Genesis 9:8-17

            {Prayer}

            The movie The Wizard of Oz, a classic in movie cinema, focuses in on a sweet little farm girl from Kansas named Dorothy. Dorothy, with her trusty side kick, Toto, run away from her Auntie Em’s house in hope that someplace was better than the place she was at. Along the way Dorothy runs into Professor Marvel who shows her in his crystal ball that her Auntie Em is crying from a broken heart. He sees Auntie Em lie down on the bed with her hand on her chest and then the crystal ball suddenly goes dark. Dorothy thinks the worst has happened and she feels absolutely horrible. So she grabs Toto and heads back home as fast as she can.

            As she is getting back to the farm, a violent tornado hits. Auntie Em and the rest of the family rush off to the storm cellar. They make it safely inside, but Dorothy … Dorothy is in the house. She’s in the house frantically searching for her family. While in her bedroom, she gets hit in the head and the next thing movie viewer sees is how the storm, the tornado, picks up her, Toto and the house. When the house lands, Dorothy wakes up and finds herself in a foreign, unfamiliar, and threatening world.

            Thinking about these opening scenes from the movie and thinking about Noah, the ark, and the great and destructive flood, there’s a couple of connections we can make. First off, we can make the connection between being outside, being unprotected outside the refuge of God in times of judgment and chaos. But secondly, we can see how God’s covenant, God’s promise is like a storm shelter. God’s covenant offers protection through His promises.

            So let’s look at these.

            In Genesis 6, the beginning of the Flood narrative, we heard how “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” (6:5). The people were so corrupt that the LORD was grieved. The LORD regretted making man. And because of the rampant corruption of the people, God said, “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” (6:13).

            As a tornado ripping through the countryside causes damage and destruction, sin brings damage and destruction along with it. Sin blows things over, picks them up, spins them around, drops them where they don’t belong, breaks them in half and completely destroys them.

            The flood of Genesis 6 was God’s righteous judgment on a world that was filled with violence and corruption. God sent the flood to not just bring destruction but to cleanse the world. Those who were outside the shelter of the ark suffered God’s wrath and were drowned.

            Being outside the protection of the storm shelter, Dorothy faced the full fury of the tornado. She was knocked unconscious and the house was picked up and blown away.

            There’s something these two things have in common with each other. Being exposed, being outside the protection of the shelter … one is vulnerable to sin’s destructive power, sin’s consequences.

As we’ve mentioned throughout this series … sins have consequences and those consequences can be and are painful. For the people in the time of the flood, their sins, their wickedness, their corruption … it brought about total destruction. The consequences of our sins are the things that damage, that tear apart, and break our relationships with each other. Our sins are also the things that damage, that tear apart, and break our relationship with God.

            But you see … even though the world was corrupt, God showed grace to Noah. First off, God saved Noah and his family by having them build the ark so that they would survive the disastrous flood. God saved them, not because they deserved it by any means, they were sinners too … but God saved them because of their faith in Him. After the flood, God blessed them and made a covenant with them. God made a promise to Noah and all of creation. God sealed that promise, not by saying “I promise” or by pinky swearing, but by placing a rainbow in the sky. God says, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Gen. 9:16).

            This covenant God makes with Noah still stands today. And not only is God reminded of His promise when He sees it, but we too are reminded that when it rains and we see a rainbow, God isn’t going to destroy the world. And while it is great to know that God won’t destroy us by means of another flood … it sure would be reassuring to know that we aren’t being left unprotected from the various storms of life. We are still sinners, we confessed that earlier. As sinners, there are still consequences that we have to face for the sins we commit. The ultimate consequence is eternal separation from God after we die.

            Now, while the ark was a good shelter from God’s wrath, it was only temporary. This covenant God made with Noah after the flood … it’s everlasting, eternal … it’s permanent. This covenant points forward to the ultimate shelter. It points to the ultimate shelter that we have in Jesus Christ. The ark protected Noah and his family from the flood … Jesus is our shelter from the judgment of sin.

            Before Jesus took on the storm of God’s wrath … He made a covenant with His disciples and with you. We heard about it earlier and we’re reminded of it again later on in the service. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’” (Mark 14:22-24). Jesus gives His body and blood, He gives all of Himself to grant us the forgiveness of our sins, to grant us the hope and promise of everlasting life, and to strengthen our faith.

            On the cross, Jesus gives all of Himself. Jesus took on the storm of God’s wrath, in order to provide protection for you and me from the judgment that we deserve. The cross of Jesus is place where the payment for all sin, yours, mine, everyone’s sin was paid for. The rainbow is a sign of God’s promise that He won’t destroy the world by a flood, the cross … the cross and the empty tomb, the cross and resurrection of Jesus are the signs of a new covenant to us in Christ.

            What does all this mean for you and me today? Well … in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s family made it to the storm shelter before the full power of the storm hit the farm because they acted quickly. Dorothy, however, because she ran away from home, she didn’t make it back in time.

            We all face storms. Some financial, some spiritually, some emotionally and physically. Storms come in different sizes and vary in strength. This is nothing new for us to hear. But where are we when the storm hits? Are we in the shelter of Jesus? Or are we outside the shelter, exposed to the elements?  

            When we look at the bloodstained cross of Jesus … we have a sign that tells us that there will be storms. From the blood that Christ shed for you … the cross also guarantees that no storm, no storm, whether it’s sin, suffering, or death … nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus has already faced the ultimate storm for us, and through His resurrection, we have the promise of eternal life.

            Dorothy found herself lost and overwhelmed because she didn’t make it to the storm shelter in time. Friends, we don’t have to be lost, we don’t have to be exposed to the storms of life. God has provided us with a shelter. God has given us His covenant promises fulfilled in Christ.

            Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea” (46:1-2). Christ is our refuge and strength. Trust in Him! Run to Him in faith … knowing that His promises are sure and His grace will never fail you. Amen.

            The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.