06.3.2. Noah in the Waters

II. -- NOAH IN THE WATERS Genesis 7:1-24 and Genesis 8:1-14

LET us now pass on to that stage in Noah’s life, to that point in regeneration, when by the cross our inner man is separated from the old world, and yet not come experimentally to the better world. This is a well-known stage, and as safe, if not as blissful, as that which follows it.

Seven distinct steps are marked in it, the order of which, like all the rest, is wonderful.

(i.) First (I trace it within) man is "shut in" by the Lord: he enters the ark, but "the Lord shuts him in" (Genesis 7:16), that is, secures him. So the soul which has embraced the cross, and has long waited by it to be saved and lifted up from Adam’s world, comes to a point when that cross holds him as with nails, "shut in," so that now he could not, even if he would, turn from it. Thus "shut in," prisoners of hope, are we preserved; and dark and narrow as this lot appears, we would not change it for the freedom of those without, who may mock at our straitness, but who, if not so "shut in," must all perish. Thanks be unto Him who shuts us in, -- who will not let us leave the narrow cross, which, to some a stumbling-block and to others foolishness, to them that are called is both the power and the wisdom of God; cutting us off from communication with what is without, restraining what is within, and yet saving us. Blessed are they who are thus "shut in."

(ii.) Then comes the flood: -- "The flood was upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth" (Genesis 7:17). So is it within. The day arrives when the inward deep is moved mightily. The unquiet element in us is loosed. Now the floods of temptation and lust seem to break out everywhere, Oh, what fluctuations, tossings, and swellings are there! Such a flood has arisen within as Jonah passed, when he cried, "The waters compass me" (Jonah 2:5); or such as David knew, when he said, "Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." (Psalms 42:7. See also Psalms 69:1-2; Psalms 69:15.) Now the fountains of the great deep seem broken up, and the windows of the heavens only pour down judgment. We are, as we say, "overwhelmed within us." A flood is out, destroying and changing the life of man, crushing the life of nature out of us. But this, too, painful and awful as it is, and itself the judgment of the sin of the old man, and certain destruction if we do not know the cross, leads the spirit to greater joys and greater liberty. Thus is self and selfhood destroyed in us. We tremble and are astonished and cry out for fear, and yet by such a death the Lord frees us. (Note: The experience of every age supplies illustrations of this stage; but the following letter of Terstegen is so beautiful and apposite, that I insert it here. It may comfort some: "My dear sister, -- Notwithstanding the wretched state in which you describe yourself to be, I am still quite at ease regarding it, and am under no apprehension of evil consequences. Were I concerned for you after the manner of men, and were I glad to see your own life, the life of self, preserved, I might have reason to fear, because our Lord attacks it so forcibly and severely, and pursues it so warmly, that it must soon give up the ghost, which takes place and is accomplished by the complete and eternal resignation of yourself into the free hands of God. You see and feel nothing but sin and corruption within you. Whithersoever the mind turns and directs its view, everything is misery, grief and sin; and the way to escape from it is closed, and appears as if it were always to continue so. Ah! thinks subtle self-love, could I only find a little nook to which I might retire, and take a little rest. Listen, O soul! cease thy turning: the more thou seekest to make matters the better, the worse thou makest them. Therefore as long as it pleases God to leave you miserable, corrupt, and without strength, let it also please you. You behold your real self at present, as you are in yourself. Thank God for having thus disclosed your inward wound to your view. Previously, when the dealings of grace with you were so gentle, nature and sense occasionally participated in it; but in the way in which you are at present, they are deprived of all support. It is impossible that nature and sense should acquiesce in this total destruction. But they must die. Commit yourself, therefore, wholly to God; trust Him, and you shall be healed." -- Letter xx.)

There remains indeed another baptism. The creature cleansed by water must one day be purged by fire also. The old Adam world, the ground of the old man, being overflowed with water, perishes. But the heavens and the earth which are now beyond the water shall be baptised with fire, and that fire shall purge the floor, and crystallise the earth into transparent gold (See 2 Peter 3:6-7). So within, there is first water, then fire; and by fire the heavens as well as the earth are purified. In both the Lord appoints the flood for good; and as when we pass through the waters, because He is with us they do not overflow us, so He says, "When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:2).

(iii.) So the ark goes through the flood: we read, "The ark went upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 7:18). It goes through them. We are not saved from death and judgment, but through it, and out of it. God does not save us from temptation. He Himself may loose the doors of the great deep within us. Even yet He leads His sons to be tempted (Matthew 4:1); for temptation is a necessary step to regeneration; that we, thus knowing how helpless we are in self, how lost on the ground and home of the old man, may resign all hope in self, and, knowing the worst, may yet triumph in deliverance out of it. The regenerate soul has known the worst, and through grace has come safe out of it. And just as the Lord uses our "clay," our very faults, when touched by virtue from His lips, to open blind eyes (John 9:6), so does He use the great deep within us, which He has loosed in judgment because of abounding sin, to drive us from all hopes of creature help. Thus are we saved, not from, but through, the waters; and by death is he destroyed who has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14).

(iv.) Then comes the wind from the Lord: -- "God remembered Noah, and caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged" (Genesis 8:1). Here is a wondrous change. "Shut in," "lifted up," or "passing through the waters," the spiritual mind is safe. But now come gentle gales, the breathings of that Spirit which stills the floods and refreshes the weary voyager. The Spirit breathes, and the waters assuage. In other judgments a wind from the Lord was the agent of deliverance. The locusts of Egypt were thus destroyed: -- "The Lord turned a strong east wind, which took away the locusts" (Exodus 10:19). So the way through the Red Sea was made by the wind: -- "The Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind" (Exodus 14:21). So again shall it be in the day "when the Lord with His mighty wind shall smite the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and make men go over dryshod" (Isaiah 11:15). And so within. God remembers His servant, and the breath of the Lord works for his deliverance. From this time forth the tossings decrease. The rest now is very nigh.

(v.) For the next step is the grounding of the ark. Now it rests firmly on the unseen world, though the waste of waters is still abroad, and no portion of that better land is yet visible (Genesis 8:4). The cross has brought us to another sphere. The fact is not cognisable by sight, nevertheless it is felt, for settledness is attained to. The future home is not yet seen. A veil of waters yet covers it. But the ark has brought us to "the everlasting hills;" and God, after that we have suffered awhile, now stablishes, strengthens, settles us (1 Peter 5:10). (Note: The day of the ark’s resting, if I err not, was the day of Christ’s resurrection, viz., "the seventeenth day of the seventh month," which, after the redemption from Egypt, was called the first month. Here, as in all the allusions to time, are, I am assured, many mysteries; but I do not attempt to touch the subject. The Fathers, however, boldly enter on it. See Augustine, Contr. Faust. Manich. l. xii. c. 15-18, for his views on the times and numbers here; and for some very suggestive thoughts on the subject of numbers generally, see his work, De Lib. Arbitr. l. ii. c. 11. Surely if all creation be a type, numbers and time must be significant.)

(vi.) Soon more is reached. After the tossings cease, "the window is opened," and a new world appears. "The tops of the mountains are seen." Its light shines in (Genesis 8:5-6). What is seen at first appears isolated. The connexion is not seen between the points which we do see. The waters still only permit us glimpses, unconnected glimpses, of the coming world. Yet there it is -- faith is turned to sight. These hill-tops are pledges of untold and unknown scenes of future joy. For many a day we have been shut up, and our way has been simply a path of faith; but now the floods assuage, and light breaks in, and we can cry, "As we have heard, so have we seen" (Psalms 48:8). For now we belong to the new creation, now that the old man and his monstrous progeny are destroyed and dead.

(vii.) After this, and just before the going forth to enjoy the better world in full liberty, "the dove and raven are sent forth" (Genesis 8:7-8), figuring (for they are birds of heaven, and the heaven is the understanding,) certain powers or emotions of the understanding, both pure and impure. (Note: See on the work of the fifth day.) In the actions of these is shewn the working of the good and evil which to the last remains with us. For of the impure a remnant still exists. The raven, finding its food in carrion, figures those inclinations which feed on dead things. The dove is that spirit of gentleness and peace, which, though with us before, appears more boldly now as heaven opens to us, to witness, like the dove which came down on Christ, that though the cross may yet remain, there is promise of better things. The ark does not change the raven. The cross may restrain, but does not alter impure desires. To the end the dead things of the world are attractive to certain inclinations in each of us. If, therefore, this raven can be free, it will not return. But the inward man will not trust to such guidance. He wants better proof, and this the dove supplies; when the time is come for the olive to bud she brings a token. And the man understands, for now the risen world is near. Then, but not till God plainly directs it, the cross which has saved us is exchanged for the enjoyment of that resurrection rest to which it has carried us. (Note: Ambrose, throughout his whole comment, De Noe et Arca, gives the inward sense of all this history: c. 13, § 46; c. 9, § 30; c. 14, § 49; c. 17, § 59, 62, 64; c. 18, § 64.)

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Such is this stage within. Without, its accomplishment is only the same workings on a larger scale. Shut up, safe in the cross, the elect of God by judgments on the world are lifted heavenward. Death buries one and then another earthly hope. The highest hills, to which the world look for succour, all are overflowed. But the Church by the cross goes safe, though containing some, who, like the unclean raven, if they might, would leave it. Such shew their nature ere the rest is reached. (Note: Aug. in Johan. Tractat. vi. § 2.) After this the elect also have another, larger, freer, fairer, dwelling-place. But this leads us to another stage, when Noah emerges into the world beyond the waters.