After Cain killed Abel, the world continued its descent into evil. For awhile, the descendants of Seth, called by Moses the Sons of God, remained separate from the descendants of Cain. They remained faithful to God and his will. However, slowly but surely, they began to marry each other, The Sons of God soon became as evil as their neighbors. This should not surprise us. Because of sin their every thought was evil. So God resolved to destroy the world and all of the descendants of Adam and Eve — except for eight of them. God preserved humanity in the person of Noah and his family, who had continued to serve him. God kept them safe in the Ark he built and resettled the world through him.
The first time we read about the flood, we get the impression that Noah and his family were saved because they were saints in a world full of sinners. But this is not true. They were just as sinful at heart as their neighbors (compare Genesis 6:5-6, before the flood and 8:21 after the flood). The difference was that they “walked with God” (6:9) and were righteous by faith (Hebrews 11:7), trusting God to care for them and obeying His commands. In Martin Luther’s Flood Prayer, which we use in our baptismal services, we confess it this way: “Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. ”
The flood reminds Christians of baptism, in which our sins are drowned and we are safely carried to new life. We speak about the Church as God’s new ark, in which he keeps us safe from the evil world. The place in our church building where we sit for worship is named the Nave, which means ship in Latin. Baptism saves us by uniting us with Christ’s suffering and death. In it our sins are washed away, where Jesus received them at his baptism. In exchange, we receive his righteousness by faith. When we rise from the water of baptism, we are united with his resurrection. So, as Christ rose from the dead, we will rise from our graves on the last day.
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