Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...31

The 40 days in the wilderness tie into allusions from many moments in the history of God's interaction with humanity. Joseph's 40 years in Egypt, Israel's 40 years in the wilderness, the 3-fold temptation of our First Parents, the 3-fold love of the world, the 3-fold declaration of God the Father at the Jordan all connect with aspects of Jesus experience in the Jordanian wilderness. Each brings nuance and insight into the days there.

Today we look at the 40 days and nights. Another reference came to mind for me as a Sunday School child. It rained 40 days and nights to flood the earth and to float Noah's Ark.

Noah and his family had prepared an ark of gopher wood at the behest of God. They had provisioned it with food. God had called the animals in groups of sevens and twos. Then God shut door to the ark. It rained for 40 days and nights.God washed the world of the violence and evil practices of humanity.

They heard God say it was time to enter the ark. God shut the door isolating those inside from those without. Here like in the wilderness, God actively participates in the 40 days. Jesus and Noah were directed by God to enter these days. They were both isolated for God's purpose.

Both were with wild animals. In both cases, Jesus and Noah had to trust God the Father to tame them while they were together. The enmity that resulted from the rebellion of the Garden was suspended or reversed during the 40 days.

The forty days for Noah signalled God's judgement on human violence and sin. The forty days for Jesus affirm God's judgement of Him as accepted, loved and pleasing. God's right judgement impact both 40-day events.

Noah emerges after the 40 days of rain (plus about a year of flood-floating) as the new Parent for Humanity. All people find their ancestory through him. The flood condemned the old order of things (Hebrews 11.7 NIV,) cleared it away and ushered in a new beginning. The rainbow symbolized God's promise never to produce a universal flood. The rain itself gave rise to the sign of God's faithfulness.

Jesus "...condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8.3 NIV.) What the Deluge could not totally wash away and the Decalogue could not totally restrain, Jesus condemned and totally overcame. Jesus' cross symbolized the breaking of sin's dominion. The instrument of that judgement gave rise to the sign of God's faithfulness.

Noah's 40 days of judgement point us longingly toward a better judgement. God wishes to remove the sin that taints His once-perfect creation. He must condemn this distructive element wherever it is found, even in the very fiber of His highest creation -- human beings. As a fair judge He cannot overlook what is destroying us and our world just because He loves us. Just because He loves us He must end sin. Christ's 40 days tell us our longed-for deliverance was near, even at the door.

Thank you Jesus! You not only rescue us from the consequences of sin, You deliver us from the power and domination of sin. "There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!!!!!"

Jesus would later say the days of Noah typify the days of the Son of Man. The coming of Jesus will involve judgement and restoration. Again God will purge His creation from the polution of sin and violence. Fire, not water, serves as the active agent for the second purge.