The Flood That Reset The World

Water means a lot of things to a lot of people. For me, it’s always about enjoyment. I love going out on boats, kayaks, fishing, and canoes, floating down a river in an innertube, or just swimming and playing with my kids. For my wife, it’s the complete opposite. My wife has a legitimate fear of swimming in water that goes deeper than her shoulders. She enjoys the four-foot above-the-ground pools that people have. Boats, however, are not really her thing. She’ll get on them, but she doesn’t dream of getting out on the lake like many of us do. In our family, water means completely different things.

In the context of the Bible, water carries various meanings. In the second verse of the Bible, we have our first mention of water.
 
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2

There was no life on this planet yet, but there WAS water. When the waters covered the earth, there was no life. In this case, the waters represented emptiness or even death. Then, on the 3rd day, God brought dry land up through the waters. On the 3rd day, that land that came up through the waters sprouted vegetation. It is here that we see the first signs of life and that life was fed by the waters. In this sense, we see that water represents new life.
 
And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
Genesis 1:11

Fast forward 1500 years, the earth had grown sinful. So sinful that God’s hand was forced. Something needed to be done, and God decided on a hard reset.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Genesis 6:5–7

Now, as this account continues, we see what the destruction of man will look like. We see how God would start the earth over….again, the earth would be covered in water.

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
Genesis 6:17

Once again, the earth would be submerged under water. Where water had stood for darkness and new life, it now represented God’s judgment over sin and the need for a new start. God will not stand for sin. He will not spend the rest of His eternity with sin in his presence. He needs to eradicate it. As much as God loves each of us, he hates sin equally. That’s why the earth needed a fresh start. The filth and corruption of man’s heart were beyond repair, and the flood was the only option.
 
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
Nahum 1:2

This is an attribute of God we don’t talk about often. God is a just god who will not tolerate those who work actively against Him. Without Him, we are nothing. We don’t even exist. Everything we have, the very breath we breathe, is due to His desire to create us and even be WITH us. As a king, He is our protector, ruler, and source of hope. When He is betrayed and treated as though He has no rule in our lives, things can be very different.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Nahum 1:7–8

 After 2000 years, Nahum uses the flood as an illustration of God’s power against his enemies. We see how God uses water to wipe out the adversary. He’s still doing it today. God’s greatest enemy is Satan, and Satan’s greatest weapon is sin. He tempts, he lures, he hides in the darkness with only one desire: to destroy us. He does that through sin. God cannot have this. He knew sin needed to be defeated. What did He give us to eradicate sins in our lives? Jesus’ cross. How do we identify with that cross? Baptism.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3–4

Just as water represents death and justice, it also represents new life. God’s justice is Holy and necessary, and his gift to us is the eradication of sin in our lives through baptism in water. We literally kill off the old person that we were and rise to a new life. Just as the earth was made new, we are made new through water. God’s justice can be brutal, but it can also be beautiful. He promised never to flood the entire earth again, but He still offers a new beginning. I’m thankful for new beginnings. I’m thankful for the cross. I’m thankful for God’s justice.