(vs20-22) “The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died”.
Death is the result of sin, and we must pay the penalty or be found in Jesus Christ. We either TRUST Him to bear the wrath for us and present us safe, or we will die beneath God's eternal wrath, as assuredly as we die in the physical realm today.
The gospel of God's glory is GLORIOUS for saving us from death.
First, we must die because of sin or trust Christ, “Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (vs23). Sin has offended God, and He has promised death as the result. The wages of sin are not separation from God in this world, only; they are eternal consequences, even the second death, which is the lake of fire, “and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).
God is serious about sin, and the only remedy is Christ. Christ DIED to pay the penalty, so that we may be free. He “redeemed us from the curse of the law... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13-14). Honoring Christ is receiving the salvation that He gives, trusting Him to give it.
Secondly, if I've been spared of death, what kind of love is this? It is the love that gave us the Son and gives to us continually. John says, “I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning”, and God is love, “and who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7-8). We see His love by the gift of forgiveness and the gift of power to obey. But, behind the GIVING is the heart of love that glorifies itself (1) in the objects of His love (sinners), (2) the cost of His love (His Son's blood), (3) and the perpetual goodness of His love, so that He saves us now and forever, giving to us continually from the heart, “with goodwill” (Eph 6:6-7).
If I'm saved, it is because God LOVES me, gives me repentance, receives me freely, and does all for my good. He is gracious.
Thirdly, if I've obtained mercy and been spared of death, then I must love others. I cannot tolerate the mind state of “happy but unholy”. I cannot be happy that God saves me and be cruel unto my neighbor, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). Christ's love constrains us to love, “because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor 5:14-15). This logic of faith declares that we can't act any other way and honor the love we freely receive.
Finally, know the certainty of death. Know of a certainty that while men partied and played, Noah built the ark, entered, and was saved... while everyone else was swept away. It shall be so in the end, for “the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word [that held back the flood until it came], are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Pet 3:7).
Don't let the modern world fool you as if there is no Judgment, and God has died. Receive HOW MUCH He loves you (enough to save, and save, and save), and love people as your reasonable service.
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