Have Patience In The Midst Of Troubling Times
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(17) For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (18) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (19) After being made alive, He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—(20) to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (21) and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (22) who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.’ (1 Peter 3:17-22)
Peter in chapter 3 of his first letter, tells the Believer to avoid evil. Avoiding evil is a good way to stay out of trouble – normally. There are times the Christian will have trouble come upon them, not of their own doing but due to either the persecution upon them by evil people or by the rippling effects of evil before (and sometimes during) the correction God may lay in place. Peter makes it a point that those who suffer persecution due to Righteousness need to be patient; God’s actions take place at a time and place of His choosing, as was the case of Job in his suffering.
Noah and his family are examples of this patience. Noah, his wife, and his three sons and their wives (making eight people total) were living Righteously in an otherwise unrighteous world. When Noah began building the Ark it is estimated it took him between 50 and 75 years to complete. Meanwhile, it is likely there were pundits and critics who were continually browbeating and besmirching Noah and his sons while assembling the ark.
It is certain there were many who saw the Ark as a folly; built in a land away from a body a water it made no sense. (At least today’s Ark in Kentucky was built as an attraction, so it makes sense to put it in a place to where a good amount of people can visit it.) It was likely plagued with acts of theft and vandalism as it was a ready source of materials and tools (as many worksites are today). It is also possible Noah and his family were accosted verbally and/or physically during the construction period.
Then the floodwaters came from the ground (quite possibly by volcanic rifts in the ocean similar to those seen today in Iceland) which steamed the water and forming the clouds that brought about rain. This combination quickly flooded the earth, and brought yet another set of suffering to Noah and his family; they survived while their neighbors, unwilling to repent, drowned.
Noah and his family then had to again patiently suffer through the effects of the flood for over 370 days (give or take a day or two); the rain, then the flooding, the water receding, then the drying out of the ground before they exited the Ark. (I would also assume the aroma inside the Ark could have been a bit overwhelming at times, given all the animals.) For his patience however, Noah became the ‘2nd patriarch’ for mankind (Adam being the 1st) as today all people are traced to him.
The Flood was God’s way of cleansing the world. Peter saw the Flood not as a washing to get rid of the dirt but a pledge by God that He would deal with evil, that the Flood provided a pledge to get rid of sin. Peter compares the global Flood to baptism, or God’s pledge that His Creation would be salvaged, or saved. In a sense, God ‘baptized’ the physical earth to show His commitment. In the same way (on a much smaller scale, of course), the Believer is baptized not to be cleansed but to show that we have accepted God’s pledge that He is committed to each Believer, and individually each Believer to Him.
The Flood, like baptism, was an outward expression of God’s commitment to defeat sin once and for all. The actual baptism will be by fire; we as Believers are cleansed through the Baptism by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and within us a new man, a new Creation, arises (Matthew 3:11). The actual baptism by fire of the world is mentioned in 1 Peter 3:10-12, where the world will be destroyed by fire to make way for the New Heaven and Earth – a new Creation.
The Lord is coming again; as we await Him we need to do so with patience as Noah awaited the Flood as he did what the Lord commanded him to do and built the Ark – despite the persecution he had to endure. Likewise, we need to be patient as we await the Fire and do what the Lord commanded us to do and go make disciples through sharing the Gospel of Christ – despite the persecution we need to ensure.
