ark ultimately points to Jesus, our Spiritual Ark of salvation. In 1 Peter 3:20-22, Peter explained how just as Noah and his family were saved through water by the ark, rising above God’s judgment of mankind seen in the flood below it, we are now saved through the water of baptism as we put our faith in Jesus, who by His resurrection lifts us up from death to life and from the coming judgment of God at the end of time.

Indeed, when we look at the very names of the ten generations from Adam to Noah, they spell out God's wonderful plan of salvation in Christ!

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(#9 5984) Day 2 - Flood of Judgment

FIRST POSTED ON 1 DECEMBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

In the next three sessions, we will look at the Second Day of Creation, beginning here with the flood of judgment.  

If the First Day of Creation is a picture of how we are in darkness, being separated from the light of the glory of God because of our sin, then the Second Day reveals firstly how we stand under judgment by a holy and righteous God. Sin demands a price, which must be paid, and this price is death. We see this fulfilled in the Great Flood, the first worldwide judgment, which we can read about in Genesis 6-8.

In order to better understand how this event could happen, remember in Gen 1:2, we were told how the world was formless, empty and dark in the beginning, and that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Bible tells us that the world was initially covered in water, for it was only on the Second Day that part of this water was separated out and lifted up into the atmosphere, and the Third Day that dry ground first appeared when the remaining waters were gathered, probably in the deepest parts of the earth. The flood came about when God released all these waters stored above the sky and underneath the earth back onto the world. For those of you who doubt whether the flood really happened, there are over 270 accounts of this global catastrophe from people groups and cultures all over the world.

It is sobering to note that 1656 years passed from the time of Adam until the Flood. During this time, only 8 (Noah’s family) survived out of the possible 3-7 billion people that lived then. Noah’s father Lamech was 56 when Adam died at age 930, meaning that most of mankind would have heard first-hand from Adam about God, yet they still turned to evil. Imagine how heart-wrenching it was for Adam but even more so for God! You would also recall that following the Fall, God promised Adam and Eve in Gen 3:15 an offspring who would crush Satan’s head and so redeem mankind. They must have harboured this hope when Cain - literally the first “son of man” - was born. But instead of crushing Satan, Cain murdered his own brother, Abel. We are just so utterly sinful, unable to rescue ourselves. Only God Himself - when He came to us as Jesus the True “Son of Man” - is able to accomplish this - to crush Satan and cover the nakedness and shame of our sins.

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(#8 5984) Day 1 - Reflections (Who am I? Where are you?)

FIRST POSTED ON 15 NOVEMBER 2018.

Shalom Aleichem and welcome to my Shabbat blog!

As we conclude our discussion on the First Day of Creation, let us reflect on the following two questions:

First, Who am I? Because of the Fall of Adam, we are born into sin and darkness, doomed to a life that is separated from God and that will eventually end in physical and eternal or spiritual death. We are formless and empty, just as how Creation was at the very beginning. Here, it is interesting that the Jews start their day at sunset, unlike most of us whose day begins at sunrise. We could almost say that it is God’s way of daily reminding them and us about how we start in sin and darkness, just as our day starts at sunset. However, all is not gloom and doom. The good news is that although we may have started in sin and darkness, it doesn't mean that this defines our end point and true identity. In Christ, God has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light, the same way He called light out of darkness. He, who made light shine out of darkness, made His light shine into our hearts through knowing Christ. And just as He declares light to be good, God declares us good - because we are His children and bear His image.

Next, Where are you? Do we find ourselves in a pit, or even a place where we feel there is no return? If we do, whose voice do we hear? Is it the voice of accusation, shame, guilt and despair? That it is too late and God would never take us back? Or do we hear His voice of truth, tenderly calling for us, seeking us as a shepherd looks for his one lost sheep, a father his lost son? Would God ask where we are if He was not looking for us? Or are we in our comfort zone, thinking that all is well? We may think that we are in a safe place, since our sins are “lesser” than many others around us. God knows where we are, but do we know ourselves? Are we where we ought to be, in the Father's house and in His Son's embrace? Like the prodigal younger son in Jesus’ parable of the two sons, we need to come to the realization and acceptance of where we are (and are not) before we can repent and turn back to where we ought to be - with God. And God will receive us “Just as I am”, wherever we may be coming back from. Otherwise, we will always remain restless wanderers.

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