Say what you like about the new 'Noah' movie, choose to see it or not, love it or hate it, be indifferent, etc; one good point the author made was that the whole point of the cataclysm was not so much the end of the world as it was about a new beginning, not the death of what was truly evil, but the birth of what was truly good! This little bit of an article is not intended to be a critique of the movie, so nothing much more will be said in that regard. except that if you were expecting a truly scriptural story, perish the thought, because it departs from the story of The Great Flood even further than Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings'!
Most Christians will agree that the Story pointed to the Christ, or the Messiah; as only a Remnant of Israel was saved from the baptism by fire that the Roman armies rained down upon Jerusalem & the Temple, so, as the Story goes, only eight were saved from the Great Deluge! The salvation that Noah, his Family & a certain number of Beasts experienced through the Ark was significant of the True Salvation, the spiritual regeneration that would come only through Incorporation into the Body of the Christ! While both catastrophes spelled certain & irrevocable death for the wicked, they ensured a New Beginning, or Genesis, for those who had Faith!
Some are currently 'toying' with the notion that the Story of Noah & the Ark, in the words of a rather famous swordsman, did not 'mean what you think it means'! In other words, these few are of the opinion ( very strong, in some cases ) that all the various beasts that were brought inside the Ark for Salvation were not really beasts at all ( not as we're used to thinking of them ), but were actually people, which, in a way, is significant of the Universal Aspect of Salvation, or in more scriptural terms, Jew & Gentile!
Whether the Beasts in the Ark were actually people or simply dumb animals, the point of the Story, as orthodoxically accepted, is that whatever was in the Ark was saved & whatever was outside the Ark perished in the Cataclysm! As the Story goes, after Noah & his family, along with all the beasts, had come safely through the Flood, the Creator reestablished His Covenant with Noah ( A New Beginning ), upon which Noah immediately planted a Vineyard, significant in & of itself, was filled with those spirits & revealed himself as no better than his forefather, Adam!
Although this New Beginning had rather a rough start, with Noah being forced ( ? ) to curse one of his sons, this New Beginning was significant of the Truly New Beginning which the Christ would later Institute through the offering of His Blood & Body on the Cross at Calvary! Just as the Creator sent a Deluge of Water on the Land to destroy the wicked ones of Noah's world, so He sent a Baptism by Fire on the Land to destroy the Wicked Ones of Jesus' world! Those who were Chosen to ride the storm out would experience a New Birth, a New Beginning!
Through their Incorporation into the Body of Christ, although many endured the Baptism by Fire, those in the first century were saved through this Cataclysm, just as those of Noah's world were saved from the Flood through the vessel of the Ark! The New Birth, as Jesus explained it to Nicodemus ( John 4 ) was a necessary part of this New Beginning; now we dwell with the Creator of Heaven & Earth, now there is no more death ( separation from the Creator ), now we enjoy His Presence ( 'no more tears' ) forevermore, the Day of Salvation is past, now we simply enjoy the Fruits of that New Beginning, the True Vine!
Charles Haddon Shank
No comments:
Post a Comment