Josh Benner

Category: Gospel

  • Noah and the flood. Studying Genesis 6:1-12

    Noah and the flood. Studying Genesis 6:1-12

    Noah’s Ark is one of the most well known stories in the entire Bible. In modern times, it’s a controversial story where skeptics deny that it ever actually happened. Many Christians doubt this story and instead treat it as mythology. 

    I can certainly appreciate that the story seems fantastical and hard to believe. But so does the story about Jesus dying and being resurrected. So does the idea of a virgin woman becoming pregnant. Those stories are essential elements of the Christian faith. What’s more, for people who do believe that it’s a true story, there are still many questions which remain. Was the flood global or was the flood “the world” as people would have known it in ancient times? If the flood was not worldwide, were there still people alive in the world? Would a loving God truly flood his own planet? 

    These are thoughtful questions. In this post, I want to acknowledge that there are many different views of this story, but it is my goal to write about Noah and the Ark in a way which is faithful to how it is represented in the Bible. 

    By the time we come to Genesis 6, the world is already fallen and we’ve seen an increase in sin within the world. 

    Chapter 6 begins by describing the grim circumstances of the world. 

    Genesis 6:5-6 says: 

    5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

    I’ve heard Genesis 6:6 described as the saddest verse in the Bible. God regretted the creation of man and was grieved. This points us to the personal nature of God and how sin is an offense to a holy God. That God had made a good world and that humanity has corrupted that due to sin. 

    But before God had created man, he knew this would happen. God is all knowing. It didn’t surprise God what had happened. Nevertheless, it grieved the Lord. And so the Lord will bring a judgment on the world. 

    Genesis 6:7: 

     7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

    Undoing creation

    This is not God flying into a rage or being arbitrary. It is a just judgment from a morally perfect God towards a sinful world. We also see these verses as an undoing of creation. In creation, God makes a world that’s good. In this passage, we see a world that is corrupted. In creation, God creates and sees that it is good. Before the flood, God sees the wickedness of the world. In creation, God makes dry land. In the flood, God takes it away. In creation, God hovers over the waters. With the flood, God will unleash the power of the rains. 

    But in the face of so much sin, there’s one hopeful note through a man named Noah: 

    But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). 

    The Lord will be gracious to Noah and to his family, in spite of the sinfulness that is in the world. 

    Genesis 6:9 further describes Noah: 

    9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 

    When the passage says that Noah was “righteous” and “blameless,” that does not mean that Noah was without sin. But it does point to Noah having a faith in the Lord. In Genesis 15:6, we will learn that Abraham believed in the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness. Is it reading too much into things to think that this isn’t at the heart of the righteousness of Noah? 

    It’s something that could be debated but that’s how I take this verse. It is pointing to the grace of God. Noah doesn’t deserve this favor in the eyes of the Lord, but because he has faith and is walking with God, the Lord is gracious to him. 

    Genesis 6:10 reminds us of the three sons of Noah. They are important to the story because they will join Noah in this new humanity after the flood. 

    A corrupt world

    While Genesis 6:8-10 is hopeful and optimistic, beginning in verse 11, the passage takes us back to the harsh reality of a sinful world. 

    Genesis 6:11-12 says: 

    11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 

    Once again, this language reminds us of creation. 

    Genesis 6 says now the earth was corrupt. 

    Genesis 1:2 says: 2 The earth was without form and void

    Genesis 6 says that God saw the earth and, and behold, it was corrupt.

    Genesis 1:4 says: God saw that the light was good

    In his commentary of Genesis, John Sailhamer describes the following section and says “It seems clear from the way the author begins the account that the main purpose of the story of the Flood is not to show why God sent a flood but rather to show why God saved Noah.” 

    It’s easy to look around the world today and to be frustrated and disheartened by the sin that is all around us. Wars, human trafficking, exploitation, murder, crime, societal breakdowns. It’s appropriate to be grieved by these realities. But we should not be surprised by them. Because these issues are not new. Sin is not new. 

    Sometimes we like to look back on past generations as if they were this golden age of superior morals. But people are people and sin is sin and the world is fallen. It can so often be so easy to look back on past times with rose colored glasses. As our world has gotten more technological, it can also be easy to have more awareness of specific types of sin happening in the world. Before the flood, God sees the incredible sinfulness of the world. 

    The fact that God judges sin is something that humanity doesn’t like. We like to lift ourselves up, we like to think we’re good. We like to think that people can be good enough on their own. But the Bible teaches that all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). And a righteous God is justified for bringing judgment. 

    But God is also gracious and merciful. In this passage, we see both. We see judgment and mercy.

    Thanks for reading! 

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    For further reading: 

     John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990).

  • The sustenance Jesus gives to a hungy world. Studying John 4:30-34

    The sustenance Jesus gives to a hungy world. Studying John 4:30-34

    In John 4, Jesus has met a Samaritan woman at a well and told her of the living water that he provides. It’s also a passage where we see this woman respond to Jesus by telling others about him. She’s the first evangelist to Christ in north Israel. 

    The woman asked the people “can this be the Christ?” She certainly doesn’t know everything about Jesus. But she’s gone to her people and told them about this man. She draws intrigue from her people. 

    John 4:30 says: They went out of the town and were coming to him. 

    A heavenly nourishment

    The Samaritan woman has left, and the story takes us back to Jesus and his disciples. 

    31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

    Natural metaphors

    Jesus refers to food that he has and the disciples do not understand his reference. 

    Throughout John’s Gospel, there are many other instances where Jesus metaphorically talks of something from the natural world in a spiritual way and the audience misses the point. 

    When Jesus was at the temple and he said that they could destroy the temple and he would raise it up in three days. He was referring to his death and resurrection and his body as the true temple of God. The people just thought he was talking about a building. 

    When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about being born again. Jesus was referring to Spiritual rebirth but Nicodemus thought Jesus was talking about physical birth. 

    When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman and talked of living water he provided and she initially thought he was simply referring to water. 

    And here again, Jesus refers to food and the disciples are like “did someone bring him a sandwich? Do they deliver pizza over here at the well?” 

    Verse 34

    “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    Deuteronomy connection 

    Jesus is making a reference to the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8. 

    The Israelites have been in the desert for 40 years and it has been the Lord who has sustained the people. 

     And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, 

    that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

    Jesus finds his sustenance in his earthly ministry in fulfilling the will of God. 

    That is his food. That is his nourishment. Man does not live on bread alone but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Jesus lived in accordance with the divine plan to fulfill the divine mission in the world. 

    What are we living for? 

    The mission of God is everything. 

    Living on purpose 

    I say all the time that the purpose of life is not happiness, it’s knowing and serving God. And we serve him through being part of God’s mission in the world. 

    But my point of that is not that we are called to drudgery and begrudging submission. 

    Rather, the point is that true life is found from the Lord and from serving him. 

    Jesus said “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    And that should be the food for which we all long. 

    Borrowing an idea from Charles Spuregon, we so often like to think that if we could do exactly what we wanted, if we could orchestrate our lives exactly as we wished, then we would be happy. 

    What this verse is saying is the opposite. 

    Happiness is not about what we want, what we desire, having our way. Happiness, meaning, purpose is found in going away from ourselves and what we want and following the Lord and his will. 

    We are sustained by living for God and his will to accomplish his work. There is no greater sustenance than that. There is no greater nourishment than that. 

    Illustration – hoarding food 

    Jesus says: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

    So often, our focus is on our physical needs. And not just the bare minimum of our needs. We have fridges and pantries. Most of us in this country have days worth of food. 

    I think of coronavirus. When the crisis began, there was widespread reporting of people going to grocery stores. Some were hoarding and buying massive quantities. Locally, stores were running out of food. There’s still a shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I’m not judging that. I’d be hypocritical. I want to the store too. 

    But I think it’s illustrative of the inherent concern we have for our physical needs. It’s a typical human behavior in a crisis to want to stock up on food. 

    Food is important.

    But I ask: “how different would the world be if the people of God took our Spiritual needs with the same seriousness and urgency as we treated our physical needs?” 

    An urgency to go to God. An urgency to live out our faith. An urgency to rejoice in the goodness of God. To pray to God. To overcome sin. To study God’s Word. 

    Man does not live by bread alone.  

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  • A bad king and the idea of a good king. Studying 1 Samuel 10

    A bad king and the idea of a good king. Studying 1 Samuel 10

    Saul failed to honor God, but Jesus never fails. In the Bible, we see the stories of the various failures of humanity. Man was given the law but we see that we were unable to follow the law. Because of sin. 

    God gives Israel the king that they wanted and we’ll see that he will lead them imperfectly. Because no human king can adequately serve in the role that God serves in. 

    We cannot earn God, we cannot be our own saviors, and Saul couldn’t be the true king because that wasn’t something that a sinful man could accomplish. 

    Yes, we saw that he was chosen and anointed but it didn’t matter who God had picked. A human king was going to bring problems. 

    The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. 

    The good news is that there would be a future king who would usher in God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. There would be a future king who would talk of a kingdom that was not of this world. There would be a future king who would lay down his life for his subjects. There would be a king who would rule and reign and who would show his authority, not only over life and death but over sicknesses and diseases, over nature and storms. 

    In his commentary, Richard Phillips points out that Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the final time on Palm Sunday

    Five days later, he would be crucified in that same city. 

    But on Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem as crowds threw their cloaks on the ground. They waved palm branches and shouted “Hoanna,” the Aramaic word for “save us.” They welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as a conquering king. They gave Jesus the royal treatment that he deserved. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Saul’s story begins with a man who couldn’t find his donkeys! 

    And that is a powerful metaphor for how Jesus was everything that Saul was not. 

    Israel wanted a king to replace God and so God gave them Saul. But as fallen men inevitably fall, God also gave them Jesus. 

    The idea of a good king

    It’s interesting that we live in a nation that fought a war to escape the tyranny of a king. King George III of England. 

    And yet we have the idea of a good king. 

    We have the idea of a king who is just and loves his nation, and rules for the good of the people. A king who is wise and virtuous. He brings safety and security to the empire. 

    Even though many of the actual human kings throughout time have been incompetent, despotic, and led poorly. 

    Many kings today are actually just figureheads who have little to no real power. 

    But the Lord is the absolute monarch over creation who does rule with perfect wisdom, justice, and goodness. 

    Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven during his ministry. 

    And for the people of God, Philippians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven. 

    Jesus invites us to live as part of that kingdom. 

    There are so many other kingdoms we want to try to live in. There’s the kingdom of self, the kingdom of politics, the kingdom of money, the kingdom of work. 

    But in Christ, we’re meant to have a heavenly citizenship and to live the rest of our lives on earth as it is in heaven. 

    We want to be the kings and queens over our own lives and say my kingdom come my will be done. But here’s the problem. We’re not good at that. 

    But we have a king who leads well. We have a king who points us to righteousness and holiness. We have a king who laid down his life so that we could be part of his kingdom. 

    And so we live as his kingdom people by knowing God, by communing with him, by serving him, by loving him, and by loving others. 

    Even though the world is fallen, we have the opportunity to live as citizens of God’s kingdom.  

    In the Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis said: “the Blessed will say “We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, “We were always in Hell.” And both will speak truly.”

    Who is your king? And where is your kingdom? 

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  • Genealogies upon genealogies. Studying Genesis 5

    Genealogies upon genealogies. Studying Genesis 5

    In Genesis 5, we see a genealogy leading from Adam to Noah. 

    This genealogy had been touched on in Genesis 4 in the aftermath of Adam’s son Cain murdering his brother Abel. In the shadow of that sin, we’re introduced to another son of Adam named Seth. He will continue the family line. 

    There are a number of genealogies in the Bible. We often skim through them without always knowing the names. But they’re important for several reasons. 

    Why genealogies are important in the Bible

    1. Genealogies provide a link to Jesus. 

    In the aftermath of the fall, God promised Adam and Eve a future offspring who would one day crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Throughout Genesis and numerous other books of the Old Testament, we see the continuation of the line which would ultimately lead to Christ. 

    Fittingly, the New Testament begins with a genealogy. 

    1. Genealogies would matter for certain Israelite ministries 

    During the period of the 12 tribes of Israel, genealogy mattered for the priesthood. Not anyone could be a priest. Someone had to be from the tribe of Levi. And to be the high priest, someone had to be from the line of Aaron in the line of Levi. 

    1. Genealogies are a reminder of God’s faithfulness to his promises. 
    2. Genealogies are a reminder of God’s providence and sovereignty. For many generations, we see God at work in achieving his purposes 
    3. Genealogies point to the Bible being a historical book. People might like to treat Biblical stories like fairy tales but that’s not how the Bible itself presents them. 
    4. Genealogies are a reminder that individuals matter to God and that they matter in God’s story. 

    Creation revisited 

    Genesis 5:1-2 says: 

    This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

    Genesis 5 begins by pointing back to creation. 

    When the text says this is the book of the generations, that is a literary device in Genesis used to begin new sections of the story. 

    Even though there is now sin in the world, it still remains true that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. 

    Genesis next points to the continuation of Adam’s line. Instead of continuing the line through the infamous Cain, the line continues through Adam and Eve’s son Seth. 

    Genesis 5:3-5: 

    3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. 

    Genesis 5 traces ten generations from Adam to Noah. 

    All of the generations include very long lifespans. Genesis 5 says that Adam lived 930 years, Jared lived 962 years (v. 20), Methuselah lived 969 years (v. 27). 

    How long is a year? 

    Many have been puzzled by the long lifespans in Genesis which are incredibly long compared to normal lifespans today. 

    Some have questioned if the lifespans could actually be dynastic spans rather than an individual lifespan. For instance, the argument goes that Jared didn’t personally live 962 years but that Jared and the next several generations of his children totaled 962 years. 

    It is true that ancient genealogies are not always exhaustive. 

    But a problem with this view is that there are Biblical figures who live long lives (Abraham, Moses, etc) and where numerous events from their lives are recorded along with their ages in those years. Are the lifespans of Abraham and Moses literal while other ages given for other Old Testament figures are dynastic? That seems like a difficult argument to support from the text. 

    Some have tried to make arguments that a year isn’t a year. Maybe a year in one of these lifespans is actually a month. But the problem with this is that some of the father’s  have kids in their 70s, which would mean they were 6-7 years old! 

    Some have argued that the year figures are symbolic. This again becomes challenging because there is no apparent symbolism of oddly specific numbers and overlooks the simpler conclusion that the years are presented as literal. 

    It’s certainly a stretch for modern readers, but the most faithful reading of the Biblical text is that the given lifespans are meant to be taken at face value. 

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  • The broken person and the Mission of God. Studying John 4:27-29

    The broken person and the Mission of God. Studying John 4:27-29

    An unlikely missionary 

    At the beginning of John 4,  Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. The Samaritans were a minority ethnic group who were half-Jewish. In the first century, there was a lot of animosity between the Samaritans and the Jewish people. Samaritans had some theological differences and given their ethnic differences, these fueled the division between the two groups. 

    The Samaritan woman meets Jesus at a well and they start to talk. 

    The woman has had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. So she’s already part of a group who’s looked down upon, and she’s also had her sins exposed. Jesus tells her of the living water that he provides. He tells her of true worship of God. 

    As the preceding section winds down, John records Jesus speaking to the woman. 

    24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 

    An incredible conversation. 

    Verse 27 suddenly changes the direction. 

    Just then.

    Just then his disciples came back.

    Earlier in the story, we learned that the disciples had left Jesus to go and find food. It’s the reason why Jesus had been alone when he met the Samaritan woman. 

    They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

    The disciples want to question Jesus for talking to this woman. Out of respect for Jesus, they keep their mouths shut but they’re wondering “why are you talking with her?” 

    The disciples are not perfect. We see this time and again in the gospels. 

    We see examples of their pride, at times we see them lack faith, and we see here that they are not above prejudice. And they see Jesus talking with this woman. They don’t question it, but they’re thinking about it. 

    Probably giving her strange looks. 

    It was the culture at the time. There was a lot of prejudice against women. 

    There are rabbinic sayings which go back to the first century and talk of interactions between men and women. Some of these sayings are extremely misogynistic towards women. 

    There’s a rabinnic teaching against a man even talking to a woman in public, even his own wife. 

    There were rabinnic teachings which discouraged teaching women to read. 

    I’m not saying that those views were universal to every Jewish person in the first century. But they were within the social consciousness. Every generation has its own areas of sin, and misogyny was a common area of sin in the first century and sadly at many other times. 

    But the Samaritan woman, like everyone else, needs Jesus. She needs to know his love, needs to know his grace. 

    So the disciples didn’t publicly question Jesus, but not because they didn’t want to. 

    The text says that they marveled that Jesus was talking to a woman. Let alone a Samaritan woman. 

    John 4:28:

    So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 

    John notes that the woman leaves her jar. It’s interesting that this detail is mentioned. 

    Throughout our study of John’s gospel, we’ve seen this theme of newness, new creation, Jesus as replacing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. 

    I believe that the detail of her leaving the water jar is mentioned because it’s symbolic of the fact that this woman is leaving behind the cares and concerns of her own nourishment to serve the purposes of Christ in the world. 

    She had come to the well for water, but she’s leaving it having learned about the living water which Jesus provides. 

    So we have this Samaritan woman, who’s had five husbands and who’s living with a man who’s not her husband, someone looked down upon in society, she goes into the town and starts telling people about Jesus. 

    Verse 29: 

    “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

    Jesus has revealed himself to be a prophetic figure who has a knowledge of her life that’s supernatural. He’s claimed to be the Christ, and so she rhetorically asks the people “can this be the Christ?”

    It’s very powerful to consider that this woman from this marginalized Samaritan group is the first recorded person in this gospel to tell people about Jesus in northern Israel. 

    This story should be encouraging to all of us from the standpoint that God also uses broken and sinful people to serve him, to share his gospel and to tell the world about Jesus. 

    No one is ever too broken to know the love of Christ. 

    And no one is ever too sinful, as this woman was. No one is ever too lowly to share Jesus and be used by God to serve God. 

    Serving the mission of God is not just for the spiritual varsity team, but God has ways for all of his people to serve him. 

    And God desires for all of his people to serve him. To be light, to share the gospel, to serve others. To serve God’s mission of the world of being disciples who make disciples. 

    God uses broken people to do his work, and he can use you. No matter where you’re from, no matter what you’ve done. If you’ve wasted time, if you’ve spent years not serving God, it’s not too late. 

    God can use you. Not because of who we are, but because of who God is. And to his glory, he uses broken people to serve his purposes. 

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