Dear friends in Christ.
The story has been told about a mother who once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. When she asked, the emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. To which she responded, "But I don't ask for justice, I plead for mercy." "But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. "Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman's son.[1] In so many ways stories like this cause us to recognize and marvel at the mercy the Lord has bestowed upon us. Though we’ve done nothing to deserve it, the Lord has acted in his mercy in our lives, time and time again. In his mercy he sent his Son to free us from our sins. In his mercy he works things out for the good of those who love him. In his mercy he has called us to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. In his mercy he continues to guard and protect us each and every day of our lives. In his mercy he has recorded in his word all that he has done for us so that we might grow in our faith and knowledge, as we marvel at the mercy the Lord our God continues to pour out on us and all his faithful people.
Take for example the account of the flood. The year was roughly 1536. 1536 years since the beginning of creation. Mankind had increased in number, filling the earth and subduing it. In those years since the beginning of creation, the sons of God—the believers—had begun to intermarry with the daughters of men—the unbelievers—and before long the light of faith in the hearts of the believers had begun to dwindle, flicker, and finally go out. As the faith of those believers who had intermarried with unbelievers began to faith, so also the world began to grow darker, more evil, more violent, and much more and more wicked. So when 1536 years passed after the Lord had created the heavens and the earth, Moses tells us: “Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:3, 5–8, NIV84)
Now, just think about what the Lord is telling us. Nearly the enter world, not just a nation, nearly the entire world had stopped believing in the Lord God. They had refused to listen to him, saw no reason to worship him, and were completely disregarding his existence. Yet, even though the majority of the world had turned against the Lord, mercifully the Lord granted the entire world 120 years as their time of grace. 120 years for them to turn from their evil ways! 120 years for them to turn back to the Lord. 120 years to listen to Noah, a preacher of Righteousness (2 peter 2:5). 120 years to listen to Noah’s father Lamech and Noah’s grandfather Methuselah—two men who were born before Adam died; two men who may well have known Adam personally as Lemech was born 56 years before Adam died and Methuselah was born 243 years before Adam died. 120 years to let the message of the coming destruction sink in as they saw Noah and his family building the biggest barge anyone had probably ever seen; according to the Lord’s command. 120 years of the Lord’s marvelous mercy delivered to probably millions, if not billions of people in the world who had turned their backs on the Lord their God. Yet only 8 people benefitted from the Lord’s marvelous mercy. Only 8 people believed the Lord, listened to the Lord, followed the Lord and were saved by the Lord in the ark he commanded them to build. Only 8 because the Lord had called both Lamech and Methuselah, and probably any other believers, home to heaven before the flood destroyed the earth.
But before we go any further, let me ask you an obvious question, “Is our world any different today than it was in Noah’s day?” Oh sure we have faster cars, bigger boats, better technology, more incredible industries and yes, smellier air, but if you really think about it our world isn’t that much different. We have all seen the sons of God intermarry with the daughters of men. We have watched as the light of faith in the hearts of believers has begun to dwindle, flicker, and even go out; sometimes because of an unbelieving spouse or spouse of another faith, other times because even believers can be sucked into the non-religious, secular, scientific world in which we live today. Though the word of God has had a great deal of free reign over the centuries since our Savior walked the earth, it seems that the gospel is being hindered or ignored all the more in our day and age. Yet, in his great mercy, the Lord has called each and every one of us to faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior. The Lord has given us this time of grace for us to grow in our faith and our trust. He has given us this time of grace to share our faith, like Noah did, with those who do not yet know their Savior. In his mercy, the Lord has given us this time as we draw near the Day of Judgment as Noah did. And in his mercy, the Lord has given us this account of the flood to help us to prepare ourselves for his coming, just as Jesus tells us, “37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; (Matthew 24:37–38, NIV84)
Well, this is the same mercy that the Lord poured out on Noah and his family as Moses tells us in Genesis 6: “9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. (Genesis 6:9–15, NIV84)
Now, for a moment, let’s talk about the dimensions of the ark, because even though we know it was big, it is very seldom that we are able to conceive of scope of its size. Now, if the wall to my right, your left, was one side of the ark, the width of the ark would stretch from that wall over the top of the stairwell, by my office, in the fellowship hall. That top step over by my office is roughly 75 feet away from this wall to my right. If the back of the ark were lined up with the back wall of the narthex, the outside wall of our church with the windows; if that were the back of the ark then the ark would stretch from that wall to, at the very least, the other side of 112, if not all the way to the back yards of the houses on the other side of 112. Finally, if we were sitting inside the ark right now, we would, of course, be on the lowest deck. By the time we climbed to the top deck and looked out the window we would find that we would be about even with the bell tower, only about five feet lower than the roof of the tower where the base of the spire which holds up the cross, is anchored.
Why do I tell you this? Because it was in this enormous barge that the Lord displayed his mercy as he provided for the continuation of the line of the Savior. It was in this big boat that the Lord mercifully spared 8 people and all the kinds of the animals from the destruction of the unbelieving, wicked, and evil world. The ark is an amazing picture of God’s marvelous mercy in the face of his just judgment for as we know, after all the animals had entered the ark, Noah and his family went in and the Lord closed the door behind them. There in that ark they were saved as the floodwaters of the earth burst forth from the earth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened and the rains fell for forty days and nights. There in the ark Moses and his family were safe during the 375 days that passed from the time they entered the ark until the time that the Lord said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.” 18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” (Genesis 8:16–22, NIV84)
In so many ways the Lord displayed his mercy in the lives of Noah and his family, and this is what the Lord continues to do for each and every one of us today. In his mercy he has placed the rainbow in the sky to remind us of how he provided not only for Noah, but for the entire human race. In his mercy he chose us to be his children. He called us to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. He assured us that Jesus has indeed freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection, and he now calls us to proclaim the message of salvation with those who do not yet know him. This is the mercy that the Lord has bestowed upon us. Though we did not deserve it he has made us his own. Though we had committed the same offence not merely two times but, in reality, millions of times, the Lord bestowed upon us his mercy when he forgave us and spared us from the eternal death we deserved. Now, just as Noah did, we live in that mercy. We live in that time of grace that he has given us. We grow in the faith that the Lord has bestowed in our hearts. We grow in our knowledge of our Savior who loved us, and we are always ready to share our faith with those who do not yet know. This is the marvelous mercy of the Lord our God.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
<a href=http://www.grace-lesueur.org>Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church</a> -Le Sueur, MN
[1] Originally from: Luis Palau, Experiencing God's Forgiveness, Multnomah Press, 1984. Copied from: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/m/mercy.htm Accessed July 1, 2011
