Portion Noach
Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
In the beginning of the podcast, The Whole Testament, Dave and Kevin discuss an image resembling a bull’s-eye. This bull’s-eye is layered with four rings, with Jesus, as one might predict, at the center. The layers, beginning at the center, go: Jesus, New Testament, Old Testament, and then Jesus again as the outermost ring. Constructing the target this way places Jesus at the center of everything—He is the heart and soul of our faith, and the entirety of scripture points to Him. Expanding outward, the New Testament is next, providing the proper context for understanding who Jesus is. Then, the Old Testament provides essential context for the New Testament. Without it, truly understanding who Jesus is becomes incredibly difficult. Finally, Jesus appears again as the outermost ring, encompassing all of scripture. Through Him, both the Old and New Testaments come alive, allowing us to find the Messiah on every page. He is the door one must go through to grasp the wisdom and legitimacy of the scriptures.
The Noach parsha provides many opportunities to find where our Messiah appears in the Old Testament. Let’s focus on the ark and the door that God Himself closed and sealed.
John {10:7-9 ESV} 7 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
This is precisely the imagery we see in the Noach parsha. As it took Noah approximately 100 years to construct the ark, the door remained open.
Looking back to the pivotal moment when Adam and Eve ate from the tree and sin entered the world, the rabbis put it this way: (Zohar) “Such is the progression of sin. It begins in private, when people still have a sense of what is right and wrong. But once people develop the habit of sinning, they gradually lose their shame, and immoral behavior becomes accepted—even required—as normal.” This is exactly the state of the world at the time of Noah.
Genesis {6:12 ESV} 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
The Hebrew word for corrupt is shâchath, meaning "to decay," "to be dishonest," "to pollute," "to mar," "to perish," or "to pervert."
This indicates that sin had permeated humanity so deeply that, as a whole, if given the opportunity to choose between right or wrong, clean or unclean, righteous or detestable, they would choose to turn away from their Creator 100% of the time. Yet, the door remained open. God showed patience with creation far longer than they deserved. Not once did anyone outside of the eight who entered the ark repent of their inevitable destruction. I can only imagine the loneliness Noah endured in the years it took to build the ark—the urgency he must have felt to get others to see what was happening.
Luke {17:26-27 ESV} 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
2 Timothy {3:1-5 ESV} 1 But understand this, that in the last days there will be difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
When Jesus speaks with His followers about what the end times will look like before His second coming, He uses the story of Noah and the flood to illustrate it. History will repeat itself, and if you aren’t paying attention, God will shut the door again, permanently separating His people from those who chose to go their own way and shut the door to their hearts.
Even though a heart of stone may have closed the door to God’s holy promise, there is still time. The door remains open. But just as Noah knew in his day, time is running out, and Jesus is constantly pursuing those who have rejected Him.
Revelation {3:20 ESV} Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Written by: Alex Beery
