Feature Article: Passing through the Waters

PASSING THROUGH THE WATERS

The streets were unsafe even in daylight. News from elsewhere brought increasing reports of violence, corruption and immorality. Everyone lived to please themselves, trampling whoever got in their way. Victims became abusers feeling justified in their cruelty; and the cycle spun out of control. The days grew worse until nearly the whole world had turned its back on God.

Every wrongful act—large or small—brought more disorder; a pandemic of sin and corruption. He is patient; but God will not allow evil to continue indefinitely.

So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth”.

GENESIS 6:7

Yet before God sent a worldwide flood to wash away humanity, He delayed judgement for 100 years in order to rescue Noah, a righteous man; and give him an opportunity to preach to others.1 In that time Noah built his famous ark; a giant vessel that would hold his family and a whole zoo of animals.

At last the day came when God’s mercy ended and the waters began. God shut Noah, his family and the animals into their dark, floating tomb for nearly a year. A year! Months and months of darkness, in the pressing heat of hundreds of living creatures. Being in total lockdown in that ark was undoubtedly difficult; they surely longed for dry land, sunshine and fresh air. But the only other option was to face the waters on their own. The ark was the only salvation God had provided to keep them safe from the awesome judgement swirling underneath.

1 See Genesis 5:32; 6:9; 7:6; 2 Peter 2:5

But one glorious day, it was over. “God said to Noah, ‘Come out” (GENESIS 8:15). He squinted as sunlight finally hit his eyes; his heart fluttered as he took that step from the cramped ark to the freedom of God’s renewed creation. Noah had passed through the waters of judgement. In fact, for him in the ark, they were the waters of salvation, making everything new.

And that’s the story of Easter.

No, we haven’t confused our Bible stories! Noah’s Ark is the story of Easter, told thousands of years beforehand!

The sinful world in which Noah lived was under condemnation: judgement was coming. But God provided the ark as a means of salvation for anyone who would come. But if they didn’t believe God would judge, or didn’t believe the ark could save them, they had to face the flood on their own.

And the same is true today. Our world is characterised by sin, selfishness and ultimately rebellion against God. And God has promised to bring final judgement. The fact that God chooses to deal with sin proves His goodness; but judgement isn’t good news for those of us who aren’t perfectly sinless. We need an ark that can withstand the flood and carry us through unharmed. And that is exactly what Jesus came to do; this is the very heart of Easter.

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

JOHN 3:18

As the ark was for Noah, so Jesus is for us!

Just as Noah’s ark endured the waters of God’s righteous judgement, Jesus bore God’s judgement against sin. Just as only those who chose to shelter within the ark were saved, so it is in our day; only those who choose to take refuge in Christ will benefit from His salvation and the new life He offers. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 CORINTHIANS 5:17)

We have been given a new, cleansed life through Jesus. We no longer need to fear God’s coming judgement against sin because, by faith, we are sheltered “in Christ.” Just as God assured Noah that he would never endure another flood of judgement, He also gives this assurance to us: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

(ROMANS 8:1).

This is why Christians rejoice at Easter! We are truly saved through the death of our Lord—His resurrection proves it. By rising from the grave, Jesus demonstrated that the price for our sin was fully paid. If Jesus was still in the grave, we would be right to wonder whether the job was finished; to ask if God had some judgement reserved for us still. But now, through the resurrection, all such fear is put to rest.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

ROMANS 6:4

As we have seen through this booklet, our journey to the heart of Easter is a journey to the safe covering of Jesus, to forgiveness from all sin, and to the light of new life. We no longer need to seek ‘fig leaves’ or darkness to cover us. Instead we can live confidently before God. Unashamed. Righteous. Renewed. Restored.

The journey to the heart of Easter is, in fact, the journey through the story of the Bible. From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, we can trace the battle between darkness and light. Between the two gardens, the questions are asked again and again, in various forms and in various stories: “How can humanity return to God?” “Who will save us?” “Who will shelter us from the storm of God’s righteous judgement?”

Wherever you turn to in your Bible next, try reading that passage with the Easter story in mind—that’s the story it’s part of. Ultimately, to journey to the heart of Easter is to discover the heart of Christ, the Hero of the Bible’s story who provides for our deepest needs, calms every fear, and gives victory and hope to all who shelter in Him.