Genesis 5-7: The True Light of God’s Salvation

God presents Noah to us an example of putting our hope in God through living righteously and walking with God. This is the center message of the Gospel, that God has given us a real path of righteousness through Jesus. This is the significance of His death and life, that He has a real power over sin that we can live in through Him.

God is calling out to all of humanity to take courage to live righteously before Him, no matter how other people live. To truly pay the cost and bear the cross of godliness and holiness.

One of the greatest challenges to this call is the sins of others. To live according to the call of God, even if everyone else refuses to. And this is just as true in the church. Many in the church are not really obeying the call, and this great sin of them has worked great discouragement to others following God (Luke 11:52).

We also have to recognize that what others do will never be justification for us in neglecting this call of God ourselves. If Noah had done so, then he would have been judged the same as the rest of the world. Yet it was because Noah regarded God and righteousness that he was instructed by God to construct the ark. And so God speaks to all people who desire a real righteousness and yearn for justice and truth, to seek them in Him, and to walk in them through the life of His Son.

“So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’” (Acts 11:34-35)

“The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.” (Psalm 18:20-24)

Our hope in God is that He will justly judge all people, and “will render to each one according to his works”. That those “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” But to those “who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” (Romans 2:6-9)

Our great concern in life is to truly know God and to walk blamelessly before Him. This is true religion. And God would have us bear up, and not be pulled away from this by what others do/or don’t do. All of us will be judged by how we live. That is why, even with how the church has behaved, we are without excuse if we, ourselves, do not choose the true ways of God and walk in them.

The great concern of our lives is to be a people who walk rightly before God in what is good, waiting for the redemption of all things (Titus 2:11-14). This is the hope we have in God, the ark through the storm.

The devil is hard at work discouraging people from this great Light of God, this great work of righteousness and godliness. He works tirelessly to blind the minds of man through prejudices against God, through the sins of the church eclipsing the light of true godliness. Yet we should humble ourselves to learn of Christ, to patiently endure these storms with Him—rather than turn against Him, for that is the very desire of the devil—that we would take God as our enemy, rather than sin, the sin of others, and the works of the enemy of our souls.

When we look out into the world and we see great evils, do we not desire the judgement of God upon these things? We may not understand the full judgement of God yet, but can we not see it is partly here in these places? Do we not want wicked people held to account for the horrible things they’ve done? We rejoice in a judgement and long for it.

And God speaks to all longing souls to put their hope in Him for these very things, but the means of doing so is to turn into the full Light of godliness and righteousness itself.

When we are angry and afflicted by the sins of others, such as the many sins from the church, are we satisfied with their efforts? Are their ways good enough, or have they harmed us? God is helping us to see the real outcome of sin, the real ways our ways are not benign or “good enough”. To see just how very poisonous sin is. Let us humble ourselves to God in this, taking His examples and lessons in people and use them to turn to God in truth. He will teach the humble and help them to see that just as the church’s sins are very costly, so our sins are costly. They may not be the same, or the same degree, but that isn’t the point. The point is to see the ways of sin, that they are in fact much worse than we understood. This can help us if we will let it.

God shows us that if we are truly a people who do what is good and right, then we will be a people who will regard God and the true law of God. While there might be a great lack of goodness in those who profess these things, still there is no true goodness apart from God. Without God we cannot find the pure light of Goodness and Truth. Our goodness will not be done from a right principle, to a right end, and in a right spirit. These things are essential in order to walk in a real righteousness and truth.

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)

God created all people to be righteous people. The cry of our hearts is for righteousness and goodness, and against all that is contrary to these. Yet we must see that when we do not work this righteousness ourselves then we ourselves are sinful. To long for a righteous world is only truly matched by laboring to prepare ourselves to be worthy of such a world, all else is presumption and arrogance.

May the Lord help us all to run this race, and to do the works worthy of the Lord and the crown of glory.