“God Waited Patiently”

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

BIBLE READING: 1 Peter 3.20

“All flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. [God] blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground.” (Genesis 7.21-23a)

Try to fathom the horror people faced as the waters rose. Surely, they climbed higher and higher until there was nowhere else to go. The reality of their fate slowly engulfed them until they were consumed and destroyed. What a terrifying way to die.

We know the world was corrupt (Genesis 6.5), but our human limitations can make it difficult to comprehend why God had to do this. It is a challenging thought to be sure; but know with certainty God did not do this out of pleasure. It grieved him to his heart as he watched his creation degenerate from the goodness with which he had designed them to live. (Genesis 6.6-7). Although they lived, there was no life.

While the flood was a definitive moment, it was a long time coming. Peter wrote that “God’s patience waited in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3.20). God could have acted sooner. He could have wiped out humanity the moment he knew their wickedness. But for the sake of Noah’s preservation, and in hope that others would repent, God waited.

But eventually the flood came, as promised, and it was a discriminating moment. Both the righteous and the wicked endured the flood, but only those prepared through obedience were saved. The flood made evident who was with God and who was in rebellion. Those eight persons who got on the ark had never seen a flood like this, much less rain fall from the sky. But they believed God and their obedience served as an “appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3.21).  In other words, they understood God’s mercy in revealing this to them and acted to position themselves for salvation, according to God’s words.

Peter tells us this is what baptism is all about (1 Peter 3.21). It’s not a formality but an opportunity to engage God’s judgment with hope that he will save us through it. We know a day of judgment is coming (Matthew 24.36-42; 2 Peter 2.4-10; 3.5-7). We have not only been warned but have been told how to prepare. We can get in the water through obedience trusting him to save us or we can let the judgment come us. The events of Genesis 6 and the faith of Noah remain as a witness to the coming reality (2 Peter 3.5-7). The day of the Lord will come (2 Peter 3.10) and only those who have submitted to the mercy of God through obedience and baptism will be saved (2 Peter 3.21).

And so, God’s patience waits again today. We live in a world plummeting into wickedness and corruption, destined for wrath (2 Thessalonians 1.5-10; 2 Timothy 3.1-5). "the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly" (2 Peter 3.7). There will once again be a definitive moment in history where God discriminates between the righteous and the wicked. We know only a few will be saved; and in his goodness, God will wait for them, and then comes the judgment. Until then, we must take seriously that “God wishes that none would perish but all would come to repentance” (2 Peter 3.9). Like Noah our charge is to be a herald of righteousness (2 Peter 2.5) in a world that crooked, perverse and doomed for judgment. Let us secure our hope in obedience and share God’s mercy with others so they too might be saved.

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