For 40 Days: Day 1: The Clean Slate Initiative: Context

Key Episode Scripture: Genesis chapters 6-9

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. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 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.” 

But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:5-8 ESV)

The mess had been building up for some time and it reached the stage where it couldn’t be tolerated anymore. It was beginning to stink. Action had to be taken. The whole thing has got to go. It was time for the Clean Slate Initiative.

God’s engagement with humanity is about relationships based on a deeper level of agreement. That deeper level of agreement is known as a covenant and can be found throughout scripture. Those who commit their lives to God through Jesus Christ do so by embracing what’s referred to as the new covenant. Jesus’s blood allows those far from God to come near. That meant taking part in a line of covenants God had made with man back near the beginning. The first experience of God establishing a covenant with man is connected to an episode that would act as a precursor to what is scheduled to happen near the end.

The first five books of the Bible are referred to as the Torah. They outline the Law that would be the foundation for the formation and flourishing of the people of God—the people of Israel. Though the books of the Law contain legislation, they also have a key narrative to help those who read them not just understand what it is to be an Israelite—their basis says much to inform us as to what it is to be human and our relationship with God.

What Genesis has to say about humanity is not pleasant. Except for the first few chapters, the rest of the book says quite a lot about how evil humanity can be. On that canvas, God still paints an evocative picture of how He relates, redeems, and restores humanity, hinting back to how it was created to be.

The message of hope for humanity is seen in God’s relations with key characters. A fascinating character in particular is Noah, who would be referred to by Jesus and the apostle Peter. Noah is the first character who would experience an episode that included 40 days as part of a larger period of time that would see him be a saviour for humanity. God would use him to be the remnant of humanity when He chose to initiate the clean slate initiative.

What happens with Noah has huge ramifications for our understanding of who God is and what He expects from us. That will, in turn, give us some big hints as to what mission means for us in the pursuit of seeing God glorified.

Next, we’ll consider the content of the forty-day episode featuring Noah in God’s Clean Slate Initiative.

For His Name’s Sake

C. L. J. Dryden

Shalom