06.3.1. Noah on the Ground of the Old Man
I. -- NOAH ON THE GROUND OF THE OLD MAN
NOAH first is seen as still in the old world, in the midst of the sins of Adam’s sons, yet separate from them. Evil springing out of Adam had now become monstrous. "God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." But in the midst of this, "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9; Genesis 6:12). So while the flesh or carnal mind in us goes on from step to step bringing to light its own corruption, the spiritual mind within like Noah is true to God, and bears witness against the evil of the carnal mind, which is continually more and more displaying its enormity. The fruit and corruption of the carnal mind in man, like the seed of Cain, must shew itself before we fully know regeneration; for regeneration is not the improvement but the judgment of the old man, out of which the spirit is saved by a mystic death and resurrection. As an introduction therefore to this form of life we are first shewn the state into which both the lines of Cain and Seth are now fallen. Both flesh and spirit fail. But these very sins are through God’s grace the occasion for lifting man, in Noah, into another world. For Noah, as I have said, is the spiritual mind, at the stage when it has come to know the utter corruption of the old creation, and that its deliverance must be through the death and judgment of the whole ground and works of the old man. Through sin and its judgment is man advanced. Noah is not brought out of the Adam world into the world of the rainbow beyond the deep waters, until Adam’s seed are proved to be so corrupt, that they and their world must be condemned together. And just as Noah was not taken to a world of blessing through the waters, until the evil of man had fully shewn itself; and just as the doctrine of regeneration was not preached to men, till by their rejection of God’s Son they had proved their utter fall and perversity; so within, regeneration is not reached but through the discovery of the awful evil which is the legitimate fruit and development of the old man. Regeneration cannot be truly known till we have proved the corruptness and helplessness of all that springs from old Adam. For regeneration is no improvement of the old man, but a new birth out of its death and dissolution. And indeed we shall find this law throughout, that the failure of one thing through grace brings in a better thing. Where sin abounds, grace yet more abounds. Thus that short-sighted wisdom which would prevent falling, would by so doing prevent all progress to higher things; for each advancing form of life, which God takes up, springs out of the failure of that which has preceded it. The seed falls into the ground, and dies, and becomes rotten; but the result is the resurrection of many seeds. So the juice of grapes or corn is put into the still; and thence, by decomposition and fermentation, (both forms of corruption,) is evolved a higher purity and spirituality. So is it here. The evil fruit of Adam becomes the occasion for God to lift the race in Noah to higher privileges. Now therefore is felt, what may have seemed like exaggeration till we reach this stage, that "every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). But the spiritual mind by all this is being led, it knows not how, to liberties and glories, which as yet it has not dreamt of. Meanwhile, like Noah in the world of old, it is a witness against all the evil which has sprung out of old Adam. Great are the confusions amongst which it dwells. Little may it be able to correct the evil. It seems, and is, part of the same creature. It may be tempted to think it will be destroyed with that sin which riots round it. But the Lord sees how different this mind is from that in which it dwells, and in His time surely will deliver it. The details in this view are most striking, as they are yet fulfilled in each regenerate soul, though, from our blindness as to the workings of our inward man, and our want of words to describe the processes of the inward life, it is difficult to express the spiritual reality; for the spiritual can only be uttered through the natural; and from the imperfection of the medium some darkness will come in. But the figure here is divinely complete, little as the mind of man as yet may be able to interpret it. The state of the creature is thus described: -- "Men multiplied on the earth, and daughters were born to them" (Genesis 6:1-2). "Men," as we have seen, are certain minds or thoughts; and a host of thoughts are now discerned to be alive within us; their "daughters" are the affections springing from them, which, by the words, "daughters of men," are shewn to be corrupt and carnal. (Note: See what is said of the "man" and the "woman," above, under the sixth and seventh days; and of Cain and Abel. Ambrose, who in his book De Noe et Arca, has gone at great length into the inward sense of all this history, makes the "sons," "viriles quaedam et fortiores disceptationes," and the "daughters," "molliores cogitationes," c. 21, § 77. Augustine is more exact in the passage cited above.) Then the "sons of God," that is, thoughts which are not of the earth, mix with "daughters of men," that is, impure affections. (Note: It is generally assumed now that by the "sons of God" here, the children of Seth are meant. I doubt it, as the Old Testament usage of the words seems to point to angels. See Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7; and compare Luke 20:36. I am sure that in the inward fulfilment, the state described here is not only the corruption of the human spirit, but something worse, through fallen spirits. Justin M., Apol. i. § 21, ii. § 6; Irenaeus, Adv. Hoer. l. iv. c. 36, § 4; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. l. iii. § 7; Cyprian, De Hab. Virg. c. 9; Ambrose, De Noe, c. 4, § 8; Tertullian, De Hab. Mul. c. 2; and others, take the "sons of God" here to be angels. The words, ton homoion toutois tropon, in Jude 1:6-7, declaring the similarity between the sin of Sodom and that of the angels who fell, are very remarkable.) If the world within could be seen, and the workings of spirit laid open, this is what would appear before regeneration. There is awful inward confusion, the result of the mixture of the flesh and of the spirit; the affections of the flesh seducing the higher thoughts of the spirit, and so producing "giants," that is, earthborn thoughts, which are full of crime and violence. Those who by grace have reached regeneration, know perhaps as little of the exact working of the evil in them, which they have groaned over, as Noah knew of the sin and corruption of the carnal seed; but they will remember the awful sense of inward confusion which preceded their deliverance, and how their spirit, though it sought to walk with God, was constantly grieved by the dreadful workings of the fleshly mind within them. Such as know most of this stage will best see the figure, as it is drawn for us in this history.
Meanwhile, in the midst of these confusions, which are the ripe and rotting fruits of old Adam, Noah, the spiritual mind, remains incorrupt, like the remnants which survive each fallen dispensation, not only bearing witness that judgment must come, but in act and deed passing sentence upon the old creation, laying the axe to the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10), in a work of faith, which is the divinely appointed way of safety. The ark, by which he goes through the judgment, formed by cutting down and judging the pride and strength of that soil in which the curse works, figures the cross by which we are severed from the world, by which it is crucified to us, and we unto the world. As that ark was made up of many beams, so is the cross which delivers us from the world composed of many parts; smaller crosses, all of which we need, add to its length and breadth, nor may we cut off any of them. A time will come, if we reach the risen life, when we may go forth free; but while in the old world, or amid the waves, the cross, like the ark, is our safety: we dare not shorten it. In it is light, a "window" and a "door" (Genesis 6:16). (Note: Some have supposed that this "window," tsohar [H6671], a word only occurring here, was an inward lamp or light; connecting the word with yitshar [H3323] or "oil," and that again with the chrisma [G5545] mentioned in 1 John 2:27, "the anointing," which makes the light or instruction of this world unnecessary. But the spiritual sense will be substantially the same, whichever view we take of this zohar or "window.") In it is food, "all food that may be eaten" (Genesis 6:21). In it are "heights and depths" (Genesis 6:15-16). By it alone can the flood be passed. Let us bear it, for it will bear us. (Note: Augustine, In Johan. tract. ix. c. 11; De Civitat. l. xv. c. 26. Justin Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. c. 138.) In or by this ark the man is saved, and with him a remnant of all the beasts, both clean and unclean. This is a great mystery. Some speak as though in regeneration all the evil of the old nature were entirely left behind, so that nothing should remain of it. Hence they are surprised to see evil passions in regenerate souls. But a remnant of beasts goes through the flood of waters. These beasts, as we have seen, figure certain animal faculties or powers in the creature. Some are gentle and clean, as lambs and doves; some unclean and fierce, as wolves, or swine, or foxes. Yet even of the unclean a remnant lives. Regeneration does not wholly take away or abolish bad tempers. While man is conscious of the judgment, tossed with its waves, and so dying daily to the old nature, these evil powers or desires are so far checked as to cease for awhile to be hurtful to him. By providence and grace they are so stilled, and by circumstances so modified and weakened in us, that for a season at least they are subject to the man; the Lord thus repairing in regeneration the loss which human nature had sustained in Adam’s fall; for in Noah man recovers power over beasts: but they are not annihilated. And, indeed, just in measure as the man obeys God, are the beasts or lower powers subject to him; bears and lions and wolves, fierce and devilish spirits in us, being subject when our inward man is subject to the Lord. (Note: Origen goes at some length into this inward fulfilment. He then goes into the dimensions, and says that this inward ark is formed of truths of the cross, trees cut down, which are built together; not the truths of heathen authors, which are like leafy trees, uncut and unpruned, and under which Israel have often committed fornication, as the prophets say, and which are of no use to build this ark. He then speaks of the animals. -- Hom. ii. in Gen.. See also Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. xvii. § 10; and Ambrose, De Noe, c. 15, § 57.)
Such is the stage which issues in regeneration; first, a discovery of the monstrous evil which is working in the creature, in the midst of which the spiritual mind by the cross is prepared for deliverance out of the sphere of the old man, the beast-like powers meanwhile being by grace restrained. At this point comes the second stage, in which, though we have not reached the cleansed world, we are yet by the waves of judgment separated from the former world. After which comes the perfect deliverance into rest and liberty beyond the waters. To these later stages we will come in order. But first I would note the outward fulfilment of the scene, which we have already traced inwardly.
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In this outward view, the world that then was, on which the threatened flood of waters was hastening, figures the world around, the home of the old man, on which judgment must come for men’s wickedness. In this world two families of men are seen, both of which in different ways have shewn their own weakness. Everything is out of course. The sons of God and the daughters of men are mingled. The wickedness of man is great upon the earth, and the thoughts of his heart are proved to be evil continually. The crowning sin is the mixture of seeds. "The sons of God" contract ungodly alliances. If the "sons of God" here spoken of were angels, the fact foreshadowed is, that fallen spirits are allowed in some mysterious way to mix with mankind; whose monstrous fruit necessitates that flood of judgment which is threatened upon the last great form of evil, when the Antichrist shall be revealed, and men will be possessed by "him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:9). In a lower sense, this mixture of seeds is to be seen in that confusion between the carnal and spiritual which is so common everywhere. God’s children mingle with the world. Oh, how different are the thoughts of God to the thoughts of His sons, except they walk with Him! "God saw the wickedness of men, that it was great:" -- "the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair." So "they took of all that they chose" (Genesis 6:2). The world cannot always reach God’s sons to entangle and defile them. But the sons of God can always reach the world, and sink down to act on worldly principles. We read, "They saw," and "they chose;" that is, men walked by sight and not by faith, and by self-will, not by God’s will. And the result was, "giants, men of renown," and through them gigantic wickedness. Increased power brought increased crime: "the earth was corrupt, and full of violence." So is it now. The power and sin of Christendom are but the necessary result of this same mixture of the flesh and spirit; with just so much of truth as to enable men to trust each other, and just so much of worldly principles as to please and win the world; just so much of God’s Spirit as to bring in power, and so much of the flesh as to abuse that power to maintain carnal principles. And yet there is a remnant witnessing against the corruption, whom God through this very confusion is leading to a full deliverance out of it -- such souls at first, though quickened in spirit, like the believers in the Jewish dispensation, and though they "follow Christ in the regeneration" (Matthew 19:28), do not yet fully know that perfect deliverance out of the sphere and judgment of the old man, to which they are called by "the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5), which is indeed participation in Christ’s death and resurrection. But spite of their conflicts, God will bring them to this rest, and even the confusions amongst which they dwell serve God’s saints, driving them from the ground of the old man into a purer and better world. To this end the ark is the appointed means, figuring, in the outward as in the inward kingdom, the self-same cross of Jesus Christ, or more vaguely, the Church, whose strength is the cross; which, safe in the covering of atonement, (Note: The word here translated "pitch," Genesis 6:14, Heb. kopher [H3724], is the same word which is commonly used to express atonement, as in Exodus 29:36; Exodus 30:10; Leviticus 23:27-28, &c. It means, primarily and simply, a covering. The word kapporeth [H3727], mercy-seat, where the blood was sprinkled on the day of atonement, is from the same root. Our English word cover evidently comes from kopher.) bears those who trust it, through the waters. The elect are delivered, first mystically by baptism, that passage through the waters, which figures death and resurrection (1 Peter 3:20-21); and then actually, through that dying to the world and nature, which is both the judgment of the old, and the way for God’s children to the new, creation. In this ark are lower, second, and third stories (Genesis 6:16); (Note: Compare with this the three stories of the Temple, 1 Kings 6:4-8, which is but another view of the same mystery.) for within the one same faith of the cross of Christ, very different is the attainment in the knowledge of that cross, even among those who by it pass through the one baptism. Few can enter into all the heights and depths opened to them; for few even of the saved here bear the image of their Head. Few are the sons of the Man of Rest, knowing the joys of sonship with Him, and with capacities to share all His experiences. For one such son are many who are as beasts, animal natures, rough, irrational creatures; who yet are saved, both the clean and the unclean, the Jew and Gentile, the fearful and the violent; and who are served and ruled by those in whom is seen more of the image of Him who is their Head and Lord. For it is not the spiritual only who are saved. In the one ark are found many carnal souls, living far more as beasts than as men, who yet being cleansed of God may not be cast off as common or unclean (Acts 10:15; Acts 10:28). These cannot know the heights of the cross, (Note: Greg. M. in Expos. sup Evang. Hom. xxxviii. § 8.) yet are they saved by grace, even as the spiritual; their evil natures being checked by that cross which is for them and for all the common deliverance. In one body are they saved together, all the members more or less comely (1 Corinthians 12:22-25); and though with unequal, yet each with perfect joy, they shall, whether beasts, or creeping things, or flying fowls, whether young men or maidens, or old men or children, whether fathers or babes and sucklings in Christ, yea and the dragons also, all praise the Lord, in that cleansed earth which is beyond the waters (Psalms 148:7-13). (Note: The Fathers are full of references to this outward application of this history. Augustine, Contr. Faust. Manich. l. xii. c. 14-21, goes into it at great length. So too Ambrose, De Noe et Arca; Gregory the Great, In Ezek. Hom. xvi.; and In Expos. Evang. Hom. xxxviii. § 8; Origen, Hom. ii. in Gen.; Jerome, Contr. Jovin. l. i.; Cyprian, Epist. 69, and many others. Indeed, St. Peter’s direct reference to this type (1 Peter 3:20-21), gives the clue to the whole of it.)