Recently in reading the account of Noah in Genesis 6, I was struck by the words "only blameless" and "blameless in his generation". Those words had never sparked my mind before.
It was like a light bulb going on when I realized that Noah was considered blameless. There's only one other person I think of as blameless and that's Jesus.
As I dwelt on that concept, I remembered Noah's sons. Yes, they supported their father by helping him build the ark. Which at the time, probably appeared to be a useless, senseless thing. No one else is recorded building such a large vessel. According to the Bible, there is no record of rain happening. After all, at that time, the atmosphere and earth worked together in perfect harmony. While there were rivers, they didn’t live near a coastline where a large ship would have made sense. So, when you look at this, these men were good sons, good men.
But they weren't blameless. If they had been, the Bible would have said that Noah and his sons were blameless men. Yet, it didn't. In fact, from the verses that follow the flood account (Genesis 9:18-27), we see that Noah's youngest son disrespectfully looked on his father's naked body.
That's when I realized that even with their fallen state the sons were still invited to join Noah on the ark. And, they followed their father to safety by entering that ark. They didn’t know what was coming. They were told, but they truly didn’t understand until they experienced it. That ark became a place of refuge and safety as the rain fell and water consumed the ground and ended the earthly life of extended family members, some they considered friends. I’m sure there had to be disbelief as they saw their father's words unfold before their eyes.
They were saved from the wrath of God upon the whole earth. So in a sense, the ark was their salvation.
Just as Noah directed his family to join him on the ark, Jesus presents salvation from God’s approaching wrath. Noah’s sons were not blameless. Neither are we. We each have our failures and tendencies to do the things that do not bless God. Yet, like Noah, Jesus calls us to join Him. Each of us, in our shortcomings is being asked to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Everyone has this offer.
My hope is that all eyes will be opened to the need of entering the safety of Jesus’s gift to the world. In reading the Bible, we see there is another upcoming moment of God’s wrath. What side of the unfolding realization do you want to be on?
