"IN THE MIDST OF THE TERRORS OF THE DEADLY WATERS, THE LORD GOD IN MERCY PRESERVED A COVENANT SEED"

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 46:1,5
Psalm 25:5,6 (Ps 111:5 after baptism)
Psalm 74:8,9,12,13
Psalm 124:1,2,3
Psalm 89:5 & Hymn 27:4

Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We’ve just read together the Form for Holy Baptism, with its wonderful summary of the promises God extends to His children by covenant – He’s their God! Yet before the sacrament of baptism was administered to Bradley and Leah, we first bowed our heads in prayer –why?- "in order that we may now administer this holy sacrament of God to His glory, for our comfort, and to the upbuilding of the congregation." Then we prayed…, and in our prayer made a reference to Noah’s flood. "Almighty, eternal God," we prayed, "in Your righteous judgment You punished the unbelieving and unrepentant world with the flood, but in Your great mercy You saved and protected the believer Noah and his family." Familiar words. But what do they mean? What did we really pray here?

This much is clear: this prayer is a direct reference to the material we just read from Genesis 7 and 1 Peter 3. Those chapters: in the midst of judgment God displayed mercy! As the waters of judgment were about to consume the earth, God closed the door on the covenant seed to protect them from the judgment outside. The protection God gave Noah and his family, we say in that prayer, signifies baptism. So, before the sacrament was administered to these two children, we prayed that the Lord would show the same mercy to Bradley and Leah as he showed to Noah and his family – for God, we know, does not change!

I summarize the sermon with this theme:

The words that I lifted out of Gen 7 are very graphic. It had been God’s command to Noah 120 years earlier to build an ark of specific dimensions and stock it with food. In the 120 years since, the man Noah had labored on his assigned project, with as result that an ark now stood there on the land, its vaults filled with the prescribed provisions. Now the tension started to rise in earnest; God announced that in seven days time He would "cause it to rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights" (7:4). At least two of each species of animals assembled about the ark, and up the gangplank they went, through the door which Noah had obediently constructed in his ship. Vs 15 "they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life." When the animals were all safely inside, Noah and his family went through that door for the last time. Then follow the words of our text: "and the Lord shut him in." Or literally: "and the Lord shut it behind him." That door: God Himself closed it.

What that meant? That the residents of the ark were trapped inside. The door was closed, by God Himself. And if God has closed, who shall open?! Try as they might they could not get out. And equally: those outside might try also for all they were worth to open that door, to get inside, but they too could not; those outside were now imprisoned out of the ark.

Why, brothers and sisters, would the Lord God make a point of trapping that covenant seed –with those animals- in the ark? Why did the Lord God consider it necessary that He Himself shut the door on them??

Here, congregation, we are confronted with nothing else than God’s gracious care for His creatures, particularly for His children in Jesus Christ. Here is divine protection. Protection from what?

Our thoughts go immediately to the waters of the flood. Never had it rained upon the earth yet (so we read in Gen 2:5f), but now for 40 days it poured ‘cats and dogs’. And while the rains fell ceaselessly from the heavens above, the "fountains of the great deep were broken open" (vs 11) so that water boiled up from the depths of the earth also. From that frightening chaos of broiling water the ark gave refuge, safety.

Yet we ought not, beloved, to think that the ark gave protection only from the floodwaters themselves. There were countless people on earth, the one more wicked than the other, all struggling desperately to save the self. They may well have scoffed at Noah’s folly for those 120 years as he built his huge boat and proclaimed a coming flood (2 Peter 2:5), but now that the heavens opened and the fountains of the deep gushed forth, we may be sure that Noah’s big-mouthed contemporaries were suddenly stricken with deadly panic, and will have done all their evil brains could think of to get aboard the ark and so escape their impending doom. Yet get aboard the ark they could not; the Lord Himself had shut the door. Those outside might then bang on that door for all they were worth, yes, and Noah and his family might feel O so tempted to open the door and let that dear neighbor in, but that door was shut, shut by God Himself and therefore indisputably locked. That door served as a barrier between those inside and those outside, a barrier that could not be passed by persons from either side. God had decreed a division between persons of the human race, with eight people on the one side of that door and the remaining millions on the other – a barrier no one could cross.

Yet with that, congregation, we have still not come to the depth of what that closed door meant. Outside the ark, the waters of the flood began to cover the earth. But what, according to Scriptures, are waters all about?

As it turns out, the Bible portrays waters as a habitation of the devil. You know from the second commandment –we hear it every Sunday- that this creation can be divided into three distinct areas. There are the "heavens above" where the Lord God dwells, there is "the earth beneath" which God has given to man for a home, and there are "the waters under the earth". These "waters under the earth" –call it the sea, if you will- is where Satan and his demons are presented as dwelling. Isaiah says this about the inhabitant of the waters under the earth: "In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea" (27:1). That reference to the serpent, "the reptile that is in the sea", is a direct allusion to Satan (cf Gen 3; Rev 12); Satan is presented as residing in the sea. Daniel makes this connection between the waters and Satan also: "Daniel spoke, saying, ‘I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea..." (7:2f). From what Daniel relates further about these beasts, it’s clear that these beasts come from hell, are driven by Satan (cf vss 4ff, esp vs 11). John on Patmos repeats it: "I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name" (Rev 13:1), and John makes it very clear who this beast arising from the sea is: this beast is driven by hell. The waters: Scriptures present the waters under the earth as the abode of the devil and his hoards. That’s also why it’s so delightful to read at the end of the book of Revelation, when John writes about the new heaven earth and the new earth, that "there was no more sea" (21:1). For on the new earth Satan and his hosts will have no place!

The Lord God shut the door on Noah and the other inhabitants of the ark. On that same day "the fountains of the great deep were broken open" (vs 11). In other words: the waters that were "under the earth" gushed forth to cover the earth itself. The earth itself was now gone, swallowed up by the waters. And to whom belongs the waters under the earth, the waters that now cover the earth which God had given to the sons of man (Ps 115:16)? We know it: there dwelt Satan and his hosts! This, then, is what has happened in the flood: Satan, with the waters that were his abode, swallowed up the earth; Satan overwhelmed the creation that God had entrusted to man!

In this context, we are to notice that in the verses following on our text we read four times that the waters "prevailed" on the earth. The word that’s used for "prevail" depicts a warrior, a soldier strong for battle; this is military language. "The waters prevailed". That is: the hosts of hell triumphed over the earth. That flood, beloved, was not "simply" a matter of water covering the earth and that’s it; that flood played a role in the antithesis, in the universal battle between God and Satan. And judging by the extent of the waters, judging by the terrified screams of drowning people and animals, the victory is fully Satan’s; his abode covers all the earth so that all life is snuffed out. What God has created in the beginning is now gone, destroyed, given over to Satan! God let it rain, God let the fountains of the deep break open, God gave His creation over to judgment, to Satan and his hosts. For "the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth…."

Water: that’s all there was. The houses and the hills, the steeples and the trees, were gone. "The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth", yes, "the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth," so that "all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered", covered by more than 7 meters of that liquid presented as the abode of hellish beasts. Truly, how total was the destruction of the world God had made...; "all flesh died", "all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life...died" (vss 17ff). Behold Satan’s triumph....

And now think not, brothers and sisters, that Satan let that ark float in peace! So close he was to accomplishing his horrid goal, so close in robbing God of all glory. It is just not the character of the deceiver from the beginning to let the ark alone. All life was gone, destroyed, except for that which was in the ark. Surely, surely "the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the [ark], that he might cause [it] to be carried away," destroyed (cf Rev 12:15).

But here, beloved, is the wealth of our text! "The Lord shut him in," we read. That door, closed by God Himself before the waters flooded the earth, served not only as a barrier between Noah and the deadly waters outside, nor only between Noah and the panicking thousands outside, but it served as a barrier ultimately between those in the ark and Satan – and therefore as a barrier between those in the ark and God’s righteous judgment! Though Satan’s triumph in the flood would appear so complete, God ordained that the door of the ark be closed, God ordained that Satan would not be able to reach Noah and his family. For it was the holy wish of God Most High that the covenant seed in the ark must be protected. That adversary the devil walked about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour (I Pet 5:8), but those enclosed in the ark he could not touch, could not because of God’s protecting hand upon them. "The Lord shut them in," shut the door in Satan’s face so that His own might be preserved. In the midst of so much judgment, here is life-saving mercy - a mercy rooted in Jesus Christ.

And notice here, brothers and sisters: God shut the door before He loosed Satan upon the earth. While the heavens were still closed and the fountains of the deep whole, while the waters in which the beasts of hell dwelt were still "under the earth", before this assault of the devil on the faithful could begin, God set a wall around His covenant children. Never should Noah and his household be open to all-out attacks from hell.

Behold here, beloved, the doctrine of the preservation of the saints! Such is God’s care for those chosen to life that He sovereignly sets a wall around them, a barrier that no present or future attack of hell can penetrate. Here, brothers and sisters, is your God in Jesus Christ: in the storms of life and in the attacks of the devil, He does not leave you to fend for yourself, does not leave you open to every attack hell can dream up. Well did the apostle Paul say it in his letter to the Romans:

All the world may disappear, everything around me may fall apart, yes, creation itself may be undone as in the days of the flood, but even then there is nothing, nothing which can separate us from the love of the Father in heaven. On Calvary there was one whom God did not protect from the attacks of the devil; around His Son Jesus Christ no barrier was placed, no door nailed shut to prevent Satan reaching Him. And because Jesus triumphed at that time is there mercy for God’s own throughout the ages; always is there a door closed around His children: preservation of the saints.

We come to our second point:

That shut door: there’s a very rich gospel implicit in that text. What do you think now: is this gospel true for us? What about our children, Bradley, Leah? Why do we bring up this material in the prayer we pray before our children receive the sign and seal of the covenant?

The apostle Peter answers the question for us. He writes about the flood, and then says this: "there is also an antitype which now saves us, namely, baptism" (1 Peter 3:21). With the word "antitype" Peter stresses that the flood of long ago wasn’t the real thing, but baptism is. That flood of Gen 7 was for destruction; with the flood, the whole world was given over to Satan. But baptism, Peter insists, is just the opposite, it’s the antitype; in baptism one is not given over to Satan, destroyed, but is rather rescued from Satan, saved.

Baptism saves us, says Peter. It’s a strong statement. But Peter explains what he means: it’s not the removal of filth from the body, the outward washing itself –shall we say: the fact of baptism- that saves us, but rather that one has a good conscience toward God (vs 21). And that good conscience toward God is what one can receive only through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Here, then, Peter lays a connection between baptism and Jesus (just as Paul did in Rom 6). When Christ died on Calvary, the believer died with Christ, and so too is he raised with Christ. As Paul says: "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (6:3f). It comes down to this: baptism points up that the sinner is united with Christ, has died to sin, and been raised to a new life with God. That’s what Peter means when He says that "baptism saves".

Here, then, congregation, is the comfort of our text. The flood came to sweep away all flesh, yes, Satan was let loose on the earth, permitted to destroy the earth. But God sovereignly closed the door behind Noah and his family; the covenant seed was preserved, protected even before the danger of Satan became real. For us baptism is that door which God has closed against Satan. Baptism is the seal, by which God confirms that He has claimed particular people as His own, and so baptism functions as a wall around these covenant children; baptism ensures protection, safety. Why baptism ensures protection? Why baptism functions for God’s people today as did the door of Noah’s ark long ago? Because baptism implies that one is united with the Christ who was rejected on Calvary, is united with the Christ who triumphed on Calvary even while He was unprotected. Because Christ triumphed, God now protects all those who died with Him. Baptism implies that one has died with Christ, and hence has part in Christ’s resurrection. Baptism, then, implies God’s protection; baptism saves.

That, brothers and sisters, is why in that prayer before baptism itself, we mention Noah and the flood before God’s throne of grace. We have learned from Peter that baptism is the antitype of the flood, is its opposite. Whereas the flood destroyed, whereas the waters of the flood meant that Satan had free reign on the earth, baptism means that one has been set free from the dominion of Satan, is spared the wrath of God that prompted the flood. So says Peter, inspired as he is by the Holy Spirit. And that’s why we feel free –yes, we are compelled- to ask the Lord to do today with the child presented for baptism just as He had done long ago with Noah and his family. At that time, while He had destroyed the unbelieving and unrepentant world, had given it over to the hell it deserved, He had saved Noah from those turbulent waters, yes, had shut Noah up behind the safety of that closed door. At baptism we pray –since Peter lays a connection between the flood and baptism- we pray: ‘Lord, do with these babies as You did with Noah. Enclose these children of the congregation in the blood of Jesus Christ, set around them the wall of protection Noah experienced, do it so that these covenant children too may not be overwhelmed by the devil but rather taste day by day Your mercy in Jesus Christ.’

And because we’re convinced that the Lord hears our prayers, do we also make a point after baptism to give thanks to God for the protection He grants to the baptized, to our children. "Almighty, merciful God and Father," we said to God after the children has received the sign and seal of God’s gracious covenant,

We’re convinced –for this is God’s promise, and He does not change- that the Lord God sets a wall of protection around the covenant children presented for baptism, convinced that the Lord has as it were closed the door on Satan so that Satan is not permitted to pluck such a child from the hands of sovereign God.

And what’s true of a baby presented for baptism, brothers and sisters, is true for all of us. Baptized we are, by the grace of God. And that means nothing else than that God has determined to enclose us in the ark of His care. What is it, then, that can separate us from His love? Can persecution or distress, floods or fires, agony or anguish? And we may say it with Paul again: there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. Though the attack be ever so great on us, it is the wish of God that we ever and again cling to the promise He has made to us in baptism: ‘you, My child, are Mine in Christ, and therefore safe, safe.’ We are safe, as safe as was Noah when the waters under the earth flooded all the earth and destroyed all life.

Soon our Savior will come on the clouds of heaven, and this world will be given over to the judgment of hellfire. The anguish of the ungodly will be such that they shall try to hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks; yes, they shall plead with the mountains to "fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev 6:15f). But who are they that need not fear on that day, that shall be safe? It’s the baptized! Or better said: it’s those who by faith have died with Christ and been raised with Him. They, who have embraced the blood of Jesus Christ in true faith, who are washed of their sins, they it is who have nothing to fear. These it is whom God for Jesus’ sake has enclosed in His love and grace; these it is who are graciously protected by the Lord their God.

So we’re comforted by the words of our Father in Genesis 7 and in I Peter 3. We know ourselves safe, so very safe, come what may. And God has promised that not a hair can fall from the heads of our little ones either; they’re also safe.

Come, Lord Jesus, Maranatha.

Amen.