Genesis 8:21. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
We might expect God’s words to sound more like this: I will never again curse the ground because of man, for now they are purified by the flood waters and will never sin again. Or maybe this: I will never again curse the ground because of man, for they have learned their lesson and will never sin again.
Instead, God’s words are a bit surprising – for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Wait a minute, if the flood didn’t fix man’s heart and remove his sin, then what was the point?
Clearly the flood did not solve mankind’s sin problem. Noah and his family emerge from the ark with the same sin nature passed on from Adam that they were born with. The postdiluvian world is not a perfect do-over or blank slate. We have not returned to Eden; we are moving forward in a fallen world, one where evil is assumed.
In a very real sense, it is not man that has been changed by the flood, it is God. Not a change in his character or even in his eternal plan, but a change in how he will respond to sin. To be sure this is a predestined change, one that God foreknew before the creation of the world, a change that will ultimately result in Christ and his curse-breaking cross.
We mentioned earlier Martin Luther’s characterization of God’s power as two “hands.” God has “right handed power” and God has “left handed power.” God’s right-handed power is direct, forceful, straight-line power. Right-handed power is what you use with children who try to run into the street, or with those who are bent on doing harm. When tragedy looms you forcibly make it stop. But left handed power is much more paradoxical. It is power through weakness. It is subtle and vulnerable. It is indirect. It’s what you use when you care more about the relationship than about getting what you want. In a nutshell, it is the power of unconditional love and grace rather than force and law. It is the power of being WITH someone.
The greatest example of God’s right handed power in the Bible is probably the flood. God is sorry he created such wicked people, so he decides to destroy humanity with a display of great force. Erase the board. Reboot creation. End the relationship. But God’s love for mankind shines through Noah. And so the rest of the Bible, after Genesis 9, answers this question: How can God destroy evil without destroying the ones he loves? Not by a flood, but by a cross. Not by judgment against us, but by judgment against himself. Not by right-handed power, but by left-handed power.
As we’ve said, the flood did not destroy sin. Noah walked off the ark just as much a sinner as he was before (just keep reading the story). His descendants will reject God and destroy each other just as well as his forefathers. The flood demonstrated God’s righteous judgment of sin, his settled, holy wrath toward evil. But the flood also showed that God’s judgments alone will never solve humanity’s problem – the domination of sin in the inner man. The heart of wickedness that still beats inside us all. Only God’s grace can fix that. The grace of our union with Christ.
Like the ark in the flood, being found in Christ saves us from the power of sin and death, but it does not fully remove the sin inside of us. Noah was saved from sin’s consequence, but not yet fully from sin’s indwelling in his very soul. The same is true for us. The battle between the law of sin and the law of faith rages on (Rom. 7). The battle between flesh and Spirit still dominates our lives.
But in Christ at least we know this (it is what Noah knew as well): God will never again curse us for our sin. His left-handed power has made a way for us. The way of mercy. The one-way love of Jesus. The Way that IS Jesus and his life lived for us, and his death that took sins curse for us. This is the grace that allows us to fight the battle against sin for all our days until Christ restores all things to the perfection his love demands.
Questions: Do you see God as using “right-handed power” in your life or “left-handed power?” Which does God use on you as you fight the daily battle against sin (hint: the answer is “left-handed power,” the power of love and grace)?
To Live is Christ 