Two by two....and then the door closed....then the floods came.... the dove found land and a rainbow of promise lit up the sky!
That's the gist of the way I grew up knowing the story of Noah and the great flood. Every time I heard the story, it felt the same.. two by two, flood waters and rainbows. It's a beautiful story of God's rescue of Noah and his family. A courageous story of Noah's obedience during a time of such ridicule. A gracious story filled with a promise, the hope of our ultimate rescue represented with a rainbow. Although always presented with cute animals and colorful rainbows, the backdrop of sin rarely seemed to be the point of the story. The rescue was rarely presented as THE story within the story. Yet, when we add in the Christ connection to this story, we see it brilliantly with sin and rescue at the very core of it.
The story of Noah and the great flood is such a rich picture of the greater rescue to come. "Jesus, the only perfectly righteous person, came to take the punishment for sin. We trust His act of obedience and are saved from the punishment our sin deserves." (The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook). When Noah and his family stepped out of the ark, on to dry land, instead of condemning the world again, God gave hope! A hope that would come through His son, Jesus, who would come in the form of a rescue to all sinners.
As we continue through the Word of God, using the Gospel Project, we pray that the Lord would help you clearly communicate THE story within the story. The story set with a backdrop of sin where Jesus would give up his life to rescue all sinners and give hope for all to come!
Blessings~
Rhiannon
This weekend in Tree House Children's Ministry: The Tower of Babel