Genesis 35 - Remembered

God's word is from Genesis 7:24 to 8:5.

 

“The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.  Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,  and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.  The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.” Amen.

 

Structure of the Flood Record: Symmetry and Center

The biblical record of the flood, rather than clearly informing us of its occurrence and progression, actually raises greater questions about how the flood unfolded. The Bible does not record the event of Noah's flood in detail like a diary. Although it appears Noah organized the events during the flood period by date, examining these records together reveals some strange aspects. This is because we can see that a structure exists there, quite different from what we think. I have summarized it as follows:

 

    7 days waiting for the flood (7:4)

 

        7 days waiting for the flood (7:10)

 

            Rain falls for 40 days (7:17a)

 

                Waters prevail upon the earth for 150 days (7:24)

 

                    God remembered… (8:1)

 

                Waters recede for 150 days (8:3)

 

            Waiting 40 days for the waters to dry up (8:6)

 

    Waiting 7 days for it to dry (8:10)

 

Waiting 7 days for it to dry (8:12)

 

This summarizes Chapters 7 and 8. First, in 7:4, Noah waits 7 days for the flood. Then, the same content of waiting 7 days appears again in 7:10. After that, rain finally falls for 40 days. This is the content of 7:17. Then, in today's text, 7:24, it is recorded that the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days, and continuing in 8:3, the story of the waters receding for another 150 days follows. Then, in 8:6, the content of waiting 40 days for the waters to dry up appears, and in 8:10 and 12, the content of waiting 7 days each for the waters to dry is recorded.

 

It's hard to know the details just by reading, but this record of the flood, as organized by the Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham, seems inconsistent when you add up all the dates with the total length of the flood's duration. Shall we add them up again? Simply adding these dates results in a period much longer than one year. However, the Bible actually calculates the period from when the ark floated until the water completely receded and it landed on the ground as 1 year and 10 days. In other words, we can see that adding the dates in the Bible does not represent the period during which the ark floated due to rain and then the water dried up again.

 

If so, we can understand that this expression carries a structural message. The numbers and their contents presented here in this chiastic structure, contrasting Chapters 7 and 8, are the Bible's structure intended to give us a message.

 

Center of the Structure: "God... Remembered" (8:1)

And the content we will focus on today is the verse that appears in the middle of this structure. It is precisely 8:1. This is the verse we read in today's text. “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark.” This verse is the word that appears at the very center of this structure. And this is the word that penetrates the center of the content of Chapters 7 and 8. As you can quickly see from the form of this structure, it seems clear that the entirety of Chapters 7 and 8 is a structure designed to focus on this one verse. Thus, the statement that God remembered Noah and all the animals in the ark will be the core of the content we will examine today.

 

Flood and De-creation Review (Gābar)

First, Chapter 7 is about the rain beginning to fall heavily. So the main content is that the waters prevailed upon the earth. And God's remembering in 8:1 appears as the turning point, and the story of the waters receding continues in Chapter 8. Last time, the most important word in Chapter 7 that we looked at was the Hebrew word ‘Gābar’. It means ‘the waters prevailed’. And I explained that this word also carries another meaning, ‘to overpower’. It means to make something overflow with power. Although we looked together that it is unclear whether the flood was a global or partial event, it is clear that this judgment of death by God overpowered the whole world. And it is clear that the result of that overwhelming judgment concluded with the sole survival of the second Adam, Noah, and his family. That is, the result of this judgment is the fact that the second Adam, Noah, and his family came to stand at the very center of this history.

 

Old World and New World: The Pattern of the Entire Bible

That is why Peter refers to the event of Noah's flood as the ‘old world’. If this old world ended with Noah's flood, what kind of world comes next? Yes, a new world came. Therefore, this structure, as you know, is close to the archetype of such structures frequently used throughout the Bible, such as when we are saved through Jesus Christ, the old has passed away and the new has come, or in the wilderness journey of Israel where the old generation ended and the new generation entered Canaan, and as we know, in the structure of Revelation where the old world and everything ends and a new heaven and a new earth come.

 

Importance of the Flood Story: A Model of Salvation

Therefore, Noah's flood appears repeatedly in all scriptures, including the Gospels, because it is not simply a story of a flood happening and only Noah surviving, but a monumental historical event showing how God will lead the history of this world, and what God's salvation is. Through this, God is explaining how the final moment of this life we are living will end, and how God's salvation comes.

 

The Core of Change: 'Remembered'

Thus, through Noah's flood, we can see a very dramatic change between the old and the new. The beginning of that change, as we saw in today's text, was waiting for the flood and the waters prevailing upon the earth, and we find that it changes into the event of the waters drying up and receding. Then, is this event of the waters suddenly increasing and then decreasing the dramatic change? As we just examined, the core of this dramatic change lies not in the process of the waters rising and falling, but the verse ‘God remembered’ becomes the center of that change. Today, we will examine three things concerning the core of this change.

 

1. Meaning of 'Remember': Fulfilling the Covenant

The first thing to examine is the hidden meaning within the word 'remember' itself. The word remember, as we commonly think of it, means recalling something forgotten. However, the meaning of this word used in the Bible is that God will surely keep the covenant He made with us, fulfill it, and complete it. The Bible calls this God remembering. For example, the story of Lot's family escaping the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We know well the content of God rescuing Lot's family from that event of destruction. The word used in the Bible then was ‘God remembered His covenant with Abraham’. Therefore, this word ‘remember’ contains three elements: ‘covenant’, ‘keeping that covenant’, and ‘completing that covenant’. That is, the biblical statement that God remembered the covenant, that He remembered us, contains the three meanings that God, according to the covenant He made with us, will keep that covenant, and ultimately complete it perfectly.

 

Our Covenant Participation: In Christ

Then our question is this. Noah made a covenant, and Moses also made a covenant with God. What about us then? Have we made a covenant with God? Do you think of yourselves as people of the covenant? If so, when did you make a covenant with God? Did God suddenly come to you one day, and you signed a contract presented by God together, and you each have a copy of that contract? If not, on what basis do you think you are people of the covenant? The covenant you and I made with God was made between God and Jesus Christ, and we participate in that covenant together with Christ, in Christ.

 

Glory of the Covenant People: Heirs with Christ

This statement is actually among the most beautiful words we have ever heard. The statement that I made a covenant with God in Christ means that we also receive together everything that Christ will receive through the covenant. God said this to His Son, Jesus. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is so worthy of hearing such words. But we have made the same covenant with God in Jesus Christ, in such a Jesus Christ. As a result, we have become sons and daughters of God, the beloved of God. It means that we get to enjoy together all the inheritance, that is, everything that Jesus Christ will receive. That is why this word is truly an amazing story for us. Everyone, how life-changing is this story for all of us? Because of this, we have come to know why we should live, and what we should pursue while living.

 

Reading the Bible: Discovering the Richness of the Covenant

Imagine, if you will, that you are going to Korea to receive an inheritance. What would be the first thing to examine when you arrive in Korea and start preparing to receive the inheritance? It would be the will. Then you would carefully read the contents of that will. That way, you will know how this inheritance is to be divided. Next, you would also need to examine how much monetary value that inheritance has. It would be important to know the value of the inheritance I will receive. Why should we read the Bible? It is to know what the Bible is trying to say. And through that reading, we come to know what we enjoy in Christ, what that glory is like, and also what kind of joy we are in. That is why we look at the Bible. Through this, we come to know how glorious, excellent, and abundant are all the things that Jesus Christ will receive, and we come to know that we have become people who will enjoy all those things together with Christ.

 

You remember the lyrics of a hymn we know well, right? ‘He loves me, He loves me, the Bible tells me so.’ How did such lyrics come about? It's not vaguely saying, ‘Of course God loves me,’ but the word that explains what that love truly is, how that love came to me, and how great the depth, width, and height of that love are is all written in the Bible. That is why we long for the word of God. Because we know what kind of grace God gives us.

 

Power of 'Remembering': The Strength That Enabled Noah to Endure

That is the amazing meaning contained in the word that God remembers us. This is the very strength that enabled Noah to endure the period of over a year inside the ark. And that is why God continuously speaks to Noah about the covenant He made with him.

 

Harsh Reality Inside the Ark

Think about it. It rained for a full 40 days. Not a drizzle or light rain, but a torrential downpour continued for 40 days. As we have seen, rain poured from clouds so thick that the sky could not be seen. Can you imagine the water covering the mountains? Think about the high mountains, usually covered with snow even in midsummer, being completely covered by water. Everyone, do you perhaps think that the rain completely stopped after 40 days? So, do you think Noah went up to the deck of the ark, enjoyed the sunshine in a chair, and spent the year waiting? Did he enjoy those sunny days joyfully and happily? I tried to imagine Noah's daily routine carefully, would you like to hear it? First, wake up at five in the morning and clean up the animal waste that accumulated overnight on the first floor. Then, after a light breakfast at eight, clean up the animal waste on the second floor again. At ten o'clock, feed the animals on the first floor their morning meal. Then, after lunch at twelve, deliver food to the animals on the second floor, have a brief snack at three, and clean up the animal waste on the third floor. Then, at six o'clock, have dinner and deliver food to the third floor. At nine o'clock, check the remaining water and food in the storage, and only at ten o'clock, take a short break, then fall asleep exhausted. But at one in the morning, suddenly a problem arises in one of the stalls, waking him up in the middle of the night to fix the stall and calm the animals. These would have been the daily tasks Noah had to complete every single day. Because there was no way to care for the animals other than Noah and his family. Noah had to do all these things for a year. Because it wasn't as if the animals in the ark didn't eat or excrete. Not only that, but the world surrounding him would have been gradually destroyed and collapsing day by day. All he saw was water, and everything was submerged and being destroyed in the water. Death surrounded the ark.

 

Waiting in God's Silence?

However, there is no record in the Bible that God spoke to Noah during this year-long waiting period. So it's not certain, but if that were the case, this year would have been an incredibly lonely time for Noah. If God had frequently appeared to Noah, comforted him, and encouraged him, it would have been a great source of strength for Noah. But God doesn't seem to have done that. Because we can infer this from the fact that Noah had to continuously observe the process of the water drying up and had to send out birds to confirm this. If God had told him exactly, Noah would not have done this. Therefore, it seems God didn't say anything about this at all. Noah might have thought, 'Is God really far away? Or how could He put me through such a great ordeal and not say anything to me?' Because his situation, trapped in the ark escaping the flood, didn't change at all, and he witnessed the food supply dwindling as five months passed like that.

 

Christ's Suffering and Noah's Experience

We often confess Christ as the ark when referring to Jesus. However, Jesus doesn't seem much different from Noah who was inside the ark. Because Jesus was also surrounded by death. And to Jesus, God seemed incredibly far away. Judgment was driving Jesus to death, and He finally cried out like this. “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” The waters of death overwhelmed Him and swallowed Him up, as the Bible records. Did Noah feel lonely inside the ark? Were there feelings of anxiety or restlessness? It's easy to think that the faithful Noah endured everything by singing hymns daily inside the ark, but when we consider Jesus' life, which foreshadowed Noah's, that Jesus' life was a life of tears, a life of groaning and pain, a life of suffering and being ignored, Noah's life, like Jesus' life, would not have been smooth.

 

Jesus' Failure and Frustration?

Jesus was lonely. Jesus also had to experience failure and frustration. The work Jesus devoted himself to most diligently in his life was raising disciples for three years, and proclaiming the gospel of God with those disciples. He showed them countless miracles performed before their eyes, and taught them the word. But in an instant, all this turned into vain effort. They all abandoned the captured Lord and ran away. Who else has experienced failure and frustration like Jesus? He is Jesus Christ who experienced the moment when the people you devoted your whole life to raising abandoned and betrayed you in an instant. Does the Lord know failure and frustration? Of course. He truly knows. Does Jesus know how weak we are? He truly does. How could He not know?

 

Victory Gained Through Remembering: Noah and Jesus

But how could such a Jesus bear the cross, and as expressed in Hebrews, endure the cross by seeing the joy set before Him? God remembered His covenant with Noah. He kept it and fulfilled it. He held onto the promise, ‘I will save you and all life in the ark.’ God remembered Noah in that way, and Noah was experiencing the hand of God in his life, seeing God keeping that covenant, and therefore he was experiencing the kingdom of God within the ark. God remembered Jesus Christ. That is why the Lord endured the shame of the cross and did not lose the joy and peace set before Him.

 

God's Remembrance and Promise Towards Us

God remembers you! He will surely fulfill and complete the covenant He made with you. Because the fulfillment of this work day by day is such an amazing thing, Noah in the ark, due to the fact that God remembered him daily in his life and remembered his name, turned the long period in the ark into a moment of experiencing the kingdom of God before God, and endured all the time with joy. Since Jesus Christ also enjoyed such joy, we who are in Christ ought to do the same. Your life can be shaken, and we might live in much suffering and sickness. We experience countless anxieties, and resulting depression and difficulties that we did not plan for, nor even think of. What holds you is not our vague expectation that the depression, difficulties, suffering, and the many hard moments you are going through will someday disappear, but God's covenant that the promise to give you the kingdom of God is being fulfilled today, and that the Lord will accomplish it in my life. And the proof that God kept what He promised you is the Bible. This is the first change revealed in today's message.

 

2. The Beginning of Change: The Wind Blows (Work of the Holy Spirit)

Then what is the second change that began? It is the statement, ‘the wind blew’. Wind blew upon this world filled with water.

 

Wind and Dry Land: Echoes of Creation and Exodus

This is very similar to the content we dealt with in Genesis 1:2. ‘The Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.’ And it is similar to the event in Exodus where the wind blew on the Red Sea and the sea parted. Therefore, when Moses read this story of Noah's flood before the people of Israel, the people of God who were undergoing the Exodus and heard it must have felt their hearts swell and gasped in awe. Because they had experienced and knew well what the wind mentioned here was. They witnessed the wind blow, causing the Red Sea to part and create walls of water. They saw the dry land appear.

 

Baptism: Our Experience of Crossing the Red Sea

Just as the wind blew in the event of Noah's flood and eventually all the land dried up, and just as the waters receded on the third day of creation and land appeared, the people of Israel would have seen the same thing at the Red Sea. Therefore, this event of the water drying up was not just Noah's story, but their own story. What about you? Does this story of Noah, the story of creation, and the story of the Red Sea that the Israelites experienced during the Exodus exist for you as well? Have you also experienced such things? So, when you hear the story, have you experienced that thrilling swelling in your chest? Surprisingly, the Bible says that you were baptized just like the people who walked on the parted sea of the Red Sea. The baptism we received is not merely a sign of believing in Jesus, or a religious ritual that God's people should routinely receive, but through this baptism, we experience and undergo in our lives the same amazing works of creation that God performed, the event of the ark that Noah experienced, and the event of the Exodus Red Sea and the Jordan River that Israel experienced. That is why it was an event that made our hearts tremble. Baptism is not just a religious ritual bestowed upon you, but it is a precious event that confirms you as a person who crossed the Red Sea of the Exodus, became one of the eight people who were in Noah's ark, and walked that land, the kingdom of God, together with God, overcoming all the curses of the water. Just as God desires for you to truly experience the events that happened in God's history through the Lord's Supper, He desires for you to remember again through that baptism what happened to you. Because you are worshipping the Lord in this place of worship as a person who directly experienced it. Isn't it amazing?

 

Water Gradually Receding: Gradual History of Salvation

Like the Red Sea when the wind blew, Noah's flood is described as the water gradually receding. It doesn't say the water disappeared suddenly one day, but expresses it as the water receded. At first, the water receded over 150 days, and then it receded for another 40 days. Every day was a day of change.

 

Daily Salvation: Unseen Change

It seemed like the same day, but in fact, it was a day that was changing little by little. What is one of the hardest things for you and me while believing in Jesus? It might be the fact that we don't see any change in ourselves. Yesterday and today, we are the same sinners, and no change is visible. Even while claiming to believe in Jesus, we always see the same us. But the Bible says it is not so. The Bible tells us that daily salvation is happening to us. The day you first believed in Jesus and praised, singing ‘Joy to the world, the Lord has come,’ was not the end, but from that day onwards, every single day of your life, God's salvation is happening, and that salvation is within you, the Bible says. Noah must have felt that the water covering the whole world did not recede at all. However, although every day seemed the same, the water was receding little by little. You must remember the fact that your salvation is not completed because I feel it, I know it, and I make it mine, as you think, but because God leads and holds onto that salvation, you participate in that amazing grace of God, and because of that, your salvation becomes true salvation. The fact that the water receded day by day in our lives, which seemed unchanging, is truly the amazing grace of God. Like a day in the ark, our lives are truly diverse and different for each person. The ups and downs of life that we must experience are all different.

 

However, for a believer, every single day, whether they are in a high place or have fallen to a low place, whether they live enjoying and possessing many things or live having lost many things and empty-handed, regardless, every single day is a day of salvation. We greet a day of becoming new every day. A day simply spent passing time does not exist for a believer. You may think that yesterday and today are the same day, like turning a treadmill, but the Bible does not acknowledge even a single moment of a day simply spent in your life. God constantly blew the wind, and God constantly reduced the water. God constantly loved you, God constantly spoke to you, and God constantly cherished you, cherished you again, and loved you. Death gradually decreased, and life deepened within you.

 

3. Meaning of Water Receding (Three Hebrew Words)

The third and final change that occurred is the meaning of the water receding because the wind blew like that. The wind blowing means that the Holy Spirit is with us, and that the Holy Spirit God is working within us, causing these things to happen. Then what does it mean that the water receded? The Bible explained the swelling of the water with two Hebrew words. And ‘Gābar’, mentioned above, was used as the most prominent word. However, for the meaning of the water receding, the Bible uses several different words, and each word has a very unique nuance. But these are not all different, but rather express the same fact in different ways. For example, when describing a sunset, one might say it is very beautiful and makes the heart feel at ease, or someone else might express it as deeply coloring the heart. But these would all be the same words describing the sunset. Similarly, these words meaning the water receded seem like very different words from each other, but in fact, they consist of words expressing the same action that makes us realize the fact that the water is receding in our lives.

 

a. Ḥāsēr (חָסֵר): Death Vanishes

The first is the word ‘ḥāsēr (חָסֵר, H2637)’. This word is a Hebrew word meaning ‘lacking, insufficient, or decreasing’. It is the word used in Psalm 23:1, which you know well, ‘The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack)’. Therefore, this word is quite negative. For example, it contains a negative meaning like that used in sentences such as ‘Love is lacking’. However, if a negative word comes before this word, it becomes a double negative, changing it into a word meaning strong affirmation. For example, if one says ‘Evil heart is lacking’, it can be used to mean very good. But in today's text, this word was used in exactly the same way. Here, water is used together, used in the sense of ‘water is lacking’, so what does that water mean? It is God's judgment, death. But because that death is used together with this word, it comes to mean death receding. That is why, when translating this word, it is sometimes expressed as ‘vanish’. That is, the phrase ‘the water recedes’ can be expressed, in other words, as ‘death vanishes’.

 

 

Since we are human, we are all heading towards death. It's a fact we all know, even if we hate to admit it. That's why every time we attend a funeral, we sometimes think that someday I too will be lying in the place of the deceased. But it is not so for those who believe in Jesus. We have become people in whom, as we live, death vanishes, and life springs up within us. Have you ever thought about such a life? As we gradually age, wrinkles that weren't there before begin to appear, the number of white hairs increases, strength fades, and eventually we are beings buried in a grave. But the Bible tells us we are no longer such beings. It says that the life of a believer is one where death recedes from us, just as the water receded. We have become people from whom death disappears and who go towards eternal life. Now we have become people heading towards eternal life. I, too, wasn't like this before, but these days I can't just jump out of bed in the morning like I used to and start the day. I barely manage to get up and gather my senses, and in doing so, I realize something. This is probably what it means for my outer self to decay. But the Bible says that despite this, my inner self is renewed day by day. Everyone, do not doubt. You are people living each day towards life. You are people whose life is not merely extended, but whose life becomes abundant. The Word says we are no longer people living on this earth waiting for death. We no longer wait for death. We are people waiting for eternal life. And every day, you live a life where that eternal life works within you. Every time I greet a new day, I live a new life again, experiencing the new history of God's creation, the life of a believer. The change of salvation that occurs in the life of a believer is that my death disappears day by day, and eternal life always breathes within me. This is the proof that shows you are a child of God in this world filled with sin.

 

We have become people who do not head towards sin but can fight against sin. Because, just as death disappears from us, condemnation also disappears. You no longer have any reason to condemn yourself or others. There is absolutely no reason to judge anyone and declare them a sinner before God. Even within the church, there may be people whose actions you don't approve of. But that is no longer an object of condemnation. We must anticipate and look forward to how God will make him more into a person of God. The statement that there is no longer condemnation for us means, in other words, that we are becoming people who love. Love is the greatest evidence showing that sin is vanishing. The disappearance of condemnation and the death of sin must be shown through loving. It is not shown by not sinning. Although it can still be a difficult task for us, we must show through love that our sins are vanishing. Therefore, we must fight against pride, and we must also be able to fight against my greed. Because love works within us.

 

b. Shakak (שְׁכַךְ): The Inner Storm Calms

The second Hebrew word meaning ‘the water recedes’ is ‘shakak (שְׁכַךְ, H7918)’. This word is translated as ‘the waters receded’ in the Korean Bible. However, this word also has the meaning of ‘to make the water calm, to make it still’. That is, it not only makes the water recede but can also be translated as making the water calm, making it still. The content of the first part of Chapter 8 was that the wind blew and the water receded. But when the wind blows, does the water become calm? No. When the wind blows strongly, it is normal for waves to rise and storms to accompany it. But the Bible says that when this wind blows and the waters recede, calmness actually arises. It's truly amazing. This expression itself is very interesting. And we see clearly how this expression is fulfilled through Jesus Christ. You will remember how the disciples behaved when a storm arose on the Sea of Galilee while they were in the boat. They clung to Jesus and pleaded, saying we are dying, save us. At that time, the Lord rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith and calmed the wind. He calmed the waves. Then the sea became calm. They tasted calmness amidst all the storm. This content is not at all an event showing that Jesus is a great person. Through this, we saw the command of creation showing what the Lord's creation is. Just as God cried out towards chaos and void, Christ also cries out towards the sea. ‘Be still!’ In our terms, the Lord cries out towards the numerous temptations and greed within our hearts. “Temptation and greed, be still!” “The Lord creates a new heart, be still!” This is the declaration the Lord proclaims to you, and to your heart. Why haven't you preached this word of the Lord to yourselves? Why do you always regard it as a word to be brought out and given only to others? This word must be a sermon to ourselves. Declare it to your heart that is proud, greedy, hating and envying others. “The Lord speaks, my greed, be still, my pride, be calm!” The Lord is speaking directly to us. Let this great word of God become your sermon. This declaration does not make all the anxiety, greed, and pride that may be within me disappear. It means being newly created. This is a word of creation, and when it says to be still towards our hearts filled with greed, it is telling us, ‘Now love!’ It signifies the creation of God's love being newly created within us. If I am depressed, it is not that the depressed heart ends, but instead, I get to taste the joy of heaven.

 

When we truly remember and know in our lives the fact that the Lord walks with me, so I am not lonely, and the Lord is with me forever, dear ones, tell yourselves! Tell your soul this sermon that your soul needs to hear! “My soul, be still, hope in God alone!” That is why when the ark stopped on Mount Ararat, the Bible expresses it as rested, but the precise translation is ‘found rest’. When the amazing voice of God in creation was heard, this ark finally found rest on the mountain.

 

c. Shûḇ (שׁוּב): Sin Returns to its Limit

The final word meaning ‘the water receded’ is ‘šûḇ (שׁוּב, H7725)’. This word is a very unique Hebrew word. The original meaning of this word is ‘to return’. It's a truly strange word. It means the water returns. That's why it is sometimes used as the word ‘repent’. However, the Korean Bible simply translated it as ‘recede’. But the precise meaning includes returning to its original place. A verse in Proverbs illustrates this well. Proverbs 8:28-29 says, “when he established the clouds above, when he made firm the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth.” This word šûḇ has the meaning found in this Proverb, ‘assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command’. Water is something God gathered for the sake of the land. Because until the kingdom of God is established and takes on the form of the eternal kingdom of God, we were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, not the sea. That is why God gathered the seas and set limits for them. And He commanded this flood to return to that limit again, commanding the water. Even though the water seems like it will swallow this world now, like it will crush us, constantly condemning us, tempting us, destroying our confidence, making us give up, making us sink into a sense of defeat, and making us flounder in numerous complaints and dissatisfactions, the Bible tells us. ‘Do not be overcome by it, I will set the limit of that water, I will make it stay where it should be, and I will set you free from it. I will establish you, I will cause you to enter into the true glory of God, and I will be with you!’  

 

Creation in Christ: A Limitless Life

Next, let's read verse 30. “then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always.” Here, the master workman is, of course, wisdom, Jesus Christ. Jesus was the very creator. When God created all things, Jesus was also present as the creator. Then do you know what this means? Since Christ is the creator, we also become participants in that creation within Him. Our lives might seem to end here, and no matter how much we struggle, this might seem like our limit, but we are beings without limits. Sin has limits. Only human sin that rebelled against God has limits. We are no longer beings with limits, but people who create your life today, every day, together with Christ the Creator. What the Bible promised you is the fact that we are people who become His delight. He promised you a day of becoming someone God delights in greatly. You are not someone who can draw your own limits and think, ‘I could only live my life like this, perhaps this is the limit.’ If the world whispers that to you, it is a lie. Listen to the creative voice of the Holy Spirit God that you hear in your ears. “I will rule the entire universe with you, I will create you until you reach the mature measure of Christ, I will create, create, create your life into a life that resembles God the Father, resembles Jesus Christ, walks together with the Holy Spirit God, and I will make you new!” That is your true life.

 

Our True Identity: God's Delight, New Creators

Dear ones, evil will surely return to the place of judgment it deserves. Sin will absolutely not exceed its limits. That is why the Bible says we are victorious. Even if they seem strong, they cannot deviate from their path. But we have been freed from sin, freed in the truth, and become free in Christ. You have been saved as those who will enjoy such glory and freedom not only on this earth but eternally. If you experience that, and know Christ, what could be more glorious than this? Everyone, come quickly to that place. The Lord who is the Creator creates each day with you. He rejoices before you. Jesus, who works together with God who makes the dry land appear and creates the land for us to dwell in, works with us now. So creation is not something you see with your eyes. It's not about seeing that God did it all alone, that God is great. Creation is not like that. Now, we are no longer people who view creation as if we are creatures, but we are people who participated together in that work of creation, people who are becoming new, new creatures receiving newness daily, new creators, and God's delight enjoying that creation together in God. This is you.

 

Closing Prayer

Let us pray! We are neither startled nor disappointed by the storms visible in the world. Our suffering cannot swallow us. My failure cannot swallow me. Depression and anxiety cannot swallow me. Because the suffering the Lord experienced could not swallow the Lord, the groaning the Lord experienced could not swallow the Lord, and even the death the Lord experienced could not swallow the Lord. Therefore, Lord, we cry out to you in faith. Lord, we believe that nothing in the world, no situation, can swallow us, but only in the Lord, as children of God, we become new. Lord, create us anew. According to your creation, let us also create with you. Help us not to forget but remember that you are our Creator and we are people of your creation. Lord who rescued me, I believe you rescue today and will rescue. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray! Amen!